Despite searching most of her normal spots, particularly the study rooms and the library, Lena was nowhere to be found. As I made my way from the gardens and toward the kitchen, I began to wonder if she was home at all. Could she be out in the town somewhere? It wasn’t a common occurrence for her to leave her house without me there to pull her along, but it did happen. Come to think of it, we really hadn’t properly hung out since that day atop the library. We were overdue for an adventure out in the town. Lena was the sort to hole up in her room for weeks at a time, becoming all stuffy and well-spoken without me there to nudge her into the wide outdoors. Sometimes I wondered whether she'd forget what 'fun' even was if I didn't occasionally drag her out for a game of dodge and roll or a quiet read atop the roof.

That still didn’t explain where she was currently… 

Entering the kitchen doors, my eyes spotted a maid slumped down sleepily onto a table before I noticed the back of a familiar figure. 

“Rosetta!” The exact person I'd been hoping to stumble into. 

She turned and looked at me with a tilt of her head. We occasionally ran into each other while I was out doing my maidly chores, and despite how brief our encounters often were, I felt that perhaps a proper friendship might have started forming between us. 

“Good morning, Pearl,” she greeted as she finished filling a pitcher of water from the sink and turned my way. 

I moved forward into the kitchen and out of the doorway. “Morning. Do you happen to know where Lena is?” If anyone in the house would know, it was definitely Rosetta. 

She stopped, and her eyes trailed off to the side, “Err, I mean I suppose.”

That… was a strange response. More so in the way she said it than the words themselves. It didn't really matter though. If she knew where Lena was, then it meant all this random searching was hopefully over. I marched forward with a big smile, prompting her to start moving toward the door, carrying her water pitcher along with a smaller glass. “Thank goodness, I’ve been looking everywhere,” I said, with a dramatic sigh. As I opened my mouth to ask her for her whereabouts, she hastily interrupted me.

“I can't tell you where she is. She — she doesn’t want to be disturbed right now, umm,” Rosetta hesitated as I, thinking quickly, shifted between her and the door. There was definitely something strange going on, I decided. She stopped in front of me, giving me a hesitant look before finally finishing her sentence. “Pearl.” It was a tad bold and rude of me, but I wasn't inclined to let her slip away without an answer. Her gaze flickered around me, as though looking for a way to sneak by. As much as Rosetta had intimidated me in the past during her lessons, there were some things I wouldn’t back down on. 

"I have things to do, Pearl," she sighed out as I continued to block her path, following her movements to the side as she tried to move around me.

“Pleaaaaase.” I preened, doing my best at the cute and adorable look. Rosetta had a weakness for cute, I’d learned, and I was going to take full advantage of it. “It’s really important. There’s something that I really really very much need to talk with her about.” 

"Can... it not wait?" she muttered attempting to step around me once more and becoming visibly annoyed.

"Unfortunately not." 

That wasn't strictly true, if I was honest. At this point though, it wasn't just that I needed to confide in Lena about my rather delicate and dangerous predicament. I also wanted to know what exactly was going on today and why Rosetta was so hesitant to speak about it. Could it have something to do with the reason that Silas was here or the Praevus? Was it to do with the wedding? No matter what, if Silas or his father were up to something, I wasn’t going to stand for it. 

Rosetta moved from foot to foot in agitation, clearly wanting to get going. If not for the glass pitcher full of water, I was certain she'd of just shoved her way past me already. I fluttered my lashes or tried to, and she finally folded, letting out a defeated sigh. 

“Alright, alright. Just — let me through, you’re holding me up. I can tell you as I walk.”

With a winning smile, I moved to the side, letting her pass and then following her out. We started down the hall, and I gave her an expectant look when she didn’t immediately continue. 

“It’s somewhat of a secret,” she spoke quietly, just above a whisper. “Well, not truly, but it’s better if we treat it as such. The less it’s talked and thought about, the better.”

The maid had my complete attention. Lena had a secret? One that even I didn’t know about? 

I frowned. Why didn’t I know about it? We were best friends, and I was great at keeping secrets! 

“What is it?” I nudged back in a whisper. 

“It’s probably easier if I just show you.” 

As we moved through the small mansion, me fidgeting impatiently and wishing she would just tell me, we took a turn that I wasn’t expecting — one that led us toward the backside of the house. It was an area I’d been to only rarely. My eyebrows scrunched together as I tried to figure out why we were heading toward the armory, only to become more surprised as we passed by it and went out into the large outdoor courtyard where the martial training took place. Or at least, where it would take place if there was anyone in the mansion to make use of it. 

Unlike normal, it wasn’t empty and deserted. The groundskeeper, who was typically tending to the gardens or the mansion’s front, stood casually off to the side in leather padding and holding a short wooden sword against his shoulder. My eyes drifted from him to the girl he stood facing. Her fiery red hair was pinned up into a bun, keeping it from her face. The dress she wore was simple compared to her normal attire and cut shorter than was typical, exposing her feet and allowing her to move more freely. Along her torso and arms were several pieces of padded leather, much like the groundskeeper. She couldn’t see me, standing with her side and back to me, and thus I was able to watch as Lena continued to swing her sword in a repeating pattern, her feet gliding along the dirt in a way similar to that of professional swordsmen and sentinels. 

My mouth hung open as the keeper of the grounds stared at the both of us and then gave Rosetta a questioning look. She nodded back to him, though I barely paid attention to it, far too focused on Lena’s flowing form. She clearly was still learning, not having the completely smooth and graceful movements of a professional. But there was still a beauty there. 

More importantly, she’d been learning to use a sword without me?!

I took a step forward, and a hand grabbed hold of my shoulder, holding me in place. Glancing to my right, Rosetta shook her head. “Don’t interrupt her,” she said in a low voice.

The groundskeeper, whose name I was realizing I couldn’t recall, focused his attention back on Lena. My best friend meanwhile hadn’t seemed to even have noticed that anything was happening, too heavily focused on practicing the repeating moves and footwork. 

“You’re leaning to the side again, and your feet are too close.” the man said, his voice the same low tranquil tone that I remembered. 

Lena corrected her posture, her flow only stuttering momentarily. He nodded, seemingly satisfied. They continued for several minutes, the groundskeeper occasionally telling her to switch to different moves or movements and correcting her form, speeding up until Lena was unable to keep up and began to fumble. 

“Good, you’re balance is still improving,” he said, as Lena leaned forward, taking several exhausted breaths of air. “We’ll see next how you’re doing when actually against another blade. But first, I believe there is company here for you.”

Her face twisted toward us, and even from this far away, I could see the look of exasperation overcome her expression as she sighed. What was that look for?!

She trudged over to us, and I felt my face form into a pout. Not that I would admit it.

“Pearl,” she said.

“You’ve been learning the sword?” I asked, my voice laced with a wide number of emotions from wonder to woe and longing. 

“What are you doing here?” she finished. 

“You…” I began but decided to answer her question. We could talk about the sword stuffs after. “I’ve been looking for you. Things have happened.” 

The considering and serious stare into my eyes told me that she seemed to understand my meaning. Far too many things had changed since we’d spoken yesterday, things which we couldn’t speak about openly. I needed her help, her advice. Perhaps even a bit of comfort. My thoughts trailed to the last bit of “comfort” she’d provided me before I scrubbed it from my mind. 

“Alright. But I want to finish training first if you can wait.”

“Can I join?” My eyes sparkled at the idea of learning to swordfight. Imaginings of myself standing, covered in armor, and fighting for my life in an epic battle to save the world flashed through my mind. Steel against steel. Pushing forward against the odds. The finale of a truly epic adventure as the sun set behind us.

“No.” Lena gave me a flat look. 

My dreams came crashing down around me. “Why noooot?” The uncouth might have mistaken my words as a whine, of which it definitely was not. 

“Demetrios has agreed to train me, not you. You'll have to speak with him about it. Plus, you’d be interrupting my training time. More than you already are interrupting it. I’m sorry, Pearl, but no.”

I deflated, and my lips curved down into a sad frown. I should have expected that. 

I huffed. “Fine, but I’m staying to watch at least.”

Rosetta held out a large glass full of water. “You should drink, Miss Lena.”

Lena began with a gentle sip that turned into a full chug as she emptied the glass. As she handed it back to Rosetta for a refill, she looked back to me. “Just so long as you don’t distract me.”

A couple cups of water later, Lena made her way back to the groundskeeper to continue once more. I gave out a sigh full of varying emotions — jealousy, frustration, impatience, and a bit of longing all mixed together. Luckily, my envy didn’t stop me from enjoying watching her as she began to fight against Demetrios. The way she seemed to fully focus on the fight, her feet moving with a balanced grace as she struck out her sword toward him. It reminded me of just how hard I’d fallen for her, and her painful rejection as a result. A lot of guilt and shame had built up around it over the years, as I continued to never truly get past my crush on her like I should have. And I knew she could tell that my feelings had never truly gone away. Still, we were friends. I could put aside my romantic feelings to prioritize our friendship. I couldn’t bear to lose her over something so seemingly small. 

And then… yesterday happened. Just what had that been? Was the sex we’d had just casual sex, or was it possible that more could develop between us? Of course, Silas was a rather big obstacle at the moment, but I was determined to stop him and their wedding regardless. Assuming Lena didn’t just hate me afterward, did I have a chance with her? I honestly didn't know what to think. And if I was really being honest here with myself, my total confusion and nervousness over what had happened the day before was the true reason I’d run off from her room so quickly after our discussion. I just… I was scared of talking about this — scared of being rejected once again. 

Putting my thoughts aside, I tried to focus on the two of them fighting. Demetrios gradually began to not simply stand in defense with his blade but slowly counter Lena’s footwork with his own. As time moved forward, so did he, gliding back and forth in ways that seemed to test Lena’s balance and often to find it wanting. I didn’t know much about sword fighting, but I could tell the man was quite good. If Lena was a young practicing swan in her movements, this man was more like an angelic messenger gliding forth from the Goddess Hazelia’s ancient temple of beauty, patience, and health. He did not simply step but flowed like a fish through the stream of pace that Lena had set. And much like a fish, he knew exactly how to navigate and use the waters around him to his advantage, using Lena’s own techniques and missteps against her. Barely even needing to use his weapon, Demetrios outmaneuvered her until Lena was tripping over her own feet to the ground below. 

It all left me wondering, just who had this man been before becoming what was effectively a simple gardener? Were all swordsmen this good?

They repeated their practice a number of times until eventually, they began to focus more on the sword techniques themselves, going through a similar process of starting out with easier training that gradually increased in difficulty. It was in some ways quite frustrating to watch, as it became quickly evident that I didn’t have the necessary prior knowledge to understand and learn anything from watching. They’d clearly been at this for much longer than just a few days. I could understand why Lena would need to keep this a secret, but did she really need to keep it from me as well? Did… she not trust me to keep something like this to myself? A painful ache squeezed tightly within my beating chest. 

As they finally finished up about an hour after I arrived, my initial excitement had all but vanished, leaving behind a saddening pit. Lena thanked the groundskeeper and took off her padded armor before making her way toward us. There was a lot that we needed to talk about, but there was one thing that I needed to know before anything else. 

Were we really still friends?

FlitterPuff

Had yet another migraine yesterday. Triggered from caffeine again, I'm fairly sure. I keep ending up drinking caffeinated stuffs at work lol. Way too easy to do as a barista when pretty much all of my options include some amount of caffeine. But I've made it through another week regardless, so that's still a plus!

Chapter 34 ended up being quite a bit longer (and more time-consuming) than expected, but it is finished. Now the question is how much I can get done this week, and whether I can survive the continued temptation that caffeine holds long enough to quit drinking matcha and other teas for reals. =3

As always, if you wanna support me and my writing via Patreon (as I gradually make my way toward writing full-time) or if you just wanna hang out with me and others on Discord, check out my links! I'm by no means the fastest writer, but I like to think my stuffs are semi-decent quality. =3 Plus I'm cute, so come hang out =p https://linktr.ee/flitterpuff