There had always been something enticing about a training hall bathed in the soft hues of sunrise. The vast emptiness without the loneliness that often accompanied the equally empty nights. The training dummies, lined up together along the edges of the room, looked to be waiting rather than forgotten. The remnants of the past neatly swept away to begin anew.
The training halls in Enbarr had been similar, though rarely without the tenacious young princess and her axe. Memories of those mornings, of watching in quiet awe from the peripheral of the room, alight now as Hubert hears the groan of old hinges and the rumble of the great doors falling back into place behind him. Except she is absent.
Hubert prefers these silent mornings to train skills in secret. To harbor a card in his sleeve should a situation call for it. He keeps to his books when the monastery is at its busiest, to watch over the tops of pages to evaluate classmates less secretive about their repertoires. Always the observer, never the observed.
He draws his hand back as a miasma spell drenches a straw effigy in sticky poison and then turns sharply toward the hall’s entrance, catching the newcomer before the doors can shut again behind her. The energetic wave and her eager approach thwart any hopes he had that she would simply keep to herself on the other side of the room.
The butchering of his name elicits groan and grimace both despite his best efforts to remain impassive, and he crosses his arms.
“If you are looking for Hubert von Vestra, that would be me.” Exasperation slips into his voice and the sigh that follows. “What do you want?”
An annoyed sigh draws her attention back up to the man in question. Her eyes widen, that was it! She opens her mouth to cut in, but her lips close slightly, suddenly feeling the awkward tension in the room. So the guy she was looking for was right in front of her and she completely butchered his name. One that wasn’t even hard to mess up. Great going, Mae.
“Oh...” She slaps a hand to her forehead. “Ugh, sorry about that.”
No sweat, just a little awkward start. Optimistically speaking, she managed to find the Hubert von Vestra. Butchering his name probably earned her a negative point in terms of her proposal, but a little flattery may add that point right back.
“I heard from a friend that your skills in magic were unparalleled. So, I thought I’d come and ask for you to be my mentor. So what’dya say? Oh, and before I forget, this can be a little even exchange. I could...mm...” She trails off and begins to look him up and down.
It was difficult to decipher what this guy might want. Well, beyond her out of his hair, probably. And on top of that, it needed to be something she was capable of, so that meant cooking or homework was completely out of the question, so she shrugs and suggests one of her least favorite chores. “Do... your laundry! Or whatever.”
