S1E6 The Warp and Weft of Fate Part I Scene 3

816.M41
Segmentum Obscurus
Koronus Expanse, Zone 15
onboard Fleet Base Metis, Imperial space station and naval installation

Sister Elena walked alongside Lady Azzurra down a passageway in quadrant three of Fleet Base Metis and entered the guard training zone. The Sister had chosen to pull her red hair back into a single long tail. She was wearing black pants and a dark crimson blouse with a golden fleur de lis on its chest rather than the robes she typically wore. Lady Azzurra, on the other hand, was ready to spar. She was wearing mesh armour and carrying a practice short spear in one hand with a mesh cowl in the other.

"As most of the servitors have been locked away since we left Sinophia, I thought you would appreciate the opportunity to spar with the battle-servitors of the base," said Sister Elena to Lady Azzurra.

"You thought wrong," Lady Azzurra dryly responded. "I just needed to get out and about from the Tiberius. Maybe I will feel better if I beat something over the head." She took a deep breath and looked at her spear, then said to herself, Consider yourself lucky, Sister Elena, that I don't beat you over the head with this.

As they approached the first sparring cage, the clacking of practice blades together filled the air. "Oh, I wonder what could possibly be going on here," said Sister Elena.

What in blazes is she prattling about? Lady Azzurra said to herself. Then, she looked in the cage. "Oh," she said aloud and looked over at Sister Elena who was grinning from ear to ear.

"His name is Gareth Aurelius," Sister Elena said after forcing herself to stop smiling at Lady Azzurra. "Or, to be more precise, Knight Lord Gareth Aurelius."

Lady Azzurra turned back to the cage and began to examine her new quarry. He had a practice sword in hand and was sparring with two battle-servitors. He was about a head taller than her with curly black hair. He wore no armor or shirt and his muscles rippled beneath his olive skin. He moves like water, she said to herself with a smile, as he flowed back and forth between the battle-servitors. "I take back everything bad I ever said about you, Sister Elena." She laughed and added, "Well, almost everything."

"I thought you would approve. I checked, and his genetics are impeccable," said the Sister. "Knight House Aurelius was one of a number of lesser houses on a knight world in the Segmentum Ultima and they were granted a writ to colonize a new world by the High Lords of Terra." Azzurra barely paid attention to her, but Sister Elena kept talking. "Now, Knight Lord Aurelius has brought his house, their Imperial Knights, and a number of colonists to the Expanse in order to find a planet to be their new home world. His plan is to settle near wherever Arch Magos Halaster Babbage chooses to construct a forge world, as they have made service arrangements with him."

As the bout finished and the servitors plotted away to a storage shed, Lady Azzurra yelled at the Knight Lord. "I didn't think someone who spent all his time in an Imperial Knight war machine would have such physical skills in the real world." How vulnerable is he to flattery? she wondered.

"Obviously, I don't spend all my time in my Knight," he said and began walking toward the ladies. "I am Knight Lord Gareth Aurelius and, I must say, it is a pleasure to meet you two lovely ladies." He stopped and made a deep formal bow.

You could have at least turned around before you did that, thought Lady Azzurra. After finishing his bow, he exited the cage and stood before the two ladies.

"Please allow me the honour of introductions," said Sister Elena. "I am Sister Elena of the Orders Famulous of the Adeptus Sororitas. This is Lady Azzurra D'Romas, currently first in line to the warrant of trade of House D'Romas. The D'Romas warrant was signed by the Emperor himself over ten thousand years ago."

Lady Azzurra cocked her head to the side and gripped her short spear tightly as he reached for her free hand. What is he doing? Then he leaned over and pulled the back of her hand to his lips, kissing it. Interesting, she thought as he released her hand. He is a stickler to formality. Then aloud, "Why thank you, Knight Lord Aurelius." She blinked her eyes, looked down, and crossed her hands as she did her best attempt at appearing small and coquettish, then giggled. Sister Elena gave a slight giggle beside her too. "I've always thought it looked so fun to swing these things around," she said as she raised her spear and looked at it. "I came down here hoping to play in the cages."

"If you would care to step into the cage with me," answered Aurelius as he formally offered his hand to Azzurra, "It would be an honor to show you some of the basic stances and strikes."

"Would you?" she asked, raising her voice to a near squeal, she took his hand and he led her into the cage. Eating out of my hand already. She looked over her shoulder at Sister Elena and smiled. There is some use for you after all, she thought.

As they entered the cage, Aurelius picked up a practice short spear from a rack of weapons and led Azzurra to the center of the cage. He then stepped away from Azzurra and turned to face her. "We will start with the low guard," he said.

"Take hold and stand like this," the Knight Lord said as he stepped into a low guard with Azzurra following him. His left foot and left hand were to the front with his right side to the rear. His arms were wide with his left hand holding the spear roughly one quarter of the way from the head and his right holding the spear roughly one quarter of the way from the butt end. The head was pointed to the ground at Azzurra's feet. Her stance matched his except that her left hand held the spear in the center instead of the front. She looked at him oddly for a moment then adjusted her hold to match his.

"Enough playing," he said with a laugh as he snapped his left hand back to the center of the spear. As she adjusted her hands back, he quickly slid his feet forward and snapped down with the spear to bat hers down. He narrowly missed as she had finished adjusting her hold and pulled her spear back and up to eye level. Her left hand was just in front of her face and her right behind her shoulder, cocked and ready to strike. Immediately flowing into action after his bat, she skipped diagonally forward to her left while sweeping her right foot behind her. She landed and quickly transitioned her weight forward into a strike at his eyes. Aurelius had already moved too, shifting and rotating with her, and batted her strike away. He wore a smile on his face. "You know what you are doing."

He went into a series of strikes, first high and then low as they danced. She danced out of the way of the first, parried the second, and then closed the distance. Without a wasted moment she released her spear with her left hand, caught him with a backfist to his temple and then slipped back into the combat pocket just as swiftly. But, he managed to strike her in the ribs with the middle of the staff as she retreated and followed with another series of strikes. Back and forth they danced. More often than not, he batted away her strikes and, more often than not, his strikes entirely missed their mark because she was no longer there.

"Break!" bellowed a great voice from just outside the cage. Aurelius quickly snapped to attention, but Azzurra followed through with a swing of her spear haft, coming up under his chin and sending him to the ground on his back.

Azzurra looked over her shoulder to see Lady Elena come running into the cage. Beside her ran a huge man in sparring gear who had short greying hair and a full grey beard. Azzurra looked down at Aurelius and the blood pouring out of his chin. "Is that…Master Beckworth?" he groggily said as he attempted to raise his head.

She crouched down to him as he spoke and reached out, putting her hand lightly on his chest. "Take it easy there, my Knight Lord," she softly said. "I believe I might owe you an apology. Perhaps we can talk about it over dinner?"