From Legionnaire to Advisor

Reynold walked through the streets of Galewin as his mind got lost with the events that had occurred earlier that morning and what Julia had admitted. It seemed her actions were not just led by kindness, the Dawn Lady or just a sense of politeness. He was approached by an injured man who had bandages around his chest and pulled the younger man out of his thinking as they bumped into each other, "Oh, I am sorry," He recognized the legionnaire very quickly, "We know each other, don't we?"

"Yes, we do," He held out his mostly complete hand, missing a few fingers, "I am surprised you only have an injured eye from that night."

"So am I, Hector, how long will you be recovering for?" He laughed, "What?"

"Forever, son, I have been moved to the backline roles, I am part of the administration of recruits and numbers now," He chuckled before wincing, "I killed off a few of the bastards when you were charging in."

"I killed a few too," The older man shook his head and smiled, "I fought all night."

"I dragged out a few of the men from danger, got a finger ripped off and tore the other off myself after it was snapped in the wrong direction."

"It must have been painful."

"Worth it to be alive still," Hector replied, "So, you are now officially a Hero of the Dawn Legion."

"You should be too."

"I get an injury salary, extra pay that I send mostly to support my aging family in the capital," He replied with a shrug, "You will be getting both, injury and hero."

"I have been sending it to my family, I am housed, fed and I have no real expenses here."

"I do agree, only if I were deployed would I want a bit of coin to be able to buy from a merchant or whatever," The two men nodded, "Well, I'll leave you to your day."

"I will leave you to yours, I am glad you are still alive."

"I didn't even think you would remember me."

"It has been more than a week."

"And you are still alive, yep," Hector nodded with a conceited face, "You made me eat my words, and I am somewhat glad of it," The two men parted ways as Reynold began heading back to his quarters. Mindless days with so little danger and chores were exhausting, maybe he could find something to do to get to know Julia more to see how much she liked him and how much he liked her.

Days turned into nights as he was refused the chance to deploy but the Dawn Lady seemed to trust him more as his knowledge of the dark land's movements provided them with the chance to prevent breakthroughs. He was her most important strategist as he knew what would happen and where they would happen. Each attack was beaten back by the proper movement of the reserves.

Reynold, on the other hand, had his body develop into a truly spectacular foe for the dark lands. Many dummies were shattered by his hands and, with his specially made monocle, he trained with sunlight powder to one day be allowed to unleash his rage upon the dark lands for robbing him of innocence and taunting him with an offer of pointless power. He worked, incessantly, from practicing his skills to his swordsmanship to his unarmed combat to military tactics and deployments of reserves. This led to him becoming a trusted advisor of the Dawn Lady, "Good morning, Julia," Reynold spoke up without moving his head from the maps he had been pouring over during the evening, then the night, then the early morning and now mid morning.

"Have you been up all night?" She asked as she approached him in his quarters, "You sent someone to get me?"

"I say yes to both of those, Julia," He looked at her before a smile appeared on her face, "Do you remember when you wanted me to be your hero?"

"Yes, it is very embarrassing to remember how short sighted I was," She replied, "I doubt you could look at me the same way due to that."

"That is correct, Julia," She looked down.

"Alas, why did you want to see me?" The unusually casually dressed Reynold moved to lean against the edge of the table and looked her in the eyes, "Reynold?"

"I love you," She looked stunned, "I haven't seen you the same way but by no means did that mean I thought less of you, you just made me want to tell you this more and more."

"You do?" She couldn't get many more words out, "I do too."

"I am glad, Julia," He smiled as his head slowed, "Now, I assume this will be told to the Dawn Lady next time she asks you about me?" She shrugged, "What?"

"I have yet to really speak with her," Julia replied, "She hasn't tasked me with supervising you as she has earlier in your stay here."

"Very well, well, I don't quite know what to do at this point," He stood still, unsure of how to react to the information she had just given him. It was exciting yet scary as what was romance and what was love were never questions the younger of the two lovebirds had ever asked himself.

"I, I don't know either."

"That's a good start then," He grinned, making Julia giggle, "I have to admit that you have a very cute laugh."

"Oh please, it is more silly than cute."

"It can always be both," She smiled and her eyes closed slightly, something Reynold had noticed and found to be a very cute tell of her genuine smile, "A beautiful smile."

"Oh please, stop complimenting me so much, you'll make me blush," Reynold rolled his eyes and smiled back as she covered her cheeks, "See? I am not blushing."

"Uh-huh, I believe that, Julia," He moved towards her and his hands touched hers, making her blush as they moved off of her face and he placed them onto his shoulders. Memories of his father and mother being cutesy with each other when he was a child were the only real thing he could depend on to show his affection to Julia at this point. She played along as his hands moved to her hips and pulled her forwards, towards him. Their lips touched, his eyes closed and her eyes wide initially before closing when she realized what had happened. It was a small peace of paradise that they were sharing on earth, Reynolg thought as their lips parted not too long after, "Now you are blushing."

"Now I am, yes," She covered her cheeks as she smiled, "I wasn't expecting that but I can't say I disliked it."

"I enjoyed it, could I ask for a favor?" The young man replied with a question and Julia nodded before sitting on his bed, "I have a meeting with the Dawn Lady later, and I have to explain some new modifications for divisions and such to her, General Yabada, Tolber and Hevert."

"Very important people."

"Could I rehearse it with you?"

"Are you sure my mother, I mean," Reynold stopped reaching for his papers and looked at her, "The Dawn Lady."

"What?" He held the papers in his hand as he turned around, "You are the Dawn Lady's daughter?"

"Yeah," She replied with a tone of embarrassment, "I didn't tell you because."

"You didn't want me to have a chance to use romance with you to get a privileged spot by the Dawn Lady?" She nodded, "I will earn my ranks, I will earn my spot just as I have made my way into your heart and mind."

"You always have something like that to say, don't you?" Reynold nodded, "Well, just tell me what you are going to tell my mother and her advisors later, I am all ears."

"Okay, here we go."