Another chapter here. Let me know how you feel about the story so far. Sorry how long this one took.
The Khan stood before the Shepherds speaking with the prince. The prince however was not the one paying the most attention. Leo was enraptured the Khan had to have been the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Her light hair contrasted perfectly with her tanned skin and it was plain to see she was incredibly strong. Without a doubt in his mind Leo knew this was either going to go very well or very poorly.
From what he picked up he knew that the Khan needed her fighters to beet her opponents champions in the fight tomorrow at the arena and she wanted Chrom's help. If Chrom could beet the other Khan's champion then she'd be the reigning Khan and get the alliance and troops Ylisse wanted.
"You lot should rest up the oaf has some fancy new swordsman wanna be on your best game. I'm excited to see how you Ylisseans measure up tomorrow" The Khan put her hands on her hips and puffed her chest. Her confidence and light hearted nature was infectious.
Time was of the essence unfortunately and the Shepherds had been directed from the main hall to a smaller set of rooms of to the side. The majority of the Shepherds had gone to sleep after the long day but, Robin had stayed up to make a plan for the duel tomorrow and Leo's mind was wondering to much to try and get any decent sleep.
So it was time to just practice his skills in case Robin needed him tomorrow. So there he was practicing some simple maneuvers in a courtyard that the Feroxi had set up. While practicing his forms a voice spoke out from right behind him. "That's a technique I haven't seen in a long time" a strong feminine called out. Leopold was a little spooked. He though he had pretty good spatial awareness but, he had no idea she was there.
"Not many have seen it at all. I'm rather surprised you have" Leo turned an inquisitive eye to her. Alright it's simple keep her talking and don't say anything stupid.
Flavia crossed her arms and gave a humph in response "We get a lotta of different types here in Ferox you'd be surprised" She grinned in shrugged a bit with a small chuckle. "You don't look like you're from some far off land so where'd you learn it?" she sat on a crate that was near the edge of the ring she was on.
Leo sheathed his sword and spoke "Well I was a kid in a village that had a old retired mercenary. The only other thing I had was spare time not much else to say" he gave his answer.
Unimpressed Flavia scoffed at him "Yeah not every village kid practices with such zealous determination" she stood up and walked to him and stopped to point at his left arm "your moves are slow when you lead with your left. Something happen to it?" she gave a curious look at him.
When Leo looked down at his arm he could only think of his blunder from that night "Made a foolish mistake, got cut, been trying to train it back since" he rolled up his sleeve to show her the scar that ran his biceps circumference.
She laughed at that one for a good bit hunching over and slapping her knee all the way.
After a good bit of calming herself down she recollected her self and put her hand on his shoulder giving it a good shake "that's no cut village boy" she joked.
He wasn't a fan of the nickname, hopefully she wouldn't keep seeing him as a village boy for long, but he knew others had faced worse than this flesh wound and still fought he'd heard about them as a kid. If they could do that he could at least learn to stand back up.
"You know Chrom told me about you kid" Leo was caught off guard by that. He didn't know they'd talked let alone had anything to say about him "He told me he had this maniac in the Shepherds that would run around with his sword arm attached by a thread and still get up the next and practice well into the night" she sighed and hung her head "I wish half the bums here could show dedication like that for anything other than booze and parties. How'd you even get like that anyways? Deranged I mean" she questioned him.
Leo sighed and looked away before rubbing his arms nervously "I wouldn't say derange but I'm not dull enough to think I'm normal. I just try to keep getting better, I've seen what happens when you aren't strong enough and I'm not keen on seeing it again" he told her.
Flavia stared a bit stunned for a moment before relax and giving an exaggerated exhale "I sense a deep and personal story coming up but, I'm going to stop you here. This isn't the place and we aren't drunk enough for that but, one day I'd like to hear what a madman has to say. I'm sure it's good" she turned and walked out of the courtyard whistling all the way.
He'd made his way back to his room he had been assigned earlier and kicked off his boots the second he was in the door. His armor and weapons were stored a heartbeat later and he sunk into the mattress snaking his way under the covers.
Leo felt exhausted. He was sure that had gone well; her opinion of him must have been odd but, definitely positive. Granted his experience in courting women was none existent so he didn't have anything to actually gauge her reaction by but, making her laugh must have been good she even said she wanted to talk to him again. That had to count for something. Either way the day had worn on him and he did need to be ready for tomorrow.
Sleep came quickly that night much to his delight. Every night he was stuck thinking back to his days as a leader of the men that died under his command. Haunted by their faces and their dying screams stuck calculating how he could've done it different about what would have happened if he were smarter or stronger. If he were a hero like in the stories or like Chrom...
The morning did arrive and it arrived early. The Sun still wasn't up when Leo was jolted awake by a knock at his door. "It's Robin you're part of the team for the battle today. We're meeting in the arenas training hall after everyone eats breakfast. I'll see you then!" it was a mystery how that man was always so chipper but, it was nice to have around and when it was Robin it felt like his positive attitude was earned by his hard work. plus if the man kept progressing like he had been the world was going to see another legend in the making right alongside Chrom as well.
The soldier had been right to get sleep when he did he'd be tired till he got food but, by the time the battle commenced Leo knew he'd be squared up. He donned his armor and tied his sword and it's sheathe to his belt. He was on his way to the mess hall yawning and stretching all the way.
Obviously he wasn't paying attention so it came as no surprise when he bumped into someone. He quickly focused himself and apologized. When he looked up from bowing his head he saw an unmistakable pointed mage's hat and knew he'd be in for a real stern lecture from Miriel. He braced ready to accept punishment. Except that's all that happened. His punishment never came in fact nothing did; which was worrying as Miriel always had something to say.
When he looked back to her he got a goo d glance at her face. It was clear she hadn't slept last night or the night before and probably the one before that as well. Dark purple bags were under her eyes and her eyes were slightly glazed over. Small steps, if you could call them steps, was all she managed. "Miriel are you ok" she gave a small groan but he had no idea whether it was positive or not. Leo got in front of her grabbing her shoulders and having her look at him "When's the last time you slept?" he asked.
She tried in vain to collect herself "Days, I've been perplexed by my latest discovered phenomenon" it was in a weak voice but it was something "Robin, he confounds me so" it was odd and quite but, Leo still heard her.
"Look you need to get to sleep; which room is yours?" he asked her.
She held a limp arm to the door just behind her. That was really as far as she had made it? he wasn't one to question the situation thought, not sleeping did weird things to people. He carried her the short distance to her room and sat her down on her bed where she almost instantly fell asleep. "Guess I'll go let Robin know where down a mage for today then" as he turned to leave her desk caught his attention. He walked over to it and saw her journal opened up to a page about some scientific thing called gravity but, the jargon was above him. What really pulled him over was the small pouch next to it that laid there open. The pouch was nothing much it self, though he was pretty sure it was Robin's, the intricate wedding band that had slipped out of the flap definitely was something though. While curious he wasn't going to ask about it. He was surely going to observe however.
Leo had made his way to the mess hall and found Robin letting him know about the scientists dismissal for today. The tactician sighed ruffling his hair a bit "I was worried about that. She's been going on and on about her studies a lot the last couple of days" he sighed a bit before going back to thinking "I don't think I can cover all our magic needs by myself for this at least not yet" he devolved into mumbling some benign ramblings. He did this from time to time and while Leo never understood what he meant it was nice to see the tacticians mind work through something. After a minute or two Robin turned to Leo "I think I've got something but, it's gonna put some more weight on you. Can you handle that?" the tactician gave his ally a sincere look.
"If you trust me I'll do whatever you need". Agreeing they turned to the rest of the hall and went to get some food.
Leo had shoveled the food down nearly as fast as possible. He made his way to the training grounds and before turning the corridor that led to the entrance he stopped as he heard the voices of Sumia and Chrom. He really didn't want to ease drop but, the conversation sounded important and it was hard not to listen.
Chrom spoke first when Leo had settled down "I really appreciate what you did the other day. Jumping into danger for some one else is a hard decision to make and I definitely would have died if those spears hit there mark" he sounded sincere but, there was a tone of something else in there as well.
"I'm just glad my clumsiness didn't strike then it would have been a really inopportune moment" Sumia gave a sweat drop and continued on.
Leo tuned out and began to walk away though. He was gonna find another way into the training area. It definitely had nothing to do with the soldier remembering that he would have thrown his life away for nothing yesterday.
It always seemed someone else was either quicker or better than him at everything. He surely wasn't sulking.
Hours of practice had passed and the Shepherds were prepared to represent Flavia in the Khan's battle. The group walked into the arena and stood before a massive crowd of hollering Feroxi people. Looking around Leo saw Flavia and Basillio sitting in a high booth together watching the champions take the field. He locked eyes with Flavia for just a moment and a smile formed on her face. He was prepared.