Solo III. Failure to Adapt

[Orion Michaels]

55th of Fall

Great Bazaar

15th Bell

Another busy day in the Great Bazaar, another patrol for the troubled squire. Cracks had begun to appear in Orion’s defenses; the grand show he was putting on as a squire was starting to fail as the stresses of training and the relentless pressures of life wore him down. He’d stooped so far as to take a job from Peyton Morothon. It was not his proudest moment, but he needed to have the coin coming in. With Emily a constant drain on his funds and another child to support soon on the way, he felt trapped. Squires brought in no income, after all. He had no idea how long he’d remain a squire, and it was made more than clear to him that he was on his own as far as the knights were concerned. He’s the one who fooled around and had children out of wedlock. He’s the one that gave up his luxurious job as a doctor to take up sword and shield.

The sins of his past were his to bear alone.

Mage-Squire Lilly Grant was more than happy to make sure he wasn’t boring while he felt apart. She had no interest in helping him stand up under the bolts life kept throwing his way, and she wasn’t terribly interested in his sob story. She did, however, want to understand more about him, see what made him keep going and see what made him make the choices he made. Orion’s choices prior to and even during parts of his squirehood were not exactly a well-kept secret, but despite that he’d thrived in his debauchery. Lilly, having a patron who welcomed a break from her, had become Orion’s shadow in recent times. She didn’t try and make him do anything. Instead, once she discovered he wanted something, she helped push him hard to go and get it.

With the exception of her, of course. Despite his best efforts, she knew caving into his unmistakable charm would ruin what she wanted out of their fun.

The two squires were patrolling the busy grounds of the Great Bazaar together, making sure no charlatans were at work and no one with a desire to ‘borrow’ goods from the various stands would act upon those feelings. The mere presences of those in armor could act as quite the effective deterrent. Add a sword and shield to the mix and the two were almost intimidating.

”You needn’t look so excited to have me here,” Lilly remarked coolly, playfully bumping her shoulder against his arm. ”It’s tough not having the attention on you? Michaels, it’ll be okay, I promise.”

Orion chuckled softly, looking over to Lilly. She was an enigma. Nothing like what a knight was, or as he’d heard people say, nothing like what a knight should be. She was . . . too free spirited. Orion wasn’t sure if he agreed. After dealing with Dinah for so long, she was a breath of fresh air

”No, no. I’m just not all here today. My mind wanders as it wonders, Lilly.”

”Whatcha thinking about?” The look in her eyes was unsettling. Like a snake ready to strike, she studied his movements, waiting for a misstep she could jump on. Orion would learn the more he was around her that it was dangerous to leave out details. She was relentless in her pressuring to get someone to talk to her.

”Don’t worry about it,” Orion quickly replied, looking away from his fellow squire. He should have been focused on searching for wrongdoers, not complaining to Lilly about the struggles of his existence.

To no one’s surprise, Lilly was of a very different opinion.

”Michaels,” she said, grinning all the while. ”We’re going to have fun today, aren’t we?”

A shiver ran through Orion’s spine. Something about the tone of her voice was alarming. He had a feeling their definitions of the word ‘fun’ would turn out to be quite different.

[Orion Michaels]

"You know, Orion, I don't understand why you're in the knights," Lilly commented, glancing over to her counterpart. "You're an excellent doctor from what I've heard. You certainly make more coin doing it that way, and yet here you are, playing the part normally reserved for a boy ten years your junior. What's the story?"

Orion turned his head slightly to hide the frown that came to his face. She'd taken care of him several nights back when he'd decided to drink a little bit too much, but ever since then she'd been very inquisitive with her new found friend. It wasn't that he minded having her around. She was easy on the eyes and actually quite entertaining with her whimsical nature. He never knew what to expect, besides more questions. Usually they weren't too personal, but sometimes she would test the waters and ask something like this.

"One thing led to another, and here I am," he replied, hoping she'd let him get away with such a vague reply. They were supposed to be on patrol, not having a question and answer session on Orion's life. Orion’s blue eyes darted back and forth between Lilly and the crowd about them. Everyone was going about their business, paying no attention to the two armored squires, used the constant movement on knights throughout the city.

Lilly gave Orion a wry smile, reaching over to nudge the black haired man. ”You think that was an acceptable answer? Come on, is it really that personal? I’ll go first. I wanted a way to test myself and see if I could become something more than who I was.” The dark haired woman reached and pushed a strand of hair back behind her ear before continuing. ”At least my vague replies have some substance behind them.”

It struck a chord with the squire, her reason. Was he any different? Or had it been entirely impulse? Orion had run off with Captain Knight Dinah Lorene to be a medic, and had ended up fighting spies and mutated baboons. It wasn’t what he’d expected at all, and at the end of things he got asked to squire under her. That bit was surprising enough, but even more surprising was when he actually took the woman up on her offer. Winter turned to Spring, and he was no longer doctor, but squire Orion Michaels. No one had seen it coming, and he’d received no small amount of heckling about it.

”Perhaps you’re right, Lilly. I’ve got no grand tale of my joining,” he lied. ”I just needed something different, and it was somewhat flattering to have a high ranking knight ask me to be her squire.”

Lilly sped up slightly and turned around to walk backwards, watching Orion with that ceaseless and mischievous smirk. ”Ah, yes. The beautiful Dinah. It doesn’t surprise me that a woman would be the reason you join the knights. Can’t stop chasing tail, huh, Michaels?”

”Why do you think I’m patrolling with you, Lilly? I’ll have you out of the armor before the night is over.” Orion gave her a quick push back, the playful, if childish actions somewhat refreshing. Everything had been so serious in his life as of late. Her questions were annoying, yes, but there were worse things than them at this point.

”Not on your life, you idiot,” she laughed, turning back around to let her brown eyes scan the crowd for miscreants. ”Besides, I’m not even a redhead. Isn’t’ that your type?”

[Orion Michaels]

If only she knew what his and Dinah's relationship was like, then she wouldn't be making that joke. The knight had shattered his perception of her the previous season; she was an attractive woman, yes, but her heart was cold and closed, just like his. Worst yet, the woman had no faith in his ability. Maybe that's what made it so easy not to care sometimes. It had certainly made it easier to take the job from Peyton. 

"You got me," he replied softly. "But I think I can make an exception for someone such as stunning as yourself. Someone with your curves who carries around a blade like that? Gods, I might have to take you right here, Lilly." She rolled her eyes, shoving her fellow squire away once more. 

"Don't be stupid, Michaels. I don't have any curves. I'm a stick that swings a blade around half decent. Flattery will get you nowhere with me." He was such a ridiculous man. Those endless blue eyes were easy enough to get lost in, but she wasn't going to play his game, so she spoke before he could retort. "But seriously. Why are you here? The knights don't fit you. Or maybe it's better to say that you don't fit them."

What did she mean by that? Beyond the obvious? 

Well actually, she had a pretty good point.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about," he lied, giving the woman a sideways glance. He really didn't want to engage her on this. Half the time he was asking himself the same question she had. The other half of the time he was so busy he didn't know which way was up. "I think I'm going to make a spectacular knight. Syliras needs me, don't you agree?"

"No," Lilly replied bluntly. "At least not as a knight. Knights don't do the things you do. They're harsh, they view things as black and white. Their convictions cannot be tested, and they are incorruptible. They'll turn a blade on someone first, ask questions second. None of these sound like you, Orion."

Orion couldn't bring himself to look at the raven haired woman. Why was she doing this? What did she hope to gain?  He questioned himself enough without her aid. Struggles came and went as routinely as the tide of the sea. Orion wasn't able to handle them as It was. 

"I don't want to talk about it, Lilly."

"But you should."

The two squires fell silent as they walked throughout the bazaar. A crime could have occurred right before them but he doubted that either of them would have noticed it. Awkward. Blasted awkward. Lilly was always talking, always trying to get him to talk about himself. He was bound to explode one of these times, but she was almost surgical about how she went about it. Pointed questions which were posed in public settings where he didn't want to make a scene. Even worse, he could see the smirk on her lips

"You're enjoying tormenting me? Why do I even put up with you?"

"Because you want me, of course." 

Orion cracked a smile, sneaking a glance at the woman's form. "The things I would do to that stick frame." Back to normal. Just like always.