Aria fell on her knees. A horrid taste of dirt sweat filled her mouth as she slammed her fist on the ground. While gritting her teeth, she pushed herself off the ground. Her hands wrapped around the hilt of the dulled blade as she lifted her hands closer to her chest. She quickly charged and was sure to move on the balls of her feet.

Just as she got close, William wrapped his hand around hers, dodging her blade. All it took was a couple of hits against her stomach before she was back on her knees. William looked down at her, walking around her as he waited for her to stubbornly rise once more. The moment she was on her feet again, he was shocked to see her throw the blades on the ground.

"It's been a week," she shouted. "We've gotten nowhere. I haven't improved and you keep knocking me on my ass."

"I wouldn't say that," William said as he laughed. "Your language has definitely improved. But, it's going to take more than a week for you to improve. You're used to your old habits, and because of that it's going to take time for you to break them."

Bending down, he picked up the dagger. He spun it around his fingers for a moment before stopping it and handing it over to Aria. He turned around and began to walk towards the weapon rack. He ducked under the fence with Aria following him not too far behind.

The next pair of people hopped inside the circle, and Aria watched as they already began to raise their swords at one another. Clicking her tongue, Aria turned towards the weapons rack to return the daggers. But, she could feel the eyes of the men. Peaking over the rack, she spotted a group of men near the kegs staring and laughing in her general direction.

Aria quickly returned to William, only for him to be interrupted by one of his soldiers. He brushed her off for a moment, leaving her as he went to look at the document he was handed. She watched as he went into one of the nearby buildings, the one that he called the forge.

She leaned against the pool, watched the sweaty men grunt and groan as they swung their swords and axes. The smell of ash and dirt tingled her nose. Her eyes trailed down her own body, noticing the amount of dirt that had become caked in her skin.

A group of armored men walked past her. With turning heads, their eyes scanned her up and down. A few of their lips curved into a smile as they turned to their friends, pointing at her while making crude gestures with their bodies. Her body shivered the moment one of them proceeded to thrust his hips in the air.

Quickly, she made her way towards the door William went through. Just as she was about to reach for it, she collided with something hard. Lifting her head, she was shocked to see that it was William.

"Can we please go?" she asked while brushing off her shirt. William did the same, considering she just transferred a layer of grim onto his dark clothes.

"It's not like you to be in a rush," he stated. She noticed his light eyes wander over her head. She looked down at her hands, twisting and playing with her fingers while he remained silent. "Who did it and what did they do."

"It's nothing." She looked up at him, noticing that he had begun to narrow his eyes. She twisted her pointer finger more the moment their eyes met. "Can we please just go. I told you it was nothing."

William huffed and walked around her. She followed closely by until one of the men from earlier jumped in front of her. She stopped in her tracks, looking up at the man who towered over her, he flashed her a grin. He placed one hand on his hip and the other on her shoulder.

"Hello, I've noticed you these past few days," he said with an obviously fake fluttering voice. His finger slowly slid down her arm, growing closer to her wrist. "I've been wanting to say something for a while but it just never seemed like a good time."

Aria went stiff, her blood rushed to her feet, making her feel cold. He pulled her closer. A lump formed in her throat, blocking her voice. Aldrich flashed before her.

"Please...no," she thought.

Aldrich's hand pushed the strands of her hair behind her ear. His arm slinked around her waist, feeling him subtly tug her closer. She could hear her heart beating louder and louder. Her chest threatening to cave in on itself, while her ears rang with one sound.

"Stop...don't touch me!" He pulled his face closer to her ear. His breath was hot on the tip of her ear, but she could not hear the words he said. "You lie, all you do is lie! Stop it! Don't smile at me like that! Get away!"

Just as her thoughts screamed, a hand wrapped around the back of Aldrich's collar. Aria blinked a few times, the scene becoming blurry and morphing back to the training grounds. The man was once again a knight, rather than Aldrich.

William stood behind him, a dagger pressed near the man's porcelain throat. Other men had slowly begun to surround them, witnessing as the scene unfolded before them. Whispers traveled through the air which would soon spindle into rumors that would travel like wildfire.

"Ser William?" The man cried out while craning his head to look up at William who only pressed the blade closer to his neck.

"Good evening Ser Richard," William said with a mocking tone. He then lowered himself, crouching down to Richard'S height while remaining on the soles of his boots. "I see you're still doing whatever you see fit. Even though we had a meeting about this not long ago. How long ago was it exactly?"

"You're a real piece of shit William, get this blade away from my neck already!" Richard said in a frantic display. William didn't obey, in fact, he brought it closer, enough to cut the whiskers of his beard.

"No, I think it's quite comfortable here." William pulled him to his feet, tugging him closer to Aria. "Now, you're going to apologize to the halfling who might I remind you is under my responsibility and isn't here to be your comfort and pleasure for the evening."

Richard looked up at her while bowing his head. Aria took a step back. She dug her nails into her palm and looked away from the scene before her. One by one, men left them and the crowd grew thin as they spoke.

"My apologies miss," Richard said. "I clearly was out of line and didn't realize I made you uncomfortable."

William drew the blade back and slid it back down into his boot. Pushing the man forward, William stretched his arm in front of him. Aria walked past Richard while William followed closely behind her.

Once the two were out of the grounds, Aria stopped to turn to William. He tilted his chin up and she saw a brief hint of a smile in his eyes. She clicked her tongue while averting her eyes.

"Thank you, but you didn't have to," she said before turning back around.

"I didn't do it because I had to. I did it because you deserve better than that." Aria shrugged him off, pretending not to be phased by his words. She continued to walk towards the direction of Sam's inn until Will spoke out. "You're going in the wrong direction, we're turning here."

Aria tilted her head and looked at the path she was taking. Searching for the same post light, painted door, and a cart full of herbs, which was the cues she used to know if she was going in the right way. But, William was guiding her away from that path.

She followed behind, climbing up the hill as throngs of women with sigils on the chest of their dresses walked by. Many of them were carrying baskets and carts full of an assortment of items. A few women with sparrows on their chest would be their heads to William, and some even greeted him.

Aria stretched her neck, looking at the mountain of houses, larger than any of the buildings in the town square. The tents she was used to were ants compared to the large, complex buildings. A bell rang through her eyes, as the church bells chimed for the day. Everyone stopped where they stood, and turned towards the chapel as they bowed their heads.

Aria followed, placing her knees on the ground even though she wasn't sure what to do. While others lowered their heads with closed eyes, Aria looked at the large statue before the chapel. It was large and jagged with many sharp turns on the round surface. Carved into the dark base, were many forms of symbols. A faint glow of blue shown through the carvings before fading away once more.

The bell tolled again. Everyone rise to their feet and continued with their day. Aria turned around, realizing that a woman had begun to approach him.

She was only slightly shorter than him, with long dark brown hair pinned up near the back and going past her waist. Her face was fair and porcelain-like with deep blue eyes surrounded by dark powder. Long arms wrapped around him, and she planted her deep red lips on his cheek, which made him push her away. With a voice as light as feathers, she laughed. Aria stared at the beautiful dress of sky blue fabric that hugged her body.

Aria flinched the moment something licked her fingers. She jerked her hand away, looking down at a pair of dark eyes. It had fur white like snow and it brought its head to nuzzle against Aria's leg. Pushing its snout through her legs, the dog walked around her body. She felt it's rapid breath against her palm as it sniffed the back of her hand. She felt the rough bumps of its tongue as it proceeded to lick her hand. The tickling sensation caused a laugh to escape Aria.

Bending down, she took the dog's head into her arms and stroked the back of its ears. With a smile, cooed at the dog who began to lick her face. The dog rolled onto his back, it's tail wagging furiously as she scratched its stomach.

"Kore Has really taken a liking to you hasn't she," the woman asked as she stood over Aria. She lifted her head from the dog and found William standing next to the woman as they looked down at her. "How dare you not introduce me to this beautiful lady sooner, William."

Aria was taken aback by her words. She pulled herself off of the ground, and turned herself to face the pair. Now that she was looking at them side by side, she realized that the two looked similar.

"Jacklyn, this is Aria. She's the new recruit I need to train," William introduced. Turning to Aria, he motioned to Jacklyn. "Aria, this is Jacklyn. She's my older sister." Jacklyn took Aria's hands into her own and kissed them.

"It's so nice to meet you. Your face is so much nicer to look at than that viper and you even like Kore," Jacklyn said. She latched her arm around Aria's, bringing her closer to her side. "You must let me steal her from you for a moment."

"That's not exactly," William began until his eyes widen with realization. "Wait, you said viper, is Valorah here?"

"Of course," Jacklyn said while squeezing Aria's arm tighter. "She said you're supposed to be available today and came to visit. When I told her you were at the training grounds, she insisted that Wolfram and I keep her company. Now that you know Valorah is there, is it really a good idea to bring this pretty bird along especially when father is home."

William let out a long sigh before turning to Aria. He held out the scroll to her, which she took. She looked down confused and found William adjusting his tunic. Jacklyn flashed Aria a smile before looking past William's back.

"I'm sorry I have to cut this short," he said. "Tomorrow I'm going to pick you up at the inn, and it's going to be once the sun rises so be sure to get rest tonight. We're going to be finding one of the camps and the scroll is a map of the surrounding area. I'll teach you how to read it tomorrow, but keep it with you tonight. Jacklyn, please don't make her uncomfortable."

William waved them goodbye before turning away to walk towards the big wooden house with servants scattered around the front garden. Aria noticed that the servants had the sigils on their chest which she assumed was the house's symbol. She's figured out that William's house was a sparrow. She found it quite funny.

Jacklyn walked with Aria down the hill. She felt her silk shaw against her arm as well as the poof of her dress around her leg. Aria's eyes were glued to Jacklyn's dress, watching as it swayed with every stride of her leg. Slowly, she trailed up her body until her sight rested on the shine of Jacklyn's dark hair as it swayed from the slight breeze.

"Aria," Jacklyn said, catching her attention. "If my brother's ever wrong you in some way, no matter how small, come see me. I'll be sure they learn the hard way."

"Ok I will," Aria laughed.

"It's such a breath of fresh air to finally have someone talk to me like a human," Jacklyn said. She squeezed at Aria's arm while a laugh left her. "I knew you didn't seem like that type. All of these nobles trying to impress you can be suffocating."

"What do you mean? You're a noble too, aren't you?"

"I am, but sometimes I just want to have a normal conversation with someone." Two men bowed their heads after Jacklyn spoke, which she did in return. Kore ran out in front of them, and occasionally she would turn her head as if to make sure they were still watching. "Plus, you're so beautiful and you don't even have to wear make-up. I envy you."

Aria's face flushed with embarrassment and she averted her eyes. Jacklyn laughed at Aria's reaction. Kore ran up to them, and ran around them as she went between their legs.

"I'm serious Aria," she said. "It's a good thing I convinced William to allow you to come with me. If she saw you with him, she would have made a fuss. Oh, I would have loved to see the expression on her face though."

"Oh Jacklyn," Aria interrupted. "Earlier you called someone viper, who are you talking about?"

"He didn't tell you?" Jacklyn questioned while she cocked her head. Aria watched as her earrings dangled and shined in the light. She blinked a few times, confused by Jacklyn's actions. "I'm talking about Valorah, his fiancé."

Hey guys, this was supposed to be posted last week but my wattpad was having so many technical issues. *grr* Anyway, it's officially here and I hope you guys like this update! Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!