1x1 with ~naturesword~

[~NatureSword~]

Kisa finally settled on standing comfortable beside the princess, listening to her chatter on about the soldiers below,"I-It does seem to be that way, doesn't it?" She asked softly. She pulled small pieces off of her roll before placing it into her mouth, taking her time in savoring the freshly bakes roll as she considered the next question,"I-I suppose so, though I couldn't say. B-But I can tell that you certainly would enjoy doing so." She said softly. As she looked down to look at the recruits training, her eyes briefly made contact with the Romanos, and she quickly adverted her eyes as she just caught sight of his smile before looking to the roll in her hands,"W-Why do you find it interesting?" She asked Adeline.

Alok removed his cap and set it neatly on a log before he picked up a wooden sword, giving it a quick swing in front of him to get use to it's light weight. Once he was satisfied, he walked over to where front and watched the recruit,"Jethro, is it? I hear you're at the top of your class." He said before glancing at Romanos as he got the nod. He moved into a basic and simple stance before making a motion with his hand,"Attack. Show me what you can do." He told him, a smirk at the thrill of a spar. Not at he already planned to humble this recruit, but now that he knew that the princess was watch, he scertainly was going to make sure it would be a show to enjoy.

[cronchbottle]

“I think sword fighting is an art, just like how painting is an art. It’s beautiful to watch, as long as it’s simply a competition and not murder you know. Like how those two are sparring right now, there’s a difference when there is an evil intent behind it though. I do not support that…” Adeline explained, trailing off at the end as she thought back to the first war she had ever saw. She shook that thought out of her head as she didn’t like to dwell on her past trauma. She looked back onto the field and watched the commander and the recruit spar, smiling as she was rather entertained. “Besides, I think knights are rather attractive which makes watching this even better,” She said, slyly referring to Alok in this instance. “A girl can dream am I right,” she said, giggling softly as she glanced back over at her companion to make sure she was having a good time as well.

Romanos watched, smirking slightly as Jethro started to fight and it only took him a little while to begin to fumble against the much stronger commander. He could tell in the beginning he believed that he was going to win against Alok, but that confidence began to slow after a few bad swings.

[~NatureSword~]

Kisa nodded her head a little as she listened to her,"I-It's a shame for anyone to support that...." She said softly before popping the rest of the roll into her mouth. It wasn't until the princess had mentioned the attractiveness of the knights did she feel her cheeks start to warm up,"M-My lady! Y-You'd be lucky if none of them heard you from down there!" She said in a rough whisper as she slightly leaned towards her, one hand cupping her mouth. Taking a quick breather as she slightly straightened herself before quietly clearing her throat,"I-I mean, of course you can dream..." She said to her. Kisa glanced down to where the knights were practicing, watching the spar for a brief moment before they slowly shifted back to the commander at the side. Well, Adeline certainly wasn't wrong about the knights, but it could never happen. She was but a lowly handmaiden. Having such feelings to anyone in the kingdom could get her into serious trouble. She closed her eyes as she swiftly shook her head, shaking those thoughts from her mind.

Alok had a grin as the recruit made his moves. It was all pretty basic, and some even a bit sloppy, which made him a little disappointed, considering how cocky the recruit was. The elf made the bare minimalist of movements to simply block each swing with his own. After a minute or so, he sudden dodged very gracefully as Jethro charged, giving him a single whack to the behind from the wooden prompt. And here is where the humbling began. This continued for a another two minutes of simple blocking and dodging, and -almost playfully- whacking him in the arm, leg, or behind. Once he got bored, he locked the swords together and moved the ends in a circle before Jethro's blade left his hand and fell to the ground behind him,"And that, it how to do it." He concluded.

[cronchbottle]

Adeline felt a dark blush flush into her cheeks when her handmaiden mentioned one of them might hear her, she had forgotten how her voice had the tendency to drift across the field. "Oh dear you are right, that would be rather embarrassing of me wouldn't it!" She said, giggling softly at herself to brush off some of the shame. "Lets run and leave before anyone realizes what they heard!" The princess said, hurriedly walking back into the safety of the castle walls. Besides it was time for her daily royalty lessons for the day anyways, this one consisting of ballroom dancing to prepare for the massive and unnecessary lavish ball that her father was holding tomorrow. She sighed softly as she walked next to her faithful handmaiden, not necessarily looking forward to having to dance with the many princes vying for her hand in marriage. She simply wasn't interesting in marrying a prince as there were high chances that he would end up just like her father. "Promise me you'll be there tomorrow, I will lend you one of my dresses and jewelry if you do!" The princess begged, giving her companion puppy eyes to try and convince her to attend. "Some commanders should be in attendance, we invite them just incase protection is needed, besides my father will be too busy trying to find wives for my brothers to notice either of us." She stated, which was true as he usually didn't attend, but rather held private meetings with other kings and dukes to arrange marriage or business deals.

Romanos chuckled as he watched the tragedy of the sparring match between Alok and Jethro, if he could even call it a sparring match as Alok had completely embarrassed the recruit. "Thank you Alok," he said smiling at the other. "Now all of you, you know the drill, fight between yourselves, and no dirty fights. Those won't be helpful when your life depends on it." He shouts out to the group before turning back to Alok. "Now, did you receive a letter about the ball tomorrow?" He questioned the other.

[~NatureSword~]

Kisa gave a light a light sigh under her breath as Adeline just giggled about her action, almost as though she was a hopeless case, but she smiled a bit anyways. She quickly followed her inside before falling into step next to her. Normally the handmaids would walk behind their royals, but Adeline was always making it clear to her near the start of her working that she would have none of that, unless absolutely necessary. There was a few moments of silence between them before the begging began, surprising the kitsune a little as she looked at the puppy dog eyes. She had only ever been to one or two before, and though she didn't like it, she did it because it made Adeline feel better,"I-I promise I'll be there..." She told her softly,"A-As long as you're sure that it will be fine?" She asked.

Alok gave a little bow to Romanos with a smirk on his face,"Any time." He said before chuckling as well. He calmed himself down as he watched the recruits get back into it before he faced towards his comrade,"Of course, just like the rest of the knights on our rank." He replied to him before cocking his head a little to the side,"What about it?" He asked.

[cronchbottle]

A bright smile appeared on her face when Kisa said that she would accompany her. "Well of course it will be! You know how fights against my father goes, I always win. Even though usually I need my mothers help. Don't you worry I can make up plenty excuses for you to accompany me, someone to fix my hair, my makeup, you know all the things he wants to look perfect. But don't you worry about doing any of those things, you have fun yourself too! That's what these things are for anyways," the princess said, making sure Kisa felt comfortable going. "You are my handmaiden after all, anyone who wants to fire you has to make me agree first. You are the best of them by far, so it would take a lot for you to be fired. Simply, you have nothing to work about. We are friends you know," she stated as she headed into the ballroom. She smiled softly at the dance instructor her father had hired, and nodded to her brother as he left as he had just finished his lessons.

"Well, I was just wondering what exactly our duty is there?" Romanos questioned. "The last ball I was out on deployment so I wasn't in attendance," he informed, resting his hand on the hilt of the sword as he spoke to Alok. "And what even are we supposed to wear, there wasn't exactly a dress code on the invitation."

[~NatureSword~]

Kisa gave a little smile to her as she listened, taking in every word before giving a litle nod,"I-I'll try too..." But no promises..... She said softly. She meant it when she said she would try, but knew it was going to be a challenge for herself, in more ways then one. Yes, being a handmaiden was one thing, but many didn't take too kindly to her kitsune heritage,"Thank you, my lady." She whispere in a quiet voice. As they entered into the ballroom, Kisa quickly moved to the side and lowered her head with her eyes to the floor, her hands folded loosely in front of her as the prince passed by. While Adeline and her mother were kind to her, the gentlemen of the royal family were not too keen.

Alok shifted on his feet a little as he thought about it,"Well, we're there in case any protection is needed or if any scuffings need to be broken up. Aside from that, we are guests to the ball just as the rest and should have a good time." He told him before continuing on,"As for attire, something nice and formal." He informed him before looking at him,"You do have a nice nad formal shirt, no?" He asked.

[cronchbottle]

Adeline practiced dancing for the ball for about an hour, smiling as she did so. She enjoyed dancing, it took her mind off of things as she fell into the music. Her dress swirled around her as she and her dance partner made their way around the dance floor, intermittently stopping to critique a few of her moves. After the instructor decided she was ready for the ball the next day she made her way back over to her handmaiden. "I am going to pick out my outfit for tomorrow if you would like to join me! You can pick yours out as well, if you wish. If not you are free to go on about your day, maybe take a little trip into the town if you wish!" She offered with a soft smile on her face.

"Yes I do, thank goodness. That would be rather embarrassing if I didn't hm?" Romanos replied, a little embarrassed that he had to ask. He chatted with the other for about another hour or so as he also oversaw the recruits training. After that he sent them on their daily run to finish up with their training.

[~NatureSword~]

Kisa stood at the wall, watching as the princess floated around the ballroom as she danced. She realized that she could have left her to go do some of her other duties. After all, she had no reason to stay and watch the lesson. It's not like she'd be dancing tomorrow. But she didn't mind just watching them dance through the steps. She gave a smile to Adeline as she came back to her and listened to her before thinking a bit,"Y-You go on ahead. Y-You already know which dress I would wear." She said softly. It's true, because she always picked the same one. A simple dark red-mahogany lace dress,"I-I do have to run an errand or two in town, s-so maybe I'll go do that now." She said softly.

Alok chuckled a bit,"It certainly would be." He agreed. After they talked for a while and the time went by, he stretched his arms up over his head as he thought,"Well, I think I'm going to go and check out the rooms for the ball tomorrow, checking on all the security points and all that." He said as he relaxed his arms to his sides, one hand laying upon thee halt of his sword.

[cronchbottle]

"Alright my dear, I know which one you're talking about, I will grab it and send it out to get silk pressed before the ball tomorrow." Adeline informed the other, happily smiling at the other. "You be safe on your errands alright, if you need a knight to accompany you make sure to snag one." She stated, as the two began to walk out to the hallway together. Once they got out they went their separate ways as her room was to the right and the exit of the castle was to their left. She slipped into her room and headed straight to her wardrobe giggling happily as she leafed through all of her dresses. She settled on an emerald one with gold trim and set it out along with Kisa's favorite red dress and called for someone to take it to the silk press. In the meantime she looked for matching jewelry to go with it.


"Alright well, I must get the recruits posted around the outside. They get to be paired up with a knight for the night to get some experience." Romanos said before saying his goodbyes. He watched as the recruits began to trickle back in from their run with a small smile on his face, they had finished a bit faster than last time. He beckoned them to follow him and made his walk around to the posts, pairing each one of them with the best knight possible.