Sergeant Cateline was a swarthy woman whose delicate face stood in contrast to her stern expression. Upon finding out about Idelle’s lack of experience, she sent her to grab a training spear and participate in group drills. Her explanation that she was already trained with a sword was immediately overruled; the woman tersely explained that she needed to know what everyone else was going to be doing regardless so she might as well just learn to stab things along with them.

That seemed logical enough, so she obeyed without further complaint. She soon found herself part of an impromptu squad, practicing moving in formation with the long shafts of wood and quickly arranging into lines at the Sergeant’s orders to present a solid wall of spears several layers deep.

She had to admit, the tactics seemed enormously effective in their simplicity. Any of the oversized magic beasts she’d encountered would either be forced back or impale themselves on the layered rows of points, turning even the simple wooden spears they were training with into deadly tools.

A second set of drills revealed the final piece of the puzzle; a further group of soldiers with crossbows could march in the middle of the group, where they could fire volleys with impunity from behind the bristling lines of spears. Assuming, of course, that those in front kept their cool and maintained the formation properly. She guessed that this was the logic behind sending rookies as part of the hunting teams; it seemed about as safe a method as reasonably possible for building actual fighting experience.

The exercises continued a while longer; until Cateline called for a break. Most of the other soldiers flopped down in the shade to relax or went to get a drink of water, but one of them walked up to Idelle, looking a little nervous. She cringed a little internally as she recognized him as the clean-cut teenager she’d spoken with after the run a few days ago — but his words took her by surprise.

“Hey, uh. Sorry if I was rude the other day. I didn’t realize you were a friend of Her Highness until I saw you two talking later. You should have said something!”

She flashed a smile at him, embarrassed. “It’s all right. We’re… Well, it’s a little complicated.”

He returned her look with a grin of his own. “Still, I should have guessed. No stupid questions, right? I’m Clovis.”

“I’m Idelle. Is it that unusual to know Cecilia?”

He shrugged. “More or less? She’s supposed to have been a bit of a black sheep among her peers since she arrived in the kingdom, even if she’s popular among the masses. Being born to a branch of the family who was in exile at the time will do that, I suppose. But you’d probably know more about that than me.”

She hesitated, wondering if it was weird to question him further. No, she was being paranoid, there was no reason not to be honest with him. “Honestly, I don’t think I do. She doesn’t talk about her past much… I didn’t even know she was born in exile, actually.”

He blinked, looking surprised. “Really? I assumed that was where you’d met her. How did you end up meeting a princess, then? Or are you more important than you look, and I’m being rude again?”

It was Idelle’s turn to shrug. “No, I’m not important. Like I said, it’s complicated, we just kind of met, I guess. Can you tell me more about her?”

Clovis’s face radiated curiosity. “Sure, not that I know much, but only if you tell me how you met her. Seem fair?”

“...All right, that’s fair enough. It’s nothing special. So why was she in exile?”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“No, she wasn’t in exile — her father was. The politics behind it aren’t common knowledge, but the rumor was that he had a falling out with the old king because he supported his father, the king’s younger brother, as successor over the king’s children.”

He lowered his voice into a conspiratorial tone. “Others say that he spearheaded a plot to that end, intending to murder his own nephew. But I don’t know if I believe it. Either way, he was stripped of his titles and banished into the far south. Only his wife and a few loyal retainers went with him.

Apparently, everyone thought he was good as dead until he turned back up a few years ago with only a daughter and what must have been some truly spectacular information about the demons’ military plans. Or at least, that’s the official reason why he had his title restored. And I do believe that, given our resounding victory and how much land we took in the last war.”

Idelle was fascinated by the story despite herself. She hadn’t realized so much intrigue was involved in royal succession. “So what then? How’d she end up here? And what happened to her mother?”

“Dead in childbirth, supposedly. And as far as the princess being here in Wyrlet, she volunteered. I guess she doesn’t get along with her father and wanted to prove herself to the king on her own or something like that. But that’s about all I know, it’s your turn to spill the beans!”

Idelle sighed. “It’s not much of a story. We met outside Wyrlet, and she decided to play a prank on me by helping me sneak in. We ran into Lieutenant Adrian and I ran for it, but she found me and agreed to teach me magic.”

She paused. Clovis was giving her a profoundly weird look. “What?”

He rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me, but can’t you make up a better story than that? You’re saying you just happened to run into a Princess hanging around outside the city and somehow not only did she let you into the city but agreed to teach you magic?”

“I’m not making it up! It’s the truth. Wouldn’t I make something boring and believable up if I wanted to lie?”

He grinned. “Uh-huh. So then what’s so special about you that royalty is just spontaneously deciding to befriend you?”

She paused. “Um. I’m really strong, I guess?”

“Riiiight. What dark secret are you hiding, seducer of princesses?”

Idelle looked away awkwardly and coughed. “Nothing.”

He cackled. “I was just joking, but you make it sound like you actually DO have a dark secret!”

Oops. She quickly blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “You know, gotta distract from my secret trysts with royalty.”

He laughed even harder at that, and she blushed despite herself. Was that really the best she could come up with? Oh well, at least it seemed to have worked. Clovis gave her another friendly grin. “Well, you can tell me the juicy details sometime when we’re better friends, how’s that?”

She rolled her eyes, doing her best to ignore his teasing. “You’re only setting yourself up for disappointment, I’m sure.”

“I don’t know about that, I’m sure you’ll have some good gossip sooner or later if she’s really teaching you magic.”

Idelle paused and leaned in a little closer to him. “Actually. There is one thing. Did you know that she’s…” He leaned in as well to catch her words. “...kind of a huge nerd?”

She was rewarded with another snort of laughter before Clovis responded. “I think all royalty are nerds by our standards. Too much time spent learning etiquette and history or something like that.”

“Yeah, maybe. But you better not actually tell her I said that either way. I’m trusting you here.”

“Oh, sure, like I’m going to get to meet the princess any time soon. Stop assuming us mortals get to hobnob around with nobility like you, Miss ‘really strong, I guess’.”

Their cheerful banter continued for another minute or two until the Sergeant called for everyone to resume drills.