The more irritated Irene was with her Commander, the more he seemed to gain amusement out of it, so she tried not to snap as he set her down on the grass. She needed to be polite because he was still offering himself as her human crutch.

"Don't get used to it," she uttered. "Why is it that you're the only one around when I'm presenting myself so unfavorably?"

"You're worried about being the perfect knight, but there is no perfect knight," he insisted. "We are all incredibly flawed, but most importantly, we have dedicated our imperfect selves to the duchy."

"I suppose you're right," she relented, stiffly.

But it was good enough for the Commander who led them further north on the flat area they had wound up on top of. It was much easier to guide Irene through while the ground was even.

She would still rather not have to be led around at all, but there was no other choice.

The two knights' eyes never stopped as they searched for a place to camp. Coming to this level of the mountain was unfamiliar to Irene considering the last time she went near the summit, she was with Gunnar and Felix and they came from the western side.

Eventually, they made it to an alcove nestled into hard rock. It was sheltered by pine trees, but they could still see the sun as it disappeared off into the western horizon.

However, Irene recognized this place because she had been there before.

"This is the closest camp to the summit," she explained, finally able to separate from the Commander and take a seat on the ground. "Look here, there are still logs from a long-burnt-out fire. I'm certain they are the same ones we used the last time I came up here."

Irene smiled fondly as she thought of those times, but then her smile faded because those times always reminded her of how Leif should be there with her. She imagined he would have gotten along well with the Commander. They both had a good nature about them that was undeniable.

If Irene wasn't careful, she knew she would get emotional, and she needed to redirect her thoughts.

Luckily, the Commander hadn't seemed to notice because he was walking further, through the few trees there and towards the outer edge. He collected firewood on the way there.

"The sea?" he observed in amazement. "I didn't realize we were this close to the North Sea in Chemois."

Irene didn't have to look. She knew exactly what it looked like because it was the very area she herself had explored so in-depth months before. Her heart squeezed at all the memories both good and bad.

"The area is hardly populated," Irene explained from where she sat against the deepest part of the alcove, trying to keep warm without a fire. "If you thought winters in Tenetium were bad, the arctic north is far worse. There are monsters there that none of us have ever seen, and I'm sure more completely undiscovered since ancient times."

The Commander seemed to contemplate that as he turned away and continued looking at the far-off lands, slowly getting harder and harder to see as the sun got lower and lower. Since it was useless to keep watching, Henry returned to Irene and he placed new logs over what was already there.

As he took out flint and got it to spark enough that the bark kindling started to burn, he couldn't help continuing with their prior conversation.

"You seem to know a lot about the northern sea and lands," he observed quietly.

Irene raised her eyebrows; she tended to forget that he was a southerner and hadn't had to deal with Sunstoian people much. Trying to keep it light, she responded, "My father is from that area. He left when he was still small."

"Do you have family there still?" Henry wondered.

She was hesitant, but still answered vaguely enough, "It's completely abandoned. Every village is frozen in time as if the people had only just left."

Another pause as the Commander contemplated her words while he built up the fire.

"Have you been there yourself?"

"Yes, actually," she admitted. "When I returned to Chemois, you were just arriving here."

"That wasn't even a year ago now, was it?" he realized as his gaze left the fire and found the woman whose hair matched the flames.

"That's right," she admitted. "It was my very first time going, and my father had to rescue me."

"You went alone?" he asked in disbelief.

"Well, yes," she explained, feeling strangely guilty as if she had put herself in danger for no reason.

"Far tougher than I realized," he admitted. "Even I didn't go to Polona alone."

"That's different," she responded with a faint smile, pleased that he had considered her tough. If he had nothing else favorable to think about her, at least she wasn't weak.

Considering Irene hadn't moved much since they arrived to their camp, the Commander stood up from where he kneeled by the fire and changed the subject. It almost seemed as if he was resistant to talk about his time in Polona. She wished she could pick his brain further, but she was also trying to hold back.

"We need to see how thank foot of yours is doing," he reminded her. "Do you mind if I help you out of your boot?"

She didn't want him to fuss over her, but she knew he was persistent and would be best not to fight him.

"Sure, sir," Irene relented as she stretched out her leg further and began to undo the strap that kept her boot secure around her calf.

One he had moved closer to her, he gently grabbed the lower half of her boot and slid it off of her. When it was set off to the side, he then watched as Irene slid off her wool stocking that had been keeping her warm.

"No blood," she observed.

"A good sign."

But when her sock was off, she could already see swelling and bruising on the top of her foot and her ankle.

"It looks like it hurts," he admitted.

"It's a bit tender, but I've experienced worse," she assured him.

"That's irrelevant," he insisted. "I feel guilty that my need to go into a cave hurt one of my knights."

Her heart thumped. She practically cringed at herself.

"It's our duty—"

"I can still feel guilty," he interrupted her with a light smirk.

His eyes seemed to challenge her in some way as if he enjoyed arguing with her.

Wide, green eyes were set on him and Henry couldn't help gazing into them for a moment. She seemed annoyed that he kept being so persistent. He liked that she was responding to him, though.

Since the two of them were at a stalemate of sorts, they decided to eat a bit of jerky before the Commander—who seemed tired after hauling her out of the cave while wearing a full suit of armor and carrying all of his own supplies—would go to sleep.

As resistant as the Commander was to leave an injured knight to guard, it turned out to be a good idea because a short while after the Commander slept, Irene heard dried leaves crunch deeper in the forest. Soon, a dire wolf crept out of the forest with its eyes set on the sleeping knight.

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