Her Hesitance Would Be A Hindrance

[az_of_the_oz]

Who: Az, Kieran (of course Az's guards)

Where: Kieran's Quarters

When: January 24th, 1 PM

What: A Request

How exactly did one request to be trained by a duchess of a foreign land who was in the Palace representing her Queendom for the Coronation that still had to take place? Az would have asked what the exact protocol for it was, but she did not know

Comments

[kieran_goodman]

It'd been a while since her ass-kicking of Dawson and she had been completely amused at the sight of a sore longcoat, but she had other things to do then to sit there and watch him as he limped around for hours, as fun as it may be. After she'd bathed and cleaned up she'd settled into her quarters to begin writing a note to the Queen of IX, informing her of several things that she needed to know. It was then that she heard a knock.

Glancing to the door she placed the paper down, deciding that it wasn't a man knocking because it wasn't harsh enough. Had to be a female. What did this female want, though? Moving to the door she pulled it open, completely surprised when she noticed that it was the eldest Princess at her door.

"Princess." Kieran greeted, no longer in the mood for complete formalities, and it looked like this girl had something on her mind. "Come in." Stepping to the side she held the door open for Azkadellia, her eyes turning towards her guards for half a moment. "What .. is it?"

[az_of_the_oz]

The 'spy' had been escorted from the Palace earlier that morning, out towards the borders of Ix, across the Deadly Desert. Her guards, especially Johnson before the shift change when Alec took over, had kept a close watch on the situation. And had made sure that the Longcoat was completely out of the surrounding area before they would even allow their Princess to head to the Duchess's rooms. Finally, after lunch, the dark blonde man who now led her afternoon shift of bodygaurds had given her a nod signalling that it was safe then

[kieran_goodman]

The guards were watching carefully, with something behind their eyes that told her it wasn't just because she was the Princess, but more so that she had known the spy for IX. It didn't even bother her that people didn't believe the connection or thought there was more to it because it wasn't as if they could do anything. Her connection to him hadn't been planned and she hadn't given any information that would have helped him infiltrate the castle

[az_of_the_oz]

When her words were repeated, Az nodded. Disbelief just shone from the other woman, in a way so obvious it was nearly blinding. Yes, it was an ununusual request coming from a Princess of one queendom speaking to a Duchess of another. But it was also vitally important. "Yes, I need," she specifically did not use the word 'want,' this was a 'need' circumstance, "to learn how to at least defend myself in case... anything should happen."

'In case your ex-husband and Her former general decides to take another crack at me,' was part of her reasoning. A good part.

"You're smart, fast and use everything you can to your advantage," the Princess observed. "Women in your queendom are some of the fiercest fighters this Side has seen. I grew up reading every single tome I could find about your people, and while I know some of the stories I read have been purposefully exaggerated for dramatic effect, there is a basic truth to them I saw back thereShe shook her head lightly, "I would not expect that it would be so. But I need to learn." No ifs,