Taowren couldn’t bear it anymore. “With an attitude as ugly as that, Yan, no girl would ever want to look you in the face.” Taowren’s words flew out of his mouth like leaves off an autumn tree; natural as possible, with not a thought about the consequences in his mind. “Much less take a walk with you!”
Yan’s pale eyes snapped around to look back at who had dared insult him. They met with the slender form of the shorter boy emerging from the greenery to stand next to the girl, his dark hair fluttering wildly behind him in the breeze and his hands on his hips as he smiled at the taller young man.
“What did you just say to me?” Incensed, Yan immediately took two steps back towards Taowren and the girl. It was one thing to be rejected by a mere maid, but now this little urchin with leaves in his hair was calling him ugly too?
“You heard me,” Taowren was all smiles, but none were friendly or genuine, and his eyes glinted with active dislike. He and Tomar frequently sparred with one another verbally, and he was not afraid to bring the full force of his cutting words to bear. “You’re out here harassing some poor girl, and you don’t even have the face for it! No woman would want to kiss such an ugly soul. No man either! I bet even your dogs shy away from licking you because they’re afraid of how you taste!”
There was a commotion of rushed footsteps behind him, and Taowren didn’t need to look to know that Tomar was on the approach to try to pull him away from the edge of conflict. In Taowren’s opinion, though, some fights were worth having. He could never stand to see anyone be bullied, much less to tears. The spiteful lordling was not pulling pigtails in a nursery and Taowren was damned if he would stand by while he tried to drag her off to Gods-only-know where.
Yan’s face first turned red, then a deathly white. In three strides he had closed the distance between himself and Taowren, the sobbing girl entirely forgotten as he grabbed the front of Taowren’s robes with a curling fist and shook him hard enough to make his teeth rattle.
“How dare you!”
Befuddled, Taowren didn’t notice Yan’s other hand twisting round and then swinging back, colliding with his face with a resounding slap! The stable girl let out a shriek and ran, dropping the bundle of leather and brass to the ground and fleeing towards the lecture hall.
“Who do you think you are?!” Yan bellowed, glowering down at Taowren while he leaned his angular face in close.
Taowren’s eyes were wide. He had been in a number of brawls before, most often with Tomar in their younger teens, but he had never in his life been backhanded. One of the three rings on Yan’s fingers had split his lip, and he tasted tangy iron as blood filled his mouth. He glared up at the older boy before spitting a bloody wad onto the front of Yan’s robes, causing him to look down in dismay.
“Harassing someone like that? Who do you think you are?” Taowren leaned his head back before sharply jerking it forward to crash into the taller boy’s lowered face. Pain lanced through his forehead as he realised he had mistimed the butt, colliding with both Yan’s nose and chin with a blow that dazed them both. Behind him, he heard the familiar sound of Tomar letting out a groan.
If Taowren had never been slapped before, it was probably safe to say this spoilt snake had never so much as been scolded, let alone head-butted. Yan’s breath came in and out in a hiss, blood pouring from his nose in a thick red stream, and the fist clutching Taowren’s robes released him only to violently strike at his chest and shove the boy back as far as he could. Taowren stumbled backwards and half-fell into the hedge, struggling to regain his balance as he saw Yan step towards him, a hand reaching under his robes.
Boots thundered over stone steps, and a bellowing voice called out, “What on earth is going on?!”
Quick as lightning, Yan’s hand left his robes and he stepped back as Bayfolin Okan arrived on the scene, eyes swiftly taking in the tableau of one boy with a bloody lip and the other holding his hand over his nose, both panting and scowling viciously at the other. “Enough! Whatever it is you are arguing about, this is not how we behave on Okan grounds!”
She strode towards them, and stood next to Tomar, glaring imposingly down at all three of them and folding her massive arms. “I repeat – just what exactly is going on here?”
“He was harassing her!” Taowren blurted, pointing at the pile of horse tack that marked where the stable maid had been standing. “A girl from the stables. He was insulting her and… And her honour!”
Yan pulled himself upright, but it was evident the throbbing pain he felt from Taowren’s fierce headbutt was hindering him, for his eyes were squinted into crescents, threatening to shed tears. He attempted to stand tall, then hurriedly bent forward again to prevent more blood dripping on his robes.
“Is this really the sort of riff-raff the esteemed Okan clan now lets through its doors?!” he snarled thickly through bloodied teeth, flipping his sleeves at Taowren and glaring at Bayfolin as if she had personally carried the youth up the mountain herself. “This boy attacked me! Me, an honoured heir, attacked on Okan grounds by some… Mongrel! My mother will be furious when she sees what he has done to my face! What are you going to do about it?!”
Bayfolin merely stared right back at him, tight-lipped. Taowren held his breath, afraid her icy gaze would round onto him, but it remained wordlessly on Yan as the bloodied youth ranted.
Finally, she spoke. “Is he telling the truth?”
Yan sputtered indignantly. “I… He… Lady Bayfolin, I do not recognise your authority to give credence to such accusations towards me at this time.” Taowren heard the cadence of rote learning in his words. Was he taught to say that? His thought process was interrupted as Yan all but twirled on a heel and stormed away.
“I will make sure my dear cousin Brayandli hears all about this!”
Taowren straightened up, winded, but still unable to resist the urge to shout at his retreating back. “Oh yeah? What’s he going to do? Write a haiku about how rude I am?”
As Yan marched away, Taowren’s burning anger was tinged with a touch of shame at his own jibe at Brayandli. The Okan heir didn’t seem the type to rashly take sides, and Taowren didn’t expect to see him knocking on his door with his eyes full of flames any time soon. Lord Balin was absolutely one-hundred-and-ten times more intimidating than his son, and if there was anyone with real authority here, surely it was him? If Yan wasn’t blowing his arrogant top off at the clan Lord, then his words were obviously all smoke and no fire.
Bayfolin’s strong jaw clenched and unclenched, before she closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, exhaling in a long stream through her nose.
“Young Master Taown,” she said, opening her eyes again, “I understand this is your first time here, but we do not incite violence nor verbal shouting matches.”
Taowren opened his mouth, preparing to defend himself, but a very bug-eyed looking Tomar was shaking his head in silent despair; the lack of a scowl on his cousin’s face gave Taowren pause, and ultimately he bowed his head.
“I… apologise for disrupting your class, Lady Bayfolin.” Taowren bowed deeply and formally, as a few drops of blood fell from his chin to the otherwise pristine stone path under his feet. But Yan did hit me first, so…
Bayfolin raised one hand, palm facing him in sign of peace.
“It is forgiven, but I must ask you, please do not behave so rashly again,” she said, squaring her wide shoulders as she shook her head. “We should not allow fractures between allied clans to form. We are all kin here.”
With no words to say into that, Taowren simply bobbed his head and wiped the blood from his mouth on the back of his hand.
“Our apologies, Lady Bayfolin,” Tomar spoke, bowing himself, “my cousin always means well, but is foolhardy by nature. It did appear from afar that there was a young woman in need of assistance.”
“Be that as it may…” Bayfolin said as she turned towards Tomar, watching him rise from his bow with a polite nod, “Misunderstandings are solved here with words, not fists.”
“We understand.” Tomar’s gaze remained on the floor.
“Sorry again.” Taowren said with a wince.
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