If was the morning of the next day and Sigrid strode through the sunlit pathway toward the training fields.
She held her head high, as befitting a Commander of the Galloping Brigade, and her posture was as proud as ever.
But beneath that composed exterior, Sigrid was absolutely mortified.
"I can't believe this." She muttered under her breath, her cheeks still carrying a stubborn flush. "Of all days. Of all days."
She was late. Genuinely, unforgivably late.
She was supposed to be teaching the new recruits a critical sword technique, the Spiral Parry, one of the foundational forms that every young centaur needed to master before they could even think of joining the Brigade.
The session had been scheduled for early morning and Sigrid was never late.
She was the first to arrive at every formation, every briefing, every training session. An hour early, at minimum. That was simply who she was.
But today? Today she had slept in.
And it was entirely Luca's fault.
