"Valkyon. Let's get along in the future."
"I invited him to give you a better experience for handling weapon combat," Cameria said. "Though it'll only be practice rounds, treat it as though you're in a fight for survival."
Erika gulped as she looked between Valkyon and the wooden spear in his hands. Cameria taught her how to use her physique to her advantage, but intimidation shook the fight-or-flight response. Valkyon readied himself into attacking position while Erika attempted to ease the anxiety which ate away at her conscious. For the first round, she was defeated within ten minutes; however, each successive round led to her lasting longer. Valkyon said very little about her mistakes, but Erika learned to read his movements. She dodged another attack and managed to hit back. Cameria shouted encouraging words during the duel.
"Hah!" Valkyon slammed his weapon.
Erika jumped back but lost her footing; she fell and twisted her ankle.
"Are you okay?" Cameria raced toward Erika. "Can you stand?"
When Erika put weight on her left foot, sharp pain bared its fangs. She shook her head. Before either she or Cameria said anything, Valkyon picked up Erika in a princess carry.
"Uh..."
"You can't walk right? I'll help you to the infirmary," he said.
Erika, too stunned and embarrassed, allowed him to carry her. He made no attempt to converse, and she was glad. Once he lay her on one of the beds, Valkyon said the nurse would be with her soon. He made a short apology before he left. With the company of jars filled with oils and mixtures of herbs, Erika waited. True to his words, a female elf appeared. Her uniform was similar to the priest character from a video game.
"...Erika, yes?"
The soft but aloof voice snapped Erika out of her gawking at the elf. She nodded.
"Eweleïn. I'm the head nurse."
"Are there other nurses or doctors?"
"Yes, but they're busy treating other patients or helping patients in distant lands."
"Ah...And how did you know my name?"
Eweleïn took Erika's swollen ankles into her hands. She applied pressure which caused Erika to wince.
"Ezarel...mentioned you a few times." A rainbow-colored swirl of energy surrounded Erika's ankle. The swelling stopped. When she pressed against it, Erika found the pain was gone. "You're good to go."
"Thank you. Can I ask how you did that?"
"I specialize in the element of quintessence which is mainly used in healing spells," Eweleïn said. "Anything else?"
Erika stood up and tested her newly-healed ankle. She thanked the elf again before she left to go help Ykhar. She found her with an upset face. Ykhar explained how Chrome returned from the mission last night but lost the ship in the process. Erika remembered the dog-eared boy as Ykhar rambled on how she had fill out more paperwork to replace the ship.
"He's made mistakes in the past?"
"I'm worried he'll get kicked out of the Guard at this rate. But I'm happy Leiftan is defending him," Ykhar said.
"Really?"
"He promised Chrome would get the lightest punishment possible, and Miiko always puts his words into consideration."
Another easy day of cleaning books led to frustration with Ezarel. Rather, Erika didn't expect him to be the college professor renowned for the destruction of hopes and dreams. That wasn't to say he was bad; his feedback allowed Erika to better understand the elven language. Her handwriting, for example, appeared more like tasteful calligraphy than scrawl.
"What made you come here, Ez?" She started to clean a spill on one of the tables. They finished the tutoring session for the day.
"The upper echelons always left a bitter taste in my mouth."
"But you mentioned how your family are also aristocrats?"
"My family had its roots as traveling merchants. The true nobles and their stiff etiquette...They don't deserve my respect," he said.
"And your parents? Do you still keep in touch?"
"As their only child, they accepted my decision. But I haven't sent a letter recently. Too busy."
"...You should. I'm sure they'll be h-happy."
Ezarel placed his list on the desk and noted Erika had stopped cleaning. She clenched the towel in her hand and rapidly blinked. When she noticed him, Erika looked away.
"Anything else for me to do?"
"...No," he said.
She nodded. "I'll be leaving then. See you later."
Before he said something, the doors to the laboratory closed. Ezarel sighed as she forgot to put away the cleaning supplies.
A/N: You know, there were times I would delete drafts and give up trying to continue this AU I had, haha. I felt it was too ambitious and it didn't really catch the interest of anyone. But seeing the comments, follows, etc. encouraged me to keep writing. So, though I sound like a broken record saying "thanks" and all, I'm really grateful some of you actually are interested in my ideas. Also, I do go back and edit previous chapters, so I encourage to look back on those once in a while. I've made some changes and decided to add some "supplemental" information in the A/N for the lore. Basically, it's stuff that won't be explicitly presented in this story or any other routes of this AU . After all, worldbuilding is just the backdrop for the characters, right?
