Ten years later.

As she approached her father's office, a maid reached for the door and pulled it open and Eira stepped inside. Eira's older brother Ross; a lean man with light purple hair, stood in attention at their father's desk. As Eira came to stand next to him, Ross let out a brief grin and whispered, "You're late, little sister. Keep it up."

Eira could feel her eyebrow twitch. Ross always knew how to get under her skin, and dig at just the right spot.

Eira wanted to ignore him, but the idea of him getting an easy dig in bothered her. "I may be late, but I'm the only one here worthy of recognition. So why bother being on time with you?"

Ross's grin turned into a clenched growl, "Listen here, you little brat. I'll-"

"That's enough." A firm and icy voice wrapped the two into silence in an instant. Their father, who had been staring out the window with his hands folded neatly behind his back, turned to face them.

Her father, Duke Einzen Lindir was a slender aging man with violet hair so dark one would be forgiven for thinking it was black. An eyepatch emblazoned with the house crest sat neatly over his right eye.

"The house spies I've spread throughout the kingdom have been doing their job diligently." Einzen stood like a wall, behind his desk. "The ones I've placed near the Sword Saint have recently given us fantastic news. It would seem that the current Sword Saint has become ill in his old age and a new Blade Tournament will be announced soon."

Einzen cleared his throat and continued. "Though it's sad to hear that such a faithful servant of the emperor has become ill, only a fool would not recognize the opportunity this lays at the feet of our house. Only one member of each house can participate in Blade Tournaments. I want you two to decide who is going and begin your training. Understood?"

Eira and Ross stiffened their backs and stood back in attention. "Yes, father!"

Without warning, Einzen slammed the palms of his hands onto the desk and shouted, "Who are we!?"

Eira and Ross clenched their eyes shut, and shouted just as loudly. "We are the emperor's cloak and dagger! We do not falter, we succeed or die!"

Einzen smiled widely. "Good, now get out of my office!"

Eira stepped out into the mansion garden and took in the fresh air. Her father's words echoed in her mind.

As Eira watched the gardeners, and other servants move around the garden doing their daily tasks she couldn't help but smile. House Lindir functioned perfectly, like a well-oiled machine.

"Excuse me, Miss Lindir? Is everything alright?" A small elderly servant woman with large wrinkles and her gray hair pulled tightly into a bun stepped next to Eira.

Eira smiled. "Yes. Everything is alright, Mags. In fact, I recently received good news."

Mags smiled brightly, her face wrinkles stretching. "Oh, I'm so glad to hear that, my dear. How about I brew you some tea, and braid your hair like I used to when you were little to celebrate?"

Eira sat down, at an elegant gazebo covered in roses. "Yes please, Mags. Could you brew me some Chamomile? It's my favorite."

Mags nodded gently and shuffled off to fetch the tea before finally returning.

After pouring the hot cup of tea, mags began brushing Eira's hair gently, pulling it and twisting it into a tight braid. Every once in a while, Mags would pluck a rose, and place it into Eira's hair. Eira picked up the steaming cup of tea and brought it up to her lips and sighed.

"Is there something wrong, miss Linidr?" Mags asked softly as she placed another rose into Eira's long violet hair.

"It's almost perfect, Mags. Except Mags would know I despise Chamomile tea, Ross."

Mags let out another wide smile as her form began to twist and fade away into a thick cold mist, revealing Ross with an irritated look on his face.

As Eira sat in her chair, she felt an ice-cold blade form near her neck, nearly biting into her skin.

"So this is how you've chosen to settle the Blade Tournament decision with me?" Eira sighed. "I was hoping for something a bit more cordial."

Eira dipped her pointer finger into the steaming hot tea, and in an instant, it turned ice cold. At that moment, a wall of ice spikes shot out of Eira trailing down from the gazebo and into the garden. Ross jumped elegantly into the air dodging the spikes. As he landed, Ross shot his hand forward and shouted.

"Shiver! Raureif!" A long and intricate crystal polearm formed itself in Ross's hand. Ross steadied his Blade and aimed it at Eira. "I'm going to defeat you, and I will be the one to go to the Tournament!"

Eira sighed and readied herself. It was time to summon her Blade.

***

Joshua stepped through the busy streets of Edronta. In his arms were two large bags of bread loaves. Occasionally, Joshua would stop and hand a bread loaf to a dirty child, an orphan trying to survive on the dangerous city streets. It was getting more common these days to see orphans running about. Usually left behind, by adventurers that were slain while fighting the dark beasts out in the wilds. It all broke his heart.

Small dark beasts on their own were enough to make Joshua shiver. He encountered one when he was young once, while he and Luna took a missionary trip outside the city's walls. Apparently, the one they encountered was a D-rank dark beast called a Jack-o'-lope. It may have only been a D rank, but its bite was enough to break Joshua's arm in two. Joshua couldn't even begin to fathom what it must be like to be an adventurer battling C or even B-rank dark beasts. Thankfully, Luna was there to heal his arm right up, like it never even happened.

Joshua smiled and blushed lightly. That was so long ago. He towered over her now, in height.

As he continued walking through the city, every once in a while he noticed groups of girls staring and whispering. It has been happening a lot recently. Whenever Joshua tried to look in their direction or greet them, the girls would turn red and walk away. It made him nervous. Did he really stand out that much? Was he that ugly?

Joshua sighed and tried his best to push those thoughts out of his head. Finally, he began to reach a more secluded area in the city, surrounded by trees. It was an empty area, apparently originally meant for agricultural development in the capital but instead, it was converted into a large nature park for everyone to enjoy.

Joshua walked down the nature trail but soon walked completely off the path. He pushed trees and large plants out of his way until at last, he reached his destination. A large serene pond, with water birds of all types floating on its glassy surface. A few trees spotted the surrounding area, giving perfect spots of shade. Luna and Joshua found this place while exploring the city once. To both of them, it was a world only they shared.

As Joshua looked around the area he noticed large newly made holes scattered here and there that seemed as if they were blown open by explosion magic. Perched near the holes, under a tree lay, Luna, her hair messy and covered with grass and leaves but there wasn't a mark on her pale skin. Luna's eyes were shut gently, as she breathed in and out slowly.

Joshua smiled and gently nudged Luna awake.

Luna began to stir, finally sitting up as leaves and grass fell out of her hair. What didn't fall, Joshua helped pick out.

Luna rubbed her eyes, as Joshua handed her half a loaf of bread. "Here's lunch. You must be hungry."

Luna smiled, offered a prayer to Allora, and bit into the soft flakey bread. "Oh my goddess, yes. Thank you, Joshua."

Joshua watched as Luna scarfed down the bread and couldn't help but laugh. "So how's your secret training going?"

Luna managed to swallow the last bit of bread and gulped down some of her water from her canteen before answering. "It's going well! Abigail, er- the head priestess was right. All I needed to do was focus my healing magic where I needed it most."

"Like this!" Luna launched backward, readied her fist, and punched it into the tree. When she pulled back, a large crater was missing from the wooden victim. Luna showed her hand to Joshua, "see! Not a scratch on me!"

Joshua started laughing and rolling on his back, and finally wiped a tear from his eye. "I'm not sure that's what the head priestess meant, but I've gotta commend your meathead interpretations!"

Luna turned pink as she watched him roll, "M-meathead? I'm not a meathead!"

Joshua continued to giggle, "Okay. Okay. You're not a meathead. Just a gorilla."

Luna growled at him, "I'll show you gorilla!" Luna readied her first, as Joshua stepped backward.

"Hey, wait! That thing is a dangerous weapon!" Joshua stumbled a bit, as he accidentally stepped on the bottom trim of his robe causing him to fall forwards and into Luna.

The two landed in the soft grass, Joshua's hand pressed into the ground near Luna's head propping him up above her. Luna's body was entrapped by Joshua's towering figure. She could feel his weight, she could hear him breathing. His heartbeat raced against his chest. Joshua stared deeply into Luna's soft pink eyes.

Joshua couldn't help but notice that despite all her training, she still carried a soft and sweet scent.

"You're heavy." Luna finally managed to squeak out.

"I-I'm sorry!" Joshua launched himself upwards, in a flurry of movements. His face was redder than a tomato. "We... should probably head back, I'll meet you there!" Joshua ran onwards, back towards the way he came.

"What was that?" Luna muttered to herself.