Early in the morning of the next day, Alisson stood at the end of Nuam Keep’s ballroom hall. It was the very room that Alisson had first laid eyes on Celis, and where she had become his apprentice.
He remembered vividly the events of the that day: The 51<sup>st</sup> had lost an entire platoon in a horrific battle; and so some of the crop of graduates were sent to be replacements. Alisson had watched as all of the apprentices were taken up by other 51<sup>st</sup>, until the room was empty save Celis and himself. The once empty sight he envisioned was now replaced by a room filled with cheerful faces and celebration. Now, the ballroom would host her official induction into the 51<sup>st</sup> as a full-fledged member, in the process shedding free of her apprenticeship.
Dressed in his formal attire, he stood tall with his hands behind his back. Whenever he was at formal events like this, he tried to imagine himself as his father, standing pridefully with the same style of black tailcoat and gloves.
After the last of the guests had arrived, he decided to start the proceedings, and announced in a booming voice,
“Friends, family, comrades, we gather today for a momentous occasion…”
The hall grew quiet. “Regrettably not all of our fellow 51<sup>st</sup> have returned from our previous assignments to bear witness, but those who are here may glimpse upon something the 51<sup>st</sup> has yet to receive in its history – A new, full-fledged member whom we can call our sibling.”
In addition to the 51<sup>st</sup> who weren’t scattered across the continent on missions of their own, some noble families and close friends of the Nuam House were in attendance – A new addition to the 51<sup>st</sup> was just as much of a political event as it was a military one. Some of the Arquis, Sabathi, Beranz, Capifilla Houses, to name a few, were in attendance. That was because the 51<sup>st</sup>, like most military units in Sidonia, had a cabal of backers set in the nobility of the nation. The 51<sup>st</sup> was of course primarily backed by the Nuam House, the second largest in Sidonia, seeing as though its heir was the 51<sup>st</sup>’s captain.
“Through fire, flesh, gore and dirt…Celistine Regadonia accompanied me through the north not simply as a student, but as my partner. She saved my life on multiple occasions, bested odds that even I, the third seat, would find hard-pressed to topple…On my honor, I vouch for her capability and fidelity...”
As Alisson spoke, Celis walked into the room from the far end, and started down a long carpet toward Alisson, wearing a dress. The surrounding attendees started to clap for her as she walked toward him.
“…She has far outgrown the title of apprentice, that let no one doubt. So thus…”
Celis stopped before him, and kneeled. Alisson drew a ceremonial blade in flash, and pointed it squarely at Celis’s face. Celis put her thumb to the tip of the blade, and drew blood. Alisson lifted the blade in air, so that a red stream of her blood now flowed down its length for the audience to see.
“I declare Celistine Regadonia as no longer my apprentice, but as our faithful sibling in the 51<sup>st</sup>!”
Alisson gave the blade a flare across the sky, Celis’s blood glistening through the air and fading across the 51<sup>st</sup> in attendance. The crowd erupted into cheers and applause. Alisson looked upon Celis with a smile. Truly, if their mission were not secretive in nature, he would’ve given her a medal. Twenty, even. Regrettably however, her individual feats were not for public knowledge.
He was proud of her. She’d come a long way. She was once a meek little girl. Now, things were different.
…
“Wow! You’ve really grown so much!”
A boy who had been made an apprentice in the 51<sup>st</sup> the same time as Celis, Haruniel, said with admiration, sizing up Celis. She was now taller than him, which wasn’t the case before she had departed all those months ago.
“Your gait and the way you carry yourself, everyone can see it, Celis…You’re totally different now.” Haruniel’s master, Cherisa, an archer in the 51<sup>st</sup> Alisson had known for decades, spoke up as well.
The two approached Celis as soon as the dancing and music started, and the room was full of chattering voices. Alisson wasn’t one for parties or social gatherings, but appearances needed to be upheld and Celis deserved a feast in her honor.
Alisson let Celis converse and socialize for a while on her own; she needed to develop both her own bonds with her now comrades in arms, and her social skills that they had so thrown away in the months prior. Afterall, the 51<sup>st</sup>, himself, and Celis; they were not bludgeons; They were scalpels, to be precise and diplomatic as well as combat capable. They needed to be able to present well in front of others. The 51<sup>st</sup> was one of the few elite units in Sidonia that was able to be used in such circumstance. The 53<sup>rd</sup> would sooner slaughter everyone at a party, and perhaps the 56<sup>th</sup> as well. The 57<sup>th</sup> would end up caving in a ballroom floor with the weight of their armor alone.
After a while, and the musicians started to play a certain romantic song Alisson was fond of, and he thought to invite Celis to a dance. He bowed and asked for one like a gentleman from her, leaning in with a hand on his heart, flashing a wry smile at her.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“…Really? W-why…?”
She didn’t seem to understand.
“What, would you prefer me to court a dance with a rose between my teeth?”
“I…I don’t know any dancing…”
Celis mumbled, shifting her feet shyly. Alisson smirked at her. “That’s not a problem…Just follow my lead. It’s just like a footwork drill.”
He extended a hand to her. She broke into a little smile and held it tepidly.
“There, there... just like this…”
He spoke softly to her as they moved as one, back and forth, back and forth. Celis blushed for whatever reason. At an event like this, even though he was the heir to the most influential house here, and Celis was the guest of honor, it’s not like everyone would be looking at them all the time – There wasn’t any reason to be embarrassed at dancing at a dance.
Just as soon as Celis started to get comfortable with the basic movements, Alisson felt tremors through his feet. Big tremors. He locked his gaze on the door to the ballroom, wherein a second thereafter they swung wide open. In the light of the door’s wake, was an armored procession.
“Oh! Prithee me! Gaze upon a new great warrior do we? Rouse the Salchyons, and call the Nuams, for a forbidden love will…uh…Bluam?!”
Alisson frowned. The one who’d spoken the nonsense was none other than Louise Alderon Salchyon. A girl taller than him whom was covered neck to toe in full heavy plate armor, but who moved as though she were unencumbered by it. She scanned the room before flashing a bright smile at Alisson with her bright blue eyes, her blonde hair seeming to reflect the light of the sun.
The room had gone silent quickly with her stupid words, and everyone’s focus was on her, only the musicians continued their tune. Behind her, were members of the 57<sup>th</sup>, the elite unit she was captain of, and the one most backed by the house of Salchyon, the most powerful and influential house in Sidonia, the chief rivals of house Nuam.
So, when a fully armed procession of elite Salchyon fighters busted down the door of a Nuam party uninvited, it was simple to see why many of the attendees now stared with hostility at the Lady Salchyon. This sense of hostility was quickly shattered when Louise’s servants suddenly appeared from behind her, with similar stupid smiles. The four of them were children, and shared their master’s shining blonde hair and bright eyes, wearing jackets liveried with the blue of the Salchyon house. They spread flowers from baskets as Louise made a stupid pose.
All the while the 57<sup>th</sup> ‘Halberdiers’, Louise’s heavily armored subordinates, stood silently behind her, their helmets on and their towering figures eating up any light at their backs.
She strode forward into the crowd with a cheerful smile. Alisson sighed. She had no sense for entrances or politics. Or anything that wasn’t frontline combat, really.
“You should’ve told me about your apprentice, Alis! I thought you and me were tight!”
She strode up to Alisson and Celis, beaming a smile down at them. “May I take a dance?”
She laid a gauntleted hand down on Alisson’s shoulder. He looked tepidly to Celis.
This might be important.
Celis reluctantly let go of Alisson and backed away, frowning. Louise took his hands immediately, and started swaying away with him, humming a dumb tune that was out of sync with that of the music in the room, but one that certainly made sense to her.
Other than this, she was quiet. That was unlike her. Alisson would know; Lady Salchyon and him were childhood friends, it was an unlikely friendship the two of them had shared, being from rival houses.
Alisson played along, dancing with Louise to the corner of the ballroom, where she guided Alisson through a door. The hallway they entered was darkly lit compared to the ballroom, and only a single window beamed a shaft of sunlight through at them. As soon as the door closed and they had relative privacy, Louise slammed Alisson against the stone wall, pinning his shoulder to it with one hand. She leaned in, almost nose to nose with him.
“Are you alright, Alis?”
Her tone was suddenly gentle. He smiled softly at her. “Yes, all is well. We had a tough time, but we came out on top.”
She looked on at Alisson’s face for a moment with a small smile. “I wanted to check on you…Everyone’s been saying bad things about you lately…You’ve gotten very popular since you’ve returned.”
“I’m aware.” Alisson’s smile faded.
“I’m always here for you, Alis - You can always count on me!”
What’s going on?
One moment.
Louise’s small smile was quickly replaced by her more normal demeanor, her smile turned into something less innocent and more devious. “We’re to duel soon after all! Last time you might’ve won but, how do you think this time will go!?”
Alisson averted his gaze.
“I’m not too confident this time around.”
“That’s what I thought!” Louise squeezed his shoulder tighter. She leaned in and nuzzled his cheek, as if she were a cat marking her scent on him. Her nose pricked suddenly and she looked at Alisson once more with a wild smile. “Do I smell…” She made a few more motions of sniffing him, “Bacilla? The scent of your apprentice? Lots of blood?”
“It’s a long story. A lot has changed.” He said tersely. Her sense was incredible to say the least…No one should’ve been able to pick up on the fact that Alisson now had access to his Bacilla, save for perhaps his sister.
“So…! About your famed oh-so secret journey!” She promptly picked him up like a toy and shook him back and forth. It’s not that she was much larger than Alisson, more that she was terrifyingly strong. She could dice three armored knights in half with one swing of her voulge, and Alisson didn’t know if that was the limit. He had yet to see another person match her in physical feats.
“Who’d you fight? Did you win? What kind of powers did you get? Did you get any cool artifacts!? Was there anyone strong? Stronger than me? I’ll beat them up! Meet any cute girls?! Are they cuter than me? I’ll beat them up!”
She asked an unending stream of questions in a quick tempo that gradually melded into a singular drone from which Alisson couldn’t make out any intelligible thoughts. Alisson didn’t respond, he only looked at her with dull eyes.
“We should get back to the proceedings.”
“Yeah, you’re right, I bet everything you did was boring anyway.” Louise dropped Alisson onto his feet and strolled back into the ballroom, cheerfully humming. He fixed his collar, sighing.
He entered the ballroom once more to find Celis pouting at him.
What happened?
Nothing that important…You know Louise.
He took up position to dance with her once more, which replaced her pout with a small smile.
***