A/N:
Hello readers! This was originally going to be a oneshot but has grown into a work of at least a few chapters. Please let me know what you think of it; I hope you like it. Just to clarify, italics = flashback, regular font = current time.
This is set roughly five years before the movie. The title (and the inspiration) comes from the lyrics of 'Everything Has Changed' by Taylor Swift.
Thanks so much to my beta SerendipityAEY, who has, as always, made this about 50 times better than it would have been.

Know You Better

'Cause all I know is we said "Hello"
And your eyes look like coming home
All I know is a simple name
Everything has changed
All I know as you held the door
You'll be mine and I'll be yours
All I know since yesterday is everything has changed.

Chapter 1

"Sir Elmont!"

"I'm here to rescue you, milady."

"Shh! The dragon's asleep. We have to be quiet."

Bette raised her hand and knocked quietly on the door.

She heard the scrape of a chair, and boots on the wooden floor, crossing the room to the doorway. When he saw her standing in the hallway crying, concern fell across his face.

"Bette?"

"John…" she choked out, and stepped towards him, throwing her arms around him and burying her face in his shirt.

John Elmont maneuvered the door shut with one hand while the other rested on the back of her head gently.

"Easy, there…" when the door clicked shut, he put his other arm around her and looked down, speaking against her hair. "What is it, Lilibet?"

"It's Elric Hamon…" she choked out, her voice wound tight. "I saw him, outside the tavern, with that seamstress from the South side. They were... They were..." She couldn't bring herself to tell him what they were doing, but she felt his muscles tense and his breathing change and she knew he'd got the idea.

Bette continued, struggling. "And I know you're just going to say you t-told me so-"

"No, of course not," he interrupted, rubbing her back soothingly. "I had hoped that, for you, he might change his ways."

"I don't care about him," she said. "It's just that he's the only suitor I've ever had and now he's gone – I may as well become a nun."

Elmont laughed softly. "That's ridiculous."

"It's not! A lot of the other Adept's are already engaged, and the ones that aren't have ten or twenty men courting them. My mother would be so ashamed of me."

"Lilibet," he said affectionately, pulling back. "Don't say things like that."

"It's true."

He steered her to the couch and sat her down, then crossed his arms and leaned against the sideboard. "It's not. Why would she have sent you to learn to be a healer if her only ambition was for you to be married off? If that was true, she could have easily arranged your marriage to any boy – me, probably."

Bette laughed, and Elmont turned away.

"Not likely," she said, "Your mother never approved of me."

She heard him pouring a glass of water. "Perhaps. But our fathers were best friends."

She sat back with a sigh. She didn't see the point of discussing this. It didn't matter anyway – Elmont was promised to the Duchess of Hillsbrad, if the rumours were true. She'd never had the heart to ask him about it… And she wasn't going to venture into that territory now.

He turned and stepped back over to her, passing her a glass of water and then taking a seat next to her, but not close enough to touch. He sat forward, with his elbows resting on his thighs. She resisted the urge to reach out to him, but it was difficult - it was always difficult. "What were you doing walking past the tavern this late at night anyway, Bette?"

"I had to take some medicine to Sir Miles. He has gout."

"Why couldn't one of the Novices take it?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You're not my only patient, you know. Each Adept is assigned up to ten Knights at once."

"Hmm. Perhaps I should make use of that favour the King granted me, and request you as my personal and exclusive servant," he said playfully.

Bette scoffed, and hit him on the arm. "That would certainly do wonders for my reputation."

Elmont turned to her, indignant. "It certainly wouldn't do it any harm. I'm an honourable man, in case you haven't noticed. I know you still think I'm a little boy."

She smiled. "It's true, sometimes I still do."

He threw an arm around her neck in a headlock and pulled her close. "If I was still a little boy, I wouldn't have been able to do this."

She protested, her mouth muffled against his arm, and he released her, letting his arm rest around her comfortably. She lay her head on his shoulder, his shirt drying her damp face.

"You're right," she conceded. "Everything's changed now."

This time, he didn't move away. She rested against him while he talked about their childhood, telling her stories he remembered but she had forgotten, until all traces of Elric Hamon had left her mind. Until she was almost completely asleep, and almost completely happy.

Vaguely, she felt a soft pressure against the side of her forehead, and then she was swimming away into dreams.

"Shh! The dragon's asleep. We have to be quiet."

Elmont's eyes widened, and he nodded. "Okay. I'm gonna lift you onto my horse."

He grabbed her hand and pulled her up. He couldn't actually lift her – he was smaller than her. He wasn't actually a knight, either; he was six years old.

His small hand clasped around hers, and they crept out of the 'cave' – the dark area underneath the hanging branches of a willow. Elizabeth was five – almost five and a half – but she was taller than John - even if you counted his hair that stuck, irreversibly, directly upwards. The grown-ups said she should enjoy it while it lasted, but she didn't really believe he would ever grow taller than her.

Suddenly, he spun around, pointing. "Uh-oh! The dragon's awake! Run, Bette – I'll fight him!"

He grabbed a branch lying on the ground. It was much too big, but he hauled it up and swung it at the air. Bette ran a few paces, then turned back and cheered him on while he fought valiantly. It didn't matter that there was nothing there. She could see the dragon clearly. It was a fathomless black, with burning red eyes and smoking nostrils.

"Look out, the fire nearly got you!" she yelled, and John frantically patted out a flame on his sleeve. With a final heroic thrust, he killed the beast, and then staggered backwards, collapsing on the grass.

Bette ran up to him and knelt down.

"Are you hurt?"

"Yes. It stabbed my eye out." He pointed to his left eye, closed tightly.

"It's okay, I'll fix it." She pulled up some grass and sprinkled it over his face. He blew some away from his mouth. She ran her hand gently over the side of his face in what she imagined was a kind healer-ly attitude. One day soon, she was going to the Order to start learning how to be a healer for real, and John was going to the city to become a page.

"Fixed."

He opened his eye, and his blue gaze rested on her. "Now you have to kiss me."

Bette frowned, outraged. "Why?"

"Coz I rescued you."

"But my mommy says you're not s'pose to kiss anyone til you're married."

John sat up, crossing his legs. "That's okay. When I'm grown up, I'll marry you."

"You gotta propose first, silly. Maybe I'm already marrying someone else."

Affronted, he leaned back. "Who?" he exclaimed.

"Michael."

"You can't marry him – he's your brother!"

Bette cocked her head, frowning. "Oh."

John got to his feet and went back to their secret stash in the cave-tree. Amongst other treasures, there was a rusty old ring they'd found in the woods. It had been very dirty, and the gemstone was missing from the socket, but it looked good enough now for them to imagine it held a gigantic diamond. He trotted back over to her, brushing it off, then knelt down.

"Lilibet, will you marry me?"

"I told you not to call me that stupid name!" she said, taking the ring from him and considering it.

"But will you?"

"Okay." She put it over her finger where it hung loosely. "But you're not kissing me 'til you catch me!"

He grinned, and she turned and ran with a squeal of laughter. It wasn't fair – her legs were longer.

John never caught her.