Hey me again I hope you like chapter 3. Oh ya please Please PLEASE review! Only one person reviewed last time and if only one person is reading this story i dont know if i should continue.
I woke about two hours before dawn so that I could get ready. I got my glaive and went through all of my pattern dances, then bathed and dressed. By the time I had finished all of that it was just turning dawn and the first light was showing just over the horizon. That day I was wearing a green kimono top with red roses embroidered on it (I don't even know why I am wearing the color green-- people say it matches the green in my hazel eyes but whatever) and green breeches. I had my red hair pulled half back with a matching green cord.
I grabbed my two dark green shuskens and my short sword and went to go wake Yuki so that she could wake the princess. I heard the guard call out the hour and knew I would be late if I didn't get too the breakfast room soon to meet Master Helo.
I quickly went to the Yamani breakfast room and walked in just as the bell rang. Master Helo was standing there waiting, of course. I bowed and stood as straight as I could.
"You asked me here, Master Helo?" I asked. It was then I managed too get a good look at who was in the room and it was then that I noticed Lord Wyldon was in the room too. Also, several Knights and their squires were in the room. I noticed that all of my friends were there. I realized that I really didn't want to hear or see them right now, but I had to face them. Of course Lady Bella came to my rescue again (or not really she always seems to do more harm than good) but right now she seemed to be doing both. Then it hit me this was very, very bad. I didn't realize that I was baking up wide-eyed until I was right next to Lord Wyldon and the squires.
"Rose... it's so wonderful to see you. It's a perfect time to practice being a lady, is it not? Come, let's go." Lady Bella said, looking extremely pleased with herself.
"No, I don't think so. Rose is here for practice with me. And she does not need to learn to be a lady; she needs to learn to fight better. Being lady-like in the middle of a battle won't help her will it?" Master Helo said stepping in.
"And so it begins," I muttered, putting my face in my hands. I saw the knights, squires, and even Lord Wyldon give me a strange look, so I gestured back towards the verbal battle raging before us.
"What do you mean she needs to learn to fight better? She fights better than half of our fully trained warriors. I think that's damn good for a girl of fifteen years. What she needs to learn is etiquette and dancing and how to curtsy. Wouldn't it be nice if she could not dance a step at the upcoming ball? What would the people think-- we were neglecting the child? She is strong enough already. Do you want her to look like some muscled freak?" Lady Bella coolly replied, with a voice full of venom.
"Are you calling all of the Yamani court ladies muscled freaks? If I do recall, even you learned to fight with a glaive, shuskens, and basic street fighting when you were young." The reply came without missing a beat.
"Yes, I did learn fighting with the rest of the court ladies, but no one takes it to her level. We know how to defend ourselves. We don't go out looking for a battle we wait for it to come to us." Bella replied. "And yes, I know she is the Yamani Rose Warrior and has saved the emperor's life over ten times, but that does not mean she has to go through the hell you put her through everyday with running mountains and carrying sacks of rocks fifty miles in one day. She's a small delicate creature who should be cared for with care and compassion, not treated like a grown man."
At this, someone in the room snorted, then said, " I think your delicate creature is about to scream." Which was true. My face had turned slightly red and I looked pretty angry. Because I was.
"Shut up!" I called to whoever was talking just then. I turned to the adults in front of me. " You are grown adults and yet you act like children. You tell me I act too young for my age. Well, here you all are, yelling and screaming and acting like no one else can hear you. Also, you do all of this in front of our hosts. That is very rude and not lady-like don't you think, Lady Bella?" I asked.
I didn't wait for an answer but continued talking. " I will continue my lessons at the regular times with you, Lady Bella, and the rest of it. I will also do what Master Helo wishes. Does that suit both of you?" I asked them. They both nodded, then Lady Bella left the room.
Once Lady Bella was gone, Master Helo seemed to snap out of the trance he was in and glared at me. "For that piece of utter disrespect you will find the highest piece of land or building around and you will sprint up it 25 times as punishment. Do you understand Rose? You do not speak to your betters that way."
"Yes Master Helo," I responded, keeping my face void of any emotion.
"Good," Master Helo said. "Go wake the Treens. Tell them to be outside in ten minutes or they can join you in your run later." I heard several of the squires gasp at that and I knew they were thinking-- Only ten minutes to get ready? They'll never make it!
"Yes Master Helo."
With that being said, I left the room. After I had everyone ready outside, I led them through their warm-ups and walked them over to where Lord Wyldon and the squires were waiting. When I looked over I saw the pages were with a new male Shang master, so that meant Lord Wyldon would be with us.
Lord Wyldon walked down the line of Treens. When he got to me he stopped and scowled.
"What are you doing here girly? This training is for people who will fight in armies, not for people who only care about their hair, nails, and how they look." Lord Wyldon said with disgust in his face.
"I was instructed to train with the Treens and squires by my Master," I said calmly. I knew that this would happen and I knew exactly what he would say next.
"Yes well you won't be able to keep up with the big boys and we can't have anyone falling behind. We only take the best. Why don't you leave? We don't want you getting hurt."
I sighed. Exactly what I thought was going to happen was happening. I thought I might as well scare him a little. "Oh. Okay. So when Master Helo comes to check up on me you can tell him why I'm not here. In the meantime I think I'll go do some punishment work. Good luck." I then walked out of the practice courts and went towards the tall East wall. This was the tallest wall around-- that wasn't off limits. Luckily Baldor's Needle was closed to the public.
"Uh, sir?" Neal asked. "Is she really going to go sprint the east wall twenty-five times? Because there isn't a rail there anymore. She could easily fall off."
"Don't be ridiculous Queenscove. I'm sure Helo was just joking and trying to make it seem like the Yamani do something like this everyday.
What he didn't see was all of the Yamani Treens roll their eyes.
-Several minutes later-
"Look the East Wall! Lord Wyldon look!" Merric was amazed I was sprinting up the steep stairs on the back of the east wall.
"Great Gods!" Lord Wyldon muttered. He didn't think that I would really sprint it. He thought it was some joke trying to make the Yamani's training seem better than Tortall's. "Go get her down," he called. "Neal, Merric, go!"
Neal and Merric both ran as fast as they could. They thought I was going to fall and kill myself.
I saw Neal and Merric when I reached the last step on my way down. I raised an eyebrow at them and turned and started to run back up.
"Hey!" I heard Neal call. "Come down. You'll fall and hurt yourself!" Of course they thought girls couldn't run up steps. I rolled my eyes.
"NO!" I called down from halfway up.
Neal and Merric looked at each other and ran back to Lord Wyldon.
"She won't come sown sir. She's still running."
Lord Wyldon growled. "Since you two boys are too incompetent to stop a girl from running up and down stairs then I'll have to take time out of my day to do it myself." He started walking to The East Wall's back stairs with all of the treens and squires behind him.
I watched as Lord Wyldon approached and started to sprint faster. When he got to the East wall I was just going back up again.
"What does she think she's doing?" Lord Wyldon said, to no one in particular. He was truly amazed that I could sprint so fast while climbing stairs.
"Is there a problem here?" A deep voice asked behind Lord Wyldon. When he turned around he saw it was Master Helo.
"Yes there is a problem. Why is she running these stairs?"
"That I would like to know myself Lord Wyldon. I thought I told her to attend training with the treens." Master Helo said looking Lord Wyldon straight in the eyes.
I'm still typing the next chapter but i am finished so you wont have to wait too long. -Bella