Viscount's Rise

“So this was your ‘plans for the rest of the day’?” Nela had to ask when she found Braydon and Rhydian training in the courtyard. Or Rhydian training Braydon, more accurately. She had asked Colin what Braydon was up too and since he was not bothering her, ‘plans’ could only mean one thing.

*pant*

“Part of them.” Braydon took a moment to catch his breath before responding. He was still keeping an eye on where Rhydian was in case he took the time to teach him about being distracted. He knew from experience.

“And the other part?” She did not think that he had actually thought that far ahead. Considering his first plan was to improve at being a muscle head, Nela didn’t think it was a bad assumption.

“That included you actually.” This time, he actually did have something else that he wanted to do with his day. More than just training and finding creative ways to leave boring work to Colin.

“And you were going to tell me about this when?” Nela raised a single eyebrow at that. It was already mid afternoon. And from the looks of things, Braydon and Rhydian had not planned on finishing up any time soon.

“Just after dinner?” Braydon asked, not comprehending. He doubted that Nela had much to do herself. Most of her work consisted of working with Father Odom to oversee their joint project. And from what he had gathered most of the things that they could do whilst the buildings were being built were already done.

“Then your practice should be over now. Unless you want to skip said dinner?” Nela looked at him as if asking what was so hard to understand. She was not going to wait for these sword freaks to get their fill of training so that she could talk with Braydon after eating.

“I was about to propose the same thing, milady.” Rhydian stated, having somehow escaped the notice of both Braydon and Nela when storing away his training gear and back into his regular attire.

“Good, then I shall ask the servants to prepare dinner.” Nela smiled and turned around, going back into the keep.

“So what came over the busy lord to be training in the afternoon as well?” Nela asked after both her and Braydon had finished eating. Apparently Mireille had already eaten after having noticed Braydon and Rhydian were still training. Braydon had to wonder what others thought of him if they didn’t think that he would even consider eating when he was engrossed in training with Rhydian.

“I usually train in the mornings but that got disrupted since I was catching up on everything that had been going on here whilst I was out fighting.” He failed to even think of spending a day without training if he had the time to do so.

“I am sure there is a lot for you to do. Have you perhaps thought of doing that instead of training?” Nela had to ask. Mostly out of curiosity. She had known that training was one of Rhydian’s pastimes but Braydon was more the type to enjoy an actual battlefield than the training beforehand. 

“But then I wouldn’t have had an excuse to push off meeting the village elders until tomorrow.” Braydon said with a straight face. There was not a hint of embarrassment that she could see in him for saying something like that so openly.

“So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about that you specifically called it one of your plans for today?” Nela thought briefly about questioning what she had just heard but thought better than giving herself such a headache. Instead, she decided to move onto what she hoped was a more productive topic.

“Well, I was wanting to discuss with you about Mireille. Or more specifically her memories of before we rescued her. It seems that they are coming back and that should help us to know more about her and her situation.” After talking to Mireille about her memories when they went for a ride, he had wanted to talk to Nela about it. He knew that he could be a bit of a hammer in search of a nail when it came to delicate things. And he was not about to take risks with Mireille’s emotional state after she started opening up with her emotions.

“Coming back as in all at once?” Nela was about to make a quick jab about him coming to her about his problems with the opposite sex but once he mentioned Mireille’s amnesia she discarded that notion just as fast. If not for her personal attachment to Mireille then for the odd people that had gone looking for her, Nela was very much interested in finding out more about her.

“No, so far she has told me about being on a ship. But that was all that she could remember. I know that I may not be the best one to talk to her about these things no matter how highly she thinks of me. I was hoping that you could keep a closer eye on her as well.” Braydon knew that Nela would do that anyway but he wanted to make sure.

“You know my answer to that without asking but I presume that means that you want me to stay here with her even if you go out on longer journeys? Like Narabun? Think I can’t handle myself?” Nela could tell what he was thinking without him having to say it directly. And if she had to guess, that was not his only reason for not wanting her to go to Narabun a second time. She had barely fended off a pirate when they were attacked last time. At least now she knew that he had taken more note of that than she had originally thought.

“What do you m-ohh. Well, that as well. I guess.” Braydon took a moment to catch up with where her thinking had gone but the moment he did he broke eye contact. He had thought of that before, more than once.

“No need to get all bashful now. I still remember that you dashed into the room covered in blood to look for me. A charming hero really.” Nela laughed a little. If he didn’t speak, someone might mistake Braydon for a daring hero or some other lady’s fantasy. Only if he didn’t speak. No need to crush such a dream.

Darkwood

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