What was once a block of metal was now a beautiful black shield. Light blue lights similar to the ones the group had seen in the cave trailed down it, creating asymmetrical patterns.

"You like it?" Mitra grinned, turning it around so that it faced her before turning it back to Elric.

"Yes, it's beautiful, but I don't understand. How did you...?" Elric trailed off, unable to find the words to phrase his question.

"Turns out it just needed some exposure to fire." Mitra shrugged, leaning back against one of the shelves before accidentally knocking a book over. She bent over to pick it up before a look of realization hit her. Opening the book, she placed it on the table. "See? A few of these shields existed in the past, as well as swords." She pointed to the illustrations in the book. "Imagine my surprise though when I tapped the block and it just sprung open! These little lights?" She pointed. "They connect all the pieces together to form the shield."

"What is it made out of?" Gwyneth stared at the shield before her, a look of awe spreading over her features.

"The lights? No idea! The base? Obsidian."

"Who would have created such a thing? The Zetherians?"

"Yeah, can't help you there."

"No, but you can help her by giving her one of your extra pairs of scimitars!" Cetri butted in. "She doesn't know how to fight and I wanna teach her!"

"Can't fight?" She looked down at Cetri, then at Gwyneth. She was quite tall — even taller than Elric. "Well, that won't do! Follow me. Besides, I'd like to spar with your knight." She winked.

The armory was another part of this 'castle'. It was far smaller than Aeceria's, but housed plenty of weapons from hammers to axes to swords as well as a few others.

"I imagined the armory a bit bigger," Gwyneth said.

Cetri burst into laughter. "You think this is our kingdom's armory? This is our little private one!"

"Wait... You mean all of these weapons belong to the two of you?!" Gwyneth's jaw dropped.

"And our ma, but yeah!" Cetri beamed.

"Come to think of it, I don't believe we've seen the queen our entire time here." Elric rested his chin on his fist, lost in thought.

"She's on a pilgrimage! It's common for the current ruler to pilgrimage any time there's a volcanic eruption," Cetri explained. "But wait — it's erupted three times now— no, four! Does that mean she has to go on four pilgrimages?! Spark, she's going to be tired when she gets back— ow!" Cetri rubbed her head after Mitra flicked the back of her skull.

"Watch your language around our guests." Mitra waved a finger in front of her before turning to Gwyneth. "How are these?" She held up a pair of scimitars. They bore short exaggerated curved blades around the length of a large dagger, and golden hilts. For a moment, Gwyneth wondered if the hilts were really gold.

Gwyneth took the blades, giving them a few test swings before looking back at the Cathruli crown princess. They were surprisingly light. "They will do." She nodded her head.

"Good! Now get out there!" Mitra pointed to a curved structure outside of the castle.

---

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The arena was unlike anything Gwyneth or Elric had ever seen. It was a giant circular area surrounded by rocky walls, short enough that two Cathruli stacked together could peer over. The arena was likely three or four times the size of the pseudo castle.

Cetri had brought her own pair of scimitars and directed Gwyneth to an empty space. Mitra did the same with Elric. Little did they know that Aston watched them from atop the wall.

"Cetri, why did you choose this weapon for me?" Gwyneth asked, gazing down at her new pair of blades. She watched as the hilt reflected the light of the sun as she rotated it.

"It's the easiest to learn, but the hardest to master. It also offers decent defense without relying on pure strength. Besides, you're definitely not strong enough for an axe or hammer." Cetri shrugged.

"Defense?" Gwyneth raised an eyebrow.

"Like this." Cetri used one of her scimitars to wrap her blade around Gwyneth's, pulling it out of her hand.

Gwyneth stared at the blade on the ground, jaw agape.

"Now you try!" Cetri motioned for the princess to pick up her blade. She held her blades still to give her opponent a fair chance, but even then, it took Gwyneth a full seven attempts to get it right.

"Wow! You're even worse than I imagined!" Cetri laughed, causing Gwyneth to wince in embarrassment.

"I-It's my first time." She huffed. Part of her had wished Cetri had picked something more familiar like a sword or a bow. She had watched her knights practice with those two weapons plenty of times and would likely be able to mimic at least one technique.

The two sparred for a bit, Cetri progressively losing her patience as well as Aston. He yawned watching Gwyneth fail repeatedly. He was glad he didn't look this stupid when Florian taught him. Except he did.

Elric was faring better against Mitra thanks to his shield training with the Fae. She fought with a long golden spear. Elric barely blocked in time when she used it to vault over him and attack from behind. As big and impressive as the shield was, spanning nearly half of his body, it was impossibly light to carry. Had it been any other shield, he was sure she would have struck. He feared for his life, not knowing if the crown princess would hold back.

This fight interested Aston much more, yet he grew bored after a while. He surrounded Elric in fire to spice things up a bit. As for Gwyneth? Well, she could use a break. The look on Cetri's face was priceless when one of her scimitars teleported across from her. Cetri used this to her advantage, claiming the training was over and persuaded Gwyneth to spar with Elric instead.

Gwyneth tried every which way to land a hit on Elric, but it was impossible, especially with how fast he moved with his shield. His legs are unguarded, she thought. Wrapping her ankle behind his calf, she kicked him enough to raise his leg so that her scimitar could wrap around it, further unbalancing him.

"That's cheating!" He exclaimed.

"According to who?" Gwyneth smirked before turning to Cetri and Mitra who offered her a thumbs up. Seems the Cathruli approved.

Aston hovered down from his position on the wall, joining the others. "Give," he ordered Gwyneth, holding his hands out palms up.

Gwyneth blinked for a moment, confused about what he wanted. Then the realization hit her. She handed her scimitars over to him and a few seconds later, they glowed with a faint brown color. Earth — of course.

"Whoa! What's that?!" Cetri gawked.

"Aston can enhance our weapons with elemental power," Elric explained. "The element corresponds with that which we are most attuned to."

"Want me to do yours?" Aston offered.

"But that's like, magic, right?" Cetri hesitated.

Mitra tapped her foot lost in thought. "It is the weapon that is imbued with elemental magic, correct? The wielder doesn't need to cast it?"

"Correct," Elric answered, speaking from personal experience.

"Should be fine," she said lowly to Cetri.

"Okay..." Cetri gulped before exhaling.

"Shouldn't you get your other weapon out?"

"Huh? Oh, right!" Cetri quickly retrieved her hammer from where she had left it against the wall. She held it out to Aston, rapidly shifting her weight from foot to foot in anticipation. Before she knew it, her hammer took on a deep red glow. "Whoa!" She beamed, watching as the red glow faded in and out.

Then a thought occurred to Gwyneth. "Would you like to come with us? To Zetheria?"

"What? Really?!" Cetri exclaimed before pausing and looking at her sister.

"It's fine." Mitra shrugged. "Enjoy yourself! I can take care of stuff here while you're gone!" She slapped Cetri on the back. "They'll need your strength since Solus knows they don't got it."

Gwyneth and Elric winced.

"Hey!" Aston shouted. "I may not be physically strong, but I'm still stronger than you two put together!"

"Oh yeah? Want to test that?" There was an unmistakable glint in Mitra's eyes that caused Aston to quickly back down. He was confident he could take her on, but there was no way he could win against two of them.

Oh well. What was the harm in trying?

"You bet."