A group evaluation. Splendid. Auberon would’ve likely voiced his critiques without Michail’s instruction anyway, but doing so in front of a group felt a little too close to public humiliation for his tastes. He’d be lying if he said the professor scrutinizing their every word while he devoured a pastry wasn’t a bit disconcerting too. But where to start? The blond trailed his gaze across the assembled Lions. Lienna and Kellen both had glaring flaws, but after a whole day of Professor Malathice’s unenthusiastic admonishments, he had to assume she understood by now. And if Kellen didn’t know what he was doing wrong already, he was an idiot.
That left Derec. Who… Auberon really had no comment on. His style was odd but not ineffective; unless Michail expected him to lead some pretentious defense of strict adherence to codified dueling manuals and the predictably dull combat style that entailed, he was at a loss. Would a simple ‘good job’ suffice for the exercise? No, probably better to save the nice comments for last.
After a few moments of silent deliberation on his part, Auberon sighed audibly.
“Alright, I’m gonna address the wyvern in the room.” His head snapped toward Kellen, though his expression was more confused than condemnatory,
“I know everyone has to start somewhere, but what was that today? You walked out of Luin covered head to toe in blood that wasn’t yours - you don’t do that on a fluke; I know you’re not incompetent.”Of course there would be group feedback. Kellen looked around at the assembled Lions, his gaze lingering over his professor. Lysander had come knocking on his door based on a report Michail had written, and Kellen was sure that any information that came out of this conversation would also find its way to the school counselor. Thankfully, he had at least some time to prepare for questions like these from Auberon.
“Uh.” Brilliant start. Kellen took care not to let his chin drop.
“I wanted to… round out our capabilities.” This seemed the best approach.
“I think we could all benefit from someone who can provide support from a distance.” He thought for a moment about turning Auberon onto Lienna with a comment about her reliability, and his eyes crossed hers for half a moment, but he didn’t dare act on the idea.
“The-” He shuddered slightly.
“The blood was mostly Imogen’s handiwork.” Kellen kept his composure, but didn’t want to re-litigate Luin any further. If he had any say in the matter, he’d never talk about it again. He was not hopeful about his chances.
Auberon’s eyes lidded in disbelief as Kellen provided his explanation. Really, he expected the blond to believe that he was a charitable and tactically-minded soul that was merely trying to fill in gaps in their formation because he would be a liability anywhere on the battlefield? He could only imagine the uproar if word got out that one of the mighty Shields of Faerghus had been outclassed by a little girl from Nowhere, Leicester and then spent the rest of the fight holding back tears.
“The best way to be a team player, Kellen,” He stressed with irritation simmering in his tone,
“Is to play to your strengths and make them work within the context of the group. You made it sound like you don’t want to, you’re just filling a niche. I think you’re just a coward who got spooked by that bandit.” He threw his hands up in mock surrender after he finished his point,
“If I’ve misjudged and this is what you really want, I apologize and wish you the best. But you need to figure out how to shoot like a nobleman before we end up in live combat again, not a conscripted peasant whose only job is to volley aimlessly off into the distance.”A dull sort of tingle ran up Kellen’s spine as Auberon laid into him. He had anticipated this sort of response, but not the words that would come out of his own mouth shortly thereafter.
“Oh, come on. If I’m a coward, you’re a religious zealot who’ll be lucky to survive a year.” There was a venom and an edge to the words that sounded foreign as they fired out of his mouth before he had a chance to consider the consequences. He paused for half a second, considering the ramifications of his behaviour, but his better angels went unheeded.
“If you expect me to apologize, I -- I’m not going to. You can convince yourself that you’re untouchable, but I nearly lost an arm and Derec--” He pointed at his fellow Lion.
“Would have likely suffered worse if Isolde hadn’t gotten involved.” He noticed his voice had grown in volume, and tried to take it back down, taking his glare off of Auberon to look at Lienna.
“Honestly, you were right not to go.”“And Derec is still trying where you just gave up,” Auberon hissed, mindful of Kellen’s attempt at reining in his volume but still unwilling to defuse the situation.
“Isolde too, and she’s about as resolute as one of those Adrestian flowers that dies if the soil isn’t perfectly maintained.” No disrespect to the girl herself, but if
she could handle it, surely Kellen could. Besides, if he wanted to step back outside and see who was really untouchable, Auberon was happy to oblige.
“You don’t have to apologize for anything, I just want to know what in Saint Cichol’s name your thought process is. If you’re just-” He hesitated on the word momentarily. ‘Scared’ was the term he’d liked to have used, but that wasn’t conducive to the discussion.
“-worried, then that’s what training is for. Break that fear and become the battlefield terror your family is known for.”Not for the first time, Kellen cursed his family name. It wouldn’t be true to say he hadn’t hoped to live up to the title of Shield of Faerghus, or at least be recognized in his own way. That hope had spurred a sixteen year old noble to join a war camp. That hope had just about cost him his life, and would do so again and again if he continued to let it fester.
“It’s not- It won’t work. I’ve tried.” There was no anger in his words now, and his face turned down towards the ground.
“I’m trying something else now.” His face was set as he looked up.
Not particularly interested in critiquing her peers (and not having watched them enough to have any idea what to critique them on), Lienna had been content to stay quiet. Luck was on her side when Auberon and Kellen immediately started going after each other, and she was shocked to hear Kellen speak so harshly; she didn’t think he was capable of much more than a whisper, let alone such cutting words. Content to watch the action, she helped herself to a pastry from the tray and let the two boys tear into each other, sitting back to enjoy the show.
Unfortunately, the climax of their conflict was short-lived, and what she thought was going to end in a fight was just turning into a pity party. Come on, Kellen, where was that fire from before? Auberon was pulling his punches, but he looked about ready to swiftly end anything Kellen started. But once more, Kellen shrunk away; it was not to be, and she didn’t have the patience to sit through this meeting if it turned into some kind of unbearable sympathy circle.
Openly rolling her eyes, she finished off her pastry and straightened up, glaring ice at the both of them.
“Are you boys done?” she demanded.
“Honestly, I think you were both idiots to rush off to Luin and risk your lives for strangers, but since you did, you’re going to have to learn to man up and live with it.” She turned her glare on Kellen.
“Kellen, stop feeling sorry for yourself. It’s disgusting. And even if you really do want to be an archer, you’ll be more likely to hit your teammates in the back than the enemy the way you shoot. You’re a swordsman, live with it.” “And you,” she looked sharply at Auberon, crossing her arms. She wasn’t sure what that “religious zealot” comment was about, and honestly Kellen kind of deserved what he was getting, but she couldn’t let Auberon get off scot-free.
“If you want to be a leader, then start acting like one. Bickering like a child with your subordinates and calling names when your authority gets challenged isn’t going to earn you anyone’s respect.” Lienna let out a breath, closing her eyes for a moment. She said it, she
swore when she left Hima that she was never going to be anyone’s caretaker again, and she was less than thrilled about suddenly becoming the Blue Lions’ babysitter. This had better be the first and last time.
Letting her hands fall to the table, she looked between her housemates, unamused.
“Anyone else need to get something out of their system before we can get this over with?” Kellen felt more words start to rise up in his throat, but he pushed them back down. They wouldn’t make him feel any better. He gave a small shake of his head.
“This isn’t about authority, it’s-” Auberon started, then let the statement go with a huff. Whatever, he’d made his point. Kellen was acting stupid, they’d established that, no reason to keep harping on it.
“Fine, we should get back on track anyway. Who wants to go next?” Since his pride was clearly too wounded to pass fair judgement, apparently. Lienna couldn’t agree with him and then accuse him of pointless nagging in the same breath. Or was she the only one allowed to complain?
Sweet merciful Goddess, Derec was truly naive. Here he was, thinking that keeping his head down would be easy with a group like this, but he never thought it would be this bad! He was completely clueless on the group dynamic, and for some reason, the entire interaction surprised him. Sure, Kellen choosing another weapon did get him curious, but he didn’t think it was cowardly. Auberon was zealous, but that passion shined through in fighting. And Lienna had power, but chose not to use it--and for good reason, as she must have known she didn’t have much control over it. So, then why was there this tension all of a sudden?
He looked over at Michail, who was perfectly content with eating. Their professor made his stance clear: he was an observer, and it was up to them to figure things out on their own. For once, Derec wasn’t surprised at this, but what could he do? As Michail caught his gaze, however, there was the tiniest movement of his head before he devoured his next sandwich. Derec’s stomach dropped; even if it was an innocuous gesture, he knew exactly what it meant.
‘You should say something.’
Derec’s hands left his lap and rested on the table in front of him, his mind whittling away at ideas. Should he just take advantage of the silence and move on? He could, but something Lienna said bothered him a little.
“Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but I don’t think Luin was a mistake,” He suddenly said, unable to hold himself back on that much. Even if he had ended up losing an arm, he would never have regretted going.
“But I won’t linger on that topic. I’ll get us back on track.”He resisted the urge to look at Michail for approval, instead trying to remember what he saw.
“Honestly, I think we’re in trouble compared to our classmates,” He ended up admitting, though he didn’t hesitate when he put it out there.
“At the very least, almost everyone had the basics down. But our mage and archer aren’t at the same level as everyone else. There’s only so much we can do if our backline can’t support our frontline.”He didn’t have much to say about Auberon because...well, he looked fine, and Luin proved he already knew what to do. The problem was, unfortunately, with the other two.
“We can’t have an archer that can’t aim, and we can’t have a mage that doesn’t have their magic under control. So we should focus on improving that,” He decided to handle Kellen first and foremost, if only because he knew very little about magic and was pretty sure Lienna was going to throttle him.
“If you’re going to switch your weapon, then I think you have a lot of training to do. The princess consort doesn’t seem like the type to put much effort, but even she hit her target. We mustn't fall behind our classmates, so I’ll expect to see you in the arena a lot more going forward.”He then dared himself to look at Lienna, a thought coming to mind.
“Are you self taught as well?” He ended up outright asking.
“Oh, really? And here I was thinking it would be a good way to keep the enemy on their toes,” Lienna shot back venomously. So much for peasant solidarity, apparently. But what kind of a dumbass comment was that? She wasn’t blind, she obviously knew she needed to work on her control. That was why they trained, to refine their skills. It wasn’t like she decided to pick up black magic for the first time in her life today, like Kellen with his awful attempt at shooting. Honestly, putting the two of them on the same level was nothing above insulting.
Crossing her arms once more, she reminded herself that she’d just put an end to a petty squabble, and after all that training she didn’t have the energy to start a new one. She let out a sigh, her anger simmering down a bit as she listened to Derec’s question. Right, she seemed to recall someone saying that Derec looked self-taught. She had to wonder why he was so uncharitable in his evaluation if he was in the same boat, but forced herself past the issue to answer him.
“My grandmother taught me,” she said simply, though her gaze slid away as she considered how to explain the second part of her answer.
“But she… wasn’t around very long, so I mostly practiced on my own, yes.” ‘Struggled and cursed when she froze the fireplace instead of lighting it’ would have been more accurate, but her housemates didn’t need those details.
“Why? I have a real tutor now, problem solved.” Derec’s complete agreement and support of everything Auberon said should’ve been a sorely-needed boost to his mood, but unfortunately, it was tempered with the bitter knowledge that they were the laughing stock of the Rose Unit at the moment, which was frankly what pissed him off to begin with. Self-taught explained a lot of the unorthodox movements he saw on Derec’s part, and he didn’t know the first thing about black magic but he was fairly certain it wasn’t quite that chaotic most of the time.
“That explains a bit. I have nothing against unorthodox techniques if they work, but I think you should both start by studying up on the formalities of your respective fields,” Auberon offered,
“If for no other reason than to predict what your opponent will do.”Derec was cut off by Auberon, though he let him say his piece. Once he finished, he ended up looking down at his hands.
“He’s right. I’m self taught, too,” He decided to explain himself and remembered what Michail had told him when he had asked for a personal evaluation.
“Believe me, I understand. When your back is to the wall and you have no one to rely on, nowhere to go, technique doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is your own survival, so you use every bit of limited knowledge that you have to scrape by. The only thing that matters is that you live.”His knuckles were white as his hands balled into fists, unpleasant memories threatening to surface. After a few seconds, however, he seemed to remember himself, shaking his head.
“Sorry,” He muttered an apology as he lifted his gaze to meet Lienna’s.
“Our problem is that we’ve only ever had to think of ourselves. But we’re part of a team now, so we have to remember that we’re not on our own anymore. We have people we can rely on.” In truth, he wasn’t really sure if he was telling Lienna or himself that. Either way, it applied to both of them.
Auberon’s comment was equally stupid - what did he think they were here for if not to learn from real teachers? - but it was Derec’s piece that got Lienna’s attention. His words had truth to them, and she could tell they came from experience, an experience the nobles in their house probably wouldn’t understand. And his emotions were clearly genuine, even if he wore them on his sleeve like a vulnerable idiot. But at the end of his speech, Lienna only felt more vicious and resentful than ever.
“We?” she repeated derisively, glaring daggers at the red-haired boy across the table.
“Our problem, is it? We’ve only ever had to think of ourselves?” Her jaw worked violently as she tried to fathom what Derec just said. Oh, he just knew
everything didn’t he? “We’ve only had to think of ourselves”? If fucking only! That would have been nice: after nearly a decade of being the head of the house, putting food on the table, sleeping in shifts to make sure her lunatic grandmother didn’t wander into the woods and starve to death - and all with no help from the very same sorts of villagers that these saviour-complex
idiots would rush to rescue at the drop of a hat - was thinking about
herself really so much to ask? The life Derec described would have been a blessing to her, a far cry from the hell she’d been living with the breathing corpse she called her Oma. After all she’d done to pull herself out of that life, where the hell did he get off telling her that suddenly everything was okay?
“Speak for your Saints-damned self, you have no idea what you’re talking about,” she snapped at Derec, standing from her seat and moving to leave.
“I’m done.”Michail was about to take a drink, though he stopped himself as Lienna stood.
“Sit back down, the group hasn’t completed their task,” He told her.
“I have,” Lienna shot back, spitefully waving Michail away. Unbeknownst to her, some ice had formed on her hand, and a few small shards flew off and stabbed into the table as she went.
Goddess above, Lienna had no business accusing Auberon of being childish when she was ready to leave the class entirely over Derec’s choice of stupid peasant aphorism. The blond gave a hollow sigh and stood from his chair, ready should he be forced into actually pursuing Lienna.
“And we haven’t. In fact, the only person you’ve commented on was Kellen. I believe the exercise was for you to evaluate the entire group. Sit down, I shouldn’t have to passive-aggressively parrot your comments about childish bickering to make my point.”Lienna was on the other side of the table by the time Auberon spoke up, and she sincerely wished looks could kill because that would have been much less of a mess than staking the blond through the heart with an icicle.
“Fine: Coward, Egotist, Idiot,” she snapped, jabbing a finger at Kellen, Auberon, and Derec, respectively.
“And I swear to the Goddess Auberon, if you come over here and try to stop me I’ll tell my fiancé you forced yourself on me.” Auberon wrinkled his nose in vague distaste. That lie would last all of ten minutes against anyone that had spoken to him, but the fact that she even tried was insulting. Not to mention he was about as terrified of Count Francis “Traitor” Gautier as he was Jorah, but he could save such animosity for the battlefield if this mysterious bastard heir ever gained enough traction.
“Alright, everybody’s tempers are flaring and this is going nowhere. I think we all need to take a minute and pray to the Goddess for patience or empathy or whatever else you prefer to quiet the negativity in your heads,” Auberon announced as he sat back down,
“We can all take swings at each other in the arena tomorrow, but this is supposed to be about reflection and growth.”“Yeah, you do that,” Lienna scoffed.
“Hate to tell you, but the Goddess doesn’t like me.” With that she turned on her heel and left the classroom, disappearing into the courtyard.
“How- wha-” Auberon sputtered incredulously as Lienna made her way across the room.
“You have a Crest!” He finally forced out as she crossed the threshold of the doorway, too stupefied to do anything else. That had to be the weirdest blasphemy he’d ever encountered.
Kaira chased after Lienna, stopping at the door and calling after her. Michail let out a hum, though he continued eating, uninterested. Derec ended up letting out a sigh, dismayed. It looked like he accidentally got down to the heart of the problem, didn’t he? Well, discovering problems was just the half of it. He had absolutely no idea how to solve this, and if Lienna wasn’t even listening to the professors, then she wasn’t going to give them the time of day, either.
He looked at Auberon and Kellen, frowning.
“We’re in trouble, aren’t we?” He asked.
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Auberon mumbled,
“I’ll drag us through here on faith alone if need be.” He shot a quick glance in Michail’s direction. The lack of intervention wasn’t entirely surprising if he intended for them to manage themselves, but he could at least do them the decency of dismissing them after that.
“Anyone here need to throw a punch at me, or can we move on?”Derec definitely noticed the lack of intervention on Michail’s part, but he wasn’t sure if Auberon noticed what he did. Before, while staying out of it, Michail still looked at them. Now, he was entirely focused on his breakfast, and a dread suddenly ballooned in his chest. Even if they were just arguing before, at least they were doing it as a team. But now that Lienna was gone, they weren’t together, so it didn’t matter what they did from here on out.
He shook his head at Auberon’s question.
“I’m actually not a big fan of fighting if it can be avoided,” He admitted quietly.
Kellen stared down at the small piece of ice lodged into the desk, watching it melt slowly. This had deteoritated quicker than he had expected, and while he was more than happy to blame Auberon for it, Lienna hadn’t done much to help. Nor had Derec, or himself, for that matter. He looked at the two Lions still in the room.
“It’s not worth it.” He muttered. He had received the message, loud and clear, from his housemates.
“Glad to hear it,” Auberon responded humorlessly,
“Maybe we can resume after she cools off. If either of you need me in the meantime, I’ll be in the cathedral.” He looked to Michail and pointedly cleared his throat to draw the man’s attention away from his meal.
“Professor. Are we dismissed?”Michail stopped mid-chew, finally looking back up at them. He swallowed and cleared his throat, though he ended up taking a drink before deciding to speak.
“Hm, I think we were supposed to go back to the arena after this,” He mused, though he put down his drink and looked at his remaining trio.
“Guess there’s no point in carrying on. Run along if you want, but I skipped breakfast so I’m gonna devour the rest of this food.”Auberon unenthusiastically grabbed one of the pastries Michail hadn’t gotten to yet. There was
more to this disaster of an exercise? The Goddess saw fit to test him today and evidently he had been found wanting. Skipping class wasn’t going to do him any favors either, as much as he would’ve liked to vacate the area promptly and start fresh tomorrow.
“I guess I’ll be here, then,” He corrected to the other Lions.
Kellen contemplated standing for half a moment, but ultimately didn’t act on it. He didn’t say anything, reaching out a bit too quickly to grab a pastry so that he could busy himself. He was ready to go back and fire some arrows, more out of spite than in pursuit self-improvement.
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