Izatha leaped, a kick lashing out to knock down the attacker with one strike. A flash of brown curls made her halt halfway. She strained to stop the motion before it smashed into the defenseless face.

Zina moved too late to have saved herself. Her eyes were wide as stepped back. She had not flinched, yet her shoulders were stiff. A low breath eased from her chest as Izatha returned to her crouch.

“You really shouldn’t sneak up on someone like that, " she remarked. She frowned as they stared at each other. “You don’t know what I will do.”

The lady chuckled away the remainder of her tension. "My mistake, Princess Nora. I saw your training."

Still annoyed, Izatha returned to sitting as she was before. She waved a hand to invite her to do the same. Zina nodded in thanks, sharing a grin with her.

"That was rather impressive speed you had, Princess," she continued. She held out her hand, offering something to her.

In her palm was a bean-like pill. It smelled oddly like medicine, making Izatha's stomach churn. Still, she took it from her.

"What is this?" she inquired.

"It's a special recipe our apothecaries have been perfecting for generations. It restores nutrients used in exercise and helps speed up your muscle's recovery from the work."

The way it was described, it was like a protein drink. The tired girl popped it into her mouth and swallowed it, not at all curious as to what it tasted like. As soon as it hit her stomach, she began to feel better.

That was when Izatha actually noticed her companion. She was dressed in the same grey uniform that every other person in the courtyard wore, the only difference being that it was cut differently to accommodate for her body's shape. What must have been the Paton crest graced her chest.

The Zelda was a fighter, after all. What should keep her from training with the best warriors in the kingdom?

"That look suits you," she commented. "I can only imagine how much better you would look clad in armor in the heat of battle."

"That might have something to do with this being my favorite outfit of all my closest. I do feel more myself here than any other place in the court," she stated.

Her demeanor shifted to one of slight concern when she got no response. "Does that sound strange?"

Izatha chuckled. "No, not at all! I understand your feelings completely. Although I do not have a set outfit that I feel defines me as you do. I see my place in the court just as important to me as any other setting that I am placed in."

Zina sighed from relief. A smile quickly grew on her rosy cheeks.

"Yes, of course. Silly me. I can't imagine who I would be if I wasn't a fighter," she confessed.

Curiosity bubbled up in the princess. Since she had been wondering for awhile about this and that, this seemed the perfect opportunity to solve one of the mysteries swimming in her mind. "Might I ask how you began to fight at all? I highly doubt that anyone encouraged you to it."

"Well, I was Theodore's only cousin his age. I would often play with him and Leonard, and we would play like three boys. When I came of age, I was told that it was unfit for a lady to fight. Of course, I would never accept it. Leonard trained in secret with me, for he needed the practice as well.

"Many years later, my parents tried to marry me off to Scarr cause he won a contest of strength and so forth. Since it was by strength that he won my hand, I bested him in battle and won it back. No one has dared try to claim me since."

Her face shined as she told her tale. She held herself with pride that she had earned through blood, sweat, and tears. Instantly, Izatha cursed herself for triggering music in her mind with her own thoughts. Shaking it out, she regained her focus.

"I feel for the man who you do marry. He would very well have to know his place or be whipped into shape in the most embarrassing of defeats," she mused.

Zina failed to snuff out her glee as the two burst out in a fit of laughter. They must have made such an oddly normal To those nearby, they must have seemed like girls gossiping and giggling, which wasn't too terribly far from the truth.

Once the laughter passed, they resumed their conversation. "We need to make a stand. I wish to one day see this world as a place where a woman is placed on equal standing as her husband, as she should be," Izatha remarked.

The lady's smile fell flat. "Well, we should work on building up true power in you so we might accomplish that dream, Princess."

Her eyes rolled away lazily as she replied, "And why do you not consider that I do not have 'true power', Lady Zina?"

Her companion chuckled lightheartedly. Izatha hoped that she would recede, but she continued anyway.

"No offense, Your Highness, but do you really think that what might have been strength against mere mortals would be strength against Enage? From what I heard of the battle you had with Leonard and Theodoar, you had a slip of luck that kept you alive. Now, you may, by some chance, be better than our trainees, but there is no way that you could best one of our true warriors."

At her words, Izatha became tight with disdain. She wished with ever part of her that she had not heard what she had clearly just heard, but the fact that she had just been undermined remained.

Honestly, she was heartbroken. She had thought that she had already found someone in the court who understood her. More than that, she was considering making Zina her handmaiden, despite knowing her for such short time.

But this!

The wound was deep. The Zelda had just showed that she, if only in part, thought the way that every other Enage thought. The pride was clear as day now. She hadn't risen above it; she had just placed herself on a higher scale.

"I assure you, I am on the same level as any warrior here. It is true that humans cannot fight with the same strength as Enage, but nonetheless, their skill is on par with yours. Their techniques are just as good as anything your kind have cooked up in even the past hundred years," she sneered.

People around seemed to sense the tension rising between them. They stopped what they were doing the watch and listen to the ladies.

By now, the Skree-blooded could tell that she had insulted her princess. She jumped down from her seat next to her, walking in a wide circle until she came to face her. Putting her race on the same level as 'mere mortals' seemed to have done the trick of making her blood boil.

"You have looked down on my people, and your own kind! I hope, for your sake as well as the human's, that you can back up your claims."

The words came out as a growl of resentment. With as much volume as she could muster, Zina called out, "I challenge Princess Nora to a duel, for the honor of Earthern warriors!"

The crowd, which had quickly formed to watch their conversation, gasped at the challenge. (Oh how typical.) Whispers were passed around, (even more cliche) most likely to discuss how a challenge of this nature had never arisen before.

If Zina won, their godliness would be reinforced. Their dominance would reign stronger than before.

But, on the off-chance that the new princess won, they would be humiliated! If Zina was truly one of their greatest warriors as she seemed to be, her lose in battle would show just how weak the kingdom really was. It would prove that if humans had the physical strength of Enage, they would be equal.

That was not truly the case, but because of Zina-Skree Paton placing her stakes on that, it would still hold presidence over the army.

Of course, the thought would never enter their minds. Even now, she heard them whisper of how she would be disgraced just a day after she returned home. It seemed that they had hopes of her living up to Zina's legacy after her fight with the princes'.

"What is your answer?" Zina called out from the noise.

Izatha smirked wickedly at her, unphased by the possibilities than ran through her head.

"I accept."