“She came to me, in dead of night

She came just like a thief.

She crept into my bedchamber,

Her face awash with grief.

“I love you,” she said to me,

“All others I foreswear.”

I kissed her tears, I kissed her lips

Undone by love we shared.

Brave her soul and bold her heart,

My lust she did excite.

We would stand together, day by day,

And lie side by side at night.”

Giordi’s voice had a warm tone and it filled the air with a pleasant warble as the five travellers made their way across the lonely hills coated with shallow soil, adorned with long grasses and threaded with gurgling streams. Perhaps if Giordi only had a limited repertoire his almost constant singing might have become irritating but he knew many, many songs of varying tempo, key and subject. Some were lively while others were mournful. Some were as rowdy as a drunken brawl and others were as introspective as a lonely shepherd. Judd, Verne and Aalis quite enjoyed the variety.

Caste however…

“Oh look, he’s annoying even without his lute…”

Giordi gulped water from his pouch then hooked it on his belt and smiled at Caste, undeterred. “Somehow, my dear prudish cleric, I suspect that I could walk alongside you in complete silence…and I would still irritate you.”

Caste’s jaw was tight. “Couldn’t hurt to try…” He muttered.

“Isn’t that song a little…” Judd cleared his throat, leaving the description unsaid but clear by the red hue creeping up his neck.

“It’s quite mild compared to others I know.” Giordi chuckled. “There was one I learnt that came from Fort Omra where it was all about the…activities in the bedchamber of the knight of the same name.”

“Unless Sir Omra documented such going ons, your song is nothing but a continuous lie.” Caste grouched.

“He’s not worried about the explicit detail…just that it might be historically inaccurate.” Verne whispered to Judd then jogged ahead as Giordi and Caste began to debate heatedly.

Judd fell back a step, putting some distance between himself and the bickering cleric and minstrel to where Aalis was walking. “Are we going too fast?”

“No,” she breathed quickly but not breathlessly, “it is just a long way…and a lot of walking.”

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Judd frowned then lifted his chin. “Verne! Keep an eye out for the next stream! We’ll stop to rest for a bit.” Verne waved back as Aalis protested.

“I do not want to hold up our progress.”

“Then I’ll sit and rest.” Judd smiled and she nodded. They walked together, following Verne’s lead, Caste and Giordi having reached an end to their argument with its usual conclusion that the other person was wrong. “Aalis,” she looked at him, “I just wanted to say…I wanted…um…Sir Egrette, in fact, many knights or men in general, have…an attitude about women…”

“We already talked about this.” Aalis said, still unnerved by Egrette’s manner and determined to put it behind her.

“I just wanted to say, or ask, really…do you feel comfortable with me? I mean…us?” Judd caught her surprised expression. “I don’t ever, ever, want to be like Sir Egrette…which is funny because when I was young I wished for exactly that…and up until he said it I thought he was finally a knight I could fully respect…”

“Then he spoke to me the way he did…and you are a little disappointed?”

“Yeah,” Judd nodded, “and also ashamed that I ever wanted to be like him when he’s like that.” Aalis smiled and shook her head. “What?”

“Sir Egrette’s attitude is not uncommon amongst knights but I do not think that knights alone are the only ones who act like that.” Aalis sighed. “Attitudes and prejudices might exist in individuals but when endorsed by the throne of Astaril…”

“It is something taught by behaviour and tradition.”

“Yes…which makes your treatment and opinion of me even more surprising.”

Judd thought about this for a moment. “Well…I guess…it’s because of my parents.”

“Suppose.”

“What?” Judd looked at Giordi who dropped back to join them.

“Not ‘guess’ but ‘suppose’. Suppose is more refined.”

Judd sighed and tried again. “I suppose it’s because of my parents.”

“In what way? I thought you were not on good terms with them.”

“They weren’t happy about me…”

“My, not me.”

“They weren’t happy about my…desperation to become a knight,” Judd looked at Giordi who nodded, “but they…”

“However.”

“Huh?”

“I beg your pardon.”

“I’m begging yours. What?”

“I beg your pardon!”

“What am I begging here?”

Aalis smothered her giggles as Giordi stopped Judd. “However in place of using the word ‘but’. However is more gentlemanly. And if you need someone to repeat something, ‘I beg your pardon’ is far more genteel than ‘huh’ or ‘what’.”

Judd rubbed his hands down his face. “You asked for this…remember that, Judd LaMogre…”

“Go on, try again.” Aalis urged as they began to walk again.

“I’m second supposing everything now…” Judd moaned. “My father treated my mother like a queen. He never made her feel like she was second best or lower class just because she was a woman. He told me once that, when she was giving birth to me, he thanked the stars he wasn’t born a woman because he didn’t think he would be strong enough to do what my mother did. He adored her and she adored him.”

Aalis turned her face to the sun and enjoyed its warm glow. “They sound lovely.”

“Yeah, they are…” Judd paused. “Maybe…one day…you could meet them?”

Aalis’ eyes opened and she looked at him. “They live in Astaril, do they not?”

“Uh…yeah but…” Judd floundered then shook his head. “Anyway…I just thought…”

“The word ‘anyway’ is redundant.”

“It’s what? Or should that be, it’s I beg your pardon?”

Giordi groaned. “No, what I meant to say is, the word ‘anyway’ does not add anything to the sentence. Your sentence was, ‘Anyway I just thought…’ however, if you dropped ‘anyway’ the sentence would still mean the same. And it goes for the end of a sentence too. Sticking ‘anyway’ on the end of a sentence is a common habit. It’s dismissive, as though you are almost distancing yourself from your statement.”

Judd moaned then looked at him. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to remember all that at once. Isn’t there some way to simply it for me?”

Giordi tapped his teeth together, his brow furrowing. “Watch your contractions.”

“My what now?”

“Isn’t, can’t, don’t…words crammed together for the sake of simplicity and speed.” Giordi explained. “Dropping contractions from your vocabulary will slow your speech naturally and give a more cultured tone to your words.”

“You really think so?”

“Yes. Eliminate contractions from your speech, try not to use superfluous words at the start or end of a sentence and if you catch yourself saying ‘um’ or ‘uh’, pause first, breathe and then speak without them.” Giordi nodded. “There is no need to fill a silence with doubt. Let it be a respectful moment before you speak. Verne’s spotted a stream!” He jogged ahead to where Verne was waving.

Aalis looked at Judd and became concerned. “You are frowning.”

“Yeah, I didn’t…did not want to say…I do not know what superfluous means.”