Rune had made a pallet on the floor for the princess with her bearskin cloak which she had curled up on quite peacefully, her longsword aimlessly laid sideways next to her.
Rune would have to fix her weapon handling skills, but that could wait as the sword didn't seem to be damaged.
Suddenly the princess's eyes fluttered open. The dusty rose color flickering around the room as if she forgot where she was for a moment.
She propped herself up on an elbow before looking up at Rune.
"Hello." Her voice was drowsy and a bit tipsy, despite being completely sober she seemed to be drunk on fatigue at this point.
"Hello." she replied, her voice as flat as she could manage.
"We haven't really met properly." she chirped, her rosy eyes lit up like a christmas tree.
"Well I know you're the Princess of the Rósanians, heir to spell city, and I've been asked to guard ya." Rune began sharpening a silver kopis with a handheld sharpener from her belt causing sparks to fly, and a hideous screech to echo through the cave with every strike.
Zoe winced.
"W-what's your name?"
Rune glared at the maiden sprawled out on the palette, her bright eyes looking up expectantly waiting for an answer. The redhead sighed.
"I am Rune BarClay, daughter of Ridire Atholia, and Ridire Brynjar, born to the Isles of Skye." her voice lulled irritably as she said this, as if reciting it for the thousandth time.
"I'm Zoe." she reached her hand up as she said this. Rune stared at the pale peachy palm for a few moments before finally succumbing to her goofy smile, she gave a brief handshake before turning her attention back to the knife.
Zoe pulled herself up to a cross legged position on the palette. Leaning against the stone wall she stared at Rune intently, studying everything about her.
She studied the fiery golden red hair which seemed to waterfall and explode around the ridires shoulders all at the same time.
Her pale skin was littered with freckles of varying shades of brown and orange scattered amongst the occasional thin salmon pink scar. Her golden brown eyes seemed to pierce the soul of whatever she set them on, casting a blanket of silent judgment on anything seen as improper or inefficient. So focused on the task at hand nearly five minutes went by before she noticed Zoe gawking at her.
"Can I help you?" she spat
Zoe flinched slightly at this.
"N-no, I like your hair, miss." She chuckled slightly as she said this, a strand of platinum blonde hair falling into her rosy face.
Rune scowled.
"Thank you, yours is nice as well."
Zoe's hand instinctively went up to her hair. Running her fingers through it smoothly she smirked slightly.
"I've always had it long, my dad did too."
"I thought males in the new world wore it short… like that large confused man whom you came with?" Rune tried to seem distracted and uninterested as she said this, but the truth was she wanted nothing more than to know everything about this girl's life.
"You mean Omeo?" she snorted.
Rune looked at her with an eyebrow raised
Zoe cleared her throat
"Um, yea, most of them do, but some… like my dad, and Marbh, they don't give a shit really, plus it's good for mosh pits!"
"Mosh pit?"
"I-I'll explain those later." she chuckled, flipping her hair behind her shoulder.
Rune sighed, she sheathed her knife and set the sharpener neatly on the rocky floor beside her along with her pouch.
"Here's the thing, there's no use protecting you if I don't teach you how to protect yourself at the same time." She paused sternly glancing over at the princess to make sure she was paying attention.
"Give a man a fish you feed him for the day, teach him how to fish you feed him for a lifetime."
Zoe bit her lip slightly, a worried expression coming over her face.
"I won't have to fight anyone will I?"
"That's usually required."
"Oh…" her eyes trailed off into the farthest corner of the cave's back wall.
"You won't fight your own fights for a good while, but when the time comes… I'll make sure you're ready." Rune's voice dropped in volume as she said this, pulling her hair into a sloppy fireball on the top of her head she stood up, unsheathing her short sword she prodded Zoe with it lightly.
"Pick up the pace sweetheart." she scoffed
Zoe picked up the sword, fisting the hilt with two hands she stumbled over trying to pick it up.
Rune grabbed the sword by the blade to steady Zoe, her fingerless leather gloves being the only thing between her flesh and Zoe's blade; she saw this as an opportunity to teach her new apprentice of sorts her first lesson.
"A guardianship is built of trust." she stated, letting go of the sword she brought her own sword next to Zoe's to where the blades were touching, one bright, silver, and shaking relentlessly and one rusted and steady as the hands of a painter.
Zoe gawked at Rune, her mouth slightly opened. Rune pushed up on the girl's chin with her sword closing her lips together.
Rune continued.
"Obedience." There was a long pause after this as Rune began to walk circles around Zoe, the blade trailing her body carefully.
"And lastly… precision."
After a few moments Zoe realized the thin cotton fabric of her shirt had been sliced in a perfect circle… there was no blood, no injury, the blade hadn't even made contact with her skin. Zoe fawned silently over the shirt, she gripped the piece of fabric over her torso which was now connected only by a two inch trip on either side.
"I...T-this is my favorite shirt." she accused with a stutter, she faltered after she said this… looking at Rune with a mix of awe and confusion.
"I think it adds a nice alternative touch." Rune stated, somehow she had seamlessly switched out their weapons and was now resting her palms on the hilt of Zoe's sword. The blade stuck into the rock without bending.
"H-how did you do that?"
"Practice."
After a few awkward minutes of staring at each other (which Rune didn't seem to mind), Zoe couldn't take it anymore.
"Well… can you teach me?" she spat sheepishly, as arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed she twisted her foot nervously on the gravely floor.
Rune gave a small chuckle as she walked over to the princess. Now standing behind her she reached her arms through her armpits to Zoe's sword arm.
"Right or left hand?"
"Left."
"Take your right hand off."
"Bu-"
"Take it off."
"It's too heavy!" Zoe's voice was filled with embarrassment and exasperation, she was glad Rune couldn't see her face as it was probably shamefully angry looking.
"You're just telling yourself that, besides I'll help you hold it."
Zoe huffed before finally letting go of the sword leaving only her left hand on the grip. Rune held her wrist steady with her own left hand.
"Now draw a line going up."
She instead drew a sort of zigzag in the air with the sword, Rune's hand going along with Zoe's.
She tried to give a minimum amount of support rather than doing it for her, she grimaced… she wanted it to be perfect so badly it took everything in her to not just correct the shaky line herself.
"Almost."
"Why can't I just use both hands?" she whined
"Because it's a one handed sword."
"Well can't I have the two handed one back?" Zoe spat in exasperation. Rune stepped out from behind her.
"Fine, I don't need your hands on my weapons anyways."
"What is that supposed to mean?" the princess asked, her voice hushed and slightly hurt, she crossed her arms in order to seem defensive rather than sensitive.
Rune simply ripped the rustier shorter blade out of Zoe's grasp and replaced it with the old shiny longsword.
"If you think you're so good with a longsword, why don't we have a bit of a spar?"
"I never said I was good with anything," Zoe's voice cracked in fear as she said this. "I just can't hold the other one!"
"Make the line."
"B-"
"We're not moving on until you make a perfect vertical line with the sword."
Zoe gripped the sword tighter trying her best to grip it the same way Rune had been a few moments ago. She then made a shaky but mostly straight line in the air, the silver blade reflecting off every piece of wet glistening stalactite that hung from the cave's roof.
Rune's muscles tensed as she saw this, she prepared for the ever so annoying "I told you so"
But it never came, the princess instead whipped her beautiful silky blonde head of hair around to face Rune. Her dewy peachy skin creased into faint smile lines her face filled with pride.
"Hey! I did it!" she squealed.
Rune bit her lip to keep from smiling.
The girl reminded her of what she might have been like if she hadn't been raised as such a snob, if she hadn't been so ruthlessly criticized as a child. Rune did not like this. She grimaced before striding over to her student.
"It's cute that you think that was perfect."
Zoe's face fell, her fluorescent fuchsia dimming down to a grayish magenta.
"Still good, I mean better than last time." Rune stumbled for the right words… she didn't want to lie or permit incorrect swordsmanship. However she disliked the look of pain on the girl's face. If she continued being so childlike and sensitive this would indeed be an interesting apprenticeship.
"Try again."
Zoe made yet another shakey line, this one much straighter than the last. But still slightly off.
"Almost"
"What? That was perfect!"
Rune shook her head, flipping the short sword into the air with one hand she used to gesture to gesture Zoe back to work.
It took almost three hours for Zoe to make what Rune deemed a straight enough line with the sword.
The princess was tired and frustrated, but she would never allow the latter to show. She gave a tensed synthetic smile, her eyelids twitching and her lips pursed. Rune saw right through it but decided to say nothing.
"That is sufficient I suppose."
Zoe wheezed dramatically in response to this.
"Tomorrow we will work on downwards lines."
"Can I sleep now?"
"The sun is rising, we should set out now so we can get there before sunset."
"B-"
"After you." Rune cut off the princess shamelessly with her sarcastic remark as she pulled the boulder away to reveal the clearing, this time in the light of day.
"Sheath your sword on your right hip."
Zoe slipped the sword into the sheath before sliding it across her belt to where it was sitting on her right hip bone.
"To Bobainne?"
Zoe took a deep sigh looking up at the steep mountain ahead.
"To Bobainne." she muttered.