Klaus had the same feeling that she sensed over and over throughout the 'friendly' sparring match, the feeling of her dead sword.

Being the one seeing the descending slash, Klaus knows very well that the slash is unavoidable. The safest place for Klaus is the spot furthest from the tip of Tyaethe's blade: The closer to the handle, the less speed on that swing, no... a clear strike like this, it will be a dead hit no matter which part of the blade, no need to think, just....

Klaus forced another step forward towards the tall knight and abandoned the grasp of her wooden sword. With one twist of her waist, she sent out one punch towards Tyaethe's gut with her free, right hand, as the slash inevitably landed on Klaus. No, it wasn't over yet, Klaus' jaws were open wide, and using her remaining momentum, her mouth was headed to the Paladin's throat, with the full intention of biting it off with her last breath.

Apparently, Klaus had been so ferociously engrossed in her offensive that she forgotten that it was just mere sparring, that there was her own visor blocking what she is trying to pull off...

If Tyaethe was surprised by Klaus's actions, it wasn't in her aggressive ardour; the paladin was intimately familiar with such an assault. Rather, the fact that she was still on her feet after receiving a blow meant to knock her aside and capable of launching the punch--that was entirely unexpected. So unexpected that the punch solidly collided, forcing her to take a step back from the impact.

The attempt to bite through her neck less so, as the diminutive paladin dropped her blade and used her remaining good arm to hold Klaus' head at arm's length, grinning. This spar--spur of the moment as it was--had worked out a lot better than she had seen coming. The pair of them had gotten the idea of what they needed to do down, if not the execution, and shown far more spirit than too many she'd fought or served with.

"A damaged arm for two mortal blows. I think the victor is clear, though you show a lot of potential."

Fleuri Jodeau

With Tyaethe's blow having struck Klaus, the sparring match was over, with the expected outcome. He looked down, too shamed to look either Tyaethe or Klaus in the eye.

"What would you have us do, then, Sir Tyaethe? he asked, raising his visor and looking up at the immortal paladin. "How might we better ourselves to become worthy of our titles? By what standard would you desire us to live up to?"

This had been a humbling experience. Defeat was not new to Fleuri, but before, he could always take heart with the knowledge that his foes were human, just like him. What stuck with him this time, however, was the realization of how disadvantaged he really was compared to the sort of supernatural beings that the Iron Roses may be expected to oppose. There were others like Tyaethe out there, supernatural beings unrestrained by the physical and temporal limitations of human mortality, and he was completely unqualified to protect Thaln from them. He knew only how to fight men, not supernatural beings and monsters.

Fleuri felt a pang of regret over having not become a Reonite paladin. While some among their numbers may place too much faith in the fallacious idea of a "fair fight", they at least knew how to combat supernatural threats.

The ill tempered knight eventually made his way down to breakfast. Even with food in front of him it appeared that maybe his foul mood extended beyond even his his physical pain. He ate slowly, as if in thought but by the time he finished his cup of tea had gone cold. Indrau spat out a curse and pulled his dagger, scratching a rune into the side of the mug. He pressed his thumb to it and closed his eyes for a second. After a moment steam began to rise from it once again.




Salz had stopped to watch the mismatched duel. She took the bundle of staves and, even blunted as they were, easilly stuck them upright in the ground. Though she had never actually fought with a weapon other than her spear on the battlefield Indrau had insisted she learn to use a sword as well to better learn how to fight against it. He had been a harsh teacher.

This was a good thing to do. Even if the knights all sparred one on one it would halp little when they had to fight as a group. They had little practice and it showed. Were she not injured it might have been interesting to take on a similar challenge on one side or the other.

"Dame Radistirin fights with a grace I've rarely seen."

A damaged arm? Klaus pondered, her arms are still fine. Klaus ended her failed attack when she hears questions & comments from her fellow knights, a telltale sign that the training is over.

Closing her mouth, Klaus moved a few steps back and untied her helmet. She had taken the full opportunity Fleuri had given, yet a punch is all she could make out. A slash on the head for a fist...

"Oh, thanks for the training," Klaus blurted out upon seeing Fleuri ending the training with his formalities. Her face was red, and her arms and legs felt like jelly, not to mention her ears still ringing from the Paladin's attack.

"Anything I've to take note of?" She took a few deep breathes and asked, having a quick glance at another Knight and the upright spears. Klaus wanted to be a legendary Knight like Tyaethe, especially after seeing how she fights. But maybe except for the looks, she wanted to look more like a refined lady than a child if she were to gain that immortality.

Now it was the part that she hadn't been looking forward to so much--having to actually explain things rather than just push them to their limits. Well, at lest they were asking for more general advice and not specific combat critiques... what did she look like, a fencing master? She might be able to point out the flaws in your approach, but specific combat techniques with styles she didn't know were best left to somebody else. It hadn't stopped others asking in the past.

Deliberating for a second, the paladin flung her arms wide--ignoring how awkward it must look with the broken one. Again the grin was creeping onto her face: "What standard? Aim higher, higher than even my skill! When the Starlight Saint returns, I can't be the only one worthy of fighting beside her. Forget any idea of limits; I was better than I am now even before I died." She was more experienced now and had a cooler head, which was saying something, but her current situation definitely put her below her all-time best.

"Though until you get that strong, I think that you should try and make your attacks complement each other. If one of your attacks is avoided or blocked, set up the other one to cut down wherever they fled to," Tyaethe continued, arms lowered, "It's hard to pull off, but better than blindly attacking at the same time.

"Oh, Klaus? Don't go blindly attacking something stronger than you. I couldn't make it work against a dragon and it won't work on me."

@Noodles@TheFake@Crimson Paladin

Many of the knights had already gathered for breakfast. The kitchen staff have been quick to plate the large waffles and perfect-level-of-softness-and-crispness bacon quickly, presenting them to the assembled Iron Rose Knights as quickly as they could. Fanilly tried not to make it obvious that she'd had to rush to breakfast to make it in time. Sleeping in so late was thoroughly unbecoming of the Knight-Captain of the Iron Roses. It was difficult to think of what the girl knight felt were failures, however, when she was presented with such a meal. The golden brown waffles, the bacon that had so recently been sizzling away. On top of that, they also had honey from the nearest apiary, and butter from the nearest farm. There was a reason the kitchens of Candaeln was rumored to be second only to the kitchens privy to the royal family themselves.

Fanilly could only spare time for a quick prayer to Mayon before digging in, realizing just how hungry she really was.

Her maids stood behind her, Viora glaring rather intensely at Alaree, who seemed to have been subject to some sort of punishment recently judging by how she seemed to be standing somewhat further from Viora then necessary.

Died? Klaus had a hard time digesting Tyaethe's words, though she gets the general idea. She wasn't part of the team at Phoran Cal's maneasolom, thus she doesn't know the full truth on Tyaethe's immortality.

She lost a battle before? Someone like her...? Not taking that word literally, she found it difficult to think that the Radistirin Knight had encountered a day of defeat.

"I understand," Klaus placed her armour to one side, with a humble but a clearly naive face, "I will take note of that if I find myself with a dragon."

Klaus smirked as her stomach let out a loud growl. She hadn't faced a dragon before, and slaying dragons is one of her dreams. She made her way for the kitchen with her armour left behind the courtyard.

As soon as she took a seat at the Kitchen, she wolfed down her plate of breakfast. "Zzzzz..." Klaus fell asleep on the table abruptly, still holding the fork of bacon. Her head collapsed inches beside her unfinished plate fortunately. Clearly the training with Sir Tyaethe had given too much burden on her stomach and fatique.

Fleuri Jodeau

Fleuri was hoping for a bit more, but Tyaethe's advice had merit. If he developed combat synergy with Klaus, they could be far deadlier than they could hope to be alone, allowing them to perhaps prevail over foes that one of them could not hope to defeat. He was unsure of the younger knight's thoughts on it, or how much she would be taking Tyaethe's words to heart- already she was rushing to the dining hall, leaving her armor behind in an untidy mess.

Quite disorganized, that one, Fleuri observed, shaking his head. He returned his training sword to the weapon rack and headed inside, to begin the day with the rest of the Order.

He did not eat much at the table, his mind too busy thinking about the sparring match to notice his hunger. To his surprise, Klaus also had trouble finishing her meal- the usually gluttonous knight had fallen asleep at the table before finishing breakfast. It would seem the sparring match had been a bit more taxing on her than he had previously assumed. Fleuri offhandedly nudged her with an armored elbow in hopes of waking her up.

Even after the other two had gone inside to eat and even when her arm had healed. Maybe the comparison with Elionne was a useless one to the newcomers in the order? They couldn't know that she meant them to rise to match themselves against the most graceful combatant she had ever encountered, to sharpen their skills as normal knights rather than comparing themselves with her style based on overbearing physical force. It was something that she found hard to relate to the modern knights on.

Delicate fingers reached up to scarf, tightening it as she headed for the chapel and her armour. To the current knights, Elionne would be just a story, an idealised heroic figure without flaw. They wouldn't have remembered her as a talented but untrained peasant girl, an oversleeping messy eater moving in social circles that she had no understanding of. Even by the end, her manners were far from the perfection etiquette tutors would demand, and she ate more than anyone else she'd ever met. But to all these knights, just a story.

Tyaethe hesitated at the chapel doors, looking over her shoulder at the moon still hanging low in the sky, washed out by the early morning sun. Had anyone been nearby, they might have heard one muttered question: "But why did you leave me?"

"Ahhh..."

Her home was rather distant, she had only met her cousin a few times before. The young girl clutched her staff to her chest and sighed as she looked up towards Candaeln. Her robes swished lightly as she shifted from one foot to the other. In her heart, there was a mix of a few different emotions. Chiefly, there was awe. Awe at Candaeln, the legendary home of the Iron Rose Knights, the place that her cousin now dwelt. But second in her heart was simply how nervous she was. Was she really allowed to be here? Was it okay for her to be here? Taking a deep breath, she approached the doors. Fanilly had told her that she would be waiting for her... Well, it was in a letter, but her elder cousin had been adamant about it.

When the doors opened, and Lyrie stepped into the halls, well... there was no welcome party. There was... well, no-one in particular at all, save for a few Servants busying themselves about.

"... Um... h-hello?"

The blonde-haired girl shuffled in further.

"Er, F-Fanilly? ... A-ah, I mean, Captain Danbalion! Ah..."

The girl clutched her staff to her chest again.

Where was her cousin...? Maybe she was busy... back then it had been before Fanilly had even carried out a single mission as Captain, but now...

---

Fanilly sighed. Her meal had been delicious, but... she paused for a moment. Sleeping in, rushing to get ready...

Had... had she forgotten something?

Salz followed the others to the dining room. She hadn't gotten any training in but tomorrow would be better anyway. By then her arm should be healed and she would be able to engage in practice matches. A part of her wondered what it might be like to fight Tyeathe but there was no way that Salz would be able to keep up with her speed. Maybe one of the other two would be a better match.

She grabbed two plates and seated herself near a wall. Salz always thought it would be impolite for her to sit near the middle of a room, blocking peoples sight lines and intruding into the aisles between tables. In her homeland they would have used syrup made from raw sugar and vanilla. Indraus family used honey.



He spotted his adopted sister across the room. After the news he had received she was one of the last people he would want to speak with. That Salz hadn't told him when she arrived meant that she knew the full implications of the news and there were ulterior motives to her coming here.

Indrau stood and left the dining hall. He had a letter to write and the last of his ink had been used up penning reports for the Roses. After a short detour to his room to grab his traveling cloak Indrau walked out to the main entrance, cane practically stabbing at the stone floor. He paused.

A visitor. Doubtlessly he did not look very inviting with a scowl on his face and a tense, almost angry posture. Regardless, he was the only knight present at the moment. His expression softened slightly.

"Oh, a guest. Can I help you?"

Klaus still remained unconscious in the dining hall despite Fleuri's nudge. She had slouched into a more comfortable position whilst falling into a deep sleep, letting out a snore. Dropping that bacon, her plate of food was left unfinished for the very first time in Camelyn.

"Spare me.... I hate kids..."

She grinded her teeth, her shoulders tensing up a bit as if having a nightmare. It is very fortunate that the someone whom she dreamt of has yet to arrive at the same table. But, at least she had a lasting impression on the recent training, for the better or the worst.

"Ah!"

Someone had approached her! ... And it was someone... kind of scary. Lyrie clutched her staff tightly to herself as she opened her mouth and then faltered for several moments, unable to get any words out. How embarrassing, she had shown up to serve as a healer for the Iron Roses and now she couldn't say anything to one of them. But he was really pretty gruff and intimidating-looking! The small blonde girl fidgeted, shuffling her feet under her as her gaze directed itself firmly downwards at the ground.

"I-I'm here to serve as a healer, u-um, Fanilly-I mean Captain Fanilly! I-I mean Captain Danbalion! Ah..." This wasn't going well at all... nervously, Lyrie kept shifting from one foot to the other, looking everywhere but the knight who had greeted her. He was going to get mad at her or something, wasn't he... even if Fanilly was her cousin, she was still the Captain of the Iron Rose Knights. That meant that she definitely shouldn't refer to her as anything less.

Especially given that Fanilly must have been very busy, after all...

Lothar Indrau


Indrau nodded slowly. Everyone that the order attracted as of late seemed to be a little bit... odd lately. Well, if this was a guest of the Captain (and no imposter would ever be that flustered), then he should treat her with all respect. He was raised in a castle of course.

The knight squared his shoulders and offered his arm for her to take.

"She should be having breakfast right now. I'll take you to her."

@VitaVitaAR

The rest of the day proceeded relatively smoothly.

Fanilly was quite distressed over forgetting about her cousin's arrival. She apologized profusely, and introduced Lyrie to the knights and tried to help her get settled in.

Bethany, for the most part, remained relatively quiet, deeply focused on her research. She left only when it was very late, taking a few volumes with her after discussing it with the librarian.

The night was uneventful. Certainly, it did not herald what the next day brought.

---

The morning and midday were as normal. Nothing, in particular, seemed to be amiss.

It was about evening when the herald came, however.

Fanilly quickly met them, and was greeted with a horrifying message.

"It's an orc raid, they brought trolls and... and... we don't even know how they got there!" the herald cried frantically. "We've sent a guards, but... but we need you, we need the Iron Roses. Please, help!"

There wasn't really any time to try and figure out how the orcs had managed to show up at a village so near to the capital. Not if the raid was in progress. Brennan was nearby, and named for, the Brennan forest. Perhaps they had used the forest as cover and snuck through there. But regardless of how it had happened, there was absolutely no more time to waste.

"Iron Roses, we must move quickly!" Fanilly declared, as she swiftly moved to the armory. "We must go in force and destroy these orc raiders, the defenders can only hold out so long!"

"How many are there? Just give us a rough estimate!" The knight Klaus was busy inspecting her equipments until that abrupt news. But this is Candaeln! She sheathed the sword with a loud clang, hastily equipping her armour. Orcs are supposed to be hundreds of miles away, and she has completely no idea how did they even appear so near to the capital without any notice. Even with the Brennan forest, she still can't accept how those orcs and trolls snuck through the long way trip.

"Also, Captain---" Klaus quickly approached the yellow haired girl before realising that her 'captain' was shorter than usual. "My bad, wrong person~" Klaus gave a moment of awkward gaze at Lyrie, the Captain's cousin who have recently arrived in the afternoon. The young healer was a splitting image of Fanilly, in both looks and the way she talks. If it weren't for that somewhat formal introduction, she would see her as the Captain's younger sister.

The awkward moment of silence with the Court Mage left Tiral to swim in his own thoughts for a while. With his former plans now firmly tossed straight out the window, the mage-knight was left with naught to do but try and help in those plans for research. It wasn't as if he wanted to extend talk of that sort of problematic material anyhow, and staying quiet to let other people do their job was probably for the best.

Even so, the fact that he was left twiddling his thumbs to pass the time idly by when he wasn't helping to search for other documents may as well have drove him to the brink of sanity. He wanted to do something that wasn't file another few dozen sheets of parchment because of the incompetency of his seniors.

---

After the relatively peaceful day prior, Tiral was wont to attend as soon as he heard that a herald had arrived. There was no particular rhyme or reason as to why, and though he may have said otherwise it was clear that he was showing himself to dodge the problems of other magi. The mention of an orc raid caused the mage's gaze to sharpen, and he immediately took off to go obtain his own equipment. With such a hasty report, he could only assume the numbers to be well beyond any amount that would ordinarily be able to be 'smuggled', essentially, into the area. In an ideal scenario, he would have the time to figure out why and how they mobilized...

But this wasn't ideal in any sense of the word. With his sword at his side and dagger tucked away in its usual hiding spot, Tiral returned to the gates, ready for battle. After the last set of incidents, some fresh air was gladly appreciated.

"Trolls, then? They'll be drugged to the point the only way to stop them from attacking anything in sight will be to kill them. Pain won't get through if the orcs are acting the same as they always do," Tyaethe commented, having moves forwards to the door when the messenger arrived. Ah, it was so frustrating to wait for everyone else to get ready and go... she wanted to just leave now and go deal with as much of the problem as possible personally.

Multiple trolls would be a bit beyond her skills right now, though.

At least Belwiss had the right idea in being prepared for battle at all times--leaning on a bare patch of wall and waiting patiently. Not that she took much with her, but if you had what you needed...

Fleuri Jodeau

Why would they come so close the the capital, so close to us, Fleuri pondered as he strapped on his armor and weapons. I don't like this. But so long as Brennan is in danger, we must act. Fleuri was no strategist, but he knew when something seemed out of the ordinary. Why would greed-driven raiders travel so far from their homes to pillage? Why would they risk so much? Perhaps, he wondered, he was simply over-thinking this, and overestimating the intelligence and planning of orcs. Still, it never hurt to expect the unexpected, especially when things were already out of the ordinary.

After he finished gearing up, Fleuri headed to the gate, ready to move out. This battle would be a bit different than what he was used to. The trolls, in particular, would be unlike anything he had fought. Massive, durable, and monstrously strong. At least they'll be easy to hit, he thought. Still, it would be wise to not attempt to duel one- such beasts would be best handled by multiple knights.

He remembered Tyaethe's words about making attacks compliment one another. Perhaps this would be a good time to speak to Klaus on this. We might make a good team if we learned to synergize our attacks, and the prospect of fighting trolls make for excellent incentive.