I refused to let my nerves show themselves. It was unlikely he’d accept further discussion just to finish our tiff from yesterday, of course, he wasn’t exactly building a reputation of likely decisions for himself. Perhaps it was an intimidation tactic, to make me more likely to compromise in his favor. Or maybe he was just as beastly as the rumors said and intended to kill me for the supposed crime of eye-contact.

  No such thing happened of course. No such crime existed, and the boy before me was only 8. Far too young for such things. Though I must admit, when he stood up with unprecedented swiftness and ended up in front of me, I’m certain my poise slipped. His words went in one ear and out the other. At least the tone was appropriate, but the distance was not.

  He was so close I could see the red of his eyes. White it was true the color stood out even through my veil, the detail was all the proof needed of our vicinity.

  I caught his hand, swatting it away from my face, bracing for retaliation. None came.

  He only huffed, then turned around and sat back down.

  At that very moment, the door opened. I felt Ai before I heard her, her arms wrapping around me in a way that was certainly not appropriate, but I could not find in myself to criticize. She was not so accustomed to hiding her feelings. She made up for it in not feeling much, but when she did, it was clear.

  “Did he hurt you Princess?” She asked, finally releasing me.

  “I’m unharmed, as you can see,” I said. “Now if you would–”

  The Prince’s voice, loud as ever, broke through my own. Then Ai turned to him, and did the unthinkable. She yelled at him.

  “Ai!” I had no choice but to say.

  “He calls my attention to you overbearing after he assaulted you only yesterday!”

  “”Ai…” I tried to ease her, but it was of little use.

  “What were you thinking? Going off alone with him? Continuing to even entertain the idea of marrying him. Gosh, your father…” she was so worked up she wasn’t even breathing enough to get the words out that she desired to.

  “Ai.” I put my hand on hers. That at least, quieted her.

  “I apologize Princess.” She bowed her head.

  “Don’t apologize to me.” I nodded toward the Prince.

  She couldn’t keep it off her face, the degree to which she detested my request, but if anything trumped her feelings it was her obedience.

  I truly hated to make her do it, command her to apologize to a boy with whom I too held many grievances with, but it had to be done– and it was. She bowed at the waist, her apology sharp air between her teeth.

  “Forgive my rudeness,” is what I assumed she said. That was her phrasing in our tongue. Though I could tell it lacked her typical sincerity.

  The Prince did nothing to acknowledge it, but the boy quickly stepped in to let her rise and tend her wounded pride. I too gave her a moment. After making her do that, I certainly owed it to her. The Prince however, did not seem as inclined to let the silence sit any longer.

  “Now that the girl is here, you’re not mute anymore.” He said, only to be rightfully scolded by the boy beside him. “What’s upset you this time?”

  “You can’t say things like that to her. You want her to like you,” he admonished. “And that’s not how being mute works.”

  “Huh!? Of course that’s how it works,” he said. “And it’s not as if married people actually like each other anyway.”

  “They can.”

  He turned his head. “Fine, have an apology if you want.”

  “No need.” I said. It was hardly an apology anyway.

  “Good.” He stood up abruptly, the boy quickly running to stop him, but he smacked his hands away. “Now let’s go.”

  “Go?” I repeated.

  “Yes,” he groaned, opening the door. “Are you deaf too?”

  “Pardon?”

  “YOU HEARD ME!”

  “Why should I go with you?” I asked, folding my arms. “We still have plenty to discuss right here.”

  “We’ve already decided it wouldn’t be the worst being married. What else is there to discuss other than that stupid thing on your face?”

  “What business of yours is my veil?”

  “I don’t like it. Take it off.”

  “Why? So you can strike my face again?"

  “I can hit you with or without that thing!”

  Ai and I gasped. “You are barbaric!”

  “Well you agreed to continue ‘discussions’ knowing that,” he said. “And don’t pretend you didn’t hit me too!”

  “I hit you back,” I corrected. “You started it.”

  “Whatever. Take the veil off.”

  “No. Why should I.?”

  “Because I said so.”

  “I told you already I don’t have to listen to you.”

  He took a step toward me and the boy stepped in front of him just as fast.

  “If you think I’m only here to hit you, why did you come back here?” He asked when I stepped back. “Take the thing off.”

  “Well, give me a reason why I should.” I pushed back to hide the weakness I had shown.

  “Why shouldn’t you? Unless you intend to lie to me.”

  “What does this veil have to do with lies?”

  “Tongues may lie, but eyes are honest.” He said.

  The words were so true and wise I just knew Ai had to have polished them in translation. Still, I had to concede to him. The veil made things more difficult for me just as they would for him.

  “Very well,” I moved my hands toward my head, only for Ai to stop them.

  “Princess!” She protested.

  “His request is not wholly unreasonable,” I said. Despite his unconventionality and lack of diplomacy, he seemed properly cautious at the very least. Actually, more than was proper, though that may only have seemed to be the case because of his straightforwardness, something you did not see in diplomats.

  “At least let me,” she moved to do it herself. Not because she supported the decision, but because she knew my mind would not be changed, nor was this the place for her to try.

  She took it off, the veil lifting from my face and the world of the room greeting me.

  The Prince, who had been at the door was now in front of me, appearing so suddenly I could not say when he’d appeared, only that he was too close. He looked much the same as before, dressed the same, only less colorfully, his hair a little more wild. Red was the only color on him, his eyes standing out as much as they had yesterday, but no longer the only red on his face.

  Lines covered the expanse of his face, no longer bleeding, but still red as if they were. Guilt built up in my chest. I hadn’t meant to mark him up so badly.

  He eyed me with similar intensity. “Never seen a girl look so rough.” He said finally.

  “And I’ve never seen a Prince get beaten by one.”

  “YOU DIDN’T BEAT ME!” He stepped closer and the boy brought himself between us again, blocking him from me, and giving me a view of him for the first time.

  Black hair, cleaner than the Prince’s, and a black eye to match. The place where another eye would be was covered by a black fabric tied around his head. Yet there was no visible scarring in the area.

  He was as young as I’d imagined, putting his hands on the prince in front of me. Dressed lowly, yet well kept. Able to touch the Prince but bearing the marks of a slave.

  “Get off of me Taira,” The Prince pushed him away. “I already told you I wasn’t gonna hit her again unless she hits me first.”

  Who was this Taira?

  “I have no intention to hit you,” I said to him, bringing my focus back to the matter at hand.

  He scoffed. “Like I could tell.”

  “You–”

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  “Please,” Taira cut in, focused solely on the Prince and not the fact he’d interrupted me. “Move on from this.”

  “Fine.” He rolled his eyes, turning back to the open door. “Let’s go.”

  “No.”

  “Why stay? You’ve already taken off that stupid thing.”

  “Veil,” Taira corrected.

  “It’s a stupid thing!”

  “And?” I asked, cutting in.

  “And what?” He demanded.

  “Me conceding to one request does not mean I will do whatever you ask.”

  “You speak as if you liked hiding deception behind your eyes.” He said.

  “I can assure you I have told you no falsehoods since our meeting.” I held his gaze and he did the same, before nodding.

  “Then why make such a fuss about it?” He asked.

  “I made no fuss! You assaulted me!”

  “I only touched your stupid face thing, not you.” He said.

  “It doesn’t matter, it’s beyond improper!" I said.

  “Tch. Proper this, proper that. What good does any of it do?”

  “Plenty.” I said.

  “Like what?” He asked.

  “Liking keeping the peace, and making civil agreements. It keeps us from need of violence.”

  “Nothing can keep us from the need of violence.” He said. “It just keeps it out of sight.”

  “Ryuunosuke, stop.” Taira said. It wasn’t a request.

  “Ugh.” He stepped back. “If all you think of my intentions is ill, then you may as well end this now.”

  My teeth broke their restraint and fell into the habit I’d tried so hard to bury, biting into my lip. He was almost speaking reasonably, and not as a boy that assailed without provocation. If I could not trust him for this much, then I shouldn’t even try to marry him. It was his reasoning, and it was, I had to admit, quite sound.

  “I can’t let anyone see my face like this,” I looked away, eyes hiding the excuse as if I truly believed he could see through it.

  “If anyone sees you I’ll give them a face to match then,” He said.

  My hesitance was broken by his boldness. His hand took hold of my wrist and he dragged me outside with him.

  It was bright. Bright and beautiful. I hadn’t been able to lay eyes on it since arrival, and I was envious of those who had. Mountains rose in the distance, their peaks covered in white and their bases in green. Flowers of bright colors and unfamiliar shapes filled the space we were in. Enclosed by study walls and buildings that, while strange, held incredible elegance.

  The paths through the garden were well kept. Well kept and desolate. There was not another soul.

  He let go of me as soon as I made my mind to follow him without further protest, the flowers soon giving way to less decorative plants, the paths giving way to less kept stones, until there were no longer stones at all. He stepped off the path, and my feet rooted themselves in place.

  “Why did she stop?” He turned to Taira.

  “Most likely because the strange boy who attacked her is leading her to an unknown location in the middle of the woods.” He responded with a tone that clearly carried his ever-thinning patience.

  “Everyone knows where the training grounds are.” He said.

  “Training grounds?” I questioned.

  He turned those eyes to me, searching mine. “Can you use a sword?”

  “No?” What possessed this boy to even ask such a question.

  “Are you completely defenseless?”

  “I’m a lady.” I huffed. There was nothing defenseless about a woman who would go to war for– not that I wanted my people to go to war.

  “You don’t hit like a lady,” he said. “Whatever a lady’s supposed to be.”

  He walked over, grabbing my arm with more force than a child his age should have and pulling me from the path, my feet forced to follow.

  “Let go of me!” I tried to pull away, but once again found that impossible.

  “You should know how to use a sword.”

  “Ladies don’t do such things!” I said. “It’s improper."

  “If you can hit like a man, you can fight like one.”

  “I do not hit like a man!”

  “Well if you want to keep yourself from being dragged off so much you should learn too.”

  “Ryuunosuke!” Taira and whatever reason meant to leave his mouth was pushed aside. We broke through the trees into a clearing of dirt. He picked up a strangely shaped piece of wood, letting go of me. It wasn’t a natural shape, but was shaped as nothing practical either. “

  “What?” He turned to him.

  “You can’t say things like that to her,” he said. “You’re not of normal strength. Nothing she learns would be of any good.”

  He ignored him, throwing a stick to me.

  I looked at the strange stick, my wrist bright red from just how tightly he’d grabbed it. Taira was right.

  Ryunosuke was not of normal strength. I tried to pull away and couldn’t. Even yesterday, I hadn’t been able to pull away from him. I had to bite him to make him let go of his own accord. A year’s difference in age should not have created such a disparity between our strengths.

  Whatever creature it was that claimed his eyes had bestowed him with a powerful Blessing. One he was already in tune to, at such a young age. Meanwhile I could hardly say mine had manifested anyway other than how it did for every one of my people.

  “I should’ve known you only wanted to fight.” I huffed.

  “Fight?” He said. “It’s not a fight if you don’t know anything.”

  “I know plenty.” I turned my head.

  “Not about swords,” he said.

  “That’s not all that matters to know,” I said.

  “I didn’t say it was!” He threw his hands up. “Women always put words in my mouth!”

  “Men always drag poor girls out to do things against their will.”

  “THERE’S NOTHING POOR ABOUT YOU!”

  “If you keep yelling at me I’m not going to marry you.” I folded my arms.

  “You think I care if you marry me or not?”

  “Well you stopped yelling at me.”

  “DID NOT!”

  “I guess I won’t marry you then.”

  “Whatever,” he clicked his tongue. “Do you know a proper stance?”

  “Why are you so insistent on this?”

  “If you marry me, people will try to kill you,” he said. “You’ll need to be able to protect yourself whether it’s lady-like or not.”

  “You weren’t supposed to tell her that.” Taira sighed.

  I shifted to my best impersonation of Khu’s practicing stance, waiting for the two to stop. It got the Prince’s attention immediately.

  “What are you doing?” He came beside me, eyeing my stance as if it were completely alien.

  “This is a starting position.” I said. I can’t have been that far off.

  “What do you expect to do with a sword standing like that, other than stab yourself?”

  “I don’t expect to do anything without a sword.”

  “You have a sword.” He said.

  “I do not.”

  “A wooden sword is still a sword.”

  I looked at the stick in my hand. “What kind of sword is this?

  “A katana. A sword.” He said.

  “No. Sword’s don’t look like this.”

  “Have you ever seen a sword girl?”

  “My name is Nefret-Nad–”

  “Fine, fine, Nefret,” he said. “Do you even know what a sword looks like?”

  “I have seen them before.” I bristled at his use of my familiar name.

  “Ryuunosuke,” Taira pulled him aside. “It’s quite possible their swords and stances are nothing like ours.”

  Yes. At least someone saw reason.

  “ALL THE MORE REASON TO SHOW HER THE RIGHT WAY!”

  He dropped his head into his hands.

  “We should be learning things about each other, not playing with swords.” I said.

  “You learn all you need to know about a person when they hold a weapon in their hand,” he said.

  He didn’t wait any longer, taking his foot and pushing mine further apart. Any kind of balance in this stance was impossible. It would especially be so wearing a full coat of chainmail.

  “Like that.” He said, turning my body to face the side. Only my head facing forward.

  “How am I supposed to fight standing like this?” I asked.

  “Stop asking questions!”

  “How do you intend for me to learn a thing if I’m not to ask questions?”

  “THAT’S A QUESTION!”

  “Well answer it!”

  “Everyone knows you learn nothing from words. Only from doing,” he said.

  “That’s hardly sufficient.” I said.

  “Huh? What’s sufficient mean?” He turned to Taira.

  “It’s another word for enough.”

  “It’s plenty enough,” he turned back to me. “Honestly, how have you managed to stay alive this long?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Exactly what I said,” he stepped into the strange stance easily. “Now enough questions. Come try and hit me.”

  That was the first thing he had told me to do I felt inclined to obey without coercion– and I would certainly do more than only try. Despite myself, I felt my lips turn upward. “I’ll have you know, this is most improper.”