Frostborne

The Curse of Nobility

Four Years Later:

Alexi called out, standing tall in the field they were in, the grass barely reaching to his shoes. "Again!"

Alina, exhausted, immediately stood tall. Now a spitting image of her mother in her twenties, her pale blond hair tied into a ponytail behind her. Her eyes, still curious, were now glistening with intelligence, learned from her years of study, backed by a spark of ambition to eventually make something of herself. While she was tired, this was a necessary skill in this world. To be able to defend oneself against all manner of threat, be they beast or human. In this case, she was practicing against the most lethal of opponents. Man.

Holding her sword in a practiced stance, the two circled the impromptu dueling site. She had yet to properly win. But, there was always the next match. Steadying her breathing, her blue eyes locked with her father's glittering golden orbs. They both waited, seeing if the other would strike first. Their 'weapons' may be mere sticks, but neither wanted stinging bruises... or any more of them, as Alina could attest. Her body ached, but a year of grueling training has led to this point. First of stances, then of how to swing, then how to move in combat, all reminiscent of the ancient ways of her forebears. The knights of old were elegant, fast, and strong. She would not fail them now through carelessness. With each spar was a new lesson. Avoiding the same failures was not an option.

It was then that her father lunged forward, to which she dodged. As of right now, Alina didn't have the strength of her father, but she did have a speed advantage. Going to the left, she lashed out, attempting to strike his arm. A move he predicted and deflected with a glancing blow, before retaliating again. This time, instead of merely dodging, she stepped closer, deflecting the strike to her right, before manipulating the stick deftly in her grip and stabbing forward, towards center mass. Hitting dead center, Alexi rolled with the blow, stepping back from the force, before sidestepping the next blow she tried to follow up with. With a quick downward strike, the resounding thwack indicated a strict hit on Alina's head.

Hissing with pain, she only flinched once, before avoiding yet another strike. Quickly, she assessed the situation, seeing that her father was still not setting up the disarmament strike. He usually given a tell... only deviating once when she made a potentially fatal mistake to point it out. Continuing to dodge, and parry with the 'blade', she watched and waited... and then she caught it. A dilation of his pupils was the first sign, then the small twitch of his mouth under his mustache, making a smirk for a moment. The grip on his 'blade' tightened slightly, and she remained relaxed, knowing that in her last attempt, her having tried to hold onto the blade... had actually caused her to fall back onto the ground. This time it would not be the same. Her father struck again, this time, with a feint into a disarm move, the same she had fallen for time and time again. This time, when the disarmament move happened, she allowed the blade to slide back, but used her fingers to let it fall into a reverse grip. Moving forward all the while, she rapidly overwhelmed her father by putting it to his neck.

Smiling, Alexis laughed, his now fully silver mustache quaking with amusement. "Well done, my girl, well done!"

Removing it from her fathers throat, she smiled, standing tall. "Thank you, father!"

"You have taken my lessons to heart, and are quick to adapt, too. Then again, you've always been our bright little hviezda." He sighed, "Let us get some lunch."

"Yes!" Beaming, she then asked, "What is next?"

"Next? Do you forget what today is?"

Narrowing her eyes for a moment, they then widened. "Of course, it's my birthday!"

"How did you forget your birthday, Alina?" Her father laughed.

She could not answer, instead laughing alongside him. Their father daughter bonding moments were far, far better than her previous life, and the fact that he actually taught instead of just beating her down meant he actually cared.