Rakan and Liv went their own way the moment they stepped out of the palace. Rakan wanted to go look for training fields, they couldn’t stop training just because they were no longer at the Kare. Liv looked around the gardens. They were beautiful, clean and perfectly measured, just the opposite of her forest, the one she has had to left behind at the Kare, always full of life and wild.

It gets lonely sometimes, not being able to feel her forest anymore, so far away, but she couldn’t be its guardian anymore. She had appointed one of the forest spirits as her successor, it took the form of a hedgehog, a weird shape for a forest guardian, but she won’t question it.

The walk is not as peaceful as she would like it to, the weather is still warm enough that taking a walk around the gardens is a popular activity among the people at court. All of them greet Liv, most of them ask her how the journey was, if she likes her rooms. Some of them even try to keep the conversation going asking her what she thinks of the garden, of the country in general. She tries to answer as politely as possible, trying to keep the conversation as short as it’s politely possible.

The sun is starting to hide when she realises that she should head to her room to get ready for supper because apparently that’s a thing, having to dress up for supper. She is heading to the palace when she hears it, murmuring and giggles, the sound of swords clashing. She gets closer to the sound, the bushes opening to show her groups of women, ladies and service alike, all of them looking in the same direction. Liv makes her way to the front, not really surprised when she sees what these women, and some men, are looking at. There, a few steps down is Rakan, his shirt nowhere in sight and sparring with a young boy. He is smiling, the boy is no rival to Rakan so the dragon is focusing in having fun, subtly teaching the young boy some moves.

Rakan must have stumbled upon a group that was training and decided to join them, there are other men with swords at the sides, all of them dressed in training clothes and with awed looks on their faces. There are not a lot of girls between them, only two or three, Liv frowns, she had heard about it not being normal for woman here to fight but she can’t understand why.

She goes down the stairs slowly, she knows Rakan is not going to notice her, not when he is so focused in the boy. She grabs a sword from the ground, careful not to make a sound. She watches Rakan, waiting for the best moment. Rakan makes the boy take a few steps back with a hit, he spins the sword in his hand with a grin and Liv knows what that means. She moves just in time to stop Rakan’s sword at the end of his twirl, all of her muscles pulling tight as to be able to stop it. She is lucky he is not using all of his strength, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to stop a direct hit like that, that’s why she normally dodges the attacks.

He looks surprised at first, clearly not expecting his attack to be stopped. His face changes into a grin the moment he recognises Liv at the end of the other sword. He pushes his sword harder, Liv huffs, all her body rigid, trying to counter Rakan’s strength. Another push, and Liv is slipping back a few centimetres, her shoes sliding on the dirt.

She moves fast, crouches so that she is out of the way of Rakan’s sword, her sword moving away from his. He stumbles a bit, not expecting the move but manages to stand on his feet. Liv’s breath is ragged now, facing Rakan like that is always exhausting, she hopes at least their public has enjoyed seeing Rakan’s muscles really working. It seems like that, the women hiding their faces with their fans and giggling and the boy Rakan was facing before looking at him as if he would sacrifice anything for Rakan, his cheeks red.

“Liv!” Rakan exclaims, he looks happy.

Liv throws her sword to the floor. “We should go change for dinner” she says, gesturing with her head towards the palace.

“What? But I’m having fun” Rakan whines, he has a pout on his lips.

“I know” she answers with a smile “but you don’t want Kylem getting upset right?”

Rakan turns away from Liv, he only needs to take two steps before one of the boys on the side hurries to grab his shirt and a towel from the floor and hands it to him. Rakan smiles, grateful, and grabs the towel to wipe his sweat off. The moment he has his shirt on there are three bottles of water being handed to him. It’s only been a few hours and he already has these boys at his feet.

It’s when they are already leaving that a voice stops them. They turn to see the boy Rakan was fighting earlier looking at them.

“Will you come back tomorrow?” he asks, there is hope in his eyes.

“Of course,” Rakan answers with a grin “it’s very important to train every day”

Liv is pretty sure Rakan has become that boy’s first love.

--

Kylem is shocked. He has become too used to seeing the easy-going Meira, always training, laughing. The mystery about how she will react to the court is solved, and Kylem almost doesn’t recognize the girl in front of him right now. She is the very image of nobility, conversing with ladies and lords alike as if she has never done anything else, as if she was born into these halls. Kylem con only admire her capacity to analyse the behaviour of those around her and imitate it. He tries, he is polite and converses with people, but can’t really bring himself to gossip like Meira does, he feels sick when he listens to what some of them, the weaker minded, are thinking.

Still, he endures it. Silently wishing they were still in the Kare, where he could do as he pleased and didn’t have to kiss anyone’s ass for their help in a matter that should already be a priority. He didn’t think he could be so thankful of Meira’s cunning mind, her enjoyment for gossip and acting. Her side glances at him and conspiratorial smiles. She is enjoying herself.

With everything under control inside, he can only hope Rakan and Lífdagar, but mainly Rakan, are not causing a ruckus outside. These are going to be some long few weeks.