Emma and Ria opposed the idea of a sword fight.

“D-do you really think this is a good idea?” Emma came to my aid, she was clearly pretty nervous.

“She needs to learn how to fight with what she’s got.” Aileen promptly commented. “While she did fine in the park, ‘er style and technique were sloppy. But don’t worry, I won’t hurt her. Not that I could, to begin with.”

“But why did you make her wear clothes that can be destroyed then?”

“Just a precaution.” Aileen spoke but kept her eyes straight on me and on the cane in my hand. You could tell she was constantly doing threat assessments in her head.

“Hmmm.” Ria groaned before Alessia put her hand on her shoulder.

“It’ll be fine, Corelia.” She smiled. “It’ll also be a good opportunity for the both of you to see that your girlfriend can defend herself.”

“Be safe, Rora!” Ria called out to me.

“I… I will try...” Aileen still looked really menacing.

“Don’t worry, Aurora.” She smiled with a smirk. “I was just appraising you. Let’s get to your lesson now.”

“A-alright...”

Aileen then approached me and put her sword away in her cane. “First off… that’s not a very stable stance.” The lesson began with her taking me by my shoulders and putting me straight on my feet.

Some time went by with Aileen teaching me the basics of how to fight, although she did end up getting frustrated a bit that I had so many issues keeping my stance disciplined.

“I’m not a fencer, okay? If you want a fencer, go talk to Claire.”

“Who’s Claire?” I could hear Alessia talk to Em, who was watching me and Aileen with great interest.

“A girl from our class. She does fencing and theatre.”

“She’s also really gay.” Ria giggled.

“Isn’t that a bit blunt?” Alessia tilted her head.

“No, she says it about herself all the time. She’s really dramatic.” Em nodded.

“Ohhh.”

“That’s sword lesbians for ye.” Aileen laughed.

“Are you a lesbian too, Aileen?” I asked while she corrected my stance again.

“Didn’t I tell ye?”

“I don’t think it came up before.”

She shrugged. “Well, I’m indeed into gals, but men are pretty okay too.”

“So you’re bi then?”

“Hmmm… let me rephrase. I like people no matter what gender they have, but I slightly prefer girls more.”

“Ah! Pansexual.”

“Yes, I think that’s what they call it… Goddess fucking damnit, Aurora! Your legs! How many times do I need to tell you to keep your stance stable. If I gave you a push, you’d be right on your arse now.”

“I’m trying!!!!” I yelled back.

My girlfriends and Alessia were incredibly amused by the two of us but luckily after another thirty minutes or so, I finally got the hang of it.

“Now it’s time for some sparring.” Aileen took her sword out again.

“Already?”

“Yes, we’ll start slowly and speed up after a while.” While what Aileen said put me at ease a little when she started her assault, I began doubting what exactly her definition of ‘slowly’ was. But then again, because of my vampiric reflexes, I could keep up with her relatively well. Well, at least until she started speeding up, when it became incredibly hard not to get stabbed.

“Tap into your power!” Alessia called out from the sidelines. “You’re still only using a fraction of what you are capable off.”

When I looked up past the tip of her sword, I could see Aileen’s irises lighting up bright red. The smirk on her face told me she was enjoying our spar.

“C’mon! No holdin’ back, Aurora!” She sped up even more as her smirk grew.

I fell back a couple of meters to give me some time to start concentrating, but Aileen didn’t give me the chance. “Learn to tap into it on the fly!”

“E-easier said than done.” I only barely dodged a slash to my right. I tightened the grip on my sword and tried to push the power into myself.

Aileen did slow down a bit when she saw that. “No, you need to let it flow into you, you need to think less, not more. Get into the rhythm and flow of the fight. Calm your breathing.”

“But if I relax, you’ll stab me!”

“Believe in your body’s capabilities.” She lunged forward, with the tip of her sword aimed dead centre at my chest. My body acted on a reflex and turned out to my right, so Aileen sailed right past me. “Nice! That’s the way to do it!”

My girlfriends applauded me from the side.

“Go, Rora, go!” Ria was jumping while she cheered me on.

“Good job, Auro!” Emma pumped her fists at me.

Thanks to that and Aileen’s tips, I finally managed to really get the hang of it. I even managed to not only stay on the defensive, but even get in some offensive action as well. Taking a couple of stabs at Aileen when I saw a potential opening.

“Don’t get too cheeky.” She winked. “Let’s see if you can handle this.” Aileen’s eyes started to glow even brighter as she started her onslaught. While her fighting had been relatively static up until now, she really started to move around me. Her slashes and stabs coming at me from multiple directions. Until suddenly she rushed straight at me again, with the speed of a bullet shot out of a railgun. My body reacted in time and with a kick to her stomach I sent her flying to the opposite wall. She skidded over the floor, trying to break the momentum, but she hit the wall with quite a loud bang nonetheless. She slumped down against it.

“T-that was a nice kick...” She exhaled.

“Oh, shit! Sorry! My body just acted on its own.” I dropped my sword and ran towards her. “Are you okay?” I held out my arm to get her up.

“Yeah, you just knocked the air out of me for a second there.” She took my arm with a smile and I pulled her up.

My girlfriends and Alessia came running over as well.

“Does the wall need fixing?” Alessia laughed and looked behind Aileen, but the wall was still intact.

“That was amazing, Rora!” Ria hugged me, but when she pulled back away from me, she was holding a part of the clothes I’d been wearing.

Aileen laughed and patted my shoulder twice. “You’d do fine against a normal opponent, but if you want to fight against me, you still have a lot to learn. Although that kick was really great.”

That’s when I looked down and saw my clothes had numerous cuts in them, revealing quite a lot of bare skin. “W-wait! I thought you said you weren’t going to hurt me!”

“I didn’t even hit you.” I was just going for your clothes.” She winked at me once more. “Maybe in a couple of decades or so, you'll be a formidable opponent.”

Alessia agreed with a nod. “You did really well, especially for your first time.”

“Was that it for today?” Em asked.

“Yes, she has learned to listen to her body’s instincts, so I’d say this lesson has been very successful.” Aileen grabbed her stuff together and dusted off her back. “We can do basic hand-to-hand next time.”

“If you could join a fencing club or something like that, you’d also be able to hone your swordsman skills a bit more.” Alessia gave me my other clothes back, so I could get changed.

“As a vampire? Won’t I risk exposing myself.”

“It’s just so you can perfect your technique and work on your stances some more.” Aileen clarified.

“Hmmm.”

Em pouted. “So you can’t join the track club, but you can join Claire’s club... That’s totally unfair.”

“I’m sorry Em.” I took her in for a hug and kissed her on her cheek and kissed her further down to her neck. Her pouty face quickly disappeared.

“Alright, I’ll forgive you.” She kissed me back.

“How sweet.” Aileen cooed while Alessia was just smiling at us.

“I feel left ooouuut!” Now our other girlfriend was pouting, but as soon as she said that I grabbed her and enclosed her inside our three-way hug.

“Yay!” Ria got a couple of kisses from the both of us before I finally had to let go to put on my other clothes.

Once I was done, we all went upstairs to pack our bags because the trip home was encroaching. But not before Ria and Em started to question Aileen on what she had been doing yesterday after they left the chateau.

“We went to a nightclub a couple o’ towns over. Flirted with some gals, y’ know, classic nightlife stuff.”

“She’d actually only returned to the castle an hour before Aurora’s lesson started.” Alessia giggled.

“Wow!” Em laughed.

“So it was a fruitful evening?” I asked.

“Aye, very fruitful. Especially for the lady who took me home.” She winked.

“L-lewd...” Ria’s face shot bright red, and Em also looked like she didn’t have anything to say anymore. Not for a while at least.

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to answer too.” Aileen laughed.

“I-i-it was Rora who asked!!” Ria now hid her face behind her hands. It looked incredibly adorable.

Alessia then tapped me on the shoulder and whispered in my ear. “What exactly does lewd mean? I don’t think I’ve ever heard the term before.”

I started laughing. “Well… let me explain.”

Alessia learned a new word that day, together with the wonderful world of yuri.