Lenore was well on her way to the dining hall for lunch, when she heard her name called from the crowd. Ophelia popped up beside her with a smile and hugged her friend's arm. The Princess didn't exactly appreciate the free way in which the girl touched her, but on some level she found it endearing enough so she didn't bother to tell her to stop.
"Lenore, aren't you excited about the ball?" She asked as she hopped beside her. Ophelia never had so much confidence as when the Princess walked beside and talked with her.
"I do not attend the balls." Lenore informed her.
"They are so much fun, Lenore, we can go and dance the night away. Flirt with all the charming boys."
The Princess looked down at her, "You need a male partner to ask you in order to attend. No one has ever had the courage to offer to take me."
Ophelia's smile faded. It seemed this was a true moment for the Princess and she had honestly just shared an intimate thought with her. "The ones that have taken me only asked because there were no other girls left to ask, and they normally abandon me the moment we enter the dance hall."
Lenore smirked sadly, "Then why do you think it would be fun? You have never had any good experience when you have gone."
She shrugged, "I just have a feeling that eventually I'll have one good dance and it will be a memory to cherish forever. Also, if no one true asks me, I thought I could always guilt Jolon or Anton into taking me. They would never leave me to myself."
Lenore giggled. "That is very vindictive of you, reminds me of myself."
Ophelia bumped her shoulder, "You take one and I take the other then?"
Slowly, she shook her head. "A commoner coming to the party with a Princess would only draw ire from my brother. It is simply for the best that I not attend."
"Not attend what?" A man spoke from behind them and both girls turned around to find Authin.
Ophelia opened her mouth but had no words, as the beautiful face once again silenced the always chattering girl.
"The ball." Lenore answered, she was slowly becoming less mesmerized by the man. Especially after he followed her into town the other night and nearly discovered her secret. "You seem to randomly appear in my life now. I don't suppose you are following me?"
"Of course, I am." He spoke in a teasing voice. "Who is to say that we didn't cross paths this many times before and because we were strangers we didn't take the time to notice the other?" As he spoke he walked up to stand in front of them. Reaching out he took Ophelia's hand. "Miss Romanus, you look lovely today. You make the school uniform look like an elegant gown."
Ophelia giggled and waved her kissed hand at him.
Turning to Lenore, Authin didn't bother to offer any words of compliment to her. He wanted her to see him do so with another woman and create jealousy in her heart. "As for the ball, if you would like to attend, I am certain I could accommodate."
"That won't be necessary, Mister Nele."
He didn't seem bothered by the rejection, "I was curious as to why you never appeared at the Enchantress the other night. I waited until very late, and yet I was forced to go without your company."
"I did make an appearance, but I am afraid my entry into the den was overshadowed by the musical number you were doing on the table. I didn't want myself associated with a lunatic and took my leave."
Authin touched his chest and laughed, "Those hooligans would have surely given me quite the beating had I not have charmed them in such a manner. Shall we get lunch together and discuss this?"
"You go ahead, I'll tell the others something." Ophelia shoved her friend, unable to make eye contact with the man.
Bracing herself against the shove, Lenore shook her head. "I'm afraid I have lunch plans with my dorm mates, perhaps another time." With that she flipped around and headed to the hall with Ophelia close on her heels.
Authin grinned as they walked away, "By your rules, still? Very well, Princess."
Sitting down at the lunch table, the boys looked at their last two arrivals. Santh and the others were afraid Lenore would not make an appearance and that she would be dragging Ophelia into her bad habits.
"We thought you had abandoned us again." Anton said as the girls sat down.
"I apologize we were held up." Lenore looked down at her food then up at the professors as she waited for them to prepare the words of wisdom.
Ophelia watched Santh as Lenore apologized. His face softened and one could almost see a small smile on his lips. Her heart ached with jealousy, and before she could even think of the consequences she blurted out something she would regret. "Lenore apparently goes into town to meet with a man from the Royal Dorms."
Santh's face seemed to harden once more.
Lenore brows came together, "I do not, Ophelia. Why would you say such a thing?"
She shrugged. "We just met him outside, and he said he waited for you. I didn't know your lover was a secret, I'm sorry."
"Authin is not my lover, Ophelia. I ran into him once in town, and sent him to the Enchantress in hopes that the patrons there would scare him away for the evening." Lenore silenced herself when the professors began to speak.
When they were finished, she turned back to Ophelia. "This is a clear violation of privacy and trust, Ophelia. I do not know what would bring you to say such things about me, especially in my presence. I knew that you liked to gossip, but this is certainly..." Lenore didn't finish her sentence and simply grabbed her meal without eating it and threw it away.
Ophelia looked down at her lap and frowned.
"You didn't know she didn't want you to say anything, Ophelia." Remus tried to comfort her. He reached across the table and patted her hand that was laying next to her dish.
"Yeah, Lenore is just secretive. If she didn't want you to know, she shouldn't have had the conversation in front of you." Anton added.
She looked up at Santh to see what his expression was. He was simply eating his meal and didn't seem concern about the topic at all.
Routine was the next to speak, "On the contrary, Lenore's enigmatic behaviors are arguably her greatest trait. As a friend, one should know that she is well accustom to keeping secrets both for herself and others. For instance, the evening that you became an inhabitant of our dorm. None of us are aware of the atrocities that brought you there, as Lenore has well protected them. I assume, she did not have to be asked?"
Ophelia's heart sank. "You are correct, Routine. I have to go find her and apologize." Grabbing her plates, she scurried off to find her room mate.
"Are you not going to tell her that your name is Byron and not Routine?" Remus questioned.
Routine shook his head, "It would be a fruitless endeavor, as her mind is too fixated on the task at hand to listen to any complaints that I currently have on the situation of a nickname."
Remus looked over at Santh. He had noticed the glance the girl had given him right before she blurted out one of Lenore's secrets. Something about the way she looked at him made him wonder if Santh was the reason that she had spoken up at all. He wondered if Santh and her were in cahoots or if this was jealousy on Ophelia's part, as he had already established she liked the man.
Taking a deep breath, he began to eat his meal. "It appears we are without the girls at our meal anyway. What a pity, I do enjoy Lenore's remarks to Santh, and Ophelia's constantly ebullience."
Routine looked up at Remus, "Shall we now be forced to hear your rendition of their previous conversations or are you quite finished with your reminiscing?"
"Well, aren't you in a mood today."
It took ten minutes of searching the school grounds to find Lenore. She was sitting on a bench near the classrooms as she waited for lunch hour to end and classes to start. The usual blank look on her face was present though most people took it for a frown as the Princess had naturally down turned lips.
Ophelia walked up to her when Lenore looked up but then looked away, she sat down on the bench beside her. She pulled a daisy from the flower bed next to her and offered it out to Lenore. "I am truly sorry for what I did."
Lenore looked at the flower but didn't take it. With a sigh, she turned her head so that she didn't have Ophelia in her sights at all.
"You conversed with Authin in front of me, because you trusted me not to say anything and the first thing I did was tell them about something I knew absolutely nothing about. Please forgive me, and let's go back to being friends."
"Why?" Lenore turned her head again this time to look at her.
Ophelia pressed her lips together and thought for a moment if she should tell the truth. With a deep drawn breath, she began. "I think I might have an attraction to Santh."
Lenore didn't seem to understand what that had to do with her betrayal.
"Before he would always stare at you harshly, but he was still always staring at you and always talking about you. Now that you are no longer missing meals or roll call, he still stares but it is with softer eyes. Remus told me he started doing this when he first moved in, and that he thinks Santh may be attracted to you." Ophelia dropped her head and looked at the daisy in her hand. "I saw him staring, and for some reason I wanted him to know about your lover so perhaps he would feel dissuaded. I am truly sorry, Lenore. It was cruel of me to do so, after you saved me from those girls."
Lenore slowly nodded her head. "Alright, I understand why now, but you must understand that I cannot control the way anyone feels about me. I do not deserve punishment if Santh has feelings for me. If you want him for yourself, then make him pay attention to you and stop being a wallflower in your own life."
The younger girl perked up and turned her attention to the Princess. "Are you saying that you do not have any feelings for him and that I can pursue him?"
She began to answer the question with certain intent and then her mouth closed.
"I see."
Lenore shook her head, "It is not what you believe. Santh never spoke to me before I started sneaking out, then when I started to he was the only one who ever stood up to me and I found that to be interesting. If not somewhat fun to dance around and annoy him. I had power over his feelings whether he knew it or not." She swallowed, "Mayhap some sort of feelings for the only real relationship I had was formed even if it was antagonistic. I am not saying that they are romantic in nature, but I am unsure how I would feel to lose his interest."
Clasping her hands together with the flower protected by the stem and being held out away from the palm, Ophelia stood up and put the flower behind Lenore's ear. "Well then I suppose until you do understand, as your friend, I shall have my love be unrequited. There are plenty of boys in this school, I would not cry over just one. Never cried over the other ones that were false in professing their feelings, and I sure won't over one that never professed anything at all."
"I am not sure, you understand what I just said." Lenore stood up in front of her.
"I heard very clearly. You enjoy Santh paying attention to you because he was the only person that didn't treat you gently and let you get away with anything. You want him to continue paying this attention to you, and if say I were to take his interest away then you would feel lonely. Therefore, I think you might have genuine feelings for him and I believe he has them for you, but don't worry I have learned my lesson about telling secrets." She locked her lips with an imaginary key and threw it into the flower bed. "Dance your dance, and I'll laugh knowingly as a spectator only." With that the girl skipped off toward her next class even though lunch hour wasn't even twenty minutes in.
Lenore watched her skipped off into the distance and she slowly shook her head. "That's not what I meant, stupid girl."
Jolon prepared to walk back to the dorm. Normally, he met with Anton on the way back but his friend didn't seem to wait for him at the entrance. His back ached from sitting all the time during the day and then practicing his hammer throwing for hours on end in the evening.
All he could think of was that hot bath that used to be drawn for the entire family. His father would always use it first and soak in the milky water for over an hour, and then it would be his turn after his mother added more hot water. They both worked hard every day, especially when his father was teaching him and so Jolon had to do most of the carpentry work while the others oversaw him.
That bath made all his aches and pains disappear, and then his mother would make a large meal. One she had been preparing all day. The meat would simply melt in one's mouth and the bread was soft and buttery. It made a hard days work worth every callus formed.
However, now all he had to look forward to was a pretentious dinner, followed by a cold basin of water or the stream behind the dorm. He missed his family with every passing day from his two younger brothers who would never have this schooling opportunity to his mother who cried all night the day before he had to leave for school. He remembered his father telling him to get the two years done and return home. He was promised that a bride would be waiting for him upon his return, one that his father and mother would find over the next two years.
As much as Jolon enjoyed his new friends and a different way of life, he couldn't wait to return home and have the life he was always meant to have.
Walking down the path way, he tripped over something. Looking down he found a towel, so he picked it up and looked around the crowded area. Amongst the students was a small blonde girl in servant garbs, she had dropped a basket of laundry and the students were walking by and kicking all the linens seemingly on purpose.
Jolon hurried to help the girl pick up everything that she had dropped. It was a difficult task as the other students seemed dead set on kicking the linen around, or walking on them with their dirty shoes. They didn't even bother to laugh when they did it either, it was as if they didn't even notice the suffering of the servant girl nearby.
When the task was finished, she looked up at the man who put a large amount of her towels in her wicker basket, she smiled. She had noticed him helping and knew she should have told him to stop, but the situation was humiliating enough as it was and she simply wanted it to end. "Thank you." She spoke with a soft voice.
"My pleasure, Jolon Marsh, Carpenter's Guild." He briefly bowed his head.
"Saena Ailca, Servant's Guild." The sweet faced girl reminded him somewhat of Ophelia, though she seemed soft and shy where Ophelia was loud and unreserved.
"Did they knock you over?" He asked and gestured toward the other students.
She nodded her head slowly, "However, it is my fault. There are certain path ways the servants are meant to take, but I wanted to take the short cut so I could go home." Saena looked down at the dirty towels and frowned, "It appears however my rush to get home has had the opposite effect. I will now have to go wash these all over again." She adjusted the basket on her hip.
"I could help, I..."
Anton smacked his friend's shoulder and grasped it. "What is occurring here?"
Saena immediately lowered her head. "I must go. Servants are not supposed to speak with the students." She hurried off into the crowd, but not before briefly looking over her shoulder at Jolon and offering him a wave of gratitude.
Raising his eyebrow, Anton grinned. "Have we found a lady love, my friend?"
Jolon pushed his hand off his shoulder, "She dropped her linens, I helped her to gather them up. That is all."
"Uh huh."
The next day was a rest day, but while the rest of the group were out enjoying their afternoons, Ophelia and Remus were taking inventory. They needed to send her mother information back on how many of each item she would need to send them. Both stood in the room counting each item with a scroll laid over a book for a hard surface to write on.
"I was thinking, Remus, about how long do you think we will be able to operate before the Mondues find us?"
He looked up from what he was writing, "I assume you mean their legal arm as we have already sold to a large number of members of the Mondue Party."
"Don't be difficult."
Remus pressed his lips together, "The thought has crossed my mind as well. The crowds are growing in numbers every day not to mention it might not be long before this room can not hold anymore."
"After the raid on the girls dorm and the amount of people that were expelled, it seems unsafe to have all this mead here, doesn't it?" She turned to face him. "If Lenore hadn't made me move in here, then I would have been one of the expelled."
"Considering that Lenore is the reason the raid happened at all, I have serious doubts pertaining to that statement." Remus went back to counting.
"Did she really? She said she didn't." Ophelia lowered her quill and scroll to her sides.
He chuckled and turned back to her. "Ophelia, one would think that you would have a better hand on the Princess and her personality by now. So let me explain, Lenore likes to be perceived as the intimidating, delinquent Princess while Lesatan likes to be perceived as the loving, heroic Prince. In truth, their actual personalities are reversed. Lesatan would never have done what he did without Lenore pushing him to do so, and him getting something from her in return. Of that, I am certain."
"Why does she want to be seen as a delinquent?"
He shrugged. "That is one mystery I have yet to uncover. Why is the Princess living in this moldy pile of timber, when she could be lavished with the finest things in life? That's a secret Lenore never tells."
Ophelia frowned and then looked around at the wares. She decided that they went off topic and wanted to bring it back to where they had originally been. "We have to find a way to operate this business without causing trouble for the dorm."
"I agree."
When Ophelia went silent, Remus looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He watched as the delicate girl counted each object with her quill and then again to ensure she got the same number. Remus was there to make the second count, but she wanted to be correct in her calculations.
Remus knew he could hire someone else to assist the girl, after all he had hired Anton and Jolon to help take orders. One of them could be asked to assist in this task, but Remus had decided that he wanted to take on this responsibility and had said he needed to ensure that all the numbers were correct.
Though he suspected that he just enjoyed Ophelia's company. Growing up, his entire life was consumed with making money and being told how he would assist his brother one day. He never really had friends that saw him for who he truly was, though in all honesty he knew that he hid himself from most people.
Santh had been his friend since his mid teenage years, and even then that had something to do with making money. The Princess was the same way with her need to have her own money. While Routine and he didn't truly count as friends at all. Even now Ophelia had gone from a sweet girl to a business partner that he now had control over.
Sometimes he wondered how he always managed to make the people he cared for into his underlings. Was it to make them rely on him so they wouldn't or couldn't leave? Or was he just so deeply into the world of the Fox that he saw opportunity in every person? He didn't know, but he did know that Ophelia was naïve and innocent. He enjoyed her company, because even if he was assisting her in a business venture, she still seemed genuine. He didn't know too many people like that.
Santh looked up into the night sky as he made his way to the dorm by following the stream. He wasn't entirely sure how he had managed to make his way to the stream and not follow the path ways to the dorm, but he was certain his drunk mind had had a reason at some point.
As he grew closer to the dorm, he could see a figure leaning over the stream and washing their face. It became clear that it was Lenore and she seemed just as drunk as he was. Walking to stand beside her, Lenore didn't even bother to look up as he knelt down to wash his own face beside her.
"Soap?" She offered out a brick of soap that looked like it might be green but was difficult to see in the dark. "Ophelia gave it to me."
He shook his head and let the water on his face drip off.
"Her mother makes them. It makes your whole face tingle." She added still holding out the soap and trying to get him to use it.
Again, he shook his head.
"Works well in the morning when you are trying to wake up or when you are too drunk to find your way home."
"I don't want any." He spoke softly.
Lenore began to lather up her hands, and Santh turned his face to watch her. He could barely see in the darkness but he knew she had delicate fingers and nails, where his hands were rough and scarred from years of fighting in the streets. He still remembered meeting Remus when he heard about the street brawls. Remus had been the one to organize them and when Santh had walked in they all laughed at how the rich boy wanted to play, even his now friend made fun of him. After his first fight, the only one laughing was Remus who convinced him to join them from that day onward. The two of them made a great deal of money on the fights until no one wanted to fight Santh anymore.
The memory made him wonder how Lenore grew up compared to him. His hands were scarred from all the battles he had fought, while hers didn't seem to know a day of labor in their lives. Of course, she had to have some scars after what she had lived through. She had unwed parents and one of them was a king. Her entire existence was a scandal before she was even born. While he was loved by parents, a mother who died of sickness and a father who died in battle. After that he was raised by his aunt who married Mondue nobility. At that point, Santh became a scandal for the aunt who never wanted him.
"Lenore, what was it like growing up in a castle as a bastard Princess?" He looked up at her.
Her soapy hands touched his cheeks and she rubbed the tingling bubbles across his face. "You and your fantastical stories about me." She chuckled. "My life wasn't as grand as my step mother would like others to believe."
Santh had lost interest in the story she was telling and his attention was completely focused on the face that her hands were touching him. When he felt his heart begin to race, he shoved her hands away and quickly washed the soap from his face.
Lenore rinsed off her hands. "Feels nice, doesn't it? Always so stubborn and won't try anything new, that's your biggest problem."
Standing up, he hurried toward the dorm and Lenore followed him. "Did I make you broody again because I washed your face?"
He opened the dorm room door and glared at her before stepping in. Lenore watched him slam the door and then looked into the storage room where Remus and Ophelia stood. The pair stared at the Princess blankly and curious as to what she meant by washing Santh's face.
"He doesn't like soap." She explained to them before heading into her own dorm room.
Remus looked over at Ophelia and they both smirked knowingly.
"When you throw you have to make sure that you release slightly before you are facing forward, or else the hammer will go to the left." Santh explained.
He once again picked up the large hammer, spun around to up his speed, and then released the hammer. It flew into the distance and landed in the sand trap at the end of the lane.
"I become discombobulated the more I spin." Jolon walked beside Santh as they went to retrieve the hammer.
The larger man nodded, "Indeed, but that is from the lack of mastery over your own mind. Even while spinning, you must know where the crowd is, where the sand trap is, and the exact moment so you hit one and not the other." He bent down and picked up the hammer.
"No! Long bow up, short bow down!" Lenore yelled in the distance.
When Jolon and Santh turned to look at the woman across the arena, she was standing in front of Anton and kicking his legs open slightly more. She then moved behind him to show him how to hold the bow. As she did so the other students who were also practicing on the targets, began to put their weapons on the racks and simply walk away from the infuriated Princess.
"Anton says she is by far the most excruciating teacher he has ever had the misfortune of being taught by. He told me the other day she hit him in the back of his head." Jolon told his own tutor. "I am not a fan of the hammer throw, but at least she isn't the one teaching me."
Santh smirked, "She seems passionate enough." He then began to walk down the lane again and then handed the hammer to Jolon. "When you find you have nothing else to do, you should practice out in the court. Just spin the way you would a hammer to train yourself not to become disoriented."
He nodded in agreement, "How long should it take for me to become use to the sensation?"
"Depends on how committed you are. Also, you must learn to control the aim. If you accidentally throw the hammer into the crowd, there could be deadly consequences. A commoner like yourself may even be tried for murder, and would surely be expelled." He stepped back so Jolon could attempt the throw again.
"You certainly know how to make one feel quite the burden if they fail." Spreading his legs apart, Jolon spun around and moved forward, until he thought it was time to release the hammer.
When he finally came to a stop, he watched the hammer fall next to the sand trap instead of inside it. Santh walked over to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "That is certainly closer than before. Good work."
"It's not a short bow, you can not fire it like one! Move aside, I will show you the difference once more!" Lenore snapped and hip checked the younger boy to the side. "I don't know why you find this so difficult, it's almost like you are purposely not listening to me! Are you trying to convince me to end your existence?"
Anton answered with a simple word, and then turned his attention to Santh and Jolon in the distance. They all knew the moment the weapons went back on the rack that Lenore's competitive nature would go with it, but during their training one couldn't help but feel pity for the freshman under her tutelage.
"Are you paying attention to this or would you rather just give googly eyes to Jolon?" Lenore barked, which caused Anton to immediately turn his eyes back to her.
After practice, Anton and Jolon headed back to the dorm with Ophelia, who had been watching in the stands with Remus. Lenore checked the crossbow and bows to ensure no damage was done before heading back to the dorm herself.
Remus walked next to Santh back to the dorm after he had also maintained the weapons that he and Jolon had used. "Lenore is quite the terrifying teacher."
Santh pressed his lips together and nodded.
"I've noticed that since she started coming to roll call and meals that you do not seem to find much to talk to her about." Remus smirked.
"We discuss the tournament from time to time. However, I doubt that you are actually attempting to talk to me about the Princess. You would never stay behind to gossip." They left the arena with Remus chuckling beside him.
"You are, of course, right. I find myself in need of another mule for the Fox's network, and with as foreboding as you are..."
"No."
Remus frowned deeply, "You haven't even let me explain what the duties would entail."
"You used the words 'mule' and 'foreboding,' I do not need you to explain anything to me. I told you that once the street brawls were done that I could either be one of your peons or I could be your friend. I shall never attempt to be both again. You chose friend, did you not?" Santh looked down at the man walking beside him.
His friend offered a deep sigh, "I did, could I perhaps go back on that decision then?"
"Remus."
Remus chuckled once more and waved his hand in front of his face. "I jest with you, of course. I suppose I will have to look for someone else then."
Walking into the flower court, Remus cocked his head to the side. "Who is that conversing with the Princess?"
Santh turned his head and looked at Lenore who was sitting on the bench with another man. "Authin Nele, he is part of the Royal Party. He claims that his father and my uncle are close friends, and that he and I played together at..." He cut himself off when he watched Lenore smile and then laugh at something the man had said.
"Hmm. It seems they are enjoying each other's company, perhaps it will not be long after all until Lenore leaves our dorms and returns to her own. That would make the dorms a great deal less tense, don't you agree?" Remus was baiting him and he knew it.
"Yes, it would." Santh spoke harshly as he made his way toward the pathway that would lead to their dorm. When they found themselves half way down the path, Santh looked at his friend. "I left something at the arena, I will be back before roll call."
"Do you wish for me to come..."
"No!" Santh snapped, "I mean no, don't be late for roll call because of me." With that he ran back up the path.
Remus grinned as he watched the man disappear, and he wondered exactly how long he could play this game with Santh. He was even worse than before at covering up his feelings now, even Lenore seemed to hide hers with very little effort.
Lenore walked back from the arena. Her arms were tired from practicing her melee swings and pulling on bows all afternoon. She just could not create a curriculum that Anton seemed to be able to follow in order to learn how to at least not embarrass himself during the archery tournament. Though, her pupil was at the very least able to hit the target, while Jolon seemed unable to hit the sand trap.
"Lenore!" A man's voice called out to her.
She found Authin immediately. He was smiling and waved her over to the marble bench he was standing in front of. Lenore was very familiar with the bench as the guards had deposited her drunk body upon it almost nightly the last few years.
When she obliged his summons, Authin sat down and patted the bench next to him for her to sit down as well. Lenore was too tired to think over her actions in the moment and blindly sat down beside him.
"I saw you at the arena the last couple of days. Melee and archery, that's quite impressive." Authin was genuinely impressed. "I went on several hunts with my father, but the biggest game I ever caught was a rabbit. Of course, the hunting dogs had all but killed it by the time I arrived."
Lenore grinned at his confession. "My father believes that one should always know how to protect oneself with any weapon in the given area. We learned and mastered the majority of them."
Again, the blonde looked impressed. "My father believes in getting drunk and beating his wife and children for even the slightest look that he takes to mean judgment."
"I'm sure my brother will be more like your father then his own." She chuckled.
Authin laughed. "From what I have seen of his habits in this school, of that I have no doubt." Suddenly, Authin remembered himself and realized that he had let his guard down too much. He only wanted to compliment her, and show some vulnerability in his hunting story. He hadn't meant to inform her of his family's issues. "I will be cheering for you come the tournament, of course since it could be seen as treason of my own dorm, it will have to be concealed. Least, your brother turn into my father that evening after he has been thoroughly beaten by you."
Lenore smiled. "Oh, I have many doubts that our dorm shall win over your own. Our hammer thrower and archer have barely even begun to learn their trades." She ran her hand across her sweaty forehead.
Reaching his hand up, Authin moved some hair that was now sticking to her forehead. "They both appear to be practicing with vigor, I am certain they will be up to par by the day of the tournament."
"You have far more belief in them than I do."
He gave a brief nod, "Well, I suppose I should be off. Roll call shall occur soon." He stood up and she followed him. "I simply wanted to tell you that I have seen your efforts, and ensure that you were not upset with me. You seemed rather curt with me the other day. I suppose you had every right to be after I had followed you on your outing."
She waved her hand in front of her. "There are days..."
A large shadow appeared over them and Santh glared down at the two royal party members. "We took you at your word that you would not be late for roll call."
Lenore looked at the large clock in the center of the school. "We still have fifteen minutes, and I am less than two away."
The glaring eyes turned to her, and he looked like he was about to reach up and take her upper arm, but he seemed to change his mind. "You are always late, we should go!" He snapped and then headed back down the pathway.
The Princess looked confused, "I am never late." She said to Authin, "I either arrive on time or never at all. What has gotten into him?" She asked the last question under her breath.
Authin smirked, "You should be off, before the beast returns baring his fangs this time."
"Good night, Authin."
He bowed his head and watched her walk toward the pathway. Authin raised his eyebrow, "So, we have a jealous suitor, do we?"
Authin grinned to himself as he thought about how she had a lover in the hamlet, a dorm mate with a desire for her... of course, they could be one in the same. He shook his head, she seemed too unaware of the reasoning behind his behavior. With a shrug, Authin decided that there was yet another layer, but this one had interrupted his plans and would need to be dealt with quickly.
Lenore arrived at the dorm shortly after to a fuming Santh, who was standing at the top of the stairs. She frowned at his behavior and tried to make her way passed him, but he simply stepped in her way.
"You take a lover from the Royal Dorms, but remain here? Shouldn't you return to where you belong? Wouldn't you feel more comfortable there?"
The sounds of the dorm doors sliding open behind him, told them both that their dorm mates were now their audience.
"What has caused you to rant now? I am here on time for the roll call. I have arrived on time for all the meals." She tossed her hands in the air. "What purpose could you have to fault me for stopping to talk to a friend?"
She could see his jaw tighten at the hinge as he continued to glare down at her with his arms crossed. "I simply do not like your presence here. Return to where you belong!"
"If you can not stand my company, you can return to your own dorm. You have a second home just as much as I do. Your choices are not limited to just this place." Lenore snapped and tried to move around him.
Santh snorted loudly and moved backward to block the hall. He placed a hand on each side of the hall so she could not pass. Lenore attempt to go under his arm, but he moved his body closer to the wall. The Princess became briefly pinned between him and the wall, before she was able to pull herself out and look up at the man whose own face was inches away from hers.
"Are you truly attempting to throw me out of the dorm at this moment? I can leave and not stand for roll call as you wish."
"As long as you return to the Royal Dorms, I do not care whether you are here tonight to stand or not." He growled.
"Santh, why are you doing this?" Ophelia asked from down the hall. "She hasn't done anything wrong."
Remus knew what was happening in those moments, but he was wise enough to know it was not his place to announce Santh's feelings. After all, he had been hiding them for so long, it was pure entertainment at this point.
Lenore and Santh engaged in a stare off, when suddenly the Princess lurched forward. She grabbed his cheeks with both hands and planted a kiss directly on his lips. It took the large man a moment to fully understand what was happening as the Princess didn't just simply kiss him briefly and pull away. Santh pushed himself away and stumbled back in the hall. He lost his footing and fell to the wooden floor with wide eyes staring up at her.
"Why... what..." He searched for words to create the question that was lingering in his mind.
Lenore chuckled and looked at Remus and Jolon, before turning her head to look at Anton and Routine. "Made him move." She laughed as she stepped over him and put her arm around Ophelia's shoulder.
Ophelia gave a knowing look to Remus, before the Princess spun her around and took her into their room.
"He has yet to wipe his mouth in disgust." Remus commented when the girls' door was slide shut behind them.
"No, but he did lick his lips." Anton looked down at the man still laying on the floor boards.
"His face appears to be concocting a new shade of red." Routine added.
Santh stared up at the four men looking down at him. He was propped up on both hands, his eyes still wide. He could hear everything that they were saying to him, but he couldn't find the words to reply in kind.
Jolon stepped forward and waved his hands in front of Santh's face. "I do not believe she has ever stunned him into this type of silence before."
With a chuckle, the four men left their dorm mate on the floor and returned to their own dorms. The doors slid shut and Santh remained in his statue-like state for several more moments. Uncertain of what he was feeling, he stood up and walked down to the back of the dorm. One of the girl's baskets was on the back platform. Reaching in, he pulled the green soap out and headed down to the stream to wash his face.
"Lenore, aren't you excited about the ball?" She asked as she hopped beside her. Ophelia never had so much confidence as when the Princess walked beside and talked with her.
"I do not attend the balls." Lenore informed her.
"They are so much fun, Lenore, we can go and dance the night away. Flirt with all the charming boys."
The Princess looked down at her, "You need a male partner to ask you in order to attend. No one has ever had the courage to offer to take me."
Ophelia's smile faded. It seemed this was a true moment for the Princess and she had honestly just shared an intimate thought with her. "The ones that have taken me only asked because there were no other girls left to ask, and they normally abandon me the moment we enter the dance hall."
Lenore smirked sadly, "Then why do you think it would be fun? You have never had any good experience when you have gone."
She shrugged, "I just have a feeling that eventually I'll have one good dance and it will be a memory to cherish forever. Also, if no one true asks me, I thought I could always guilt Jolon or Anton into taking me. They would never leave me to myself."
Lenore giggled. "That is very vindictive of you, reminds me of myself."
Ophelia bumped her shoulder, "You take one and I take the other then?"
Slowly, she shook her head. "A commoner coming to the party with a Princess would only draw ire from my brother. It is simply for the best that I not attend."
"Not attend what?" A man spoke from behind them and both girls turned around to find Authin.
Ophelia opened her mouth but had no words, as the beautiful face once again silenced the always chattering girl.
"The ball." Lenore answered, she was slowly becoming less mesmerized by the man. Especially after he followed her into town the other night and nearly discovered her secret. "You seem to randomly appear in my life now. I don't suppose you are following me?"
"Of course, I am." He spoke in a teasing voice. "Who is to say that we didn't cross paths this many times before and because we were strangers we didn't take the time to notice the other?" As he spoke he walked up to stand in front of them. Reaching out he took Ophelia's hand. "Miss Romanus, you look lovely today. You make the school uniform look like an elegant gown."
Ophelia giggled and waved her kissed hand at him.
Turning to Lenore, Authin didn't bother to offer any words of compliment to her. He wanted her to see him do so with another woman and create jealousy in her heart. "As for the ball, if you would like to attend, I am certain I could accommodate."
"That won't be necessary, Mister Nele."
He didn't seem bothered by the rejection, "I was curious as to why you never appeared at the Enchantress the other night. I waited until very late, and yet I was forced to go without your company."
"I did make an appearance, but I am afraid my entry into the den was overshadowed by the musical number you were doing on the table. I didn't want myself associated with a lunatic and took my leave."
Authin touched his chest and laughed, "Those hooligans would have surely given me quite the beating had I not have charmed them in such a manner. Shall we get lunch together and discuss this?"
"You go ahead, I'll tell the others something." Ophelia shoved her friend, unable to make eye contact with the man.
Bracing herself against the shove, Lenore shook her head. "I'm afraid I have lunch plans with my dorm mates, perhaps another time." With that she flipped around and headed to the hall with Ophelia close on her heels.
Authin grinned as they walked away, "By your rules, still? Very well, Princess."
---***---
Sitting down at the lunch table, the boys looked at their last two arrivals. Santh and the others were afraid Lenore would not make an appearance and that she would be dragging Ophelia into her bad habits.
"We thought you had abandoned us again." Anton said as the girls sat down.
"I apologize we were held up." Lenore looked down at her food then up at the professors as she waited for them to prepare the words of wisdom.
Ophelia watched Santh as Lenore apologized. His face softened and one could almost see a small smile on his lips. Her heart ached with jealousy, and before she could even think of the consequences she blurted out something she would regret. "Lenore apparently goes into town to meet with a man from the Royal Dorms."
Santh's face seemed to harden once more.
Lenore brows came together, "I do not, Ophelia. Why would you say such a thing?"
She shrugged. "We just met him outside, and he said he waited for you. I didn't know your lover was a secret, I'm sorry."
"Authin is not my lover, Ophelia. I ran into him once in town, and sent him to the Enchantress in hopes that the patrons there would scare him away for the evening." Lenore silenced herself when the professors began to speak.
When they were finished, she turned back to Ophelia. "This is a clear violation of privacy and trust, Ophelia. I do not know what would bring you to say such things about me, especially in my presence. I knew that you liked to gossip, but this is certainly..." Lenore didn't finish her sentence and simply grabbed her meal without eating it and threw it away.
Ophelia looked down at her lap and frowned.
"You didn't know she didn't want you to say anything, Ophelia." Remus tried to comfort her. He reached across the table and patted her hand that was laying next to her dish.
"Yeah, Lenore is just secretive. If she didn't want you to know, she shouldn't have had the conversation in front of you." Anton added.
She looked up at Santh to see what his expression was. He was simply eating his meal and didn't seem concern about the topic at all.
Routine was the next to speak, "On the contrary, Lenore's enigmatic behaviors are arguably her greatest trait. As a friend, one should know that she is well accustom to keeping secrets both for herself and others. For instance, the evening that you became an inhabitant of our dorm. None of us are aware of the atrocities that brought you there, as Lenore has well protected them. I assume, she did not have to be asked?"
Ophelia's heart sank. "You are correct, Routine. I have to go find her and apologize." Grabbing her plates, she scurried off to find her room mate.
"Are you not going to tell her that your name is Byron and not Routine?" Remus questioned.
Routine shook his head, "It would be a fruitless endeavor, as her mind is too fixated on the task at hand to listen to any complaints that I currently have on the situation of a nickname."
Remus looked over at Santh. He had noticed the glance the girl had given him right before she blurted out one of Lenore's secrets. Something about the way she looked at him made him wonder if Santh was the reason that she had spoken up at all. He wondered if Santh and her were in cahoots or if this was jealousy on Ophelia's part, as he had already established she liked the man.
Taking a deep breath, he began to eat his meal. "It appears we are without the girls at our meal anyway. What a pity, I do enjoy Lenore's remarks to Santh, and Ophelia's constantly ebullience."
Routine looked up at Remus, "Shall we now be forced to hear your rendition of their previous conversations or are you quite finished with your reminiscing?"
"Well, aren't you in a mood today."
---***---
It took ten minutes of searching the school grounds to find Lenore. She was sitting on a bench near the classrooms as she waited for lunch hour to end and classes to start. The usual blank look on her face was present though most people took it for a frown as the Princess had naturally down turned lips.
Ophelia walked up to her when Lenore looked up but then looked away, she sat down on the bench beside her. She pulled a daisy from the flower bed next to her and offered it out to Lenore. "I am truly sorry for what I did."
Lenore looked at the flower but didn't take it. With a sigh, she turned her head so that she didn't have Ophelia in her sights at all.
"You conversed with Authin in front of me, because you trusted me not to say anything and the first thing I did was tell them about something I knew absolutely nothing about. Please forgive me, and let's go back to being friends."
"Why?" Lenore turned her head again this time to look at her.
Ophelia pressed her lips together and thought for a moment if she should tell the truth. With a deep drawn breath, she began. "I think I might have an attraction to Santh."
Lenore didn't seem to understand what that had to do with her betrayal.
"Before he would always stare at you harshly, but he was still always staring at you and always talking about you. Now that you are no longer missing meals or roll call, he still stares but it is with softer eyes. Remus told me he started doing this when he first moved in, and that he thinks Santh may be attracted to you." Ophelia dropped her head and looked at the daisy in her hand. "I saw him staring, and for some reason I wanted him to know about your lover so perhaps he would feel dissuaded. I am truly sorry, Lenore. It was cruel of me to do so, after you saved me from those girls."
Lenore slowly nodded her head. "Alright, I understand why now, but you must understand that I cannot control the way anyone feels about me. I do not deserve punishment if Santh has feelings for me. If you want him for yourself, then make him pay attention to you and stop being a wallflower in your own life."
The younger girl perked up and turned her attention to the Princess. "Are you saying that you do not have any feelings for him and that I can pursue him?"
She began to answer the question with certain intent and then her mouth closed.
"I see."
Lenore shook her head, "It is not what you believe. Santh never spoke to me before I started sneaking out, then when I started to he was the only one who ever stood up to me and I found that to be interesting. If not somewhat fun to dance around and annoy him. I had power over his feelings whether he knew it or not." She swallowed, "Mayhap some sort of feelings for the only real relationship I had was formed even if it was antagonistic. I am not saying that they are romantic in nature, but I am unsure how I would feel to lose his interest."
Clasping her hands together with the flower protected by the stem and being held out away from the palm, Ophelia stood up and put the flower behind Lenore's ear. "Well then I suppose until you do understand, as your friend, I shall have my love be unrequited. There are plenty of boys in this school, I would not cry over just one. Never cried over the other ones that were false in professing their feelings, and I sure won't over one that never professed anything at all."
"I am not sure, you understand what I just said." Lenore stood up in front of her.
"I heard very clearly. You enjoy Santh paying attention to you because he was the only person that didn't treat you gently and let you get away with anything. You want him to continue paying this attention to you, and if say I were to take his interest away then you would feel lonely. Therefore, I think you might have genuine feelings for him and I believe he has them for you, but don't worry I have learned my lesson about telling secrets." She locked her lips with an imaginary key and threw it into the flower bed. "Dance your dance, and I'll laugh knowingly as a spectator only." With that the girl skipped off toward her next class even though lunch hour wasn't even twenty minutes in.
Lenore watched her skipped off into the distance and she slowly shook her head. "That's not what I meant, stupid girl."
---***---
Jolon prepared to walk back to the dorm. Normally, he met with Anton on the way back but his friend didn't seem to wait for him at the entrance. His back ached from sitting all the time during the day and then practicing his hammer throwing for hours on end in the evening.
All he could think of was that hot bath that used to be drawn for the entire family. His father would always use it first and soak in the milky water for over an hour, and then it would be his turn after his mother added more hot water. They both worked hard every day, especially when his father was teaching him and so Jolon had to do most of the carpentry work while the others oversaw him.
That bath made all his aches and pains disappear, and then his mother would make a large meal. One she had been preparing all day. The meat would simply melt in one's mouth and the bread was soft and buttery. It made a hard days work worth every callus formed.
However, now all he had to look forward to was a pretentious dinner, followed by a cold basin of water or the stream behind the dorm. He missed his family with every passing day from his two younger brothers who would never have this schooling opportunity to his mother who cried all night the day before he had to leave for school. He remembered his father telling him to get the two years done and return home. He was promised that a bride would be waiting for him upon his return, one that his father and mother would find over the next two years.
As much as Jolon enjoyed his new friends and a different way of life, he couldn't wait to return home and have the life he was always meant to have.
Walking down the path way, he tripped over something. Looking down he found a towel, so he picked it up and looked around the crowded area. Amongst the students was a small blonde girl in servant garbs, she had dropped a basket of laundry and the students were walking by and kicking all the linens seemingly on purpose.
Jolon hurried to help the girl pick up everything that she had dropped. It was a difficult task as the other students seemed dead set on kicking the linen around, or walking on them with their dirty shoes. They didn't even bother to laugh when they did it either, it was as if they didn't even notice the suffering of the servant girl nearby.
When the task was finished, she looked up at the man who put a large amount of her towels in her wicker basket, she smiled. She had noticed him helping and knew she should have told him to stop, but the situation was humiliating enough as it was and she simply wanted it to end. "Thank you." She spoke with a soft voice.
"My pleasure, Jolon Marsh, Carpenter's Guild." He briefly bowed his head.
"Saena Ailca, Servant's Guild." The sweet faced girl reminded him somewhat of Ophelia, though she seemed soft and shy where Ophelia was loud and unreserved.
"Did they knock you over?" He asked and gestured toward the other students.
She nodded her head slowly, "However, it is my fault. There are certain path ways the servants are meant to take, but I wanted to take the short cut so I could go home." Saena looked down at the dirty towels and frowned, "It appears however my rush to get home has had the opposite effect. I will now have to go wash these all over again." She adjusted the basket on her hip.
"I could help, I..."
Anton smacked his friend's shoulder and grasped it. "What is occurring here?"
Saena immediately lowered her head. "I must go. Servants are not supposed to speak with the students." She hurried off into the crowd, but not before briefly looking over her shoulder at Jolon and offering him a wave of gratitude.
Raising his eyebrow, Anton grinned. "Have we found a lady love, my friend?"
Jolon pushed his hand off his shoulder, "She dropped her linens, I helped her to gather them up. That is all."
"Uh huh."
---***---
The next day was a rest day, but while the rest of the group were out enjoying their afternoons, Ophelia and Remus were taking inventory. They needed to send her mother information back on how many of each item she would need to send them. Both stood in the room counting each item with a scroll laid over a book for a hard surface to write on.
"I was thinking, Remus, about how long do you think we will be able to operate before the Mondues find us?"
He looked up from what he was writing, "I assume you mean their legal arm as we have already sold to a large number of members of the Mondue Party."
"Don't be difficult."
Remus pressed his lips together, "The thought has crossed my mind as well. The crowds are growing in numbers every day not to mention it might not be long before this room can not hold anymore."
"After the raid on the girls dorm and the amount of people that were expelled, it seems unsafe to have all this mead here, doesn't it?" She turned to face him. "If Lenore hadn't made me move in here, then I would have been one of the expelled."
"Considering that Lenore is the reason the raid happened at all, I have serious doubts pertaining to that statement." Remus went back to counting.
"Did she really? She said she didn't." Ophelia lowered her quill and scroll to her sides.
He chuckled and turned back to her. "Ophelia, one would think that you would have a better hand on the Princess and her personality by now. So let me explain, Lenore likes to be perceived as the intimidating, delinquent Princess while Lesatan likes to be perceived as the loving, heroic Prince. In truth, their actual personalities are reversed. Lesatan would never have done what he did without Lenore pushing him to do so, and him getting something from her in return. Of that, I am certain."
"Why does she want to be seen as a delinquent?"
He shrugged. "That is one mystery I have yet to uncover. Why is the Princess living in this moldy pile of timber, when she could be lavished with the finest things in life? That's a secret Lenore never tells."
Ophelia frowned and then looked around at the wares. She decided that they went off topic and wanted to bring it back to where they had originally been. "We have to find a way to operate this business without causing trouble for the dorm."
"I agree."
When Ophelia went silent, Remus looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He watched as the delicate girl counted each object with her quill and then again to ensure she got the same number. Remus was there to make the second count, but she wanted to be correct in her calculations.
Remus knew he could hire someone else to assist the girl, after all he had hired Anton and Jolon to help take orders. One of them could be asked to assist in this task, but Remus had decided that he wanted to take on this responsibility and had said he needed to ensure that all the numbers were correct.
Though he suspected that he just enjoyed Ophelia's company. Growing up, his entire life was consumed with making money and being told how he would assist his brother one day. He never really had friends that saw him for who he truly was, though in all honesty he knew that he hid himself from most people.
Santh had been his friend since his mid teenage years, and even then that had something to do with making money. The Princess was the same way with her need to have her own money. While Routine and he didn't truly count as friends at all. Even now Ophelia had gone from a sweet girl to a business partner that he now had control over.
Sometimes he wondered how he always managed to make the people he cared for into his underlings. Was it to make them rely on him so they wouldn't or couldn't leave? Or was he just so deeply into the world of the Fox that he saw opportunity in every person? He didn't know, but he did know that Ophelia was naïve and innocent. He enjoyed her company, because even if he was assisting her in a business venture, she still seemed genuine. He didn't know too many people like that.
---***---
Santh looked up into the night sky as he made his way to the dorm by following the stream. He wasn't entirely sure how he had managed to make his way to the stream and not follow the path ways to the dorm, but he was certain his drunk mind had had a reason at some point.
As he grew closer to the dorm, he could see a figure leaning over the stream and washing their face. It became clear that it was Lenore and she seemed just as drunk as he was. Walking to stand beside her, Lenore didn't even bother to look up as he knelt down to wash his own face beside her.
"Soap?" She offered out a brick of soap that looked like it might be green but was difficult to see in the dark. "Ophelia gave it to me."
He shook his head and let the water on his face drip off.
"Her mother makes them. It makes your whole face tingle." She added still holding out the soap and trying to get him to use it.
Again, he shook his head.
"Works well in the morning when you are trying to wake up or when you are too drunk to find your way home."
"I don't want any." He spoke softly.
Lenore began to lather up her hands, and Santh turned his face to watch her. He could barely see in the darkness but he knew she had delicate fingers and nails, where his hands were rough and scarred from years of fighting in the streets. He still remembered meeting Remus when he heard about the street brawls. Remus had been the one to organize them and when Santh had walked in they all laughed at how the rich boy wanted to play, even his now friend made fun of him. After his first fight, the only one laughing was Remus who convinced him to join them from that day onward. The two of them made a great deal of money on the fights until no one wanted to fight Santh anymore.
The memory made him wonder how Lenore grew up compared to him. His hands were scarred from all the battles he had fought, while hers didn't seem to know a day of labor in their lives. Of course, she had to have some scars after what she had lived through. She had unwed parents and one of them was a king. Her entire existence was a scandal before she was even born. While he was loved by parents, a mother who died of sickness and a father who died in battle. After that he was raised by his aunt who married Mondue nobility. At that point, Santh became a scandal for the aunt who never wanted him.
"Lenore, what was it like growing up in a castle as a bastard Princess?" He looked up at her.
Her soapy hands touched his cheeks and she rubbed the tingling bubbles across his face. "You and your fantastical stories about me." She chuckled. "My life wasn't as grand as my step mother would like others to believe."
Santh had lost interest in the story she was telling and his attention was completely focused on the face that her hands were touching him. When he felt his heart begin to race, he shoved her hands away and quickly washed the soap from his face.
Lenore rinsed off her hands. "Feels nice, doesn't it? Always so stubborn and won't try anything new, that's your biggest problem."
Standing up, he hurried toward the dorm and Lenore followed him. "Did I make you broody again because I washed your face?"
He opened the dorm room door and glared at her before stepping in. Lenore watched him slam the door and then looked into the storage room where Remus and Ophelia stood. The pair stared at the Princess blankly and curious as to what she meant by washing Santh's face.
"He doesn't like soap." She explained to them before heading into her own dorm room.
Remus looked over at Ophelia and they both smirked knowingly.
---***---
"When you throw you have to make sure that you release slightly before you are facing forward, or else the hammer will go to the left." Santh explained.
He once again picked up the large hammer, spun around to up his speed, and then released the hammer. It flew into the distance and landed in the sand trap at the end of the lane.
"I become discombobulated the more I spin." Jolon walked beside Santh as they went to retrieve the hammer.
The larger man nodded, "Indeed, but that is from the lack of mastery over your own mind. Even while spinning, you must know where the crowd is, where the sand trap is, and the exact moment so you hit one and not the other." He bent down and picked up the hammer.
"No! Long bow up, short bow down!" Lenore yelled in the distance.
When Jolon and Santh turned to look at the woman across the arena, she was standing in front of Anton and kicking his legs open slightly more. She then moved behind him to show him how to hold the bow. As she did so the other students who were also practicing on the targets, began to put their weapons on the racks and simply walk away from the infuriated Princess.
"Anton says she is by far the most excruciating teacher he has ever had the misfortune of being taught by. He told me the other day she hit him in the back of his head." Jolon told his own tutor. "I am not a fan of the hammer throw, but at least she isn't the one teaching me."
Santh smirked, "She seems passionate enough." He then began to walk down the lane again and then handed the hammer to Jolon. "When you find you have nothing else to do, you should practice out in the court. Just spin the way you would a hammer to train yourself not to become disoriented."
He nodded in agreement, "How long should it take for me to become use to the sensation?"
"Depends on how committed you are. Also, you must learn to control the aim. If you accidentally throw the hammer into the crowd, there could be deadly consequences. A commoner like yourself may even be tried for murder, and would surely be expelled." He stepped back so Jolon could attempt the throw again.
"You certainly know how to make one feel quite the burden if they fail." Spreading his legs apart, Jolon spun around and moved forward, until he thought it was time to release the hammer.
When he finally came to a stop, he watched the hammer fall next to the sand trap instead of inside it. Santh walked over to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "That is certainly closer than before. Good work."
"It's not a short bow, you can not fire it like one! Move aside, I will show you the difference once more!" Lenore snapped and hip checked the younger boy to the side. "I don't know why you find this so difficult, it's almost like you are purposely not listening to me! Are you trying to convince me to end your existence?"
Anton answered with a simple word, and then turned his attention to Santh and Jolon in the distance. They all knew the moment the weapons went back on the rack that Lenore's competitive nature would go with it, but during their training one couldn't help but feel pity for the freshman under her tutelage.
"Are you paying attention to this or would you rather just give googly eyes to Jolon?" Lenore barked, which caused Anton to immediately turn his eyes back to her.
---***---
After practice, Anton and Jolon headed back to the dorm with Ophelia, who had been watching in the stands with Remus. Lenore checked the crossbow and bows to ensure no damage was done before heading back to the dorm herself.
Remus walked next to Santh back to the dorm after he had also maintained the weapons that he and Jolon had used. "Lenore is quite the terrifying teacher."
Santh pressed his lips together and nodded.
"I've noticed that since she started coming to roll call and meals that you do not seem to find much to talk to her about." Remus smirked.
"We discuss the tournament from time to time. However, I doubt that you are actually attempting to talk to me about the Princess. You would never stay behind to gossip." They left the arena with Remus chuckling beside him.
"You are, of course, right. I find myself in need of another mule for the Fox's network, and with as foreboding as you are..."
"No."
Remus frowned deeply, "You haven't even let me explain what the duties would entail."
"You used the words 'mule' and 'foreboding,' I do not need you to explain anything to me. I told you that once the street brawls were done that I could either be one of your peons or I could be your friend. I shall never attempt to be both again. You chose friend, did you not?" Santh looked down at the man walking beside him.
His friend offered a deep sigh, "I did, could I perhaps go back on that decision then?"
"Remus."
Remus chuckled once more and waved his hand in front of his face. "I jest with you, of course. I suppose I will have to look for someone else then."
Walking into the flower court, Remus cocked his head to the side. "Who is that conversing with the Princess?"
Santh turned his head and looked at Lenore who was sitting on the bench with another man. "Authin Nele, he is part of the Royal Party. He claims that his father and my uncle are close friends, and that he and I played together at..." He cut himself off when he watched Lenore smile and then laugh at something the man had said.
"Hmm. It seems they are enjoying each other's company, perhaps it will not be long after all until Lenore leaves our dorms and returns to her own. That would make the dorms a great deal less tense, don't you agree?" Remus was baiting him and he knew it.
"Yes, it would." Santh spoke harshly as he made his way toward the pathway that would lead to their dorm. When they found themselves half way down the path, Santh looked at his friend. "I left something at the arena, I will be back before roll call."
"Do you wish for me to come..."
"No!" Santh snapped, "I mean no, don't be late for roll call because of me." With that he ran back up the path.
Remus grinned as he watched the man disappear, and he wondered exactly how long he could play this game with Santh. He was even worse than before at covering up his feelings now, even Lenore seemed to hide hers with very little effort.
---***---
Lenore walked back from the arena. Her arms were tired from practicing her melee swings and pulling on bows all afternoon. She just could not create a curriculum that Anton seemed to be able to follow in order to learn how to at least not embarrass himself during the archery tournament. Though, her pupil was at the very least able to hit the target, while Jolon seemed unable to hit the sand trap.
"Lenore!" A man's voice called out to her.
She found Authin immediately. He was smiling and waved her over to the marble bench he was standing in front of. Lenore was very familiar with the bench as the guards had deposited her drunk body upon it almost nightly the last few years.
When she obliged his summons, Authin sat down and patted the bench next to him for her to sit down as well. Lenore was too tired to think over her actions in the moment and blindly sat down beside him.
"I saw you at the arena the last couple of days. Melee and archery, that's quite impressive." Authin was genuinely impressed. "I went on several hunts with my father, but the biggest game I ever caught was a rabbit. Of course, the hunting dogs had all but killed it by the time I arrived."
Lenore grinned at his confession. "My father believes that one should always know how to protect oneself with any weapon in the given area. We learned and mastered the majority of them."
Again, the blonde looked impressed. "My father believes in getting drunk and beating his wife and children for even the slightest look that he takes to mean judgment."
"I'm sure my brother will be more like your father then his own." She chuckled.
Authin laughed. "From what I have seen of his habits in this school, of that I have no doubt." Suddenly, Authin remembered himself and realized that he had let his guard down too much. He only wanted to compliment her, and show some vulnerability in his hunting story. He hadn't meant to inform her of his family's issues. "I will be cheering for you come the tournament, of course since it could be seen as treason of my own dorm, it will have to be concealed. Least, your brother turn into my father that evening after he has been thoroughly beaten by you."
Lenore smiled. "Oh, I have many doubts that our dorm shall win over your own. Our hammer thrower and archer have barely even begun to learn their trades." She ran her hand across her sweaty forehead.
Reaching his hand up, Authin moved some hair that was now sticking to her forehead. "They both appear to be practicing with vigor, I am certain they will be up to par by the day of the tournament."
"You have far more belief in them than I do."
He gave a brief nod, "Well, I suppose I should be off. Roll call shall occur soon." He stood up and she followed him. "I simply wanted to tell you that I have seen your efforts, and ensure that you were not upset with me. You seemed rather curt with me the other day. I suppose you had every right to be after I had followed you on your outing."
She waved her hand in front of her. "There are days..."
A large shadow appeared over them and Santh glared down at the two royal party members. "We took you at your word that you would not be late for roll call."
Lenore looked at the large clock in the center of the school. "We still have fifteen minutes, and I am less than two away."
The glaring eyes turned to her, and he looked like he was about to reach up and take her upper arm, but he seemed to change his mind. "You are always late, we should go!" He snapped and then headed back down the pathway.
The Princess looked confused, "I am never late." She said to Authin, "I either arrive on time or never at all. What has gotten into him?" She asked the last question under her breath.
Authin smirked, "You should be off, before the beast returns baring his fangs this time."
"Good night, Authin."
He bowed his head and watched her walk toward the pathway. Authin raised his eyebrow, "So, we have a jealous suitor, do we?"
Authin grinned to himself as he thought about how she had a lover in the hamlet, a dorm mate with a desire for her... of course, they could be one in the same. He shook his head, she seemed too unaware of the reasoning behind his behavior. With a shrug, Authin decided that there was yet another layer, but this one had interrupted his plans and would need to be dealt with quickly.
---***---
Lenore arrived at the dorm shortly after to a fuming Santh, who was standing at the top of the stairs. She frowned at his behavior and tried to make her way passed him, but he simply stepped in her way.
"You take a lover from the Royal Dorms, but remain here? Shouldn't you return to where you belong? Wouldn't you feel more comfortable there?"
The sounds of the dorm doors sliding open behind him, told them both that their dorm mates were now their audience.
"What has caused you to rant now? I am here on time for the roll call. I have arrived on time for all the meals." She tossed her hands in the air. "What purpose could you have to fault me for stopping to talk to a friend?"
She could see his jaw tighten at the hinge as he continued to glare down at her with his arms crossed. "I simply do not like your presence here. Return to where you belong!"
"If you can not stand my company, you can return to your own dorm. You have a second home just as much as I do. Your choices are not limited to just this place." Lenore snapped and tried to move around him.
Santh snorted loudly and moved backward to block the hall. He placed a hand on each side of the hall so she could not pass. Lenore attempt to go under his arm, but he moved his body closer to the wall. The Princess became briefly pinned between him and the wall, before she was able to pull herself out and look up at the man whose own face was inches away from hers.
"Are you truly attempting to throw me out of the dorm at this moment? I can leave and not stand for roll call as you wish."
"As long as you return to the Royal Dorms, I do not care whether you are here tonight to stand or not." He growled.
"Santh, why are you doing this?" Ophelia asked from down the hall. "She hasn't done anything wrong."
Remus knew what was happening in those moments, but he was wise enough to know it was not his place to announce Santh's feelings. After all, he had been hiding them for so long, it was pure entertainment at this point.
Lenore and Santh engaged in a stare off, when suddenly the Princess lurched forward. She grabbed his cheeks with both hands and planted a kiss directly on his lips. It took the large man a moment to fully understand what was happening as the Princess didn't just simply kiss him briefly and pull away. Santh pushed himself away and stumbled back in the hall. He lost his footing and fell to the wooden floor with wide eyes staring up at her.
"Why... what..." He searched for words to create the question that was lingering in his mind.
Lenore chuckled and looked at Remus and Jolon, before turning her head to look at Anton and Routine. "Made him move." She laughed as she stepped over him and put her arm around Ophelia's shoulder.
Ophelia gave a knowing look to Remus, before the Princess spun her around and took her into their room.
"He has yet to wipe his mouth in disgust." Remus commented when the girls' door was slide shut behind them.
"No, but he did lick his lips." Anton looked down at the man still laying on the floor boards.
"His face appears to be concocting a new shade of red." Routine added.
Santh stared up at the four men looking down at him. He was propped up on both hands, his eyes still wide. He could hear everything that they were saying to him, but he couldn't find the words to reply in kind.
Jolon stepped forward and waved his hands in front of Santh's face. "I do not believe she has ever stunned him into this type of silence before."
With a chuckle, the four men left their dorm mate on the floor and returned to their own dorms. The doors slid shut and Santh remained in his statue-like state for several more moments. Uncertain of what he was feeling, he stood up and walked down to the back of the dorm. One of the girl's baskets was on the back platform. Reaching in, he pulled the green soap out and headed down to the stream to wash his face.