The silence that followed Aveline's departure was different from before.
It was not uncomfortable or heavy. It was expectant.
Aren was lying on his bed when he noticed the looks. They were not hostile, nor filled with judgment. They were direct and curious. He pretended to adjust his blanket, but the gesture fooled no one.
"So…", Hal the halfling began, breaking the silence with a mischievous smile. "How did you manage to get one of the recruits to come give you late-night talks?"
Aren looked up, surprised.
"It wasn't a talk," he replied, somewhat embarrassed. "We just talked about the run."
"Yeah, sure," Lysander chimed in, dropping onto the bunk across from him. "Don't try to deny it."
Bromir let out a deep laugh from above.
"First night and you're already getting attention," he said. "Not bad for a skinny human."
Aren frowned.
"Hey, I didn't do anything."
"That's the worst part," Hal replied, with a hint of envy in his voice. "You didn't even try."
Eryndor, leaning against one of the wooden posts, sighed with clear annoyance.
"I don't understand why you're making such a big deal out of something so trivial," he said. "It's irrelevant."
"Maybe it is to you," Lysander replied. "You elves don't care about other races."
The elf tilted his head slightly.
"Because we don't need to."
The comment dampened the mood a bit, but Bromir made up for it immediately.
"Bah, you lot don't know how to appreciate what matters," he said dismissively. "The girl has good posture and strong legs. You can tell she can endure training."
Lysander nodded enthusiastically.
"Exactly! Quite… impressive."
"Unfortunately—", Bromir added after a thoughtful pause. "She lacks a beard."
The silence lasted half a second.
"A beard?" Aren repeated, confused.
"Exactly," the dwarf confirmed. "A woman without a beard is… like a phoenix without feathers, from my point of view."
Hal burst out laughing.
"I'll never understand dwarves."
"You don't have to," Bromir replied with a satisfied smile, brushing his beard with his hand. "Not everyone can appreciate the beauty of a good beard."
Aren shook his head, unable to stop himself from smiling. The exhaustion was still there, heavy, but the tension had eased a little.
"Seriously," he said at last, letting out a nervous laugh. "Let's drop the topic."
"And…?" Lysander asked bluntly. "Did you at least think she was pretty?"
Aren hesitated for a second.
Not because he didn't know the answer.
But because he hadn't expected the question to be so direct.
"Yes," he admitted at last. "I guess she is."
There was a brief silence.
Then came the nudges, muffled laughter, and exaggerated comments.
"I knew it!" Hal exclaimed. "It always starts like this."
"First night," Lysander added. "And you already got a girl to notice you."
Aren raised his hands.
"Hey, I just said she's pretty. That doesn't mean anything."
'At least to me,' he thought.
"Of course it means something," Bromir said. "It means you have eyes."
Eryndor snorted.
"Humans…" he muttered.
Aren lay back again, staring at the wooden ceiling.
'I didn't come here for this,' he thought. 'But I'd be lying if I said I didn't notice.'
Aveline's image crossed his mind for an instant. Her firm posture and direct voice, and the way she had spoken without hesitation.
Then, almost without meaning to, another image overlapped it.
Lylia.
Aren closed his eyes.
'It's not the same.'
He didn't need to say it out loud.
Exhaustion finally won. The jokes slowly faded. Breathing grew deeper. Someone fell asleep halfway through a sentence.
The barracks sank back into darkness.
And for a few hours, Aren allowed himself to rest.
The metallic bang tore him from sleep.
"Up!"
Aren opened his eyes at once. His body ached as if he hadn't slept at all. The air was cold, biting.
An officer walked through the barracks, striking the ground with a staff.
"Formation in five minutes!"
There were no protests. Only clumsy movements and restrained breathing.
Aren sat up, his legs stiff. Bromir growled as he climbed down from the top bunk.
"I can't feel anything below the waist," he muttered.
"That's progress," Hal replied, tightening his boots.
Lysander was pale. His hands trembled as he fastened his belt.
"I'm fine," he said, though no one had asked.
Eryndor watched in silence.
They went out to the yard.
Dawn had arrived. A light mist covered the courtyard.
Aren immediately noticed that there were fewer recruits than the night before.
Many fewer.
'Almost half—,' he thought.
Captain Rorik emerged from one of the side buildings, his expression unchanged.
"The second trial begins now," he announced.
Some exchanged tense looks.
"We will measure your ability to obey."
The silence grew heavy.
"Being a knight is not doing what you believe is right," he declared firmly. "It is following orders no matter the cost."
Aren felt a discomfort he could not ignore.
"You will be divided into groups and assigned a task. Its purpose will not be explained."
He paused briefly.
"Consider this: the mistake of one will be the mistake of all."
The officers began moving through the ranks. Aren was assigned to a group along with Bromir, Hal, Lysander, Eryndor, and five other recruits.
An instructor stopped in front of them.
"You," he said, pointing at them. "Follow me."
He led them out of the courtyard, through a side corridor that descended toward a less traveled part of the fortress. The air grew colder and damper with every step.
They reached a wide room without windows, barely lit by torches on the walls. In the center stood a long wooden table. On it lay a set of training swords, lined up with precision.
"Take one," the instructor ordered.
Aren obeyed. The grip was rough, worn by use. It felt different from his own sword.
"Listen carefully," the man continued. "This is the first part of the trial."
He stopped in front of them.
"For the next thirty minutes, you will remain standing in this room, holding your swords up. No one will speak, move, or even lower their weapon."
Aren frowned.
"If anyone breaks the order," he added, "the entire group will fail this part."
The silence grew dense.
"Any questions?"
No one answered.
"Good. Begin."
Everyone obeyed at once.
The second trial had begun.