The Aftermath - Part 5

"I – I've calmed down. I won't do it again. Can you please let me go?"

That was the sound of Knight Commander begging Octavia to let go of her so she could once again feel solid ground beneath her feet. It was a sorry state to see someone of such high rank in, but she honestly deserved it. All of them around her agreed with that.

"You're not going to get overly excited again okay? If you frighten Imeril again then you won't see any of us again."

Octavia wasn't sure how to threa- err, keep her from acting as she had before. But it seemed the idea that she wouldn't be able to inspect and investigate the only Lamia around was quite a horrific one for Eris to stomach.

"No…no, I won't. I'll be good. You don't have to do anything rash like that." Eris looked up at her with pleading eyes.

*thud*

Octavia loosened her grip and Eris fell to the ground, where she very quickly stood up, all prim and proper, and dusted herself off.

"Alright. Now that that is over. Where were we?" Eris asked as she looked around before spotting Imeril again. She suddenly gained the same look from before, but very quickly caught herself before she got all, manic.

"Err, Imeril. Would you be able to show me how you hide again?"

Imeril was still a little wary of Eris, but it would seem that Octavia putting her in her place had done a lot to ease her fears. Seeing the scary lady look helpless and funny dangling above the ground calmed her down and realised she wasn't always that scary.

So, Imeril came out from behind Sylvia's legs and stood before Eris, where she then, in the blink of an eye, became an archery target.

"Incredible. Stay like that for a while okay."

There was no response from Imeril, but given that she remained as the inanimate object, it seemed she had heard her.

Eris then got to work inspecting her…calmly and properly of course.

She examined her from all angles and then tried poking her in various locations of the archery target…with permission and the utmost care of course.

After that came the magical side of things. She took out a crystal of some sort. It was a very light blue and was almost transparent. It was completely flat and had jagged edges all around it. Eris had to hold it in a specific way to not poke a hole in her finger.

She then carefully looked all around Imeril while holding the crystal up to her eye, while the rest of them just watched. Octavia wasn't entirely sure what she was using it for, and she felt it would be best to ask after she had finished what she was doing. But if she had to guess, she thought it must be a way to see mana or magical energy or something.

Once she was done with that, she put the crystal away and then stood in front of Imeril. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, before opening them and chanting something. All of a sudden a blue light appeared out of her hand that she had outstretched towards Imeril, which then slightly showered over her.

"Err…is that safe?"

"Eris may act like she did…but she knows what she is doing when it comes to magic. And she would never do anything to harm an innocent person."

At that, Octavia took her word for it and waited for her to finish.

She chanted a few more times, different colours of spells coming out in all shapes and sizes before she finally stopped.

"Okay, Imeril, you can stop hiding now."

Then all of a sudden she was back.

"Was that good? Did you do your inspection thing? Can I train now?" Imeril looked up in contagious enthusiasm.

"Not yet I'm afraid. I need to check some of my books first. But when I have done that, I'll know how you can train your hiding skill. Okay."

"Hum, Okay." That look of excitement very quickly dropped to sadness. But with Eris's next words, it was very quickly back.

"You can watch your mommies train while you wait. Won't that be fun?"

"Oh yeah. That's great."

With the beaming smile back on Imeril's face, Eris turned towards the group to say everything was good. Octavia then went to ask how she was able to change like that, but before she could, Eris started to walk away, saying how exciting this was and that she needed to check some things.

So, the mystery of Imeril's abilities would have to wait a while longer.

But this at least meant that they were free to train as Eris has said.

…

"Okay. Don't think I'm going to go easy on you just because you're a noble."

"I didn't think that for a moment."

Here it was. Octavia had half expected this wouldn't happen, but it seemed like no matter who it was, Althea had to assess their 'combat skills' before she could do any sort of training.

Given that Sylvia had, well…none, Octavia didn't think this would have been necessary. But, there was no stopping Althea from dominating a battle and making someone look and feel bad when they can't fight back properly.

"Will mommy be okay?"

At her side, Imeril was watching as Sylvia fought tooth and nail to try and hit Althea with the sword she was holding. Althea herself had just a quarterstaff, which every so often, she would use to hit Sylvia lightly to show she had messed up in some way. She hardly needed to use it for defence, just dodging slightly seemed to be enough.

"Mom-I mean, Sylvia will be fine. This is how Althea starts someone's training. She did the same thing to me."

"…that's scary. I hope the other lady doesn't train like this as well."

By the other lady, she had to mean Eris. Had she forgotten her name or just put it out of her mind? Who knows.

Octavia however was sure that this sort of training was very much an Althea-only thing.

"Don't worry. Eris won't be doing this sort of training with you. It will be learning how to better hide, not actually fight. Okay." Octavia said as she gave her a head pat, something that Imeril quite liked.

"Okay."

"Come on. Is that all you got."

Back in the fight, Althea was, for lack of a better word, toying with Sylvia. The whole picture just brought up horrible memories from her time in the training session.

"I-I can…keep…going," Sylvia said as she breathed heavily.

As you can imagine, Sylvia hadn't been able to lay a finger on Althea. Octavia recalled that during her fight with her, she hadn't either. It was only through a bit of trickery that she was able to land a…well bite. For Sylvia, it was an impossibility that she would hit Althea. But, as Octavia also remembered, this sparring match wasn't only about landing a hit.

"Really…you look like you're about to collapse. Why don't you head off to your four-poster bed and get your beauty sleep? It looks like you need it." Althea said as she dodged another swing.

She was just as annoying as always. It wasn't even aimed at her, but Octavia was annoyed by the comment.

'Sylvia is already beautiful. She doesn't need beauty sleep.'

When realised what she had said in her head, she blushed a little.

"That's…not going…to work on me," Sylvia said as she moved to go in for another swing. She said it as if it hadn't made her mad, but Octavia had been with her enough to know that the look on her face meant she was annoyed.

"Really. Are you sure because you're looking a little flushed there?"

"That's…just…your…imagination."

Sylvia kept swinging but also continued to miss. By this point, Octavia was starting to get a little worried. Sylvia was drenched in sweat and breathing very heavily. It would seem all of Althea's goading had caused Sylvia to feel the need to fit her. And she would keep on going until she did.

"That's a relief. I thought we might have to find some nobleman to come in and fight your battle for you. You know, like how most noble women do."

"Don't…be… ridic-"

*Swoop*

"Okay. I think that's about enough for you."

Before Octavia could even blink, Althea was by Sylvia's side, holding her upright. She wasn't sure what happened, either Sylvia fainted or passed out, or Althea did something to her to stop the fight, having been worried about her continuing. Why she didn't just tell her to stop, Octavia didn't know.

Octavia and Imeril quickly hurried over, where Althea handed her over.

"She's a strong one. Really does not like to give up. An attitude like that can be both good and bad, as you can see. Why don't you take her to your bed and let her get some rest."

"O-okay…wait. Our bed."

"Oh. I forgot you only woke up today. You were given a room in the mayor's house."

Althea then called one of the nearby soldiers, who jumped upon seeing it was her who spoke to him, where she told him to show her to the room they were given.

Octavia had just started to head off before she heard Althea call out from behind her.

"Once she's down, don't forget to come back here for your lesson."

How could she forget?