"Get out of my way!"

The shout came from a familiar voice. You were almost to the dorms when you heard it. Lady Asune's aggravation had apparently not dissipated in her walk. From the sound she was already inside the dorm and had found someone else to vent at.

"Get out of mine!" The response came from Vatarie and was as loud as Lady Asune's. You were for the second time today conflicted. Hearing Vatarie's voice made you want to rush inside and try to help. But that she arguing with Lady Asune made you want to stay out here. You'd really pushed your luck with Stephanie this morning and had earned Lady Asune's ire already did you really want to further give her reason to dislike you. You stretched your perception out to get a feel for the two of them. They were both angry but Vatarie's was enjoying the arguing more.

"Unlike you I haven't been banished for being a disappointment now remember your place!" Lady Asune shouted.

Vatarie's anger flared. You hadn't known the specifics of why she was in the capital, you'd assumed it was for her education. But that flared meant Lady Asune had hit a sore point.

You push open the dorm doors before you'd consciously decided to get involved. As the door swung closed behind you the noise it made pulled both women's attention.

"Christopher." Vatarie's anger dimmed when she saw you and a smile spread on her lips.

"You know this simpleton? And I thought I couldn't think less of you." Lady Asune said laughing.

"How did you sleep Vatarie?" You walk over to her around Lady Asune completely ignoring her. You didn't want to antagonize her by defending yourself or Vatarie so pretending she wasn't there was the only way to hopefully avoid escalation.

"Well how about you Christopher?" Vatarie answered staying in Lady Asune's way, even if she wasn't going to interact she wasn't losing the physical argument.

"Oh this is even better. You don't just know him do you, this is the one you've been courting." Lady Asune let out a laugh as you walked past her. "You, courting some lower noble. He doesn't even have an aura."

You saw it before Lady Asune did. Vatarie wrapped her magic around her arm and got ready for a punch. You had no idea what the consequences would be if Vatarie hit Lady Asune and you didn't want to risk anything happening to Vatarie.

You'd been unsure of your feelings for Vatarie and your relationship. Most of your interactions had been sexually charged and so hadn't had to think about your feelings all that much. But in less than the blink of an eye you'd decided you cared for her. Not love, not yet but it would hurt you to know she had faced consequences for defending you.

You activated you magic sending thread through your legs to speed up. You grabbed Vatarie's readying hand in your and smiled at her. "Would have been better if you were there." You smile at her. The pulls back a little in surpise. You didn't see why, you'd been pretty sexual before suggesting just sleeping in the same bed... you should think about things before you say them. "What's woken you up so early?"

"Training." She remained a little surprised as she said but shook it off quickly. "Now that I am in Lady Stephanie's classes I should train more."

Lady Asune seemed to be lagging a bit because she didn't make any comment about only training now while she had been getting personal lessons each morning.

You moved your hand from hers to hook your elbow around her own. "I'll come with. Be nice to spend more time with you. And I Love watching you work out." You bring the flirt tone into your voice as you take a step to move Vatarie out of Lady Asune's way. Vatarie notice what you were doing and she hesitated. The argument between the two was about who had power over the other so all you had to do way make it irrelevant. "She's all alone least you can do is let her be more important than you are." You make sure to say it loud enough for Lady Asune to hear. It was your attempt at pacification provided Vatarie accepts your company as a worthy exchange for seceding even perceived power to Lady Asune.

"You're right Christopher. I can't imagine how much it pains her to be all alone." Vatarie didn't seem to share your desire for pacification.

Walking to the door with Vatarie you were closer to Lady Asune. Her aura wasn't as seething as you would have expected and as you reached your closest point you felt it graze you slightly. You looked at her when you felt the soft tingles from it. What you saw in her eyes wasn't the predatory glint you'd gotten somewhat used to seeing, you saw something nastier. You were reminded of Isabelle when you spoke to her before your eighteenth birthday party, except this felt... matured.

"Christopher wasn't it?" Lady Asune asked disturbingly sweetly. She smiled at you. "I hope we can speak again."

You swallowed as the hairs on the back of your neck stood on end. You really hoped that wouldn't happen anytime soon. You looked away from her but could feel her eyes on you. You really didn't want to think it but you were pretty sure you just made an enemy of someone you didn't want as an enemy.

Vatarie and you left the dorms and walked to the training grounds. She was quiet as you walked with her. Her aura was a mixture of several emotions. Happiness at your proximity, anger at Lady Asune, excitement at the training, and shame you presumed had something to do with why Lady Asune had said she was banished. You really wanted to ask her but knew it was too soon, if you did you would be associating yourself with Lady Asune's jab. So you were quiet and just enjoying being close with her.

When the training ground came into view you expected to the Stephanie but weren't able to. You were a little relieved, if Vatarie mentioned Lady Asune and your conflict you would be out on your ass by breakfast.

Walking between the viewing stands Vatarie separated from you to walk into the packed dirt of the arena. She stopped with a foot on it and looked at you. "Do you want to join me?" You smiled and walked forwards excited at the prospect of new knowledge.

When you were both standing on the packed dirt she explained, "I fight with a traditional style of my family." She held up her forearm and clenched her fist. "By wrapping bands of magic around my arm I can increase my strength significantly." The bands formed and then shifted. "I can also turn the bands into a coil." Magical coils formed around her wrist. "This means any punch can shatter even the largest boulder."

You recall practicing your disintegrate spell of boulders to get the same result. You hold up your own forearm and recreate the bands then the coils. "Like this?" You asked, your magic looked the same but it was perfectly possible they weren't so you wanted confirmation.

"Y-yes have you done this before?" Vatarie looked genuinely surprised by what you had done.

"Something similar." You change the bands into your usual shell, while using a weapon the shell was more useful.

"Oh." Vatarie looked surprised but moved on. "You know how to use a sword."

"Passably." You answer, feeling a little awkward and hoping you wouldn't have to explain further.

"In that case I can skip to the forms." She brought her arms together in front of her face wrapping the bands around both. "Start with basic jabs." She launched her right fist into a jab so fast you felt a soft breeze from the **** of it. "Working them into combinations." She launched a flurry of jabs that made a the breeze much faster. "Then add other moves." She added hooks and other strong swings to her jabs. "And keep moving. If you stay still it makes you easier to predict." She starts to duck and weave in place. It was so close to what you knew as boxing it was almost surreal. You kept watching her for a long moment fascinated by her movements. After some time Vatarie stopped to stared back "What?" She asked.

"S-sorry." You look down at your fists and repeat her movements. "Like this?"

"Yes." Vatarie walks over to you and looks at from several angles. "You picked it up fast."

"Thanks." You say stopping your movements. The compliment actually made you blush a little.

"That means we can move past the beginner stuff." Vatarie said with a grin returning to her place in front of you. "Copy my movements." She launched into a complex series of strikes incorporating kicks as well. Compared to what you had seen yesterday when she fought Stephanie it was both slow and not incorporating any of her magics burst for extra speed. All clearly for your benefit.

You were copying as best as you could but she was move incredibly fast for only using magical bands. You were keeping up but only just. Without your threads you were much slower. It meant you were getting reliant on them, just like when you first started using magic to enhance your physical assets you were limiting your muscles natural development.

After a few minutes of the shadow fighting Vatarie slowed down. "You've really never done this before?"

You slow down with her. "The better I do the longer I get to watch you." You say as a joke but her aura flickers with a hint of flattered embarrassment.

"What do you like watching?" Vatarie slows down more, exaggerating her movements to show of her muscles as the worked.

"Your biceps as the flex." You come to a stop to better appreciate her body. "Your thighs as you kick." Vatarie takes a step closer to you giving you a better view. "You stomach as you twist you hips." She comes close enough that her slow show off swings were missing you by less and less. "Your face as you blush at my compliments." Vatarie's movements jitter slightly at the words and you take the chance. With her slow movements you are easily able to slip between her arms. You wrap your arms around her waist and bring your fast just shy of hers. "Your lips as you breathe."

Vatarie freezes and she stares into you eyes. "Christopher." She lets out a heavy breath and looks down. "We- I..." She put her hands on you waist and push you back a little. She looked into your eyes focusing intently. She smiles and leans her head forwards pressing her forehead against yours. "Why do you smell like home?" She asked it in a whisper to herself rather than to you. "Why can't I... kiss me."

It was barely a whisper but you heard it. You took your hand off her side and softly gripped her chin. Using it you raised her face back to look into her eyes. "What you want Lady Vatarie." You catch her lips with your own and after a moment part. Your tongues meet together and you playfully dance them together. It isn't just that she smelt of wonderfully burnt wood she tasted faintly of it as well. It felt like you were dancing with her.

You were pulled from your dancing by a faint salty taste. You pull back and see tears on her face. "Vatarie?" You ask terrified you had done something wrong and ruined the moment. She leans forwards to grab you lips again a sense of desperation evident. You want to keep going but the fear you were doing something wrong was too much. "What's wrong?"

She doesn't look at your face for a long moment but you can see fresh tears falling. "I miss home so much." She whimpers it out. It was so against the strength she had always maintained you didn't know how to respond for a moment. Then you remembered a woman was crying in your arms and wrapped her in a tight hug.

She very softly sobbed for a few moments before she calmed. She held onto you and you held onto her. She was using you as support but you were also the reason she was crying. Lady Asune reminding her of the reason for her placement in the capital and you smelling like home must have been too much in too short a time.

"I wish I knew why I smelt of home. But I be here for you whenever you need to be reminded." You say into her ear. She squeezes you a little tighter.

"Christopher." She pulls back a little and you let her go. "Thank you." She puts a soft kiss on your lips. "For everything." She pulls back and looks into your eyes. "I've decided. We're going to get married."