A Tale of Wolves and Sheep (a For Honor inspired story)

Chapter 5 (Scarlet)

It had been a month since William left for Fort Red and it's taken a month for Scarlet to adjust being in Westlake without him. The training with Lady Black certainly helped with distracting her, but at the same time her thoughts of her childhood friend often kept her distracted from her training. She'd always reminisce of the days they'd meet at the old cathedral and share a wineskin while watching the geysers in the ruins, or when they pretend to fight each other with sticks they found in the woods. 

But her thoughts of nostalgia were quickly disrupted when she was disarmed. Lady black pointed her training blade at Scarlet's neck. "Again." the Peacekeeper said as she lowered the dull blade. Scarlet sighed and picked up her arming sword and dagger. Lady Lyssa kept her eyes trained on her as she picked up her training blades, "What's on your mind?" she asked as she started to pace around the room. 

Scarlet nervously looked up at her as she picked up her weapons. "It's nothing." she replied as she stood back up with her weapons in hand. Lady Lyssa shook her head, "Scarlet, we've been training for the past month and you've been progressing fantastically." she said, "But I can tell something has been holding you back. You have something distracting you." she walked towards a bench at the end of the room and gently pat a spot next to her. "Come on, sit down and let's talk about it." Scarlet hesitantly approached and sat down next to her. 

"So, what's on your mind?" Lady Lyssa asked, setting her blades aside and turning towards Scarlet. "It's just... it's been taking some getting used to with William being away." she replied, "We've known each other since we were children." she slightly smiled from the nostalgia, "Ever since I tried stealing his bread all those years ago we were practically inseparable." Lady Lyssa gave a gentle smile, watching as her student reminisced through her childhood memories. "You two were close." she replied, "I imagine adjusting has been quite difficult. But think of it like this; the sooner we get your training done the sooner you will get to see him again." she gently placed a hand on her shoulder, "Your training is already coming along exceedingly well, but you're still having some slip ups when your mind isn't in the right place. But if you keep your mind sharp and maintain focus, we can get you to Fort Red by the end of the year." she smiled at her pupil as she reassured her. 

Scarlet returned a soft smile, "You make a good point. No time to waste then huh?" she replied. Lady Lyssa softly chuckled, "That's the spirit! But I think we can take a break for now." she said as she stood up. "We'll continue again tonight after supper." she started to pace towards a table and picked up two leather sheathes attached together and some cloth covering it up. "But in case you need a little extra motivation..." She walked back towards Scarlet and stood over her. Scarlet stood up and raised an eyebrow, curious as to what her teacher was holding. 

"You may be eager to practice with these rather than blunted training blades." Lady Black said, uncovering the leather sheaths, revealing two decorated handles, finely crafted and made with a mixture of gold on the pommels and guards, black leather wrapped around the main handle and a red jewel at the center of each pommel. Scarlet's eyes widened seeing the ornamental weapon handles, never had she seen such fancy looking weapons aside from the longsword William's father had mounted over the fireplace in the dining hall. She hesitantly hovered her hand over one of the hilts, looking back and forth from the weapon to Lady Lyssa. 

Lady Lyssa nodded, implying she could unsheathe the weapon. Scarlet could hardly contain her excitement as she pulled the blade out from the sheathe and held the arming sword, raising it with the point of the weapon pointing towards the ceiling. She scanned the weapon top to bottom, reveling in its beauty. While Scarlet was never well versed in any kind of forging or what all went into the craftsmanship of weapons as it was always William's field of expertise, but she could tell this was a very nice sword. She unsheathed the dagger, similarly crafted but just as unique as the sword. She gazed at the weapons in awe, at a total loss for words as she admired the blades.