Alexandria turned her attention back to her tea after Arianna made her surprise announcement. Gently sipping the soothing and warm liquid Alexandria felt a wave of calm wash over her as the warm fluid traveled down her throat. Alexandria gave the tea a gentle stir before gulping the rest down. Sighing in satisfaction at the relief to her throat and warm feeling to her stomach. Standing from the counter, Alexandria gently slid the teacup and saucer back to the bartender and thanked them for the drink. Picking up her sword from where it rested against the counter, Alexandria fastened it back to her belt and turned to the majority of the crowd in the guild hall. A thought entered her mind that she should tell Illedrith that a new condition had been announced, as Illedrith was not present at the guild hall at the time of the announcement. Alexandria tapped her right heel against the floor as she pondered where Illedrith might’ve been. Alexandria snapped her fingers as she remembered hearing that Illedrith was out training some of the younger members of the guild in basic swordsmanship. Commendable and needed for the future of the guild.

Nodding to herself, Alexandria walked out of the guild hall without too much ceremony. Her metal heels clicked against the floor and the various bits of armor that she wore rattled as she walked. A sound that was pleasing to a warrior, and to Alexandria. If Alexandria wasn’t stopped or interrupted by someone, she would walk out of the main doors to the guild hall and down the cobblestone path that extended to and from the guild. Turning into a secondary path that branched off of the main road, Alexandria hummed to herself and drummed her fingers on the base of her sword while she walked. Soon she heard the thudding of wooden sword against wooden sword as she approached the training grounds, and followed the sound at a relaxed pace.

It wasn’t too long after that Alexandria came into visual range of the training grounds. They were a pleasant sight to Alexandria. She had spent long hours around them in her previous guild. The memories of her slowly but surely learning how to control her shouts and learning the arts of requip were pleasant, as were the memories of learning how to carry herself as a maid, though they were stained by the incident with the assassins that had changed her path forever. Banishing away the events of the past, Alexandria raised her hand in greeting to Illedrith. When she was in a more comfortable range, Alexandria spoke. “Greetings Illedrith. How do you fair? The guild master made an announcement just now, and I don’t know if you were informed or not: We’re combining rank up tests with Golem’s Hand. As a strict rule, no scraps between guild members. If it’s not clear who started it, everyone involved will be disqualified from the upcoming event. I figured I would make sure you knew since you’re out here training the younglings.”

With that, Alexandria had delivered her message. Illedrith probably had something to say, so Alexandria waited for her to respond. While she did, Alexandria pushed her heels together and spread her toes, standing up straight and clasping her hands together behind her back. A deeply embedded habit from when she had been working as a maid, it was probably something that wasn’t going to easily be broken from Alexandria’s mannerisms. Alexandria herself sometimes found that she did it without knowing, though this time it was intentional and deliberate. Alexandria glanced at the training younglings for a few moments before returning her attention to Illedrith. Alexandria displayed no outward signs of being impatient, as was drilled into her by her maid training. It was something that came in handy when she had to debate anc converse with others, especially those that ranked higher in the guild hierarchy than she did.

The thudding of wooden swords against one another made Alexandria smile slightly. She drifted briefly back to the days where she had spent hours whacking a wooden training dummy with a wooden sword to better her upper body strength. One specific memory surfaced of her combat instructor teaching her how to use heels in combat. Most people considered them rather impractical, but with good enough balance and the right opportunity, you could drive a sharp enough heel through the base of someone’s jaw for a gnarly and hard to manage wound. Another opportunity was the throat, and it was just as deadly. Thus, Alexandria wore heels with her default armor, as impractical as it might be to some.

Bringing herself back to the present, Alexandria continued to wait and see what Illedrith’s response was. Hopefully she took the news well. Alexandria knew that Illedrith could sometimes be a bit zealous when it came to Harpy’s Wing. It was a desirable trait in some cases, but unleashing such a passion at the wrong moment could create some major headaches. Especially with the newly announced rule that anyone caught scrapping would be in serious trouble. Best to try and keep everything calm in this situation. No need to pound on the drums of war just yet.