The Young Gladiatrix

Time

It had been weeks since Ash had jousted with Stafford and the knights. Once again, she had distanced herself to take time to learn. Though many said she couldn't learn on her own without someone to teach her. In silence, she had walked through the halls of the arena. Nodding in silence to the guards as they passed her. Offering small smiles to the knights. It was only when she walked past Sir Howard with blood and dirt on her face was she stopped and questioned. The knight lifted her chin to see the blood, his eyes going to hers. "What happened?" he asked, watching her eyes. He knew when she was lying just by looking at her eyes. So lying to him was downright pointless. "Horse threw me. I landed head first. Forgot to wear my helmet" she sighed, spitting blood to the side. Howard watched her. "How many times have we told you to wear the helmets when jousting? Who were you up against this time? Ceaser again?" Ash had since started jousting with the other knights again, as well as the knights from England. She'd started competing against Ceaser again too. The one man she had always butted heads with and the man that had tried to kill her with a lance. "Yeah. Both unhorsed. I just landed awkwardly. He's still in the sand"
"And you walked away? Is he ok?" asked Howard, now folding his arms over his chest. He was ready to chew her out if she had walked away without checking on her opponent. "He's fine. Guards told me to go get cleaned up" muttered Ash, looking down at the ground.
"When we eventually leave, if we leave, you will need to remain in the vicinity of your tournament. No walking away. Come on. I'll clean you up. The others want to talk to you anyway. It's been a while, and you've been quiet again" Howard walked with her back down the hallway, heading into a washroom of sorts where the other knights and Decimus were sat. "Found a bloodied knight in the hallway" commented Howard, gaining the attention of the men in the room. "One that didn't wear a helmet whilst jousting" he commented again. Ash merely sighed. "I didn't think I'd be up against someone. There wasn't time to get my helmet"
Stafford inclined his head to her. "Time or not. You need a helmet, Ash. Jousting is dangerous, you know this. What's happened to you lately? Your mind seems all over the place, you seem distant. You're unfocused in training. What's going on, Ash?" he asked, watching her. He knew something was up. And he wanted to get to the bottom of it. She had been so unbeliveably out of focus and so unlike herself lately that he thought he was dealing with a different person sometimes. "I have no excuses" shrugged Ash with a sigh. "I miss training with you guys. I miss the adrenaline. I miss the feedback and just being told I'm doing something good. I miss the validation. Just... Having someone tell me I'm doing good"
The knights shared a look for a moment. "You can train with us, Ash. Don't ever think you're not welcome to" said Neville, feeling a spike of pain in his heart for her. "I also miss being unhorsed by you guys. At least then I was learning. And I still suck at hand to hand combat"
"We'll work on that" said Neville quickly once more. He sighed at what she had said though. She missed training with them, even to the point where she missed being unhorsed by them. Even Decimus was silenced for a moment by what was said. He'd noticed how unlike herself she had been lately. She'd been sleepy, irritable, hot flushes. Unfocused. Her mind had always seemed to be elsewhere. He debated whether or not she just needed a good kick up the backside to get her back into gear, so to speak. At one point he even wondered if she was pregnant with how she had been acting.
"Ash. We'll train later. You, me, Stafford and Howard. We'll all train together for a few hours. And we'll work on what you need to get to grips with. Maybe we'll try and unhorse you a few times too" said Neville, watching her again. When he saw her nod, he gave a nod in return. "But please. Wear a helmet. You know how hard hits can be. And I don't want you to end up with a lance through your throat or your skull" She merely nodded, leaning back in her chair now as Howard handed the medical supplies to Neville who was sat closer to Ash. He silently cleaned the cuts and sand from her face. One of the cuts having a rather long splinter of lance lodged in it. He pulled it out and showed it to her. "And this is why we wear helmets" he commented, tosing it to the side to clean the cut as a trail of blood ran from it.  Ash had sighed at the sight of the splinter. "How didn't that kill me" she questioned.
"Let's just say you're lucky. You might not be so lucky next time. You do have a helmet, Ash"
"So wear it"

[Authors Note: It's been a while, huh? I needed time to plan and to work on Kingmaker. I'll try and update this more often too]