Being personally trained by some of the best swordfighters, Luthier was fairly skilled with a blade. It seemed however today's instructor was more skilled, a [i]lot[/i] more. And not only was this man really skilled, he was also ruthless. He showed Luthier a drill and gave him a minimal number of times to do it, not allowing him to leave before finishing them. After Luthier was done with the drills, (also fairly tired) they did another sparring match and once more the instructor worked Luthier into the ground. Training went on for a while like this.

By the time Luthier had finished his sword-training, he had long missed breakfast. His morning schedule was mostly free to allow such a rigorous form of training, though he was supposed to study in the time between his sword-training and the next appointment. Instead, Luthier went to the stables to feed Marrow. He stopped stopped by the kitchen for some apples and went on his way to the stables, settling for an apple as breakfast.

At the stables Luthier was immediately drawn to Marrow, a beautiful snowy-white mare with bony-white manes. Giving her one of the two remaining apples and a pat, Luthier smiled, beamed even. He knew he should've been studying, yet he didn't regret coming to the stables as it never failed to cheer him up. He fed marrow the last apple. It was funny if you thought about it, the crown prince was seen as the wimpiest prince, yet his horse was the strongest and most unruly. She was fiercely loyal to Luthier, but since Marrow was just a horse she couldn't hold conversation. As such, Luthier wouldn't stay very long.

Luthier turned to leave the stables, as a tired messenger arrived. [b][i]"Sir, I've been looking all over for you, but you weren't in your room and you had left your sword-training by the time I arrived there."[/i][/b] After taking a moment to recompose himself, the messenger explained what had happened across the border and excused himself. Luthier left for his study, deciding he would ask his uncle about their plan when he saw a good opportunity.