My arms quivered and ached under the force of Elli's blow.
Without giving me time to recover she called out her next attack.
"1st strike."
An overhead blow.
I fell into the stance for 1st deflection, choosing not to block it head on so as to save my arms the pain. Those months spent training only our basic strikes had given both of us terrifying force in our attacks and while that was satisfying to weild, being on the receiving end was both exhausting and rather intimidating.
The strike came down as she called it and I successfully sent it skittering down to my crossguard where I could easily push it aside with the superior leverage near the hilt. Elliana, unperturbed as ever, called out her next blow as she was already swinging it.
"4th strike." The call outs had become purely nominal after a while. When we first began learning our parries over a year ago we had needed several seconds of forewarning to prepare adequately for the attack. Now the process was nearly instantaneous as we had both mastered the 7 basic blocks and 9 deflections. The 4th and 5th strikes from either side were impossible to deflect with elementary techniques and thus had to be blocked or dodged. Blocking a blow with brute force was difficult and jarring however it was also an opportunity to test one's strength against one's opponent's. If I could put more force behind my block than my opponent could handle it would feel to them like hitting a solid boulder, putting them on the back foot and perhaps even knocking their weapon out of their hands. Unfortunately for me, as I blocked Elliana's 4th strike I was reminded that for now we were of roughly equal strength. When I was older I would likely surpass her in height and weight but at our age the difference between the sexes was largely negligible. Even between adults, goldeneye traits meant that the gaps in strength and speed that humans experienced between males and females were largely insignificant; a slight advantage to be sure, but one easily surmounted by adequate skill.
The blows rained down for another half hour or more, a flurry of "6th, 7th, 4th, 8th" and so on with little pause in between. Eventually Elliana called a halt, likely due to her own fatigue from her similar training earlier in the day with my father.
"You're as brutal as ever El." I said with a groan, having long since given up on using her full name.
"And you aren't done yet, Halfeye." She rebuked.
I sighed and stood up from where I had collapsed on the ground. I corrected my stance under her watchful gaze, left foot forward with my right poised on the ball behind me; a stance designed for stability without sacrificing mobility.
So far we had only learned three unarmed blows: 2 punches and a roundhouse kick. By now I had gotten used to my father's slow and steady method of teaching and I knew there was a great deal more to come. He had switched our training's focus away from the sword and toward hand-to-hand a month ago once we had completed the set of basic parries. We were still expected to practice all of our sword skills though.
"If it provides any motivation, your father mentioned that he will teach us reverse grip skills once we have mastered the fundamentals of hand-to-hand."
"Really?! How long should that take?"
"Perhaps 2 years, or so he said. It really depends on how fast we, or rather I, can learn."
I groaned.
'2 years just for the basics? Is it really that much harder than swordplay?'
I threw out a kick but Elli stopped me from continuing with a sharp rap to my ankle.
"You need to aim higher." she reprimanded.
"I'm trying but my leg refuses to go any further."
I sighed with exasperation. We had been over this topic of conversation several times already.
"That's all well and good if you were looking to assault your opponents hips but unless you happen to be facing geriatrics I would say the head is a better bet."
I winced at her remark. Elli's wit was as merciless as ever.
Moving over to one of the racks of training weapons, she unceremoniously dumped them on the floor leaving the rack empty.
"Here. You will use this to perform a half hour of stretches each day before training until your flexibility equals mine."
I swallowed nervously. That was a tall order. I had seen her bend her foot behind her head at times. She demonstrated on the weapons rack, lifting her foot to the highest rung and leaning into the stretch until her legs formed a 180 degree angle.
"Start with whatever rung you can and raise it by one every other week. That can commence tomorrow however. For now you can return to practicing your technique for octogenarian annihilation."
I knew that her harsh measures were necessary but that didn't exactly make me look forward to the prospect.
I took another hour or so to finish the repetitions. With so many different moves to practice, Father had been forced to lower the number of repetitions. That still left me with nearly 4 hours of training per day which looked to only get longer as we learned more forms in hand-to-hand. Once we were comfortably ensconced in the loft reading, Elliana turned to me. Now that she had exited her drill sergeant persona she seemed far softer and more relaxed.
"Your birthday is in 3 days is it not?" she queried.
"Yes. How did you know?"
"Simple, I asked your father."
"Don't you think it might raise a few suspicions if you begin asking about someone who's name you should barely know?"
"I'm no a fool!" she snapped "I phrased it as asking about your entire family's birthdays so I would know when he would be taking days off."
It was true that Father only took breaks on major holidays and our birthdays. It was one of the things that made our training so gruelling. In fact my largest period of rest was actually the preparation week prior to Elliana's birthday gala.
"Why were you so interested anyway?" I asked, curious.
"N-no reason."
"You were asking for no reason at all?"
I raised an eyebrow as she flushed.
"You'll see later, now stop being nosy. Besides, I have to take my leave early today."
She stood up suddenly and, with a quick little wave, beat a hasty retreat.
The next day Elliana's nervousness had been replaced by smug confidence. It didn't at all hinder her usual strict efficiency with training which extended to include the newly added stretches I was forced to perform prior to my usual exercises.
"I managed to procure the rest of the day off so we have several hours of free time once you finish." she informed me.
That at least gave me some small motivation. I noticed as well, while curled up in the cushions of the loft, that the stretching also provided some comfort to my stiff, aching muscles.
Elli was reading leaned against my side but she quite abruptly sat up, breaking the silence.
"I was rather distraught yesterday attempting to think of a suitable gift for your birthday. Your family has brought me a gift for both of the birthdays that have passed during your stay, first my sword, and then my sheathe to match." She touched the sword that never left her waist lovingly. "Yet I have already missed one of your birthdays during our acquaintance which is rather reprehensible on my part."
"You really don't need to worry ab-"
"However" she cut me off "I needed to find a gift of equal value to my own with my limited funds. Even as Crown Princess I cannot simply steal 6 gold pieces from the treasury. Luckily I have found the perfect solution to my dilemma."
"Really?" I asked inquisitively, "What is it?"
I had to admit she had piqued my curiosity.
"Kiss me."
I blinked.
"Apologies, could you please repeat that?"
"Kiss me."
Okay so I definitely had not misheard her.
"Somehow I fail to see how this relates to our earlier conundrum."
"Quite simply, you dullard."
She seemed unimpressed by my lack of overflowing gratitude.
"What could be more valuable than a girl's first kiss - a princess no less - and thus, being unable to provide any gift of some monetary worth that might interest you, I am humbly requesting that you kiss me."
'Nothing humble about it.' I thought to myself 'She likens a mere kiss from herself to 6 gold coins, though no doubt there are some who would gladly pay it when she grows older. I'm not sure whether to call such an offer sweet or arrogant.'
There wasn't much point in making her wait either way. At least if I acquiesced she would no longer have to feel guilty about not providing a gift.
Awkwardly, I leaned towards her. I met her bright gold eyes for a second and then her lips. Several seconds later I pulled back from her, our lips separating.
"Well that was…."
"Disappointing." she finished for me.
My brow furrowed with confusion.
"Is there something we're missing? Stories always make kisses out to be something spectacular. We must've done something wrong."
She hummed her agreement.
"Well in that case there is but one thing to do."
"Give up?" I suggested.
"Absolutely not!" she said, horrified "We must simply learn whatever technique is necessary for a proper kiss. I won't have it be said that I, Elliana Regia Morus, provided an unsatisfactory kiss to my loyal knight."
I groaned. There would be no turning her from this.