Heartbeat of Spring
After the hectic events of their field study, a return to normal academic pursuits felt like a nice change of pace to Irene, even if their studies did not slow down in the slightest. The material was significantly more challenging than Sunday School or St. Astraia, though there were no etiquette classes at Thors, which was to be expected.
The cooking class was also quite a bit different than at her previous school, as there was actually an expectation that the students do much of the preparation themselves, but that was fine with Irene, since that's what Mother liked to do and she was the best cook Irene knew.
Gaia had some trouble at first, because a lot of the cooking tools were unfamiliar to her, but it was quite clear that she must have helped her family cook as well.
That actually seemed to be true of all the Class VII girls, though Ellia and Masha looked a bit confused that Julia proved an expert.
To be fair, Irene had been a bit surprised herself, but in context it made sense that Julia had once helped her mother cook, and with her uncle being a chef, it wasn't that surprising that she became quite good at it.
"She's got to be cheating somehow," Masha muttered darkly to herself, looking at Julia's work enviously. "There's no way a blue blood knows how to cook like that."
"Yes, I am clearly a maid disguised as Julia," the blonde noble remarked drily, "because I care enough about a cooking class grade to bother cheating."
"Julia!" Irene chided her gently. "Please don't make light of our schoolwork."
"We both know you would rather be cooking game meat than making baked goods," Julia shot back.
"W-well, yes, but that is not the point!" Irene returned. "And I made treats for Elise plenty of times."
"Man, those two make me feel insecure sometimes," Ellia mumbled under her breath. "They're somehow both more manly and more feminine than me."
"We can't let them show us up!" Masha hissed.
"Is cooking supposed to be only feminine?" Gaia wondered. "As far as I know, everyone needs to eat. Though I suppose my mother is quite a bit better at it than my father."
"You're doing fine, you two!" Irene called. "Don't worry so much about who makes the food, think about what it will taste like."
Masha grumbled, but refocused on the task at hand.
"Oh good, you are capable of being quiet," Julia snipped petulantly.
"What? Did my voice offend your delicate ears?!" Masha bit back, now distracted again.
"Mine and everyone else's," Julia snarked back.
"Girls!" Irene snapped. "Enough of this! I know you both care about your grades, so stop giving the instructor reasons to dock points!"
The two girls glared at her, but decided she had a point, so focused back to the task at hand.
"Well, guess that's why they put Irene into the special class," Ferris murmured from the other side of the room.
"Isn't her father–well, adopted father–a baron?" a girl Irene didn't recognize whispered. "How come Lady Albarea is letting her order her around like that?"
"It's really strange for the daughter of a duke to be in a mixed class with commoners," another girl murmured. "I am surprised the duke did not throw a fit over this."
"That is none of our business!" Ferris snapped. "Just because the special class has Julia and Irene does not mean we will so easily accept defeat! Focus on your cooking, because you two clearly need to practice more."
"Alright, alright! Calm down, Lady Florald, it is just some idle chatter," the first girl replied placatingly.
"I must admit, I am more used to the servants cooking, but it is important to learn about the ins and outs of running a household," the second girl mused.
"Can't they keep their unwanted opinions to themselves?" Masha grumbled lowly.
"At least they aren't really talking about us," Ellia remarked.
Masha just growled in annoyance.
Irene frowned. It seemed like things had only gotten worse after the field study. Fion didn't seem to care, but even Gaia had been quite annoyed, and Emmet had basically stopped talking to any of the girls in their class.
She let out a sigh, bringing her attention back to her food preparation. There was only so much she could do, but it had been weeks, and nothing had changed.
Was there something that could be done?
As class wrapped up for the last time this week, Instructor Valestein finished Homeroom off with a few announcements.
"Don't forget! Your next practical exam will be the middle of next week!"
"I'm gonna get it right this time!" Ellia mumbled determinedly to herself.
"Oh, so that's why we needed to fix the spinny thing," Elisha muttered.
"Are you going to pointlessly wait until then to explain the next field study?" Emmet asked flatly.
"Yep! And don't give me that look, if I tell you about it now it just spoils the surprise!"
"Are we supposed to be surprised?" Gaia asked curiously. "I would have thought in that case we would have been told where to go the morning of the field study instead of having a few days to prepare?"
"Hey!" their instructor cried. "I didn't make the rules for this one. Also, you should know midterms are coming up in the middle of next month."
"You mean the quarter terms?" Elisha asked.
"I don't make the names for these things!"
"Man, I feel like I'm never going to get a break," Ellia groaned.
"It's a good thing to test what we've learned so far," Masha declared.
"Joy," Fion drawled.
"Does it also have a practical portion?" Lawrence asked, "or does this upcoming practical cover that as well."
"Nah, those are separate things," Instructor Valestein explained. "School isn't only about hitting things, and if you don't do good I'll get another earful from Heinrich, so do your best!"
"Does his approval matter that much to you?" Irene asked curiously, noting something down in her notebook.
"Oi! Stop reading into stuff like that so much!"
"I thought you did want us to listen to you?" Julia snarked.
"Aaalright, that's enough for today!" their instructor called. "Try and have some fun on your free day! I know I will!"
With that, she took her teaching material and left the classroom, much of the class following her out in short order.
Irene did not immediately leave, taking a moment to read over her notebook. She wasn't entirely sure if Instructor Valestein genuinely disliked the vice principal, or if she was simply bad at expressing her feelings. Given the amount of time she spent complaining about him, both were possibilities. Not to mention she called him by his first name.
"Hmm…you do know class is over, right Irene?" Julia's amused voice shook her out of her thoughts. "What are you so focused on anyways?"
"Oh, nothing urgent," Irene replied, looking up to see both Julia and Lawrence still in the classroom. "I apologize if I kept you waiting."
"It has been about one minute," Lawrence observed. "And we spent about half of that packing up ourselves. There's no need to apologize."
"It's the principle of the matter!" Irene shot back, her face heating up. 'How is he able to embarrass people so easily?! It even works on Julia sometimes!'
"Well, you were pretty focused on whatever it is, so it must be important," Julia concluded with an amused huff.
"It is just another task our instructor requested from me," Irene explained. "Nothing too serious."
"That woman takes advantage of your helpful nature far too much," Julia sighed. "While she is undoubtedly a skilled combat instructor, she is quite questionable otherwise. And why does she get away with flaunting the dress code anyways?"
"I think you look plenty beautiful in a Thors uniform, Julia," Lawrence declared casually. "Though you might just upstage our instructor if you tried on clothes like that."
Julia's eye twitched, and she shared a look of mutual exasperation with Irene, though the light dusting of pink on her cheeks proved she wasn't immune to flattery. Well, with Lawrence it wasn't flattery, he really meant it, even if there was nothing deeper to it.
"Lawrence," Irene sighed, "you shouldn't say such things so forwardly. People might get the wrong idea."
"They seem to do so regardless of what I say," the tall man countered, "so I will endeavor to speak the truth regardless."
Julia turned away from him so he wouldn't see the growing flush on her face, and Irene stifled a giggle. It was a bit rude to laugh at her friend's embarrassment, but after all the teasing Julia put her through, it was a bit funny to see how easily she could become flustered herself.
"Julia is one of prettiest girls on campus," Irene remarked lightly. "With all the noblemen fawning over her, you might even say she was the fairest of them all."
"Oh, quiet you!" the blonde sniped back, even if she seemed to rather like the idea.
"She has no shortage of competition," Lawrence mused, "but I would say you do have an edge over them, Julia. You as well, Lady Irene."
"H-huh?!" Irene squeaked, burying her face in her hands.
"Way to make a girl feel special there, Lawrence," Julia drawled with a roll of her eyes.
"Technically, everyone is," Lawrence pointed out. "Even identical twins can be quite different, like Misses Linde and Vivi."
"You have been around Elisha for too long," Julia grumbled. "I swear, that boy interprets everything literally unless it inconveniences you."
"I…think that may be his attempt at humor," Irene murmured, peeking out from between her fingers.
"...What."
"Elisha seems to have trouble understanding people, so he acts a certain way that he knows will make others respond a certain way, maybe in a way that is easier to understand for him?" Irene explained.
"You are insightful as ever," Lawrence complimented, "that does seem to match his usual behavior."
"Huh, then he has a better poker face than I thought," Julia mused.
"A-aside from that," Irene started, "do you have something you want to speak to me about? Maybe a request for the student council?"
"Hmph, so I can't simply be having a chat with my friend?" Julia huffed in mock offense. "For shame!"
"You did look more serious than usual," Lawrence observed.
"Oh come now!" Julia sighed, taking a seat on one of the desks (was that Masha's?) and kicking her legs idly. "I'm not that obvious, am I?" (Yes it was.)
"You usually prefer chatting with Lady Irene at our dormitory," Lawrence commented, "so there might be something else if you are willing to wait before getting on a horse."
Julia huffed in annoyance at being seen through so easily, casually leaning backwards and propping herself up with her hands behind her. She did not dispute Lawrence's observation.
"Why are you sitting like that?" Lawrence asked curiously.
"Yes, it's quite improper, Julia," Irene chided.
"Eh, I know I can let my hair down around you two, so to speak," Julia deflected with a shrug. "And fine, you got me, but it's really nothing serious."
A mischievous glint sparked in her eye and Irene felt a shiver of worry at her expression.
"So Irene," Julia drawled. "What's this I hear about running into a dungeon with four different boys? At the same time too! For shame! I didn't think you had it in you!"
'Uh Bwah?!'
"The principal assigned the task to her and she recruited us to assist her, is that so strange?" Lawrence returned.
"But with all the boys in our class?" Julia pouted. "You shouldn't be so greedy, Irene. I am feeling rather neglected!"
"It's nothing like that!" Irene objected, sure her face was red with embarrassment. 'Really Julia?! To imply…why?!'
"To be fair, we did volunteer," Lawrence explained. "I wanted to see how good the Old Schoolhouse is for training, Elisha wanted to examine the strange devices we saw, and…on second thought, I am not certain why Emmet and Fion wanted to come along, but their motivation seemed similar to mine."
"It's no fun when you put it that way," Julia sighed, before dismounting the desk legs first in a rather indecent manner.
'Why are you like this?'
"Was it supposed to be?" Lawrence asked, giving Julia a reproving look.
"Not really, but you really make it too easy, Irene," Julia replied with a smirk. "All that aside, don't leave me out if you get sent on another expedition down there, ok? I want to see what all the fuss is about."
"That was a rather circuitous way of asking about that," Lawrence murmured.
'No kidding. It took him and Emmet all of five seconds.'
"Oh, let me have my fun," Julia groused. "Besides, you look like you have something to ask, and you're taking just as much time."
"Ah, right." Lawrence turned to Irene. "It occurred to me that we have yet to properly spar. I know you are quite busy, but would you be willing to humor me this weekend?"
"I b-believe so," Irene replied, fighting down her nervous tic. 'I don't think I'd be much of a challenge, but…I do want to test myself.'
"Look at you two, already planning an evening rendezvous," Julia snorted. "Should I be penning a letter to Baron Schwarzer about you starting to court someone?"
"Julia!" Irene gasped.
"That…isn't really your responsibility, is it?" Lawrence pointed out.
"Oh, you don't think Irene is worth courting?" Julia shot back, raising an eyebrow challengingly.
"Far from it," Lawrence returned evenly. "I will admit some surprise that no one is already doing so, but the point is that such a decision is ultimately hers."
"Even if her father pushes her into it?" Julia muttered, a hint of bitterness in her voice.
'Father wouldn't do that! So why…oh.'
"Even so," Lawrence affirmed. "Though things become quite a bit more complicated in that case."
Julia locked eyes with her tall friend for a good long while, before letting out a sigh and looking away. "Yeah, really complicated."
"Though I am sure your brother will not let your father promise your hand to someone unworthy," Lawrence assured her.
"You can't know that for sure," Julia muttered, though she looked like she wanted to believe it. "And don't you have a club to get to?"
"I suppose I do," Lawrence agreed, glancing between the two noblewomen. "If you have something else you need to discuss, I will try and ensure no one interrupts you." He nodded at them. "Lady Julia, Lady Irene, have a good evening."
After he left the room, Julia let out a long sigh and sprawled down on her back on top of Masha's desk. "Aidios damn it Lawrence."
"Are you alright?" Irene asked hesitantly. Her friend did tend to relax more around her, but this was a bit much.
"Mostly," Julia hedged, tilting her head to look at her friend. "It just gets a bit tiring, that's all."
"Did you visit the noble lounge again?"
"Theresia invited me again. Don't have the heart to tell her how much I hate it there."
"She'll understand, I'm sure," Irene murmured encouragingly. "Besides, Theresia would be perfectly happy to meet you on the practice field or in the training room."
"Not if she wants to talk," Julia grumbled. "You know how she and Friedel are about that kind of thing."
Irene giggled. "They can be very single minded, yes."
"Not that you have much room to talk, little miss sword maiden," Julia snickered.
"I am not that bad!" Irene objected.
"Yeah, you're not as overt about it," Julia conceded. "But you're still sword brain enough that Lawrence seems taken with you."
"H-huh? What do you mean?"
"You know what I am talking about," Julia smirked, spinning around and rolling over onto her stomach, bracing her chin on her hands and kicking her feet in the air. "He did just ask to spar with you."
"Lawrence is interested in sparring with me because I practice a rarer style," Irene objected, "nothing more."
"Maybe," Julia mused thoughtfully. "For a person as upfront as he is, it can be a bit tricky to figure out what Lawrence is thinking, buuut…"
Irene did not like the look of her friend's cheshire grin. "But what?"
"It's obvious that Lawrence is attracted to girls who are good with swords," Julia snickered.
"Isn't he good friends with Theresia too?"
"Or lances," Julia shrugged. "The consensus is that he'll only marry a fellow martial artist, at least among Kreuzen noble girls."
"Who came up with that? Was Lawrence's mother a martial artist?" Irene asked thoughtfully. "I don't believe the Arseids have a tradition of marrying martial artists."
Julia blinked. "Now that you mention it…I think his mother was more of a musician…huh. Maybe Bridget isn't as out of the race as she thought."
"Isn't Bridget still carrying a flame for her childhood friend?"
"They haven't seen each other for a few years and as liberal as the Falkenheims are, even they won't be eager to let their daughter marry a commoner, especially not one who doesn't have much money to speak of."
"We're talking about Bridget, not her parents," Irene observed. "And as sensible as she usually is, I don't think she sees things that way."
"She'll have to grow up eventually," Julia grumbled darkly.
Irene frowned.
"Was the reason you went to the noble lounge because your father suggested some more candidates?" She asked delicately.
Julia stiffened, before deflating and slumping against the desk. "You are really too observant for your own good."
"Oh…was it at least someone nice this time?" Now Irene felt a bit bad for bringing it up.
"Honestly? Thors seems to have fewer idiots than Bareahard," Julia admitted, "but I know full well that Father has no intention of actually committing to anything. I'm much more valuable as a bargaining chip to keep his cronies in line."
She tsked, hauling herself off the desk. "Once, I would have been happy just getting a letter from him, but now it's just requests to smile and bat my eyelashes at some stuck up son of some stuck up sycophant of his. Something about 'making good use of my accessory allowance' and whatnot."
Irene watched nervously as her friend paced between the desks for a few moments, before sitting back down with an irritated huff, arms and legs crossed in a very unladylike posture.
"I know there are countless people who would quite literally kill for a life like this," Julia whispered. "But I'm sick of feeling like a piece of meat dangled out there to keep the hounds baying."
"I…can imagine how that must be uncomfortable," Irene agreed softly, slipping out of her chair to pull her friend into a hug. "Do you need me to ask Friedel to tell them off?"
"What are you, my mom?" Julia snorted, but she did seem to be feeling a bit better. "I can handle a few simpering boys. At least these ones have enough brains not to try getting handsy."
"If they do, I will make sure they regret it!" Irene declared, pulling back slightly to give her friend a determined look.
Julia met her gaze for a moment, before looking to the side, an embarrassed look on her face. "Tch, look at me making an ass of myself. You're trying to help me, and here I am venting to you about having an excess of suitors when I know full well that you have hang ups about such matters."
"I suppose?" Irene frowned. "That isn't really important right now though."
"Right…You know…I've been wondering," Julia mused, giving Irene a searching look. "Why haven't you visited the lounge yourself? Given the number of girls from St. Astraia here, I doubt anyone would dare to make a fuss."
"W-well," Irene began, "to be frank, I've been busy enough with school and student council work that I haven't really had the time."
"Hmm…" Julia hummed, looking unconvinced. "I distinctly recall you making a list of eligible candidates, and I know at least a few of them frequent the lounge. Patrick is still an idiot though."
Irene flushed in embarrassment. "That wasn't the point of that list! It was for Elise!"
"Of course it was," Julia grumbled, sounding unconvinced.
"You don't have to sound so skeptical," Irene pouted. "Quite a few of the people on the list would never consider me a viable option."
"Pff! Their loss then," Julia dismissed. "Though maybe I'll be able to keep you all to myself."
"Julia!"
"Yeah, no chance, you'd run and try to help too many other people."
"That's not a bad thing!" Irene objected mulishly.
"It is if you drive yourself nuts doing it," Julia countered. "Though you actually seem a bit less stressed now than when you were at St. Astraia."
"Believe it or not, the paperwork is less of a headache here," Irene explained. "And I am assisting Miss Herschel, not running something mostly by myself."
"Riiight," Julia drawled, standing up again, looking ready to leave. "But I'm glad you aren't running yourself ragged." She smoothed out her uniform and checked the wall clock. "I better get going to riding club."
"So Lambert isn't one of those boys you mentioned?"
"No, Lambert would only care that much if I was a horse," Julia snickered. "Or Gaia, since she might as well be the next closest thing."
"Julia! Don't be rude," Irene chided.
"I'm just repeating what Lambert said," the blonde noble declared, raising her hands placatingly. "And Gaia wasn't offended anyways."
Irene huffed, still giving her friend a disappointed look.
"Don't you have student council work?" Julia pointed out, causing Irene to start.
"Ah, yes! Oh no! I must have kept Miss Herschel waiting!" She quickly finished packing up her things and the two noblewomen finally left the classroom.
Outside, they found Lawrence not too far away, talking to the strange photography club member, who looked like he would rather be anywhere else at the moment.
'Did he really wait outside this whole time?'
"I thought Fidelio had given that creep a good talking to," Julia scowled. "Then again, Lawrence might be more effective."
Irene suddenly remembered what Miss Towa needed her to do, so she parted ways with Julia and hurried to the student council room.
Against her expectations, President Herschel was not upset that Irene had not immediately gone to the student council room, having expected her to at least eat dinner first. With the whole conversation with Julia, that had slipped Irene's mind, and she was too embarrassed to tell Towa that she had been delayed for another reason, especially since the diminutive student council president also had yet to eat dinner.
After having worked together for over a month, the two of them divided the work between them and set about getting it done. Irene again found herself impressed by Towa's organizational abilities, which was something she could certainly learn from.
President Herschel seemed to have gotten gradually less haggard after Irene decided to help her, though the two of them still had to work late on occasion, since the other nominal members of the student council were not that dependable. It would be rude to speak ill of Marquis Rogner's daughter, but she seemed to be absolutely terrible at administrative work, and likely was on the roll to cheer Towa up, since the two of them seemed to be friends.
Irene had a sneaking suspicion of how that came to be, but she was rather surprised that the straight-laced student council president would get along with the…unorthodox noblewoman. Irene also had other suspicions about just who was responsible for the current Thors female uniform.
Lord Vincent Florald also was nominally a part of the student council, but he rarely stayed in the office long, always conveniently called away for one reason or another.
Frankly, the fact that President Herschel could keep things running with such layabouts for subordinates was nothing short of extraordinary.
"Have you figured out the requests for tomorrow, Irene?" Towa asked as they were getting towards the end of their tasks.
"Mnh! There did not seem to be that many this week. Klein from the swimming club requested a substitute tutor for a kid he tutors, and Keynes from the bookstore needs several books delivered," Irene listed off. "Oh right! And Principal Vandyck says he had people reporting strange sounds from the Old Schoolhouse, so it seems like we will be braving it yet again." She paused thoughtfully. "Julia said she wanted to join this time, perhaps I should also approach other members of my class about it. The principal did state that it was an assignment for our class as a whole."
"Now that you mention it, why did you go in with only half of your class last month?" President Herschel asked curiously. "Like you said, it was supposed to be for your class in general."
"Well, the boys seemed really eager to venture into the unknown, and I was swept up in the excitement a bit," Irene admitted bashfully. "Fortunately, we were able to handle it."
"Oh, that's good then!" Towa chirped. "I guess you do have pretty strong people in your class. I'd have a lot more trouble."
"Do you even have time to train in between all the work you do?" Irene wondered. "I feel like I barely have time, and I don't do as much as you."
"Um, I don't really plan on being a fighter," President Herschel mumbled, "so I don't have to practice that much."
"Don't you still have combat training?" Irene pointed out.
Towa nodded. "I do ok, but I'd really rather not have to fight."
Irene hummed. She could somewhat understand. Her first steps on the path of the sword were more grasping for control than enthusiasm for battle.
"I guess that makes sense. Most people nowadays don't have to get into fights. It's a bit different out in the country with the monster attacks though."
Towa sighed, but nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's true. I don't think I'll ever be that good at it though. Not compared to Crow or Angie."
"Well, Lady Rogner seems to like fighting, to some extent," Irene mused. "But as long as you can keep yourself safe, there's no need to worry that much about it."
"Aww…thanks Irene!" President Herschel cried. "You're so sweet!"
"H-huh?" Irene stammered. "It's just common sense."
"Most people don't have that," Fion remarked. Wait–
Miss Herschel let out a squeak and jumped in her chair.
"When did you get here, Fion?" Irene asked, clamping down on her own surprise. 'I didn't even sense him come in…'
"About a minute ago," the taciturn boy replied.
"I'm sorry we kept you waiting!" Towa apologized hastily. "Why didn't you knock? We wouldn't have let you stand there if we knew you were there!"
"Door was open," Fion shrugged.
"You could have said something to us, Fion," Irene pointed out. "We did not mean to ignore you."
"You looked busy," he replied, waving a box of cookies, which did not help Irene understand in the slightest.
"Well, we were busy," Irene admitted, "but if you have a request, that takes priority. The paperwork isn't going anywhere, and I'm sure you have other things you'd like to do."
"Ok." Fion placed the box of cookies on the table and slid it over to them, then plopped down a textbook, flipping it open to a marked page. "Can you answer a question?"
"Do you want some tutoring help?" Towa asked. "There are a few people in my year who'd be happy to help."
"Can they make things make sense like Irene can?" Fion asked.
"Oh! Were you already helping him, Irene?"
"Err…I just explained silverware to him, haha," Irene explained, "and also table manners."
"Huh? Didn't you learn them–?"
"Dead parents."
"O-oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up," Towa apologized with a grimace.
Fion shrugged. "Don't care. Don't remember parents." He paused. "Pretty sure I had parents."
"Um…are there people who don't?" Towa mumbled.
"Dunno," Fion replied. "Maybe some people are born in a machine or something."
"Is…is that possible?" Irene mused. 'That sounds like a fairy tale.'
"Maybe," Fion grunted. "Can you answer my question about this?" He pointed to his…textbook.
"Algebra?" Irene asked. "What is your question?"
"Why do they use letters for variables?"
"I think it's just a convention," President Herschel explained. "You understand what a variable is, right?"
"Yeah," Fion grunted. "It's something you don't know how many."
Irene blinked. "I guess that is one way of putting it."
Fion nodded. "So, why do they use letters?"
"I think it's because most people recognize letters," Towa offered. "So basically everyone can use it."
"But letters are also used for other things," Fion pointed out. "Makes things more confusing. Why not just use a box?"
"If it's better for you, you can use boxes to represent variables," Irene suggested. "Though just make it clear what you are doing."
"Ok." Fion noted. "I now have several other questions."
"Um…" Towa hummed. "If you need some tutoring help, I think I can help you a bit tomorrow."
"Aren't you busy tomorrow too?" Irene asked. "Won't you be overworked?"
"Um…I don't think so," President Herschel replied thoughtfully. "With your help, we've got a lot of the work I thought would take until tomorrow done, so I should have time!"
Irene frowned, having figured out by now that their Student Council President had a tendency to understate the amount of work she did. "If you're sure, President Herschel," she returned, "though if you need me to assist, I'd be willing."
"Irene, please! You don't have to use my title," Miss Herschel cried.
"Is that an order as Student Council President?" Irene asked slyly, a slight smile pulling at her mouth.
"Irene!" Towa squeaked.
"There's no need to be ashamed of the title, Towa," Irene laughed. "You certainly work hard enough to have earned it."
"Always busy," Fion added blandly. "Maybe delegate more? If you are school leader."
Towa puffed her cheeks in frustration and huffed, looking quite childlike, even compared to the other two people in the room, who looked quite young themselves. "Not you too!"
"He does have a point," Irene pressed. "After all, you did say your job became easier after I joined the student council."
"Do you want me to help tutor him or not?!" Towa pouted.
Fion reached into his bag, pulling out another box of cookies and placed them on the table.
"Err…Fion?" Irene asked. "What are you doing with the cookies?"
"Bribing you to answer questions," he replied, as if that was an entirely normal thing to do.
"With cookies?" Irene wondered.
"You don't have to pay to submit requests to the student council!" Towa cried.
Fion just stared at them. "We have to pay for the cafeteria though."
"Well…this isn't the same!" Towa explained. "Our job is to help students with things like this."
"...So how much do you get paid?" Fion asked.
"Errrm…we don't?" Towa replied.
Fion frowned. "Sounds like a scam."
"Well, we do acquire a degree of influence over campus affairs," Irene pointed out. "It is also good practice for the future if you are likely to be managing something in the future."
"..." Fion looked like he had something to say about that, but he instead just placed another box of cookies on the table.
"You don't have to bribe us with cookies!" Towa reiterated, waving her arms frantically.
"...Is it working?"
"I was going to help anyways!"
"But now you also have cookies."
"Were cookies used as currency where you grew up?" Irene asked Fion, partly jokingly.
"Kinda," the silver haired boy grunted. "You two are pretty small, so this should last awhile."
Irene glanced at the box of cookies, suddenly reminded of how she had skipped dinner. 'No, cookies are not good for dinner!'
Towa sighed. "If I take the cookies, will you let me tutor you?"
"...Yes?" Fion frowned, giving Irene a confused look, as that was what he was asking for the entire time. For her part, Irene just smiled and placed a silencing finger over her lips.
Fion shrugged, letting Towa schedule a session without protest. Not that he really had any reason to.
After having some of his questions answered and hashing out a time during the upcoming free day to meet for tutoring, Fion seemed to have found the student council room to his liking. He left briefly and returned with three sandwiches, two of which he offered as bribes to let him nap in the admittedly quiet student council room.
Towa was too nice to kick him out even if he was disruptive, and Irene didn't see a problem, as Fion was, if anything, too unobtrusive, and she did her best not to forget that he was there as she and the President continued their work.
True enough to Miss Herschel's estimations, they managed to finish most of their work before the sun set, much to their delight. It had taken about a month, but they had managed to cut down the backlogged paperwork into something manageable.
As they were cleaning up for the day, the door to the student council (which Fion had closed) burst open, revealing a tall young woman with short cropped purple hair and dressed in a…leather bodysuit? "Hey Towa!"
Irene blinked, before recognizing Angelica Rogner and mentally shrugging.
"Oh! Hey Angie, how are you doing?" President Herschel called back with a smile.
"I was going to take a ride down to Heimdallr, and I was wondering…" she trailed off as she spotted Irene. "Oh, hey Schwarzer."
"Good evening, Lady Rogner," Irene greeted in return, giving the high ranking noble a respectful bow.
"Guess I shouldn't be that surprised you're here," Lady (in title, if not in attitude) Rogner muttered. "Anyways, I guess I do have to thank you for helping Towa out," she gave an obviously false smile, "I don't think I can remember the last time I've seen her leave this office before sunset."
"That is kind of you to say," Irene replied. "But it is not as great an accomplishment as you are making it seem." A small smile tugged at her lips. "As diligent as President Herschel is, even she will not continue working when there is no more work to do."
What Irene did not explicitly say was that had Towa had more help, she would not have had to spend so much time on student council duties.
"Err…Angie?" Towa started. "Is something wrong?"
"Of course not? What makes you say that? I'm perfectly fine!" the purple haired noble objected, perhaps slightly too ardently.
"Um…are you sure?"
"I'm fine!" Lady Rogner insisted.
"Then I take this is a social call?" Irene inquired politely. "If you do not have a request for us, then are you here to speak with President Herschel? If that is the case, I can give you two some privacy and take my leave."
"Err…yeah, that'd be great, if it isn't too much trouble."
"Angie?!"
"Have a good evening, President Herschel, Lady Rogner," Irene curtsied politely, finished collecting her things, and left the room, tapping Fion on the shoulder on the way out.
Spotting the strange new person in the room, Fion slid over the back of the couch he had been napping on, skulked over to a window, slipped it open, then hopped out, despite being on the second floor.
"Wait, was that Crow? Get back here!" Lady Rogner yelled, rushing over to the open window.
'They don't look that alike, beside the silver hair, I suppose,' Irene mused. 'Then again, if she only saw a glimpse of him, it isn't that unbelievable of a mistake to make.'
Fion was a bit of a strange kid, but he seemed a decent enough sort.
Irene glanced out one of the windows, smiling slightly as she spent a moment marveling at the red glow of sunset. It was nice to have a little more time to train in the evenings.
Speaking of which, she did agree to spar with Lawrence in her spare time, which she now had…
The thought made her pretty nervous, since from everything she had seen, the tall noble was well on his way to becoming as dangerous as his father the Radiant Blademaster, or the Golden Rakshasa, and yet, Irene returned to her dorms with due haste and a slight skip in her step.
As Irene left the room after sensing her presence wasn't wanted, Towa frowned at her friend. "Angie? What was that?! This isn't like you."
"What do you mean? I didn't do anything weird," Angelica lied badly.
"Umm…yeah…," Towa stumbled over her words, unsure how to proceed. "And that's not like you."
"Do you really think so little of me?" Angelica replied with false cheer. "C'mon Towie, you know me, I can hold back if I need to."
Towa didn't want to gainsay her friend, but her incredulity must have shown on her face, as Angelica sighed and deflated.
"Alright fine," she grumbled. "Normally I'd be all over a cute little thing like her, but…well…"
Towa frowned. "Angie, what's wrong with you? I know Irene would never do anything that would make you like this. It can't be rejection, you get rejected all the time!"
Angelica winced as if shot in the heart, but Towa was undeterred.
"So tell me, what's your problem with Irene?"
The purple haired woman grimaced, pulling out a chair across from the student council president and plopping down in it.
"It's…not really anything she did," Angelica began, uncharacteristically somber. "She seems like a nice gal, like you."
"Huh? But I'm not a noble–"
"And Irene's an adopted commoner, or bastard," Angelica interrupted. "I've met her parents, and they're great! They don't pressure their kids to be good little nobles, don't mind if they go sporting or do fun stuff. Hell, I heard Teo Schwarzer takes his kids out hunting sometimes, and he's got two cute little daughters!"
Towa tilted her head in confusion. "Irene acts like a noble though. I barely got her to call me Towa! She usually still calls me 'President'!"
"Yeah, I don't get her," Angelica sighed. "Her parents were willing to bow out of dumb noble stuff just for her sake, so why's she taking it so seriously?"
"Are you…jealous?" Towa asked in surprise. That didn't seem like something her friend would be prone to.
"Maybe? I don't know," Angelica muttered. "It's really not anything she did, and I don't really care what my old man says, but…well…"
She pursed her lips and frowned. "It still bothers me, that time I heard him mutter about how he should have adopted a kid if it worked out for the Schwarzers."
Her fist clenched and she slammed it on the table, though not hard enough to break it. "It shouldn't bother me. It's dumb, and I know Irene didn't do anything, but looking at her just messes with me."
"Oh…your dad really said that to you?" Towa whispered.
"Nah, not to my face," Angie admitted. "I overheard him grumbling to himself. Don't know why it bothers me so much."
"He probably didn't mean it," Towa consoled.
"He definitely meant it about wishing I was more like Irene," Angelica bit out. "Can you imagine that? Me going 'oh, pleased to meet you President Towa' or something like that?"
"She calls me President Herschel."
"Not the point!"
"Oh, no I can't really see you doing that," Towa giggled, before her face turned serious. "But you better not make Irene sad, because I need her help here!"
"Whatever you say, President Towa!" Angelica agreed with a mock salute. "I'm about to take the bike down to Heimdallr, you want anything?"
"I don't need anything, thanks for asking though."
"Awww! You're so cute!"
"A-angie let me go!"
There was still light by the time Irene arrived back at the Class VII dormitory, as she had left the student council room earlier and the spring days were lengthening.
Irene let out a relieved sigh as she entered the building. Even though today had not been that tiring, returning to a place that had started to feel like a home away from home was always refreshing.
Inside the lobby, Fion was at the punching bags, which was pretty typical, but instead of practicing himself, he and Gaia were teaching Ellia how to throw a punch.
The three of them glanced at her as she entered, and Irene gave them a greeting with a smile, but she had somewhere to be so she didn't stop to chat, instead heading to her room, setting her school materials neatly on her desk, before changing into training clothes and grabbing her practice swords.
She was pretty sure Lawrence didn't mean to practice with bared steel, though Irene was also quite certain that he could seriously hurt someone with just a practice sword. Or just break it, as Friedel liked to mention.
With that, she descended the stairs to the second level and knocked on Lawrence's door. It would be slightly awkward if he had stayed later at the swim club with Julia like last month–
The door opened and Lawrence poked his head out. "Oh, hello Lady Irene!" He glanced down at her clothes and practice swords and a bright smile lit up his face. "So you have time tonight? Excellent!"
Irene nodded. "Y-yes, we managed to finish our student council work earlier than e-expected." She did her best not to stare, as while Lawrence was dressed, the shirt he wore was clearly a bit too small, making his musculature incredibly obvious.
"That is good to hear!" Lawrence cheered. "Lady Julia was slightly worried about you overworking, but it seems you and President Towa have things well in hand."
"Mnh!" Irene nodded. "Should we spar at the g-gymnasium?" She trailed off, remembering that Friedel would likely be there.
"While I would not mind a decent walk," Lawrence remarked, "I had not planned on returning to campus this evening. How about sparring in the grassy area next to the dorms?"
"I…think that would be better," Irene agreed, smiling slightly. 'It would be more secluded too, so less likely to have an audience.'
"Well then it's decided," Lawrence declared. "I apologize, but I will need a minute to change."
"O-oh it's no problem," Irene waved off. "I did arrive unannounced."
"Very gracious of you, Lady Irene," Lawrence returned with a smile. "I will be down in a moment." He closed the door, and Irene let out a slow breath.
'He really is muscular–noo! Stop thinking about that!'
Irene shook her head to clear her thoughts, then padded back down to the ground floor, where the trio from before were still at the punching bags.
"Have these bags offended you somehow?" Gaia asked as she glanced at Irene, a teasing glint in her eye. "I don't think they'd survive a determined swordswoman."
"They barely survive Lawrence punching," Fion muttered, giving the dark haired noble a nod of greeting, an almost imperceptible smile pulling at his face.
"U-uhm…" Ellia stammered, breathing heavily. "W-we could go somewhere–hah–else, if you need…my lady?"
The other occupants of the room gave the ginger haired girl confused looks, which caused her to wave her hands panickedly. "What are you looking at me for?!"
"Um…there's no need for that, Ellia," Irene replied, slightly confused by the other girl's sudden deference. "I was going to train outside. Punching bags aren't the best for sword training."
"Indeed!" Lawrence boomed from right behind her, and Irene almost jumped in surprise, fighting down a very unladylike squeak. "They're good for learning to strike, but it won't do you that much good unless it could hit back."
"Oh, I see now," Gaia smirked. "Have fun you two."
'Huh?'
"We will endeavor to do so!"
'Lawrence no!'
"W-wait what?!" Ellia squeaked.
"Don't break anything," Fion shrugged.
'Why does everyone keep insinuating something that is so obviously not there?!'
Irene nodded stiffly, stepping to the door with a bit more haste than was strictly polite. She opened the doors to the dorm and paused, glancing back to see Lawrence waving a farewell to their classmates. He was now also dressed in training clothes, and hefting a very large practice sword over one shoulder.
While she didn't think Lawrence would hurt her intentionally, Irene had a few second thoughts for a moment, before she shook them off.
'If I am to gain control of my Curse, I will have to keep moving forwards!'
"Thank you for your patience, Lady Irene."
The lady in question blinked, before flushing slightly as she realized Lawrence had caught up to her. "It was n-no issue!"
The two of them stepped out into the evening, the red riot of sunset casting the town of Trista in a warm glow.
"Good thing there is enough light to train by still," Lawrence remarked, to which Irene nodded.
The grassy area next to the dorms was empty, as usual, and looked smooth enough that they could maneuver without serious difficulty.
Lawrence paced around the area, testing out the terrain. Eventually, he looked satisfied, bringing his practice sword into a ready stance. "Shall we begin?"
Irene squared up against him, a thrill of fear shooting down her spine as she was again reminded of just how much bigger he was. "Shall we go to points? Or yield?"
"Either would be acceptable for me," Lawrence shrugged. "Frankly, I had not considered something that formal, I just wanted to cross blades with you."
"Um…" Irene hummed, a bit flattered and quite a bit embarrassed. "To three points then?"
Lawrence nodded. "That seems fair to me."
Usually, that would require a judge to call the hits, but this wasn't a competition match, and while the two sword nobles had not known each other for that long, they knew each other well enough to trust the other to admit to being hit.
"Ready?" Lawrence asked, his sword held in a ready position at shoulder height and point aimed forwards.
"Yes!" Irene replied, settling into her own ready position, one sword raised above her head and the other in front of her.
The two combatants tensed, but neither moved immediately.
Irene inhaled deeply, letting the gentle breeze of the evening whisk away her errant thoughts, focusing only on the here and now.
Lawrence watched her with a keen eye, searching for any weakness in her guard.
Irene relaxed her grip on her left sword slightly–
She slid to the side as Lawrence took the bait, binding his sword against her left–
"Oof!"
Irene crashed into the grass, her left sword flying out of her grip. Lawrence had powered through her attempted deflection, something she probably should have expected.
"Are you alright, Lady Irene?" the tall noble asked, sounding slightly concerned.
"Point to you," Irene declared, rising from the grass and retrieving her lost weapon in the same motion. 'So this is the difference between a beginner and an intermediate? I still have far to go.'
She had become too used to dueling Friedel and Julia, who, while stronger than her, could not so completely overpower her. To try and match Lawrence in strength was a doomed endeavor.
Irene steadied her breathing, circling slowly to the right.
Lawrence mirrored her, sword held in the same guard as before.
Irene continued circling, not dropping her guard, even as Lawrence feinted, trying to draw a reaction. His reach was too long for her to take advantage of those openings, even if it was clear they were false. 'Wait, how did I know that?'
She had no time to think, as the light of the fading sun glinted in the whites of her opponent's amber eyes, and Irene moved.
Her blades lashed out suddenly as she closed the gap–
Even momentarily blinded, Lawrence blocked her strike, but Irene had two swords, and she drew the shorter one across the taller noble's chest.
"That is a point for you," Lawrence conceded as they split apart, eyes glinting with excitement and a focused curiosity. "You certainly are not one who should be underestimated."
"Thank you for your kind words," Irene returned, a slight smirk pulling at her lips. In a proper fight, that blow likely would not have done much, not to a man who could shrug off blows from a massive ape, but being able to land a hit on him made her feel like she was finally making progress.
They spoke no further, as there was no need.
Something twinged at the back of her mind, and Irene adjusted her stance as Lawrence charged, his oversized sword held over his head. A very convincing feint.
Irene moved as if to intercept, then suddenly shifted to the side, whirling her sword in a flourish to deflect Lawrence's sword as he converted his downward swing into a thrust, the point barely missing her face as she swung her other sword out at his side.
But Lawrence was not fooled, twisting to the side and casually stepping out of range, his longer limbs and longer sword giving him much greater reach, so Irene lunged forwards, not content to allow him control over the distance.
Her attack was thwarted as Lawrence stopped her cold, halfswording to shorten his sword's reach to maneuver into a bind, the pommel of his sword slamming into Irene's chest, the impact knocking her backwards a few steps, preventing her from striking him with her other sword and opening her up to a quick horizontal swing.
Irene could not regain her balance in time to defend, so she didn't, instead leaning backwards under the swing, curling herself into a backwards roll and springing back to her feet before launching herself upwards in a jumping strike over Lawrence's low thrust, but he recovered too fast and shifted out of the way.
Another breath, and Irene dashed behind him, but he turned to face before she could make use of the opening, her paired strikes deflected by a whirling overhead flourish, his long sword providing Lawrence a much greater defense than she had expected.
Irene shuffled her feet, leaning under the follow up swing, one sword warding Lawrence's sword away from his body, the other thrusting towards him–
The point of her left sword passed by his ear as her arm was wrenched to the side, her wrist engulfed in a massive fist as Lawrence somehow deflected her right sword while wielding his own overly large weapon one handed.
If he grappled her in place, she was finished, so Irene twisted and threw her weight to her left, trying to unbalance him and slacken his grip, but the difference in mass was too great and he was unmoved, yet he let go, letting her stumble, following up with an overhand left hand blow.
Irene swayed and ducked out of the way like a leaf on the wind, making another attempt at striking her opponent, but her blow was blocked, Lawrence managing to raise his sword between them in time, stopping her just out of reach with her shorter sword.
For a moment, they held the bind, and Irene felt a shiver of some indescribable sensation creep up her spine at Lawrence's wide grin and gleeful amber eyes. Idly, a part of her realized that she too was smiling.
'What was this feeling?'
They broke apart, and clashed again, Irene dancing just away from Lawrence's strikes, while his greater reach and uncanny coordination prevented her from landing a hit.
Somehow, she managed to avoid his blows and slip out of binds, preventing him from overwhelming her with his strength, but she could not make any headway of her own, as no matter how erratic her movement or elaborate her feints, he always seemed to read them and defend against both her swords.
Neither managed to score a point for some time, but Irene felt herself flagging. Every exchange required her to expend more energy than him, and as much as she did train, she was quite sure her stamina did not outstrip his.
In her fatigue, Irene misjudged an evasive step and was forced to block head on–
She blinked, seeing stars…?
Oh, that was the sky. She was on the ground.
"Irene! Are you alright?!" Lawrence's concerned face appeared in her vision as he loomed over her, a bit too close for comfort.
"I think so," Irene answered raspily, her throat dry from…however long they had been at this. She tried to sit up, and winced as pain throbbed in her head. "Ah!"
Lawrence reached down and slipped an arm around her shoulders, helping her sit up. "I apologize, I got too caught up in the moment."
"I did as well," Irene mumbled, sucking in a breath of air. "So it was my fault too."
"Still, I did not mean to hit you so hard," Lawrence murmured contritely, crouching down next to her and checking over where his hit landed. "Though fortunately you seem to have managed to block part of the impact."
Irene grimaced as the high of combat ebbed and fatigue turned her limbs into lead. "No need to apologize. I appreciate you not holding back too much, even if I'm only at the beginner level."
Lawrence chuckled, looking relieved now that it was clear she wasn't hurt seriously. "That may be so, but I still learned a lot from our exchange. All the strength in the world will not avail to anything if it can never be brought to bear."
"And I suppose it isn't possible to dodge everything," Irene returned with a slight grin, feeling better now the disorientation was passing. She shook her head and sighed. "I can't believe Friedel and Julia manage to keep up with someone as strong as you."
"Hah!" Lawrence huffed a laugh, "believe it or not, our exchange was quite a bit longer than most of my exchanges with either of them."
Irene blinked in surprise. 'Surely I can't be ahead of Friedel, she's been training for longer, and has had a year of practicing with stronger people here at Thors.'
"It's the truth," Lawrence affirmed, noting her skepticism. "Friedel is not quite as evasive as you are, and tends to attack more recklessly once she's forced on the defensive, and Julia depends heavily on arts, so in a sword spar she sometimes stumbles due to reflex."
"But I only managed to get one hit on you," Irene sighed, rubbing her bruising wrist gingerly.
Lawrence looked taken aback for a moment. "I only scored two hits that would count in a match," he pointed out. "So I guess neither of us reached three points."
"Then I may as well yield," Irene chuckled. "Don't think I want to take another hit like that if I want to get all the student council tasks done tomorrow."
"Fair enough," Lawrence acknowledged, sitting down next to her. "I am not your teacher, so far be it from me to dictate your regimen, but even my mentors stressed the importance of not injuring myself."
"Your mentors being…?" Irene inquired politely. 'Presumably his father is one, but he used the plural…'
"Ah, yes, naturally, my father taught me much," Lawrence explained, "but I also learned many valuable lessons from our butler Klaus and also Countess Aurelia Le Guin while she trained at the Arseid school."
Irene's eyes widened in understanding. She had never met Countess Le Guin in person, but Master of two separate schools of swordsmanship had a colorful reputation. "Wise mentors indeed," she mused.
"Am I correct in presuming you learned from your father as well as the Sword Hermit?" Lawrence asked, turning to give her a curious look. "Or is that too presumptuous?"
"No, you are correct," Irene replied, "though Master Ka-fai travels much of the time, so I did not receive that much direct instruction from him." She smiled slightly. "And while Mother is not martially inclined, I cannot discount how much her dancing lessons helped with footwork."
Lawrence nodded. "That seems quite evident in how you fight, it was almost as if fighting wind."
"Well, I can't very well withstand such a heavy blow," Irene pointed out, "so what other choice do I have but to dodge?"
"I know the feeling," Lawrence laughed, to which Irene gave him a confused look, before she remembered just who he had learned from.
"Even now?" She asked incredulously.
"I could probably withstand a blow from my father or Countess Le Guin," he considered, "but that would still knock the wind out of me, not to mention be quite painful."
Irene winced, imagining fighting someone of that caliber. It was a daunting thought. 'Could I…would it even be possible for me to reach that level…? No, that's getting too far ahead of myself. Besides, that isn't the point anyways.'
"May I ask a rather personal question?" Lawrence inquired suddenly, amber eyes considering her searchingly.
"U-umm…I suppose?" Irene stammered. "As long as you do not mind if I choose not to answer."
"Of course," Lawrence conceded, pausing to consider his words. "There is some…dissonance in the way you fight," he began. "I sensed some hesitation when the possibility of sparring was brought up, and yet that mostly disappeared when we actually crossed blades, and was entirely absent during our adventure in Celdic, or under the old schoolhouse."
Irene frowned. "Erm…what exactly are you asking? I didn't really hear a question, ehehe…"
"True, forgive me, I got lost in thought," Lawrence admitted. "To put it more clearly: what is your goal in picking up the sword?"
'Can I really explain truthfully?' Irene silently considered her answer. She had not picked up a weapon before that…day in the snow. She had been afraid to do so for a while afterwards. But it was necessary.
"I…" she began haltingly, before steeling herself. "I started learning the sword because I realized that the world could be a dangerous place, and if I want to prevent harm from coming to those I love…I would have to start on the path of the sword." She did not mention that one of such dangers was herself.
"An admirable sentiment," Lawrence responded, "one for which you have my respect." He looked out into the distance thoughtfully, which was fortunate for Irene as she buried her face in her hands in embarrassment. "It is part of my own motivations as well, though with how the world is going, part of me wonders how much good it can do."
Irene slowly lifted her head out of her hands, cocking her head curiously. "What do you mean by that?"
Lawrence shrugged. "For one, weapons are getting more and more destructive, and there are problems that cannot be solved with a sword, at least not in a good way."
'He has a point. It must bother him especially because of his family history, as their force of arms have in many cases helped prevent the rise of great dangers.'
"I'm sure you will be up to the task," Irene smiled encouragingly. "Or did you forget how you broke up the dispute in the Grand Market?"
"That was the threat of violence," Lawrence countered, though his serious demeanor softened. "But your encouragement is appreciated."
"It's too nice of an evening to think of such things," Irene huffed, "especially when I need to rest well for tomorrow's activities."
"Then don't let me keep you awake," Lawrence laughed, rising to his feet and offering her a hand up, which she gladly took. "Though if you need my assistance for student council activities, I will be more than happy to help, especially if there is another excursion into the old schoolhouse."
"There is, in fact, another request from the principal in that regard," Irene replied. "Though I would not want to impose on your time."
"No need to worry," Lawrence waved off her concerns. "You've already gone out of your way to help me, so it is only fair I assist you as well, as thanks for the jacket, if you wish to see it as such."
"Oh! You've received the properly sized jacket?"
"Indeed! Thank you for your assistance, now I can probably avoid the awkwardness of some other students asking me for fashion advice." Lawrence rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment at the thought. "I am still not sure why they did so."
"Haha!" Irene giggled. "You're very welcome!" A thought occurred to her, and a disappointed frown crossed her features.
"Is something wrong?" Lawrence asked.
"I did not see a request regarding your undersized bed cross my desk," Irene chided her much larger classmate. "Didn't we talk about that matter already?"
"Oh…that had slipped my mind, I'm afraid," Lawrence winced. "I hadn't thought it to be that important."
"Lawrence."
"As my lady commands!" the tall noble chuckled. "I'm sure your mothers would be glad to see the woman you have grown up to be, both Lady Schwarzer and the one with Aidios."
Irene did not know how to respond to that.
AN. Well, Lawrence continues to be dangerous for girls' hearts. Fion has some fairly reasonable questions about the school's practices, and Angelica did not flirt with Irene. I did say that it would probably not go as expected. Also Julia complaining a bit about how her father treats her, which is a pretty notable difference from Jusis' treatment, since a second son does not allow for quite the same political oppurtunities as a a daughter. Also, not that many new characters in this chapter, for once. That'll probably change pretty soon though.