"Have a care all the same."
Leonine smiled affectionately and tolerantly as he finished loading up his horse. "Is that why you insisted on seeing me off? To lecture me on being careful in the snow."
"No, you knave, I have gifts for you, but if you want to be flippant about my caring…"
"You know I'm not truly." Leonine finished with his saddlebags and turned fully to face him. "What have you, then, Sir Cimar? A token for my journey?"
"If I know you, you'll get plenty of tokens along the way," Cimar drawled. "No, my gifts are a bit more practical." He went over to the stacks of hay waiting to be dispensed amongst the horses and returned with two cases. One very obviously contained a sword. The other was smaller, square, and had arrived with the sword, though not on Cimar's command, but Korena's.
"Made from the lindworm skin," Cimar said as he handed over the long box.
Leonine set it on the ground and threw it open, and made a rough, incoherent noise as he took in the contents. Inside was a beautiful longsword, impressive even by Croy's near-impossible standards. The hilt was long enough to be gripped with one or two hands, and it could also be gripped by the blade itself, right at the base, to really punch through the weak points in plate. Set in the hilt was a jewel that seemed to never settle on a color, looking purple one moment and shifting to orange the next, like the sky of a rising or setting sun. The pommel had been carved into the likeness of a perching hawk, its eyes jewels to match the one in the pommel. "I've never seen such a fine sword."
"Well, Croy is the best in at least three kingdoms, and he had lindworm skin to work with. The jewels and hawk were his choices, but they seem fitting."
"Thank you, Sir Cimar." Leonine rose and removed his current sword, affixing it to his horse as a spare before buckling the new sword, and its matching dagger, into place.
Cimar smiled. "You can leave off the honorific now, you know. We're peers, equals. You're not my squire anymore."
Leonine returned the smile, happy and eager and a touch shy, as though he could not entirely believe he was awake. "It's a marvelous gift, Cimar. I cannot thank you enough."
"One more, though this is from Her Majesty," Cimar replied, and opened the box before turning it around to display the contents, which were exactly what he'd anticipated: spurs, shiny and new, also made from lindworm, with a jewel set in each that matched his sword and dagger.
"Those are my spurs? I didn't expect to… not until I returned."
"You are a knight, and should be properly fitted, even if we must skip most of the pomp and circumstance. Now hold still."
"No, you don't—" Leonine fell silent, clearly discomfited, as Cimar knelt and affixed the spurs. "You didn't have to do that."
Cimar gave him a look. "I was your mentor, and you have been one of my closest friends for many years. No one else was ever going to affix your first spurs. Now stop being a silly knave and get to work."
Leonine laughed, hugged him tightly, and took hold of the reins of his horse. "Fare thee well, Cimar. Hold the line while I'm gone."
"Far thee well, Leonine. Return to us hale and victorious."
Cimar watched him depart into the swirling white beyond the castle curtain, proud and happy and sad all at once. Then he turned and returned the keep, where his new life awaited him: a fine queen, her secret mage advisor, and a regal prince consort. All that lacked was a royal champion to keep them safe, and it took only a few more paces to reach them and assume that role for as long as he lived.
FIN
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Megan is a long-time resident of queer romance, and keeps herself busy reading and writing it. She is often accused of fluff and nonsense. When she's not involved in writing, she likes to cook, harass her wife and cats, or watch movies. She loves to hear from readers, and can be found all over the internet.
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