Squaring off, both Sal and Aldram waited for a moment, staring at each other, before they both burst into movement at the same time. Sal struck first, with an aggressive horizontal swing that Aldram easily blocked. The girl leaned into the attack, pivoting around her opponent, pinning his weapon down and preventing a counterattack.

When he finally pushed her away, Sal immediately moved again, replicating her attack, until the last moment, when she tilted her wrist, attempting to slide around Aldram’s block. Rather than doing the same block as last time, Aldram flicked his sword, slapping Sal’s weapon away.

Smiling, Sal lunged, straight forward, keeping him on the defensive. With a simple sidestep, Aldram avoided the lunge and finally made an attack of his own. Sal managed to move her sword up to block, having not fully committed to her lunge, reacting just in time.

The last second block put Sal at a disadvantaged position, giving Aldram a chance to attack. He launched a series of fast downward attacks, taking advantage of his height. Sal stepped back as she blocked one attack after another, trying to negate the height advantage, only to put herself in a position where he could use his superior reach.

Linara stayed silent as she watched, and was joined by several of the other men who broke off their own training to see how their captain was faring. As they watched, Sal parried one attack, then blocked another. Aldram repeated the first swing, and Sal ducked, surging forward. Her blunted sword bounced off the side of his breastplate, while his own sword struck her on the shoulder.

“Stop!” Linara called. “That’s a draw.”

Both of them turned towards her, mouths open. “I hit first.” Sal protested.

“Her blow glanced off, and shouldn’t count.”

Sal turned to Aldram. “You want to go again, then?”

The young knight glared at her. “I shouldn’t have to prove myself a second time, but I’m more than willing if it is needed.”

“Stop.” Linara repeated, stepping forward. “Sparring rivalries are meant to be friendly. You are both too emotional about this.”

“I am not!” Sal quickly denied, then blushed. Aldram laughed, until Linara turned her gaze to him.

“Sal, come practice with me. It’s been too long. In the meantime, perhaps you could suggest one of your men to train with Aldram?”

Letting out a sigh, Sal nodded, turning away to call someone over.

“Are you protecting her?” Aldram asked.

“You do not want to challenge Sal to a duel with sharpened weapons.” Linara kept her voice level, but stern. “Her preferred weapon is very different from the sparring swords.”

Aldram frowned, but stayed quiet.

Eventually, Sal, along with a good number of Felden’s men, left for their posts. Aldram approached Linara. “Why didn’t you let me continue training against her?”

“You were emotional. You both were emotional.” Linara ammended as Aldram opened his mouth to interrupt her. “That’s the main reason, but it would have been made worse by how Sal fights. If you kept fighting her, you would have lost. Not because you are weaker, but because she only gets better the more she fights any one opponent, unless you can understand what she is doing, and when you are emotional you are in no place to see it.”

He frowned at her, confused. “Can you tell me what it is?”

“If you want to prove yourself - to me, to Rilren, or to Sal herself - you’ll have to learn it on your own. I won’t tell Sal how to beat you, nor will I tell you how to beat her. I’m a neutral party.”

“You weren’t showing her how to fight me?”

Linara grinned. “I was evaluating her growth. Anything she learned against me today she learned on her own, and I did not use any techniques from Olentor.”

“I will beat her.” He said, squaring his shoulders. “I still think I beat her today.”

“We’ll see. For now, it’s time for you to take a break. Let us find the rest of our companions and see what they are up to.”

The rest of the day passed mostly uneventfully, Linara steering Aldram away from the training room late at night when she suspected Sal might return to it. He was not her responsibility, but she wanted to give Sal a proper opponent.

Sal waited as Aldram moved first, lunging forward and stabbing at her chest. A simple parry made to push his blade aside, but Aldram brought his weight down, pressing forward, locking his weapon against Sal’s, shoving her back when she finally managed to break away. With no set bounds, Sal simply waited again, letting Aldram take control of the session.

He did exactly that, stepping towards Sal, raising his weapon over his head. Sad feinted lunging in, only to pull back as he moved to block, moving to a sideways swing, just as she had the previous day. Aldram’s attempt at blocking it met air as Sal changed the trajectory of her swing and swept his legs, the side of her sword smacking against his knee.

Stepping back, Aldram blinked twice. “Again.” He said, pressing his lips together. Sal nodded, returning to her fighting stance. Linara stayed silent, letting the two go at it. Cutting it short after such a quick hit would only frustrate them both.

Aldram moved forward again, and Sal once more feinted the lunge, but this time Aldram changed his pace, swinging downwards long before he reached Sal, only to flick his sword back upwards, nearly tapping Sal in the shoulder as she twisted out of the way at the last moment. Off-balance, she stumbled sideways, swinging her sword towards Aldram to ward off any attacks. He deliberately met it, pushing her weapon further away from her body, then moving in to slap her chest.

“Again.” Sal said, taking a deep breath. Aldram grinned, and moved back to line up opposite her. This time, Sal changed her stance, holding her weapon over her head in one hand and raising the opposite leg. Aldram paused, looking at her in confusion, before stepping forward and thrusting, using the full length of his arm to just barely strike at her.

Sal ducked under it, lashing out with an upwards strike, almost the exact same movement Aldram had used previously, though her stance was completely different. She wasn’t able to reach him, but did push his sword upwards and away from her. She stepped forward, immediately bringing her leg up again.

Aldram made a second swing, which Sal blocked, kicking out with her raised leg and slamming her foot into his chest, shoving him backwards. She immediately followed up by charging forward, bringing her sword down in an overhead slash. Aldram moved to parry it, but Sal mirrored his earlier movement, swinging down early and then flicking back up, catching him in the armpit.

He shot a glance at Linara, the nodded at her. “Alright Sal.” He said, turning back to his smiling opponent. “I understand now. One more time.”

They rushed each other, and Aldram maneuvered around Sal’s attack only to slam his sword against hers, pushing her back again. This time he took one hand off his weapon and grabbed Sal’s arm, pulling her towards him. She struggled for a moment, but fell forward, and he twisted, shoving her to the ground. Sal rolled away before he could tap her with his sword, coming to her feet, eyes wide, breathing heavily. Aldram walked towards her, confident, sword in one hand. Sal launched her own attack, pushing him back.

Adjusting back to a two-handed hold, Aldram spread his legs, standing with his sword held in front of him. Sal stood on one leg again, sword over her head. Taking one long step forward, Aldram swung downward at Sal, who blocked with her sword while kicking upward with her leg, striking at the knight’s elbow from below. Expecting this, Aldram dropped his sword and grabbed her leg, pulling her off balance. Sal, on one foot, jumped, twisting in mid air to kick Aldram in the chest again, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

“Stop!” Linara said, jogging forward. Both of them scrambled to their feet.

“I got the last hit!” Sal claimed, smiling.

“There’s no way you can beat me in a grapple.”

“I still had my sword, and you dropped yours.”

Both of them argued, ignoring Linara, who sighed. “Aldram, we should get ready for our audience with lord Felden. Go clean your sweat off and put on a good uniform.”

“What’s she going to do?” Aldram asked, defiant.

“I’m not in charge of her.”

Shaking his head, Aldram took three steps towards the exit, then stopped, turning back to Linara. “You’re just here as an adviser, I’m-“

“I am advising you to make yourself presentable to the ruler of this city, who we came to make a deal with.” Linara snapped. Aldram stood up straight, his eyes wide. He nodded and moved towards the entrance as quickly as could while still looking like he was walking.

“What did you do back in Olentor?” Sal asked, studying Linara with a look of admiration on her face.

“I trained their king and repeatedly beat their best knight.”

“How would you plan to defend this city against an army from Ettsgras or Celngi?”

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Felden frowned at Vendel’s question, turning towards Jakop. The old knight sat with his arms crossed over his chest, the only other person on Felden’s side of the table. Vendel, Linara, and Aldram sat across from the two of them in the small meeting room that Felden arranged. “We make ourselves look not worth the effort. We may only have a comparably small number of trained fighters, but if the people of the city are in danger, if one in four joins a militia we can field thousands.”

“Will they be armed? And fed?” Linara spoke up.

“You ask questions you already know the answer to.” Felden replied, rubbing his head. “You know this city isn’t self sufficient. You want us as an ally, but you know we can offer you little. What is the purpose of all of this?”

Vendel grinned. “You are being carried down a river, Lord Felden. Your small raft is water worthy, but you have no means of steering it. Olentor is offering you an oar, if you can help us through the rapids ahead. You even get to keep the oar afterward, to use however you want.”

“Spare me the analogies and speak plainly.”

Placing his hands on the table, Vendel drummed his fingertips against the wood. Linara kept her face neutral. Some may see this as a nervous habit, but Vendel only did this when he was completely focused. “The cities in the Independent Lands rarely have the organization you have brought to Celkeish, despite them being much smaller. You cannot continue on as a single, lone city. Claim territory. Bring the surrounding areas under your rule, under your protection. Become not just a city, but a city-state. Work with the nearby farmers, offer them benefits. Expand, and you will gain what you need to defend yourself.”

Closing his eyes, Felden took a deep breath. “Jakop, can we do what they are asking?”

“My Lord.” The old knight said. “There are things we are lacking to make such a plan possible long term.”

“And Olentor is ready to provide them, and more.”

“For what? Becoming a vassal state under your young king?”

They had prepared for this. It was the obvious thing to accuse them of wanting. Olentor had unified with Wellent, and together they were the largest power in the northern lands by far.

“If we can count on you to secure the northwestern border, we have no interest in that. Having a strong ally is all we want. As I said, you are free to do with the oar what you want.”

“So what do you want us to do until then? These rapids you talked about?”

“You know the situation in the south, Felden. You talked to me about your grand plans.” Linara interjected. “You were hoping to forge an alliance with the other cities in the independent lands. Here’s a far stronger ally that you can have. Olentor is ready to send force to Wellent if an attack comes from that direction. If a southern army marches north instead of northeast, we can send support to you, but we cannot support a doomed city.”

“We have heard about Olentor flexing their military might. Rumors that the capture of territory south of Wellent came with a rather interesting price.” Jakop spoke softly, his expression dark. Linara stared at him. How much did he know?

Vendel stayed calm, tapping his fingers. “Wellent’s general was in charge for that battle. Similarly, if we were to support Celkeish, you would be in charge of any men we send. We would only be sending forces in a worst case scenario, though. In the shorter term, establishing yourselves as a proper state would require other forms of assistance, would it not?”

Nodding in satisfaction, Jakop leaned back in his chair. Felden took over. “You seem very comfortable dictating the direction we take going forward.”

“It’s a logical conclusion that you would have come to yourself, if you haven’t already.” Linara didn’t hesitate to push forward. “You dedicated a third of your trained soldiers to patrolling outside the city. Olentor is known for having the best horses, something needed for allowing your troops to move quickly in a larger territory.” She spoke over her feelings of guilt. Sal had, in casual conversation, given away critical information before even realizing that Felden might want to hide such things, and Linara was taking full advantage of it.

“Is that what you would offer in the short term? Horses?”

“You also lack weapons.” Aldram finally spoke up. “I doubt you could outfit a militia on the scale that you expect to have. You could dedicate your people to making weapons, or you could accept some from us.”

“And what weapons would Olentor be able to give away? Do you routinely keep thousands of extra spears and armor in good condition?”

“No, but we can replace what we give you more easily than you could make those numbers yourself.”

Leaning forward again, Jakop directed his gaze to Vendel. “War in the south has yet to fully start. When it does, it could go on for years before a victor emerges. If they are as hungry for conquest as we all assume, we will have a lot of time to prepare. You would part with your weapons now, and use the years to replenish them?” Vendel nodded.

“Horses, weapons, and the promise of direct aid if we are attacked? It seems a deal that overly benefits us. You are giving up a lot even if we aren’t attacked, and taking major risks, creating a major power on your own border.” Felden turned his gaze to Linara.

Vendel chose to respond. “Celkeish marching a militia of thousands towards Olentor would be very threatening to Olentor. However, Olentor no longer stands alone. While the combined might of Olentor and Wellent might not stand up to the armies of the south, it is more than enough to repel any attempt from you.”

“And if we conveniently organize the area, what is to stop your combined might from replacing me as the ruler here?”

“Defending and attacking are two very different things. We’d be attacking a city we helped fortify. If we wanted to replace you and do the work ourselves, I’d just have Linara kill you right here.” Felden’s eyes went wide at Vendel’s words. “The good will of the people is something no so easily earned. Conquering the hearts of the people who live in this city is a much taller order than winning on the battlefield.”

“Let us stop for today.” Felden said. “I have to consider your offer.”

“Of course.” Vendel replied, and the three from Olentor rose and exited the room, leaving Felden and Jakop to discuss things.

“We are building someone else’s empire here. It’s natural they would be suspicious. Senral is exploring new ideas with this plan.” Linara was the first to speak when they arrived at the lounge Felden had lent them - similar to the one she had first met him in, rather than a proper meeting room with a table, it contained a sofa and several large chairs, one of which Vendel was quick to claim.

“I wonder how well being disinterested would have worked.” He mused.

“What do you mean?” Aldram asked, standing stiffly instead of sitting down.

“We come here and act like we are on a fool’s errand, that our king has, in his youth, made a gross misstep and refuses to back down, so we must propose this offer and are eager to simply be done with it.”

The knight somehow stood even straighter, glaring at the older man. “We would come here and insult his Highness?”

“An act, Aldram. Relax.” Linara reassured him. “I’m not sure Felden would go for that. I am sure he will accept this, eventually. He could have asked for more, if you didn’t highlight exactly what he needs and offer to provide it. He just needs to convince himself that you mean well.”

“Don’t leave yourself out of this, Linara. Despite your official position, you are doing a large amount of the work here.”

“It is tiresome, being stuck in a room and arguing back and forth with those two. I’m going to go to sleep. Hopefully we can finish this tomorrow. They would be foolish to make more demands, so we can hopefully skip any long back and forth of making demands of each other.”

Rather than go to the basement in the morning again, Linara went for a run around the outside of the mansion. It was a far cry from being in the open air, the closeness of the city’s buildings nothing compared to the feeling of standing on top of the walls of Olentor’s Keep, but it was a break from watching Sal and Aldram go back and forth. The two were evenly matched, but both were taking sparring the wrong way in their eagerness to prove to her, and each other, which one was better.

Finishing up, she returned to her room in the mansion, took a bath, put on fresh clothes, and went to the basement.

Neither Sal nor Aldram were there.

A conversation with one of the others sent her back upstairs, towards a library where Sal had taken him to find a book about something she had to prove herself right about. Linara sighed to herself as she walked through the halls and eventually found the door in question.

Rather than an expansive library with rows of shelves like the one in Olentor’s castle, she found herself in a room not much bigger than the meeting room, with floor to ceiling bookshelves lining the walls, and the center space of the room filled with a number of large stuff chairs and some high tables for placing books on to read.

On one of these chairs sat Sal and Aldram. Linara’s former student was sitting in the knight’s lap, facing him, her knees on either side of his hips and her face pressed against his, her hands wrapped in his hair. His hands were wrapped around her back, holding the two of them together.

Linara stared for a moment, then rapped her hand against the door behind her.

Sal practically launched herself backwards, turning as stood up, her eyes wide. Aldram was slower, awkwardly struggling to his feet. They were both breathing heavily.

“Aldram, go find Vendel. I’ll meet the two of you in the lounge to discuss our plans for today’s meeting.”

He opened his mouth, then closed it, then looked at Sal, then Linara. With a curt nod, he jogged past her, out the door. Linara fixed her gaze on Sal. “Sparring with your tongue?”

“I-Linara, it isn’t, I don’t-“

“Did you win?”

Sal blushed. “I don’t even like him!”

“Odd way of showing it.”

“He’s stuck up, self important, he looks down on me because I’m shorter and younger than him. No matter how many times I beat him he still thinks he’s better than me!”

“And no matter how many times he beats you, you still think you are better than him.”

Sal looked down, her lips pressed together. “He’s stupid.” She whispered.

“You need to understand who he is. What he is. How he is different from you.”

Looking up, Sal tilted her head, just a little. Her face remained flushed, her glare fixated on Linara.

“Aldram is an orphan. He was raised as a knight. He was trained extensively by a man who is almost as strong as I am. He has a lot of pride in that identity because it is all he is. He worked hard and wants recognition for that. Just as you want recognition for what you became after being disowned by your parents. You both want the same thing but think that giving it to the other would negate getting it yourself. You can acknowledge someone else without losing yourself. You are attracted to each other because you both know that you want the same thing.”

Sal deflated, letting out a sigh and sinking into a chair. “I learned he hadn’t kissed anyone and wanted to show him that I was better than him at it. And yes, I did win.”

“As a knight, his loyalty will always be to Olentor and its king.”

“So?”

“He will not give up who he is to be with you. No matter what you two do together.”

Sal immediately blushed again. “We just kissed! It’s not…I don’t even like him that much. Stop making fun of me and go to your meeting already!”

“Why do you think you were chosen to be here?”

“What do you mean?”

“Me. Vendel. You. Three soldiers. Two of Vendel’s assistants. You are in charge of keeping us all safe. Why?”

“Hardly. You’re the real one in charge here.” Aldram said, pouting. Vendel quietly watched. They didn’t need to talk about plans.

“Have I ever told you how to position your men? Have I objected to how you have managed them while we stay here? All of your orders are your own, are they not?”

“They are.”

“So, why were you picked for this, instead of someone older and more experienced?”

“I don’t know.” He admitted.

“Because you are being tested, Aldram. You are young and lack experience, so you were given a chance to get that experience, and to prove yourself as someone who can handle both the responsibility of command while also following the orders of the people you need to protect.”

He stayed silent for a moment, looking up at Linara from his seated position. “I see.”

“And you have gotten involved in a childish rivalry which ended in fraternization.” Looking down, he blushed. “How old are you, Aldram?”

“Twenty two.”

“And how old is Sal?”

“Eighteen.”

“Act like a proper soldier and not a horny child.” He nodded. “Now, time to stop thinking about kissing girls and start thinking about how we will get Felden to agree to our terms.”