Calming Down

Lavender’s dreams had grown strange as of late.

They had been all over the place ever since she’d escaped Balerifon’s watchful eye. Some were nightmares of being locked away in the tower once again, others were stranger and involved giant cakes delivering messages of dire import about their deliciousness.

And then there was tonight’s showing of something she remembered seeing years ago.

It was after a particularly grueling training session. The old man had been on edge all day. He was distracted, which meant Lavender could get some shots in on him that she normally had no dream of landing.

In fact, it was after a particularly nice kick to Balerifon’s ribs that he held up a hand and told her that was enough for the day. It was unlike him to give her so much of the day to herself. Lavender could try sneaking around the library again and swap out some of the books she’d squirreled away for new ones. With how tired Balerifon seemed, she could even try to make another attempt to escape.

As she wandered around the keep, she could hear shouting echoing down the halls. Which was impossible. No one ever came to visit. Balerifon had joked that anyone who tried was only coming for dinner.

Lavender wandered into one of the great chambers of the keep, standing near the top of a grand staircase and looking down to the lower floor. There she saw Balerifon standing in his human form speaking to another man.

This stranger was about Balerifon’s size with a similar build. Quite thin, dressed in clothes dyed red with the sleeves cut short. He bore a resemblance to Balerifon, but his hair was a dark shade of brown and there was a scar running in a line from his right eyebrow, down his cheek, and to the corner of his mouth.

“Caecilius, calm down,” hissed Balerifon.

“I am calm,” said Caecilius with a wavering voice. “You’re the one who’s lost their damn mind! You spilt your blood for that?!” He poked Balerifon in the upper chest hard enough to force him to step back. “You made a mistake! You should have let it die!”

Balerifon bared his teeth, which looked closer to that of a dragon’s. “If I had done that, I could no sooner keep calling myself Balerifon.”

“And you think you still can!” Caecilus shouted. “A dragon who wastes their blood so frivolously is no dragon at all. You are no brother of mine!”

“Saying it does not make it so.” Balerifon raised his voice. “Nor does it invalidate the Oath that our father made us swear not to fight one another.”

Caecilius’s hand came within a hair’s breadth of striking Balerifon across the face. “It’s the mistake or me, brother.”

And that was when Lavender woke up.

----

Lavender found the trip back from the tournament to be woefully uneventful. For all the talk of bandits manning the roads and harassing travelers, they did not cross paths with a single one of them. It seemed that anyone with a hint of survival instinct knew the roads would be crawling with Adventurers’ Guild members and didn’t want to risk the trouble.

And anyone without such a thing wouldn’t be around long enough to live with the consequences.

With no nobles to escort this time, the party was making good time on their trek back to the Bee’s Knees. And apart from occasionally fiddling with the kazoo she’d won, there was little else to do but pay attention to everyone else. She wasn’t sure when this had happened, but Robert and Hazel now seemed to be on good terms with Balerifon. She’d have thought Balerifon would resent taking orders from Hazel given her status as the living head of the House.

Dora was an odd one. She mostly kept her distance. But Lavender swore she always saw her out of the corner of her eye, watching her every move. And sometimes she caught her sitting on a tree branch over head or with her tail sticking out of a bush.

Or sometimes, she was watching when Lavender was trying to train Robert.

Robert was a quick study when it came to pointers on his martial technique. She held back some when they sparred; Lavender didn’t want to crush his ego. It was a balancing act between letting him earn his confidence and correcting him when that confidence grew too great.

During a break to catch their breath and rehydrate, Lavender felt Dora’s presence again. That black tail brushed past Lavender’s neck as the cat woman circled around. “Hey, Dora.”

Dora got straight to the point. “Why are you training him?”

“He asked.” Lavender opened a flask and drank, accidentally drenching her chest. “What’s the harm in trying?”

Dora coughed and tried to keep her eyes on Lavender’s. “You’ve got no credentials. I doubt you ever set foot in a magical academy. I don’t even think you’re teaching him the fundamentals of magic casting. You’re just fighting him over and over again.”

“He learns best by doing,” said Lavender. “Some people learn by listening, some by reading. And if I’m being honest, I’m not sure he’d be good at reading it from a book.”

Dora gave a sympathetic shrug. “But you’re just fighting. You’ve not bothered teaching him the fundamentals!”

“I’m letting him train,” Lavender corrected. “Robert has no formal education. Hazel says it’s amazing he can read. Trying to teach him about what aspect counters what and what the schools are is too much. But he’s seen me do all this crazy stuff with spells so he’s got an idea of what’s possible. We can worry about the finer details once he’s proved to himself that he can cast a spell at all.”

“You… are an idiot.” Dora shook her head. “Everyone who teaches magic will tell you that you have to start with the fundamentals. Otherwise, it could take years!”

“Everyone who teaches magic is wrong.” Lavender shrugged. “Don’t know what to tell you.”

Dora stomped her foot. “Your answer is just ‘everyone is wrong but me’?!”

“Why not? They’re wrong about needing an external focus to cast spells.” Lavender held up a fist. Ice crystals started to swirl around it, coalescing until a ball of snow had formed above it. She opened her hand and let the snowball land in her palm. “You’d be surprised what you can do if you keep an open mind.”

She threw the ball to Dora with a gentle underhand toss. Dora panicked, trying to claw at the ball and ending up splaying the snow all over her face.

Lavender chuckled at the surprise on Dora’s face.

----

The sun had started to set when the Bee’s Knees tavern came into view.

Lavender contemplated what would happen next. With the winnings from the Princess Knight Brawl and the tournament, they didn’t have to take quests just to eat anymore. Though she wasn’t sure what else to do with the gold. If every nobleman had risen up against her father, how could she trust any of them?

Regardless of whether was a noble she could trust, Lavender thought would behoove them to leave the region once they’d rested. The man parading himself around in her father’s things would surely come looking for them soon. Perhaps she could talk about that at dinner with Hazel.

The tavern still looked more crowded than usual. Lavender steeled herself for the noise of a dozen conversations going on all at once. It was unsettling but she’d acclimated herself to –

There was an explosion of clapping and shouting the second their party walked into the door. A banner had been hung from the rafters that read, “CONGRATS PRINCESS KNIGHT BRAWL WINNER!” Everyone was staring at her, cheering at her, raising her glasses at her!

Lavender found herself hanging from said rafters as well, having jumped clean out of her boots from shock.