A good question: When [i]does [/i]one become a knight?

Is it the moment your teacher declares your training complete? Or the moment you're announced to the world as one of the latest in a lineage going back generations? Is it the moment one swears the Oaths and spends the night in contemplation with her armour, in the tradition of the order's first founders? Is it the moment one declares in their heart they want to protect those around them, above any cost to herself?

Officially, the answer is the day your liege dubs you a knight. If you use this yardstick, Kalaya has only been a Knight for a month and most of that has been spent walking. But for reasons that largely revolve around trying to banish the memory of a private, begrudging and [i]incredibly [/i]awkward audience with her parents, Kalaya would prefer to define herself using "any of the other ones above".

But the thing is, for all the people who have told her constantly that you can't be a princess and a knight, that it's dirty, rough, just isn't done that way and you'll never make it ... there isn't any rule against it.

So [i]let [/i]Petony see through her. She is what she is and isn't about to hide it.

And amidst the haze and warmth of the smoke and drink, Kalaya's smile fades a little as Petony curls in amongst herself.

A new cup is dropped to the table, hitting loudly enough to draw the Tiger knight's attention and the hand of the young lady holding it. Perhaps her eyes will take in the embroidery of her suea pat, or the chain around her neck and come to the appropriate conclusions.

"Petony - you have been wronged, and it is not my place to ask how. But you are also wrong." she declares, a hint of fire in her voice. "We are Knights, and the Order of the Thorn is [i]no one's[/i] dogs. We serve the people of the Flowers first and foremost. Our worth is borne from the actions we take in that service, not from the hurts or judgement of some princess in a faraway castle."

"Come, is this any way for the hero of the Blue Marsh to talk? For the Ruby Fire of the Dawn?" she says, voice softening and the smile returning. "You can be, [i]are, [/i]so much more than that. And the question of what is not dependent on what that princess, or this one at the table, thinks. It's on what you do next."

"So, Petony-Phraya. What will you do?"

[Rolling to give a spiritual boost of self-worth. Basically, "let's not just waste the evening away getting drunk, get sober and go do something knightly!" 2d6+2:[b]11[/b]]