Chapter Ten

"I don't like this," Wolf repeated to Perrine, tugging on the dress uniform. The two of them were waiting in a spare bedroom for the signal. There had been much damage to the palace but after seeing Wolf's bravery and fortitude King George had insisted she be knighted, so they were conducting the ceremony in a hallway. If Wolf had her way she would be back at the pub getting in a few drinks before going back to Dover. At least the King had been kind enough to let her go back to Dover. Perrine was there too since Wolf had very little idea about protocol in these situations and figured the Gallian might be some help.

"Stop fidgeting," Perrine ordered, "You'll crease your clothes."

"If only that was the worst of it," Wolf grumbled.

Perrine flicked Wolf's ear, "Enough with attitude, you're up in two."

"If I had my bayonet, Gallian…"

"But you don't. Just stay calm, remember what you've been told to do."

"Next time we go somewhere quiet for our off time, like the Highlands."

"I will not eat haggis," Perrine said firmly.

"You'll eat what you're given; food is rationed after all… except for booze. That's kept in a fairly constant supply." Where the hell is Dick when you need him.Wolf wanted a cigarette.

"You're up," Perrine said, holding the door open for Wolf.

The Britannian took a deep breath and walked out into the hallway. There were officers, politicians, and nobles lining the hall with the King and Queen at the other end. Everything became a blur as she approached the royals. She was never big on ceremonies or so many 'influential' people being around. Those were the sort of people who she had found were the most trouble when she was growing up. It was easy to blame the little orphan kid, to make fun f her or take advantage of her naivety.

Wolf suddenly realised that there was a sword on her shoulder, and then it was placed on her other shoulder. When did I kneel?

If nothing else, she could rub it in the faces of the others. Knights Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Hartmann? Actual knight, bitch! She didn't know how Dick would react though, she hadn't seen him once since leaving the pub with Mary to go to BuckinghamPalace. He probably wouldn't give two shits once they got back to training. Back to hours of shooting practice, formations, manoeuvres, hand-to-hand combat with the other witches – that one she actually quite enjoyed – and ground attack tactics. Apparently a lot of ground Neuroi don't have much in the way of air defences. Now that Wolf thought about, maybe all airborne witches should be trained to use basic land Strikers just in case they got stranded or airborne Strikers were unavailable and all ground witches taught to use basic airborne Strikers.

Some one tapped Wolf on the shoulder. She returned from her thought and realised it was just her and Perrine.

The Gallian clicked her fingers in front of Wolf's face, "SirKaufmann! Earth to SirKaufmann!"

Wolf caught her wrist and bared her teeth, "When I get my sword, Gallian, I am running you through."

"Hold on, it was you who wanted me here!" Perrine sighed, "Let's just get back to the pub; Commander Yeager says we're leaving early."

Wolf and Perrine were driven back to the pub where Eila and Dick were waiting outside, the latter leaning against the wall with a cigarette hanging out the side of his mouth.

"Pack your things and meet us at the jeep. I've already paid." Dick ordered without so much as a second glance at Wolf.

Wolf and Perrine went upstairs to pack their things, the Britannian grumbling as she got out of her dress uniform and into her usual leather flight jacket, with a snarling wolf's head and crossed brooms stitched into the back and Sergeant chevron on the shoulders, and also put on a green skirt and the trench coat Mary had bought her – it was chilly outside and the clouds threatened rain. "Bastard didn't even care that I've been knighted? What, he too good to congratulate his underling? How many of the other bloody witches he's trained have been knighted? None I bet. Liberian son of a bitch"

The drive back to Dover was a quite one, and as Wolf had predicted, it rained. She watched as the scenery changed and thought about joining MI:6 and a Wolf Pack once her time in the RAF was up.

When they got back to the base, Wolf unpacked her things and spent the rest of the day hold up in her room. She still had the rest of the day off after all, they had just returned early, and she had plenty of books to keep her entertained now.

At about half nine as Wolf had just gotten undressed for bed, there was a knock at the door.

She wrapped the blanket around herself and shouted, "Enter." She was surprised to see Dick come in.

Halfway through the door he realised that the blanket was all that was keeping her decent and quickly looked away.

She angrily pulled him in and quickly shut the door. "Dick, you've fucked me for Christ sake, there's no need to be so modest now."

He looked her up and down.

She gave him a nasty look,"Doesn't mean you have to ogle."

He shrugged, "I can't remember anything from that night so what did you expect?"

Wolf sat on her bed and crossed her legs, "what do you want?"

He sat against the wall and lit a cigarette, then offered one to Wolf who refused. "Firstly, congratulations on being knighted."

"'Bout damn time."

"But," Dick said as if Wolf had rudely interrupted him, "It doesn't mean you're going to be treated any different. You're still a Sergeant to the Air Force, no more, no less."

"Sharpshooting Sergeant," Wolf pointed out, "And I already knew that, sir."

"Secondly, about that night…" he took a long drag of his cigarette, "they're both right you know, Mary and Stuart, about us. About how we feel."

"I know," Wolf said sombrely, staring at the ground, "but we can't do anything about it, can we?"

"Fraternisation. We'd both get court-martialled."

"Mhmm."

They sat there in silence for a while, neither one looking at the other.

"Tell you what," Wolf spoke up eventually, "after this war, when we both leave the armed forces, why don't you take me back to Liberion with you? It's not like I have any family to stay here for."

"Deal," Dick agreed, and then laughed, "Though fighting for humanity, or even my country, wasn't my reason for joining."

"Why did you join then?"

"To meet witches. Joined the Army Air Force thinking I would get the chance to sleep with some of their witches when I started getting put up against them in aerial sparring, plane versus witch – which I'll be getting you guys to do if I get the opportunity – and a few months later I was the one training them. Been doing that ever since." He got up and kissed Wolf on the top of the head, "I'll see you bright and early tomorrow, Golden Eyes."