Blades and Claws (Lady Dimitrescu x Female Reader)

1. Tempest

You flip the page. This book is one of the best ones yet, but you already feel exhausted after a long day and decide to get to bed soon. But first, you open the window for some fresh air – this has become your tradition, you can't go to sleep without spending some time near the window, breathing in cold refreshing air, looking at the dusky sky and searching for stars, observing the silent empty streets of your village. Sitting by the window helps clear and calm your mind and soak in the last moments of night before you wake up to the turmoil of morning.
It has rained this evening, and the air feels colder than usual. All the houses, soil and trees are wet after the rainfall.

You sit at the windowsill and take a look at your room. Your sword shines beautifully, reflecting the candles arranged in your room. Two daggers are lying near the sword, sheathed. The sword is out of its scabbard because you had training today and didn't have energy yet to maintenance it. You look at your bookshelf. Books are sorted neatly by category: classic literature, encyclopedias, scientific research. Need to buy more later, as you already finished most of them.
Yawning, you closed the window shut, got changed and laid down in your bed. Sleep got to you soon enough.

You woke up to your mother's voice.

"Get up, my darling, it's almost 11 am, you'll be late for your training today," she reminded.
"Not a big loss, I'm already best in my class, so..." you answered, grinning proudly.
"Don't get too haughty now, Y/N. Breakfast will be ready soon. Your father wants a word with you, too," she ordered.
"Will be down soon," you finalized.

'Father wants to speak? What could that be about, I wonder?' you thought to yourself while getting up.
Driven by hunger, you quite hastily got dressed and headed down the stairs to the kitchen.
Your parents were already by the table, waiting for you.

"Good morning," you greeted your father.
"Good morning, dear!" he smiled.
'Well, at least he's not angry with me, I guess,' you sighed in relief while joining your parents at the table.

After breakfast you were too concerned about what father wanted to talk about and decided to ask him yourself.

"Mother said there was something you wanted to tell me?" you tilted your head.

"Yes, I want to teach you something. I don't have work today at the apothecary so I have plenty of time. Meet me here after your training?" he smiled.

"Well you have a great ability to peak one's interest," you chuckled. "Deal, I will find you after training."

You headed back to your room, packed your backpack and sharpened the sword, putting the whetstone inside the backpack – you usually don't, but today you have personal training with the master which could be quite dynamic, and your sword might need to be sharpened again during practice.

'Seems perfect,' you thought. The blade shined splendidly. You were a bit of a perfectionist when it came to weapons – they had to be sharp and maintenanced, and you never left your house with a blade in a 'good enough' state, which already proved useful at least a few times. For example, when you decided to go for an unscheduled hunt in the woods and delight your family with fresh meat, or when lycans or bandits attacked your village by surprise outside of their usual "hunting" hours. At late hours all warriors in the village are already expecting some monster appearances and have their weapons at the ready. Wiping out the bandits was the most fun for you – they were like the wooden dummies you destroy during your practice sessions, but alive, moving. Bleeding. Real-life training was always the best.

You took a quick look in the mirror to make sure you look like you should and went down the stairs, saying goodbye to your parents.

The weather was cloudy and murky after the night rain. Such weather had a calming effect on you, though. The wind gently caressed your hair and made you a bit sleepy, disregarding the fact that it was still morning.