The next few days were variations of the same. The days he spent developing a lesson plan for Feuer, and at night the dinners were always semi-formal affairs. And anytime Reese bumped into Feuer, it would result in some level of minor bodily injury. Never enough to really injure him, just enough to hurt him. Like thorns on a plant trying to tell you to stay away.

The first day of his tutoring had come. Originally he had wanted to start on Momadeg, but decided to wait till Tivisadeg instead, spending the extra time building up a perfect first lesson plan and perfect first day. He had a small table set up in the keep's library, three books to start with, the last three her previous tutor left on. They were far simpler than he was expecting, probably more realivant to someone around seven or maybe eight. Well, no matter, his leasson plan took that into account. If she was bit behind he was going to get her caught up. He only intended to touch the topmost book today, given her current pace it probably best not to overwhelm her. The others were just in case things went well, it was possible she’d turn out to be quite capable and just not challenged. Yes, he had high hopes for the day!

Yet, as the morning ticked on though, it became clear things were not going well. His one and only student was absent.

Eventually, Beeson made it a point to drop in and check on the progress, "How's it going Reese?"

"Well, I'm all set up. I've got an entry lesson plan to help gauge Feuer's strengths and weaknesses. Just one problem…" Reese rubbed at the back of his head.

Beeson looked at the empty seat with a slight smile, "My daughter isn't present."

"Correct, my student is absent. On the first day." He tried not to sigh, laugh or cry.

Beeson gave a light chuckle. "Common for her. I think her last tutor was here for almost 4 months. She showed up five times, I believe, and two of those we had to physically drag her."

Reese had no real way to process this. If her parents didn't seem to care about her education, then how could he even hope to educate her? For that matter, why should she even put effort forth.

"I see… If you want this to succeed, I need her to be present. Do you have any suggestions for how to get her here?" Subtly implying that Beeson needed to be the one to act.

"Ummm. No. I've tried. But, you're welcome to go to her. She'll be in her room at this time of day, if she's not here."

There was a moment of hesitation as Reese thought about it, "Her room. You're sure?"

"Well, you are going to be formally betrothed to her, and are just acting as her tutor. Just don't do anything I wouldn't do." Beeson smiled and let out a light laugh.

Reese did not find it funny as he said flatly, "My dad says you visit the red-light district regularly."

Beeson’s laugh quickly shifted to a nervous cough. "Yes well… don't do anything…" Beeson fished for someone to compare too but couldn't. "Just, don't do anything, while you're in there. I mean that for your own sake more than her’s." He finished before nervously walking away.

That statement gave Reese more than a bit of concern. Feuer was probably a bit stronger than he was, with all her training. But was she really that dangerous? Also, the thoughts of going to her room left him feeling, uncomfortable, for reasons he couldn’t really explain.

Well, he supposed it didn’t matter. There was a job to do, and he was her tutor, first and foremost in his own mind. What happened in a decade, was a decade away.

Feuer's room was on the opposite wing of the castle as Reese's and a floor lower, which seemed odd since the rest of the Vallhorn were on the 2nd floor. The 3rd floor was nicer than the 4th, which felt almost neglected at times. But there were still some signs that this floor was less cared for. Slightly fewer art works on the walls. There were tables that while nice, held a few small scratches and dings unlike the pristine ones bellow. Then there was the carpet that ran down the halls a top the stone. While it was clean it had a certain tinge of age to it.

Quickly, he walked down the hallway and came upon a larger hard wooden door that was shut. There were no labels or marks, but Reese was sure this was it. He knocked on the larger door only to be greeted by "Go away." A familiar and aggressive voice called out.

He was certainly at the right room. With a deep breath he called back, “I’m here for your tutoring, since you won’t come to me, I need to come to you.”

Silence.

In side of his chest, he could feel his heart pounding. He didn’t want to do this, but it was his duty to tutor her. A duty he would fufill! “…I’m coming in.” Reese announces as he opened the door slightly.

With a sigh of inevitability, Reese poked his head through the open door. The deep breath he took finally escaped him, she was thankfully decent. He moved inside the larger space and had a quick look around. It was certainly larger than his room, and the furnishings were more sparse than he expected, but also more regal. Given the sating sheen of the sheets on the bed they had to be real silk, or what passed for silk in this world. Far better than the cotton and wool like ones he had been given.

Feuer sat on said bed, her back bracing against the headboard. It was almost a comforting reminder of his old life. The simple aspect of sitting on a bed and reading a good book. Of course, he would have read something more technical than the apparent history book she had.

Without bothering to look up, she attempted to dismiss him, “I never said you could enter my room. Leave at once or I'll call my father.”

“Your father was the one that told me to come find you.”

That seemed to aggravate her more than anything. “He knows what happened last time.” She shook her head and whispered just barely loud enough for him to hear. Reese could have sworn her hair was glowing with fire mana as she slammed the book close and walked over to him.

“Ok, then leave or I'll start hitting you.” She cracked her knuckles in a show of force. Her Amathist colored eyes, almost appeared to glow a dim red as she approached him.

She had done this a few times already. At worst she would throw a few soft punches at his chest or arm and walk away. At least, that's what he thought. He was not expecting the very fast hay maker aimed for his jaw.

Reese was just fast enough to block it, but not fast enough to stop the next one which hit him square in the face.

His nose had a sudden flash of pain, followed by numbness. There was also a subtle crack, but he could worry about that later. She was not playing around. These blows weren't meant to kill, but they were not even close to friendly sparing hits either.

She moved from fist to legs as her right foot came very close to his head. It was fast, but he blocked it, and managed to get a hand hold on her ankle. Using it he pulled himself forward, he was only attempting to stop here, but instead drove his elbow into some part of her upper torso.

Mistake or not, that was probably a bad idea. “Don’t ever touch me!” She growled a guttural roar, and slammed her head into his in one swift motion. Knocking him to the ground. Standing above him, her fist and body shook with a blind rage and for a moment, it almost looked like she was scared, but also furious.

For a moment the two staid where the were, until finally Feuer’s stance relaxed a bit as Reese continued to just lay on the floor. Perhaps realizing the only way forward was to really injure him, a line she wasn't willing to cross just yet.

As Reese laid on the ground, he did his best to nurse a now bloody nose. The twisting motion Feuer made with her arm a sign he managed to get one good hit at least, even if it wasn’t intentional. His old mother and father would have been horrified by his actions. He wondered what his current ones would think? Probably mad he wasn't able to get more hits in, at least Fortus would have been.

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The whole concept of fighting your potential future wife and current student was not appealing, regardless. Even more, he began to understand why he was the seventh marriage partner for her. She was just about ready to kill him in there.

“Ugh! What do you want book worm?” She groaned a tentative acceptance of his presence and made her way back the bed and her book.

"My nose is bleeding; you might have broken it." His voice was nasally, as a light trickle of blood dripped from his nostril. Feeling around the bone, it didn't seem to be broken or at least not badly. Without an x-ray which didn't exist in this world, it be difficult to know for sure.

"Sounds like you should go to our healer and have him fix it." There was almost a smile in voice as she spoke.

"I can't… There's not much a healer can do for me."

She laughed at him, "Ha, don't you fancy yourself a mage? You attacked a dragon with your spells didn't you. The healers have their own spells they can use. He used deep healing on my arm once to fix a fracture." She rubbed at the arm he had hit a moment ago.

"Like I said, I left things out of that story. I said my spells didn’t stop the dragons. But that’s because the spells I cast were absolutely feeble. I don't have a gate and without a gate deep healing doesn't work on me."

Feuer seemed confused, "What are you talking about?" The girl didn’t understand magic, how it worked, nor did she really care.

"Remember a few days ago when your grandmother said I as inept and didn't have a gate…” He paused. “…No you weren’t there for that. Ok, when I said I didn't have a gate? That's one of the problems. I can't spell spoke, and most spells don't work on me. Good or bad. After the dragon attack they tried deep healing on my burns then, it didn't work. It's why I've got these small scars. Healing spells don’t work."

Sitting up from the floor, the feeling in his nose started coming back, which was a good sign, but it was still bleeding slightly. Her normally pissed off expression softened just a bit. He could almost see something behind it, maybe a touch of remorse? Angry remorse, but still.

"I didn't know… I wouldn't have hit you so hard if I knew you couldn't be healed." Shaking her head, her expression turned hard once again. “Still, you shouldn’t be in my room. And don’t ever touch me! I don’t want anyone touching me…”

The two sat in silence for a bit, each considering the other's presence. Reese in particular finally realized he was in essence trespassing in her private space. Even if he had her father's permission, he didn't have hers. And, even if he had a job to do, there may have been better ways. For as smart as he was, human interactions were a different matter most times.

"Look, I am sorry for barging into your room. Truly, I don't want to be here anymore than you don't want me here. But your family insists I at least try to tutor you, and they are paying me. I need to at least try." He tried to convince himself, more than her.

Feuer’s hands still shook slightly, but it seemed like she was calming down a bit. "… I hate schooling, it's useless."

"Yeah, you made that quite clear." Reese spoke as he pulled away his red hand. Blood was still flowing but, it seemed like it was slowing down. Just a little more pressure and time.

It was hard, It seemed like they had almost nothing in common, nothing to build a relationship of trust off of. Except, maybe that one thing. She was reading, at the very least she had to be literate, and interested in books or one book anyway.

"But you know, for someone who hates schooling you seem to enjoy that book. What is it?" Reese asked.

Feuer picked up the leather-bound tome and gazed at the title. "It's a book on unit tactics, and military history of the Aggeon kingdom. Before the six kingdoms."

It sounded esoteric, a very odd choice for someone who hated knowledge. Though, to be fair, she didn't say that explicitly. She said he hated 'schooling'.

"Sounds deep." His voice warmed slightly, hoping for something further to discuss.

She shrugged and flipped through a few pages. "Not really. They don't use big words or complicated language. It's just history, swordsmanship and combat. The only numbers are army sizes and dates. Even uneducated peasants could understand it."

The fact that she was reading at all made Reese doubt that. "I doubt that… What's your favorite passage or part? Could you read it to me?"

There was a moment’s pause and silence as she considered the book for a moment. "…The mixed unit tactics of Hesion Aggenon. And No, I won't."

At first it seemed like the conversation stopped. Reese sighed, this seemed like a wasted day. But as soon he spoke "…I see well-"

Feuer interrupted him, "It's too long, about 30 pages, and it's a lot of pictures. I can give you a summary."

"Sure." He took her up on her offer, and stat back up.

Feuer began in earnest, her voice seeming to carry a small amount of satisfaction, maybe even pride. "Most of Hesion's tactics use Calvary somewhere. But horses are expensive, and dragons even more. So the bulk of your forces still need to be foot soldiers. Heavy armor should target other heavy armor, light armor troops should focus on closing distance and attacking archers and mages. Your assault calvary should use their speed and ability to move over uneven terrain and attack from the sides, or even better behind.

Don’t use large siege weaponry like trebuchets on the battle field, only engines you can defend and move quickly, don’t use field tactics when sieging a city.

Use magic and enchantments if you have them, but don’t become reliant on them or any one thing, really…

There's a bunch of example battles, and some unused battle plans. It goes over how they work, where knights and soldiers would move. There’s some drawings of Hesion in combat too, and how he used his sword techniques.”

Reese took a moment to process it all, he didn't really know battlefield tactics outside strategy games, and those weren’t particularly realistic, even at the best of times. Also, he hadn't played them in over a decade now. His father was a Knight Commander, something close to a Lieutenant, Regardless, what she said seemed to make sense. The summary showed she wasn't just a literate fool but could actually process what she read. In short, there was a foundation there. He just needed to figure out how to use it.

It's also one of the few things she seemed willing to talk to him about.

"That's a dense summary. It sounds like a complex read. I take it this isn't your first time reading it."

"No. It's not my favorite book but thinking about the battles in it, it helps me calm down, and I like…" She paused, unsure if she wanted to share her reasons.

“I like it because he never lost, his plans always seemed to work. His history is interesting too. He became a knight to escape his family, and ended up becoming a major general.”

His nose had finally stopped dripping blood. Now it was just stuffed up with dark colored snot. He'd worry about it later.

"You really like combat, don't you?" Reese’s voice was still nasally and the smile he was forcing, didn’t come through well.

"I'm a knight or will be one day. Knights need to be knowledgeable about warfare and battles. It’s how they survive, how they remain free."

She wasn’t a knight though, even if she wanted to be one, there was no path for her to become one. Feuer didn’t seem a fool, she had to know that. Unless she was lying to herself about it all.

‘How they remain free.’ He thought about those words and Feuer. That last sentence seemed like crack into the girl’s true state of mind.

She glared at him, “Why are you starting at me?”

“Sorry, didn’t know I was starting. Just thinking about what you said. It’s deeper than I think you realize.”

Again, he paused, lost in his own thoughts. His mind doing what it always did, taking things apart trying to understand the whole and put it back together again.

He shook his head and continued, “Look, I don’t know that tutoring you will help you become a Knight. But I do think knowledge is freeing. Understanding the world, the parts of it, how it all works, it can give you power over things you wouldn’t otherwise have. I also know, the smarter the knight, the more likely they are to survive and keep their people alive too.”

It was Feuer’s turn to sigh. “If I attend your tutoring, you really think that will help me?”

“It might. The thing about learning is to try new ideas to find things that work. How long have you kept yourself in your room reading the same history books, the same adventures? Has anything changed?”

In the distance, a bell rang out, twelve chimes. It was noon, normally, the tutoring session would be over. Regardless, it was time for lunch.

Reese pulled himself off the floor. "Well, it's getting late. I may not have taught you anything today. But you certainly taught me a few things."

Feuer’s words stopped him before he could fully leave, "Don't come back in my room without my permission."

"Come down for tutoring, and I won't have to." Reese countered.

"…I told you I hate schooling." Feuer almost sounded conflicted, as if she was actually considering it.

"I know. But, just try a few days. I think you'll find it useful, even if not enjoyable." He tried to push her over that last hill.

But, she remained silent, neither agreeing or disagreeing.

"I'd like to see you tomorrow. If you're not there I'll have to come back up here, and I really don't want to see my nose fully broken. Please." Reese tried to laugh with the comment, but she didn't seem to think it was funny.

Still, more silence. He did have one more card to play though.

“Consider it payment for today, you said you were sorry about hitting me so hard?"

This time there was a change, though she remained silent, her mouth opened as if to speak, a pose she held for a minute before, "…Knights pay back their debts. Fine. I'll be there tomorrow, but just tomorrow though. Bookworm."

Reese smiled, it was something, at least.

As he left, he felt around his nose. It was sore, very sore, but that probably meant it wasn’t broken. Maybe he should try and go to the healer, just to be sure. Even if they couldn’t actually heal it, they could at least tell him if was broken. Probably.

Thinking for a movement, he wondered if it was possible to build an X-Ray machine here? He’d need to figure out photographic plates to start with. He began sketching some ideas in his notebook, he'd also need vacuum tubes. Maybe there was a way to do it with mana stones instead? Light crystals did seem to be able to produce a spectrum of colors and x-rays were just photons.

Ideas he would ponder later in his room, between working on a new lesson plan for Feuer. It was clear that his original plans he spent all weekend on would be useless with someone like her. A faint smile crossed his lips, his mother was right, this was going to be a challenge. But, difficult problems were often the most fun to solve, and she was difficult.