Days turned to weeks, which in turn turned to months. Lynnette had not yet been Knighted, for obvious reasons, but she had gone through many hours of intensive training. She had to learn how to act when addressing nobility, and of course, royalty, seeing as she was going to work closely with Fenryn as his personal guard other than Vaughan. Then there was learning to dance, though she secretly enjoyed those lessons, despite how hard they were. Once Vaughan was pleased with her progress, he finally started to train her personally in regards to combat.
Most of the training, however, was done alone. Vaughan was rather particular about that. Lynnette could only guess that he wanted to give her enough knowledge of how the Knights would fight against her, and as much of a chance to beat them at their own game, should she be forced to fight any of them. It was only when Vaughan believed she was ready; did Lynnette finally be introduced to the Knights as a hopeful candidate into his a
The evening sun began making its way down past the horizon, as Lynnette and Vaughan sat together on the edge of the fountain. She mused at how complete opposites the two men were when she compared them side by side.Fenryn was happy, outgoing, but seemed to hide his inner struggles. Or at least not voice them. Vaughan however, was stricter, more reserved, but much more open to his troubles once he befriended someone. Though he was very untrusting of anyone, not just the nobles.Lynnette supposed she should feel lucky, that Vaughan had opened up to her more, and moreover the days they spent together. Not that Fenryn hadn't opened up to start with, but he hadn't given her any new information about himself either. Learning of his open-mindedness had been some progress, however.“So who is this Sethis Silversmith anyway? No one has ever mentioned the name before.” She asked, allowing her feet to swing a little in front of herself.Vaughan watched
After a brief warning from Vaughan, that Lynnette would have to be even more careful with how she acted and spoke to Sethis. They entered the room in which noble guests were allowed to mingle. It was a large, impressive room; as was most of the rooms in the castle. There were many large sitting areas, single chairs, a fireplace, and large animal-skin rugs upon the floor. There were also smaller tables dotted about, for ease of placing drinks down.“And so I said to him; there is no chance you had gotten captured by bandits! That was just a rumour!” Laughed a large, portly man with grey hair, and a long beard to match.Fenryn laughed nervously in return, as he tried not to look at the man at all. “If I had, I would not be here now.” He said, once more laughing anxiously.“Of course not, my son! I knew that old fool was speaking nonsense.” Sethis said, slapping Fenryn on the back as he laughed heartedly again.With anothe
The morning sun began to disturb Fenryn's sleep, as the rays shone into his eyes. He grumbled, pulling the silk sheets further up over his face. However, his comfort was short-lived as someone knocked on his door.“Your Majesty, are you up?” Came a familiar voice from outside. There was a long pause before the voice spoke again, “don't make me come in there!”“Fine, I'm up. I'm up...” Fenryn replied groggily, “...in a few more moments.”There was a long, drawn-out sigh from the person outside. “I'm coming in.” They said, opening the door. Vaughan entered the room. He saw Fenryn clinging tightly to his sheets, as he made himself into a ball. With raised brows, Vaughan shook his head and marched over to the man. He gripped the silk sheets in his hands and yanked them firmly away from Fenryn.“I do not want to get up!” Fenryn complained as he looked up to his friend. His hair was a mess,
During breakfast, Fenryn continued to talk with Elena. He asked the usual questions, such as; 'how have you been?' and 'was the trip here pleasant?' He also complimented how she had grown into such a lovely young woman. Most of it was small-talk and nothing of any real importance.Lynnette noticed how pleasant Fenryn acted towards her, a stark difference to how he acted usually. Not that he was ever unpleasant towards anyone directly, but his mannerisms were very different. He was not tense, nor did he seem to be holding back any anger or frustration.After eating, Fenryn gave Elena a polite kiss on the hand, “I am sorry that I cannot spend more time with you currently. Your father has requested my attention, but I would be honoured to catch up later. In the meantime, miss Lynnette here will be happy to show you around.” He said with a gentle smile.“Oh, I understand...” Elena said shyly, though she seemed disappointed. She glanced at Lyn
The day of the tournament came quickly. Fenryn had been both excited, and nervous. Nobles from all over had come to see how well their offspring did, with hopes that the King would promote their rank, or at the very least allow them to be official knights, even at lower ranks. Either way, it would make them more worthy for potential spouses.Fenryn wondered why Lynnette herself was not nervous. Was she ready to fight the knights? Or maybe she was just confident in her abilities? Had Vaughan given her some kind of advantage, somehow? He wanted to talk to her, but with all the nobles trying to gain his attention, he found it hard to get away.Even Vaughan had trouble finding five moments of peace. He glanced over to Lynnette, making sure he did so subtly. He could see that even she had been surrounded by people; though most were there to speak to Elena. The poor girl had not left Lynnette's side since she had gotten to the castle.Her father had not paid her any a
With Vaughan's cousins standing either side of Fenryn and Elena, the two sat within the viewing stand, away from the large gathering of people below them. Elena seemed about as nervous as Fenryn felt, though he masked his own feelings far better. Truthfully, he wished he could be down there with all the other knights, participating in the tournament, or at the very least helping to run it like he once did before he became King.He could feel the burning gaze of Sethis upon him from somewhere nearby. Fenryn was at least thankful, that only a few select groups of people could sit up there with him. There had been placed a third chair beside his own, one reserved for the Queen mother. He had yet to see her but knew she had been fit enough to visit Sethis at some point or other. Vaughan had told him, that she had planned to join him, but so far there had been no sign of her.His attempts to shift his mind from Sethis only served to make Fenryn's anxiety stronger, however.
After a while, the archery contest was finished with, and those who progressed to the next challenges were told the next competition. This next one, for Lynnette, was to be another simple one for her. Apparently, it was a new trial made for this year's tournament. A long, wooden log had been placed over a large muddy area, and the contestants merely had to balance themselves while reaching from one end to the next. What made it trickier was the fact that everyone had to be blindfolded. Evidently, the log was to be used later, as two warriors fought one another. The one who fell off first was the loser. Lynnette wondered how many would make it that far. According to Vaughan, only the first few easier tests would end up with the weaker squires going home. Which at first, Lynnette wondered if that would still end up with a lot of people left over. However, after easily passing her own trial, and watching many of the others; she soon realised that this was not the case. So many
As Fenryn and Vaughan moved closer to the tent, a cloaked person greeted them, “ah hullo there, your Majesty. We have been expecting you.” They said with gentle words, but a strangely unisex voice. Neither of them could tell if they were in the presence of a man, or a woman. “Of course you were.” Grunted Vaughan. He had no belief in fortune-tellers and even less tolerance for them. To him, they were simply hoaxes, using people's desires to know the future for profit. However, if Fenryn wanted to play along for now, then he would allow it. “How much is it?” Fenryn asked, curiously. He ignored Vaughan's scepticism for the moment. The cloaked person chuckled softly, “for you, your Majesty? No charge at all, and neither for you, my Lord.” “How kind.” Vaughan scoffed. He peered intently at the cloaked person. They were quite small in stature, but he couldn't make out any other details. Usually, he could at least tell the race of a person, even if they atte