The young woman left the arena towards the castle, she stormed through the halls and corridors until she reached her room on the royal wing.

She threw her sword aside and began removing the leather armor pieces strapped to her. She was untying them properly at first, but by the end of the first piece she was almost ripping it off, throwing it to the side.

She was not feeling herself, an anger seemed to be consuming her, which was not something she was used to.

Eileen laid down on her huge bed, looked at her nightstand and her cabinets filled with her fine clothing and dresses and sighed calming down. She looked up at the decoration on her ceiling and walls, the purple and golden silk on the ceiling and the dark velvet color and tapestry on the walls. Her eyes moved from one to another while her mind refused to calm down for some reason.

She stood up once again and proceeded to remove the rest of her armor while walking about the room. Finally she sat down on the chair at her dressing table and stared at the mirror in front of her.

Eileen looked at her image. The young maiden that once again was victorious in her battle looked at her reflection, like many times before. So why would she not recognize herself? The anger was refusing to leave her? The flames were still burning behind her crystal blue eyes, and she couldn’t understand why.

‘Why am I so angry?’ she thought to herself not recognizing the calm and collected Eileen, the one she was so proud of.

After all, just now she had won not one, but two consecutive duels, she escaped once more the clutches of an unwanted fate. She should be happy to put this torment behind her. But she just could not take the last fight out of her head. It bothered her deeply.

The image of the boy was still fresh in her mind. His glaring dark blue eyes after her first attack were so vivid and intense. She couldn’t believe it were the eyes of a young boy.

‘I still can’t believe he evaded that first attack, I was sure he wasn’t ready for it’

But now, calmly analyzing the fight, she went through it once again in her mind.

Despite her efforts of pushing him back, the truth was that she was unable to land anything on the boy, not even graze him.

That just couldn’t be possible, she knew he was a good fighter from the duel, but by his age and the technique displayed, he shouldn’t be good enough to avoid her completely like that.

Her suspicions raised as her feeling of uneasiness grew.

Yet, that boy somehow managed to elude her attacks over and over again, sometimes at the last possible moment.

She flared up again as she remembered it, the fire in her eyes increased.

‘Why was I not able to reach him... why?’ She kept asking herself, mad at her inability as a fighter.

And then there were the soldiers, she recognized them from the First Army and under Bhalrom’s command. ‘Why did they put him up to fight?’ it was clear they were the ones behind it. She now remembered that he even tried to flee from it. Not to mention that he seemed to have no desire to attack her since he stepped into the arena.

‘I remember… he didn't want to be there too’ her anger subsided little by little as she calmed down.

‘But what were those shouts and cheers?’ She could not understand the soldiers' reactions, they seemed to get even more happy when he was about to lose. ‘They wanted him to lose when they put him through the fight… so why cheer him like that’

Then it struck her, the fact that she had lost herself in the fight ‘I tried to kill him…’ the realization began to sink in as her anger vanished.

Perhaps that was the source of her conflict. She was angry at herself, even after trying her very best, even when aiming to kill, it didn’t change a thing in the fight.

‘He could have died’ she thought as the weight of her actions suddenly got to her. ‘Was it luck?’ she thought, remembering the smiling boy's clumsy movements.

The source of her anger seemed to have been found. The prideful princess won so many duels that she began to think that no one would be able to withstand her might.

Yet, a young commoner boy left unscratched after a fight where she fought with all she had.

‘If he was struggling so much… then why was he smiling the whole time? He could have died, he knew I was going for his vitals, so why did it felt like he was just having some fun’ she thought as her mind remembered the fight more and more ‘He was not even worried…’ a sense of realization came to her ‘he was not worried at all... not for a moment, in the entire fight… He seemed clumsy and was barely dodging, but his eyes, his eyes remained the same… so that's why he was smiling’ she leaned back in her chair reaching a conclusion.

He only attacked briefly by the end, his strikes were strong but slow and intermittent.

Her eyes widened up and her head lifted as the pieces of the puzzle started to come together.

The soldiers put him up to it, the awkwardness, the sharp eyes, the reactions, the carefree smiles and joyful expression to the end.

The event of his sword flying came to her mind once again, she remembered that she had no idea how her sword remained on her hand. She was certain it should have been her sword instead of his.

Sudden clarity came to her ‘He was the one in control of that… that’s the only explanation, so did he intend to lose at that point?’

The joyous boy commoner boy, could he be the one holding back against her?

"Brown messy hair..." she said as the thought came to her mind thinking of him again, ‘where I’ve seen that before?’ And another memory struck her as lightning.

"He was the one seeing my father with Max!"

A different anger fueled the princess that quickly stormed out her room, she walked fast and was eager to find some answers.

---------------------------------------------------

Riou was getting hungry as noon approached.

After the duel he was taken to the garrison by the soldiers so they could tell the news to the others of the First, how Riou not only did not die but almost won against the undefeated maiden of the north.

After all the fuss in the garrison, the soldiers told him that guests were to go to the castle’s mess hall for their meal.

“Can’t I stay with you guys?”

“Better not, if the knight captain discovers it we might get in trouble for letting a guest eat here”

So he said his goodbyes to his fellow soldiers and directed himself inside the castle once again.

He noticed that the crowd from the arena were slowly moving to the mess hall as well. The fight was the subject on the mouth of everyone there.

Entering the mess hall, the court’s exuberance was once again in evidence. Many sculptures and paintings were displayed all over the place. The fancy and shiny tableware on top of the large U shaped table at the center of the hall quickly caught his attention. Despite being in a medieval era, they had quite a large variety of forks and knives to be used in the table.

The place was huge and could easily accommodate an even greater number of people. The center of the table that connected both of the larger ones were left empty, the chairs there were bigger and much more detailed than the others.

Amidst the many people there, he found a friendly face, Bhalrom with his austere appearance was not wearing his armor this time, instead he had an uniform indicative of his military leadership status.

Riou waited by a pillar, concealed from the main flock of people that moved and waited by the table like vultures. He waited for a while, watching everyone slowly accommodating themselves at the table, not too comfortable in joining them there.

He noticed a few people wearing a similar uniform as Bhalrom. One of them was the prince that stood out from all others. Beside him there were 3 other people. They were much older than him, each wearing a different color of attire.

As they saw them, a group of nobles quickly flocked around them.

Something also caught Riou’s attention, he saw about 7 robed figures amongst the wandering people that had its own flock of nobles following them as well. They were going towards the table generating a great commotion as they walked by the nobles. Four of them were not wearing hoods and Riou could tell by distance that they were women with long hair and slender faces, one was quite young.

He'd say they were around 30 years old perhaps more.With one exception, she possessed the face of a younger woman, petit frame and innocent face, her hair resembled a red flame that went down in waves, long enough to reach the middle of her back.

She was clearly younger than the rest of them, perhaps about 10 years younger or a bit more, much like the maiden of the north.

The remaining three were with hoods on, but by what Riou could see they were all older men by the way they moved and how the robes fell on their bodies. Some even resembled a lot of Maximilian mannerisms. He imagined that they probably were all mages.

Everyone was sitting down at the table and the hall was getting less active with people walking around.

The boy was still on the same spot watching from afar with his back against one of the many columns that held the roof over the hall.

"Watching from a distance, are we?" a known voice spoke in a whisper near him

Surprised he turned towards it "Yeah... feels weird to be here, everything is so different, I feel like I don't belong. I don’t feel like going into these tables with these pompous people around. Not really in the mood for that.l" Said Riou getting behind the pillar, away from the view of the table and joining Max for a proper conversation.

Maximilian took a quick glance at the table and nodded

"Very well my friend... let’s eat somewhere else" Said the Mage with a warm smile "I know a very good place in the city, a friend of mine is the owner, I'm sure you will enjoy the food there"

"You don’t need to say it twice! Let’s go then" said with a smile. The two left, away from the eyes of the other guests.

As they left the hall, a white haired young woman entered it from the other side of them. Elegantly moving around in a rush, searching for something or someone. She had a fiery determination in her eyes and in her movements.

Unable to find what she was looking for there, she gazed upon the people in the hall one last time and then continued on with her quest on other parts of the castle.

------------------------------------

Riou and Max reached the tavern in the middle of the city. It was a big house at a good spot, easy to find and packed with people inside.

It had a hanging sign with the image of a bear, it was sitting down holding a keg under its arm, there were also some strange writings cornering the border of the sign.

"The Drinking Bear" said Max as he noticed Riou's interest in the sign.

They went inside and Max went straight to the balcony, behind it was a very large and tall woman that shared an uncanny shape resembling a standing up bear, the size seemed the same as well. She had braided golden hair coming from both sides of her head and big golden eyes.

She was wearing commoner clothes and a big apron on top of it. Riou could tell that despite her size she was not just fat, she had a body built for strength, as a strong man contestant... or strong woman in that case.

As soon she saw Max she called out to him "What do my eyes see? The old fart is still alive! Haha!" Leaving everything she was doing behind, she rushed to give the old man a huge hug. She lifted him from the ground and shook him around as if he was just a toy.

When she released him, it took a moment for him to recover from the intense interaction.

"This… this is Syldis, she is an old friend of mine from the North Kingdom. We once traveled together, she was one of the best adventurers and fighters that ever existed. She retired to a calmer life and now is the owner of this fine tavern" Said Max recovering his breath.

"Indeed! You will find no better cuisine in all Allard!" she proudly added..

"I'm already salivating!" Said Riou expressing his hunger and anticipation for the food.

She then took a good look at the boy "Is this your son Max? He is such a smart lad! And so big too, he looks just like you!" Said Syldis clearly messing with the Mage.

"Don't joke around... This is Riou, he is also a good friend of mine" said Max continuing in a more joyous manner "Bring us your finest meat and spirit I have much to discuss with this young man here"

"Very well! Sit wherever you like, the best food you ever tasted will be coming shortly, we can talk more later on”

The tavern was rustic but very well built and sturdy. In a way it resembled the owner’s physique and personality, the wood and stone tables gave a good ambiance to it.

The kitchen was behind the counter in a separate room, and at the center of the main floor there was a staircase that led up to the next floor, a few rooms for rent could be found there.

They sat down and the food quickly followed, Riou didn't wait to start to eat.

He attacked the food viciously. It really was the best meal he had since coming to that land.

"Riou, I wanted to talk to you for a bit… I was thinking about your whole situation and I recalled I have some things that might help us understand what happened. But for that I must return home. That means I’d need to leave for a few days." Said the Mage calmly to him.

“How far is your place? I can go with you”

"It takes a bit more than a month on a fast horse… on foot, well, I don’t think anyone ever done the travel on foot alone” said the mage with a smile

Riou widened his eyes “Damn, everything is so far away in here? We just arrived in this city… oh well, I guess there is nothing we can do about it, what is a few more months on the road, slipping badly and eating dirt water right?”

Max laughed “Well, if that displeases you that much, you could stay here. I wouldn’t be long gone and Syldis wouldn’t mind if we stayed here”

He looked at the food “Well that's a compelling argument. But I don’t know. I don’t really want to be alone for two whole months… and yet, traveling again so soon for so long”

“As I said, I don’t intend to stay there long. My idea was to go there, get my books and a few other things and return here. Also, we would be closer to the forest here, in case we needed to act or investigate upon it further."

Riou listened with interest and nodded.

"I'll leave some money with Syldis, I'm sure you will be welcomed to stay at the castle or even here if you want to during that time, you can also depend on her on whatever you might need. She is a very reliable woman and surely will be able to help you in my absence"

“Well, her food is really good. Can I really wait here? I’m liking that idea more now” he said continually eating. The meat was simple, but it was well cooked and seasoned with salt.

Riou looked to Syldis at the back at the balcony already attending other customers and then looked back to Max, "If you say I can trust her, that’s good enough for me" he said nodding his head and filling his mouth once again.

"It will be a good opportunity for you as well to learn about the world here, Allard is very good in that regard. Culturally speaking, the folks here are much friendlier than in other parts.”

Riou nodded understanding. A bit of comfort was all he wanted at that point.

The mage smiled “It’s settled then, just so you know, I’m going to Thanes, the north region’s capital. I have friends there too, so if something happens to me, go there and look for the Flying Dragon Inn... ask for me, they will be able to guide you to my place."

"Something happens to you?”

“Yes, or you get into trouble”

“Why would I get into trouble? Why would anything happen to you?”

"Just a precaution... just a precaution young man, we never know what might happen." The boy’s apprehension clearly humored the mage.

“Fine... Thanes, ask for you at the The Flying Dragon got it"

Max grabbed a knife to cut up the meat for him and continued.

"Very well my boy, let's eat up and then lets take a walk through the city I need to show you around so you are not totally clueless how things work around here"