With Suzuri needing no time to gain her memory back, Art was shifting his focus onto his personal quest to be rid of the Chuch of Loto. The only problem was, there wasn't much he could do himself, and the rest of the world believed both he and his wife were dead. Art talking about it with Seth for days on end was driving the ladies nuts, so they decided to keep to themselves for the most part.
Outside, it was raining lightly, bringing with it a subtle cold air. It could be very easy to catch a cold on such a day. Humidity couldn't be felt at all, which was nice for Romaly.
Alicia managed to actually dress herself that day, even though she clearly didn't feel the need to wear more than a bustier anyway. She wasn't so much tired as she was bored with how the men couldn't seem to drop their focus.
"I should tell you this," Alicia said to Suzuri, who had been hiding out in the castle greehouse, prepping the homegrown veggies for dinner. "But there's no way that idea would have worked."
Suzuri pleasantly ignored Alicia, cutting off the green ends from the collected tomatoes and carrots. She smiled and said, "A stew will be nice and warm on a day like today."
"You're not even listening to me," Alicia grunted at her.
"Hmm?" Suzuri asked, turning her head to the side. "Romaly has no maids, it will be up to us to take care of the family now."
"I'm telling you that Art's plan of staying with the tribe wouldn't have worked out even had we not intervened," Alicia said, a bit miffed by Suzuri's attempts to ignore her.
Suzuri put all her tomatoes and carrots in a bowl she brought with her from inside, and said, "I realize that, but I'm not going to make a big deal of out of it now." She then shrugged. "So you saved us, and that was nice of you. I could have been either way."
"Listen to yourself," Alicia said, following Suzuri out of the greenhouse over to the door leading to kitchen of the palace. "You're telling me that you could have lived there with no memory but of Art?"
Suzuri kicked open the door, and strolled in, setting up a very large pot. "If I was to have no memory of you, then I could have lived without you," she said bluntly. "You don't think with your brain, you think with your heart. These contradict very easily. You won, you got your way, now you can just drop it."
Alicia walked out of the kitchen in disgust and headed toward the past knights' drilling area, where Tara was beating the stuffing out of a practice doll with a double tipped bo-style staff. Tara had never tried it before, so she felt the need to give it a chance.
Alicia watched Tara charge at the damn thing, then knock its head off. "You seem frustrated," she said.
"Even with a softer weapon," Tara said, stopping to wipe the sweat off of her brow, "I still have too much strength to practice on these damn things. So to get practice, I have to try on real people, and when that happens, someone usually gets so mutilated that they never want to practice with me again." She cracked her neck on both sides. "I hate it."
Alicia laughed. "You want a sparring partner?" she asked. "I'll do it. I'll help you practice. I am not such an easy opponent."
Tara was shocked. "You're kidding," she said.
"Oh no," Alicia said, drawing her daggers. "I'm very, very serious. It's a good way to let off some steam."
Tara reached for her sword. "Fine, then," she agreed to the idea, charging at that instant at Alicia, who sidestepped her easily. "You have spent some time as a thief. Your agility is impressive."
Alicia grinned, spinning around in a way to get behind Tara and swipe at her back, but Tara was able to counter with her elbow to Alicia's belly before Alicia could land the blow. "So you've fought against more than one opponent at a time," Alicia said, backing away. "Dirty fighters at that. That's... interesting."
"You don't know anyone's battle tactics without first knowing who they've had to fight," Tara said, ducking below Alicia's daggers and tripping her sister with her feet. "As one's battle experience goes up, the level of their capabilities will soar and new skills will be learned. This is just the way of combat."
"Anyone who holds a weapon knows that," Alicia replied, jumping back a bit. She changed over to her whip, to give her a bit more range than she had with the daggers. The whip also allowed her to be more defensive, which was almost a must against such a well-trained gladiator. Close combat would be nigh impossible with Tara. "Go ahead."
Tara laughed, "Put that away, you pervert."
"You think too lightly of a good whip," Alicia said with a smirk. "I might like my daggers, but I fight better with my whip."
"Such feminine weapons," Tara said, taking a moment to build up her aura. "Daggers and whips are nothing like swords or axes.
"You want a feminine weapon?" Alicia asked in complete disbelief. "Suzuri uses staves and fans. It doesn't get much girlier than fans."
Suddenly a voice came from the door. "Excuse me, sisters!" Tara and Alicia looked up to see Suzuri standing there, having drawn her favorite fan. "You're sparring, and then you have the nerve to talk about my choice of weaponry when I'm not even here?"
"You want in on this?" Alicia asked, taunting her. "I know you're dying to have a few lashes on your backside."
Suzuri stared at Alicia, throwing one of her bladed fans from her pockets as hard as she could. Alicia sidestepped it and it flew back to Suzuri's hand like a boomerang. "You were lucky," she grunted, running into the drill hall. "Fans are about elegance and the ability to be subtle, which is why you could never weild them."
"One does not prove the strength of their weapons with ornate words, big sister," Tara said, aiming for Suzuri's shoulders with a downward swipe. Suzuri blocked the blow with her shield. Tara had momentarily forgotten that Suzuri was also very skilled with shield use, and that cost her a counter blow to her legs.
Alicia reared back her whip over Suzuri's head, but Suzuri was able to throw a fan and cut the whip in another direction before it had any impact. "Well," Alicia said, "When cornered, she fights back with such ferocity."
Suzuri didn't even smile. "Meh," she said, stepping back. She moved her feet in a very particular way, twirling with her own aura, as if she was dancing. The air had formed into blades from the edge of her fan. "This is my newly perfected Fan Dango." Suzuri sent the blades of air at both of her sisters, nipping Alicia on the side and knocking the Slime Crown off of the top of Tara's head. "Do not make me aim."
The three of them sparred in there for hours, venting their various frustrations and boredom. The exercise was healthy and kept their battle in top shape.
Suzuri made them both apologize for insulting her fans before breaking out a spear and fighting in a style very similar to Ciresso's well-known Shiroryu Form. Fighting in his way made her think of him and kept his heart alive in hers. It felt good to understand his tactics in battle even all this time later. She missed him, as they had fought together for so long. Suzuri felt at peace in that respect when she fought with a spear in her hand.
Eventually, all three of them were worn out to the point that they could no longer even lift their chosen weaponry and they passed out cold on the drill hall floor. They enjoyed the sparring and managed to learn a lot about each other in the process.
