“Was meeting Svend the only reason you were looking for me?” Lucus asked with his usual grump.

 

Rain looked away from her newest problem to focus on her brother. 

 

“Oh, no, it was…” Rain looked away. Why was it always so hard to ask Lucus to spend time with her? She was pretty sure he liked her because of her skill, but there was always a part of her that would be afraid she was asking for too much from him. 

 

Rain focused on Lucus’s lie when he said she was a bother. Right, she needed to be more assertive. Just not too much. “I was hoping you could teach me how to sword fight?”

 

Lucus buried his face in his hands.

 

“Why?”

 

Rain shifted her weight.

 

“Well, because I thought it would be fun.”

 

That was true, but it was also so she could protect herself. Not that she could say that in front of Mystery Motivations sitting on the other couch. 

 

“So you want to play around.”

 

“Yeah, a little. I've been feeling better for a few weeks now, and I want to play. So will you?” 

 

Lucus sighed. “Svend, do you know anything about sword fighting?”

 

“Sorry, I don’t. My family doesn't have time or resources to learn that sort of thing; we mostly focused on managing the farms.”

 

That was all lies. The fact that Svend knew how to use a sword and was hiding it made Rain profoundly uncomfortable. Rain also noted that his family did have the resources, which narrowed down the list of possible true identities. 

 

Rain tossed a pleading look at Lucus.

 

“Fine. I’ll play with you, but I can't do it right now. The other lords are already arriving, and Mother and Father want me to get familiar with Svend before any events start.”

 

Rain didn’t like that. It would give Svend plenty of time to hurt Lucus. 

 

“Can I come along?” she asked while fidgeting around. 

 

As Rain talked, she made sure to move slowly closer to Svend. He hadn’t reacted to her aura since he first saw her, and she wanted to know if he was immune somehow or if he was pretending not to feel it. 

 

Rain hoped he was pretending because if he wasn’t affected, that would mean that one of the only people who weren’t driven away by her aura also happened to be an untrustworthy liar. It would be such a waste.

 

When she was only a few feet from him, she saw him start to squirm. With that confirmed, she gave him some space again. No need to make him instantly suspicious of her. 

 

Lucus thought about her question before answering with an ominous smile. 

 

“Of course you can, dear sister. Svend and I are going to be memorizing the Lords of the Gathering.”

 

Rain wondered how much she really wanted to keep Lucus safe.

 

***

 

“All right, hold the sword like this, with the right hand under the cross guard and the left below it.”

 

It had been a day since Rain had asked Lucus to teach her to sword fight, and in all that time, Rain hadn’t been able to speak to Lucus alone and warn him about Svend. Still, Lucus had made time to play… Er teach her to use a sword, so here they were on the manor grounds after Lucus’s usual sword training.

 

“Like this?”

 

“Close, you need to grip tighter with your left hand.”

 

Rain tried to do as he told her, but her left hand didn’t have nearly as much strength as it used to. It could only really grip things with the forefinger and thumb. Her ears turned red at her inability to follow instructions, and not for the first time, she cursed her crippled and ugly hand.

 

“Sorry, this is as hard as I can grab with that hand.”

 

Rain braced herself to be chided for not doing things properly - Lucus could be a stickler for rules sometimes - But it never happened. When Rain looked at Lucus, she spotted him looking at her hand with a weird expression. 

 

“I didn’t think about that. Let me show you how to hold a sword one-handed. Though, I don't know if we have a practice sword small enough for you. You’re already struggling to carry a one-handed sword as a two-hander.”

 

“No need to rub it in.” Rain pouted. It wasn’t her fault she was small.

 

“Beat him up, big sis!” Sunrise called from near the hedge wall, where she was watching next to Svend. 

 

“That's right, beat him up, Lady Rain!”

 

“Hay Svend, whose side are you on?”

 

“I will always be on the lady’s side, Master Lucus. After all, Ladies smell far better than you.”

 

Rain was confused about why that mattered, but she did notice Sunrise throwing a dirty look at Svend before whispering something at him. 

 

“Can you hold the sword in one hand?” Lucus asked, apparently deciding to ignore the two watchers.

 

Rain let go of the sword with her left hand, and her right hand dropped a bit under the weight of the wooden practice sword. 

 

“I think so.”

 

“Alright, take a stance, and we’ll have a quick duel to see how you do.”

 

Rain took a step back before crouching and hefting her sword over her head; its tip pointed at Lucus.

 

“What are you doing, weirdo?”

 

“Well…” Rain had seen a hero use this stance in a play, and she thought it looked cool. But she couldn’t say that now with the way Lucus was staring at her, so instead, she changed the topic.

 

“How am I supposed to stand?”

 

Rain could clearly hear Svend snickering from the side.

 

Fortunately, Lucus took pity on her and demonstrated a proper stance.

 

“Stand like this with the sword pointed slightly up. From this position, you can block most attacks that come your way.”

 

And like that, the lesson started. Rain was impressed by Lucus’s teaching. He was able to clearly tell her what she was doing wrong and help her fix those mistakes. Despite that, Rain didn’t improve much. 

 

For the entire hour they practiced, Rain never got close to landing a blow on Lucus. She was so bad that he could not only hit her, but he was able to do it gently, not so much as bruising her.

 

Rain knew that wasn’t how this usually went. When Lucus trained with the other boys, they and the instructor would always rap each other hard enough to bruise. She wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or insulted that he was so soft on her. 

 

In the end, she determined to just do her best, even if it was pointless. Rain couldn’t touch Lucus, and he was average at best.  She just didn’t have an instinct for fighting. A part of her wanted to freeze every time the sword came at her, and she couldn’t predict where it would come next.

 

After an hour, Lucus called for a halt.

 

“That's enough for today. Hey, Svend, go to the kitchens and get us something to drink.”

 

“Of course, Master Lucus.”

 

“I’ll get Rain’s drink. I don’t want her drinking anything you give her.”

 

“Ah, beautiful Sunrise, if you wanted to walk with me, all you had to do was ask.”

 

“Humph” 

 

“Are you okay, sis?” Lucus asked once they left. “You’re starting to look angry.”

 

“I’m not angry. I just want to be able to protect myself, and it's frustrating that I’m so bad at this.”

 

“You’ll learn. I don’t think there's anything I can do that you couldn’t.”

 

“Thank you… for spending time with me and teaching me.”

 

Lucus awkwardly patted her on the head, and the world became a better place. Before a splash of realization hit her, Svend was gone!

 

“Brother, be careful of Svend; he’s a classer, and he’s lying about who he really is!”

 

“How do you know?”

 

“Because of my things.” Rain said, giving Lucus a meaningful look. “We need to be careful about what we speak about and where. Just don’t trust him. I’ll try to figure out who he really is.”

 

Lucus slumped a bit at that.

 

“Of course, he would be fake. I knew we got along too well.”

 

Rain didn’t like that sad look, so she went in for a hug.

 

“Get off, you stink!”

 

Rain didn’t want to bother him, so she let go - after one more squeeze.

 

“While we wait for those two to come back. Come at me, evil beast!” Lucus said, getting into the same stance Rain had tried at first. 

 

She should have known he would guess what she had been doing. Oh well.

 

Rain got into a cool stance of her own.

 

“I will defeat you, foolish hero!”

 

And like that, the two playfought hitting each other's swords and saying cool lines until Sunrise and Svend returned.