And with that, he wheeled his horse around and she followed, fighting the urge to laugh. Fighting lessons as well as riding lessons, now. She really was getting a thorough briefing in medieval skills. Who knew? Maybe he'd teach her how to sew next… that would be useful, too. Honestly, Melanie was happy to learn just about anything if it meant spending more one-on-one time with Aelfred Grant.
Chapter 20
It was an easy ride back through the village and toward the castle. Aelfred was clearly very excited to get started on their sword fighting lessons — he seemed to feel, with their quick little gallop, that she'd successfully mastered horsemanship, and was keen to get started on the next chapter in her journey. Melanie, for her part, couldn't help but reflect that this new project had arisen conveniently close to their reaching the next village over… the village that may well have been Aelfred's home village, where they might have finally gotten some answers about what had happened to his family after he'd been taken from them.
Still, that was none of her business, was it? If Aelfred wanted to avoid his past, that was his business. Especially if that avoidance took the form of spending more time with her… she was more than happy to enable that kind of behavior, she thought with a guilty grin stealing across her face when she was sure he wasn't looking at her. They rode through the village and along the shore of the lake, both horses having well and truly recovered from their brief sprint. Aelfred spurred his stallion into a canter, giving her a challenging look over his shoulder… and she couldn't help but laugh as her gelding sprang to the challenge, lengthening his stride as well until the two of them were racing along the shore of the Loch. They blew past Maggie's cottage as quick as anything, both laughing with exhilaration, and when the Keep came looming up ahead of them, she was shocked by how quickly they'd covered the distance.
They walked the horses home, letting their bodies cool down again, not wanting to put them away hot and sweaty. She'd half expected Aelfred to drop both horses with the grooms and run straight to where the wooden weapons were kept, he seemed so enthusiastic about the idea, but he was nothing if not fastidious about caring for their mounts — they spent a solid half-hour giving both horses a good rubdown, and putting them away clean and shiny in their stalls with fresh pails of oats and a bundle of hay for their trouble. No wonder they were becoming favorites among the grooms, Melanie thought with a grin. The guards, as a general rule, didn't do much to help with putting their horses away — they'd drop their steeds off and head inside, too busy with their work to help the grooms with theirs. But Melanie and Aelfred had no such other duties to worry about.
By the time the horses were sorted, it was lunch time, and the two of them headed inside for a meal — after a brief altercation in which Aelfred had to be firmly reminded that no matter how excited he might be about the fighting lessons, the pair of them still needed food. They ate quickly, Melanie willing to admit she was excited to get started too, and then headed back out into the courtyard.
It was threatening rain, but that didn't stop Aelfred. Before she knew it, he'd disappeared into the guardhouse and re-emerged with an armful of various wooden weapons, which he dropped onto the courtyard stones with a clatter. The two of them squatted by the collection as he named each one, pointing each out with a wooden dagger that had been the first he'd introduced to her. Her eyes lingered on what he named a claymore, and she reached for it, drawing a chuckle from him when she struggled to lift the thing.
"Claymores are heavy weapons," he said, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't think I was training a knight for battle."
"You might be," she said, raising an eyebrow in challenge and attempting to heft the sword.
"You're aware that the metal versions are twice as weighty?"
She dropped the wooden claymore, wrinkling her nose. "Fine. What did you have in mind?"
After a little bit of back and forth, they picked out a short sword for her. Aelfred had been wanting to suggest a dirk, but she preferred the longer blade, and a short sword, it seemed, was a good compromise. She had to admit, the little sword felt comfortable in her hand, and she weighed it thoughtfully before striking a dramatic pose, pointing the sword at Aelfred — who, in one whirling motion, knocked it flying from her hand with the wooden rapier he'd been loosely holding in his own fist, almost as though he'd forgotten about it.
"Unfair," she pointed out.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Pointing a blade at someone is a challenge. Don't get cross that I accepted your challenge."
They spent the rest of the day going over what Aelfred referred to as the basics — most of which had much more to do with her feet than she was happy with. She'd wanted to do sword stuff, but mostly the sword sat uselessly in her hand, weighing her down while Aelfred drilled her again and again in where her weight was, whether her feet were under her, what kinds of steps she was taking... It wasn't long before they'd drawn a crowd, curious guards watching him teach her, and she quickly grew self-conscious.
"Do we have to train in front of people?" she asked him in a low voice the third time the crowd had chuckled at her shoddy footwork. But Aelfred didn't seem disturbed by the crowd, even smiling at them and beckoning them closer.
"A crowd is a good thing," he said with a shrug.
"But they're putting pressure on me. I can't focus when I'm stressed."
"You think you won't be under pressure in a real fight?" he asked, tilting his head to the side and making her scowl. "Exactly," he said brightly. "The more pressure you feel when you're training, the more ready you'll be for the real thing."
"I'll give you the real thing in a minute," she muttered, narrowing her eyes.
That actually drew a laugh from the crowd, which was gratifying… and she realized, as they continued with the training, that the crowd wasn't a nasty one. There were shouts of honest support among the amusement at her amateur clumsiness, and she saw more than a few encouraging smiles on the faces of the guards among the spectators.
By the time that the sun was low in the sky, Melanie was thoroughly exhausted. She didn't feel like she'd made much progress in terms of actually knowing how to fight someone with a sword, but she had a new awareness of her feet and where her weight went when she moved, and Aelfred seemed happy enough with what little progress they'd made together, so she was happy to call the day a success. They packed away the wooden swords together, Aelfred leading her across the courtyard to the guardhouse where the equipment was stored, and quite a few of the guards watched them, calling words of congratulations.
"Is this — normal? Do women generally learn to fight like this?" Melanie wanted to know as they packed away the swords in the room in the guardhouse dedicated to training equipment — there were dozens of scarecrow-like mannequins that were clearly used for training set around the room, and she was looking forward to beating one up a little when she got better. Aelfred blinked at her.
"Why wouldn't a woman need to know how to fight?"
"I don't know," she said with a shrug. "From the way people talk about it… it seems like women do the domestic stuff and men do all the fighting. Most of the people on the Watch are men, right?"
"That hadn't occurred to me," Aelfred said with a shrug, setting the last sword neatly in its place then turning back to her. "I suppose I don't think much about gender. Nobody has much time for it in the Fae."
She blinked, thrown by that comment. "What do you mean — nobody has time?"
"I mean…" He shrugged his shoulders, looking a little lost as to how to communicate his point. "It's not something I'm in the habit of giving much thought to. I mean, who among your friends is the tallest?"
She hesitated for a minute. "Elena, I think?"
"And the second-tallest?"
She gave up. "No idea."
"That's how I think about men and women," he said with a shrug. "I'm not unaware of whether someone's a man or a woman, I just… don't see that it's the most important thing about them."
She thought about
that as they headed inside, intrigued by this new framework of looking at things. No wonder he seemed so odd, she thought with a quiet smile. It hadn't occurred to her just how differently he'd been taught to relate to people, to see the world… and the more she thought about it, the more his approach seemed like a better one. How many opportunities had she missed out on because people couldn't see past their own preconceived notions of what a woman could do as opposed to what a man could do? She'd been good at math in elementary school — it always came quickly to her. But the older she'd gotten, the more she heard about women not being naturally good at math, about how their brains weren't set up for that kind of thinking… and while she rebelled against that as pointless sexism, it still lingered in the back of her mind whenever she encountered a difficult problem or challenge in math class. By high school, she was an average student. What was the point? part of her had thought. What was the point in working hard at something she was never going to be good at as a result of her gender?
What would have happened, she wondered, if more people in her life — more influences in her culture — had looked at the world like Aelfred did? Where would she be if she hadn't been told that women weren't naturally good at math — if she'd had a teacher like Aelfred who simply reassured her that math was difficult, and exciting, and challenging, and that the more challenges she faced, the better she'd get?
Well, she thought with an absent-minded smile, she probably wouldn't be here, coming to these kinds of realizations. And as they headed inside to their usual table, sweaty from their training but warm and satisfied with a good day's work, she realized with a start that she wouldn't have wanted that. She interrogated that feeling, a little shocked by it. Was she…happy here? If a door opened up in the wall right now, a door that led back to her old life, a door she could simply step through and leave all of this behind… would she take that step?
She didn't know anymore, that was the truth. And that was exhilarating to think about. She was still missing home, of course… she still missed her father, and her work, and her friends… but the life she was building here was so full of good things that she couldn't help but feel torn between wanting to go home… and wanting to see where her path here would lead. And that, she knew, had a lot to do with Aelfred. He was just such a fascinating person. And it wasn't just that she had a crush on him, though that was continuing to be true… why wouldn't it be? He was one of the most objectively attractive men she'd ever met, of course she'd feel the attraction. But her affection for him was more than just physical, more than just about how gorgeous he was.
She wondered, not for the first time and not for the last if he felt the same way about her. Sometimes, he made flirtatious comments, idle little reflections on their relationship, the time they'd been spending together… but she didn't know how seriously to take those. She'd never heard him making any similar comments to anyone else, but she wasn't around him twenty-four seven, was she? For all she knew, he was flirty with everyone he met… man or woman, she thought with a private grin. There was no difference, after all, was there?
"You seem lost in thought."
That drew her from her reflections, and she smiled an apology as she swallowed her mouthful of dinner. Food tasted amazing after a hard day's work. "Just thinking about swords." A lie, overall… but she wasn't in any way ready to bring up the subject of whether or not he found her attractive. Not right now.
"I've infected you," he said with a grin, those silver eyes shining. "You enjoyed it? You'd like to keep training?"
She nodded. "I don't feel like I'd be any use at all in a fight yet, so I think we should keep going."
That glorious smile spread across his handsome face, and he nodded excitedly. "Great. First thing in the morning, then!"
She blanched. "Define first thing."
"The best training is done before breakfast," he assured her, his eyes bright.
"I thought time wasn't really a thing in the Fae."
"Time isn't," he said primly. "Breakfast is."
She sighed, rubbing her forehead. "What have I gotten myself into?"
But as she headed up to bed after saying goodnight to Aelfred, she couldn't hide the smile that crept over her face. She had been worried about learning to ride… the more comfortable she got on horseback, the more worried she got that all the time she was spending with Aelfred was going to come to an end once he ran out of equestrian tips and tricks for her. It was a stupid thing to worry about — he'd made it clear that he enjoyed her company and that the two of them were friends — but still, she'd lost friends before as a result of not spending enough time together. And she didn't want to lose Aelfred's friendship. He was important to her… something about him just made her feel like being in this strange place was manageable, made it all worthwhile, somehow. She was looking forward to getting better with her sword, to impressing him the way she'd impressed him with her newfound horse-riding skills… and more than that, she was looking forward to learning from him, to watching him move, almost dancing across the courtyard as he demonstrated technique…
She fell asleep with those images still dancing in her mind, a soft smile on her face as she drifted into endless dreams of Aelfred. She was dreaming of him most nights now, lately, something she was refusing to read much into… though she definitely hadn't mentioned that particular detail of her life to her friends, all of whom occasionally enquired after how her friendship was going with Aelfred. They were all convinced that he was fated for her, the way their husbands seemed to have been fated for them… but she wasn't so sure. She admired him and liked him, sure… but were they really marriage material? Was anyone, in this strange place? The thing was, taking her relationship with Aelfred to another level would mean accepting that she was here for good. That she was building something real here, not just killing time until she could figure out how to get home… something that she was increasingly beginning to worry was truly never going to be an option for her.
And that thought, as much as it exhilarated her, scared her as well, made the dreams of Aelfred worrying as well as enjoyable… and made her wake in the morning, heart pounding hard, worry and desire both gnawing at opposite sides of her heart.
Chapter 21
They spent the next week focusing almost exclusively on her sword training… and by the end of the week, she was as sore as she'd ever been in her life. What was it about the training that managed to aggravate every single one of her muscles? She ached from her toes to the crown of her head… the soles of her feet from the constant dancing back and forth, the muscles of her legs from lunging and leaping back and forth, her core from holding herself up, her shoulders and arms from holding the sword and balancing her weight… it was a nightmare. And she barely felt like she was making any progress. Whenever it felt like she'd sorted one thing out — where her feet were — Aelfred was there reminding her that she'd dropped something else — her balance, her posture, the angle of her sword, the focus of her eyes… it was like trying to juggle forty different plates all at once.
"And breathe!" he kept calling across the courtyard to her when she got overwhelmed. Breathing was the hardest thing, it seemed — and frustratingly, according to Aelfred at least, the most important. Every time she took a breath, she dropped three or four of the things she was trying to remember… and that included, one memorable moment, her actual sword. Aelfred had fallen about laughing at that, leaning on his knees as the gales of laughter swept through him, and as annoyed as Melanie had felt, his laughter always drew a grin from her. She picked up her sword, shaking her head as she tried to catch her breath. She was covered in dust — Aelfred had knocked her flat on her ass at least a dozen times today so far — and sorely tempted to call it for the day… if it hadn't been for their very special audience.
Galen and Brendan were standing by, curious looks on their faces as they watched the pair train, and Melanie was determined to prove that she was tough and strong enough to wield a sword alongside any man on the
Watch. Sure, she might have been a few decades behind them in training, but what she lacked in experience she'd make up for in pure grit. She'd been talking to the other women, wondering why it was only men on the Watch, and they'd all expressed similar sentiments — it was sexism, nothing more, that made the men think that women couldn't be part of the organization. Even though Anna was objectively one of the best swords-people in the castle, capable of giving even the Laird a run for his money, she was seen as an anomaly, not a demonstration that sword fighting was not a gendered skill.
She felt, on some level, like she was fighting for women in general when she demonstrated her skills… and to their credit, both Brendan and Galen seemed very impressed with how far she'd come in such a short space of time. Aelfred grinned at her, gesturing that it was time for them to take a break, and she headed gratefully over to where they'd stashed a skin of water for such purposes, taking a few deep drafts of it and leaning on her knees as she worked to catch her breath. Brendan and Galen joined them, looking suitably impressed.
"You've come an incredible distance for a beginner," Galen told her gruffly.
She appreciated the compliment from the taciturn man a great deal — he wasn't one to mince words, or indeed speak much at all, and his marriage to the chatty, friendly Julia was definitely one of contrast.
"Aye, you have," Brendan agreed, nodding firmly. "A few of my newer recruits could take a few tips from your discipline. And your teacher," he added, glancing at Aelfred with an admiring look in his eyes. "You're an excellent instructor."
Aelfred smiled, clearly taken aback by the compliment, though Melanie was pleased he was getting his due recognition. "A teacher's only as good as his student," he said with a shrug, gesturing to Melanie with a smile that made her heart do a backflip.
Trusted By The Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance Page 17
