And it was cleaning duty this time. They had been shooed out of the auxiliary Library due to being a "distraction" and removed from the kitchen for making a "mess" and they had already tried to reach the Gardens on the upper floor, but none of the older Templars were having it right now. Well anyway, cleaning duty. Sienna and Anaise were stuck in one of the hallways of the Tower cleaning. The latter one with a mop and small pail of water, and the other with a broom and dustpan. Together, they did make marvelous time, even if most of it was spent gripeing and hitting each other with the handles of their cleaning utensils.
As they rounded the corner to the staircase, (okay, it wasn't a corner, there were no true "corners" in the Circle as it was, quite literally, a circle) they came upon a Templar who was trying very hard not to laugh at their poor attempt at sword-play. They couldn't see who it was due to the helm, but they knew it must be one of the friendlier, and younger,Templars if they were laughing and not yelling.
"Don't laugh! We don't have the fancy training you do!" Anaise remarked, sticking out her tongue at the Templar.
"Well that "fancy training" comes standard when you join you know." It was Cullen, who was snickering wildly at their antics. He pushed up the visor on his helm, and smiled at the two. "Really, if you guys even tried to fight a knave they'd have you on your bums with the way you're holding those things."
"Then teach us Cullen!" Sienna said, only to be followed by Anaise's hooting agreement.
"Uh, I-I don't think so. I shouldn't even be t-talking to you guys," Cullen stammered, looking around the hallway to see if he was caught.
He was soon surrounded by the two mages chanting "Teach us, teach us" while prodding him with the ends of their mop and broom.
"No! I don't-I don't think its- Ah fine! Just stop hitting me with those blasted things!" Cullen huffed, crossing his arms.
"Yes!" The two mages cheered.
"Alright, first off, mops and brooms are nothing like swords, they're more like Pole-arms, but if you're going to use them like swords, you have move your hands down here," Cullen started grabbing Sienna's mop and demonstrating. "You'll have a better hand on it like that. Second, it's nothing like the show fencing they do in Orlais. You move around, and unless you have a shield, you don't block. And finally, you have to be smart about it. Its not all 'oh bash his head in', it's looking for advantages and using your enemy's movements and weight against them. And don't forget to keep your eyes on your opponent! For instance, Anaise, come at me."
"Uh… what?" Anaise retorted, looking dumbstruck.
"You wanted to learn didn't you? Come on and swing at me!" Cullen taunted, smirking a bit at her dumbfounded expression.
"Oooo, Anaise, he's calling you out!" Sienna laughed.
Anaise frowned then, sighed. She adjusted her grip on the broom to look more like Cullen's. "Here I go!" She shouted before closing the few feet between them and taking a side swing at his torso. Cullen quickly stepped backwards, causing Anaise to stumble, then swung (Softly! He swore it was softly!) his makeshift weapon one handed onto Anaise's bum, forcing her to fall face-first into the rocky floor.
Anaise made a rather incomprehensible noise while Sienna only laughed harder. Cullen rubbed the back of his head and mumbled, "Sorry", before reaching down and helping Anaise up. His face flared red as she took his hand.
"Ahem, well yes. Uh, that's uh, that's pretty much it. That and practice," Cullen said, giving Sienna her mop back, looking like all he wanted to do was to be absorbed into the wall.
"Yes! Prepare yourself Lady Anaise of the Fiery Hair, for I, Madam Sienna of the Burning Wood, shall defeat you in battle!" Sienna announced in a voice meant to sound like that of some of the Orlesian noble and assumed a (very poor) stance.
Anaise snorted and took her own stance, mimicking Sienna's poorly imitated accent and retorting, "Nonsense Madam Burning Wood, I of the Fiery Hair shall retain my honor and defeat you! En garde!"
And so the two went at it, beating each other with broomsticks while shouting taunts in poor Orlesian accents. Yet as the mock sword fighting degraded into literally pummelling each other as hard as possible with the handles, Cullen couldn't help but smile. The two weren't technically breaking any rules, and they had cleaned a majority of the floor, so he was sure that allowing them have some fun would be okay.
Cullen was just starting to get comfortable with the situation when Sienna landed a particularly nasty blow to Anaise's… bosom. He then felt the first pull of magic.
"You froze a chunk of my hair!" Sienna shrieked.
"Well you hit my breast, you butt!" Anaise growled back.
"Fine! If that's how you want to be-" Sienna growled and sent a small fire spell back at Anaise, setting the bristles of her broom on fire.
"Sienna!" Anaise shrieked, and started bashing the quickly burning broom against the floor.
"What in the Maker's name are you two doing?" Cullen barked at them, quickly moving to where the two mages were shrieking over the now icy broom. "No combat magic unless its sanctioned by the Knight-Commander!"
"She started it!" The two retorted in unison.
"I don't care who started it, no more!" Cullen ordered (Oh man, he ordered them to do something.)
The two mages shared a look before Sienna knocked Cullen in the knee with her mop handle. Anaise quickly retrieved her own weapon and whacked him in the thigh.
"What are you doing? Stop it!" Cullen huffed. Anaise and Sienna snorted and they both poked him with their handles once… twice… "Maker! Stop it!"
And then, of course because magic could not be used without someone noticing in the small Fereldan Circle, First Enchanter Irving came stomping round the bend with two Templars on his trail. "I felt magic! Is everything alright?" He asked, gasping for breath.
"First Enchanter!" Cullen started, stepping in front of the two, now still and silent, mages. Irving wide panicked eyes turned to slits and his mouth thinned into a straight line as he looked between a flustered Cullen, Sienna's frozen hair, and Anaise's smoldering broom.
"Ser Rutherford, would you mind telling me exactly what transpired here?" Irving asked, voice gravely quiet.
"Well you see Ser, the two were mock-fighting and then it turned to… real… fighting," Cullen mumbled.
"Of course. And may I ask why you didn't stop it when it started?"
"I thought… thought that it would be okay?"
Irving was quiet for a few long seconds. When he opened his mouth, he was obviously livid. "Ser Rutherford, I do not know what you were thinking but you can bet that Gregoir will hear about this. And you two!" Irving barked, turning to the two silent mages who jumped at his shout, "Why is it everytime I turn my back for more than five minutes you are doing something that breaks the rules here! You are both in a lot of trouble! Two weeks solitary for each of you! And Sienna is on dish-washing duty while Anaise has to organize potion components with the Tranquil!"
"First Enchanter-"
"First Enchanter nothing! Grab your things and follow me! You too Rutherford! " Irving barked.
Cullen sighed, shoulders sagging. He rubbed the back of his head and started to follow Irving and his entourage's retreating figures.
"Alright… Come on you guys," Cullen muttered. "We might as well- Ack!" Cullen jumped turning to look behind him. Anaise stood with a smug smile on her face, her half-charred broom behind her back, and Sienna was snickering behind her hand, mop dangling loosely from her other, "What? You?"
"Come on then, Ser Rutherford," Anaise started, moving in from of him with Sienna following. She looked back at him, fluttering her eyes, "You said to never take your eyes off your opponent."
"I can't... Anaise!"