Let it Snow!

❄Thirty-Three❄

"Have fun, and I'll see you tomorrow," Nora told Martin as they stopped in front of an arched, wooden door minutes later.

They were in a part of the castle she did not recall from her previous visits-- it seemed to be another tower kept away from the tourists for the owner's private use.

Martin's eyebrows knitted in confusion as he looked down at her, and she remembered that she had only explained her plan to Daniel. "I won't stay for the entire lesson. Daniel said that it lasted a couple of hours, and I need to leave earlier than that."

She was ready to tell him how she meant to spend her free afternoon should he ask, but he didn't. He simply nodded, kissed her on her forehead, and said, "Be careful if you drive, and call me if you need anything."

Then Martin pushed the door open and they walked through into a large room-- the Armoury, Nora decided, seeing how it was furnished-- filled with children of different ages, all dressed in white like Martin and Daniel. They were running around, playing, while a handful of parents sat on narrow marble benches lining the walls, observing them and chatting.

Nora looked towards the adults as she sat on the closest empty bench, and smiled at a woman who waved at her-- she recognised her as a mother of one of the kids who frequented Clelia's reading group. Then she let her eyes stroll around the room.

It was high-ceilinged and circular, with white walls and floor tiles made of pink and black marble just like the benches, a few thin and elegant decorative columns, and a narrow balcony set high above the room, along a row of small windows. A number of torches burned in wrought iron sconces on the walls, lit to give the place atmosphere rather than light-- it was bright enough due the the fire burning in the huge fireplace situated opposite the door, and the high windows placed all around the chamber's circumference. Ancient looking cold arms of all sorts and pieces of armour decorated the walls, but Nora didn't have much time to study them as her attention was called back to the little fencers who started to gather around Martin the moment they noticed his presence.

She recognised Lily immediately; the girl's red pony tail flew behind her as she jumped into Martin's arms, giggling. The sight made Nora look towards the seated parents, fearing to find Victoria there. But there was only Natalia the au-pair a few seats away, lost to the world as she typed furiously on her phone. Feeling relieved, Nora looked back at the children and recognised Magdalena's son, the boy she had met in her friend's shop, an instant before all the small faces were hidden by masks which Martin told them to put on as he handed out their swords.

No, not swords, Nora corrected herself. She had read enough about fencing to know that these were either foils or sabres; she would have to watch them for a while to be sure. But she was relieved to see that the blades were made of plastic, all except Martin's and two other boys' whom she believed to be at least sixteen, old and skilled enough to not hurt each other.

Then, without another apparent order from Martin, the fencers formed a large semi-circle made of couples of similar height and build, causing Nora to lose all trace of Daniel. They sprang into surprisingly synchronised motion, slower, but just as light and graceful as professionals, while Martin put his own mask on and made his way among them, pausing by each couple in turn to correct their moves or positions.

From the way the steel blades of the two oldest boys arched as their blunt tips touched each other's opponent, Nora was soon convinced that they were foils. She observed the lesson, riveted by Martin's elegance and proficiency when he sent one of the oldest boys to supervise his little students while he practiced with the other, much longer than she had planned-- she only realised that the lesson was nearly over when the first exhausted kids started to take their masks off and sit along the wall, waiting for the others to finish. Nora sneaked out of the Armoury quickly then, not wanting Martin to change his plans for the rest of the afternoon just because she was still there.