The night was dark and full of terrors – potentially. Any night could be. That was why a knight had to always be vigilant. Especially when tasked to protect Ledian, Ledyba, and an admittedly beautiful partner that did not seem accustomed to darkened jobs like this. At least that was what the yawn indicated that Mirri barely spotted, as she arrived.

There was the slightest of smiles on her face as she stepped out of the shadows, flanked by a Honedge on each side. “Good evening, good lady. I hope I did not scare you in my approach,” she noted, before bowing deeply in a gentleman’s fashion. “Mireille Wynter, knight of Galar and your partner in this fine endeavour, at your service.” And yes, she was properly playing this to the very end. Because that was the only way she knew how to approach a dame like this. By enacting scenes from the books, of course.

The other woman responded in…kind? That actually baffled Mirri to an extent. After all, she did not exactly get positive reinforcement in this regard often. Realistically speaking, she usually found a neutral to frosty reception, with not few women finding it creepy. That was….sad, but she could not help it. Modern times had little appreciation for such behaviour, but she yearned for these days of old. Not completely, of course. Being a woman knight herself already spoke volumes to that.

But seeing someone giving her at least an imitation of a curtsey? That was more than she’d dared hope for. However, the follow-up question albeit completely logical and to be expected, caught her by surprise. Naturally, that had her at a loss for words. Especially since the question was too ‘meta’ to just draw on trivia and dialogue that sounded cool at least. Hence, she found herself blushing and only able to hold eye-contact because she partially outright forced herself to. “I, um….yes, I do,” she started. And almost every fibre in her body wanted to leave it at that because she was not 100% sure how to express the rest.
But, once more, she had to force herself. She hadn’t exactly started this tick yesterday, so she’d been working on it, to an extent. First, she had to clear her throat, though. “I…I always wanted to be a knight. And getting into….character like that just helps me….um…..with finding words?” Clearly, she wasn’t quite comfortable like that. “But if it irks you, I can just say nothing….I do mean what I say, though.” After all, those values were not fake. Still, she had to hold her left arm saying this, as if it was a difficult thing to process.

Oh. Ohhhh….. she understood now, nodding quickly after brief hesitation. Mireille was nothing if not gullible, unless one looked like a shifty thug or something. After all, that was what the books had told her. Despite the life experience she’d gathered so far, that misconception still clung with her – mostly because she had usually not noticed when someone had gone ahead and lied to her. Part of being gullible, really. “I….see. That is okay then,” she replied just as awkwardly, before nervously brushing a lock out of her hair. Mirri really had no idea how to handle this, really.

Hence, she all but pounced at the suggestion to change the topic. Though the new one wasn’t exactly completely harmless, either. There were so many corny lines she had to fight down because she did not want to creep the other out, it was not even funny. Yet, that also left her with very little to say. Thus, she tried to find the most innocuous thing she could say but had heard somewhere. “They say that the glitter of the Ledyba can lead one to true and lasting happiness, if one follows it in the dark. Though I guess that only counts if one stumbles over it naturally. Coming here knowing what will happy, we probably do not qualify for any such thing.” Aka the most meaningless thing she could say while also sounding a little deep, her gaze half devoted to the proceedings and half to her partner at all times.

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There were a few moments of solace and peace. Mireille could tell that she had certainly not been ignored or anything like that. It simply seemed like she had given the other a bit to think. It would have been rude to interject, to insist on attention, then, when she was already in the center of it, in a way. Or rather, she had joined in, simply observing and enjoying the sight.

Yet, neither Mirri, nor her Honedges completely allowed themselves to be engulfed by what was happening. It simply wasn’t something they did, really. Being travelling knights used to such things, they always kept alert. At least when they were not completely distracted by embarrassment. And though she still harbored a faint blush from what had come before, by now Mirri had recovered enough to notice.

After all, this was not her first run-in with an aerial predator. She swiftly reached for a ball and called the third of the Trio, a fully evolved Honedge. “Defensive formation, counter it,” she ordered, before acknowledging the other’s plan with a nod. Mireille decided to ignore the decidedly not very lady-like curses, though. At her Command, the Aegislash set out to utilize a King’s Shield to stop and contain even the falling Talonflame, while the two Honedges aimed themselves and then flung at the enemy with Aerial Aces. That probably should do enough to defeat the opposition.

Mirri still subconsciously moved between Genesis and the action, just in case. “Would you be so kind as to look out for any stray fires this might have started? This one appears to be a lone hunter, so I reckon that there will not be more of its kin. But fire is known to go beyond what can be controlled, even if the Pokemon behind the flame is dealt with.”

Good, the other understood. Mireille nodded to herself, keeping watch on the Talonflame to see if it was getting back up. However, the fiery bird was downed for the time being. All three of her swords were swirling around it, just waiting for a surprise attack or something like that. However, nothing of that sort happened.
Instead, the bird just breathed quietly, knocked out for the time being but probably not mortally wounded. Mireille did briefly considered putting an end to it. After all, if she did not do so, upon waking the beast would simply resume its hunt. Yet, she did not think that killing this predator would make any difference. Neither did she believe that she had a right to do so. This was its nature, much like it was the bug’s nature to create this display before them. Just because she liked how one looked, but not the other did not give her the right to kill anything.

Thus, she decided to take the safe, non-lethal route. Upon her urging, her three ghosts came together to create a makeshift little float to transport the bird a good ways away. That way, it would at least not immediately start fiery flailing that might set the forest ablaze.

Speaking of…..”Do you see any….thing?” Mireille had turned, but could not see her partner anymore. Where had she gone? Worried, briefly, it was now her turn to look around with a bit of frenzy, only to then jump in startlement when the lady emerged from the shadows.
That was when she realized her blunder, once more blushing in embarrassment. “Oh. Ohhh…..I must apologize. I….I just wanted to ask you to take a quick look if its initial attack caused some collateral damage. I did not ask you to stalk the woods and the treetops. Again, my apologies.” She bowed, too, making sure that her intentions were clear this time.

“Yes, we were able to avert damages it appears,” she replied, a bit more stiffly since she did her best to ensure being understood for the time being. Though she was still feeling a bit weird about these blunders from before, at the very least she had not pushed the other away too much. They still seemed rather amicable, which was a good thing. That was usually how it went. A nice little meeting, getting along and then, eventually, saying goodbye.

Such was the life of an errant knight. She sighed to herself. Though she did notice that the other was apparently a bit sleepy, from the looks of it. Deciding to take a seat as well, Mirri took a brief glance at her phone lighting in the moonlit dark. While she was old-fashioned in many ways, she did not reject technology at all. “Dawn will be upon us in a few hours, according to the weather report. I made sure to query this ahead of time,” Mireille explained. She, naturally, had primed her sleep schedule for this occasion, so she did not feel as tired as the other probably did.
“If you need to shut your eyes for a bit, that is fine. I will wake you if anything happens and guard your sleep best I can. That, I promise you.”