Elizabeth felt the wooden handle of the training sword in her hands. It had been more than four months since she had used one: the last time had been for an exam in the Royal Academy.
Opposite from her, Noddle bounced in anticipation. Elizabeth tilted her head curiously, "You seem excited."
"I'm always excited for battle!"
"Don't let him fool you," Aida's voice came from outside the sparring ring, "He just hasn't won in a while and thinks it's finally his time."
"N-no!" Noodle stuttered, "Mind your own business, Aida!"
"I see," Elizabeth said calmly, "Let's begin then."
She raised her blade, making sure to bend her knees and keep her front foot pointed at the enemy. For a few moments they circled each other, but then Noodle got impatient and charged in, striking at her with a heavy swing.
The attack was basic, predictable, and she deflected it in a textbook manner. Her next series of attacks were methodical, designed to pry open an opponent's guard, and Noodle succumbed to it quicker than even Elizabeth had expected. For a moment, she stared in surprise at Noodle, who was still recovering from his sudden imbalance. She regained her wits right after, and swung once last time, knocking him off his feet.
"And that's the match!" Aida announced, "Figured it might go something like that."
"But… how?" Noodle said, looking up at her disbelievingly, "You've only been taught in a school…"
"The best school in the Kingdom for nobles," Elizabeth reminded, "The Royal Academy spares no expense: we're taught by the best of the best, to be the best."
A voice came from outside the ring, "A fighting style rooted in the basics." Elizabeth whipped around to look and saw that it was Kenric. Suddenly she felt very self-conscious, and wondered what he thought of how she had fought.
Noodle piped up again, jumping to his feet and dusting himself off, "Y-yeah, the way you fight is too basic—"
"No," Kenric said sternly, "It's a good thing. It's a fighting style that emphasises her extremely polished set of fundamentals. It's something you should be training for, Noodle."
Noodle looked put on the spot, and he tried awkwardly laughing it off, "Come on, boss, you know basic isn't my style."
Kenric did not look amused, "No? The art of combat has been researched on and advanced for centuries. Do you think you can surpass it with just your experiences in your lifetime? If so, you're delusional. Adding your own quirks and tricks is fine, but only after you master the basics, or else you'll just remain a third-rate for the rest of your life."
Noodle wilted under Kenric's glare. Something told Elizabeth that he would not ask for another round right now.
*
A few days later, Kenric called Elizabeth into his office. When she entered, she saw that Gerard was already there.
"Ah, thank you for being so prompt, Lady Filangris," Gerard said.
"It was no trouble," Elizabeth said. Gerard and her combined office was just down the hall, so it literally had been no trouble, but niceties like these reminded her that she was still a noble.
"We've received a letter from Lord Aubet," Kenric said, jumping straight into the matter at hand, "He claims he has an offer for us in regards to the requests we've been making to your father."
"Lord Aubet… the owner of the territory to our immediate east," Elizabeth remembered. She'd studied the geography of this whole region extensively in the past few months, "What is the offer?"
"He hasn't said yet. He wants to speak face-to-face," Kenric looked annoyed, "The timing is terrible, Wereion must have found a good replacement for Targur by now."
"Am I to go in your place then?" Elizabeth asked, "Unfortunately, I think that will risk him withdrawing his offer, especially if he asked specifically for you."
"Gerard said the same thing," Kenric said, "Which is why I will be going, and you will be coming with me. We leave tomorrow."
"Me?"
"Aida, Edward, and Gerard have years of experience working together," Kenric said, "If Wereion tries something, I want all of them here. You, on the other hand, understand politics, you are skilled in battle, and you have that stasis spell that will allow me to fight should things get too dangerous. It would be stupid of me not to bring you along."
Elizabeth blushed, feeling the weight of his praise, "U-Understood, I will begin packing immediately." Kenric nodded, and she turned and left the room. As she closed the door behind her, she heard Kenric say to Gerard, "If only it had snowed…"
"We cannot change what has happened," Gerard said, "Unfortunately the weather remains out of our control."
As Elizabeth headed up to her room, her head swam. This was probably the first time she was being entrusted with something without Gerard's help. If anything happened in Lord Aubet's territory, she would be the one in charge of protecting Kenric.
She shook her had to calm it a bit. No, this was just like when Targur had attacked. Back then, maintaining the stasis spell while Kenric was behind enemy lines had fallen solely to her as well.
But back then, everything happened so quickly. Getting a day's advance notice made it more nerve-wracking somehow.
Once she was done setting aside everything she was going to be taking (it wasn't much, Lord Aubet's territory was a few hours' ride away at most), she made her way back to Gerard's and her office. She doubted Kenric would allow her to disregard today's work just because of the sudden news of their imminent departure.
After a while, Aida came bursting in, grinning from ear to ear, "Hey, hey! I heard someone's going on a nice couple's vacation!"
"It's not a vacation," Elizabeth protested.
"Uh-huh, sure. Off to do some sightseeing, a little relaxing, a little high-stakes negotiation… sounds positively romantic!" Aida said.
"Does it now?"
"Well, you're going to have to make it romantic," Aida said, "Lord Wulf has no interest in these things, so it's all going to have to come from your side. You're technically his fiancé, you know."
"Technically," Elizabeth said quietly.
Aida paused, then her bright grin gave way to something more serious, "Say, if a letter arrived today saying that your reputation had been cleared and that you were allowed to leave this place without consequence, would you?"
Elizabeth was taken aback by the sudden shift in tone, and it took her a little time to answer, "I… don't know."
"Well, that's a better answer than you would have given a few months ago," Aida said, "A few months ago you would have given some sort of evasive answer and moved on."
"Why are you asking this?" Elizabeth said.
"Because I don't think you understand yet," Aida said, "Gerard does pretty much everything around here. Politics, he's the one to go to; civil administration, Gerard again; military, I'll give you one guess. But recently… he's been slowing down a bit. His age has been catching up with him."
"Yes, Kenric told me," Elizabeth said, "Are you sure you should be telling me this?"
"It's important," Aida said, "Before you came here, Lord Wulf was having Gerard groom Edward to take his place. But now that you're here, and he's seen your aptitude for politics, he's split up the workload. Now, he's having Edward study only the military, and he's having you learn about the politics of this place. He's hoping you two will take up Gerard's mantle later on."
Elizabeth took this in, stunned, "…But, what if a letter does arrive? And what if I do leave? What was Lord Wulf hoping to do then?"
"Then he would start over," Aida said, shrugging, "We don't have the luxury of choice here. He'll take what he can get, when he can get it. I just needed you to know that. If you're planning to leave, you have to tell us plainly. If you wait until later, Lord Wulf will have a lot more work to deal with. He's already overworked as it is." Aida's expression softened a tiny bit, "Just think on it a little."