Eh? No armour? Klaus thought the sparring session was over and the Paladin would be switching to the forms & techniques lesson this time, until she notices her wooden sword. The same training of her one-sided execution will resume with that Paladin of weird proportion and skin tone. The immortal knight without any armour isn't something any Knight would very often, but as surprised as Klaus was, it explains she sheer size of that armour. And thats what happens if someone wear too much armour for hundreds and hundreds of years, too little sunlight exposure and encumberance... Klaus placed her stray thoughts to one side once Tyaethe resumed the training.

"Ready at any time." Ending her sentence, Klaus took the first step towards Tyaethe, playing it aggressive like the previous exchange. With one twist of her wrist, Klaus lunged herself forward as she thrusted her wooden blade towards the Paladin's heart with her full force. Despite taking that strong initiative, she can't help but to feel being more at the gallows than the courtyard.

"It's not my fault that I was doing my job!" protested Alaree, before remembering herself after a moment. She let out a nervous laugh and scratched the back of her head. "Uhhh... thanks for your help though, Sir Tiral!"

It was less that she cared too much(she frequently didn't remember to curtsy unless Viora was there to smack her on the back of the head) and more that right now she was wary of being yelled at by Viora. She knew she'd already forgotten that she had to do something... but she'd gotten distracted. "One of your fellow magi showed up asking about some books, and asked me to go and get them!"

After a moments pause, getting a somewhat... goofy grin on her face, the pigtailed maid continued.

"If you know her, I'm sure you'd recognize her! No-one could forget a massive rack like that!"

Really, inappropriate comments were rather key to the maid known as Alaree's personality. To anyone who knew her, her continued failures at speaking an an appropriate manner were often somewhat comforting. Albeit, for Viora at least, incredibly irritating as well.

---

"Ah... no, that won't be necessary," Fanilly replied swiftly. She didn't need anyone else punishing her maids. If there was a problem, she would speak to them about it. They were servants in her employ, after all, so she couldn't simply give that responsibility to someone else. More then that, however. She shouldn't have had to be awakened in the first place. She should have found some way to keep an eye on the time rather then sleeping in. Hands wringing at her shirt, the blonde girl remembered herself and swiftly began to dress. First her shirt, then the jacket that signified her position, the golden epaulets on each shoulder, her frilled skirt and long socks...

As she dressed, she was careful to try and remain out of Lilianna's line of sight, even if the woman was trying her best not to look at her.

"I should not have slept in in the first place, regardless..."

@PKMNB0Y@Raineh Daze

Fleuri Jodeau

As Klaus rushed in, Fleuri danced around, tightly gripping the massive wooden sword he had chosen. He was taken aback by Tyaethe's lack of armor- her childlike appearance was perplexing to say the least, but he knew better than to underestimate an opponent from their appearance.

His goal was to both get some room to swing his weapon and to flank Tyaethe- he and Klaus would be most effective if they attacked the paladin from different angles. Even in the likely event that she had seen and dealt with it before in her centuries of service, it would still be more effective than attacking directly alongside Klaus. Tyaethe's lack of armor would likely make her much quicker and more agile than with it, but the lack of weight would also work against her- physical strength was limited by one's ability to leverage it, and if struck by a great enough force, the waifish paladin would go flying off her feet all the same.

The white-haired paladin's frown deepened. Fleuri wasn't being anywhere near aggressive enough for her liking--leaving Klaus to attack unsupported gave her too many opportunities to reduce it to one on one and earn victory that way. She'd have to force him in, even if that meant effectively ignoring Klaus for an instant. They both had to get involved.

The thrust missed, going over the head of its target as she dropped into a low stance and sprang forwards, looking for all the world like she'd been shot out of a catapult. Her target: a scything cut meant to take Fleuri's legs out from beneath him, with a secondary goal of repositioning the paladin so that the knight stood between her and Klaus. She had mobility in her favour here and had to use it; letting herself get caught in a pincer trap would be difficult if she couldn't beat one of them immediately.

---

If the captain didn't want her maids to get punished--and it really was their fault, the rest of them had just gotten back from the trek--there wasn't much that she could do. "Well, if that's the case, then I'll see you down at breakfast. But first... Vivien, you should apologise for waking her up like that."

For a second it seemed that the girl wouldn't say anything, but, sullenly... "Sorry, Auntie..."

@Noodles@Crimson Paladin

Klaus wouldn't let her guard down when such an opening is presented, especially when facing a superior opponent. If I can't beat someone in strength, I will compete with techniques. She made the resolve to herself to refine the lethality of her cuts by the end of her training, in such a way where each and every one of her slashes kill. She knows better than anyone that her current incomplete form will definitely fail her someday. So, this is as far as talent goes, I need to build a proper style with my own hands, before the unresolved war bites me back.

Klaus took the second step towards Tyaethe almost immediately. At the same time the Paladin swung towards Fleuri, Klaus sent down her sword with one strong flick of her wrist. She doesn't have to raise her sword too much due to Tyaethe's lower stance. And this time, that slash is much more smooth & polished, with less wasted movements as compared to before. Her sword seemed alive for a moment, as if it has a will to slice the Paladin into two. She is far from mastering her sword, but she shows a subtle sign of getting there.

Fleuri Jodeau

Fleuri had anticipated an attack from Tyaethe but had not foreseen the lightning speed of it. He attempted to backstep away from the blow, but his dodge was only partially successful- the paladin's blow landed on one of his legs with surprising force, knocking him off-balance. The knight managed- just barely- to avoid falling on his back, but was left vulnerable as he scrambled to regain his footing. At this point he knew that Tyaethe had a clear shot at him, and he would be unable to properly defend.

Fortunately, Klaus had no intention of giving Tyaethe an opportunity to fell the unbalanced Fleuri, and rushed in to attack the paladin. He wasn't sure if Klaus was trying to help him or if she simply saw an opportunity, but he was grateful regardless. It was something of a weakness in Fleuri's technique that he struggled to rely upon and support others in combat- in the tournaments, there could be only one winner, and the enemy of your enemy was merely a problem to be dealt with further down the road. In the Iron Rose Knights, he would have to shed this attitude, and unlearn some of what he had become accustomed to when fighting.

I suppose there's no time to start doing so like the present.

As soon as he regained his bearings, he tightened his grip on his sword and took a step forward, swinging the large wooden weapon in a horizontal arc towards Tyaethe. If nothing else it'd hopefully prevent her from countering Klaus' blow.

"Well, I can't have a bunch of books and papers lying around in the middle of the walkway; someone'd bound to step on them, and I'd rather not see precious documents wasted. Even so..." Tiral trailed off, pausing for a moment at the maid's blatant lapse in judgement when choosing her words to describe the apparent guest. It took a few moments for him to realize what she had meant by 'massive rack', but when he did, the mage turned away and took a deep breath. Breathing out heavily though his nose, the young man massaged his forehead before picking up another book to add to a stack... Or so it seemed.

"The commander really needs to train her maids more—or, at the very least, hire ones that aren't completely incompetent when it comes to social cues," he thought to himself as he chopped the maid on the head with the book he had just picked up.
"Manners. I should have hoped the Captain's maids would be less frivolous when it came to things like important guests, especially when judging them solely on body alone. Being so lax in such matters will only bring us more problems in the future. In any case, I shall aid in bringing them over. It might do me some good to discuss the recent events with someone who isn't trying to pin all the blame on me... Or someone who isn't completely clueless, I might add," he concluded, picking up whatever documents that were left on the floor and bringing himself to his feet.

"Well, where is she waiting? I would think you've already been made late by the fact that you were likely tottering around even before you crashed into me, and I would hate to keep her occupied any longer."

"I will talk to my maids wh-ah?"

The little girl was rather sullenly apologizing to her. After a moment, well... Fanilly obviously wasn't going to be angry with her after that. Smiling warmly, the blonde girl knelt down in front of Vivien and raised her hand in order to gently pat her on the head. "It's fine, Vivien. I don't think I would have woken up any time soon without you. Perhaps you should be the new head maid?"

Almost immediately Fanilly felt uncertain if that was actually an amusing comment or simply a strange thing to say. She hoped for the former as she rose to her feet. Hopefully, she had not missed anything important in the time she slept in. At the very least, she was certain that she had not missed breakfast. Given breakfast was waffles and bacon today, this was of course a good thing.

---

"Ow!"

The sound came out in something of a squeak when the book collided with Alaree's head. She immediately placed both hands on top of the point of impact, wincing. Before she could ask what that was for(even though it should have been obvious), however, Tiral immediately cute her off with his own explanation and complaints. By the end, Alaree was simply left pouting. Why not describe the mage by using her most notable features?! but regardless, she gathered up the remaining books, and swiftly lead the mage knight to the location of the guest...

When they arrived, it was likely Tiral really would recognize the mage.

Bethany smiled.

"Ah, hello, Sir Tiral," she began. For the moment she seemed more confident, at least.

@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y

Good, they were starting to work together--but a far cry from pinning her down with this sort of style, which is what they had to do. So long as the paladin wasn't surrounded, then she was confident that she would remain undefeated. On the flip side, if engaged from both sides with no armour and no bladed weapon to simply split the opponent... well, that would be game over. But for now, their first effort had gone awry; Fleuri's stumbling delayed a co-ordinated response and Klaus had yet to take into account that the wielder was moving even more than her blade, relocating to beyond the pair and using her hefty sword as a shield to shove away Fleuri's attack.

That she was now sporting a wide grin would not be any consolation when the deflection was followed up with an arcing slash that would get the both of them if they came close--and, frustratingly for anyone used to serious fighting, still manage to include a small flip backwards to gather herself even more breathing room.

@Noodles@Crimson Paladin

---

"... oh!"

The grey-heared woman took her leave of the captain and made her way to breakfast, pausing to hand her daughter over to Abigail--excitedly talking about becoming Fanilly's new head made. As much as she would have wanted to play right now, they had a guest over and it was her duty to retain a proper air in public. Moreover, given their guest had come from the court... it was best to be ready in case there was some task or other that had been prepared for them.

Klaus had her eye on Tyaethe, even after her attack was evaded. She was focused to her opponent, not showing any sign of letting down her guard. Right after the backflip which marks the end of the second exchange, Klaus lowered her sword, her tip pointing the direction of the opponent knee as she approaches the Paladin, positioning herself just one step before her sword reach.

Encroaching in, Klaus unlowered her sword slowly but steadily, her stance, posture and her grasp of her sword is firm & solid in such a way where she is ready to attack any time. She didn't rush into attacking at this moment, but instead she had her sword stancing for the center line, to threaten Tyaethe's position and give an invitation for the Paladin to attack. Also, not rushing in recklessly would give the time needed for Fleuri to prepare too, for a better coordinated attack.

"Ah, yes, Ms. Bethany. It has been a while. I presume you're faring well?" Tiral asked, responding to the Court Mage's greeting with one of his own before casually bringing the books that he had in hand to her side. "It's rare that the Court Mage would come here, especially considering recent events. But, well..."

The mage trailed off as he glanced a bit more closely at the books he had in hand, and with a quick glance backwards to confirm that the books in the hands of the maid were of a similar topic, sighed.

"...I assume you've been looking into these matters too, then? Well, I would pry further, but I've already got enough chains on me with the College dumping all their fault onto me right now. If you need any help, please, feel free to ask."

The subject matter... Angroron. Having dealt with the fallout regarding the shard was enough, and to be quite frank, the young man could do without having to stare into the abyss every waking moment of his life. But at this point, there wasn't any feasible way he could avoid the topic any more.

Damn old men and their incessant habits of prying into things not meant to be tampered with.

The court mage quietly nodded with a sigh.

"Angroron and any other matters related to Orodrunn," she said, placing one of the books on the desk and opening it. "It's clear to me that the attempt on the Princess's life was a cover for the theft of the shard... though judging by the information we received I don't believe the conspirators knew that. At least, not the one who survived."

She sighed again. Neither of the Nem had been told anything, aside from who to target and what would happen if the assassination failed. The mage who survived the raid seemed adamant that it had been done to rip the country down and rebuild it. And yet something didn't seem right to the court mage. The fact that there simply had been no other acts against the crown, even though the conspiracy had been so brazen prior. This seemed to indicate that they'd been annihilated, but why were they so small? And why had the struck on the same night as the theft of the shard?

It all seemed to fit together far too well to Bethany.

"But if someone is trying to gather the shards of Angroron, we need to have some idea of what they're attempting to do," the brunette mage continued, "It's not possible to reforge the sword, as it was created by Orodrunn himself and broken by a Saint empowered by the godesses. But the shards themselves hold enough darkness in them that surely they can achieve something..."

Bethany frowned deeply to herself. But what? Hopefully her research would shed some light on the matter, but in any case she was glad that her second meeting with one of the magi among the Roses was in a less crowded atmosphere with a subject she could deal far more easily with.

It was only a few moments later that the mage noticed the maid lingering nearby and staring directly at her chest. Blushing, she reflexively covered herself.

Alaree's response was immediate.

"I wasn't looking! At all!"

With that, the pigtailed maid was off, likely to avoid being chopped on the head with a book again.

@PKMNB0Y

Fleuri Jodeau

Tyaethe's counterattack failed to strike Fleuri or Klaus, but it gave the paladin enough space to reposition herself. She's a surprisingly slippery one, Fleuri observed, a bit frustrated. And I suspect that if needed, she can do this all day and night, until we become tired or make a mistake, whatever comes first. It was clear that he would need to become used to the prospect of fighting foes that do not share his human limitations.

Fleuri lifted his sword upward and took a position next to Klaus, warily watching Tyaethe, ready to bring his sword down the moment she moved within range. This fight would require some coordination, and that in turn would require some communication.

"I've got your back. Ready when you are, sister," he told Klaus, without turning his gaze away from Tyaethe- he knew better than to take his eyes off her even for a moment. He himself was unsure exactly what they would do- they would figure it along the way- but whatever they did, they would need to be able to support each other in whatever they did, and to trust the other to do their part.

They had the co-ordination part down now, which would beat her in this situation if she kept on approaching this cautiously. Of course, that was her own fault--this wasn't a style about being cautious and she'd taken too much care in the first place, given them time to start working together. The only way out was to go back to the roots of it and overwhelm. Every blow must be one the could kill, every defence will be torn through, and attempts to get out of the way must still leave you vulnerable to further attacks. The only defence allowed would be to catch and deflect a blow with a dagger or hand.

So despite wooden swords limiting her ability to cut through guards, it at least let her do the last thing without an armoured gauntlet. That was good.

"You two aren't bad. Keep training and we'll be able to do this properly some day, one on one," the paladin said, shifting her grip and tensing, "But this is going to end here, one way or another."

The attack was aimed at Fleuri, and again contained an unnecessary but distracting flip--but even as the stroke was completing, it was already transitioning into a slash. The plan was simple: keep attacking until the attacks got through and cut the opponent down; defend by giving nobody a chance to get close. A strike in the slimmest of pauses between blows was just an invitation to have the blow knocked aside and leave you open.

Really, the key was obvious. Hit first.

@Crimson Paladin@Noodles

Fleuri Jodeau

Tyaethe would not let up, it seemed. She flipped forward, swinging her weapon at Fleuri, no doubt intent on eliminating the numerical advantage against her. To Fleuri, however, it was an opening- while Tyaethe was flipping through the air with her feet off the ground, she could not leverage her inhuman physical strength beyond the speed at which she had catapulted herself and the weight behind her weapon, and she would not be able to dance out of the way. Fleuri stepped forward and brought his weapon down on where Tyaethe was landing.

He wouldn't be able to match her speed- her blow would likely hit before his own- and the convention of the sparring match would mean that he would be eliminated, regardless of whether his armor allowed him to withstand the blow- an infuriating technicality for a tournament fighter like Fleuri. Fortunately, it would not stop his own blow from hitting its mark, and eliminating Tyaethe. If this were a 1-on-1 fight, this would make him the loser in the exchange, but fortunately, he did not need to prevail- he only needed to eliminate his opponent, leaving his ally to prevail as the last one standing.

At least, he hoped that's how it'd play out. The conventions of sparring did not always make perfect sense, and absorbing a blow from Tyaethe was a daunting prospect regardless.

Two defensive stances, nice coordination. Klaus thought to herself silently & sarcastically. With nobody attacking, they are as good as sitting ducks for someone superior.

Her opponent could literally choose the targets, and that is no good thing. Even when using a defensive stance, Klaus prefers using it offensively, because that's her style, she likes making initiative instead of waiting.

And the target that was chosen was Fleuri. From how it looks to Klaus, Fleuri would be the one in the receiving end of the sword. At her current position, she knew she isn't able to stop Tyaethe's strike, but she charged in towards the Paladin, raising her sword.

As the exchange of swords ends between Fleuri and Tyaethe, Klaus swung her sword down, to add another slash on the Paladin, in an attempt to finish off the remains of her ally's engagement.

A definite hit taken as trade to strike an unavoidable blow: Fleuri's plan was almost perfect, relying as it did on the simple fact that what went up had to come down and more achievable without losing an arm than in an actual combat scenario. If he'd pulled it off earlier before she got into it or against someone else, then it would be an open and shut case, with no way out and no time to react. Instead, the paladin that should have fallen into his blow stayed perilously in the air, weight resting over the blade itself--and his shoulder. In a manner directly reminiscent of the handstand she had been doing just a minute before, though with her hands spread.

Of course, all the forward momentum that had aided her in using the sword as a pivot had to go somewhere and she kept going, landing on the ground--behind Fleuri. "Klaus, do you want to keep going?"

@Noodles@Crimson Paladin

Klaus missed a strike when her opponent pulled out techniques that definitely isn't written in any books. A mid-air exchange that sends both warriors on the opposite direction she was intending to cut.

She heightened her sword back from the missed cut. Right now her target was right behind Fleuri. And I'm out of the picture again, picture? oh wait, I've got an idea...

Klaus grasped her sword with one hand by the end of the handle. With one lunge towards Fleuri, it seemed like Klaus was attacking her teammate until the last moment where Klaus sends her sword right beside the side of Fleuri's neck, her sword going across Fleuri as she thrusts it towards the Immortal Knight, extending the range of her sword by stabbing it with one hand. By the time Klaus' blade became unhidden from Fleuri's back, it was already travelling at full speed, towards the Paladin's heart~

"Absolutely,"

Fleuri Jodeau

Fleuri's blow never hit its target- Tyaethe proved too agile, catapulting herself over Fleuri using her wooden sword as leverage against his shoulder. His blade swept diagonally where she would have landed, striking the ground in front of him. He managed withstood the paladin's unorthodox blow without going to his knees- he had at least correctly predicted that she could only transmit so much force into him without leveraging against something else- but it didn't matter, for he had been struck, and failed to strike his foe in turn, meaning he had been eliminated from the fight, without having eliminated Tyaethe in return.

He scarcely had the opportunity to process what had happened (although he at least recognized that it did not go as he had hoped) when Klaus took the initiative and charged at him- and at Tyaethe. His ally thrust her weapon past his neck at the paladin.

Without even bothering to turn his head to see if it had any effect (and fully expecting it wouldn't), he shuffled out of the way, dragging his wooden sword on the ground behind him. He certainly did not mean for Klaus to have to fight this battle herself, but it seems she would have to do just that. Whatever the case, he felt he'd owe her an apology afterwards.

To respond to an attack with only sight to go on, with a minimum of time--her sword too large to block with effectively and her body unable to move out of the way of this thrust in time, even now too large. It was almost certainly a game over scenario. Yet this body had drilled every move of both its styles over a thousand times, as the stalwart bulwark that could anchor a whole line and the lonesome paladin from before the Starlight Saint was more than a child. Her instincts knew what to do, even if Tyaethe was barely able to keep up and her body moved in sync.

Don't block. Don't dodge. Take the attack and make it into an opening. Her free hand moved and intercepted the sword, grabbing it and pushing it away, past her, despite the sound of cracking. And with the attack out of the way, the response was to attack, blade swinging down in time with the deflection.

The fact that Tyaethe was now laughing was probably no comfort to anyone.