Aleksandra latched the window shut and tugged the curtains closed, knowing exactly what it would look like to people in the courtyard. The prince and his assassin were having a bit of fun and were making it very obvious that they were not to be disturbed. Well, hopefully she'd find beating him up to be very fun. As she turned, she had the beginnings of her speech on self-defense prepared. But she froze when she saw Aulfr... hugging one of her students. Then she felt an immediate flash of jealousy, which only strengthened as he continued down the line.

She quelled it, knowing exactly what he was doing. He was building trust, and probably also knew he was making her green with envy. She schooled her features into a perfectly bland mask as he greeted the women. She stepped up beside him as he stepped away. Standing close, her students didn't see the possessive little smack on the ass she gave Aulfr, and they could tell nothing was happening from her blank expression.

Finally, she let herself smile a bit, which eased the tension in the room and caused many of the women to relax and even smile back. "Alright. Now that we all know each other, Prince Aulfr here is going to be our living dummy for the demonstration." She pointed to the area where the floor padding was thick, an area for sparring. "Over there, dummy." This caused at least three of the women to giggle. One of the cousins gave a very unladylike snort.

Once she and Aulfr were in position, she had him stand behind her in a hold that most men would use to abduct an unsuspecting woman. "People- men- usually don't hunt for women who look like they'll put up a fight. They'll pick you because you look off-guard or vulnerable. Mitsuka, Karina, and Natasha, this is especially important for you three. Levana and Nalani are taller and those lean limbs look more athletic, and they're less likely to be grabbed."

"An abductor will try to move you to another location where they won't need to worry about being interrupted. Do not let them move you to another location." Her voice was sharp as a blade, as firm as a rock. The women nodded quickly, eyes all wide and faces slightly paled. They understood exactly how important this was. "Fight back enough to convince them that you're not worth it. And make as much noise as you can. In the slums, though, I bet no one will bother coming to help you. But you should still start screaming your head off about a fire- not rape, not theft, not something that cowards would usually hide from. Or that other criminals would try to join in on. And if shouting doesn't discourage them, there are a few tricks to outsmart them."

"Some might make them drop like a stone, others might get them down temporarily. But once they're down, your biggest priority is getting the hell away. Do you understand? They let you go, you run."

And for the next hour, she had Aulfr grab her in varying positions and demonstrated how to break his grip, and then different ways to hurt him. Eye-jabs, where to stomp on a foot to do the most damage, using elbows and knees to crush anything soft. And, of course, the ever-classic knee to the groin. She held off an actually performing that move, knowing that it would only come back to haunt her when they sparred.

Finally, she finished the demonstration and started to let the students train on each other. She pulled Aulfr down and kissed his cheek lightly, giving him a wink. "Thanks for your help, dummy. Now go punch things." Mitsuka and Nalani watched the exchanged with great interest until Aleksandra noticed and gave them a deadly look that had them quickly returning to practice.

Aulfr followed Aleksandra's instructions to the dot, amiably and agreeably, taking on a stoic face for all the demonstrations. Every time she mentioned something about a criminal or somesuch, he bared his teeth at Aleksandra, in mock-anger and hate. Apparently, he was overdoing it a bit, based on stifled smirks that appeared every time Aleksandra turned her back on them.

He occasionally chipped in with tips and tricks- "Hey, if you grab a finger and yank back as hard as you can, that'll get guys." and maybe a "Guys are bigger and stronger, so move faster and take advantage that you're smaller. Much easier for you to change direction or get out of the way than for others.” Besides that, he played the part of a good dummy.

When the session was finally over, and Aleksandra sauntered up to him and pulled him down for a kiss, he kept the girls in sight out of the corner of his eye. When she looked over to scold them, Aulfr shushed her.

“Oh, they just want some too, Sandy. Sharing is caring, you know, and they certainly look like they need to be cared for.”

He dodged Aleksandra’s kick with a surprising laugh, and slipped out the door while she was still a little toasty.

The berserkers, for all they knew, figured things went sour, based on the way he laid into them when he got back out. None of them had an advantage over the others- which is what he wanted, but still.

Aleksandra resolved to castrate him if he ever called her 'Sandy' again. And she'd do it slowly. With a knife made of wood. The girls must have realized that Aleksandra was working herself into a mood and threw themselves into their training zealously, trying not to catch the cranky warrior's attention. Unfortunately for Mitsuka, the other girls knew each other and had paired up accordingly. The small Bao woman, having worked in a different part of the castle as a lady's maid, had no close friends, especially not in the small group. So she ended up as Aleksandra's unfortunate partner.

In truth, Aleksandra was glad to have the chance to work with the smallest member of the group. She was actually taller than Mitsuka by two inches, which was definitely something she wasn't used to. And going through Mitsuka's head was the thought that the Wolf Maiden she'd grown up hearing stories about was much shorter than the stories said. In the stories, the Wolf Maiden was well over six feet tall and half a monster, with a wolf face and claws and sharp teeth. The small, pretty Ardanian woman standing before her was just that. A woman. A bit sad around the eyes, with scars all over, but a human through and through.

What surprised Mitsuka even more was the fluent Bao that flowed from the Ardanian's mouth. The other women glanced over curiously and continued working. "I'm glad we can work together today, Mitsuka. Since you're the smallest of the group, it would be beneficial for us to work together. And I'm sure you'd prefer to speak in your own tongue." The pronunciation was perfect, if not the dialect. But there were several different regional dialects in Xiang-Bao, and it was easy enough for Mitsuka to follow along. She smiled, finally completely at ease with this warrior woman.

For the next two hours, Aleksandra trained with them, spreading herself around and making the women change partners every so often to keep them from growing lazy. After all, they'd be fighting complete strangers all the time. They couldn't grow used to one fighting partner and fall into the same patterns, or they'd never learn how to anticipate what was coming next and improvise. Then, when they were all exhausted and dripping sweat, she finally let them return to their quarters. They were exempted from their usual work schedules until their training relaxed. She sent them off with instructions to eat well, drink as much water as possible, and exercise whenever they could. They'd meet again the next day.

Aulfr's training with his soldiers was also winding down, and she was still sore from his stupid nickname and teasing. So she decided to have a bit of fun. She opened the door to the courtyard and sauntered out, pretending not to pay any attention to the sweaty, half-naked warrior men fighting only yards away. She headed straight for the water barrel next to the weapons rack, stripping off her armored tunic as she went to reveal to thin linen undershirt beneath. And also her lean, athletic physique and generous bust. She could feel the eyes on her, and she hoped that Aulfr was watching and feeling some sort of jealousy.

Her cheeks were warm and flushed from the strenuous activity she'd been doing, so without any hesitation she dunked her head in the water barrel, letting the cold water energize her and cool her down at the same time. She reared back up and slicked back her hair, then turned and sauntered towards the warriors. "Prince Aulfr," she called. "Have you ever thought to teach these men how to fight a woman? Or thought to let me fight them? I'm losing my edge just sparring with you all the time. Plus, it's no fun when I can never beat my opponent." This got some of the mens' attention. The Handmaid was renowned for being one of the best warriors in Noxus, and possibly the known world. Not the best, but close. If she couldn't beat their prince, then either the prince was legendary or she wasn't as good as the stories said. Most likely a mixture of both, she knew they'd be unwisely thinking.

Aulfr turned at the sound of the new assassin's suite door opening, taking a moment to see what was up. He paused, momentarily, to watch Aleksandra strutt out and head opposite of the courtyard, presumably to the water. He was already figuring what she had in mind; he had also already figured what he was going to do about it.

Turning back to his warriors, all of which who had paused to stare, he barked, "Eyes on mine, now!" They all straightened from their various sparring positions, all of them tearing their eyes away from the Ardanian sauntering about behind him, to stare at his own. He held all of their eyes, continuing, "Anyone who looks away from me will spar with me. One-on-one, no exceptions, wooden weapons." Several groaned; Aulfr grinned, not unlike a shark. They all dreaded being 'conditioned' by Aulfr, when he brought out wooden staves to beat them with.

He temporarily closed his eyes when he heard her voice behind him, challenging his men. Two of them could hardly keep up with him, too large to effectively take advantage of Aulfr's relatively small frame. Of course, Aleksandra was tiny compared to the largest of them, but he wasn't training the berserkers to be fast, he wanted them to be smart. Although, Aleksandra did suggest a good idea- it would do both his men and Aleksandra good to train with someone other than each other, or with just Aulfr, in Aleksandra's case.

When he opened his eyes, he found two pairs of eyes quickly flick back to his- immediately, he pointed out the two and jerked his head to the side. Expectant dread creeped on the edges of their faces as they withdrew from the raggedy line of Aulfr's soldiers, to stand by the way.

Focusing back on the other eighteen soldiers, all of them dressed in nothing more than shorter leather trousers, he gave them all the evil eye. After a moment, he made his decision. "Shark and Wolf teams, you're up to fight Aleksandra. You'll be fighting in pairs; the leader of both of your groups will be paired." Ten men had stepped forward, five to each of the teams. Both of their respective leaders glanced at each other, taking an extra step forward, as Aulfr designated them to be the first to fight Aleksandra.

"Five minutes per match. Aleksandra is not allowed to leave two times your arms' length, nor is anyone allowed to break anything- I don't want anyone injured and therefore hindered. Whichever pair manages to pin her within five minutes and without breaking anything gets two hundred silver and two days off."

Turning to glance at her, and her rather attractive form- he did make sure to run a studying eye up and down her body, just to make sure she was in good shape, of course- he added, "And a kiss from her, of course."

Taking several steps to the side, leaving nothing between the leader pair and Aleksandra, he snapped, "I expect the best. Either of you show less than that and you'll be getting some combat conditioning, like those two buggars over there. Go now!"

Aleksandra looked at the men with a cool, calculating gaze, trying to gauge the measure of their skills. They had to be excellent fighters for be in Aulfr's favor, and both were larger than her, and therefore stronger. A disturbing smile crept over her lips as she realized she was actually in for a challenge. She tugged off her boots, always having preferred to fight barefoot during weaponless sparring to avoid really injuring someone with her kicks. She'd cut open a friend's cheek with the edge of her boot, once.

After tossing her boots aside, she sank into an easy, relaxed stance. She was ready to move in any direction at any time. The beginning of the fight would probably be easy. After all, they didn't really know how well she fought. And she was small, and a woman. Everyone, no matter whom they were, underestimated her abilities at first. These two would likely be no different.

She was correct. They didn't quite attack together. The larger one came forward first and swung at her, but it wasn't the most powerful punch he could throw. She swayed to the side and sidestepped, then ducked as the second one sent out a kick that ruffled the hair on top of her head. Brute #2 was definitely trying harder than Brute #1.

The first minute of the fight was just her dodging and deflecting every blow they sent her way. She would leap in and jab at them almost casually, which she could see was infuriating. They kept level heads, however, and then lashed out with all of their power, startling her. They worked as a unit, which would be enough to break most people almost immediately. Not her. It made her easier to fight them, really. As a true pairing, their range of moves was limited and somewhat easy to predict.

She began fighting back for real, dodging blows and striking back at painful pressure points the second she saw an opening. She wasn't doing much to block, which meant she was taking hits but they weren't too painful. A glancing blow to the jaw, a trod-on toe, those sorts of things. And then finally, finally, she managed to isolate one of the men and sent a devastating kick to his jaw, and he dropped like a stone. The other one didn't hesitate. He continued the fight, now pouring sweat and growling about with a manic look in his eye. Battle rage.

At that point, she was almost certain she had won. She just had to send him over the edge and he would lose any sense of precision or tactics. He'd be a bull on the rampage. And it was this sort of thinking that cost her the whole fight. She let herself relax just the slightest bit and her concentration slipped. She took a hard elbow to her throat, leaving her gagging and gasping, and then she was on the ground with her face pressed to the dirt.

Aulfr watched the fight, impassive in all but his critical eye. He removed himself from a fight such as this, so as to be as fair as possible. There was no use in playing favorites, after all, or taking a side- but he did expect Aleksandra to beat the pair of his berserkers, skilled as they may be. The fighting did get his blood up a little, the roots of his own berserker self showing themselves a little at the sight of a fight that he wasn't in, but he didn't pay it any heed, letting it sit and wither away.

He analyzed all moves, considered all routes, and found both sides' performances to be excellent. His men kept their tempers, and Aleksandra kept her weaknesses and strengths in mind. Although, he was expecting her to be more aggressive- she was a great deal more reserved and careful than he had seen before. But then again, she was fighting efficiently, expecting to be facing many more opponents; before, she had been trying to be as impressive as possible, against lesser foes.

And it came to him as a surprisingly disappointing end, when he saw her concentration slip, her guard drop just a little too much, her feet move a little too slow. He took the tree steps to where his Shark berserker kneeled, pressing Aleksandra into the ground, letting her have no leverage, no escape, nothing. He paused a moment, before crouching down. He met the Shark's eyes evenly, before commending him.

"Excellent fight, Sjorn, Shark Leader, and Thorik, Wolf Leader. You both can look forward to a pleasant break. On the other hand... let her up, will you? Fight's over."

He waited for Sjorn to get up, and gave Aleksandra a moment to regain her bearings and breath. He met her eyes, when she finally looked up at him, and said nothing, let nothing show on his face.

"Don't drop your guard again. You'd be dead right now."

And as wolfish grins appeared on all the berserkers, he shot off a look at first the leaders, then the rest of his soldiers.

"If she had knives, you'd all have already been dead. Wipe those grins off your faces. Everyone's dismissed for the day. Sjorn and Thorik, stay for your bounty."

He turned his eyes back to Aleksandra, impassive and emotionless.

Aleksandra was calm, showing only the barest hint of irritation at her loss. But inside, she was raging. And deep down, she felt small and inadequate in the face of Aulfr's disappointment. None of his men could see it like she could. He thought she was weakening. Slipping. And it both frustrated and angered her that 1) He was disappointed, and 2) that she was weak enough to give a damn what he thought.

Still, her expression were serenely neutral as she got to her feet without any apparent discomfort or annoyance, as if she were a very good sport about losing. She didn't lose often. She always lost to Aulfr, but she knew him and had respect for the way he could fight her all by himself for more than a few minutes. If it came to a true battle to the death between them, she didn't really know who'd win. But these lackeys of his? Even three of them on a bad day wouldn't hold against her. She'd been trained to kill with her hands by masters in Xiang-Bao and the deserts of Banti.

What she was truly enraged by was her own reluctance to cause Aulfr's soldiers too much pain simply because they were Aulfr's. At her own distraction, becoming so weak as to care what Aulfr thought about how she treated others. She was a killer. She'd hung men by suspension and watched them suffocate slowly. She'd pulled the guts out of a man and listened to him scream as she fed them to a stray mutt. She was ruthless, cold-blooded. And somehow she was reluctant to give a few men some bruises because she didn't want to make Aulfr unhappy. Saints, he'd probably be proud of her if she broke them both in half on accident.

And all of this flashed through her head as she looked between the two men, who both looked pleased and eager to receive their kisses from her. She was going to punch Aulfr for that. He had no right to pawn off her kisses like that. Didn't he know how special it was for her to kiss him? But at least these two didn't seem smug about it. In fact, they both looked rather sweet, with those dumb grins on their faces. It wasn't every day they earned a kiss from the Wolf Maiden. Especially because they beat her in a fight. And maybe it would make Aulfr just a little bit jealous to see her kiss them.

So she stepped forward and gave them a coquettish little smile, tossing her hair back from her face. "So, which one of you is first? And don't make me climb up the side of you, you're both going to have to lean down below cloud height to kiss me," she tutted, which immediately made them chuckle. The larger one stepped forward and dropped to one knee very gallantly, prompting a genuine smile from Aleksandra. "Alright, you. Let's get this over with." And so she leaned down a bit and kissed him, not really taking the time to enjoy the kiss, but instead cataloging the details of what kissing felt like with other men. Kind of warm. And slobbery. Not the most pleasant.

And then the kiss was over and she wanted to wipe her lips, but that would be rude. So she let the man walk away and started to raise a hand to her mouth, but then the shorter one was there and wiping her lips for her with the edge of a kerchief he'd apparently had, gentle and with no small amount of amusement in his eyes. She raised an eyebrow and lightly batted his hand away, grabbing the cloth from him to do it herself. She was secretly pleased that he'd realized how awkward that had been. And she was also pleased that he was much shorter than the slobbery giant. Still quite muscled and strong as an ape, but he was only half a foot taller than her.

And handsome. His eyes were a soft brown framed by gold lashes, and his hair was that same gold, just a bit too long and curling at his ears and nape. He had a friendly, perpetually-amused expression. She was sort of looking forward to kissing him. And she didn't have to wait long. He wasted no time once she finished wiping off the spit. He captured her wrist and tugged her closer, his lips closing the distance suddenly enough that she felt a small stab of panic in her chest and held rigid a moment. And then, the sensation hit her. Heat. A fire in her belly that almost scared her at the feeling of his mouth moving on hers, on the way he instinctively wrapped an arm around her and let his hand wander a bit...

"Hey!" Too low his hand went. She broke away, displacing his hand from her rear, and lashed out with a few expert kicks. He was flat on his back in moments, half laughing and half gasping. "Don't get too full of yourself, boy. I've bathed in blood before. They didn't give me all of those scary names for no reason." She 'nudged' him in the side with her foot. "Up," she snapped. "Go slither off with the rest of your comrades."

@Fennec

Aulfr watched impassively as the two leaders took their turns with Alexandra. He restrained himself from showing anything- albeit a difficult task- as they did so. He himself was surprised at how strongly he suddenly wanted to beat the two men away from his Alexandra- but no, she was her own woman. She could run off, if she wanted to. Not his at all.

His posture straightened, muscles tensed. He hardly noticed it himself; he was just aware of the urge to teach his men a couple more lessons- again- and of the rationality to not do that at the current moment.

It did bring some amount of satisfaction to see the Thorik's ass handed to him, after trying to touch her. But... their moment of staring gooey-like at each other made him uneasy. Perhaps this wasn't so great an idea as he expected. And to be fair to himself, he had fully expected her to wipe out his entire team- he didn't think that they'd be able to beat the Ardanian. It just showed that, perhaps, she was getting a little rusty- or that his soldiers were trained better than he expected.

He waited for his berserkers to finish joking around and having their little revels- despite some amount of wounded pride at very nearly being beaten by such a small woman- and then called them over. He gave Aleksandra a "wait" hand signal, so that he could speak to his men first.

"Alright. If you can beat Aleksandra, I figure your training has reached its pinnacle. We'll still be practicing, but from here on out, you'll be paired up with each other and then you'll train a group of six recruits- we're moving on to the next stage, brothers. But before we get to that, you all are going to be on guard duty at the next feast. I'll see to it that you're in place- just show up at the predesignated area, and you'll be moving from there. Welcome to the Royal Guard, gentleman. Within the week, you'll be the upper echelon of the military, and training the elite soldiers that will go on to start retraining our armies. Understood? If so, then dismissed."

He waited for them all to raise their fists in the air and bellow, "AYE, VOLSUNG!"

He waved them off, and they departed, laughing and shoving each other, a brotherhood of soldiers. Even more so because their commanding officer, the man they see to be Oberjarl, called them equals. They all knew they weren't, not really, but they were respected by the man they sought respect from, and that was enough.

He waited half a minute after they left before approaching Aleksandra. He said nothing at first; he just stepped over to her, and looked down at her.

Quietly, he admitted, "I didn't quite expect that. Thought you would wipe out my entire team, or at least, most of them. Come. Let's head back inside."

He neatly stepped around her, and began striding towards the door that she had emerged from, not half an hour before. He pushed it open as he went, not breaking a single stride, not slowing down for an instant, and letting the door hang open for her to close it.

He briefly explored a train of thought- how did Aleksandra, the strong, independent assassin, feel about suddenly becoming one's... well, servant, even if he had made it a point to make her more than that. All through this, she was still a servant to him. Still taking his orders, following behind him. He'd probably hang himself before he followed anyone, before he took someone's orders and did it amiably and willingly.

He pushed it out of mind. He can think about that later, or talk about it with her.

He crossed to the middle of the great pad in the middle of the assassin's main training room, and turned to face the door. He dropped to the ground, folding his legs beneath him to sit, and then he gestured in front of him, motioning for the following Alexandra to sit.

Once she had, he clapped his hands together, rubbed them, and then said, "Alright. First of all- things you did wrong. What do you think you did wrong in your fight?"

Aleksandra was fuming inside. She was weak, she was arrogant, and she could have been killed had that been a true fight. She just knew this would eat away at her for days. Maybe even weeks. She was sure of this as she took her seat on the floor in front of Aulfr. She had to wait a minute, then two, as she calmed herself enough to answer.

"I was cocky. I know how I excel at hand-to-hand combat and I haven't truly fought anyone for awhile. Not anyone that can challenge me. I grew overconfident in my own abilities and decided I didn't have to try with your soldiers. I was a moron, and I was just trying to tease you. I'm weak." She grit her teeth and took in a deep breath. "Truly, I shouldn't let myself... fraternize anymore. I'm slipping. My infatuation with you is making me lose my edge."

She stood up and ran a hand through her hair, giving her head a shake. "I apologize, Aulfr. I failed you today. I vow not to do it again." She gave him a firm nod and left quickly, disappearing into a side-passage to be alone for awhile. She needed some time to think.

//So it's the worst post ever but I'll get back up to speed soon.

Aulfr watched her leave, not entirely sure what to say or do. He didn't let that show, of course, but it was still a conundrum that he didn't like. At least Aleksandra knew what she did wrong. And, frankly, he disagreed with part of her statement, but he'll remedy that later.

Either way, he was left rather abruptly alone in the room. He rocked back and forth on his heels, not having anything to do for the time being. The assassins-in-training were dismissed, his soldiers were dismissed, he didn't want to retreat to his room like usual, in case Aleksandra had taken refuge there.

Well, shite.



Aulfr stalked down the hallways, searching for... Ah! Yes!

Retrieving one of the black keys from his belt, he inserted it into the thick ironwood door's lock. Loud thunks signalled its lock state, and he pushed the heavy open door open with shoulder and arm.

Having entered the room, he glanced around, his mood sombering up. It was somber to begin with, but this...

This was all his mother's old stuff.

He sat on his mother's favorite armchair, and stared at the wall opposite.

It was a dark wall.

Barely any light spilled into the room.

But it was enough.

So he sat, and thought. He thought about his course so far, his planned course in the future. He thought about his former family- his father isn't really his father anymore, after all. His mother is gone.

What would his mother have done?

The sad part was, he didn't remember enough of his mother to know the answer to that.

A little over two weeks passed. Aleksandra slowly distanced herself from Aulfr, fearful that growing any closer to him would weaken her resolve. She needed to be as strong as possible when the time came to face her brothers. Not only that, but she couldn't let herself be distracted by Aulfr any more than she already was. Such a preoccupied mind could get her killed out in the city if she let her guard down.

She didn't pull away from him completely. But she rarely adopted her playful attitude, or teased him. She kissed him only briefly, and only every so often. In the mornings, she would untangle herself from him long before he woke and train with the men in the courtyard and run drills with her maid assassins.

Aulfr seemed to grow distant from her as well, almost distracted. A tension was building in the air, something that promised to burst soon, and it felt like it wouldn't be a very quiet ordeal. He was planning something big. She just ignored it, knowing he'd tell her what it was soon enough. So she kept to her training. A few hunts in the city came and went, as did the death of another rival jarl who had openly admitted to having sent an assassin to Aulfr. And the assassination attempts were growing in number. One every other day at least. It seemed to her that the Oberjarl was growing desperate.

Aulfr sat in his thinking chair, as he now called it, and stared out the broken glass of his beloved overlooking window. Unfortunately, one of the damned assassins decided to make a flashy entrance and break through the glass, roll into the room, and try throwing daggers at him and Aleksandra. Fortunately, Aleksandra is badass and killed him before he finished his roll.

But the asshole didn't replace his goddamn window. He loved the hell out of the window.

Yeah, the jarl that sent him is dead. Very dead.

He also needed to speak with his assassin, his distant friend. He rather missed her, even if he had been quite preoccupied lately. It was here he sat, when he heard the door open and close behind him, Aleksandra entering the room. Presumably, she had just gotten back from her morning training; it was not too terribly hard to smell her, even if he didn't mind the somewhat foul smell of sweat. Sweat means hard work and effort, after all.

Standing up, he stared at the broken glass for a moment before turning around to face Aleksandra.

"Ah, good, you're back. The next feast is the day after tomorrow. And we're making our move. My guardsmen are all assigned to the proper positions; I'm going to be challenging my father for Oberjarl, that day. I'll be fighting this, and you're going to be keeping anyone from interfering. My men are going to be doing the same thing, but I need you to really keep an eye on everyone. Make sure none of the jarls rallies anyone, or tries to make a move. I'd rather not have to replace any more; as it is, we're actually too low on jarls. Any more, and we'll start having too few people controlling too much."

He gave her a sort-of smile. He was nervous; tense. This was what the past few years have been coming down to.

"Your maids, assassins in training, they'll be the maids of the event. They'll not be killing anyone, I just need them there so that they keep an eye on everyone both before and during my challenge."

Aleksandra, still soaked in sweat from her most recent training session- with Thorik, the cheeky fighter who'd won a kiss from her during their first spar- didn't even realize that Aulfr was in their room as she started plodding past, headed for the bath chamber. She almost jumped in fright when she heard his voice behind her, and already had a dagger out, even if it was somewhat halfhearted. She was exhausted and she recognized his voice immediately. She sighed and sheathed her weapon, turning fully to listen to him.

She blinked in surprise as he delivered the news. So it was finally happening. After two months of murdering and scraping and suffering through the ridiculous 'feasts', Aulfr was making a move for the throne. Well, good. She was tired of dodging assassins left and right. Now she knew how annoying her kind could be.

Her girls weren't anywhere near ready for fighting, but their acting was coming along nicely. If anyone tried to do something dodgy, the girls would find some way to cause a scene and make some distractions. And Aleksandra could now fend off four of Aulfr's specially trained fighters for nearly ten minutes at this point, so anyone trying to get past her would have quite a bad day. And so would the servant made to clean up her mess afterwards.

"I don't mean to pass judgment on your skills. I know you're an expert warrior, but what happens if the fight starts to turn? Your father won't hesitate to kill you, and I..." She paused, cast her gaze to the floor, and swallowed her pride. "I don't think I could bear to lose you should this end badly." She crossed her arms over her chest and met his gaze, her expression set in stone. "What should I do if the battle shifts too far in the Oberjarl's favor?"

Aulfr took the several steps over to his assassin, gently laying both hands on her shoulders. She had a valid point; he might not do as well as he expected. He didn't even expect the challenge to be the most difficult thing about all this- but the Oberjarl knew he was making his move soon. Of course he'd be as ready as he possibly could- and an Oberjarl would try very hard indeed to keep his position.

"A valid point, my friend. I might've underestimated my father had it not been for this. I will not lose, though. Either I win and everything goes to plan, or I lose and it's all over. You'd be released from your contract, to do whatever you wish. I... I don't know how to guarantee my safety, and the success of the plan. I will not eat or drink anything in the feast- something might be poisoned. And I will fight him as soon as possible. But you will not intervene. If I kill the Oberjarl with help, I would not be Oberjarl. I would be, in name, but not in respect."

He shook his head, and sighed heavily. So this is what it felt like to have a loved one worrying over you, and oneself worrying over their worry. It was all very confusing, wasn't it? He almost wished he had never met her. Almost.

"Stay strong, Aleksandra. We'll be fine, you'll see."

He removed his hands from her shoulder, and replied to her last question.

"If the battle shifts to the Oberjarl's, then wait and see. If I die, am ended, then you're free to go. You are one of my closest allies, and a direct threat- if I am no longer in any sort of power, then you will be one of the first he wants to end."

Aleksandra listened, her heart growing heavier in her chest. She had tried not to worry about him, but it was an impossible feeling to rid herself of. And she knew it would only grow worse over the next two days. This was going to distract her. But for the next two days, she reasoned, if she let herself feel it she could put it away during the feast. It wasn't good to keep things in for too long.

So as his hands slid from her shoulders, she caught them and slowly, not meeting his gaze, twined her fingers through his. She could worry over him and give him her strength for these few days. She could be all his support if he needed it.

"I'll be your castle walls, Aulfr. No one will get past me, should they even dare to try." There was a new look in her eye, a tone to her voice that she'd never used with him before. A sort of crazed determination that she usually reserved only for hunts, when she was out for blood. "And by all your gods and the Saints above, I'll see you sitting at the head of the table at the next 'feast', even if the heads of your enemies are lying at your feet when the time comes."

She raised his hands to her lips and pressed a firm kiss to his fingers, then let go. And then she went to take a bath.

Aulfr stared after Aleksandra, unsure of what she was doing. It wasn’t everyday that she said something so serious, so… personal? They often talked about other things, usually relating to death in one way or another, but their affection was generally physical.

It lit both warmth and unease in his belly, and the very fact of it set him at even more unease.

Watching her recede into the bathroom, he turned to something more immediate, more material, and much simpler. Striding over to his wardrobe, he threw it open and stared at his assorted weapons collection. Reaching in, he withdrew the one thing that really drew Aleksandra’s interest- the khopesh.

Holding it in his hand, he studied it. A sword whose purpose was primarily offense- it would suit him, since he did not usually go on the defensive. His opponents never had time to force him to the defensive, not when he would press them as much as possible. A good swordsman could bide their time and wait for him to tire out, and many have attempted to do just that- but they usually found their throat held at the tip of his sword before they saw a proper, exploitable opening.

Fitting the khopesh to his hand and swinging it a little, he decided he’d use it. And, of course, Aleksandra is going to help him. The khopesh is not his usual specialty, and will be plenty enough to throw his father off guard.

So, khopesh in hand, he strolled over to his bed and flopped down, waiting for his partner to finish with her self-cleaning.

Ever since her performance at the ball, the way the servants reacted to her commands had changed. So when she asked for a hot bath, they responded immediately, as if forgetting that she were lower in the hierarchy than even themselves. Ten minutes later, she was filling the stone bowl in the floor with warm water and shucking off her clothes. She went through her daily routine, scrubbing off the dead skin and sweat, cleaning her hair with the soaps she'd bought and then combing it out, before she drained and refilled the tub so she could soak away the aches and pains of the day.

Her mind was calm. She worried for Aulfr, but ultimately she realized he would succeed and take his rightful place upon the throne. Even if she had to make it happen. She could not live as a slave much longer. Even if Aulfr didn't often point out his hold on her, she felt it. Every time she had to return to their chambers, sleep in his bed, have no personal space of her own. Every time he ordered her to kill this jarl, intimidate that one. It wore on her, and she wanted that invisible leash gone.

She spent a long time in the bath, until the water grew too chilly and her hair had mostly dried. She finally dragged herself out and pulled on the outfit she'd prepared, a pair of trousers and one of Aulfr's tunics. She braided back her damp hair and padded out of the bathroom, tired enough that she didn't notice the khopesh in Aulfr's hands until she'd flopped down on the bed. She raised an eyebrow.

"Your father uses a sword or an axe, does he not? Perhaps you should practice with someone capable of doing the same. Otherwise you won't be prepared for that fight. Or would you like to fight me using your normal weapons while I use the khopesh? That way, you can get a feel for how your father might defend himself against you."

Aulfr shook his head, already denying her offers and suggestions. His father was older now. He was slower and weaker, and his experience doesn't give him an overwhelming superiority anymore.

"Nay, my dear. I want you to teach me how to use it- I already have many advantages, but using a weapon no one has heard of- not around here, at least- will give me an even bigger one. I can adapt and react quickly, so once I know the differences and similarities between this and a normal axe or sword will allow me enough to use it as both."

He paused for a moment, before slowly setting his khopesh aside.

Standing, he slowly walked up to Aleksandra. Smiling almost as slowly as his gait- an uncommon soft, gentle, invitingly warm smile, he continued.

"However, I've just realized my poor timing. Hardly fair to make you work after relaxing from your own training."

He reached up to gently stroke her somewhat damp hair.

"I suppose we could relax for a good bit. There really isn't any hurry, at this point."