The Maid and Her Princess [On Hiatus]

Summer of Light (Summer 1)

I.

"Come on! You're big, Madoka," Leopride said as they dueled. The weight of his practice sword crashed against hers. The impact caused her grip to slip and her sword went flying. Madoka felt a surge of pain in her legs as her world went reeling to the ground. Leopride's sweeping attack got her. "But I am bigger. You should focus on your movements instead of taking strikes head on."

The word "big" made Madoka uncomfortable when compared to her for odd reasons. She climbed back up on her own and refused his hand for help. The pieces of her practice sword lay strewn about in the grass like old, unearthed relics.

"Wood's broken," she muttered as she stared at it. Leopride laughed, though not out of old malice.

"What are we on, now, the sixth wooden stick broken?" He laughed. Then he signaled her to wait and walked off to his carriage. Madoka wondered what the Cherish-man was up to this time. He approached with an object in his strong arms, covered by a piece of cloth. "You swing like a brute, so I brought you a gift from my Homeland. Practice with Lord Zeron."

He placed it in her hands and Madoka felt the weight lean on one side. She wobbled a bit but managed to stay balanced.

"What is this?" Madoka shook the cover off it.

"A hatchet. Or ax," Leopride told her. "Once you are strong like me you will like it better."

The hatchet's head gleamed in the sunlight, though it was ordinary in a way. It was also half of Madoka's height. If she was being honest, it looked like it belonged to someone else.

"A-Are you sure a slave like me should own something?" Madoka trembled at the realization. She was not allowed to have things to herself.

"I am sure the princess will insist you keep it," Leopride chuckled. "The steel is forged from my homeland as well. It will break people, but it will not break itself."

"G-Good to know," Madoka was a little taken aback by the gift, as heavy as it might be. "I will take care of it with all my heart."

Leopride furrowed his whiskers and brows, then chanted something beneath his breath. Madoka stepped back as she knew what he was doing. With a grunt, magic made the ground tremble beneath her feet. More stone formations than last time emerged.

"These will help," he laughed. "I will return soon, I suspect these will be broken by the time I come back. Goodbye, Madoka."

"Goodbye, Lord Leopride," Madoka bowed. He waved back as he walked to his carriage.

She tried to swing the ax, but found its weight much heavier than anything she had held before. Elise chuckled at her new gift.

"Ho? He gave you this?" Elise inspected the ax. Madoka could only hang her head low for she imagined a Royal would simply take away a slave's possessions. It was unheard of for one to own things. Elise was no ordinary Royal, however, who chuckled. "He is such a savage, I know. Have you tried to use it?"

"I, erm, yes," Madoka stammered sheepishly. She hefted the hatchet up. "Though it is a little too heavy."

"Hmm," Princess Elise looked at Madoka's shaky grip on the weapon. "Maybe you don't have enough strength stat points in your character build yet... I mean. We just have to train harder then."

"H-Harder," Madoka gulped. She already had her schedule full, but the princess grinned.

"Even harder," she laughs. The sunset complimented Elise's beauty well. It was Summer, but Spring still danced delicately between the days despite everything being sunny. It will soon be warm and the food harvests will be different. Madoka would have to break all those rocks sooner than later before the Sun brings its fury on the earth.

Still, the ax was quite taxing to hold. Madoka thought back to what Lord Leopride's movements and forms were training. She guessed, as a commoner with way less fighting experience, should just go on about her duties and continue her workouts day by day.

"Hello, Madoka, are you in there?" Elise's voice broke Madoka's concentration. She did not budge from her workout routine, merely remembering that she was in the middle of a conversation with Elise. Elise raised her hands in a circle, forming more bubbles that splashed on the ground. "Look! I'm a human sprinkler, now."

She began to splatter large water bubbles out that watered the dying grass beneath them. Elise laughed, Madoka sighed. At least this new spell of hers only makes a mess and does not set anything on fire.

"What is a sprinkler?" Madoka asked, trying to be engaged. These days, she's managed to hold the ax and complete her first two forms Leopride showed her.

"It's ahh, a little water pump that goes pszt pszt pstpstpst and - crap!" The princess lost her concentration and apparently the bubble popped and splashed all over her dress. She hung her head low. "Oops. Sorry, Madoka."

"What am I to do with you?" Madoka instinctively went for some cloth to clean the mess, but when she returned she saw a horrifying sight. The princess was wiping herself off. "No, no, no! I am your servant, princess."

"Soon, you won't be," Elise said. "We'll stand as... friends I hope."

"Hmph," Madoka wiped her off and guided her with her hand. "We already are friends, princess. Though you should really remember your place above me."

The princess stopped with a dark look in her eyes.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling sick?"

Elise shook her head like a bright candle light, as if to fend off the darkness in her eyes. She smiled, the hurt receding from her face.

"I'm fine. You really need to accept apologies," she laughed.

Madoka considered it, but did not understand what accepting an apology for doing her duties truly meant. "V-Very well, princess."

"Good. Take me away, my friend," the princess instructed her. Madoka led her to be cleaned and changed. Dinner was next, then cleaning the dining hall, cleaning her, dusting the hallway windows... Oh so much work to do.

"As you wish, Your Highness," Madoka said instead.

It was late but the night was clear unlike Madoka's thoughts. She finally managed to get time by herself. Without the ax that she rested against one of the stone formations, she would practice her forms by herself. The ax certainly was what she wanted to practice, but she did but couldn't use it now and woke the whole estate up. She could swing it with some effort but there was something she knew she was missing with every swing she performed. When she attempted to break the stone pillars earlier, her attacks simply bounced off. She was secretly amazed by the Cherish-crafted ax, for it never broke against the rocks.

While quickening her breathing exercises, she jumped from one formation to another. The tips of each were no wider than one of her feet and falling off or losing balance would be a painful lesson to learn. Swiftly, she kept up the pace until she grew tired that night.