Tense

17 - Never underestimate your enemy

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"Son, I know you care for her, but please do not go against your mother's decision. She is just not right for us."
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I was taking a stroll through the the halls of the palace, as we were freed by Lady Charlotte for an hour before resuming our lessons in politics. My head was racing from all the names of historical figures we had discussed. Most of the girls were bored by the class complaining how it was revision of their time at school, but I wanted to know more and more. History had always been something that I had loved as a child and read all the stories of how our world came to be, but I never got any other perspective than my country's history. Nevertheless, even I had to take a break at some point. I passed through the west gate of the palace which lead me into the sprawling gardens. The bright Angeles sun hit my face and I smiled towards it. Most of the girls were sitting in the courtyard and I had yet to find the courage to sit among them. Especially after yesterdays escapade. I still couldn't wrap my head around it all. I had kissed Eric. It was not for long, but still. My face keeps blushing just thinking about it. He rushed away when his father knocked on the balcony door. I just really hoped nobody had seen anything.

What a mess.
Leah, focus! I told myself. You cannot risk being thrown out. I sighed in my distress. I had to talk to Eric but had no clue how to get to him, or if he wanted to get back to me. I mean, I was the the one telling him that I wanted him and not the other way around. My hands shielded my face from the world with the feeling of embarrassment radiating from my cheeks.
Such a big big mess. I cursed towards the sky.
There was no direct way out and facing others right now I would not feel confident in my ability to hold back my emotions.

Calming myself down with positive affirmations, my footsteps rhythmically crunching gravel on the pathway filled my ears and the smell of marvellous roses wafted through the air. The gardens were quiet and peaceful with only the hymns from bees and songs from birds disturbing the silence. Faintly in the distance though I heard the sound of clashing metal. A sound that played like a melody of nostalgia in my head. When I got closer to my surprise I saw Eric, dressed in a white loose linen shirt and brown shorts with his tousled blond hair swaying with every move as he was training with a man of similar attire. The two held broad swords, sparring with each other. Both of them focused on one another, parrying and blocking heaps, going back and forth fighting for dominance in the battle. It looked so fascinating. It had been years since I begged my father to let me try my luck at swordsmanship with my older cousins and trained along side them for a good of 3 or 4 years. They often called me warrior princess when training because I was so eager to beat them every time. Even though I rarely did as the youngest one training. But one time I had floored my oldest cousin who was almost 4 years older than me and his ego was bruised for weeks having been beat by a 14 year old. Seeing these two sparring with such dedication seemed so nostalgic to me. In a split second I saw Eric look up to me and missed the heap his partner had executed. He fell to the ground, his partners sword at his throat, he had lost.

"Never be distracted, Eric" he said, helping Eric up and continuing as he turned to me "Thank you, my Lady for granting me this win."

I stifled a laugh. "I didn't mean to disturb or distract anyone." I say, falling into a small curtsy. "Simply curious." I state. My eyes fell to Eric once again.

"Well then, why don't you join us for a bit. This is Andrew by the way, junior captain of the palace guards. Andrew, this is Lady Leah, one of our newest members of the court at the palace"

Andrew proceeds to bow down to me. "Pleasure to meet you, my Lady."

Afterwards Eric spoke up again. "So, you wanna learn how to fight?"
He jokingly says when Andrew voiced his protest.