Ian and Julia walked in silence, leaving Julia to wonder if all of her family were this solemn in private. The only thing that was making any noise was Ian’s cane, which was never talked about in the original novel. Most of Julia’s family were lambs to be slaughtered for character motivation. Which Julia saw it as one of the poorly written aspects of the novel.

As per usual Julia was lost in thought and then being stopped in her tracks by Ian who was unlocking his office. His office was much lighter than Ingrids. Instead of dark wood, his office opts for a white and blue look, almost like it was meant to contrast his wife. 

Ian sits down at his desk and begins to speak, “Julia, what is going on with you today?” He asks

“What do you mean father?” Julia answers with a smile on her face.

“For one this morning, you were spacing out and you were calmer than normal. Then you actually went to see your mother and now I see you dueling with Tobias, which is more confusing but we will deal with that later. Don’t think I wouldn’t catch on to you.”

Julia grabs the chair from the corner and drags it over to the desk and seats herself down, now staring her father down. “I had a change of heart, or I woke up so to speak. Mother is slowly dying and I know if I left things unchanged I would regret it, especially after I went into her office and found the letters she sent you while you on a mission, you know the one where you were sent off four months after you were married.”

Ian’s stern father facade broke after Julia mentioned those letters like she struck a nerve. Then he looks down and breaks into laughter. Which took Julia by surprise.

“Haha! You are just like your mother, always snooping around where she shouldn’t have,” Ian smiles at Julia.

“So you aren’t mad at me for the Tobi thing right?” Julia asks more confused at what is happening now.

“On the contrary no I am not, but I wondering how you learned swordsmanship.”

Julia scrambles to think of a logical excuse, more or less giving away that she hadn’t thought this far into her plans, “I uh found time to watch Tobi when he was taking his lessons and just copied him?” She eventually responds but is not very confident in her answer.

Her father just looks at her and sighs, “Sadly that’s how your mother learned too, how about I get you some real lessons before you poke someone's eye out okay?” 

Ingrid knew swordsmanship too?

Julia was happy to hear that she could take real lessons on swords but now to hear that her own mother knew it too, was a little shock for her. But then again the author left many details out about Julia’s family in the main novel. For this to be a real detail the author must have put it down in a note somewhere.

“I thank you father but who will be my teacher? Will I be taught alongside Tobias with his teacher?” Julis asks.

“Of course not, you are too advanced for them at the moment. Besides I need to work out every once in and while so I will train you,” Ian got up and rolled his shoulder as he went to grab his cane. “But seeing as our schedules aren’t exactly in line with each other the training times will differ.”

“Yes, but what about uh that,” Julia gestured to his cane.

“Oh, this? It only acts up every once and a while, so not an issue since it is an old wound.”

Julia looked at her smiling father and then again at the cane, “Well if you know your limits and what and what not to do, I am just fine with this arrangement.”

Ian smiled at her and began to talk about many sword-related things to his daughter. Once all of them regrouped at lunch, Tobias joined in on the conversation. All three of them had a lovely time just talking and making jokes, and just being a family. For once. This continued until the end of dinner when all three of them decided to end their day and regroup tomorrow.