I reply, "Shouldn't you have been caught in the chaos in the dining room?"
"I was, but I wanted to at least try to find who incited it."
"What's the point? There were too many non Nova in that room for the guards to overcome them."
"You're right. I didn't even care that much about the king and queen, I was just choosing the winning side."
"Then why are you here? What do you care about anyway"
"When I heard your voice over the PA system I had a hunch it was you. No one else would cause a coup like that with completely no ambitions of being the new ruler."
I raise my eyebrow, "And?"
"I care about you enough to give you a fair fight," they say, opening their bag to reveal two rapiers.
"A fair fight? For what?"
They laugh. "I'm just covering my bases. If the king and queen survive and find out that I just let you go, that wouldn't be good would it?"
I sigh and take a rapier.
As soon as we're both ready they lunge, aiming for the middle of my chest, but I can tell they don't actually want to hurt me. Their heart just isn't in it. I parry and riposte easily. They come closer, lunge again, and I parry again. Now we're close enough that they can hear when I whisper "I hope you find something you do care about," as I beat their rapier away. I give a teasing smile as I pick it up, just as I did in the "duels" we had with sticks as kids.
"Fine. You win," they say in a bored voice, adhering to the rules of those ancient "duels". I hand them back the swords and walk home.