The Ball - Part 1

"Very good. you are definitely improving. Still a lot of things to work on of course, but you should have no problem dealing with a thug that knows how to fight. Once you have most of this down as instinct, you will need to learn how to use it to fight off more than one person at a time. But we have some time before that will happen."

Althea stood to the side, her hand on the pommel of a two-handed wooden sword that had been stabbed in the ground at her side, the last weapon she had fought against Octavia with as she spoke. Octavia however was leaning on the staff in her hand trying to catch her breath.

"You will also need to work on that stamina of yours a bit more. You've got a good deal of strength already, and I can see that you do some form of exercise, but more is needed as that won't help if you end up gasping for air from overexerting yourself. Normally fights end quickly. One person has better technique or strength compared to the other or someone makes a mistake making it a quick and easy battle. The problem is if you have similar abilities to the one or multiple assailants you're fighting. It could lead to a prolonged battle where a good deal of stamina is needed."

Octavia in between breaths wholeheartedly agreed with her. Especially if she was going to undergo more training sessions like this with Althea.

"Normally I would recommend running for whomever I'm training. But, that's obviously not going to work for you. I'm not even sure if your slithering around would help improve your stamina or not, not really understanding how your tail works. So, I would recommend repeating your strikes, practising dodging and weaving, and maybe try lifting your body weight multiple times to tire yourself out."

Octavia just nodded as Althea told her how to improve going forward.

This training session had continued for a few more hours since they started the very comprehensive spar, forcing her to use many of the techniques she had taught her. As you would expect, only having a good several hours to learn them meant that not all of the fight went in Octavia's favour. She missed hits, or near hits, she could have made and was hit by Althea when she should have defended a specific way. It did bruise her ego a bit, but Althea helped her where she could and even noted how she performed better than most soldiers and guards in training when they first went through something similar.

As Althea gave her this bit of advice on improving herself, time was slowly passing forward, and the bell for dinner resounded, calling the end of their spar. Althea gave her a few more helpful hints on what to focus on going forward, mainly a few of the techniques she missed in defence that most likely would be needed in her travels.

…

The lesson was over, and Octavia headed off for dinner. As she did, she had expected Althea to mention another session, but this didn't happen, likely because of the ball happening tomorrow. Which, unfortunately, neither could get out of it would seem.

Heading out of the courtyard, she traversed the usual hallways, greeting servants, maids and guards on the way, before making it to the dining hall. As she entered, she was greeted by Sylvia sitting in the usual seat all by her lonesome.

She had her meal in front of her and was tucked away at it, so Octavia headed over to get started herself.

"Where are Lord Desmon and everyone?"

"Oh, I think they said they had a meeting they needed to attend. They will be having their meal a little later," she replied after she chewed down the food she had been eating.

Not long later a plate was brought to her, and like all the others it was an explosion of colour. The usual greens of the vegetables were surrounded by purple and dark red making it look both appetising and horrendous at the same time.

By this point Octavia had had several meals within the castle using all these weird and wonderful ingredients, asking what they were before eating them. But right now she just wanted to eat, and then get some rest as she prepared herself for the ball tomorrow. So, she skipped the light interrogation of Sylvia to understand what she was eating and just dug in.

The one thing she could say was that it tasted lovely.

…

Finishing her meal in just a short while after Sylvia, who had waited for her, they headed out into the hall, bumping into Lord Desmon and his family. Greeting each other, they headed in for their dinner and left Sylvia and herself to their own devices.

There was still a good deal of the day left to go, and so before she just collapsed in her bed, they just took a walk about, talking about everything and nothing.

Sylvia spoke about what she had been doing, then she asked Octavia how the training was. Small talk about the day and future plans just flowed between them, all until they passed by doors that lead to a ballroom.

Wide open, Octavia saw people rushing around, heading in and out through various doors in the room, all preparing it for tomorrow. A lot was already up and ready to go, so really it was the finishing touches and setting out tables for food.

Right now, even with the decorations already up, it looked like a construction site. Wooden platforms dotted the area, with people standing atop them, placing flowers and cloth along the wall. Lamps were being changed all along the wall, at multiple levels, for what reason, she didn't know. To finish it off, towards the back was a stage undergoing some form of remodelling, where above it sat chairs scattered in random locations as far as she could see.

As she watched the people climb up to the platforms, her mind went back to the values she had learnt on Earth, and all she could think of was how unsafe it was all of them were just open on the edges. How someone hadn't fallen and broken bones were beyond her.

Wandering around the room, making sure to keep out of the way of the labourers setting it all up, Sylvia showed the decorations that were already up and what they meant. It wasn't as simple as just ribbons and balloons, like at a birthday party. No, tapestries of various shades and colours, each with different symbols lined the walls. Paintings of different landscapes and people were between them, dotted on all sides of the room at eye level. There was obviously some story to it all.

Sylvia spoke about the various symbols on the tapestries, where they all originated from the various families that were in the same region as Caldaria and whose members of the family would be attending the ball. There were a good dozen and a half that plastered the wall all containing a wealth of different colours, some even being multiple shades and patterns. At the centre of each was the symbol representing the household, where some were animals, such as the one that looked like a paw with claws and the bird where it's beak was the centrepiece. Some however were odd symbols or shapes together. One was just a square with a hole in the centre.

As she took her through all the different ones, most of it just went in one ear and out the other. It was a very good history lesson, but there was no way she would remember it all.

Towards the back of the room she saw Lord Desmon's flag and symbol, where similar to how it was on the exterior of the castle, it was blue with the three horns in a triangle. But, above it and dead centre was a beauty of a tapestry. It was dark green with a gold outline and in its centre was what looked to be a majestic bird of some sort. It was beautifully detailed and she would have compared it to an eagle, but given how big its wings and the large flowing tail it had, she was sure it wasn't one.

"Now that is the heraldry from the capital of the kingdom. It's the symbol the king and queen of the kingdom use. I can't recall what the animal is, but for every castle within the kingdom, they must have this tapestry within it somewhere in order to show allegiance to the king and queen."

Now that was something she knew she had to keep in her head. Not that she expected she would ever meet the king or queen in the human kingdom, but she may need to know this in the future. She did ask if they were coming, but only got a snort in reply at the question. Royalty did not journey to places like this to attend a ball. They stayed within the capital as much as they could, only journeying out to visit nobility who were close or just below them in terms of rank. Lord Desmon was not someone they were even aware of it would seem.

…

The short tour had come to a close as things were getting busier, and Octavia was sure someone was going to trip over her tail at some point or complain about them. So, they headed back to their room and got ready to end the day.

Both requested maids to fill the tub, as a bath was very much necessary before attending the ball.

Once the maids were done with the usual magic, they left Sylvia and Octavia to relax in the bath, calling the day to a close, where once done they headed into bed.

Crawling into the same bed in their night clothes, which just seemed natural to them now, they slowly closed their eyes and drifted off. They needed to get some much-needed sleep in order to be awake and alert for the all-important ball tomorrow.

It was clear Octavia needed it to stay focused during the day, as she had yet to see that the replacement door had already been put in place for Sylvia's room. But, surely she would realise that at some point.