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ABH - CH 15 - Target Practice
🕑 Added 2024-08-15 20:03:25 +0000 UTCChapter Fifteen
Target Practice
Rise of Winter, Week 3, Day 8
“[Bright as a Flickering Flame]”
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“[Bright as a Flickering Flame]”
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“[Bright as a Flickering Flame]”
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“[Bright as a Flickering Flame]”
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[Congratulations! Bright as a Flickering Flame is now Level 3!]
“Ugh!” Freddie shouted, “This is so boring. I want to light something on fire!”
Marasha sighed from across the room, where she was set up in a chair by the door to prevent another incident of Freddie bolting and not coming back. The governess stood, grabbed a stack of blank worksheets from the table Freddie was seated at, and began crumpling them up.
“What are you doing?” Freddie asked skeptically, but before Marasha answered, she pulled open a window —revealing the snow covered plains surrounding the estate.
“How good is your aim?” She asked casually. When Freddie just stared at her confused, Marahsa pointed from the window to the crumpled balls of paper she was holding, “Your aim, Lady Fredericka?”
“It’s okay? It can always be better?” Freddie tried as if there was a correct answer.
Marasha simply nodded and said, “I’ll throw, you’ll fire.”
Getting it all at once, a grin spread across Freddie’s face.
“That, I can do.”
Marasha began slowly, gently throwing a paper ball out the window.
[Fire Conjuration+Fire Manipulation] saw Freddie levitating a ball of flames and chucking it out the window. The flames flew towards the falling paper ball but were too slow and, thus, missed. Abyssmally. The fire, as it left Freddie’s range of control, fizzled out mid-air.
So, Freddie stepped closer to the window for fear that she would light the house on fire if she continued to aim from within the room, and Marasha threw more paper balls for her to light aflame.
It took Freddie several more tries before she lit one of the balls on fire successfully. It exploded in a burst of flame and drifted to the ground, where it fizzled out in the snow. A mad giggle made its way out of her and she got a new determination for improving her aim.
Over the next fifteen minutes, she caught another twelve papers on fire and missed eleven. So her ratio was at least leaning towards success.
“Okay, okay,” Marasha said after running out of papers, “That’s enough of that. You’ve gotten to light something on fire. Let’s get back to getting ready for your Affirmation, my Lady.”
Reluctantly, Freddie sat back down, pulling the book back to her, “Fine. But when I finish, can we do more of that?”
“Only if you finish the entire book and can answer all my questions.” Marasha’s voice was serious and yet still indulging.
“Deal.”
Freddie forced her way through the remainder of the book with speed unheard of for the girl.
-
“All right, the [Seamstress] is here for you, Freddie, darling,” Aster called as she entered Freddie’s room.
The woman’s steps came unevenly as she took in the sight before her: a manically grinning Freddie with a fireball hovering above her hands, a sighing Marasha standing next to an obscenely large pile of crumpled paper balls, and several of said crumpled-up paper balls being flung out the window at once.
And then the flame in Freddie’s hands chased them down.
Aster, to her credit, waited to be acknowledged. However, after another two rounds of paper balls being thrown out the window and set aflame, she cleared her throat and said, “Freddie, sweetheart?”
Quickly pulling her hands from the window, Freddie looked back to her mother, a sheepish smile on her face, “Hey, mom, we were just taking a break.”
Aster held out her arms, gesturing for her daughter to come to her —which Freddie did without hesitation. Her mother wrapped her arms around her, pulling Freddie close.
“It’s time for the fitting for your Affirmation dress. The [Seamstress] has arrived and is getting set up.” Aster pushed a strand of hair out of Freddie’s face and tucked it behind Freddie’s ear.
Freddie scrunched her nose, “Does it have to be a dress?”
Aster blinked, and then a radiant smile filled her face, one of amusement and love, “Of course not, my star. You can wear whatever you desire.”
“Then let’s go,” Freddie said, a matching grin on her face. This one spoke of acceptance, of treasure.
It was so different from elsewhere, where her old mother would push and push and push, trying to force Kalina into dresses and makeup and frills. It wasn’t the frills that were the problem, though, Freddie thought, looking at her current outfit –an exceptionally frilly top and shorts. The problem was the lack of choice.
Aster had Freddie follow her to a sitting room on the first floor, and when they walked in, Freddie was taken aback by what she saw. The [Seamstress] had set up what looked like a makeshift shop in the room, with racks of clothes —blouses, skirts, dresses, and, to Freddie's excitement, pants. Going up to one of the racks, Freddie let her mother handle the greeting, and she flipped through the tops. Each one was of a different style, with different adornments, and they were of all different colors.
“Fredericka,” came Aster’s voice, and Freddie looked over her shoulder at her mother’s pinched expression, “I believe you forgot something.”
Giving a sheepish smile, Freddie headed back to where her mother was standing next to an overly tall woman built like a waif. The woman, who must be the [Seamstress], looked as if she would blow away with a stiff wind and had her light hair pulled back in a tight bun. She had pointed glasses in a brilliant teal color, and her dress was dip-dyed into a pink and white ombre.
Freddie stood straight, holding her hands out to her sides, and slightly tilted her head forward.
“Hello, ma’am, I am Lady Fredericka Nemo. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Her voice was smooth, with no stuttering. Marasha’s practice was perfect, even if Freddie hated using it.
“Oh my! Lady Aster, Lady Fredericka is so darling,” the [Seamstress] said, smiling at Aster. When she spoke next, she was leaning down just enough to be on Freddie’s level. “It’s a pleasure, Lady Fredericka. I am Ilona Pinellas. You can call me Ilona if you please.”
Freddie glanced at her mother, who was beaming, and released an internal sigh. This is going to be rough.
“Thank you, Miss Ilona.” Freddie relaxed her posture a bit before lightly gesturing to the racks of clothes: “I won’t need any dresses or skirts; I want to wear pants to my Affirmation.”
“That is a simple request, my Lady,” Ilona nodded sharply, then snapped her fingers.
Two women in matching uniforms appeared from behind a far rack of clothes and began rolling any rack that held skirts or dresses out of the room. As they did so, Aster and Freddie sat on a couch while Ilona brought out several books containing sketched-out designs, fabric samples, and dye possibilities. Aster and Freddie each were given thick books.
Freddie flipped through the book quickly, getting to the end before the helpers were done moving the racks of dresses out of the room. When she finished, Aster looked at her questioningly. Freddie shook her head, and Ilona brought another book.
That was the one where she found the top she wanted. It was an off-the-shoulder silk top dyed in an orange-to-red ombre with metal accents.
“Can you change the metal?” Freddie asked.
“To anything, my Lady,” Ilona was quick to respond.
Freddie grinned, gesturing at the pale pink star necklace she loved to wear, it matched her hair perfectly, “Can you make it this?”
Ilona looked unsure, glancing at Aster, but when Aster nodded stiffly, Ilona did so as well, “We can.”
“My star, now that you’ve found your top, why don’t you rummage through the pants —but try to pick something warm. It’s winter, after all,” Aster said, switching the books in her and Freddie’s hands.
This one only took Freddie a few pages, “This one.”
It was a pair of fur-lined shorts. The deep brown would be darker than her skin tone, and the fur wouldn’t be visible—instead, the lining would match the top, with both having white lace edging.
“Can the metal adornments here be the same metal at the top?” Freddie asked.
“Of course, my star,” Aster said before Ilona could get in a word.
It was as they were the style of shoe that Freddie’s Perception picked up the whispering.
“Can you believe it?”
“Lystallan Alloy! That’s worth—well, more than my mother’s house!”
Freddie tuned into the unfamiliar voice, letting her mother pick out the shoes and simply nodding lightly.
“They’ll have to put the outfit in a museum after her Affirmation.”
“It’ll deserve it. Do you think Ilona will let us work on it?”
“Absolutely not!”
Oops, Freddie thought, not quite regretting the decision. I didn’t know. The necklace was just a birthday present from the old man when I turned seven.
Aster must have understood the look on her face because she leaned in conspiratorily and said, “You only have one Affirmation, dear, no need to skimp.”
Freddie smiled at her mother, and went back to choosing shoes.
-
Freddie was dressed for bed, standing on her balcony, overlooking the sprawling Nemo estate—as well as the plains that surrounded it. Snow had fallen earlier in the day once again, so the only tracks were the footsteps of the patrolmen. The chill in the air couldn’t get to her, though, not through the flames that floated to her left and right.
Earlier in the day, a welcome notice had arrived, and Freddie was looking over it now.
[Congratulations! Bright as a Flickering Flame is now Level 5! New Features Unlocked.]
[Bright as a Flickering Flame: You are present, good or bad. Your presence produces warmth, like a flame in a cave. This skill allows you to produce a calming aura. So long as you do not instigate a negative reaction, it is harder to be found disconcerting. This skill requires mana to maintain it’s Active ability. This skill allows for a minor Passive ability. Ability to push out your aura increased per level. Duration limited. Cooldown applies.]
It seemed all that had changed was that now she would passively produce a minor aura. What did that mean, practically? Freddie was unsure. Would the Skill passively level? Would it grow on its own slowly, but more quickly if she used the Active Skill —or would it only grow if she used the Active side?
She would have to ask Marasha.
As Freddie dismissed the crimson notice, she looked above her—to the starless sky dominated by the green moon and its rings. Revel. It was a beautiful sight but disorienting all the same. There were no stars in Gargantua, no constellations to track or twinkling to light up the night. Just Revel, lighting up the world in hues of aquamarine.
As Freddie went back inside for the night, she extinguished her flames.
Before she went to sleep, she did her routine. The same routine she’d always done in elsewhere.
It began with stretching, a slow process that left her feeling limber. Then Freddie went through a half-dozen exercises. Burpees, push-ups, squats, sit-ups, lunges, and Russian twists. She did them each to failure, then moved on the the next. She did them all to failure ten times. Enough to coat her in a sheen of sweat and leave her muscles burning. When her arms and legs felt like lead, she did some shadowboxing. Fighting imaginary opponents, kicking and dodging and punching them.
Like that, the days passed. Slowly in the daytime, with etiquette training, reading, and socializing, and quicker overnight, when Freddie was free to exercise her Skills and her body, where she was free to grow without the watchful eyes of her family. Occasionally, when she could escape Marasha, she would hang out with the triplets, play fighting and showing off her not so dangerous Skills.
Tiltham and the Duke found her several times to let her know that they’d be leaving the day after her Affirmation and what the plans were. It was over a week’s travel to the Dungeon, so she shouldn’t expect to be comfortable. They would be pressing on fast.
That was how Freddie found herself in a carriage with both her parents, headed to the city of Hernel, the capital of the Duchy of Nemo, dressed in a platinum coins worth of Lystallan alloy.
