Practice and Payoff
Sweat beads at her temple, before running down the side of her sun-darkened face. Sevika sweeps the blade of a practice sword in a practiced arc, hitting true on the practice dummy in front of her.
“Good. Again.”
Riven, Swordsmaster and frequent addition to the morning training sessions, watches Sevika closely. In the last year, Sevika’s weapons training had progressed rapidly. Turns out that growing up in a forge making weapons meant that she had more knowledge and practical application for the tools of war compared with most young people her age. It made her an exceptionally quick study. Now at the age of ten and six, Sevika towers above both of her parents and is slowly but steadily filling out clothes that once hung loose around her body. Once lean muscles are growing in her arms and legs, a physical testament to her dedication to training this last year.
Sevika resets her stance, taking a deep breath before channeling momentum through her body. The dulled sword makes a satisfying thwack when she swings again.
“That was better. Stop holding back” the white haired swords master turns her attention to Kino next, gold eyes missing no opportunity to correct form or praise a solid effort. Training days with Riven was a much needed break from Ambessa-led mornings.
“Kino, shield up! Use it or it’ll be used against you.”
The tall young man raises his shield with renewed vigor. Riven had an uncanny ability to tell what fighting style is best for a fighter. Knows what makes people tick. It’s what makes her an excellent teacher.
“Good, better. Now run your combo.”
Sevika watches out of the corner of her eye. Sees Kino raise his practice shield to block before feigning to the left and executing a deadly blow to the neck.
“Yes. Feel the difference?” Riven’s question elicits a nod from Kino’s serious face. He centers himself and runs the form again. Block. Feign. Slice.
Sevika turns her attention back to her own training dummy. She raises her sword, Block. Shifts her weight from one leg to the other, Feign.
WHACK
Sevika smirks, pleased with herself until she realizes Riven is watching her with a quiet sort of intensity. She quickly schools her face into a neutral expression. Goes through the motions of another swing.
“Stop.”
Sevika pauses mid-stroke, rolling her eyes at the interruption. She turns to face Riven, brows raised in a silent question.
“Do that again.”
Sevika frowns, “Do what,” she asks.
“Kino’s combo, do it again.” Riven’s voice carries and now Mel and Kino have paused their own drills to watch curiously.
Blood beats in her ears and Sevika can feel her face heat. Thank Kindred she wasn’t able to visibly blush with her complexion being as dark as it is. She’d never live it down.
Sevika knows she’s hesitated for too long when the white-haired swordmaster approaches. Her expression betrays nothing to Sevika and she braces herself for a verbal lashing. She is instead met with an even gaze and an order repeated.
“Do it. Again.”
Sevika huffs and blows a strand of hair out of her face. Fine. She recenters herself in front of her training dummy. She moves through the same motions, executing the combination smoothly despite her anxiety at having a sudden audience.
She expects a correction. A verbal lashing. Something other than the slow nod that Riven gives her.
Sevika raises her sword again, the same combo she was encouraged to repeat by Riven two years ago now sending her opponent scrambling to parry her blow. He was too slow. Had left himself open with her feign. She presses the advantage, lunging forward to hook the bottom of her axe blade along the edge of her opponent's shield. When she gives a tug his shield is wrenched from his hand.
Sensing a near victory, Sevika delivers a flurry of blows until her opponent’s sword joins his shield in the dirt at their feet. He removes his helmet and wipes at his face.
“You’d be absolutely lethal with that thing,” Kino gestures to the axe in Sevika’s hand. The two of them had spent the last week trying to find the perfect weapon for her to wield. One that fit her and her fighting style.
She shrugs, spinning the axe with a deft flick of her wrist. “It’s alright. I still like that warhammer best.” Her retort receives a snort of laughter from the prince.
“Well yes, I wonder why that is? Surely it’s nothing to do with the fact that you’ve been smithing since you were old enough to hold a hammer.” He steps forward to start collecting his equipment from the ground. “You may be most comfortable with a hammer in your hands but you haven’t given yourself a chance to find the weapon that’s right for you.”
Sevika rolls her eyes, “Yeah yeah,” she mutters. “Gotta step out my comfort zone.”
Kino smiles kindly, brown eyes lighting. “Speaking of stepping outside of your comfort zone…” he says. “You do realise that avoiding Mel doesn’t let you off the hook right? She expects you to make an appearance tonight.”
It takes Sevika a moment to respond. She shrugs eventually, returning the borrowed practice axe to a weapons rack. “I know, and I won’t leave her to the vultures without an ally. Not on her birthday.” Sevika sighs, wrestling with the unease in her chest. “I just don’t know where we stand right now.”
Kino gives her a knowing look. “Are the two of you fighting again?” He shakes his head, a small smile on his lips. “The two of you would be unstoppable if you worked together instead of constantly bickering. You kids fight more than my warlord of a mother.”
Sevika bristles at his joke. “She’s already unstoppable,” she sneers. “And insufferable.” She ignores Kino’s raised brow. He had opened this particular can of worms. She’d already promised to be there for Mel’s fifteenth birthday.
“If you really need to know, you can ask your little sister what she did.” She might not have meant to snap at Kino but the man was irritating as all hell. Everyone she’d met in the royal family was nosy as hell.
Sevika was a lot of things but she wasn’t a snitch. So, despite the fact that Mel went against her wishes and behind her back Sevika would refrain from telling Kino that Mel had tried to pay off her father’s debts for him. She was still furious with Mel and she had avoided contact with the other girl for the last week. It had been remarkably easy to do with Mel’s birthday ball preparations being the main focus for castle staff. Ambessa had even excused Mel from morning training sessions this week.
“Whatever it was, I’m sure-”
“If you say ‘I’m sure she had good intentions,’” Sevika says in a poor imitation of Kino’s deep voice. “I swear to Janna I-” she trails off as Kino raises his hands.
“Easy ‘Vika, I’m not looking for a fight.”
Her grey eyes roll but she calms slightly when he doesn’t push the issue right away. He watches her closely, but gives her a long moment before saying anything else.
“I’m not supposed to tell you this,” the prince says. “But later at some point today my mother will be calling on you.” There’s a somberness to the young man that Sevika seldom sees. It makes her uneasy.
Kino wipes at his brow before continuing. “And she will tell you to pack a bag and say your goodbyes to your family. You and I are going on a trip to Qualthala.” He says this like it’s supposed to mean something to Sevika. The only thing in Qualthala was…
Grey eyes flash to Kino’s light brown ones when the prince’s words sink in. Could this really be happening? Sevika could hardly believe it. She needed to hear Kino say it.
“For what?”
The Prince sighs and shrugs before he continues. “My mother has decided that it’s finally time for me to pursue a knighthood. You know how protective she can be about her pups,” he says quietly. “She needs someone loyal to the family to keep an eye on me.”
Reaching out to put a steadying hand on Sevika’s shoulder, Kino offers her a small, almost sad smile. “You’ve been taking to the blade remarkably well, Sevika. Congratulations on capturing and keeping the Queen’s attention. It has been decided that you are to be my squire.”
“How long will we be gone?”
“At least six months, perhaps longer.” Kino lifts his broad shoulders into a shrug. “I know little more than you do as of right now. I’ve shared everything I know.”
Kino gives Sevika a knowing look. “Now, do you really want to go away still angry with my dear sister or would you like to go makeup?”