Chapter 5
The next day she was busy teaching her first group of recruts in the art of sword fighting the way Kamiizumi had trained her. It was more tiring than she had expected it to be. Her diciplines basically knew nothing about fighting, and Edea had to watch out for them not to stab each other with the wooden swords they were training with.
"You can't just stand there swinging your sword", she told one of the young diciplines. "Move your whole body; it will increase your strength. Mobility is very important for- geez." She had to jump backwards when another boy's blade bursted into flames.
"I learned to use the Spellfencer's asterisk", he proudly told her. The rest of his wooden sword, ashes now, fell onto the ground.
"Start to use your brain instead of Spellfencer abilities!", she shouted at him and blew a strand of blond hair aside. "All right, pair up again and repeat what you've learned the last thirty minutes. I don't want to see any tears or flames, got that?"
She saw Ringabel after lunch. He was talking to Barras, and she doubted she liked the content of their conversation. Both were not exactly known for being incredibly shy and conservative. Still she was glad to see Ringabel returning to his old self. The intolerably flirtatious self, not the gloomy Dark Knight self. She had worried he had still troubles finding out who he was, who he wanted to be, but seeing him joking around with Barras dispelled her worries.
After listening to her father's plans concerning the sky knights for what felt like ages, she left the Council's meeting room, yawning.
"There she is." Suddenly Holly grabbed her arm and pulled her against her breasts. Edea struggled to get her balance back and heard the White mage say: "Congratiolations on your first lesson. How were the diciplines? Horrible, I fear. Most of the young sky knight recruts are in a pitifull condition."
"I already heard enough of it", Edea sighed. Her ears were still ringing, thanks to the Grand Marshal's neverending monologue.
"Don't worry, sweatheart. I'm not here to talk about politics or our military. Barras reminded me that you never got a proper welcome. You had your first mission as an official sky knight, which went ... different than expected. But you skipped a very important tradition."
"What sort of tradition would that be?" Edea folded her armes and eyed Holly suspiciously.
"It's a secret tradition, well kept by us elders. You too have to know about it. One day you will teach younger generations about this tradition as the future commander of the sky knights."
"Commander?" She raised her eyebrows.
"You are the templar's daughter. One day our beloved duchy will follow your orders, did you forget that?"
"It seems I did, yes." After everything she had done to Eternia in order to help awakening the crystals, she doubted everything would go back to normalcy. Thinking of herself as the the templar's heir was strange.
"As I said before, we can't talk about politics. This evening is reserved for the sky knight's secret tradition, and this tradition means fun, I can promise you that." Holly winked at her, but somehow Edea couldn't trust the woman's definition of fun. Nonetheless she followed Holly into the White mage's room.
"Sit", Holly ordered, leading her to two red couches that were seated around a low table made from dark wood. "Edea, I feel bad it's just the two of us. When I was introduced to this tradition, we had been several young girls. I wish I could be that innocent again." Her gaze drifted away into a long gone past.
"What about men?", Edea asked and slumped down on one of the couches.
"Those filthy men can have their own get-togethers. We women are made from material too fragile and precious; we should not have to endure their filthy presence on a special occasion like this. I know too well how they greet the new sky knights. They make dirty jokes. They fart and they burp. But worst of all, they pass around paintings of naked women." Holly clasped her hands over her mouth. "I shouldn't have told you about it, it's just too nauseating."
"I can take it, don't worry. Where do they get those paintings?"
"There are always men who are more talented in visualizing their fantasies than fighting", the White mage sighed and gracefully sat down on the other couch.
"Wouldn't it be just fair if we had paintings of naked men, then?", Edea giggled for the fun of it. Not that she truly meant it, she just wanted to tease Holly.
"Edea, I am truly shocked. Anyways, this is a good start for our first game. Truth or dare, my dear. Everytime you ask a question, you have to drink." Holly put down a glass infront of Edea. The colorless liquid inside of the glass smelled strong and filled Edea with doubts. But tradition was tradition and she didn't mean to break with it.
"Fine, ask me anything you like", the girl grinned. She had no secrets, ergo nothing to lose.
Two hours later she had one of Holly's white feather boas wrapped around her neck and couldn't even walk straight as she staggered back to her own room. The flickering light if torches blurred her vision even more. She had to support herself on the wall in order to find her way back to her room. Next to her a framed oil painting fell to the ground with a loud roar that echoed in her ears.
"Whoopsie." She took up the painting, astonished how heavy it was. After failing several times at it, she finally managed to put it back to its position on the wall. Relieved she did it, she knelt down and inspected the feathery thing around her neck.
"Why is this painting upside down?"
"It's upside down?", she asked and let her gaze wander up to Ringabel who was observing the wall above her head. "Damn it." She couldn't help the laughter that escaped her mouth, then she reached out one hand to make him help her up.
"Are you all right?" He took her hand without hesitation. Despite his support she tripped and needed to lean her body against his in order not to fall. "You made quite a noise out here."
"I am totally fine", she declared, pointing one finger at him. "Don't take advantage of my current state, you perv."
"You are drunk", he observed and took a step back, his voice sounding horrified and amused at the same time.
"I'm not." She violently shook her head and immediatly felt dizzier than before, if that was even possible. Clumsily she grabbed the front of his jacket to steady herself.
"I think you should go to bed", he said, awkwardly leading her towards her room.
"It's too early for bed", she resisted, digging her heels into the ground. "Please come with me."
"Into your bed?" Now he sounded deeply shocked.
"No!", she screamed, lightly hitting him against the chest. "I told you not to take any advantages. I just thought we could talk for some minutes, we haven't seen each other the whole day."
"I promise I'll see you tomorrow right before breakfast and we can talk as long as you want, my dearest Edea. But right now-"
"Come." She grabbed him by the wrist, forcing him into her room. Then she confessed: "It was Holly who made me drink. We played a game, something about asking stupid questions, but it actually was more fun than I had expected. Did you know Holly was a big fan of Praline?"
"Who isn't?" He shrugged, looking obviously uncomfortable.
"What is it you don't like about me?", she changed the subject while kicking her boots aside and throwing herself onto her bed.
"I like everything about you", he simply said.
"Then why haven't you asked me out yet? You used to try to persuade me so often back when we awakened the crystals."
"And you always rejected me. Maybe I've changed my strategy." His grin instantly vanished when he saw her fumbling at the collar of her dress. "What are you about to do there?"
"Can you help me with that dress? It's so tight, I can't get it over my head."
"No need to undress while I'm still here." Even though he hid his face behind his hands, she could see he was blushing. She cocked her head to one side and curiously asked: "Holly said you pass around paintings of women. Naked women. Did someone tried to picture me, too?"
"Holly lied, I never saw any of those paintings", he objected and put his hands down. "Do not believe everything she says."
"Maybe you couldn't see the pictures through your Dark Knight's helmet", she mused. "Or maybe you forgot about them."
"If there were any of those pictures, I am sure they would have been the first thing for me to remember. And don't say anything about me being perverted now, because you are the one questioning me about nonexistend, innapropriate paintings while trying to undress."
"True that", she nodded. "But you're still a pervert who refuses to help me out of this stupid dress."
"Stop torturing me", he complained. "I would help you right away if it didn't mean you were going to kill me tomorrow morning. And you would make sure it was a slow, painful death."
"Stop talking nonsense", she sighed. Her eyelids suddenly felt heavy, and she had troubles keeping them open. She snuggled herself under the soft, warm fabrics of her blanket and let sleep wash her away.