[color=A0A0A0][h2]Fleuri Jodeau[/h2][/color]

Fleuri's thoughts turned to the recent events of the matter of the shard at mention of "something grimmer".  It was unfortunate that the Valours Tournament of this year was set during a time when very dark conspiracies were stirring in the background.  Most of the kingdom no doubt knew of the assassination attempt on the princess and the destruction of the Fort Daelantine garrison, but were blissfully ignorant of the efforts to gather the shards of Angroron.

Of course, as a new arrival to the Iron Roses, Fleuri had only recently found himself in a position where he'd be privy to this knowledge.  Perhaps such crises and conspiracies behind the scenes were more common than he thought, and dealt with just as quietly.  Regardless, he was confident that the tournament would be one of the most secure gatherings in the kingdom.  Between the Crown Knights, the Twin Churches, the College, and the Iron Roses, not to mention the foreign dignitaries, it was probably safer there than in the halls of Candaeln.

For now it'd be best to focus on more pleasant matters...

One such matter in particular that had caught Fleuri's interest was the revelation that not one but [i]two[/i] Akitsushiman warriors would be competing.  He was curious to see if these foreign fighters would be demonstrating techniques that he had not seen before in his time training with Rui.  He also hoping that this would be a chance to see what Akitsushiman armor looked like- assuming that they wore armor at all when competing.

[color=A0A0A0]"If I might ask, Takashima, in your homeland have you ever met or heard of a rabbit-eared swordswoman with one arm?"[/color]  This might be the only chance he would get to ask another Akitsushiman about her.

[@VitaVitaAR][@HereComesTheSnow]