"Good block, but not fast enough. Again!" Lord Derek railed against Kristoff who only just managed to keep him back.
Kristoff had grown to think of the nobility as folk who did not fight if they didn't have to. Sure, they might carry a good sword and even know how to use it, but it was more an ornament or an art form to them than an actual weapon. Lord Derek, on the other hand, threw himself into battle like a berserking warrior. It was all controlled, of course, but Kristoff got the impression that he wasn't one to lead from the sidelines or the back.
"I need a rest," said Kristoff, panting like a dog as Lord Derek danced away from him.
"Nonsense, you just need to block better! How do you expect to win a fight if you can't block?" said Lord Derek as he readied a charge.
"By talking it out," said Kristoff, wincing in anticipation of the pain to come.
"Perhaps this might be a good time to stop, Lord Derek, if only for water," said Elsa from the sidelines.
"I suppose so. Ten minutes, everyone!" he said to his assembled students, who all sighed in relief.
The lesson had started as something between just Kristoff and Lord Derek, but the abundance of practice gear that Elsa had found and the numerous servants and guardsmen observers prompted Lord Derek to turn it into a mass lesson for the lot of them. Kristoff served as his guinea pig for all the techniques he thought they were ready for.
Kristoff limped over to Elsa and slunk down into a seat in front of her. "I'm not sure how much more help I can put up with from Lord Derek, Elsa. He seems so jolly but I swear he's trying to beat me to bloody pulp whenever we fight." He looked up at Lord Derek, who was now trying to convince Kai to join them on the training floor. Kai was resisting, but only because Gerda there and her iron will wasn't one to be crossed.
"I'm sure that he's just doing his best to get through your thick skull," said Elsa as she placed her hands on his most sore spots. The ache in them soon faded as the cold washed over him and he relaxed.
"That feels good. Thank you, Elsa," he said as he turned and smiled at her.
"Focus," she said as batted his head with her hand, though she said it with a smile.
Lord Derek must have seen Kristoff relax, because he ended his talk with Kai and came bounding over. "I think that's break time enough for the pair of you. Back on your feet, Kristoff, there are some things I think that you might be ready to learn that the others aren't far enough along to try."
Lord Derek led Kristoff over to a spot in the hall where there weren't many people and got down into a fighting stance. "First, let's be sure that you get your starting stance," he said in a booming voice.
Kristoff sighed and readied himself, raising the sword to defend against Lord Derek's inevitable onslaught. To his surprise, though, Lord Derek just walked around him in an apparent examination of his stance.
"Very good, your feet are a bit far apart though," Lord Derek said loudly, and then in a much softer tone, he said "You and Queen Elsa must be quite close, hmm? Or Princess Anna is much more open in her relationships than most."
"I don't know what you mean. I'm as much a friend to Queen Elsa as anyone in my position might be," stammered Kristoff.
Lord Derek didn't buy it for a moment. "So your intimate wrestling last night was just simple playfulness, then?" Much louder he said, "Good! Now, ten o'clock attack!"
Kristoff changed stances and Lord Derek inspected him again. "Nothing more than that. Princess Anna wanted me to work with Queen Elsa to help her get more comfortable with contact toward others. It might have gotten a bit out of hand, but that's all it was."
"Indeed. So the muffled shouting I heard at your door this morning were just friendly hellos? Didn't sound like it to me, but who am I to judge?"
"Um, that was, that is to say," began Kristoff, unsure of what to say.
"I think that you need to get your priorities sorted out, Kristoff. Queen Elsa and Princess Anna both appear to be wonderful women and if you broke their hearts it would end poorly for you."
"Are you threatening me, Lord Derek?" Asked Kristoff as he shifted into one of the few other stances he knew and tried to look threatening.
"Splendid! Excellent form, well done!" said Lord Derek with glee, not intimidated by Kristoff at all. "No, I am just applying my knowledge of women to your own situation and extrapolating the logical consequences of angering the royal family of Arendelle, unless you three are radically different than most. I for one would be more than happy to see everything work out in your favor. After all, happy rulers mean stable rulers and stable rulers mean stable countries, and there's nothing better for everyone than that. But those are just my personal observations. As for anything else, I promise to not say a word about your closeness with Elsa, but you really should be careful. Rumor is a nasty thing. Now, about those special forms I mentioned. First stance!"
Kristoff groaned and went into first stance and spent another hour learning stance after stance until his body ached from them all. Near the end, they had gathered another small crowd as the rest of the trainees gathered to watch Kristoff get his stuffing beat out via sword.
When the sun was low in the sky, Lord Derek let Kristoff go free. "You've made excellent progress, but there's still much room for growth! I advise that you find a teacher or all of this will go out the window. Queen Elsa, thank you again for letting us use your practice equipment. Gentlemen, I hope that you have learned at least a little bit in my brief time with you, and I promise that if you go to the pub nearest the castle then there will be a round of drinks from me waiting for you there!" This got a lot of cheers and earned Lord Derek a number of slaps on the back.
Kristoff, meanwhile, limped his way over to Elsa. "It is Lord Derek's suggestion that we resolve the situation between ourselves and Anna as soon as possible."
Elsa turned away from observing the rest of the 'class' and looked at Kristoff with horror. "Lord Derek saw us? God, I thought that he wouldn't have remembered, as drunk as he seemed the other night. For goodness sake, I only remember because I know I made a conscious effort to not forget."
"He implied that he heard us fighting this morning as well, and he's not stupid, no matter what else he may come off as," said Kristoff as he rubbed his sore legs. "He did say that he wasn't going to tell anyone, but it's only a matter of time before people start to talk about us, even if it's only been a couple of days. You were right; we need to talk to Anna about us, whatever we turn out to be."