Before he could dwell anymore on his new circumstances, a somewhat haggard middle-aged woman who Geff recognized as his mother entered the cottage and started addressing him with a hint of urgency. "Come on, everyone is waiting for you, Geff."
Geff blinked. "Waiting for me for... what?"
His mother looked at him incredulously. "Don't you remember, you silly boy? You've been chosen for the Armoring!"
The memories hit him suddenly. The Armoring. In times of war or whenever else the realm was in great need, it was the duty of the great knights of the realm to fight in its defense, and the duty of peasants like him to aid them. Of course, knights needed armor to fight, and the armor needed to be magical if they were to prevail, so the peasants would serve their knight by becoming his armor through magic. Wait, what?! Jeff's modern mind was shocked, but it made perfect sense to Geff. When there was a war, or whenever else the knight of the town's castle needed special armor, the town's strongest and most loyal young men would be chosen to fulfill their duty by becoming the pieces of his suit of armor. That was the Armoring. It was supposed to be a great honor, and Geff did indeed feel honored. His knight had found him worthy to protect him, and now he would be getting the opportunity to serve and protect him in a way that few others would ever get to! Jeff didn't care about protecting some random rich guy who had never been elected or done anything other than being born to get his position of power, and he didn't want to be armor. Better to stay some random, smelly peasant than to become an inanimate piece of metal protecting someone else. Geff did want to be armor, though, and he knew that it didn't matter whether or not he wanted to since it was his duty to his superior. Jeff was suspicious, since with Geff's memories he now remembered that the boys and men selected for the Armoring had a habit of not returning. Anyone who would not only lord over other people but actually turn them into armor wasn't to be trusted. But Geff instinctively trusted in his knight. It wasn't in his nature to question his betters.
Throughout this inner battle, Geff, or Jeff, followed his mother to the town square, which he was able to do without thinking about it since it was a route he was so familiar with. Geff was in control, and as much as he tried Jeff couldn't override his loyalty to his liege. Finally, he arrived at the square, a dirty, muddy, unpaved space surrounded by market stalls in front of a tall stone building that Geff recognized as the temple of the gods. There was a crowd gathered there to watch the Armoring, chattering among themselves, and in front of them, closer to the temple, was a line of young men dressed as simply as Geff was. Geff took his place among them at the end of the line as he knew he was supposed to do. Looking over them, he saw that they were all young men like he was, in their late teens or twenties, and that they all seemed strapping, tall or strong. Looking back at himself, he saw that he seemed to be the youngest, but also one of the strongest and bulkiest.
The large wooden doors to the temple, carved with holy symbols, open, and out came a handsome man of around thirty years old, taller and stronger (and clearly better-fed) than any of the peasants, with piercing blue eyes and trimmed blond hair and beard, dressed richly in expensive fabric dyed deep red. The knight. His expression, gait, and posture radiated confidence, arrogance, and superiority. A hush fell over the crowd. A hunched-over old man in a black robe with a long beard, walking with the aid of a staff, hobbled after him, but everyone's eyes were on the knight. He stopped in front of each of the young men lined up to wait for him and took a few moments to inspect each one, nodding in approval or shaking his head in disappointment. Geff felt increasingly nervous that his knight might not approve of him after all, and he took a deep breath to calm down as the knight finally reached him. The older man seemed to inspect the peasant boy for even longer than all of his counterparts, staring him down as though peering into his soul, before nodding at last. Geff felt a surge of relief and pride, Jeff's modern qualms forgotten for the moment.
The knight addressed him in a crisp, intimidating voice. "Yes, you will do nicely. You are lucky, boy. You will have the great honor of being my..."