Welfare and Warfare

Chapter 15

Roughly 19 Years Ago

It was the weekend and so Princess Cori was left without both Rhea and any visits from Corinna Warren, the former due to her days off, and the latter for her wanting to spend time with family. In Rhea's stead was Cori's second servant, Jane, who was less than desirable. Sometimes, Cori wondered if Jane was at all a real person by how stiffly she walked and the flatness her voice was when she spoke, if she spoke ever at all that day. Jane seemed to only respond in the minuteness method possible no matter how desperately Cori tried to initiate conversation.

Rhea was so much better, Cori thought. So much better. It was quite obvious that Jane was paid to be her servant as she made no effort at all to engage Cori in any conversation or care about her wants, just her needs, and strictly followed the schedule.

Today on the schedule was something Cori always dreaded: sparring practice, but not any ordinary lesson, one which she shared with her siblings, Osmond and Alfreda.

They all made their way individually to the training area, adorned in armour and masks built for endurance rather than decoration, though that did not stop Alfreda from dressing decadently in flashy colours as she usually did. Whilst they waited for their mother, Queen Consort Henrietta to arrive, the three of them practised with the training dummies, both Osmond and Alfreda seeming to compete with each other who could deal the most damage to it, thought they were sturdy, Osmond triumphed as the victor, managing to cause a minor scratch in the metal. Alfreda protested that there was nothing there just to annoy him, whilst Osmond continued to point and argue that he had truly damaged the training dummy.

When the queen eventually arrived, the three siblings bowed and in turn said their respects of varying degrees of sincerity.

To begin with, the queen sparred with them individually, oldest to youngest. As Alfreda watched Osmond effortlessly keep with his mother, parrying her strikes with his sword and shield, she tuttered and made cutting remarks about how clumsy he was at other pursuits, such as calligraphy and singing compared to her. Her turn came far too soon than she hoped and she just about made it through without too many injuries, mostly a few scrapes and bruises which Osmond lorded over her with.

But then it came to Cori's turn and something twisted inside of Alfreda's stomach. Throughout practise, Alfreda had noticed that Cori seemed distracted and not entirely there. Even with a mask on, all of Cori's emotions would translate through her body language, you did not need to see her face to tell that she was more distant today than others.

"Aw, what's wrong, Little Cori?" cooed Osmond. "Did you have a falling out with that 'friend' of yours?"

Alfreda noticed Cori's body tense up for a moment, then the young princess ignored her older brother and made her way to the centre of the training area, ready to fight.

It was unfair that they had to train together, Alfreda always thought. They were compared with each other in this lesson despite the age difference. Alfreda was always compared to Osmond and how much progress he had made at his age, and Cori was always compared to Alfreda. Which was complete nonsense, Alfreda actually had a life outside of this, more important matters whilst Osmond wasted his days swinging a sword around, ready for a war which would never happen since the country was so peaceful, the king, their father Casimir, so gentle and diplomatic. The only threat they had were assassins and Alfreda thought her magic would be efficient enough to deal with that, scorch her assailants into unrecognisable sacks of meat. But of course, Alfreda would never dare tell her opinions to her mother, no, Alfreda had common sense and would very much like to live.

Cori lasted mere moments compared to her siblings and was quickly defeated, collapsing onto the ground and clutching her arm, hissing through her teeth from the pain.