Finn only got to enjoy about ten minutes of her own party before her father was dragging her by the arm out of the room.

"You're obviously not ready for a title. Do you not even know how to address your Queen?" he hissed as he marched her down the hall.

"When the hell was I supposed to learn that? And from who?" Finn snapped, what little patience her party and her new title had given her evaporating under father's ridiculous critiques.

"You'll watch your mouth if you know what's good for you," he growled, trying to shake her with the hand he had on her arm. Unfortunately for him, the full set of plate armor had added about fifty pounds of weight to her normally thin frame, and it wasn't so easy to budge her.

She yanked her arm out of his grip in disgust. "Or what?" she goaded him. He returned her scowl with his own.

"Is this the gratitude I deserve for raising you from nothing?" he asked, his nose wrinkling with his own sneer.

"I think raising a child would entail more than just shoving them at the nearest person who didn't look too busy. Maybe I'll thank Grandma for the sweet buns when you didn't bother to feed me. Or, maybe I'll thank Gurla for telling me I was being knighted today, since you didn't seem to think it was important enough for you to bother with," Finn ranted, all the hatred and bile rising up in the back of her throat like a dragon summoning fire from its belly.

As a knight, she was no longer beholden to her father, not that she had ever particularly been as a guard. But a knight worked for the queen directly, took her orders only, even if they were sometimes passed down through others. A knight could ignore a general, especially if that general was being an ass.

"Ruven," her father said, not taking his eyes off of her furious face, "handle her," he said with a sniff, then turned on his heel and stomped off in the opposite direction. Back to the party.

Finn resisted the urge to stomp her foot like a child by the skin of her teeth. Her older brother stepping into her line of sight definitely helped.

"He. Is. So!" Finn said through gritted teeth.

"Not here," Ruven said softly, casting a cautious glance back down the tapestry adorned hallway toward the sounds of merry making still coming from the throne room. "The armory."

Finn followed Ruven out of the royal residence and across the court toward the armory and the guard barracks where they had lived most of their lives. Her hands were trembling faintly in their gauntlets, the metal plates clinking softly as they shifted with her shaking.

It was a long walk to the armory. It was almost on the exact opposite of the court from the Queen's throne room and the other buildings and residences that she used personally. Still, it gave Finn time to calm down, though the resentment didn't really go anywhere. It just settled in her stomach like a rock.

She wondered if she would ever be free of her father. Ruven had been a knight for almost five years, one of the youngest fae to ever be knighted. Even so, he still had to listen to their father's rants, to his dressing downs, accept his unreasonable demands, and humor his cruelty with good grace. He treated both of them like shit, and all the other fae just watched. What would they say about Jhaartael dragging his own daughter out of her own party? Probably they would just call him a real bastard, shake their heads and go right back to their lives.

When they reached the armory, it was dark and empty. The party would probably just be starting in earnest, but for all the guards who had to get up before the break of dawn, it was already time to be in bed.

Ruven led the way back to the room with all the sets of armor and set to helping Finn unbuckle and remove each piece by piece. Finn stewed in her frustration, but Ruven looked as placid as ever. The only sign of his own inner turmoil, if he was experiencing any, was a small wrinkle between his pale brows as he worked to unbuckle each piece of armor.

"It's not fair, Ruven," Finn mumbled as her brother finally removed the last piece, the chest piece.

"I know," he agreed quietly, sitting the chest piece aside before taking her by the shoulders and gently turning her around.

Finn's eyebrows went up as she felt him start to unwind the wrappings around her chest for her. He hadn't helped her with her bindings since, back when she was young and was just learning how to wear them. Back then his fingers were so deft and careful, his expression so solemn and unhappy, it made a deep impression on her how alone the two of them were while surrounded by so many people.

"Perhaps it's better," Ruven sighed as he unwound the last bit of linen and piled it carefully on top of the chest piece. "If you had stayed at the party all night, you would have had no time to check your equipment for tomorrow and would have been exhausted on the road."

"Oh shit!" Finn exclaimed. "My gear! I hadn't even thought about provisions or getting a map or-"

Ruven forestalled her with a raised hand and a faint smile. "Luckily for you, I figured you wouldn't have time to do all that. So, I got it ready for you."

"Seriously?" Finn asked. Another time she would have been embarrassed by how hoarse her voice sounded, but the armory felt so safe and isolated, lit only by the torches on the wall and with only her and her brother. "Ruven, you're a lifesaver."

Ruven's mouth twitched a little in amusement. "It's nice to be appreciated," he joked.

Finn punched him in the arm, a grin spreading over her own face at the rare sound of a joke from her stiff older brother.

At that moment, even if things weren't perfect, they felt pretty close for a short while. She had Ruven, and he had her, and somehow they would muddle through together like they always had.