"Get ready, Azi.”

Shizu's declaration was followed by her pushing Azi hard on the back. Against his will he stumbled out into an open field. The wide and relatively flat area was a piece of property between two of B and B Workshop’s establishments. With a real sword and small buckler slung at his side, he was ready to fight, except he really wasn’t.

Azi wondered why Shizu was being so abrupt. “Umm.. Why are we doing this?” He asked as Shizu glared at a few of the confused looking workshop’s workers nearby.

The warrior-like men paled and scurried off, likely recognizing who she was. As an Ordained Knight and the First Daughter of their Nation’s King, the men knew their place and nobility when they saw it. She grabbed two weapons from a display before settling herself a dueling distance away from Azi. She sighed, her face a mix of anger and urgency.

“I’ve thought about how I want to train you. And I think I need to give you a lesson right now.”

“A lesson?” Azi was dumbfounded by why now of all times, “I thought we were going to give sparring a break today, I’m still recovering from the last few days of training.”

“Those were spars,” Shizu corrected. “Not lessons. When I mean lessons, I mean the kind where you really learn something and not just swing around a sword.”

“Okay?” Azi cautioned his reply. He knew saying no wasn’t a viable answer, it would only serve to dig his hole deeper and pissing off a noble wasn’t his immediate plan. So he followed up with a question to understand her motive, he changed tone. “But.. I get the feeling you’re.. Pissed? At me? Did I do something wrong?”

Shizu only frowned. She tilted her head to crack her neck. Azi went for his sword, his hand going to the hilt just hovering there. He still had no clue why this was happening. He had just been talking with Ben and Bail after perusing the goods on sale. Now he was about to fight Shizu.

Just how did it come to this?

***Earlier***

It had been over two hours. Azi had gone inside the workshop for quite a while. Shizu waited outside, but her patience was running thin. This was taking longer than usual. At best, they would stay at one place for an hour, then Azi would move on. So either he got wrapped up in trouble inside or had wandered off on his own. Of course she knew that the latter wasn’t likely, he wasn’t a kid, Azi wasn’t that careless. She took a second, then realized he did tend to have his head in the clouds.

A worrying feeling crossed her. Jeez. She rubbed her forehead. Such a handful.

Opting to be sure, Shizu went inside, ducking past a few clerks who were too busy to notice her. Low and behold she found him. Azi was conversing with the owners of the shop. Recognizing the two stout men to be Ben and Bail, she marveled how closely they resembled each other. Their facial features were almost uncannily the same, and that was because the pair were twin brothers. This, and their compact stature, made recognizing them easy, not to mention that their odor was frankly a hallmark in identifying them. There was nothing off or bad about it, it was just.. distinct.

Ben smelt of metal, dirt, and ash, the typicals of a smith and what you’d expect from a man who toils in the forge. Kajima smelled the same, but had made a point of cleaning up between periods of work. His brother Bail on the other hand had a kind of conniving air around him, he smelt like his brother except there was a more metallic scent to him; no doubt because of all the coin he handled. These two were quite the duo. While not as noteworthy as the nobles of her father’s court, they were well known friends of a friend. In this case, they were friends of Kajima, his old war buddies.

Keeping a distance, Shizu let Azi go on with whatever he was doing. Bail pulled a seat up for Azi, who had put a few items on the table. Shizu expected that he’d gotten more books or a kind of literary related item. To her surprise, not this time. There was a short sword, a buckler, and a few hand tools. With how small they were, they were definitely for himself.. But why? Why buy that now? She approached to ask.

As she did, Ben spoke up as he inspected the items on the table. “Hmmm, A good fit for you. These’ll be right in your size. If needed, I can adjust them for you..” Ben sheathed the short sword, then chuckled. “I still can’t believe what I heard though, if you’re buying this then it must be true.”

“What is?” Azi asked, “What’s so funny?”

“I.. well.. It's just.” Ben stammered, not sure how to say what was on his mind.

Bail smirked next to him and gave him a pat on the back. “Well go on, don’t just keep it to yourself.”

Ben exhaled then turned to Azi. “Well kid.. There’s been some talk amongst the soldiers about you and your.. Apprenticeship with Lady Shizu. Is it true that you’re gunning for her?”

Shizu’s breath halted in her chest. She came close to tripping on her own foot, but was intent on listening in. She discreetly shuffled behind a few shelves before any of them noticed. The answer to if Azi had an interest in her in a romantic way was pure gold. Getting a straight answer from the person himself was like digging for water in a desert, so this roundabout method, though underhanded, was for her benefit. It pained her pride to not just do it herself, but she needed to know his unvarnished words and he was likely to do so when he wasn’t in the presence of the person in question.

Shizu watched as Azi scrunched his face in contemplation. He seemed to be carefully considering the answer and Shizu hoped he wouldn’t chicken out. He picked up the short sword he intended to buy and unsheathed it to stare into his reflection in the blade. Azi grimaced as if he had found something wrong in what he saw. Snapping the sheath shut, he put it back on the table.

“I wouldn’t say I’m.. gunning for her,” he said softly, “More like.. Learning from her?”

“How so?” Ben asked.

“Well do you two know how I came to live in Shisayama?”

Ben shrugged, he obviously hadn’t been keeping up with all the village gossip. Bail on the other hand piped. As a man more concerned with profit margins, information and gossip were his ticket to pay offs.

“A little.” Bail notably tip toeing on how to bring this topic up. “You were.. Found.. If I am not mistaken. And you have no memory of where you came from. Some say you're from a place in the west and others think you’re a lost wanderer, or an orphaned child. My bet is that you’re just a guy with amnesia, just like Kajima told us.”

“Yeah.. Your guess is the closest.” Azi said dryly, “But really? A kid? What is up with these rumors?” This was a sore spot for him, but he let Bail continue. Shizu held back a chuckle as Bail continued.

“King Ozen was the one who brought you here. A good man our king is, he’s always looking out for others. And that goes double for the guy he set you up with, our old buddy Kajima.” Bail let out a laugh, as though he understood a joke. “Funny that you're living with him, but good that you do. That old fart needs company at his age.”

Ben added in with his own laugh. “Heh, that explains why he’s coming into town more often. I thought he was finally getting some exercise by walking around town.”

Bail shook his head at his brother. “You really are thick headed, this is why I keep telling you to keep your ears open.” He huffed, not minding Ben’s scathing scowl. “Anyway, going back to the question, what exactly is the nature of your relationship with Shizu? A few soldiers who came into the shop were gossiping about her new apprentice the last few days, and your name got passed around.”

“I have a question of my own.” Azi said. “Why is it that the soldiers think I’m gunning for Shizu? It just doesn’t make sense.”

Ben shrugged his burly shoulders. “Hard to say. But the main consensus is that you’re probably the only guy closest to having a shot with her right now. The rumors about her love life make her a turn off for most men. But you? I don’t know if you're forcing yourself or not, but being accepted as an apprentice to an ordained knight like her is strange and is a big deal. Plus rumors like this are pretty common, there are a few stories about knights marrying their apprentices, or vice versa when the pairing is not of the same sex.”

Azi’s face flushed red. “Yeah.. I’ve.. I’ve read a few books about that.”

His sheepish response made Shizu clutch her chest out of reflex. His tone subtly changed tack as he let out a heavy sigh.

Azi’s brow lowered in a somewhat self deprecating manner. “But I don’t think I have a shot.” he admitted, “And it’s not like I don’t like her.. As a friend I mean, but I know I can’t come to love her, I’m not even sure if she’d like a guy like me. This whole apprentice thing with her feels like it's only temporary.”

“Why do you think that?” Bail probed as he fiddled with a coin, obviously trying to look disinterested.

“It’s because I get the impression that I’m not going to live up to her expectations.” Azi said. His eyes went down to the table. “I mean.. I’m not even able to keep up with her in a spar,” His gaze went to his hands, they were small and had relatively little muscle. “At the rate I’m improving, I don’t think she’ll even want to train me anymore, and there are more qualified people in the Empire.”

On Azi’s left across the counter, Ben was finishing counting a set of coins Azi had passed over. Scooping them up into a pouch, he put it away and drew out a belt from under the table to then hand it to Azi, and ask, “So you’re going to give it up? The apprenticeship I mean?”

Azi shook his head as he accepted the belt. “No, I don’t plan to,” He said as he began to put the belt on to strap and secure the new sword and shield he bought. Shedding his coat to get the belt around him properly, Ben and Bail noticed the bandages around his arms.

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

“Are those injuries from your spars?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, they’re kind of sore.” Azi rubbed at them as he let out an irritable sigh, “But they’re healing. I just hope they heal up before I have to spar with Shizu again, she’s always so brutal.”

“We can tell.” Bail said, eyeing Azi as if he were a peculiar specimen. “No one in the village can even touch Lady Shizu in a fight. But if you’re buying all this, the sword and such, are you intending to improve to surpass her? No one buys this much stuff and isn’t thinking about honing his skill with a blade.”

Azi thought about it for a moment. His face told it all. He didn’t think he could win against Shizu, and Shizu would concur. Azi’s performance was utterly several levels of inadequate, he just didn’t have the intent or drive to fight with everything he had.

“It’s not that I want to improve,” Azi said. “I just want to practice so I can protect myself and.. Because.. Well.” His lips curled in a bashful line. Shaking his head, he dashed whatever had been on his mind. “Nevermind, but I bet Manu could beat Shizu in a fight.”

Shizu grimaced at how abruptly he had changed subjects. But this had been fruitful, she liked the cut of Azi’s jib. He was taking his spars seriously, even if he didn’t like them, and was concerned with his level of competency.

“You mean the village chief?” Bail asked and immediately broke into laughter that it drew his brother into his own fit. “Fat chance of that. That Manu kid might be strong and smart, but I’d still bet on Lady Shizu winning any day.”

Azi gave the pair a small smile. “I guess so, Shizu is pretty strong.” He then grinned tactfully.

That expression of his didn’t seem right to Shizu.

“But I think Manu would have a chance with Shizu on the romantic front if you know what I mean.” Azi said, “They get along and they’re about the same age, so I can see them getting together. Politically it would make sense. Manu’s a lower noble, so marrying up is an option for him. Plus he’s not a bad guy.”

As Ben and Bail calmed down from their laughter, they nodded in agreement. Shizu hiddenly furrowed her brow in discomfort, trying to keep a calm composure. There was no way in hell she’d take Manu as a partner. While the facts Azi listed made sense, she didn’t want to marry for political reasons, not unless the man fit her criteria. Manu didn’t, plain and simple. The source of her discomfort wasn’t from their gossip, it was from how she realized her last interaction with Manu had affected Azi.

If she recalled, she had drunkenly said that she shouldn’t have kissed him during that incident at Elder Sung’s. This was possibly a factor of why their interactions since then had been strained. Continuing to listen, she watched Bail lean over the counter as he rested his lungs from his fit of laughter.

“So why are you choosing to stay on as her apprentice?” Bail asked, “It's obvious that you don’t like her training. And if you’re not shooting to get close to her in that kind of way, or surpass her, what’s your angle? You must be staying on for a reason, especially if you’re putting up with those injuries.”

“I.. I um.. Hmm,” Azi only hummed. How he shifted in his chair spoke of how he wasn’t willing to speak from the heart in front of Ben and Bail. For a guy, he was reserved with what he talked about with other guys.

Shizu was on edge. At every turn, Azi was skitting around what she wanted to know. As she peered out from behind a row of shelves, she hoped he’d spill more of what he was thinking. Disappointedly, he changed topics again after tugging on his new belt to see if it was secure.

“Can’t really say.. But I have a question. Mind if I can ask for some info?”

“Shoot.” Bail invited the question, his eyes turned somewhat hungry. “Though I’ll charge you if it's for pertinent information.”

“It's nothing that serious, just a question about the rumors about Shizu, and the whole deal about her Man Killer title.”

“You don’t know?” Ben asked incredulously. “I thought everyone did.”

“I know some of it.” Azi said, “Just wondering if it's true.”

Every part of Shizu told her to jump in to stop the conversation, but she needed to keep listening, she wanted to keep listening. Again she reminded herself that there was a chance that Azi would let slip more of his feelings. So she waited, and endured as Bail and Ben retold the story of her previously failed fiances. It was embarrassing beyond belief.

Yes, she had scorned those who had made advances on her, but it was because she could see through them all. When those who didn’t match up to her standards tried to argue, she dealt with them accordingly, which was a part of Bail’s retelling that Azi chuckled at in a somewhat fearful manner.

Shizu quietly huffed in her head. They deserved it. Wasn’t my fault they couldn’t cut it. And they were nothing but useless welps. I swear.

“So there you have it.” Bail said, “Does this clear things up for you?”

“A bit.” Azi nodded as he flipped his notebook closed. It galled Shizu that he had actually written this down as if it were precious information. “But I can tell there’s a lot of embellishment.” Azi said skeptically, “A lot of.. Well.. unneeded slander was clearly added. I don’t think the immediate executions were real, the Empire isn’t barbaric, so I’m guessing that detail was added by rivaling nobles?”

Bail made an amused face. “It’ll cost you if you want to know who's spreading the rumor, you could tell Lady Shizu and she’d probably be happy to know.”

“No thanks.” Azi set his pencil down. “Now that I know that, mind if I use the table to read that book I took off your hands? I’d like to take a crack at it.”

Bail nodded. Ben took hold of the conversation as Azi went to reach for his pack. Azi replied as he flipped through the apparently new book he had added to his collection. Bail, deciding that their conversation was over, went to take stock of the store. Shizu stepped a few paces away to avoid him and to think about what she had heard.

Besides the indignation she felt from their conversation of the rumors about her, she felt closer–that she knew more about Azi. It was obvious he was coming to respect her, though not for her personality, but her noble birth. That put an awkward smile on her lips. But nothing he had said put a nail down into where he stood emotionally with her.

What else was there? There has to be more. Shizu tapped her lip to think harder.

Azi was picking up on her discontent about his lack of ability with a sword. It was another side fact, but puzzling her was why he was putting up with it. Azi liked reading and academics more than learning the ways of a warrior.

So why?

Another few seconds passed as she thought but she wasn’t going to get any answers yet, not with so little, so she moved on. Particularly, she needed to address the concern about Azi’s thoughts about his apprenticeship. He had gotten it into his head that he wasn’t up to the responsibility, that he wasn’t good enough. He was right, but..

Does he think I’m doing this on a whim? Does he really think his apprenticeship as temporary? I was serious about letting him be my apprentice, that’s why I’m training him. If he can’t cut it then he could be my assistant at the very least. Shizu paused, then shook her head. No, he’s too smart to not notice my encouragement.. right?

She’d been giving him hints and he’d responded somewhat flirtatiously sometimes, though not enough to actually do anything more than talk back or argue. Perhaps her line of thinking had backfired. Even if it did, Azi was smart enough to understand that she was showing deferential treatment, then..

Why? Why not make advances on me? For a split second she cupped her chest and recalled the romantic tales about the deepened relationship between a knight and their chosen apprentice.

She felt herself flushed a sudden pale pink and shook herself. She was getting too caught up in her emotions. She needed to reel it back and think about this clearly, to understand the information from Azi’s viewpoint. As a noble, understanding the people was her responsibility, so she could at least do it for one boy.

She started with what she knew. Azi was a small statured guy who was older than he looked and had amnesia. He’s bright, persistent, and a pain sometimes. In all seriousness though, he’s normal. He’s talkative sometimes, though can be selective in his words, he’s careful and has been adjusting quite fast to living in the village.

Adjusting? Shizu thought about that word, and came to a grim realization. He’s alone. Azi.. is a lone.

He has no relatives, not a single one, that he could talk to. At first Shizu didn’t believe this was an issue since Azi didn’t show any signs of that being a problem. But this was an assumption. His first day here, he had no one to rely, no knowledge of his surroundings, and no way to support himself, nothing. When he arrived in Shisayama, it was by the grace of her father, and his authority as the king, that he had a place to stay or that the village even allowed him to become a resident so quickly. Perhaps he felt pressured, and on top of this he had to deal with the inner turmoil of not knowing his past. Shizu had seen how he’d sorrowfully reminisced on memories that so suddenly popped up. The time they went monster hunting was something she couldn’t forget. He had recovered, seemingly moved on. Except, was he covering it up?

The distraught look his eyes had at times reminded her of a child in desperation, you didn’t wipe such sorrow away so easily. Everything was fine now, on the surface, but would it last? Shizu again reviewed the traits of his personality. His intelligence gave him an edge in life, except there was a limit to him. He was weak willed. He held no ambition.

No.. that isn’t right.. Azi has his curiosity and that itself was its own ambition. What he lacks is courage. Azi is a bookworm and he probably thinks he can read his way for an answer. They’re kind of like his boundaries. But is that enough, would he be okay?

So what do I do? At this point, Shizu could see a number of ways things could go. She wished the shaky relationship they had going was more stable, that was the foremost goal at the moment, and testing his worth weighed equally as well. But, the die had been cast ever since she had forced the title on him. With the recent incident of the kiss of fealty, the balance they had had was faltering. Feeling frustrated that she was getting nowhere in figuring out what to do next to mend the issue, Shizu sighed as she leaned against the wall. From the corner of her eye she spied Azi head first in a book. His attention was so sharp, so much so that she thought he could slice metal with it.

The minutes went by as idea after idea ran through her head, all of them too rash and all of them with uncertain results. This was the hardest part of being a noble, you made decisions with what you knew and not knowing the outcome. Gazing around she admired the sets of weapons on display. As she picked up a katana like her own, she let its sheening blade reflect herself in his thin veneer. It was comforting to examine a blade, she saw her beauty and her own past behind her outer shell.

What did Azi see in himself? He had frowned and said he didn’t have a chance with her. Azi had his own perspective. Does she think he has a chance? Maybe?

Sighing again, Shizu put the weapon away as she ran a hand over its smooth brown wooden sheath. Frustration returned. All this thinking was only leading her in circles. She didn’t like this, she didn’t like being unproductive, she didn’t want to be content with how things were, they could be better. So she went with her gut. For a second, Shizu hesitated. Kajima's warning to not control him through her actions echoed as a reminder, she needed to be subtle.

“I know, uncle.” Shizu muttered, “But I really want to test him, to push his limits.” Her cheeks flushed as she realized that what felt like an hour had passed, and she spent that time thinking about a boy. “He makes me feel this way, and I.. I need to know.”

Shizu followed Bail’s voice and tapped him on the shoulder. The stout man turned and immediately his eyes went wide. He tried to bow to her. A second before he could she made her demands snappy.

“I’m going to need to borrow your field outside for a little thing I need to do.” Shizu said, “I’ll cover the cost if anything gets damaged.”

Bail tilted his head. “And what pray tell is this thing you need to do?”

“Nothing of your concern.”

After saying so, Shizu motioned Bail to follow without even checking if he was coming. As she walked up behind Azi, Ben stuttered over a few of his words when he saw her. Azi must’ve noticed because his gaze followed Ben’s. Shizu put a hand on his shoulder, not giving him room to escape, then yanked him out of the chair.