The Calm Before The Storm (Bo & Anna)

Inwardly she flinched at the greeting. Outwardly she did her best to give the woman a proper smile as she bowed and addressed her. She hated all of these formalities. Of course when she'd been a commoner she still would have had to adhere to them when greeting someone like Anna O'Finn, but it seemed everything had become that much more formal since she'd been crowned Queen of Idritis. "I hope I'm not inconveniencing you," she said immediately, deciding to forgo any more formalities as she hoped she'd caught the Captain in a good mood. "If you have things to do I don't mind walking with you," she added. Her words were still laced with an accent, showing more than anything else her commoner roots. She'd done her best to tone the accent down and speak properly since the coronation, but she couldn't fight it all together. When she was flustered, or simply not thinking, her accent came out in all of its thick glory, and she often times found people starring at her as they tried to figure out what she was saying. "If you have a moment, though, I would like to speak with you," she said. It was still taking everything she had not to simply ask the other woman for a sparring session. That was how she was used to forging bonds with other people. Once she saw them in action, and they saw her, conversation tended to flow more easily between them. Or at least that was how things had been when she was a soldier.

Now? Now she hadn't been in an arena to spar in two solid months, and it was driving her absolutely insane. She'd managed to avoid frilly dresses, and in fact currently sported a tunic and britches that allowed her free movement a dress would restrict. But the clothes that she wore were far from plain. Her deep blue tunic was embellished with tiny gemstones, and someone had embroidered the royal seal on the back of it. Her britches, while solid black, were clearly of a fine material that only someone with a high rank would be able to afford to wear. Even the leather boots that encased her feet were of fine craftsmanship and had a bit of tooling around the tops to 'make them stand out.' About the only thing that still made her feel like the soldier she had once been was the sword belt strapped to her waist. That had actually been easier to convince the servants to allow her to wear than the clothes had been. Evidently wearing a sword was one thing, but they felt she couldn't look like a Queen unless she wore some overly stated frilly dress. When they had presented her with the tunics, britches, and boots that she now wore on a regular basis she'd thought they were too much. They, however, had worried that they weren't enough. Some had insisted that she looked like little better than a noble, even with all of the embellishments, but she'd insisted it was fine.

As she shifted her stance to walk with the Captain, should the other woman choose to walk and talk, she noted the guard that had followed her from the palace. The man stood near as still as a statue, with the only obvious movement being the flickering of his gaze as he constantly searched for any signs of danger. It was a bit eerie to her that a person could be so still, with little actual expression, and yet still manage to look fierce, intimidating, and like he could easily kill to protect his charge all at once. "If all of your guards are like this one, I have to say you must be doing something right," she commented to Anna as she waved a hand toward the man who acted like he hadn't heard a word that she'd said. The small talk was mostly due to her nerves. Queen or not speaking to people who had once out ranked her, or whose stories had once awed her, was intimidating. Long before she'd ever known the truth of her birth, Bo had heard stories of the Captain of Idritis's Royal Guard. Those stories had always left her in awe and often times she had entertained fantasies of meeting the woman. She'd imagined that they would get along with them both being woman warriors, but she still wasn't sure if that would be the case. Mostly because she hadn't had the opportunity to get to know the woman.

The constant formalities on the Captain's part made her cringe inwardly each time the woman addressed her as 'my Queen.' She wondered briefly if it was acceptable for her to tell the woman she didn't need to use formalities, and then it hit her that the choice was something she could make. She didn't have to wait on other people to toss aside formalities anymore, and could simply insist on it of her own accord. "For the record, unless we're in a situation that calls for formalities, you are free to address me simply as Bo," she said to the woman after Anna had thanked her for the compliment. "And considering that we're simply walking and having a conversation, I see no reason for you not to address me by my name," she added in case the other woman wasn't certain if this situation was one of those that called for formalities. She couldn't help the smile that curved her lips when Anna said that if any of the guards didn't meet her standards she would adjust things to her liking. "Perhaps they could be allowed to have more facial expressions," she said, her tone light and clearly teasing. Sometimes she just couldn't help the joking personality that she'd forged over the years. "Every time I look at him I have to do a double take to make sure that he's an actual person and not a statue," she added with a crooked grin.

When Anna asked if there was something in particular that she needed she shifted her stance slightly, still uncomfortable asking for things from someone like the woman she currently walked beside. "There is something specific I wanted to talk to you about," she admitted, and her expression was quite like a child who was asking for permission to do something they would otherwise be told no about. "As you are the Captain of my Guard, I hope that you are the one to speak to about this," she added with a frown. Honestly she had no idea if she was going about this the right way or not. There was a part of her that wished she had it in her to simply give orders and not worry that they would be questioned. But she'd been a commoner for far too long, and this whole idea of giving orders was still new to her. Sure she'd gained a bit of rank when she'd served in Keld's army, and that rank had allowed her to give orders to a small number of soldiers under her command, but there was a vast difference between giving orders to a handful or so of soldiers and giving orders to an entire kingdom. "I understand the reasons that many royals stay behind at the palace when the army leaves for war," she started, clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation. "But I've also heard that the King of Axailia, and the twin Queens of Baile and Aibirith are going to be, at times, joining their own soldiers in the war," she paused for a moment as if to let those words sink in. Really she was trying to work up the nerve to ask what she was about to of the other woman.

"Now I know that some would argue King Connall was a soldier long before he was a king, and Queen Moira and Queen Morgan have often times proved that they are more than capable of handling themselves when it comes to fighting, but I was a soldier before I ever even knew Risteard was my father," she said, clearly trying to give whatever excuse she could think of that might sway the other woman to her side. "True enough I haven't been in an arena since my coronation, but I did fight along side Keld's heir in the crusades, which we only returned from shortly before I learned of my heritage," she added. "If there's any way, even if I have to jump into the arena now to show you what I'm capable of, or be surrounded by a guard the entire time I'm away from the palace, that I could convince you to allow me near the battle field," she rushed on, but found herself unable to finish her train of thought. She couldn't even bring herself to look the other woman in the eye as she spoke and waited for an answer. Every part of her felt like a child begging for permission from their mother to go off and do something potentially dangerous. It was hard for her to feel like a Queen in that moment, because all she wanted was to be the soldier that she had been before. All of the preparations for war had her chomping at the bit to go off and join the soldiers that she had fought along side on the crusades. All of the preparations for war had reminded her that she wasn't the soldier she had once been any more. That in this war she was supposed to be the Queen of Idritis, not a commoner seeking to gain rank among the soldiers. In this she was supposed to be the one calling the shots, not the one thrusting her sword into one vital organ or another of the enemy. But she was still a soldier at heart, something that no amount of servants attempting to turn her into a proper lady would ever be able to squelch. So as she stood there, bracing herself to be chastised by a woman she'd idolized most of her life, of course she would appear as little more than a child.

She'd laughed a bit at Anna's assurance that the guard would be seen as more friendly toward her. She hadn't meant that the guards seemed unfriendly, but they did seem a bit too stiff to her. While she understood that it was their job to protect her from any potential dangers, it did bother her a little that she would always stand out due to the fact that her guards never seemed even remotely relaxed. It was almost like they weren't human when they were on duty, and while she was used to seeing people slip into what she'd come to call 'soldier mode' she wasn't used to seeing people in what she was coming to refer to mentally as 'statue mode.' But even when Anna gave that order to the guard that was currently following her she could tell that it went against everything he'd been trained to do to allow his expression to appear more relaxed, even if he was still otherwise in statue mode.

She was so mentally prepared for Anna's chastisement, whether the woman attempted to be gentle about it or not, that for a brief moment or so after Anna had finished speaking she wasn't quite able to form words. Finally she managed to clear her throat as her expression transformed from one of surprise to one of what could only be described as elation. Frankly she hadn't expected the other woman to agree, even with the heavy terms that she was setting, so she really couldn't help that she now felt as much excitement as she did. "I accept your terms," she said with a smile. If there was one thing in the world that Bo had complete confidence in it was her ability to fight. She'd recently learned that the retired soldier who had trained her to fight had been something of a legend in his own right before he'd retired. Those few people who knew the name of the man who had trained her had been in awe over it. But she didn't expect name dropping to have any affect on the Captain, and she honestly didn't feel the need to name drop.

She believed in her own abilities when it came to fighting; it was what she'd been trained to do for the majority of her life, after all. Upon their return from the Crusade rumors had spread that she was being considered for another promotion. That promotion would have had to go through Commander Forester, and from what she'd heard he'd been more than willing to listen to the person who had been recommending her, despite her young age and the fact that she was a woman. But then she'd learned the truth of her heritage and, well, the rest was history. She turned her attention away from her inner thoughts and back to the woman whose side she was still walking at. "Thank you," she said, her tone sincere. "I appreciate that you're taking this seriously and not just laughing me off," she added as a means of explanation. She should have known, of course, that everything wouldn't be able to be approved by the Captain of her Guard, but she had figured that Anna would be the best person to start with.

She'd heard a little bit about the Commander that Anna spoke of, and had even seen him in passing a time or two. Each time she'd seen him she'd paused to watch in wonder as he'd carried himself as if he weren't a man lacking his eyesight. He actually made a more intimidating sight to her than many of the people around who could see. For a man like that to have been made the Commander of the Army, he had to be pretty amazing. "Do you have any advice," she found herself asking of the other woman. "For speaking to this Commander, I mean. I'm sure he's quite busy, and I don't want to be a nuisance, especially if he doesn't approve," she admitted with a frown. The way Anna spoke of the man she could tell the Captain was fond of him, but that didn't necessarily make him an easy person to get along with or talk to. She knew people tended to be more accepting of those that they had history with, and given the recent way things had changed so rapidly with the monarch of the Kingdom, she couldn't say that she expected a warm greeting from a man like him. He was probably tired of the regime changes by now, and undoubtedly wouldn't believe her worth much considering she was technically still a kid herself. Before her coronation it had been easy for her to forget that she was still young. As a soldier age had only been an issue on the rare occasions that she'd been forced to interact with people who she hadn't fought beside.

As a Queen she felt like her age was starring her in the face every which way she turned. She'd learned a long time ago that people didn't like to be outranked by someone who was younger than them. With soldiers it had been a bit easier, because she could prove herself as one of them and that proof would translate to at least a grudging respect. But with nobles? She wasn't one, had never been one, and had no idea how to prove that she deserved their respect. With soldiers she just had to show them that she was smart enough to keep them from getting caught in a shitty situation, or if they did get caught in one, that she was smart enough to get them out of it. Combine that with decent fighting skills and she could gain their respect. A tactical mind got you farther with soldiers; especially those under your command, than the best fighting skills. That was because the soldier with the best fighting skills wasn't necessarily smart enough to save everyone's ass. The soldier with the best tactical mind was.