“The contrast between nobles who lived in the inner, safer regions of a nation with those who lived on its borders and frontiers was always a common factor in many nations, regardless of race makeup or religion. It was simply a contrast born from circumstances, which were easily replicated despite the differences between these nations.

Where those who lived in the inner regions often grow up to value displays of wealth and pride, to show off grandiose displays through various means so that all may witness their family’s prosperity and power, those who lived on the borders and frontiers value practical items far more.

Rather than a gem-studded goblet made of pure gold they would rather have a good suit of armor and a well-crafted weapon. Rather than extravagant feasts that a commoner would have needed to work all their life to pay for they would instead prefer warehouses loaded to the brim with military rations and other non-perishables.

Quite naturally, these drastically different values often lead to clashes between these groups of nobles whenever they met. It was not rare for a nation to even fall to civil war over such differences at times.” - From a term paper by Leigh Wainwrought, Sociology Student in the Levain Institute for Higher Learning, circa 689 FP.

“Ah, there he is,” said Duke Hebor Uthgwes as he led Aideen to the training grounds built on the side of the mansion. The large, open area was where the household’s knights - and the nobles themselves - trained and practiced. Pedro Uthgwes, the eldest son of the Duke, was in the midst of a spar with one of the older knights, both wearing padded training clothes and using wooden training weapons.

“Rare to see someone use a flail around here,” commented Aideen as they watched the spar unfold. While the older knight used a more typical sword and shield setup, the Duke’s eldest son paired his shield with a flail, and often tried to use the weapon’s makeup to reach around his opponent’s shield. “He seems pretty good at it too.”

One solid strike saw the chain of the flail catch against the side of Pedro’s opponent’s shield, which pivoted the weighted head to strike the older knight on the upper arm. The man pulled back and rubbed his arm for a bit as he yielded the match to the young noble. They shook hands before they parted their ways.

Pedro noticed his father and their guest on the sidelines as he turned around and quickly made his way to them, and stopped a short distance away from them as he looked at his father questioningly. “Are you looking for me, father?”

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“I was indeed,” replied the Duke with a nod. “I was just asking Miss deVreys to help accompany you and your sisters on the trip next week. Good to see that you have kept up well with your practice so far, though. Considering what happened to Sol, I do not think your trip would be entirely peaceful.”

“You really think whoever went after Sol would try to attack us in the kingdom’s territory?” asked Pedro with some doubt in his voice. “Do they have enough courage to do things openly like that nowadays? I know we had some squabbles with the centrals and their backers, but they’ve never done things like open attacks so far.”

“They’ve already shed all pretenses and tried to get rid of Sol once. I don’t see her being back in kingdom territory, where they hold even more influence, stopping that,” replied the Duke. “That is one reason I asked Miss deVreys to accompany you all. She is a master healer, so her presence should help secure your lives if it comes down to it.”

“I’ve heard the stories, yeah. Ines and Bianca had raved about her since they came back. Found it a tad hard to believe though, that she could heal someone who got gutted or fix a missing limb that fast,” admitted Pedro honestly. Given how healers of her caliber were a rarity Aideen understood his doubts and misgivings.

“Well I’m not going to let you gut someone just so she can prove it,” replied the Duke with a shake of his head. He himself was somewhat doubtful, but when the members of Solenia’s guards and maids had all told the same story, one echoed by his own daughter and one of his most trusted Knight-Captains, he couldn’t help but lend some credence to it as well.

“Oh, I know. That said, I also heard the stories of your prowess with arms, Miss deVreys,” said Pedro with a smile as he looked at Aideen. The look on his face pretty much spelled out his intentions to her, and she chuckled when the expected words came. “Care for a little friendly bout?”

“Sure. I don’t see why not?” replied Aideen with a smirk of her own as she noticed how the Duke sighed in resignation besides her. He had told her that his eldest son was a bit of a musclebrain and apparently he had not exaggerated about it. “Training weapons? Or you prefer the real thing? Might get to show you my healing that way.”

“An interesting proposal. Let us do that then!” replied Pedro with an intrigued look on his face. He quickly went over and got a couple younger knights to help him into his suit of plate armor, while another went and brought his shield and flail from his room.

“Hope you don’t mind me teaching your son a little lesson in humility,” said Aideen to the duke as they watched Pedro enthusiastically get ready.

“Nah. He’s already an irredeemable musclehead anyway,” replied the Duke with a shake of his head. “He reminded me a lot of myself when I was his age, really. Go ahead and teach him a lesson. Not like he’ll get any dumber from it.”

“As you wish, then,” replied Aideen as she saw that Pedro had finished and walked towards the center of the training grounds, entirely clad in plate armor and with his shield and a flail in hand. The flail he used had a half-meter long chain that connected a metal handle of similar length to a shorter, cylindrical head adorned with thick spikes.

Aideen just nonchalantly walked towards him as she brought her own staff out of her storage and gave it a whirl.