2331st August, 475 HE (continued)
After morning tea, Bella and Jon continued on their walk around the palace. Jon persisted in introducing Bella to every person imaginable, but it was too much for Bella. She was still trying to put names to the faces of her year-mates and the older pages, let alone remembering the names of the stable boys and the teachers.
Finally, the bell for lunch rang and Jon and Bella raced each other up the steep hill to the castle. Jon won easily, his long legs carrying him far and his experience from running the hill every day for three years helping him. Bella's legs were aching by the time she reached the top, but she refused Jon's hand to help her.
Baird avoided Bella's eye at lunch, as did Kelsey. Aaron, however, was particularly nice to Bella, thanking her again for healing his bruised cheek. When Bella was not talking to Aaron, she was in deep conversation with her cousin Ilane about what life as a page was like for girls
"When Lord Padraig says he'll treat you no differently than the boys, he means it! He doesn't make things easier for you, but he doesn't make them harder, either. He's very fair," Ilane conceded.
"What training do we do, exactly?"
"Well, there is regular staff training, and hand-to-hand combat. Then you move progressively towards sword training, archery and specialist weapon training. Oh, and you also have to train with every weapon on your mount," Ilane listed.
"What do you mean, specialist weapon training?" Bella asked worriedly.
"Oh, at the end of second year, you choose the weapon you favour the most, or the one you are best at using, and take the training you've already done with that weapon and push on further. So that you have your very best skill perfected to an art. Bella, do not worry - I did not know which weapon was my best until Lord Padraig helped me see that I am best with my sword," Ilane reassured Bella.
Bella nodded, determined to do well in her training. She had come here to stay.
* * *
1st September, 475 HE
The next morning, Bella arose early, just as she had done the previous morning, and performed her usual routine. She was starting to feel a nervous flutter in the pit of her stomach, and fought hard to keep it from creeping up into her throat.
Bella was prone to mild anxiety attacks whenever she was about to face anything new. It had always been the way. When she was small and her parents had insisted on her starting lessons with a governess, instead of with her mother, Bella had had such a bad anxiety attack that she had fainted and had been in bed for three days.
Since then, Bella had learnt to control these attacks through slow, calm breathing and meditation (if there was time). She resolved that today would not be a day where the attacks resurfaced.
Breakfast passed in a blur to Bella. She was vaguely aware of Jon, Ilane, Baird and Mark of Hollyrose trying to allay the fears of herself, Alan, Jasson and Arram, but took no notice of anyone else. Baird ended up coaxing his little sister through breakfast, knowing what her anxiety attacks were like.
"Bella, you must eat something. You know you will faint without food - you do not want to end up in bed like last time," Baird hinted subtly, cautiously reminding Bella of her past history with anxiety attacks and fainting and no food. Bella smiled feebly and managed to choke down a little food. Baird sat back after she began eating properly, relieved. He did not want his sister to go through an anxiety attack today, the most important day of her life, as it would seem to her.
* * *
"Your training begins today, soldiers!" Lord Padraig barked at the pages assembled in front of him. "Those of you who are new, you are about to begin a new life of hard work and acquisition of skill. Those of you who have been here for a year, or two, or three, I expect to see some technique happening on the field today! Right, well, will we begin with basic staff fighting."
Lord Padraig paired the pages up around the training field. The first year pages were all paired with their sponsors, which Bella was a little worried about. Jon was so much taller and stronger than she! Nevertheless, they were a pair and had to 'fight' one another with their staffs.
"New pages, observe the basic strikes and blocks. We will be fighting in routine today, meaning that I will call out instructions and you will follow them, be they strike or block. Now, your turn," Lord Padraig commanded.
Bella learned not to be afraid of injuring Jon when she realised that he was not worrying about striking her - he did not want Lord Padraig's wrath for treating a girl differently.
"Bella, just hit at me as hard as possible - pretend I'm somebody you really hate, and just strike!" Jon whispered to Bella as they continued to follow Lord Padraig's instructions. Bella did as he said and noticed that when she concentrated hard on trying to hit Jon when he was unprotected, she was not struck by him as often.
"That will do for today. We will continue this for the next week and then cut this session in half to go on to hand-to-hand combat. Now, go and prepare for lunch," Lord Padraig ordered.
The hot and sweaty pages raced each other back to the palace to climb into warm baths before lunch. Bella found Aleesay waiting for her when she reached her room.
"My lady," she said as she curtsied.
"Aleesay, what are you doing here? Oh, thank you for preparing my bath," Bella remembered her manners. She started stripping and clambered into the bath, massaging her arms and her hands, which had been bruised slightly whenever Jon managed to hit her.
Aleesay picked up Bella's sweaty garments and laid out fresh ones for her to put on after her bath. She talked as she worked. "My lady needs somebody to take care of things like her bath and mending. You may not have realised yet, but in a few days' time, you will have no time for anything!"
"Why?" Bella sat up, alarmed.
"You will be positively run off your feet with work, my lady! And if you are not busy, you will be too tired to do anything," Aleesay explained. Bella groaned at the thought of having no time to herself. She could not imagine being too tired to prepare her own bath or mend her clothes, but she did not argue with Aleesay. If she wanted to wait on Bella, then Bella would not stop her.
* * *
Hey guys! Sorry it's taken me so long to update. I can't guarantee that I'll be updating frequently anymore - I've got so much Uni work to do right now. But I promise I'll try to update once a fortnight at the worst.
VR