It's an awkward wait

You've calmed down enough to realize how childish you've been leaving camp with no notice. You can only imagine the chaos that you've caused as Alexia, Galeon and your oath-brothers are scrambling to figure out what to do next. You chuckle ruefully as you realize that this is exactly like how you used to act when you argued with King Achilles when you were just a boy. No wonder Athena chided you for your lack of wisdom; as a teenager you would storm out disappearing from court either spending time among the wolf pack in the forests or with Spook meeting new people and enjoying life. Your smile and laughter draw the attention of Sandrine who has been growing more and more impatient as you've been waiting in the dark city.

"Do you find me amusing, Sire?" You look to the frustrated noblewoman in surprise until you realize that she thinks you are laughing at her while you wait for no obvious reason in the middle of the city. Unlike you, Sandrine does not know Alexia. At any moment now your Spymaster will arrive and chastise you for your recklessness and the worst of it will be that she will be correct as she usually is.

"No, Lady," you take her hand in yours once again, "Please forgive me, I am remembering how I too often got into trouble with my late adopted father when we disagreed." You explain, unwilling to have her think that you are laughing at her even for a moment. "I would storm off for days until agents from Kalion found me. It was, and still is, a weakness of mine."

"I understand that urge better than you know, Your Majesty." The soft squeeze of your hand means more to you than all the accolades of any court in all the city states of Hellena. "So, these agents would find you and **** you home to face the disapproval of your father and comply with his wishes?"

"Well, they would have to beg me to return." You laugh, "If they tried to **** me, they would have most likely ended up injured." She looks at you with a mixture of wonder and irritation.

"That was most unseemly of you, Sire." Sandrine scolds you softly, "those men were trying to help you, as their Prince you should not have belittled them for doing their job." The smile that had been on your face turns to a more somber look, until now you had never really considered the feelings of the men your father sent after you. Were you always a self-centered ass, or did it come and go? Pushing aside the uncomfortable new understanding of how hard you were to deal with as a boy, you search for something, anything that you can do to impress this mysterious young woman as you pass the time.

"You are correct, My Lady, I believe I do owe them all an apology." You turn your attention back to Sandrine with a sudden inspiration. "I have an idea of how we can pass some time while we wait." You tell her as you look around the empty square. I want to see your ability in a real fight, not the little bar scrap we got into earlier." She laughs at your change of pace but seems willing to go with the flow.

"You mean the fight where you almost died if I hadn't saved you?" You chuckle at her naivete and start to pull up your tunic to show her where the wound has already completely healed, but before you even get the tunic to your waist, she pushes you away.

"Sire!" She shouts at you as she pushes you away. "Perhaps you misunderstand what I am." You stare at her in confusion not understanding her objection until she spells it out. "I am not a street whore for you to amuse yourself with, nor am I one of your courtesans eager to couple with you even here in the most inappropriate of locals."

"No, not that of course, never ..." You stammer as you pull your tunic back down. "You misunderstand, my lady, I meant to show you that my wound has already healed..." It sounded ridiculous and your protests fade into silence.

"Never mind, My lady." You point to the gladius on her belt. "Here's what I suggest. You use that gladius and your knife to attack me." She stares at you like you are a mad man. "I mean it. When you're ready, come at me with everything you've got and don't worry, I won't use my longswords; I'll fight unarmed." You walk over to the center of the open area and get into an unorthodox stance of an ape. You doubt Sandrine has ever seen anything like this oriental style learned from your mentor Lu Ming. Few, if any, in the Hellenic cities have ever even heard of Hou Quan or Monkey style and even fewer have seen it in action.

Lady Sandrine laughs easily at you, watching you calmly until you straighten from the fighting stance.

"It is OK, My Lady, you cannot hurt me."

"Sire, please." Sandrine shakes her head at like you're a naughty child. "I have no doubt that a warrior of your renown has nothing to fear from me, but I can think of at least three reasons that this 'game' of yours will not happen. The most important of which your majesty, respectfully, is that I have no interest in playing it." You stare at her in confusion, this is not at all how you thought this sparing would work out. Perhaps trying to appease you she shrugs and motioning you to follow her she steps gracefully toward the fountain in the center of the square.

"Why don't you come sit quietly and wait for your friends here," she pats the bench on the side of the fountain as she gracefully perches on the polished marble and dips her hand in the cool water. You don't know whether to be angry that she is talking to you like a five-year old, or excited by the prospect of joining her by the cool fountain.

Just as you are about to join Sandrine you sense two presences watching you. The first is an amused Alexia's who is watching from a rooftop and seems to be enjoying the show. From the other, you feel a murderous intent radiating off them looking for a chance to strike a blow but you're not sure whether their target is you or Sandrine. You decide to allow them to make a move and see just who their target is.