---

@Raineh Daze

---

Fionn turned as well, barely a step behind Cyrus as they started to head out for the Demonbreaker's estate. "Aye. I worry sometimes she might be a bit wasted on me, but at least she's got Nicomede when she needs to work with someone with more magic in their blood. At least Fiadh's managed to help me catch up some there." That was when she wasn't having to tell him to quit scratching at the new, scar-like mark she'd left in his palm.

"Has that laurel tree always been in the garden here? She said it was old when she first saw it. I didn't expect it to be here, too, honest."

"Ah, don't worry about things like that where an elf's concerned. As long as she's getting something out of it, time's always going to be on her side. She can manage a little inefficiency here or there. Her mum was the same way when she joined--not all shy like, but she'd give the squires lots of pointers, even if Flori or the captain would be better practice. I wasn't surprised when she picked up healing."

The blonde man blinked a few times at the change in conversation, stopping at a roadside stall to pick up something while he thought it over.
"Probably? There's a couple of trees, I can't say I know if it's the same one. You should ask Lilette something like that. Or Shorty, once you get out."

---

"A two way street indeed~ I've asked you about your sister, and yet I must bear your insults despite you never making the same attempt to inquire about my abilities. Am I healer? A cleric? A wizard or mage? Maybe a witch?" A teasing chuckle left the half demon's lips, her fingers crossing behind her back as she returned Gertrude's gaze. With a hum and a hop, she'd position herself next to Gertrude, examining the girl's changing aura and tempest of negativity with a somewhat amused expression on her face. A challenge was always something she was happy to take on, as long as it proved to be entertaining. And Gertrude, well, she was anything but boring, despite her dreary attitude.

But before Amy could take advantage of the girl's outburst and expose her weakness, the mystery guest decided to step in. Finally.

She'd been keenly aware of Lilette's presence ever since they first stepped foot in the Garden, and counted on Gertrude's pride and the mage's quietness to let her escalate things without an issue until she could hopefully rely on the girl for assistance. It seemed that her gamble had paid off; other than a little scold she was more than happy to pretend like she deserved, Amy was met with a response that absolved her from all responsibility. Figuratively washing her hands clean in the mage's words, she'd offer Lilette a polite bow before nodding thoughtfully in response to her small speech.

"Ah, as expected of Miss Lilette, no magic can be obscured from your vast knowledge~" She explained cheerfully and playfully clapped her hands together in front of her chest. "Alas, I must come clean Miss. I had stopped here precisely so I could rely on your guidance and protection." She then turned to Gertrude and offered an apologetic bow. "I'm sorry, perhaps I should've told you about it beforehands, but as I'm not much of an battle mage, I didn't want to risk confronting you alone."

The stage was set, the actors in place and the audience in attendance. Now it was time to finally pull back the curtain and deliver the lines she'd been preparing for.

"A witch brought you here, one who trapped us all in this... realm. We all know this isn't just a dream like it was the last time this trick had been played on the Roses. Everything feels too... off about it. I wanted to make sure you weren't a part of this world, a trick to deceive us. I hope you can forgive me, but your unique signature made it quite hard to decide if I can trust you. But clearly, I was wrong." Taking a step back she smiled at Gertrude softly before she reached into her bag to pull out her flute. "A deal's a deal. A truth for a truth, I'll show you just what I can do."

Taking a deep breath and lifting the flute to her lips, Amy began to play a mellow tune; quietly at first, but soon increasing in volume and tempo. As she did, their surroundings began to slowly change in small but noticeable ways: flowers bloomed and burst from vines on the walls. Clouds cleared from the sky, and small critters and birds began to gather around the garden as if listening to her tune. With the arch of a rainbow and yet another set of flower wreathes for the three of them, the illusion was complete.

She opened her eyes and extended one hand, a small bluebird landed on her fingers and chirped a happy tune before flying away once more. "As a half-demon, I'm afforded some abilities that are unusual to most mages... I can't blame you for not knowing what to make of it, but I hope you can now see what kind of a mage I am. I deal in illusions and trickery, making sure I keep people's spirits high and devout~" With a flick of the wrist and a little bow, Amy would disappear from Gertrude's sight, but funnily Lilette could see her the whole time as she skulked around to behind the mage. Placing her hands on Gertrude's shoulders as she appeared once more for the girl, Amy chuckled softly and adjusted the wreath on the mage's head. "Incidentally, those same powers allow me to read people's feelings... and thought. Worry not, I can't pry your secrets from your head, but if you're aching for a warm shower, I'll know before anyone else~" With polite smile she stepped back to give Gertrude some space, and spun around in a shower of flower petals before bowing deeply.

Soon the illusion faded, and the garden returned to it's mundane, above average beauty. "All I ask is that you're honest with me and your fellow knights. We need to trust each other when the darkness that lurks in every corner decides to step out into the light and confront us. And when that time comes, we cannot hesitate if we want to protect each other. I know some of them are a bit rough around the edges, but they will each stay by your side and protect you as long as they know you're willing to do the same. If you're searching for enemies in them, you're looking in the wrong place. If you're going to believe anyone, then let it be the half-demon cleric who messes with people's minds; I call them my comrades and friends, and so should you."

"By all means." Renar said, relaxing his stance and resting his poleaxe against the shoulder, gesturing onward. "Lead the way." It wasn't as if he wasn't going to turn down more targeted advice and training regarding the biggest impediment towards the Iron Rose leaving this place. And knowing how to slay a dragon certainly wouldn't hurt in the long run. They couldn't rely on Tyaethe to do so forever. And speaking of her...

"Speaking of dragons," Renar grunted as they walked on, presumably towards Parvan. "Dame Tyaethe is still at it. Any advice for dealing with her when she gets into one of those ridiculous moods of hers? It was getting in the way of training last time."

@Raineh Daze

"About over there," Cyrus answered, pointing... well, it was a good ways down the street, but the change from white stone to nearly white stone marked it out. Honestly, if the city wasn't so gleaming, the pale grey would probably have blended in. "The rare buildings from other places tend to be close together."

@The Otter

---

"Wait for a better day." Edwin answered with a shrug, pausing to let out a shrill whistle, "When she gets like that, she'll act when she has to, but I've never seen anyone pull her out of it enough to be helpful. Goddesses know that Cyrus has kept at it here, too, but that's not gone any better. If the best him and the captain have done is getting her to drop the statue impression and at least stay active..."

He trailed off as Parvan jogged up, ducking a casual swing as the other knight grumbled about not being a bloody dog. Even if he answered the call.

At least it didn't take long to catch up on what they were doing. Or why they'd been talking about Tyaethe.

"I'd not ask her for training, anyway," Parvan added, the pair now going back out through the entrance and along the trail they'd first come in from. His eyes scanned Renar again to check. "No offence, but you're not the 'overwhelming power' type, and that's all she's really good for teaching unless you want to know the habits of particular beasts." Except, one must assume, dragons beyond the blindingly obvious. "Good for practising against once you've caught up some more, though."

@Psyker Landshark

Renar resisted the urge to sigh. It had been worth a shot, though he would have liked some kind of insight in how to deal with the First and Youngest. Ah, well. Really, what had he been expecting? Some magical solution that would fix all of this?

A beat passed. They were in a magical solution fixing their lack of adequate training for the challenges ahead. So perhaps it wasn't completely unreasonable to think of the matter as such. But that didn't mean he should have expected anything.

"I'll take your word for it, then." He said in response to Edwin before nodding to Parvan. "And none taken. You're correct, after all. Though I was largely trying to use her as a measuring stick against which how far I had left to go. Quite a ways, as it turns out."

They continued on to wherever the hell Edwin was leading them.

"While we're walking, care to brief me on what we're doing once we arrive? Or will surprise be more effective?" For all his disdain of Edwin on a personal level, it couldn't be said that Renar wasn't capable of being entirely professional when there was something to be gained.

@Raineh Daze

"I thought the pair of us could give you practice against something... well, it's not quite dragonfire, but I reckon it'd be similar enough for any practical purpose."

Rolan had hit a rather frustrating, and in retrospect obvious, roadblock after some time spent drilling his technique. Quite simply put, he had reached the mechanical limit on the speed he could span his crossbow. Short of significant modifications, there was only so fast he could fire a shot, lower the crossbow and brace it while fetching his wippe lever, draw the string back, stow the lever, load a bolt, all to take aim and fire again. While he could hold the shot far longer than any archer could, he would never match the speed without some significant leaps forward on his crossbow's design. Something to consider, certainly, but no amount of skill or training would fix it. He was wasting his time, essentially, beyond breaking the habit of tracking shots to their mark before beginning the process of making ready for his next shot. Which meant changing his approach to training, which meant considering where he was deficient, and that was something he thought on while getting everything packed back up to return to the training yard.

Rolan always prided himself on accuracy, something he could claim to have been refining from the moment he was handed the crossbow, but that hit a limit, and just not improving wasn't an option. He had originally hoped there was more room to improve in speed, but he had underestimated how fast he was already moving, or perhaps how little room there was to improve. His technique wasn't going to change much more, so that left adding more tools to his options. Which left him with very few options, at least among those that he could come up with. Of course everyone heard stories of archers firing multiple arrows, sending arrows curving around barricades or deflecting off one target to hit a true foe, but not only would Rolan not know where to begin, he doubted how much of that was compatible with his preferred fighting style.

Why not intensify his efforts in alchemy? Rolan paused as the thought crossed his mind. Sure, officially poisons and the like were frowned upon, if he was caught doing it, but nothing said he couldn't look for more overt combinations. With the amount of talent available to the Iron Roses, surely an alchemist could be found that he could train under. Hopefully they would not mind a more offensively focused preference, since as far as poisons went he had to mostly rely on paralyzing mixtures rather than lethal ones. But perhaps he could find recipes and mixtures that mimicked what those magically gifted could do, or at least a fraction of it. Or perhaps instead of relying on catching up, he could do things they couldn't. Having made mistakes learning reminded him of blinding mixtures of stinging fumes that had gotten him stern lectures, but perhaps weaponizing that was an option too. Either way, that meant finding an alchemist.

Moving back towards Candaeln with a sense of purpose again, Rolan would begin asking around for where he could find a skilled alchemist to learn from. He made no secret of his focus on improving his capabilities of employing alchemy in combat, ideally to augment his current capabilities. Whoever that turned out to be, well, remained to be seen but first things first was finding out who that was and tracking them down.

"Try to set me aflame with a torch and oil, for all I care." Renar grunted in response. "I'd be a fool to not take advantage of this situation without consequence. Pain and sacrifice are immaterial so long as I get results." His eyes glinted with a mix of spite and determination.

While he'd gotten faster, Renar had no illusions he could simply evade a dragon's breath. Yet. Whatever these two were cooking up was going to leave him horrifically burned, more likely than not. So long as the consequences weren't permanent, it wasn't an issue. After all, it wasn't as if he was just going to up and quit now. Not when there was still so much left to do. So much to prove.

"Let's be about this, then. I'm prepared whenever the two of you are."

@Raineh Daze

---

@Raineh Daze

---

Fionn's gaze followed Cyrus's pointing, picking out the slightly different colour stone after a moment. Once he knew what he was looking for, it did stand out—although having come from the modern city of Aimlenn, where monocoloured buildings like this fantasy of Talderia didn't exist, that sort of differentiating factor had been the last thing on his mind. If he squinted, he thought he could possibly make out a familiar building or two within the outer wall.

Strange. He didn't think he'd ever come that close to the main Cazt estate, always being on the edge of the war. Maybe after, and he just hadn't known it?

He squinted.

No, some of those buildings were definitely familiar from within Aimlenn. But they didn't have the gatehouse or the small moat surrounding them anymore in his time. Well as he could guess, though, the courtyard was probably still a courtyard. Guess they do keep a place in the city. Probably used to be just outside and got swallowed up as the years went on. At least, that was the possibility that made the most sense to him.

"It is, isn't it?" he said finally, in response to Cyrus pointing out how close it was, before starting forwards again with a wave while the tall man still stood next to the street stall they'd passed. "Well, I'm just after having lunch, so I'm going to go get busy. If I'm not back for dinner, just assume I'm staying with the old man. Might see if you can find Gerard back in Candaeln and tell him I won't be joining his practice today."

Fionn had no clue if Cyrus intended to keep following along or not, but now that he knew what he was looking for—and could see that the gate on the gatehouse was invitingly open, making him feel like having Cyrus along to introduce him and get him entry wasn't particularly necessary—he cut a brisk pace down the road. No sense in wasting time, after all.

Across the bridge, through the gate, and then—

"Ah. Great hall has to be in there for sure." Whether the quadrangle enclosing the courtyard had been constructed as such from the beginning or merely the result of the initial structures growing together over time, the primary dwelling was obvious, not only from the fact that it looked as much like a castle's keep with a more civilized façade as like a simple house, but by the elegant, arched door that led into it, large enough to keep any noble procession entertained and moving quickly without overly sacrificing the building's defence. It was still a status symbol as much as anything else—he shuddered to imagine how much heat would be lost through it in the winter—but it would still be defensible.

No doubt the oak door that filled it was thick enough to weigh twice or more what Fionn himself did.

A thickness that was confirmed as he knocked hard upon it, his strikes barely sounding out a dull thud rather than the drum-like beat he might normally call forth.

As they arrived back at the broad clearing that had briefly been turned into a cloud-piercing plateau, what appeared to be an identical copy of Edwin's blade was leaning against a tree, making it clear that the Witch was still observing what was going on in here. Nonetheless, the knight moved with definitely unnecessary sword to swap the two, hefting the provided sword with a grin.

"Well, I guess we get to play with the real thing, not an emulation..." he said, golden fire flickering into life around the blade as it was raised up. When the blade came slashing down... well, it was probably a good thing that he was showing it off first, the wave of golden light racing across the clearing leaving a clearly grassless furrow. And one or two less trees on the far side.

As for Parvan's demonstration... that was considerably more understated, although it didn't seem much less destructive on the receiving end: one second the spear was gleaming with a pale blue light, the next he was a blur--and another tree was looking rather shattered.

"So, once you can avoid these with any consistency, there should be no problems with dragonfire. Still up for it?"

@Psyker Landshark

---

Answering the door was... well, it wasn't Erich Cazt. No, the man had a quiet, nebbish air to him, not to mention being far too small to be the legendary warrior. Nor, if the family's reputation and extant members were anything to go by, was he likely a Cazt of any stripe. Almost certainly a servant, rather than a noble with an unusual taste for simple dress.

"If you're looking for His Grace, he can be found in the gardens," the man said, confirming what his job was. There was a pause. "Things are so regrettably rearranged here, they should really be closer..."

The directions given weren't terribly complicated, although it was another walk to some expansive gardens that should properly have been surrounding the Cazt estate, which may have done a lot to explain why the building looked out of place. Unlike the garden in its modern incarnation, or indeed the efforts expended within Candaeln as Fionn knew it, this was far more like wandering into the countryside--although, with enough deliberate design aesthetics, and a proliferation of aesthetically pleasing plants, to show that it was still maintained by human hands.

Identifying Erich Cazt in such a place was easy; although the man was wearing clothes more appropriate for a knight of modest means, there was no avoiding the size, even with his age. Chin-length silver hair brushed back over his head and a neat, pointed full beard added to the impression of age... but honestly, the hair colour might have been original as it was.

And once he was closer, the gold eyes were familiar. It seemed that at least some of the family had been inheriting them to the modern day.

As for his attention, that was on a flowering bush of some sort.

@The Otter

Gertrude was feeling somewhat comfortable about her position. Amy didn't really have anything on her except vague suspicion, and as long as Gertrude didn't say anything, nothing could be confirmed. Sure the little Devil could spread rumors and tell everyone how untrustworthy Gertrude seemed, and the others were likely to believe her, but it was hardly actionable.

And as far as anyone was concerned, Merilia herself told the group of bozos to take good care of her.

But that relative certainty crumbled the moment Lilette stepped in and basically outed her whole schtick. She didn't say anything for certain, but it was enough for someone as reasonably intelligent as Amy to piece together. Maybe not the whole thing, but enough to know that it had to do with souls and was likely capital-w-Witchcraft. Gertrude's cheeks reddened ferociously as she was double-teamed by the two women, and not in the way she might have liked.

Of course Gertrude knew that plenty of people might be able to tell that Gretchen was off, which is why Gretchen generally stayed in one place and studied while Gertrude conducted business. She obviously had to come up with something when Merilia dumped them both here, however, and it was reasonable to think that the sister lie would go over easily enough that no one would look too close.

How was she to know that the Roses had a Demonic empath? Fuck.

And it hadn't really occurred to her that everyone here would probably be interested in newcomers. The mages were probably champing at the bit to examine every last one of them. Double fuck.

Logically, she knew she should be thankful to Lilette for giving her a warning, but screw that. Amy didn't have to know all of this.

And yet, in spite of having everything she needed, Amy still told Gertrude about her abilities. Gertrude would normally think that she was just lying, but everything fit neatly into place. How she knew about Gertrude's oddity, how she could make things appear and disappear, and how Gertrude couldn't parse her magic.

Gertrude obviously couldn't copy magic that came from a Demonic bloodline, which she'd imagined was the case, though she did not know the nature of it.

All of this, given willingly.

Was she stupid?

When Amy appeared behind her and touched her shoulders and adjusted her wreath, Gertrude's immediate response was anger. She didn't like being touched, and these morons kept doing it. Kept touching her and yanking her around and it reminded her of that asshole. She was furious, until she realized how gentle Amy's hand was. What was this girl? Amy was obviously trying to get Gertrude to like her so she could use her and then throw her away. Just pretending to be kind. Of course, no one could legitimately care for her. Gertrude brushed her shoulder off as Amy backed away, like the woman's touch carried some sort of disease.

"Let me be blunt. I don't trust anyone, and I don't have friends. I've been around long enough, and no one's gonna fool me again," Gertrude said flatly, oddly less angry than she thought she'd be, "I'll work with the Iron Roses for my own reasons, but I'm not interested in your stupid friendship and togetherness spiel. People use each other, and that's all. I have something you all need, and the Iron Roses... might have something I want. Do you think anyone would be friends with someone weak and useless? Love them? Care about them? They'll throw that person out with the rest of the garbage. Conversely, I'm strong. I'm a prodigy as far as magic is concerned, so even if you all hate my guts, you'll have to play along because you won't get better than me. That's the reality."

As Gertrude laid out her grim worldview, she closed in on Amy, her neutral expression becoming a frown.

"But if you're being real about this, or you think you are, then prove it by not telling anyone what you learned here. If you can do that, then maybe, just maybe you'll be able to trick me into trusting you."

It was about all Gertrude could do to keep the word from getting out. Normally, she'd just kill whoever got in her way, but she happened to be in one of few situations in which that was strictly not an option. Then, she rounded on Lilette.

"And I don't want you saying anything either, though I doubt you will. That said... know any mages around here good at summoning magic? I obviously don't need any training, but if I'm stuck here anyways, I might as well steal a few magic tricks. Preferably someone who won't care about my... situation."

Gertrude was tempted to call Lilette 'grandma' just out of habit, but the old lady really was keeping it together. Not hard for an Elf, but still.

With a heavy sigh of relief, Fanilly couldn't help but fall onto her rear end.

Sweat was rolling down her brow. She was both hot and flushed.

Training with Lilette was both overwhelming, but everything she hoped it would be. The Gentle Blade's skills were incredible. The Elf Knight was everything she'd heard of in the stories and more.

She hadn't truly fought her during the dream. Each strike was so fast, so clean and precise that she didn't even feel it happening.

Unlike certain other knights, Fanilly's training was far less lethal. But that didn't make it any less grueling.

Regardless, this is what she had to do. She had to pursue every possible avenue of improvement if she wanted to fulfill her position. A part of her had dearly wanted to try training with Saint Elionne herself, but given she wasn't present here in this illusory and strange world she was unable to do so.

After her training session concluded and Fanilly departed from the yard, she cleaned herself up and changed clothes. This place existed outside of the world and outside of the rest of time, didn't it?

Would they simply arrive at the real Candaeln as if nothing had happened? If it was anything like that 'dream' that would be the case. And yet, it was clear that this versions of these figures from history retained so many memories and thoughts from their original selves.

Fanilly paused at that thought.

It was important for her to focus. To focus on what would make her actually worthy of her title. To lead the Iron Rose Knights to victory. To become someone who was truly capable of doing so no matter what.

And yet-

Wasn't this an opportunity she never could have imagined? Throughout her studies, learning of military history and figures of the past, Fanilly had found herself wanting to learn more.

Wasn't this an opportunity to do just that?

She'd been hesitant to bother the real Lilette in the 'waking world' with such things, but now, here-

It was selfish, wasn't it?

But it was something she couldn't get out of her mind.

Given she had the ability to speak to the real Lilette in the waking world, it was that which drove her choice to approach another of the Knights instead.

"Sir Cyrus?" she asked, "I, er, I was hoping to speak to you..."

Hopefully he was still around here. She'd made her way near the stables after asking a maid about the enormous man's whereabouts.

Which did make her wonder if the staff, too, were all people who had truly been alive back in this time.

@Raineh Daze

Fleuri Jodeau

It had become clear that in order to depart from this world, the Roses would have to do battle with whatever figures of legend that Merilia had opted to pluck from history and pit against them. In addition to the possibility of having to face the original Roses, there was also the legendary Demonbreaker Erich Cazt, Prince Erion and his retinue, and, of course, the dragon Thrinax. He also knew from the previous dream that if Merilia truly wished it, she could even bring back Volkstraad.

He hadn't seen any sign of Elionne, though. According to the original Roses, she did reside here, hence why Fanilly wouldn't be able to stay in the knight-captain's quarters, but there was no sign of her. It was a shame that she wasn't present, because there were so many unanswered questions about herself and the direction that the Roses had taken that she could have answered.

If he had to guess, it was probably by Merilia's choice that such questions remained unresolved.

---

In a corner of the training yard, Fleuri readied his sword and advanced towards Florian, once again facing off in a sparring match against the ancient Iron Rose.

When it came to training in this strange world, Fleuri sought out two mentors specifically. The first was the Mirror Knight Florian. The ancient warrior's mastery of Fleuri's own style in the dream, far beyond even his own ability to use it, had left a deep impression on him. It was obvious to him that if he wished to iron out his flaws and learn to master his swordsmanship, the Mirror Knight was the one to seek out. He would learn to refine and tune his fighting style against one who could mimic it. At the same time, it wouldn't be enough to just master it. He would also endeavor to recognize any inherent flaws or shortcomings within the fighting style that might be evident in their sparring, with the Mirror Knight's help, improve upon it.

When he was not seeking lessons with Florian, or when the Mirror Knight was busy mentoring one of the other roses, he would pursue tutelage from Rui. She might not have been a figure of legend in Thaln, but her mastery of the sword was nothing short of incredible. While he did seek to learn some of her fighting techniques (regardless if they were for a different blade than the greatsword that he normally used), he wished to focus more on themental sides of martial mastery. He wished to learn how a sufficiently dedicated swordsman's dedication and will could transcend ordinary human limitations or even achieve feats that seemed physically impossible. It was also during training with Rui that Fleuri finally figured out that her Talderian dialect was derived from old Talderia.

And judging by her injuries, the knight suspected that Rui might be the very best person in Merilia's world to go to for tips on fighting a dragon.

For the moment, however, his focus was on the martial details. One small step at a time on the path to mastery. He was certainly improving, but Fleuri knew he was still a long way to go before coming close to the prowess of the original Roses. Fortunately, in this world, time was something they had no shortage of- at least as long as Merilia and the world's inhabitants were willing to host them.

Once more...let's see how long I can last this time...

@Raineh Daze

Ah. That did explain it. Perhaps Edwin and Parvan's examples weren't quite dragonfire, per se, but Renar didn't doubt that they wouldn't be just as difficult to dodge, if not more so. By all accounts, a dragon's flames didn't quite come out as quickly as Parvan's charge, or Edwin's sword waves.

And yet Renar could still follow them. Barely, just barely. But he still could. He allowed a savage grin to cross his face, nodding as he took a ready stance. Concrete improvement. Before they'd all come in here, Renar would have had no chance. Now there was one, no matter how slight.

"By all means, fire at will."

Fast. Even if his eyes and mind could comprehend what he was seeing, Renar's body still had to catch up. Admittedly, he was cheating somewhat in predicting their moves and acting accordingly, moving before he had a chance to react. But that wouldn't help him in the long run-

Edwin's next blade wave came at a horizontal angle and bisected Renar by its right edge, leaving his guts splayed out. He returned to life on a path just off to the side. After a moment to catch his bearings, the knight returned to where he'd stood. Right. He'd have to account for differing angles of attack. To say nothing of the fact that they were likely still holding back on the speed. More aspects to read and consider, even as his body grew accustomed to this sort of evasion.

"Don't tell me you're waiting for my go." Renar grunted, preparing to evade again. "By all means, try to snipe me the moment I come back to life. It's what I would do."

@Raineh Daze

"I think that being friends with someone doesn't require them to be useful," Lilette added, the elf's eyes getting a slightly faraway look, "Or in some cases even if they're actively unhelpful. Not even considering children... even now, my daughter's quite a handful."

She brushed her green hair behind an ear, thinking on the question. "Summoners are very rare in here. I think there might be only one, if you go to the mage's college and ask around then she might be willing to help. She has no affiliation to the Roses or Thaeln, so she may be reluctant to help..."

---

"Ah? Of course, littler captain," the huge blond man said, turning away from where he was patting an equally massive horse. Could something so big even count as a warhorse? But it didn't have the proportions or air of a workhorse. "Want to get a drink? I thought you had been training over with Lilette."

Not that he was really waiting for an answer, one arm gently pushing her along in case Fanilly got too nervous to follow along towards the kitchens.

@VitaVitaAR

---

"Now, why would I ever do that?" Edwin asked, raising an eyebrow, "If I did that, I'd be predictable, and you wouldn't learn anything, would you?"

Of course, before he had even gotten to the 'predictable', Parvahn had chosen to strike again--but this time, it wasn't by rocketing around, it was by his spear releasing a lance of blue energy. One that exploded quite dramatically when it hit its eventual target. Now Renar had to bear in mind that it was entirely possible for the magical attack to come from either direction--and while Edwin's blade was easier to avoid than Parvahn's charging, he didn't need to do anything fancy to keep the pressure up with normal attacks.

It wasn't like a dragon was going to be kind enough to stick to one attack or another.

Of course, when they got him again, Edwin would attack straight away. Variety, even if predictable, was his aim.

@Psyker Landshark

Lady Silenna.

That was the name Rolan had been given after asking around (and clarifying he wasn't looking for a cooking instructor, which had led to some disappointment) as well as a direction to head. Back to Talderia, he would be able to find her there. A woman of gold hair, golden eyes, and enough skill in alchemy to be considered a master in her craft already. Suited him fine, anything to give him an edge in the coming days. The other knights were training, he had seen them working while trying to find enough information to go on, honing conventional fighting skills and capabilities. Following that route would be chasing after the others, he wouldn't catch up in martial prowess anytime soon, especially with them lengthening their strides as well. He made sure that word was left for the Captain once she finished training or had time to review progress that he was heading back to Talderia, to find additional training there.

Rolan moved with a sense of purpose, and asking around he realized how much of a needle in a haystack situation he had going on here. Yes, he had a name and a general description, but that didn't mean a lot to most of the people he spoke with. He spent more time than he would have cared to simply trying to find anyone who knew the name at all, and even then it took some doing to convince them he was just looking to learn, and narrow down where he was going. After that, he was able to start getting better answers, even more so once he started getting closer to where Lady Silenna was staying. Before long he was approaching the abode where he was told he could find the woman, and approaching the door he raised his hand up and gave the door two short, firm knocks. Hopefully tracking down this woman would be the hard part, and she would be willing to help...

"Gah!" Renar cried out in barely-contained agony as he wasn't quite fast enough to evade Parvan's lance blast all the way. The dripping stump where his left arm used to be could attest well to that. Fortunate that it'd come back with him whenever he died. He gasped for breath as he continued to frantically dodge, now having to account for a third method of attack in the barrage thrown at him.

Renar lasted for several more seconds, evading a good few sword waves, another blast from Parvan, and a lance charge before one more of Edwin's waves took his head clean off. The moment he opened his eyes once more, Renar hurriedly rolled out of the way of the sword wave he knew was coming. And just barely succeeded.

He scrambled up to his feet, hurriedly evading more strikes while formulating a tactic in his head. Renar was beginning to be able to compensate for the current level of attacks being thrown at him, better able to see and react to them even without the advantage of prediction. That meant he had an opportunity to strike back. Certainly, the brothers never said he'd had to. But he was still going to. It had to be Parvan. While Renar was getting faster, Edwin would know what he was up to the moment he tried to advance.

Wave, wave, lance blast, and...Parvan charged. Renar narrowly sidestepped the blow, his right hand still gripping his poleaxe and unable to respond, just as he wanted them to assume. His left drew a dagger from his belt and jammed it straight towards Parvan's neck.

@Raineh Daze

"Hm, you nearly had it that time," Florian said, rubbing some imagined speck of dirt off his blade. At least after the first spars that Fleuri had asked for, the man had elected to stop his usual trick of mirroring the younger knight's own approach to combat back at him. Knowing how to defeat yourself was all well and good, but you weren't going to be fighting your doppelganger any time soon. Or at least, not often enough for it to be essential.

It would also make for a pretty poor way to improve on exploiting openings if your opponent insisted on showing you how good you could be to the point there wasn't much left to exploit.

Instead, he'd been going through the styles of who knew how many other people, generally leaning more towards naked aggression. While the still level remained higher than Fleuri was perhaps used to, Florian had at least noted he wasn't correcting all the errors that came from not adapting it to his own height or reach, or restraining the aggression to something that would make it easier to cover any gaps. Perhaps annoyingly, it still meant being stabbed a lot.

"Now, if you can tag me this time, then we'll have the rest of the afternoon for something else. I believe they're setting up for a festival tonight?" Some things, however, he'd probably not stop without asking directly.

---

Spear on the other side of Renar, nothing in his hand; while the man was clearly capable of responding in time--he'd done enough course corrections to show that avoiding those seemingly-committed charges weren't perfectly straight and his reflexes were able to keep up--there wasn't seemingly much that he could respond with, even freeing one hand from the spear.

Until another blast shot out of that. Almost a pleasant experience after everything from the spear--or worse, the waves of energy that Daybreaker kept firing--but nonetheless a magical blast capable of stripping clothing and burning flesh. Also, quite importantly, fully capable of knocking a grown man flying, making the attempt at stabbing Parvan in the neck quite futile.

"Well, if nothing else, you've certainly improved already. But since neither of us has the benefit of restoring to full health every few minutes, we're going to need to stop for a break," Edwin noted. Then paused. "Maybe head back to Candaeln. I didn't think we'd be out here long enough to worry about lunch."