Note : As usual, I ask for your indulgeance should you find any glaring mistake, and (if you are feeling like it) a pm to help me to find and correct them. Thank you and good read.
Chapter 5 : Nice to meet you
After the battle, prince Ylisse's escort travel to the temple with the young uncouncious manakete. Upon waking up, she meets her saviors and they decides to tag along their road trip.
It was early in the morning when she woke up, after a great nap. Sleeping was a great way to pass time, but getting to sleep was harder, she thought. That was because she always was excited about when she'll finally leave the temple and see the world, that could be any day. How did she managed to get sleeping this time, she wondered while she return curling under her blanket.
Then she remembered what happened, the bandits, the loss of her dragon stone, her jumping on the chief bandit head to recover it. She jumped out of the bed, looking at her surrounding. She was back in the temple, so that meant her improvised ally must have won the battle somehow.
She relaxed a bit. She would have to thank them for taking her back here. Being fully awake now, she gave a thought about going back to bed, but finally she dressed up and she spotted and grabed her dragonstone resting on the bedtable.
(Ouf, i was afraid they lose it or discarded it. They don't know the meaning of it yet.)
While she was at it, because she was cold, she took the fluffy white blanket as a cape. She then left her bedroom wity a last glance, but found nothing forgotten.
While making her way through the hallway, she suddently came across yesterday's white cavalier.
"Oh ! hem ! Good morning ... miss ... ? I'm terriblely sorry, I don't think I caught your name yesterday."
She raised her hand so fast Ylisse could swear he heard the wind whistle, and with a big smile she said :
"Hi ! I'm Mawwi and I'm a manakete !"
The cavalier made a quick bow.
"Well, nice to meet you, miss Mawwi. How are you feeling after yesterday incident ?"
"Oh, hm ... I'm fine, I guess ? But now that you mention it, could you tell why were you present yesterday ?"
(No reaction ? Really ? Aren't manakete like super rare ?)
"Ah ! I'm terriblely sorry, I forgot to introduce myself ! My name is Ylisse Vespas Flavian, prince of the United Kingdom of Archa-"
"Wait wait ! Does that mean you're related to the hero king Marth !?"
Ylisse's eyes lost focus as he searched his words for a second. Her eyes were shining of excitement.
"Hem, yes, I am indeed his latest descend-"
"Woah so cool ! Hey, tell me : is your sword is the legendary Falchion ? Does it glow in the dark ? Please, let me take a closer look. Oh, it's not as pretty as I imaginated. I thought it would be wider, and perhaps with something neat as it guard, I don't know, like extended wings or an ornated guard with four crystal shards, you know, like claws. Maybe it's too ornate. how about a simple silver hilt with a wide gold blade... wait maybe the reverse ? Or maybe it could be fully made of gold with bright gems in the base of the blade..."
Ylisse looked awkwardly at his rapier sheathed at his waist.
"W-well, actually this isn't the Falchion, only my father the king gets to wield it, this is only my trusty rapier."
She tilted her head, looking a bit disappointed.
"Oh, I see..."
But suddently she straightened.
"Hey that mean it could look co-"
"And Falchion don't look like anything you said, it have a guard in the shape of a "ω" with a red jewel in the middle, that's all and for the best."
"Oh ... Well that's kinda boring ... hey whay do you say if I make a blueprint and reforge it-"
"No. The balancing of the weight in a sword is a very important element, or else, you will have troubles to use it efficiently."
"Hey ! What do you mean ?"
Ylisse sighed. He started moving slowly toward the central area where his friends should already be present at this point. And he woke up early for once ...
"It mean that even if you are a thousand year old dragon, you can't reshape a sword just because you think it would look cool. Beside, I have to be honest, those don't seems appealing at all."
She pouted.
"Oh yeah ? And how about you TASTE MY WRATH !"
The moment Ylisse saw her take out her fire tome, he began to run frantically in the hallway.
"How long is that corridor ? HEY DO YOU HEAR ME ? I hope they do, certainly they can avoid me to be burn alive. Yes, Bantu can certainly reason her. HEY, HELP !"
The first fireball crashed slightly behind his right feet. Throwing a glance behind him, he saw the little girl running and casting a spell. He started to zigzag and this time, the fire ball grazed his left arm and crashed before him. Jumping swiftly over the fire he saw the open area at the end of the corridor and sound of chatter came to his ears.
"HEY HELP !"
He saw Lizzie head appear in the entrance and back out, followed by her voice commanding to someone. He then felt a gentle cool protective aura around his body, just in time for another fire ball to crash harmlessly on his body. Reaching the promised secured area at last, he spotted Shillt sit at a table and went to her in search of protection.
Not long after, Mawwi came into the room. She scanned it. Close to where she was she saw yesterday's lady (Elizabeth if I remember correctly), some dude dressed in white robes with a blue shoulder cape wepping at a broken rod behind her, the green cavalier seemingly serving tea to Bantu and another woman with auburn hair wearing a turquoise armor with silver lining and a green cape she had never seen before, and with a closer inspection she saw Ylisse hiding behind her.
She went straight to Bantu and greeted him with a hug.
"Good morning Bantu."
"Good morning Mawwi. You know, it's not a great idea to start the day attempting to set our futur companions on fire."
"Oh, but I didn't meant harm, I just wanted to scare him a little."
With a sigh and head pats, Bantu explained.
"You know, you can't greet someone with a barrage of fireballs, without proper training, they will get killed. And even if they do not, they will start off with the impression you tried to kill them. They will ressent you for that while it could have been a great friendship."
"Ok, I see."
"Make amends now, will ye ?"
"I'm sorry Ylisse, I swear I didn't tried to end your life and I won't do it again."
"Good girl."
The head pat seemed so comfortable for the others that many almost asked for some just to feel what could bring the manakete in this state of bliss.
"So you have already met the prince party yesterday, but do you know their names ?"
"Hmm I remember Elizabeth over here and I recall seeing the person in green, I think there was a cavalier in red but I have never seen the other two."
Elizabeth made a small nod of aknowledgement.
"Call me Lizzie will you ? This is Eugen over here."
"Hello, would you like some tea too ? I have some treats that goes very well with the bitterness."
With a big smile he poured her a cup of tea. It was hot and bitter, but the sweets were good. She took more than he originally gabe her.
"This brew might be too bitter, maybe the next time I'll add some milk for you. And more treats, we'll need more."
"The guy in red was Isaac, he must still be sleeping right now."
"Aha ! Jokes on you, I've just woke up !"
The newcomer was someone who she couldn't figured if he was currently wearing his sleep cloth or if he slept with his regular cloth. If she concentrated long enough, the image of a much proper appearance came to her memory superposing to the currently messy red hairs and neglected appearance.
"You may have, but you're not even properly dressed up and I bet your room is a mess."
Isaac went running swearing, probably to his room. With a smile, Lizzie continued.
"The lady taking tea with mister Bantu is dame Shillt, Ylisse retainer and by extention, our teacher."
"Please, call me just Bantu."
"Haha, you flatter me, but you already knew how to fight. I'm more of a trainer than anything."
"If she hadn't come yesterday, the result of the battle might have been much more tragic."
"I see. Thank you for saving us."
Shillt made a small nod and sipped her cup. Mawwi felt her gaze on her, but she heard noise of cloth and the white haired dude previously grieving at a broken staff rose up.
"And I am-"
"He's an unremarkable priest Shillt picked up on her way to save us. Don't get too attached to him, we'll exchange him for the first priest we meet in the next town."
"Why are you so cruel ?"
The priest left into the corridor, his complain gradually fainting with the distance. Shillt and Eugen chuckled before she picked up.
"His name's Mars. He's a very decent healer, trading him for another of equal skilled will be difficult."
"Meh, finding someone of superior skill shouldn't be very difficult, and they will probably pack a far better sense of responsability as a bonus."
"Wait, you said Marth !? I'll have a word with him !"
Ylisse stormed off following Mars. When everyone stopped following him with their gaze, Mawwi bowed her head.
"I see. I'm Mawwi, nice to meet you all !"
"Aw, aren't you a cute girl ? When we'll hit the next city, I'll be sure to get you good cloth ! You will be adorable !"
"I didn't knew this side of you, teacher."
"You have no idea, I have a notebook full of sketches I've wanted to see made by a tailor, but now I have an excuse for making tailored children cloth, just wait for it. Mawwi, I want you to tell me which you like better ..."
Shillt began to search her bag for the said notebook. Upon finding it, she browsed it with Mawwi and together, they marked the pages with the designs she liked. At some point, Mawwi managed to pull herself from her facination to ask something.
"So where are we going next Bantu ?"
"That's what we were discussing with dame Shillt. We will join with the prince party on their trip through the country. They came strait to us so the next region of the kingdom we'll visit is Aurelis. There, we will be able to buy supply and fournitures."
"Yes, and there is also a good tailor we'll stop by there. But I should mention that when I passed through the city while running after the prince, I heard that he and his friends were spotted and that they were preparing to uphold a festival to celebrate the prince first visit in the region. I think it's in less than a week from now."
"Shouldn't we be moving as soon as possible to make sure we don't miss it and that Ylisse don't miss his own celebration festival ?"
"Yeah we should. Come Eugen, help me get those adult in motion, I bet Isaac is back to his bed."
Eugen and Lizzie went after the others out of the room. Shillt closed her notebook and gave it to Mawwi.
"Here take it, you can return it later. But don't you have anything to bring with you ?"
"Hmm, I have my dragon stone and some cloth lent to me by Bantu, I think I'm ready."
At that moment, Mars entered the room carrying a big fluffy white blanket cobering his head.
"Hey, I've found this abandonned in the corridor, does it belong to someone here ? 'Cause if not, I'd like to keep it, it's so cozy."
End note : Yeah well, this chapter is the chapter where I lost two dare. The first being to see how long can I drag the situation of not naming Grima (as for obvious reason I think, I can't name her that) and the second being having each chapter word count being roughly of X000 with X being the chapter number. But well, I believe it's for the best as the first made it confusing and the second just made chapter lenght increase without any increase in quality.