She wrapped the towel around her and told me to follow her to her office, where she promptly changed into clothing. She sat down on the window sill, staring outside, clearly avoiding me.

“So, you’re my partner eh?” I asked, not wanting to waste any time.”

Valentia sat on the window sill staring outside.

“I can’t believe they’d make you-”

“I volunteered.” She said, cutting me off. “I volunteered to be your partner for this.”

I stared at her in stunned silence. “What do you mean you volunteered to be my partner?”

Valentia averted her gaze and refused to meet my eyes. “Because I wanted to be with you.” She muttered.

“What?”

She got up from the window sill and sat on her desk. “I said because you need a partner. You can’t tackle this problem by yourself.”

“But you’ve got no fighting experience Val.”

Out of nowhere, she lunged at me. She almost tackled me as I wasn’t expecting her to lunge at me. But I still dodged to the side. I turned towards her ready to face her, but she was unexpectedly right in my face and pushed me to the ground. She straddled me and the tip of a dagger was at the base of my neck.

“My, my. Is it that easy to beat the Blade of Gaia?” she joked. “As you can see Seth, I happened to take up self-defense classes and learned to wield some blades. And Val? I haven’t heard you call me that in a long time.”

Valentina sheathed her blade and got off of me. She extended her arm out, offering her hand. I took her hand, and she helped me back onto my feet.

“You only caught me off guard Valentia,” I responded.

She smirked, savoring the fact that she bested me in combat, for once, even though it wasn’t a well-earned victory.

“Look, Seth, I’m going to be your new partner for this mission, like it or not, this decision is final.” She proclaimed.

“I bet it is final. You’ve got the court and the royal family probably backing you up. I’ve got nothing backing me up.”

“Well, you’ve got me now to back you up.” She joked.

“Still, I want to see your skills in action before I, we depart,” I ordered.

Valentia sighed. “Of course you do. You’re really stubborn, you know that right?”

“It must have rubbed off somebody who’s stubborn as well,” I added, jabbing at her.

She nodded, not catching on, or refusing to acknowledge that fact that she is stubborn.

Valentia led me throughout the palace. She navigated the halls with such ease, which surprised me. This palace was massive, and how somebody could navigate it without getting lost was beyond me. She led us to the training facility that guards used to train.

“Here we are.” She announced upon arriving.

The training facility was the only normal looking room in this entire luxury filled palace. Weapon racks littered the room holding all sorts of weapons from swords to battleaxes, bows, and arrows. Any weapon you could think of, it was here. Training dummies, in armor for knights and soldiers to practice their swings were also present. In the middle of the room itself, was a fighting ring, elevated slightly, like a boxing ring, where you go spar with other people.

When we arrived, there were a few knights and guards doing various activities. When they saw Valentia enter the room, they all immediately saluted her or bowed; whichever one was quickest to do. I, of course, did not receive the same treatment as her. Upon seeing me, their eyes and stances turned hostile.

“What’s he doing here?” A knight asked

Val raised her hands and ordered them to stand down. “Do not worry; he’s not here to kill any of us.”

“Not yet.” I humorlessly said.

Valentia flashed her eyes at me. “Don’t make this harder for me will you?”

Valentia fixed her attention back to the soldiers. She explained that she was leaving on a mission with me (much to the dismay of every knight in the room).

“You can’t possibly be willing to leave with that thing?” one stated.

Val’s eyes were daggers when she looked at that particular knight. “Do not interrupt me when I’m talking. One more outburst and I’ll have your tongue.”

That effectively shut him up for good. I doubt any of them knew the real reason she turned hostile. Despite treating me like a tool, she was quite defensive over me being insulted. Valentia continued to explain the situation. She said that I had requested a friendly duel, to evaluate her skills before we headed out for our mission.

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“So here we are.” She finished. “We’ll be taking the fighting ring now. You are welcome to watch if you wish too.”

I got up into the ring removing my cloak. Underneath my cloak, I wore leather armor. I had to be quick on my feet, after all, I was an assassin. I didn’t wear armor originally, but after my fight with Elrith, I decided that I’d get rid of a bit of mobility in exchange for some defense. My leather armor wasn’t much. A chest plate, with arm bracer gauntlets and greaves, also made from leather.

Valentia saw that I was wearing this new armor and whistled. “Hold up a sec, I need to get changed.”

She went into the changing room, which belonged to the men, kicking out all the men that were currently using it. The Empire had only recently allowed women to join the army, with a decree from Luna Gaia herself. It was a recent change, so changing rooms for women hadn’t been constructed yet. And even with the new decree, not a lot of women volunteered to join, they had to be drafted.

Valentia came back a few minutes up, also wearing leather armor that looked suspiciously like mine, except for a few minor details. The first was the chest plate, obviously, as she had breasts and I didn’t. Around the legs and arms, she had more leather for more protection, but that was about it. Val noticed I was looking at the armor and responded.

“Oh, I saw you going to the royal blacksmith, with your request for your leather armor, and I went with your judgment and ordered the same thing, with some changes.” She explained.

She got up onto the ring facing me; she wore a belt that housed the sheaths to her two daggers. I unsheathed my hidden blades from their hidden sheaths on top of my arms. In return, Val took her blades out of her sheaths.

“So how do we decide when the match is over?” She asked.

My answer was to lunge at her, going straight for her chest. She read my movements and parried my blades by crossing hers in an X.

“Rule one: No matter the opponent, never let them have an opening to attack,” I said, using the weight of my body to press down on her.

She managed to push me back. I jumped away from her, leaving some space between each other.

“Did you see that? He’s fast!” A knight watching the fight remarked.

“But Val managed to hold him off.” Another remarked another.

Valentia was slightly distracted by their comments as she turned her head towards them.

“Shut u-”

I cut her off by using the opportunity to attack her. I slashed towards her with the blade on my right arm. She realized her error and tried to block my strike. My blade grazed her arm ever so slightly, but it still managed to draw blood.

“Rule two: Never be distracted from your opponent, or you’ll get yourself killed.” I continued.

“Thanks for the advice, Seth.” She muttered through gritted teeth. We stayed away from each other, circling the ring, both of us looking for an opening. Despite being able to get an attack off, she quickly learned, and kept her daggers close, ready to block if I attacked. I suddenly ran towards her at full speed. Valentia saw me coming and raised her daggers to strike, but before she could I slid in between her legs. I kicked her in the legs, causing her to fall down. A thrust my blades at her but she rolled away and was quickly back on her feet. I removed my blades from the floor and faced her once again.

“I’m surprised Val, looks like you weren’t all talk earlier in your office.”

“Of course not. I can’t stand people who are all talk but cannot back it up.”

She proceeded to charge at me, changing from being on the defensive to the offensive. She slashed and hacked at me wildly, trying to get through my defense, but I blocked and parried with ease.

“You’re too predictable Val,” I commented.

“Yeah?”

She tried to thrust both her blades into my chest, but that was a costly mistake. I sheathed my blades and grabbed her arms so firmly I halted her attack. “Yeah, predictable.”

I pushed her arms to the side and head-butted her. The impact of our head colliding loosened her grip on her blades. I knocked them out of her hands, causing them to fall to the ground. I kicked them off the ring, leaving Val with only her fists and feet as weapons.

“Rule three: Never let your opponents disarm you. Without weapons, you’re extremely vulnerable.”

Anger filled her eyes. She wasn’t used to being beaten around like this. It was a nice change. Ultimately she raised her hands announcing her defeat.

“I quit, you win this fight Se-”

I cut her off once again, punching her in the stomach, causing her to double over in pain, then I gave her an uppercut her in the jaw, sending her sprawling onto the floor.

“Rule four: The fight isn’t over until your opponent is unconscious or dead.” I continued.

Val got back up and spat blood on the floor, wiping her mouth. She balled her fists and we started fist fighting. I found myself smiling. I was enjoying this fight. Maybe it was the fact that I could finally release that pent up frustration I’ve had towards Val all those years ago. Our fistfight went on, each of us managing to get some hits in. Val managed to punch me square in the lungs, punching all the air out of me, leaving me wheezing for air. I doubled over, and Val stood there happy that she’d injured me to a certain degree. I punched her in the knee, causing her to fall as well.

“Come on get up, this isn’t over,” I told her, getting back on my feet.

I unsheathed my blades. “Hey, I don’t have a weapon!”

“Rule five: Don’t expect your opponents to give you an equal footing,” I explained her lunging at her.

She dodged my attacks frantically, not wanting to get hurt.

“You there, give me my blades now!” she yelled to a knight who had picked up her daggers.

“Yes ma’am!” he shouted throwing them at her.

With ease she plucked them out of the air, gaining applause from the spectators. I was impressed as well. The fight drew on and on for what felt like hours. Valentia was losing an uphill battle and she knew it but refused to give up. She only recently started training for this mission. I, on the other hand, had been training in fighting all my life; it was the only thing I knew how to do. Yet, Val was determined to finish this fight. Determination, I like that. But ultimately, I won the fight. Her moves were becoming sluggish, more predictable than before, and she was drenched in sweat, heaving for air. I too was getting tired, I’ll give her that, but I was still able to go on. Val stabbed at me, which I easily blocked. I disarmed her and with my leg swept her off her feet. I put my foot on my stomach my blade pointed at her throat.

“The match is over,” I called out.

Valentia stared up at me, anger and frustration all over her face, but she accepted her defeat.

“It’s my loss.” She admitted as I helped her back on her feet.

“I’ll tell the royal court that you’ll get a partner that’s more accustomed to this. I’m clearly going to be a hindrance.” She announced.

“You’ll do Val. You’re right, you aren’t at the same level as I am, but I could train you like I did Elr… like I did with someone I knew. You’re determined to get better. From this match, you have what it takes.” I reassured her.

“So what you’re saying is that I ultimately won the match.” She said grinning from ear to ear.

I remembered why I asked her to fight me, to see if she was good enough and I had just admitted that she could better than just good enough if I trained her along the way. So I won the fight, but she won the war, ever the cunning one as always.

“Yeah, I guess you won this match.”