Chapter Text
Still took her a week to properly heal. The prince checking in on her in her room at night until then.
Not entirely sure why he showed up so often but it was nice considering the people she was closest with were busy with tending to everyone affected by what happened. Zeke attempting to keep the peace after people got displaced because of the monster, bunch of new kids at the orphanage according to Tatiana. Understandably, a week has not been enough to quell most people’s fears and worries.
Hell, Xandria’s been wondering how that thing got so close to town. Was this supposed to be some call to action? Is someone trying to hunt something down?
It couldn’t be her at least. They wouldn’t have known what she looked like.
“But you left her alive. That could’ve been enough.” Her mind ached as the thought clawed its way for her attention. Her left hand reminding her of only two months ago as it stung as though even now it was still burning.
She rubs her head trying to shove that memory back down. Thinking to herself, On the other hand, maybe it could’ve been for Albein. He does operate pretty close to here. A very bold move while he’s the prince yet it was still plausible if terror activity had gotten bad.
But in other news, she’s at least made decent progress in her book thanks to Albein. The script was starting to look like English to her at this point so she might be able to speed through without him if she’s lucky. Just needs to wait for this shift to end and she can get back to her work.
“Dria.”
Should she practice any of those rituals in there?
“Dria?”
Her attention finally snaps back to reality as Tatiana waves her hand in her face. Finally registering the concerned looks of the woman and even Zeke.
“Hey you two.”
“Xandria, hi.” She pulls her in a quick embrace. “How’s your first day back? Are you alright? Do you need more rest?”
“Oh, it’s fine. I’m fine.” She laughs a bit. “I’m doing alright, Tatiana. Just trying to get back into the swing of things again.”
“Oh alright. But hearing how slow you were healing was a little scary, I wasn’t sure if there were any side effects.”
“That Terror was no joke though.” The blonde-haired knight looked exhausted. His face dropping down to a scowl despite having some time off after the attack. “Her wounds could’ve been worse than what was visible. After all, she was fully knocked out after getting hit like that. A miracle you survived from what I saw.”
Did he not see my magic? “Maybe it’s best only the princes know.”
Rubbing the back of her neck she replies, “I’m right there with you. I have no idea how I’m still standing, much less alive.”
“Well, let’s hope you never have to test that again.” The woman sighs, trying to compose herself again before continuing, “Anyways, I was hoping to talk about something else with you.”
“Oh? What’s going on?”
“There’s a festival happening in three weeks time and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind help chaperone the kids with me and a few others. It’ll be in shifts so we could all have a chance to enjoy the festivities, of course. But I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind helping.”
“I wouldn’t, what’s the festival about though?”
Zeke had looked confused by her question but nodded his head as if something clicked. “Right, you’ve only been here a few months now. It’s for the official celebration of our alliance with Zofia.”
What? The young woman paused for a second when she heard that. Is that what’s happening instead? No war?
Xandria felt like she should be happy about that but something’s off. What did it take for them to do that if the Gods were still here? Wasn’t it the Divine Accord that made everything so much more tense in the first place? Or was she missing something?
“There’s a catch. No way they would get along so easily.”
Shaking her head as another headache came on, “Really now? Thought things were still pretty bad with Zofia.”
“Well, they are but this is in hopes to ease some of the tension and show some of Zofians how we have fun. So in addition to the festival there’s gonna be a tournament.”
“Like a dueling one?” Xandria half-joked. Though, the more she thought about it, there probably wouldn’t be many other kinds. At least here.
“Well yes,” Zeke chuckled to himself, “Not many other kinds get our people riled up as much.” The knight continued to explain the rest. Just a simple series of battles for the first couple rounds before spanning into all out brawls for the finals.
“Man, a shame I haven’t been practicing that sounds pretty fun.”
Yet again, it looked like she surprised Zeke. Since he questioned, “You know how to fight?”
“I mostly know hand to hand stuff but I have used a quarterstaff before just not for very long. And then there’s all that time I spent recovering, probably won’t have enough time to pick it back up to be tournament ready.”
“It is three weeks though. It’s possible if you’re fully healed and I’d have no qualms in helping you get ready.” Zeke proudly proclaims.
“Wouldn’t you be participating?”
“My duty calls for me to help guard the stadium that day so I don’t think it’ll hurt if I helped you.”
“If it’s not too much trouble on your end then I suppose it could be fun to get back into it.”
“Alright, we could start tomorrow if you have time. I’ll make sure your name gets on the roster as well.”
Too late to drop out now. Who knows maybe she’ll have some fun after all this time? Maybe even get the prince in on this to just get her mind off of everything.
—————————————————————
She wasn’t sure what she was expecting but heading to the palace training grounds was not what she had in mind. Honestly she thought the palace was further away from where she was.
Maybe the Albein theory might not be too far off. But how did she miss this place?
“Alright let’s start with some refreshers since you’ve said you’re more out of practice.” Until now, she’s rarely ever seen Zeke out of his armor but here he had a simple cotton shirt and pants, both of which tucked in for their match.
Taking up a stance, Xandria followed suit and waited for the other to make the first strike. Suppose being taught for self-defense ingrained that deep into her subconscious.
She liked how it reminded her of when she practiced with her uncle. Zeke started off with obvious wide movements to key her in on what he was doing. But as she slowly regained her flow, his movements got quicker, much more subtle. Honestly it looked nearly identical to the routine her uncle Eric used to warm her up in her mind.
Once her heart truly began pumping, as the adrenaline rushed through her body, she felt excited as she always did. Eric had always commented on how eager she was to learn every time. Said when his son was little he was utterly terrified to the point of tears when he tried.
Xandria had always thought of it like dancing. Bounding from one side of the ring as she found the right point to strike. Or mixing up her moves throughout in order to keep the routine looking fresh.
Like how instead of blocking the knight this time, maybe she’ll slide to the side before kicking out his leg.
“Ah!” Xandria snapped out of her little trance to realize what she’s done. Zeke had completely fallen to his side, looking up at her in mild amazement.
“Sorry, forgot how fun that could be.” She pulls up the blonde, deeply apologetic about sending him to the floor like that.
“It’s quite alright. Suppose I should’ve asked how experienced you are first. Although I also thought it would take longer for it to come back.”
“I mean, been learning this stuff since I was like nine I think.” She then turns away from Zeke to see the two princes in similar way to the knight next to her, standing by the wall watching them. Albein giving her a small smile while Berkut just generally seemed unimpressed.
“Oh. Um, good afternoon your highnesses. Hope we are cutting into your time.” Xandria gave them a small bow since it’d probably be bad to be casual here.
Zeke immediately straightened up hearing her say that and gave a greeting himself.
“It’s quite alright you two. There’s plenty of room here.” Albein said in a jovial tonr. “What are you two training for?”
“Oh, heard there was a tournament coming up so Sir Ezkiel here was kind enough to help give me a refresher while he’s free.”
The second prince scoffs, “Didn’t look like you needed much of a refresher.”
“I’d beg to differ your highness. I’m fine with hand to hand but it’s been a while since I’ve had proper practice and last I remembered I also need a weapon to participate.”
“Alright then,” Berkut makes his way to the weapon rack and tosses a practice lance at the woman, who was barely able to catch it. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
She made no effort to hide that she was surprised and nervous by this. But his cold glare was more than enough to tell her that he was serious.
Well, it’s not like she’s in any position to refuse.
“As you wish, your highness.”
Who knows, maybe he’ll hold back a bit. Trying to remember the stance her uncle told her about a few years back. Straighten up, steady her stance. Trying to ready up and then she looks to Berkut who stares at her curiously.
Before she knew it, Berkut charges at her. The lance flying out of her hands as she attempted to brace herself.
He lowers his lance and looks at her in disbelief. “You’ve… practiced?”
“Well… It’s been a some years since I’ve used a weapon. More confident in hand to hand in all honesty.”
“Well, that’s no good if you want even the slightest shot in making it past the first round. We even have people coming in from Zofia competing, I’d rather you not make a mockery of Rigel with this sort of performance.”
“Your highness.” Zeke interjected. “I’m afraid I’ve only recently managed to find time to teach her. But I’m sure she’ll show improvement by the time it comes around.”
Xandria looked at Albein for any sort of help but he was over at the weapon rack with this sort of twinkle in his eyes. Grabbing a practice sword before handing her the lance back.
“Well, I don’t see why we can’t catch her up if we want a fair fight.” The first prince offered with a tinge of excitement in his voice.
His cousin grumbled under his breath but silently agreed. Judging by his demeanor, Xandria guessed he was by no means gonna go easy on her. She simply thanked them both for the offer since she would need this training anyways. However there was this feeling like there was some sort of catch to all of this. Confusion taking over her gratitude towards him.
“Nothing is given without a reason. Don’t be surprised when he finally takes.”
The girl shakes the doubt away. Since when does she think like that?
—————————————————————
Xandria groans, feeling her joints begin to crack as she stretched. Guess she was wrong on one thing, Berkut wasn’t the only one to not hold back. But once he was told by Albein to slow down for her.
Though out the whole session, the nostalgia of when she first started with Eric hit every time someone was explain something to her. She could’ve sworn that she’s heard her uncle say something similar. Even as she felt small bruises forming underneath her clothes, she couldn’t help but smile at the memories that came back up.
“What are you smiling about?” Berkut questioned with his judgmental gaze.
“Oh, it’s nothing really. Just thinking about my family is all.” She pauses as she was still catching her breath from the training. “My uncle taught me some of this stuff and well, some of the things you said, Lord Berkut, sounded fairly similar. Plus I’ve always had a lot of fun learning this stuff so I do apologize if it’s so strange to see me smile about this.”
“What, was your uncle from Rigel or something?” Berkut chuckled lightly as he rolled his eyes.
“No, but I’ve never ask where he’s from so who knows maybe.” There’s honestly no way that he is even if she doesn’t know where he’s from. But some part of her did think it was funny if he was in some twisted way.
The knight chimes in at point, “Who knows? Perhaps he was a knight here in his younger years. After all, not many people can keep up with all of us after being “rusty” for a few years.”
She chuckles, “That or, maybe, because I’ve been practicing since I was pretty small. Or I’m just built different who knows.”
The first prince looks at her puzzled from her words, to which she quickly realizes that she’s still far from home.
“You look normal to me.”
“O-oh… um.” Xandria stammers a bit, still a tad thrown off from before. “It’s just an expression from my home. Kinda weird to explain honestly.”
The conversation moved on but she couldn’t think of anything to say. Her mind moving back and forth about her situation. Not mention how she can’t just focus on getting out of here especially in Rigel in particular. She doesn’t quite know what it takes for a woman to be considered as a potential witch but the idea still scared her. Just the idea of that strange limbo-like state made her skin crawl.
“Just as good as dead.”
“Is something wrong?” Hearing Zeke speak surprised her for whatever reason. Taking a quick glance away she noticed the two princes had finished their break and started up their sessions once more. How long did she space out?
“No. Not really.” Looking away from him as she couldn’t help but get homesick once more.
“Are you sure? Could it be that you’re tired?”
She shrugged but tried to smile for reassurance. For him or herself, she couldn’t even tell. “Eh, nah. I’m fine. I can keep going.”
Deep down, she knows that she wasn’t tired. Instead she began to think that maybe she’ll feel better after moving a bit more. The knight looked on at her in concern but she knew that she wasn’t going to talk about it further.
She just wanted to go home.