The next few months were a haze of salty sweat and the echoing ring of iron-on-iron; Sir Vieux taking Audrey's talents and sharpening them to a fine edge. The first two techniques of her Squirehood took form in that months-long-blur. The first a meditation for strength and swiftness, and the second a rote to lay low multiple foes with one swing.
"You will often be outnumbered," Sir Vieux explained as he determined Audrey's schedule, "and if you devote your focus on one foe, the others are free to circle around and find gaps in your guard. These techniques will serve to keep your foes at bay and leave the initiative in your hands."
"But what of my Companions?" Audrey asked with a tilt of the head, her hair drifting in the mid-morning wind. "Would they not stand at my side?"
"Indeed they will, but there are places neither horse or hawk can follow," Reinald matches Audrey's head-tilt with one of his own, a pointing finger poking holes in her argument, "Likewise, one as little as you would do well to know how to fight at disadvantage."
L-little?! She is anything but little! Fourteen years she has seen, that's more than the requirement to be called a big kid! Not that she was a kid or anything, just that… Well…
Audrey flushed bright red as she caught wind of the chuckles on the air and Reinald's eyes creasing with humor.
A darting hand brought chaos to Audrey's hair as Reinald grins at her indignant squawk. "That's not to mention that horse and hawk are expensive in their own right. While King Alfred has supplied us with a generous pool of funds, it isn't nearly enough to afford Knightly Armour and companions for all the Squires. If I were to put a price on a horse," he let his eyes wander for a moment as he considered the topic.
A click of the tongue heralded his answer, "I think sixty would do it."
"Sixty coins?" Audrey smirked. That was expensive, but not completely unthinkable.
"Sixty pounds, gold."
"... Oh." Audrey blanched at that. That would be… Oh dear. She wasn't sure her family's estates brought in that amount of income in a decade. Or, at the very least, it would be one of the only purchases made in that time frame.
"I'll not be having a mount of my own for some time then, will I?" She asked, not even bothering to attempt stopping the slump of her shoulders or the falling of her face.
"Not unless you earn the King's personal acclaim, or enough prize money to cover the costs from contests or battle honors." Sir Vieux confirmed with a thin-lipped nod. "A hawk is less difficult; there are plenty of respectable breeds local to these lands, but we'll be moving into that later. We've still got to finish polishing your foundations." He leaned back on the bench he was observing from. "So, tell me, how have your studies treated you?"
Accepting the change of subject for what it was, Audrey reviewed her independent studies in the past few days. "On your recommendation, I've been discussing my usage of Hama with Sir Waltone. He's had a few suggestions that I've incorporated into my exercises, and my field has strengthened another step since."
[Hama has increased to 5]
"I believe most of the low hanging fruit in that field have been plucked though, and there likely won't be any major steps for some time in that field. I've also been poking along the edges at determining a new way to use it to aid in my perception." She added, recalling her little run-in a few days ago.
Because… Well, look, just because a spider was small didn't mean it wasn't spooky. So many legs, eugh! And they just sort of float there unless you caught things just right and saw the web it suspended itself from. It was harmless! They were even useful in that they tended to devour the more irritating bugs and kept to corners!
But when you walked face first into a web and saw the big creepy crawly on your nose what else was she supposed to do but extricate herself?
She only hoped nobody saw her behavior there, or she'd never live it down. It did give her a concept of what direction she could take her new idea. Weaving her Hama as a thin web, suspended around her… It would be simplicity in itself to determine when something intruded on it, even if she wasn't present herself.
There might even be other clever ways she could use her field when arrayed in that formation! All she needed to do now was determine how to suspend her Hama in that fashion without needing her constant focus all the time. It was still a work in progress, but she was fairly sure once she figured out that last bit, she could get to work developing the Shape properly.
[Idea: Head on a Swivel, 3/6. Reward Revealed: Hama Shape: Web]
"It's a way off until I can start putting it into practice though, I'm still sorting through how to make it practical."
Sir Vieux nodded at that, "Good, very good, you're expanding upon your toolbox—but, have you refined those tricks we spoke on?"
"Of course!" Audrey grinned, hands planting on her hips. "I worked on the Giant-Killing Blow! It's not right for something so potent to need two strikes to bring a foe down after all, so I made sure I could do it in one."
Few of the Eotenslaga had reached the level of mastery she had! The Giant-Slaying Blow was as hungry for Maegen as it was for Fervour, but the former was much more limited than the latter. She had already reached the level of ability only a proper Thane worthy of the title could reach! And she had barely gotten started!
[Giant-Killing Blow is now Refined]
"You're not wrong," Sir Vieux agreed. "If a particular technique is supposed to end a battle, then you should only need to use it once. Are you confident in its current state?"
"Absolutely." She agreed. "Provided no pesky shield is in position to get in the way, I likely would have been able to cut either of my opponents down with a single blow as it is." It was nice, getting better and better all the time. But, could anything else be expected from one such as her?
"Good, leave it be for now then, you've got an excellent option to end fights, but you should be spending time further expanding your options in the future. I won't be able to train you directly for too much longer, but we still have some time before then, I'll be seeing if we can find some troublemakers to give you a taste of what it's like to fight Norsemen in the upcoming months, so you should be continuing your own studies with that in mind."
Audrey grinned then. A chance to test herself against the Danes! She couldn't wait
"Wipe that grin off your face." Sir Vieux chastised her, Audrey bristling as she took command of her expression. "You got a decent taste of what it's like to fight a proper Cultivator, but there's a whole different barrel of incentives involved with Norsemen. Their Ordstirr grows as they continue to run around and make a show of themselves, and many of them have at least some small level of magic. There's a good reason I'm not just dragging you to take on the first small group we find, and that's because finding one that'll be a decent challenge for you is going to be a headache. There's usually some small raid party or gang of youths crossing the border to earn some loot for a dowry or a farm or to cover a weregild or something, the trick'll be finding one that doesn't have more than one or two experienced fighters minding them before they can go to ground again."
Audrey listened, lips tight as she held back her ire, but she had underestimated that first bandit, and the Danes were by far the more dangerous foe as a people.
"The point is, it's hard to gauge how tough they are, and while they don't always die when they're killed, you very much will." Sir Vieux concluded. "So you'll have to be patient for now, and prepare yourself until our window comes, because when it does, we'll be off in a hurry before it closes."
Audrey supposed she could be a little patient.
At least she had more time to practice in the meantime
0~0~0
The last few months weren't all training and planning out her development, however, she had plenty of things to fill her life with! Touching base with her fellow Squires remained educational, as while her own growth was exceptional as expected, the others could still surprise her from time to time. Chad may have been the only one who could match her in close combat, but the soft-spoken Gilbert had shown a knack for the more elaborate Prayers—and in any paired duels, the side that lucked out to have him on their side inevitably found themselves with a powerful advantage.
Then there was Sawyer, who's wild imagination invariably left him with all manner of terrifying stunts. Who would have known that a Rope shape could be used in so many impressive ways? You're not supposed to be able to just climb a rope for a while and fly because "That's what you can do with ropes, right?"
Competing with other exceptional youths, sharpening each other in the crucible of the spar. Each blow brought a surge of warmth, a warmth entirely unlike the spilling of blood. In the duels of her youth, her foes inevitably fell to her relentless strength. But here, in the company of Squires… Her back had hit the dirt more than she would ever dare to admit.
But, it was… Was fun the right word?
Maybe.
Regardless of her thoughts on her fellow Squires, the majority of her time was spent trying to catch up with the young girl who had offered her that bead. To figure out what she was waiting on, what she wanted.
Unfortunately, she was nowhere to be found! Audrey would regularly head to town, travel back and forth, keep her eyes open, but nope! It was mostly just normal people. She did this regularly, zipping down from the central keep of the burh to the attached farmlands and market, but this all came to no avail.
Was she an Angel of the Lord in disguise? Some princess on a journey? Was that why she didn't seem to exist any more?
It took an embarrassingly long time for her to realize that… It was nothing of the sort.
The simple fact of the matter is that pilgrims are pilgrims, itinerant faithful folk who seek to see the world and the holy sites throughout it. It's not unusual that someone she encountered on the road travelling to the monastery some distance out, would move on with her family after they had finished their business!
It took even longer for Audrey to realize exactly what was left unsaid. In her defense, she had rarely interacted with the common folk, those who lacked the Maegan to wield it to empower their day to day life, to step beyond the confines of the ordinary and improve themselves. Her father was a Thane, she had few brothers, and when she was taken to be trained, she was dealing with other young talents, rich in Fervour and carrying a measure of Zeal with them.
But no, she wasn't waiting for anything, she was just thinking too fast. It wasn't until she spent enough time watching the normal people that she understood the difference, and what this meant.
It was so embarrassing, and she hoped nobody would ever see her shame. That she missed such an obvious detail! Of course normal people aren't thinking as fast as she is! They have no reason to!
She should… Probably try to establish the habit of slowing down a little herself, if only to avoid making any misreads like this because of that mismatch. A little effort to get into the habit, and there should be nothing to worry about.
[Gained Idea: "Slowing Down for the Commons"]
0~0~0
Audrey again has the opportunity to decide her own course of training and other activities for the next two months, this time with a bit more freedom in how to distribute her training time. Reinald's time spent on training her, and thus the amount received by Audrey from him, will decrease somewhat after this. Make a plan:
[ ] Example Plan
-[ ] [Focus Action] Insert Action Choice Here
-[ ] [Secondary Action] Insert Action Choice Here
-[ ] [Chancellery] Pick one available Idea
-[ ] Training and Zeal (12 Training, 12 Zeal)
–[ ] Spend 12 Training as you wish with no more than 3 in Feats or other Hama-related things
–[ ] Spend up to 12 Zeal as you wish
