Chapter 3: First Impressions

The lounge, thankfully, was empty. Already exhausted by the day’s events, Astra threw herself onto the nearest couch and heaved a sigh.

Honestly, how insensitive could Aleron be? After meeting his fiancée, whom he hadn’t seen for two whole years, he tried to arrange a meeting between the three of them? She only wondered how patient Syrrah had to be to put up with the knight’s dense personality.

Speaking of dense.

She inwardly made a note to remember to smack the knight upside the head later for somehow managing to forget to tell her something so important. Had Ladron known? The thief had never said a word about Syrrah in all the time that they’d been together – she suspected that he wasn’t aware, either.

Her chest felt tight, a lump in her stomach that was either from anger or unease. Being in an unfamiliar place was making her tense about everything.

Noise from just outside made her head snap up; two young ladies were entering the lounge. Astra sat up, awkwardly perching on the edge of the couch, unprepared to deal with strangers.

“Oh?” the first to enter noticed her the moment they walked in; a dark-skinned young woman wearing a dramatic red gown. “I haven’t seen you here before. Are you a guest?”

Astra nodded, getting up to half curtsey; in her tunic, anything deeper would look ridiculous with her lack of skirts. “I am. I have just arrived at the palace today.”

The second young woman had flawless creamy skin and a mass of chestnut hair. Fluttering a peacock feathered fan before her face, she regarded the young woman. “Are you a noble, miss?” she queried, eyeing Astra’s clothes - the tunic, the leggings, and simple boots.

The question alone put Astra on guard as she shook her head. “No, I am merely a visitor, here as a guest of the Captain of the Guard.”

At that, their faces changed. “Sir Aleron?” the first woman asked, and Astra nodded in response. “Ah, I heard he had returned recently. How lucky you are,” she crooned in a way that made Astra feel particularly unlucky. “A commoner, then. How… quaint.”

Quaint.

What an utterly cliché word to use as a passive aggressive insult. Astra bit her tongue and told herself to stop thinking rude things.

The second noblewoman suddenly reached forwards to finger the hem of Astra’s tunic, and Astra forcefully suppressed the urge to smack her hand away. “I recognize this fabric. Isn’t it all the rage in the capital at the moment? How nice. Did Sir Aleron buy it for you?”

As a matter of fact, he had, but somehow Astra felt she shouldn’t mention that. Resisting the urge to pull her tunic from the other woman’s grasp, she just smiled cordially and said, “I think this colour would go wonderfully with your eyes, lady…?” she trailed off, feigning confusion.

“Maria,” the brunette said, seeing her predicament as she released Astra’s clothing, to the noirette’s great relief. “Of House Thorne.”

Astra was noticing that the nobility here seemed to really care about naming their houses. Slytherin, she thought with a private laugh. “Lady Maria,” she picked up her thread of conversation like nothing had happened, turning to the other girl. “And you, milady?”

“Kara,” the dark-skinned woman replied archly, “Of House Ghanos. And you, miss? Your name?”

Trying not to cringe at how closely they were crowding her, Astra managed to keep from stepping back. “My name is Astraea. It’s lovely to meet you.” A lie, but there was no point in saying otherwise.

“Charmed,” Kara drawled from behind a red fan. Astra noted idly that she was holding it backwards but did not comment. “And where are you from, Miss Astraea?”

She didn’t really want to answer, but she also didn’t know the geography well enough to lie. “An island city far to the southeast, Lady Kara.” Sometimes the best lies were wreathed in truth, she thought wryly, praying for someone to save her.

Kara’s brows furrowed. “An island? I have never heard of any islands that far out.”

“It is very far away, Lady.” Astra hoped she wouldn’t inquire further.

She was saved by a knock on the lounge door, making all three women glance over as a young man with an unruly mop of red hair peeked inside, his features attractive enough for Kara and Maria to begin to titter and bat their eyelashes as they hid behind their fans. “I beg your pardon,” he said, hesitating when he realized the lounge was occupied. “Is Lady Astraea here?”

Thank heavens, she was saved.

Astra was quick to smile at him and turned sideways to slip between Kara and Maria’s generous skirts, careful not to tread on them. “That’d be me. I’m assuming Aleron sent you?” When the man nodded, her smile widened without restraint, she was so happy and relieved to see him. “I’m Astraea. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. And, er, I’m not a lady. You can just call me Astra.”

“I am Liam,” the man replied cordially. “The Captain asked me to escort you to your lodgings. If you will come with me…”

“Of course. Excuse me,” Astra added over her shoulder to the two ladies, peeking over the tops of their feathered fans with too much interest for her liking.

As she followed Liam into the hallway, she heard giggles from behind her as Maria commented in aside to Kara just loudly enough to be overheard, “I didn’t know the Captain was so skilled in choosing women’s clothing.”

“The guest of the Captain of the Guard,” Kara replied in a stage whisper, and the two noblewomen dissolved into mocking laughter.

Once they were in the hallway, Liam cut her a look as she loosed a small sigh. “Miss… don’t let their words upset you,” he offered hesitantly, as if worried that she was hurt by the noblewomen’s comments.

But Astra’s response surprised him as she blew out an annoyed breath and tugged at her tunic. “This is ridiculous,” Astra complained with no repentance. “I told Aleron not to buy me anything new. I said a thousand times he should have used the money to get himself a new sheath. His old one’s falling apart.”

She'd been restraining her tongue all day, and she was tired of it now.

When Liam did not immediately respond, she glanced over to find him staring at her with an odd expression. She gave him a halfhearted smile. “Sorry, was that too much? I can be rather blunt. Thank you for escorting me. You saved me from their nonsense.”

“Not at all,” he said gallantly, managing to hide his smile at her frank attitude. “The Captain spoke highly of you.” He kept stealing side glances at her; she could tell he was curious. “If I may be so bold…” when Astra gave him an encouraging smile, he chanced it. “From the way he spoke of you, the Captain seemed to think you were capable of causing quite the stir, and I can’t help but notice that you’re armed…”

Astra was impressed. The two ladies in the lounge had missed the almost-invisible dagger sheath tied to her leg, but apparently Liam had not. Aleron had not allowed her to bring her sword to meet the king and prince, but had allowed her the dagger, knowing of her paranoia when it came to being unarmed. “I suppose I have a bad habit of getting into more mischief than the average female,” she concluded, seeing a smile start.

“If you are not a noble, then are you perhaps an educated fighter, Miss Astraea?” Liam finished his question.

“I don’t know about ‘educated’,” she replied, keeping pace with him as they strolled past a long line of tapestries that she admired as they went by. “I dabble in knifework and archery.” Both hobbies that she’d had since her time before she’d met Aleron, as both were still practiced on Earth, though for recreational uses rather than methods of survival. She was glad she had learned, though – after being literally dropped into Onaria, her skills had served her well.

Liam’s expression lit up, and he began to launch more questions at her: where she had learned, who she had learned from, how long she had trained. His preference of ranged weapon was the crossbow; Astra informed him that she’d actually never used one, and he offered to show her how. Even if he was only being polite, she was happy to have a conversation of interest. As he led her through the palace, pointing out the various rooms and the servants wing which was located near the soldier’s quarters, they eventually arrived in the large courtyard meant for training, where Aleron spent the most time overseeing the Castle Guard.

Astra looked around, impressed. The training grounds consisted of a large, walled courtyard, which was lined with racks and racks of various weapons and training dummies. She tried to keep her excitement from showing on her face when she saw a wall display with over half a dozen kinds of bows hanging from hooks. Now this was more like a fantasy world.

“Quite the facility you have here,” she commented over the din of soldiers hard at work.

Liam grinned at her; she could tell he was proud of what they had. “The Captain works us hard,” he explained, “And when he was gone he warned us that he’d have all our heads if we slacked off. Jeorge over there is vice-captain,” he added, gesturing to a figure in the distance - a man with long blonde hair tied back with a simple leather cord, wielding a spear. “And he took the words to heart. We’ve been making sure we don’t lose our edge while the Captain’s been away.”

Astra smiled at him, feeling a little silly for being proud. “You all really do admire him, don’t you?”

Liam nodded firmly. “The Captain’s a loyal man and a great leader. We’d all follow him to our graves if he asked it,” he said with determination, seeing the grateful smile that Astra gave him.

“Liam!” the shout came from the other side of the grounds; halting, both Liam and Astra turned towards the sound.

The man Liam had identified as the vice-captain, Jeorge, was jogging towards them, spear in hand. “Where on earth have you been?” he demanded as he drew closer. “You’re late for training - ” Spotting Astra, he halted where he stood, his brows furrowed. “Who’s this?”

“The Captain’s guest,” Liam replied, wiggling his eyebrows in a joking way that made Astra hide a smile behind her hand. “Lady Astraea Luan.”

“I’m not a lady,” Astra chided him, but Liam just grinned beatifically at her as she sighed and turned to extend a hand to Jeorge - palm sideways, she thought with just a hint of bitterness, instead of the show of power Syrrah had tried on her. “Hello. I’m Astraea.” She was aware that farther into the courtyard, more and more of the men were noticing her presence, halting their training to watch.

Jeorge took her hand, but turned it palm down himself, bending to brush his lips over the back of it. Astra’s face heated a bit; she wasn’t used to being treated this way. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, miss,” he said as he straightened back up. “What brings you to our training grounds?” his tone was just a little suggestive; he didn’t think this was the place for a young woman to be spending her time.

Not quite daring to glance at Liam, Astra replied, “I was curious to see where Aleron spends his days. I see you’re all hard at work - he would be proud.” A brief salute from both Jeorge and Liam as they brought a fist to their chests in gratitude. Glancing around her, she went on, “and apparently I will be staying in the barracks for a few days, so Aleron sent me on ahead.”

There was a moment or two where no one said anything.

“You’ll be staying here? In the barracks?” Jeorge repeated dumbly for a second or two. “Is that… appropriate?”

“You have a separate building for the women, do you not?” Astra asked, recalling what Liam had told her about the layout of this wing of the palace.

“Well, yes but…” Jeorge glanced down at her.

In his eyes, he could not help but see a relatively small young woman of average build. Though her appearance was certainly exotic, she did not have the look or feel of a soldier or a warrior. And though there were certainly a few women amongst their ranks, who shared a dorm building separate from the men, he could not help but picture Astra beside them and realize that she would likely not fit in with them at all.

“I have the feeling you’re thinking of something rather rude, Sir Jeorge.”

The spearman snapped back to reality as he saw the way that Astra was staring at him with one brow raised. “No, it’s not like that at all,” he rushed to say, before seeing the way one side of her mouth was twisting upwards, and stopped. “… Miss, are you making fun of me?”

“I most certainly am,” she replied without a hint of shame or remorse.

Liam started to cackle softly at the look on Jeorge’s face. “You should have known better than to judge, Jeorge. I told you,” he said delightedly. “She’s the Captain’s guest.”

Jeroge raised a brow, looking her over with appraising eyes. “That was my mistake, I suppose,” he admitted. “Any guest of the Captain is likely to hold as many surprises as he does.”

“That’s high praise,” Astra replied with a hint of amusement, already taking in the action happening around her with bright, fiery eyes. “If I’m not bothering you, might I use a corner of your training grounds somewhere? It would do me good to warm up a bit.” Looking at her, Jeorge nodded slowly in approval.

“Well, shame on me,” he muttered, a smile curling his lips. “Of course you may, miss. Liam, I don’t suppose you’d mind keeping an eye on her?”

Liam nodded. “She can train with my group until the Captain arrives.”

“Thank you,” Astra told them both as Jeorge waved the watching guards over and the introductions began. Names went by like a whirlwind, and her hand was shook, clasped, or kissed so many times it felt abused when she was finally through.

She was terrible at remembering names. At this rate, she'd have to make a chart or something just to keep everyone and their status straight in her head.

"Over here." Liam showed her to a quiet corner where three or four other men were all already hard at work. He pointed to a nearby weapons rack, asking, "What would you like?"

A slow smile spread across Astra's face.

"What do you have?"