Though he was surprised by the Princess’ presence, Leon wore a pleasant smile as he followed the Grand Druid out of the ark.

The Grand Druid rushed about as fast as decorum would allow to her granddaughter, pulling Cassandra into a tight hug, and whispered into her ear, “It’s been too long, dear girl.  How has my little explorer been?”

“Not so little anymore, Grandmother,” Cassandra said as she extricated herself from the tenth-tier mage’s grasp.  She was much the same as when Leon had last seen her, with her ruby eyes shining brilliantly and her golden hair glittering in the light of the afternoon sun.  Her aura seemed a little stronger, as much an indicator of diligent training as her toned figure, though she was still ‘only’ eighth-tier.

Leon could hardly fault her on that last point, though, as he’d ascended with the aid of a good handful of Hesperidic Apples.  As far as ‘natural’ progression went, he couldn’t have been surprised if she’d outpaced him a bit since he was distracted by many other duties and projects.

As Leon’s retainers filed out of the ark behind him, Cassandra turned her eyes back in his direction.  They locked gazes, and Leon found himself pulled into something of a staring contest.  She stood firm as he advanced, each step feeling like an entire minute as they waged their subtle war of wills, neither of them shying away.

Leon stopped before her, neither of them having so much as blinked from the moment of making eye contact.  “Your Imperial Highness,” Leon said with great formality, “a great pleasure to see you again, and so hale and hearty.”

“Leon Raime,” Cassandra replied smilingly, almost as if Leon’s name was his title—something which he found he appreciated quite a bit.  “It’s only been five years, but it seems you couldn’t wait and just had to reach the ninth-tier before me, huh?”  Her eyes narrowed slightly, promising impending challenge, but their gazes were finally interrupted when Valeria arrived at Leon’s shoulder.  Her bright sapphire eyes locked onto Cassandra, the two of them now of the same tier, and both Cassandra and Leon turned to her.

“Princess,” Valeria whispered, though she somehow stuffed an entire paragraph into the one utterance.  She demanded Cassandra’s attention and promised a contest of might when she received it.  Cassandra appeared to accept Valeria’s challenge, all communicated through a subtle smile and nod of her head.

The rapidly-growing tension was only severed when the Grand Druid exclaimed, “It seems like you three have quite a lot to catch up on!  Cassandra dear, please show our guests where they’ll be staying!  And if you want to get started on making some babies a little early, I wouldn’t mind!”

Cassandra’s eyes went wide as she spun around to face her grandmother.  Leon was a touch amused to see Cassandra’s cheeks go so red so swiftly and barely heard her somewhat stuttered and indignant response, though he certainly caught the quick look at him Cassandra stole partway through her denials.

Leon was brought out of the moment when Nestor bumped into him from behind, with all of Leon’s accompanying retainers behind the ghost-golem.  Nestor seemed to glare down at Leon, and Leon imagined the man telling him to cut it off and move on.

So, he didn’t fight too hard when Cassandra turned back to face them, her cheeks now a few shades more colorful than they were a moment ago, and said, “Please follow me.  As it is the will of my grandmother, I will show you all to your quarters.”

Without another word, she turned on her heel and began stomping off, to the obvious amusement of the Grand Druid, who together with her followers, went off in a different direction.

“Bitch,” Valeria whispered beside Leon just loud enough that Leon knew Cassandra could hear, and when he looked at Valeria in surprise, he found his silver-haired lover grinning rather madly.  He looked back to the Princess just in time to see the blond girl glancing over her shoulder with a violent snarl.

“Leon…” Gaius whispered from behind him, “could we maybe save all the flirting for later?  We do have some business to attend to…”

Leon smiled apologetically back at his retainers and led the way in Cassandra’s wake.

---

“… and this is where you and your family will be staying,” Cassandra said as she led the way into a magnificent suite set aside for Leon, Maia, and Valeria.  “It’s a little big, but we were expecting you to bring Lady Elise and that griffin of yours, too.”

“Unfortunately, they were a bit indisposed with some personal business,” Leon replied as he walked into the suite behind Cassandra, admiring the place.

It was the very picture of rustic opulence, with all the furniture being made of the finest polished wood, and all the decorations that covered the walls being the standard Evergolden affair—no depictions of humans or animals, but lots of flowing, natural lines resembling floral and vine patterns.  Instead of being lit by magic lanterns, the suite had small branches of the palace-tree sticking out into it, their glowing golden leaves providing more than enough light, but even more than that were the light projections that simulated large floor-to-ceiling windows on the far side of the main room that projected much of the outside into the room without having the structural weakness of an actual window.

In this vein, the suite amounted to a dozen rooms, including a large bedroom with five huge beds, a private conference room—or as private as it could be in the center of the Sacred Golden Empire’s Imperial Palace—and even a small training and meditation room.  The central room from which all the others branched off was large and had its own dining space large enough for more than two dozen around a massive oak table.

“You’re invited to dine with the Imperial Family,” Cassandra said mechanically, as if bored out of her skull, “we’ll send some servants to inform you of the time.  If you wish to eat here, or not at all, that’s fine, too.”

“Invitation is gladly received,” Leon said as he took a few more steps into the suite to allow Valeria, Maia, and Nestor to enter after him.  The others in his retinue had been shown to their suites just down the hall, and Leon noted that enough had been set aside for all of his retainers, including Red, Tikos, and Anshu if they’d accompanied him.  As it was, they weren’t taking up too many, especially with Helen and Anna rooming together.  For his part, as Nestor was just a ‘mindless golem’ as far as either he or Leon were going to say in Evergold, he was being ‘stored’ in Leon’s suite.

“I’m more interested in other things,” Valeria said as she stalked up behind Cassandra, stopping just behind her and certainly well within the Princess’ personal bubble.  “It’s been five years, Princess.  I would love to see if you’ve improved with the blade or not.”

Cassandra turned and took not a single step back, leaning against Valeria and grinning as she made full use of her inch-or-two of height on Valeria to stare down at the silver-haired woman.  “I’ve not been slacking, though perhaps you have.  You’re looking a little thicker around the waist, Val, have you been stuffing your throat with too many… pies?”  As she paused, she took a fleeting glance at Leon as her smile widened slightly.

Valeria’s killing intent spiked for a moment, though Leon knew Cassandra had only said that to provoke that very reaction—he was intimately familiar with Valeria’s figure, and he considered her nothing but at the peak of physical fitness, due in no small part to both her power and her diligence in martial training.  She rarely made a big deal out of it, but Leon knew she was quietly proud of her figure.

“It seems all you’ve sharpened is your tongue,” Valeria responded through clenched teeth.  “What a shame.  I was hoping you might actually provide a challenge, but I’ll be left unsatisfied at this rate.”

Cassandra glared back at Valeria, her ruby eyes wide with what appeared to be anger.

Leon noted that Maia and Nestor were both staring at the two arguing ladies with complete and utter disinterest, almost annoyance at the disturbance.  While he didn’t exactly share the sentiment, he felt like their trash talk was going on a little too long.

“I saw a training room back there.  Why don’t we go break it in?” he suggested.

“Heh.  The only thing being broken will be this bitch once we’re done,” Cassandra growled as she turned and stalked toward the training room.

Valeria grinned and was just about to follow when Leon caught her shoulder.

“Let’s not kill each other,” he stated, his jaw so tense it was almost locked shut.  “A dead Princess or a dead Val would be… inconvenient.”  He relaxed and smiled.  “But don’t lose.”

Valeria quietly laughed, gave him a glowing look, and then put her battle face back on.  Together, the two of them walked to the training room.

Maia and Nestor, on the other hand, seemed about as interested in the impending fight as they were in watching paint dry.

As they entered, Cassandra was already standing in the center of the empty room, a training sword in hand.  With a challenging smile, she used her sword to point at a glaive hanging on the wall with dozens of other training weapons.  Valeria, not averting her gaze at all from the Princess, picked up the weapon as Leon made himself comfortable off to the side.  As far as he could tell, the training room was well-enchanted, but given how wild both ladies’ auras were, he wasn’t quite sure how well it might stand up to a full-on fight between them, as he was worried might break out.

But, to his immense relief, as they began their opening moves, they did without the use of elemental magic.  Instead, as Valeria assumed a neutral stance before the Princess, Cassandra lunged forward in an overhead slice that, while vicious and powerful, wasn’t backed up by so much as a single speck of light magic.  As Valeria blocked, Leon could feel the impact through the floor even from where he was watching, but Valeria didn’t call upon so much as a single snowflake.

Still, they were eighth-tier mages, and in the space of a single second, they exchanged three blows, each one ringing out like a massive bell and lightly shaking the training room.  Valeria took a more defensive approach.  She wasn’t shying away at all from the Princess, that much Leon could plainly see having sparred with her countless times in the past couple decades, but she was more puzzling out any improvements or changes Cassandra had made to her fighting style in the past few years.

To Leon’s eyes, not much had changed.  Cassandra was wild and aggressive, focused more on making an opening to exploit than waiting for one.  She rained blows on the comparatively more passive Valeria, each one stronger than the last.  But, he noticed, her expression was one of chaotic joy rather than growing frustration.

For a moment, when Valeria made her move, he thought the expression might change.  But as Valeria spun out of the way of a horizontal slice instead of blocking it and swept her glaive’s blade out at Cassandra’s exposed leg, the Princess laughed and stepped back just in time.

“Yes!” she shouted as she pivoted into a withering counterattack that had Valeria going back on the defensive for a few more exchanges.

“A good try, but still short!” Valeria mocked as she deflected a blow and suddenly charged forward, slamming her shoulder into Cassandra’s sternum.  With the strength in her blow, Cassandra was thrown to the other side of the training room gasping for breath.  Valeria wasn’t one to squander such opportunities and charged again, this time taking the offensive and swiping and lunging with her glaive to keep Cassandra on the back foot.

Cassandra was now out of her element.  Her defense was good, Leon could see that much, but it was mechanical and rote rather than intuitive and natural.  She was technically skilled in her style, but her movements were too regular and lacked fluidity, showing a lack of comfort with fighting defensively.

Soon enough, Valeria had managed to land a blow to Cassandra’s sword arm, causing the Princess to drop her sword.  However, just as Valeria seemed to be victorious, Cassandra attempted to seize back the initiative by throwing herself forward and trying to grapple Valeria with her non-stunned arm.  Valeria was taken off-guard, and Cassandra slipped right past Valeria’s glaive and slammed into her.

Both women hit the floor, neither with weapons in hand.  However, Cassandra still had a stunned arm, and Valeria only needed a moment to adapt.  In one heartbeat, she’d overpowered Cassandra, knocking the Princess onto her stomach beside her.  In the next heartbeat, Valeria had Cassandra in a tight chokehold, and only then did Cassandra finally cease her resistance and relax.  A quick tap on Valeria’s arm had her releasing the hold and rolling off Cassandra—to Leon’s quiet displeasure, having rather enjoyed the sight.

“Figures…” Cassandra murmured as she breathed deeply with her airway no longer obstructed—Leon didn’t think she needed to breathe, but even at ninth-tier he still found it comfortable to do so.  “Figures I’d still need… to close a skill gap.  You’re a damn monster, Val.”

Valeria smirked.  “You’re a hardy bitch, yourself.  Your Imperial Highness.”

Cassandra briefly snarled.  “We’re in private, fuck the style.”

“Tongue’s getting rough, too, not just sharp,” Valeria quipped.  “Too much time around saltier types?  Is it common for archaeologists to curse?”

“Fuck ‘common’,” Cassandra responded as she pushed herself back to her feet, Valeria only a moment behind her.  She extended a hand, and Valeria took it.  “That was a good fucking fight, Val.”

Valeria’s smirk deepened and her eyes flitted in Leon’s direction.  “You’re speaking like we’re already done.”

“Oh, we’re not.  My blood’s hot and that wasn’t nearly satisfying enough.  But that was still a good fight.  Now, how about we try getting another in here?”  Cassandra then did as Valeria and looked at Leon, who stood leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest, a challenging smile of his own spreading across his face.  “Leon!  My grandmother won’t shut up about your swordsmanship!  It’s been too long since I’ve seen it for myself, so why don’t you give me a demonstration?”

“I hope the Grand Druid has been saying good things,” Leon said as he took a longsword he’d spied earlier on the wall.  “I’d hate to disappoint.”

“You were satisfactory enough last time,” Cassandra nonchalantly stated.  “I see no reason to think that’s changed.”  By this point, she was flexing her stunned arm and swinging her sword around again, clearly showing that she was back to full capacity.

Leon took an aggressive posture about twenty feet opposite Cassandra, though it was a bit lazy as they hadn’t quite started their bout.  “I’m looking forward to testing my o—”

Before he could finish his statement, Valeria’s glaive appeared as if from nowhere, swinging downwards toward his head.  Still, Leon raised his blade and easily deflected it, the strike not having been that unexpected.

“Oh!” Leon gasped in exaggerated surprise.  “I have been betrayed!”

Before he could press against Valeria, Cassandra darted in with a laugh and a deadly lunge that Leon twisted away from.

Fighting defensively wasn’t Leon’s strong point either, but he had so much experience fighting Valeria, among many others, that he was able to make it work.  He dodged and weaved around both ladies, each of them covering the other’s blind spots and holes in their stances as they attacked him, ensuring that he had no opportunity to strike back.  It was hard, both ladies were skilled, but Leon was still a tier stronger, and with them both coming at him as they were, he saw no reason not to use his own advantages.

For the most part, he’d dodged rather than blocking or deflecting, and when he suddenly stopped to block Cassandra, her eyes widened in what he thought was surprise.  He took her hit like a brick wall and pushed against her in her brief moment of shock.  He could tell that she hadn’t had much experience in actual fighting since the expedition to the Prota Forest as he didn’t think a more seasoned fighter would’ve been knocked down.

But knocked down she was, and it wasn’t too hard for him to rake his blade across her ribs.

Unfortunately for him, as surprised as Cassandra was, Valeria most certainly wasn’t.  As much as Leon was experienced in fighting Valeria, she was equally experienced in fighting him, and Leon suffered a blow to the shoulder for taking Cassandra out of the fight.  It stung and his left arm went numb, but Leon didn’t let that slow him down at all.  With only Valeria standing against him, he went back on the offensive.  His eyes locked on her, and as usually happened, his focus narrowed until it was filled only by her.  Her eyes narrowed, telling him that she was doing the same.

They blurred, their limbs becoming little more than color and motion, exchanging dozens of blows in half as many seconds, the clanging of their weapons the only sound to be heard in the training chamber.

The spar ended when Leon managed to snag a couple of Valeria’s fingers with his blade, causing her to drop her weapon.  He pushed forward, feeling having already returned to his off-hand, sweeping her up and pulling her into a tight bear hug.  His own weapon clattered to the ground as he held her a foot off the ground, their foreheads pressed against each other’s, their eyes locked.

“Gotcha,” Leon whispered.

“This time,” Valeria responded, her statement followed up with a quick kiss.

Leon took a deep breath and let her down, only then turning to face Cassandra.  The Princess looked at them with a complex look on her face, but before Leon could try to analyze it, it was gone, replaced with one of inflated disinterest and annoyance.

“About time.  I thought for a moment I was going to have to give you two the room.”

“You could’ve joined us,” Valeria responded with a smug smile.

“I thought you were going to,” Leon honestly added.  “I know it was a hard hit, but you had to have recovered quickly.”

Cassandra frowned slightly.  “We’re to ‘train how we fight’, and all that, right?  I’m still working on my powers of resurrection, and you hit me with a killing blow.  I wouldn’t come back from that in a real fight, so why do so in a spar?”

“To win?” Valeria replied, only half-seriously.

The Princess chuckled.  “Maybe next time.  For now, I need to get going.  I had other duties to see to today other than showing you around.  But… I wouldn’t mind doing this again.  Sparring with you two hasn’t yet failed to entertain, at least.”

She smiled challengingly at the two of them and Leon and Valeria, standing shoulder to shoulder opposite the Princess, said, “I’m always up for a good fight.”

“Bring it, bitch.”

Cassandra chuckled again, but just as she was about to respond, someone burst through the door: an armored woman dressed like Evergold’s Imperial Guard.

“How dare you!” she roared, her eighth-tier aura flaring as she laid a hand on the hilt of the sword at her armored waist, her eyes glaring at Valeria.  “To say such—”

“Aikaterine!” Cassandra shouted, silencing the guard.  “Quiet.”

The guard, looking suitably chastened, went silent and backed away, her aura calming and her hands moving to fold in front of her rather than resting on her weapon.

“Apologies,” Cassandra said to Valeria.  “Evgenia’s on leave, and Aikaterine’s new.”

Valeria just smiled and shrugged.

“Make sure you come to dinner tonight,” Cassandra said.  “I’d like to catch up with you two in more ways than just crossing blades.”

“We’ll be there,” Leon said, not even needing to see Valeria to feel her agreement.

“In that case, I’ll leave you to it.  See you then.”

Cassandra practically marched out of the training room and their suite, Aikaterine walking rather sheepishly behind her.

Leon and Valeria, meanwhile, glanced at each other, each able to see that their blood was still pumping.  They gripped their training weapons a little tighter and decided to go for another round.

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