The Prince(ss) and the Pauper

[9forgotten]

Nyx let out a laugh as Ann stood there looking slightly appalled, not sure how to react anymore. The younger girl did relax as the Lady cleared up that it was a joke, waving her hand aside slightly with a small smile. She wasn't dumb, clearly her friend and the Lady were pretty close; enough to joke around and speak so casually. Ann made sure to bug Nyx about this later as she assured the Lady it was okay. "It's quite alright, I'm just surprised at Nyx." Ann said shrugging faintly. Glancing over at Nyx "I can get some water while you two...chat about things." she said with a mischievous smile and a teasing undertone shot at her friend. Disappearing to another room, Ann left the two alone in the Lady's room.


For her part, Nyx remained quiet and let Ann handle things, just stretching a bit as she glanced out the window behind Tae. Her gaze shifted back to the Lady in front of her, a coy smile creeping across her face as she noted the eager tone. Dropping her arm, her sword swinging low and coming to a stop at her side, Nyx gave a nod. "I was" she drawled. Leaning on her sword slightly Nyx just smiled at Tae, sensing her awkwardness and want to go out and train with the servant. She found this situation rather amusing but in its own way, cute. Infant, the tall servant was debating on whether to tease the poor woman in front of her when someone else spoke first.


"Nyx, stop being an arse." Ann scolded, suddenly reappearing, hands on hips as she gave a disapproving look. Nyx chuckled and turned to face her her friend slightly. "Awe, you're no fun. I was enjoying myself." she whined fake pouting. Ann only gave her a pointed look to which Nyx surrendered to. Smiling, she looked over at Tae. "Would you like to join me in training? Knowing Ann, she just drew the water and left it to me to heat it later." Nyx remarked glancing at the young girl with a raised eyebrow. She grinned and gave a thumbs up, "Know I am going to demand answers tomorrow Nyx. Anyway, goodnight Nyx, Lady Tae. If you don't mind, I'm going back to bed." she says, hesitating for a long moment. While easily adjusting to the casualness, Ann was very used to waiting for instructions and dismissals.

 

[Athenian]

Tae blinked. "Talk... About things? What things?" She uttered haltingly, slightly confused and more than a little out of it as she tried to recover from the cataclysmic failure that was her trying to hold a casual, non-scripted conversation. That probably explained why she didn't notice the connotation, and why she continued to toy at the now-fraying ends of her shawl, glancing down and trying to force the pink on her cheeks to recede through pure willpower and a lot of silent pleading. Was Nyx trying to talk about The Plan? Was Ann in on it?


When Nyx confirmed that yes, she was indeed training, Tae simply nodded, despite the fact that they were the only ones in the room and she had been looking forward to this for months. Because, of course, a trained noble such as she seemed to constantly run out of things to say. The silence became stifling as it dragged on, and she almost breathed a sigh of relief when Ann came back in, unable to hold back a small chuckle when Ann berated Nyx.


"I would love to." Tae said, cheeks warming again because she knew that the other two probably knew what her answer was going to be the minute she had opened her mouth a few minutes ago. God, she simply couldn't have been any more cringe-worthy. Tae smiled at the easy banter between the two, feeling happy for them; it was nice that even under the oppressive and spastic rule of Alister, they were able to keep such a lighthearted companionship going.


"Answers? answers to what?" She said, brows furrowing as she stared perplexingly first at Ann, then at Nyx. "Ah, never mind, I'll just ask Nyx." She hurriedly added, noticing that Ann looked like she was looking for a dismissal of some sort. "Please, go back to bed; I'm sorry for waking you." She added a kind half-smile for good measure, guilt worming around inside of her chest..


All of this, for one stupid question and answer. Honestly, sometimes she just couldn't believe herself.

 

[9forgotten]

Nyx chuckled as Tae agreed, knowing she wouldn't have turned down the offer unless she wasn't feeling well. That or Nyx simply wouldn't have mentioned it at all. Ann smiled over at the Lady, giving a small wave and giving Nyx a quick hug before scurrying out of the room. "Sleep well and feel free to sleep in some!" Nyx called after her. Ann just waved her arm as she was turning down into the all. The servants gaze followed her young friend with an amused but very fond look before looking back at the Tae.


"Ann's smart, she knows no normal servant and Lady could speak so casually with out the servant getting reprised harshly. She'll probably jut ask me what's up with that." Nyx explained to Tae's earlier confusion. Waving her hand to brush the matter aside, she smiled brightly. "Anyhow, now that the little one is off, shall we head out? Actually, I think you should change first...." Nyx could feel her cheeks starting to warm slightly as she finally noticed what the Lady was in. Turning her away with an awkward look, she chuckled nervously. "I'll just...go wait here? I'd suggest something that you can move freely in, just incase you forgot." she teased slightly shooting the Lady a quick look.


She shifted to stand by the door, keeping her gaze on the floor for a few long moments. It wasn't that she'd never seen other people in their under shirts and what not, it just made Nyx awkward in general. Stretching out some, she propped her sword against the wall, crouching slightly as she shook out her joints for a moment. She could feel the slight aches and pains still lingering in her joints from the long day of work. It wouldn't be much of an issue during training, whether it came to bit her in the arse later, she didn't know.

 

[Athenian]

Tae nodded slowly. "Ah, I see. She won't- I mean, I trust you in this, she's a wonderful child, but, ah, she won't... Say anything, right?" Her eyebrows scrunched in faint worry. While it seemed like simple companionship and amicable banter to the three of them, a healthy, friendly relation -or any relation at all- between a noble such as herself and captured help was highly irregular and would definitely throw a wrench into the entire "I'll help you escape" thing that Tae still wanted to enact. "It's just- I... People talk, and this sort of gossip wouldn't be good if you wished to take her and run, one day."


Tae glanced down at her clothes, a bit puzzled before she remembered; unwillingly letting out an embarrassed squeak, she closed the shawl -which she had inadvertently let hang loose around her shoulders- with an audible thump, staring at Nyx for a petrified second before scrambling into harried action. "Ah, yes, of course!" She hurried to the expansive closet, rifling through to try and find something suitable, settling on what seemed to be leather riding breeches and a maroon collared blouse. She gave Nyx a petulant glare, just shy of sticking her tongue out. "Don't look!" She admonished, turning around as well before hurriedly pulling the nightgown off and replacing it. The pants were a bit tight and creaked slightly as they tried to stretch and adjust, but other than that everything seemed to be going smoothly. Tugging her hair out of the confines of the shirt and ignoring the fact that it was probably unruly and snarled by now, she practically bounced over to Nyx, crouching slightly and looping her arm loosely with Nyx's.


"Come on, let's go!" She whispered, biting on her lip to try and hide her grin(to no avail). "Gosh, it's been quite a while, no? Will you be okay? I know it's not that great teaching a novice like myself... Not to mention I'm adding onto your daily duties." Tae grew slightly unsure, ducking her head as she toed the ground.

 

[9forgotten]

Letting out a slightly snicker in amusement, the servant kept her gaze away from the Lady as she changed, just standing by the door now. Pulling her hair around her shoulder, she combed her fingers through it a bit, absentmindedly thinking. Nyx nodded faintly, still lost in her old world as she spoke. "Don't worry about Ann, she's smart. Besides, the amount of secrets in this castle could get anyone killed by out oh so lovely Prince." she remarked mildly. Ann knew if Nyx asked her to be quiet about things for extended periods of time, it had importance since the blonde never kept quiet about things for long. That and this situation could get Nyx and Tae and trouble and Ann wasn't about to do that.


Nyx's mind wandered a bit to the escape. She still hadn't decided a time, hopefully not too soon. She also wasn't sure how to break it to her friend. Secrets were things Nyx could keep. Spilling them, not so much. Plus, deep down she was anxious about her friends response to Nyx lying to her pretty much her whole life. Before she could really dwell on it, Tae called out to her. Glancing over, Nyx flashed a grin. She was surprised when Tae grabbed her arm, looping it through her but just went with it. Grabbing her sword with her free hand she somehow opened the door for them. "Don't worry about it, I enjoy teaching you. It's fun and gives me something to look forward to at the end of the day." she whispered back lowly.


Poking her head out, she glanced around the halls for a moment before grabbing her friend and practically racing down the quiet dark halls and to the outdoors. Heading over to the usual training grounds, she grew increasing lax and a lazy smile found its way on her face. Being cooped up in the castle all day or being sent all day wasn't fun. She enjoyed the outdoors and running out to get something was barely enough time to enjoy the day. Plus, she very much enjoyed her time alone spent with the Lady. She enjoyed Tae's company and conversations were never boring.

 

[Athenian]

Tae wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Alister certainly is an... Unsavoury character. And to think I'm betrothed to him." A light shudder tore through her body, a sour taste touching her tongue as she thought about the marriage, looming on the horizon. "I honestly can't believe my father, or anyone else for that matter, hasn't seen through his act." She huffed, frustrated. She honestly just wished that Alister just... Didn't exist, for a moment; everything would have been so much simpler.


Tae perked up immediately, giving Nyx a cheeky grin. "You look forward to teaching someone like me? My, what do they put in your meals?" She jabbed self-deprecatingly, humouring Nyx and mimicking the woman by performing an exaggerated version of Nyx's little glance into the hall. Clapping a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing when Nyx suddenly grabbed her hand and whisked her down the hall, Tae grinned wide as could be, smile nearly splitting her face; she honesty couldn't remember the last time she had felt this... Free. Like all the burdens of monarchy and marriage, politics and prejudices, all dissipated into thin air. Ornate sculptures transitioned to cleared-out plains, the ocean glimmering a distance away and the moon shining down, giving everything a silvery, ethereal glow; it was perfect.


"So, what will we do today?" Tae wondered, tilting her head to look at Nyx. "Will we start off from where we left off before, or...?" She suddenly snapped her fingers. "Oh! I forgot to mention; I went out and got a craftsmen to make me a wooden blade, back home, so I could practice even if you can't be there to instruct me. Still, no book would ever be as good as you in terms of a teacher." Giving Nyx a playful nudge, she smiled, excited and happy and quite exuberant.

 

[9forgotten]

Not wanting to disturb their happy mood, Nyx didn't make any remarks about the Prince. Instead, she just smiled and whirled around, facing Tae as they made it to the field, her hand still gently tugging the Lady along with her. "I do look forward to teaching someone like you and you'll be glad to know, no one has put anything in my meals. I'm quite offended you'd think that." she responded with a mocking hurt expression. Unable to hold the fake hurt, she laughed and spun back around as they reached the training grounds. Loosening her grip, Nyx allowed Tae to take her hand back whenever she felt like it. Personally, the servant was perfectly fine hanging onto the other woman's hand. It was a lot softer and smoother than her own but still strong.


As she was told the good news, Nyx brightened up excitedly, blushing faintly at the compliment. She wasn't totally used to them, they didn't come often. "Really? Fantastic! Perfect, that means we can do a quick review and then move on." she exclaimed looking over her shoulder. Looking around, Nyx spotted the sword she already set aside for Tae. She'd had a gut feeling and perhaps and overly hopeful gut feeling Tae would join her again. Gesturing to it with her sword, Nyx smiled. "Ready?"





The loss of the Lady's hand left her own feeling a bit cold and Nyx wondered what that was about but didn't think much on it as she drew her own sword. Smiling, she swung it around, giving a nearby dummy a few whacks before instructing Tae to show her what she'd been practicing. Only adjusting a couple very minor things, Nyx moved on with the lessons. She'd noted Tae was fairly quick to pick things up, or at least the general ideals of it all and the servant was extremely patient as she corrected the mistakes. Going back and forth between offensive and defensive strikes, Nyx repeated the same routines from the first time. Sometimes, she'd have Tae go against a dummy rather than practice the motions in the air before pitching Tae against herself to give her student and idea of how things might go in an actual battle.


Nyx spoke practically nonstop, always remarking on things or explaining things, giving constant examples or demonstrations. Here and there, she'd throw in faints and parries, not that they were to different from each other. The timing and speed to counter attacks varied though depending on the attack given. Once during a break, Nyx looked at Tae worriedly. "I'm not going to fast am I? I got kinda excited so I know I was chattering and explaining kind fast...anything you wanna go over?" she asked swiping the sweat from her brow, giving a sheepish look shadowed with anxiety.

 

[Athenian]

Tae followed Nyx with an uncharacteristic bubbliness, accepting the practice sword and giving it a few soft swings to get used to the slightly different weight and size. She nodded at Nyx, eager to start.


Honestly, it was almost an addiction; Tae absolutely loved swinging the blade, seeing the blade connect; she loved the slight exertion in her arms as she guided the weapon. The dummy was especially fun to smack at; the burlap sack would dent slightly where she would hit it and a small plume of straw dust would fall out of the bottom, something that Tae found endlessly comical for god knows why(maybe this was what happened when you were up past midnight). Sparring with Nyx was fun as well but she found herself hesitating a it too long at times, missing her window of opportunity to attack and instead just embarrassing herself when she had to scramble into a defensive form. She would also trip over her own feet; someone who had legitimately received poised walking lessons, tripping on flat ground. Tae honestly had no idea what had come over her; thankfully, it had only happened twice, the worst injury being that she had accidentally elbowed herself in the gut.


Nyx's running stream of dialogue was also very enlightening and quite endearing; it was nice to see the normally wry and terse woman go off for a bit. It probably also helped that Tae was absolutely enthrall end by the wealth of information Nyx was giving, and tried to commit as much as she could to memory. By this time, her shoulders were aching quite a bit and she was sure that if she released her grip on the hilt of her weapon, the pads of her hands and fingers would be raw and sensitive; she barely exercised after all, and she had been so busy back at home that she had only been able t practice four times in total. Still, she didn't want to make Nyx feel bad; she abhorred the thought. She tried to shrug it off. "You're perfectly fine! I think I'm good, you're very good at explaining. Is there anything else that's new, hat we haven't stumbled on yet?" Tae inquired., slightly out of breath but grinning

 

[9forgotten]

Nyx hesitated as Tae assured her that she was okay, not sure whether to believe the Lady or not. She looked a bit worn out despite her grinning face. Knowing that it was better not to push limits, Nyx decided they should take a break. It was exciting to learn new things and sometimes, people forgot about they exhaustion and the need for breaks now and then. Smiling slightly to herself Nyx looked over at Tae. Nodding slowly, Nyx set her sword down anyway and nodded again, more to herself the second time. "Alright, well I think we should take a brake anyway." the servant said stretching out some. "I don't want to tire you to the point where you can't walk tomorrow. Although, it seems you've already started tripping over yourself. I hope you aren't falling for me now." Nyx teased lightly, sending a flirtatious wink over at Tae with a cheeky grin.


"There isn't to much to teach left honestly. At least from my country style. If you wanted to learn this places fight style, I could probably teach you the basics to intermediate. I don't care much to learn it all. Either way, the rest comes from battle experience and lots of practice." Nyx added a few moments later with a thoughtful look. She really hadn't bothered to learn the military things of this Kingdom. Alister certainly had tried when she'd first arrived here and to say it lightly, that had most definitely not end well. He'd given up seeing she wasn't about to change her mind or her ways.


After stretching out a bit more, she made her way near Tae and jumped up on the fence. Sitting on it, she leaned over, her head resting in the palm of her hand as she looked down at the Lady with a smile. "I'll leave what we do next up to you. I don't mind either way, I enjoy spending time with you regardless." she stated plainly.

 

[Athenian]

Tae paused, looking over at Nyx to make sure; when she saw that the woman had set down her weapon, she let go of hers as well, the weapon landing on the ground with a soft thump. She breathed a small sigh of relief, stretching out her sore fingers, palms raw and red but -thankfully- just shy of blisters. Trying to explain that to Alister would have been terrible; she was glad that Nyx had stopped her, and she said so.


"Thank you." She breathed, stretching as well, wincing slightly when her shoulders protested, due to the fact that they had been put through a vigorous bout of exercise after such a long time. She immediately dropped them, however, at Nyx's next comment, face going beet red as she choked and spluttered.


"I- I don't- That's... Um..." Tae took a breath to compose herself. "I don't know what you're talking about." She mumbled.


That had to have been the worst and the weakest refusal(denial? Refutation?) that she had ever let forth past her lips. It was true, though; she hadn't fallen for the woman. That was preposterous. The complications that came with that was an entirely new thing; Nyx literally worked under the person she was betrothed to. And as a prisoner of war, no less.


Still... She had to admit that the colour of Nyx's hair was remarkably similar to the baroness from all that time before-


Tae shook her head slightly. Thoughts like these would only lead down dark, snarled paths. She raised her head, blinking as she left her reverie when Nyx spoke again.


"Ah... It'd be nice to learn something from a... Professional? There's really only so much you could learn from books. I'm definitely interested in the differences in culture and fighting styles." She said, chuckling sheepishly, running a hand through sweaty and mussed hair.


"I don't think I'm going to do very well when it comes to... Improvised fighting. Street fighting, was it? I like the structure of these things. Is that poor form? To like rigidity when it comes to swordplay?" She inquired, looking up at Nyx with wide, uncertain eyes.


She felt ungainly now, almost like she had done something wrong.


(And if Nyx wasn't going to mention her embarrassing... episode, neither was she.)

 

[9forgotten]

( Nyx can be nice sometimes and not point out things xD )


Nyx smiled slightly as Tae set her own weapon down, stretching out her body. Watching the other woman, her gaze shifted to her hands and she noted the redness. Frowning slightly, Nyx felt a slight pang of guilt and worry as she studied Tae's hands the best she could without being to obvious. She got the sense Tae wasn't going to admit that she probably needed a break awhile ago so she made the mental note to be more aware of her companions well being. Of course Alister would be sure to notice the rawness if it wasn't gone by morning and there was no way they could tell him the truth.


Looking away, she sat there with a brooding look as Nyx wondered what to do about this now. She sighed and just left it alone for now her gaze going back to Tae's face. She smiled some and watched in amusement as she watched the Lady try to deny her remark about falling for people. She'd only meant it as a joke but based on Tae's reaction, Nyx couldn't help but wonder briefly. Of course that was banished from her mind a second later.


Tilting her head, Nyx grew quiet as Tae spoke again, listening to what she had to say with silently thoughtfulness. A small smile spread across her mouth as she went on, shaking her head slightly and causing her long hair to fall across her face some. Pushing it aside, she sat up for a moment to tech before leaning over again. "There's nothing wrong with liking rigidity." Nyx answered promptly. "Street fighting can actually be kinda of difficult. Regardless, everyone develops their own style that suits them. If anyone says its wrong, then they clearly don't know swordsmanship."


Nyx shrugged slightly, giving a warm smile towards the other woman. "Point is, if you train hard, you're still a good swordsman whichever way you fight." Looking up at the sky, she gauged the time for a moment, tapping her foot lightly against the wooden fence. "Should we head in for the night?" she asked, still looking at the sky thoughtfully. It was probably late morning.