It took Ramos a while to get back from what he had been doing, and instead of getting Lance, he went into alorrena's room and smiled. "He's still in the bath?" he asked. Alorrena nodded. A moment later, the water in the bathroom became ice cold and nearly iced over. It then swirled up and formed the words, "Get out, Ramos has fresh clothes and hot food for you. and stop worrying about if i don't like you or if i do. ~Ren"

Slightly angered by Ren's lack of self control Lance gets out of the water, grabs a towel and goes back to his room and waits for Ramos in there. Lance feeling a little irritated at what Ren did thinks about how to get her back for what she did. Lance now wondering where Ramos was, just sits in his room waiting for him as he wasn't about to go to Ren's room after her little display in the bath tub. Even though he knew his food would get cold, it wouldn't be the first time he had cold food for a meal. "Talon, should I go over there or just wait in here." Talon looks at his friend "You should go, you don't want to start off on the wrong foot, and it also looks like she has powers like you do. That may help in talking with your father later on." Lance looks at his friend "Good point, you are very smart at times. I am glad we are so close and that you know me so well."

Lance then wraps the towel around his waist and goes to Ren's room and knocks on the door and waits for her to answer.

The door opens soon after the knock. no one was there, but a small vine. Alorrena and Ramos were on her bed talking about what she had done that day. She paused for a moment, pointed to where Ramos had set the clothes and food, and continued. Meiko seemed to shake his head, and a vine slipped over to where the items were and picked them up. Alorrena wouldn't pay much more attention to Lance that night. Meiko walked over to lance and looked up at him, and again, that feeling of a tunnel was in Lance's mind as meiko spoke. "She's decided not to talk to you the rest of the night. So i'm going to assist you for the night. Ramos will be in and out occasionally, but not for much." the next little bit was directed towards the bird, " Bird, If you want something to eat, just let me know. I know you're a bird of prey, but if you happen to want some seeds or fruits or something of the like, just let me know."

"Ren and Ramos you both have a good evening and thanks for the clothing and food." Lance then looks at Meiko "That's okay I am kind of tired anyways and will be going to bed soon." Talon then looks at Meiko "I won't eat you and I normally just eat a little of what Lance is having or I go out and hunt at night. So you know my name is Talon and it is a pleasure to finally talk with you Meiko. No I don't really need fruit or nuts but thank you for asking. I do hunt at night so it is fine. I really only need to eat like once a week though. Lance leaves and goes back to his room to just eat and rest for a bit. As he knows that tomorrow will be a long one and he is going to need to be rested for it.

Meiko curled up on alorrena's bed, and started to purr as lance and talon left. Alorrena continued to talk to ramos, and soon, ramos left and alorrena got ready for bed. She brushed her hair, changed into evening clothes, and retired to her bed.

The next moning, alorrena was up before dawn as usual. She was up a bit late, as she only had about half an hour before the first signs of light in the sky. She had dressed, bathed, and gone down to the kitchens being as silent as meiko was when he was stalking something. Alorrena made herself some food, ate, and headed out to the training grounds to stretch herself. She knew that it was going to be quite the day, as she had to spend half an hour that day sitting and embroidering with her mother. She would probably have to start the dance lessons as well, and she'd need to exercise her horse that day as well, since she hadn't the previous day. Alorrena went back to her room before going to check on Lance at dawn, 5 minutes after the first sings of light.

"Lance, are you awake?" she called through her water, which had seeped through his door from the bathroom. She didn't allow herself to look, incase he wasn't decent, but she did make the water move over to the bed and to creep across lance's face gently, and to play with his hair, like she would with any endearing friend that she had, only the water was doing it for her, though it would feel like it were a real hand.

Lance woke bright and early, as talon woke him telling him Ren had left. He quickly made a bath as hot as he could, then using his wind power, started to run down the maze like corridor. After last night he wanted to try leaping from wall to wall in the corridor. He did this with ease as the walls were close enough for him to bound off of. After doing this he went back to his room, took a quick bath and went back to his room to wait for Ren to show him were to get some food. He then just waited and heard Ren's voice saying are you awake. "Yes Ren I am awake already, I had to try something this morning. I was wondering where can I get some food?" Lance watched as the water flowed from the bathroom to his room. Knowing full well it was Ren, he just sat there and waited to see what she would do. She then started to play with his hair, and it felt just like a real hand. Lance then wondered what she would do next, but was still hunger. "Ren, you can come in as I am decent. I would also like to know if I can get some food soon." Lance was so hungry after his exercise this morning.

Alorrena seemed to have sighed as the water slipped down to his wrist and gently pulled towards the door. It was a gentle tug and not enough to make him move, just guide him. Alorrena started walking away towards the passage that would take her to the kitchens as quickly as possible. The water tugged a little less the further she got away, and if he waited too long, would stop tugging all together.

Lance quickly followed the water and tried to catch up to Ren, he liked a good game of chase. Now knowing the route she took he followed her water trail with ease. Lance hoped he could catch her before she got to the kitchen and dining area. Seeing Ren up ahead of him he kept following the water but didn't speak a word. Lance then wondered how big this castle really was and if Ren would be willing to show him around a little later on. Not knowing exactly where she was going he tried to keep pace with her.

rena turned about 5 more corners, went down a flight of stairs, and down a long hallway before going into the mess hall. There were a few men awake at the time, eating breakfast before going on guard duty. Rena turned to Lance, "Here you are, just tell Jisu what you would like for breakfast. he'll have the cook make it and he'll serve you within about 5 minutes. The cook is fast, and fairly good. Someday, i'll cook for you, and you can decide who's a better chef." She smiled and curtsied. "When you're finished, meiko will let me know." She pointed to a corner, where meiko had built himself a bed and was laying. she turned and left, wandering off to go bathe and get ready for the rest of her day, which included putting on a formal dress.

Not really knowing what to say with others around "You have a good day, and I will see you later." Lance bows to show his respect to the princess, as they were around others that he didn't know yet. Lance not really knowing what he wanted for breakfast went to Jisu "I don't really know what you offer or what you are really good at cooking. I'll just have whatever dish is your favorite breakfast dish to make. Oh and sorry for my rudeness, I am Lance nice to meet you." Lance was really hungry and couldn't wait to try out Jisu's food. He also couldn't wait to see how the soilders faught here and if he would as good or better then them. He realized he would need to practice to beat Ren, as she could use elemental powers just like him. "Talon did you hunt today, or are you going to wait till later to do that?" "No I didn't hunt this morning, was going to wait and get a lay of the area before I hunted. This castle is very large so I have lots of place to look for food."

Jisu nodded and bowed. "Have a seat and i'll bring a couple dishes right out to you." He turned and went into the kitchen. About five minutes later, Jisu returned from the kitchen carrying about three hot plates of food, a glass of milk, and a small bowl of various fruits. When he reached lance, he introduced the plates as he set them down. "First there's the normal eggs, bacon, sausage, and french toast. Then, there's the sweet smoked salmon omlette, and finally, there's the chef's specialty. I don't know what's in it aside from the typical green onions, potatoes, and cheese... there's some sort of meat in it that he hunts on his own, but no one knows what it is. It's very good though. " the third dish looked like a casserole with potatoes and cheese and bits of various things.

Meanwhile, alorrena had reached her room, bathed quickly, and called a few servant girls into her room to help dress her. The dress that she was to wear was complicated and she needed help putting it on. She had to wear a corset with it, as her waist was a bit wide for the dress. The dress itself was a aquatic color, and if Alorrena sat in the right lighting, it looked like it was made out of water. It had a low back that barely covered the corset, which also had a low back. The straps on the dress criss crossed in the back and revealed that it had two straps on each side.The dress hugged her torso and flared out at the hips. It reached the middle of her thighs. She decided that she did not want to wear shoed inside the castle, and excused the girls who assisted her after thanking them.

Lance looked at all this food and was really impressed "Jisu, you have really out did yourself. I don't even know if I can finish all this, but I will try to." Lance first tries the new dish, it tastes very good and Jisu was right it's kind of different how everything is blended together and you can pick out all the different flavors so nicely. "Jisu, this dish is just amazing. I have never had anything quite like it before. You have really done a great job." Lance then eats his omelet and the rest of his breakfast. Then uses the fruit and milk to wash it all down. "Great meal Jisu, now I understand why the princess loves your cooking. I also can't wait to taste her food if it is anything like yours, I am sure to love it." Feeling really full, but ready to go and train.

Lance then motions over Meiko "Ren told me to call you once I was done, well I am ready to get going. I wonder what I will be doing today, should be fun no matter what it is." Lance waits to see what Meiko is going to tell him. Meanwhile he is looking around at all the people, and wonders if he might be training with any of them or not. They all seem like normal, run of the mill soldiers. By the looks of their armor and weapons, They are probably just military trained to protect the castle.

Meiko yawned and walked over to Lance. "I will be testing your skills today. But if i am to accurately assess what you need to improve upon, you need to go all out, understood?" Meiko rubbed against Lance's leg before jumping to his shoulders. "Once i assess your skills, i will be able to place you with the best group that will help you improve. Alorrena would do it herself, but she has to spend time with her mother, so she is unable to. Knowing her, she'll spend the whole time with the queen arguing about her sewing... The queen is critical of her, but rightfully so. Alorrena does need to be able to sew properly so that she may make and embroider her future husband's clothes for the marriage. It's a sort of a tradition here. it shows off her skill to be ladylike and her ability to care for her husband. Alorrena has the cooking down, so she need not worry about that." meiko allowed a small vine to wrap around Lance's arm lightly and loosely. The vine was a deep blue color with scarlet leaves.

Lance looked at Meiko and smiled "I am glad that the queen insists on it, it is the proper thing for a princess to act ladylike. I am not saying that she has to always, just that it will help her to be a well rounded person. My younger sister is much like Ren is, she didn't like all the ladylike training she had to take. Just that she knew that if she didn't that one day she would find the one she loved and not be able to care for him. In my fathers kingdom, it is tradition that all the royal court learn to keep a home and how to fight. The woman that have the same abilities that Ren and I have are trained to be healers, and the men well that is normal knight training and learning how to use your abilities. Well enough about me where are you taking me to show off my skills. I am itching to train and hope that I can prove myself." Lance looks at Meiko ready to go.

Ren spoke with her mother about Lance and What Ren thought of him as they sewed. ren had to undo what she did several times as the thread got tangled up often.


Meiko purred softly. "I agree. She should learn to be ladylike, but she does have the responsibility of becoming the next queen and bearing her own children. She is an only child, after all. Which means she also has the responsibility to be strong and fight for her kingdom alongside her father and men if necessary. Anyhow.." The vine on Lance's arm/wrist tightened and tugged on lance, pulling him towards an empty training ground. The vine seemed to have died on Lance's arm, but left a faint mark on Lance's skin in the shape of the vine. Meiko Jumped off of Lance's shoulder. "So, what first shall we test? I'll leave it up to you." The cat looked over towards the shadows and a vine slid across the ground and returned with a barrel of weapons.

Lance looked at Meiko and then the barrel of weapons and kind of looked at him oddly "You realize that I have my own weapon don't you Meiko. This sword also works way better with my powers than any of the ones you could possibly give me to use." Lance then pulls out his sword and takes a fighting stance. "I will show you how I fight when I'm not using my powers first to show you my style at a slower pace, then I will show you with using my powers." Looking at the training dumbies that are around Lance looks at the distance from each and then goes for the closest to him. He lunges then slashes across the dumbies chest, then goes for the next. Making sure not to waste a single step, as if he had never stopped training from before it looked so smooth. Then he starts to move a lot faster, as he does and makes a swing step towards one of the dumbies. He missteps and his back is left open, if this was a well trained warrior he could pick up on this and exploit it. After hitting all his targets he comes to Meiko "So how did I do?"

The cat looked up at Lance."You did so so. You have room for improvement. Also, these weapons are not for you, but they are for me. It's much more than just slicing and jabbing. You must also defend against your foes. For example..." Meiko turned and sat as a couple of bodies formed from his vines. They each took up a weapon, and got ready to spar. "The two figures you see are going to represent you and your enemy. The red one is you, and the black one is your enemy." The two figures set into motion, taking turns hitting at each other. After a few minutes, they stopped and bowed to each other. "What i want to see from you as you go through the practice dummies is that you hold a good defense as well as an offense before we spar." The red figure started going through the practice dummies and every so often, it would pause and defend itself against an imaginary strike against it. "After this, i would like to see how well you balance while fighting." Meiko started bathing himself.

Lance looks back down at the cat and just smirks a little, then takes out his shield and gets into a more defensive posture than before. Lance then looks at all the targets and then noticing how they are placed starts to move towards the first activating his powers as he does this putting his shield in front of him and his sword back in it's sheath and dashes at the first target only with the shield aiming at the right side as he nears the target he pushes the shield forward and in a upward motion. Then pulls his sword and slashes at the dumby with is sword. After doing this he then moves his shield arm down and slightly in front of him, keeping his sword in a position to parry his foe if needed. Then he dashes in and uses his shield to knock the dumby off balance and strikes at the chest to finish it off. Realizing he didn't have much left in him, Lance started to get a little more sloppy with how he got rid of them. Slowing down and looking at Meiko "I am sorry, I can't do this for to long or I start to get drained. My body can only stand using my powers for a very short amount of time. I wish I could condition myself to be able to handle that much strain, just haven't found a way yet." Lance goes to sit for awhile. "Otherwise how was I for when I was okay?" Lance looked at Meiko.

Meiko's dolls seemed to shake their heads as meiko said, "You need to be a little faster, you need more energy, and you need to be lighter on your feet. You also need more endurance." The cat started to walk away as the shadow of the vines that were on Lance's arm seemed to reveal themselves as growing new vines that tugged sharply on Lance's arm following after Meiko. The cat disappeared down a dark corridor and emerged in a new training ground. This one had different types of perches that were made for balancing. Meiko waited for lance to get there before saying, "Here, you are to get yourself up to the highest perch that you can without using your billowy magic." The cat made up a nickname for Lance's ability and Climbed up to the wall by jumping up the lowest steps that were closest together. It didn't take him long because he was a cat, but it would take a human a longer amount of time to do the same thing.

Lance looks at the platforms and knows he won't make it that far at first. Lance then starts on the first platform and starts to jump to the second, seeing that the closer platforms are closer together but have very small rounded points on them. Then seeing that the higher ones are a little bigger and easier to land on but much higher to reach, making them a harder time to get to. Lance attempts to get to the closer much faster route and gets his footing on the first but stops and loses all momentium. As he can tell this is going to be a bit more tricky he jumps back down and looks at how it's set up. Seeing that there is a set pattern he notices that he can take a running start for the fast route but there is a chance that he would fall if he even slightly loses his balance. Lance then takes a few steps back and starts to run, hopping to the first step and then using a hopping method gets to the second using his speed to push off using his other foot, but misjudges and starts to fall. He then uses his powers to cushion himself so he doesn't get hurt. "Okay Meiko, this is going to be harder then I though. Let me take a short break and I will try again in a few minutes after I catch my breath." Looking Meiko kind of tired from the training earlier.

Meiko looked at Lance seemingly with a disapproving expression. "That's fine. We need to build up your endurance it seems..." Meiko gets up and stretches before curling back up. "I'll lift a net up to catch you if you start to fall again. Remember you are not allowed to use your ability. Next time you do you'll have a food item taken away from your Lunch." Meiko knew that Lance's lunch would give him some more energy as the cooks knew that lance was training and that he would be needing food with plenty of vitamins that would provide more energy.

While the two of them were training, Alorrena was finishing up her time with her mother. "I'm sorry we're not as close to eachother as you would like, momma, But I simply do not enjoy needlework and sitting around like a common housewife. It's so unproductive. I don't see where needlework contributes to defending and building up our kingdom." Alorrena and her mother discussed that topic whenever they did needlework together. In fact, almost everything that Alorrena and her mother did together brought up the complaint of it not contributing to the kingdom.

Lance looked at Meiko and realized that he needed to get better. He also knew with enough practice he would be able to pass this test. Lance started a few feet away from the low platform and did a short run before jumping to the first spire, using his main foot to get to the second spire. He made it there then to the third spire when he started to fall, he almost used his powers to stop himself. Just that he remembered if he did that he wouldn't get to eat as much, so he just feel to the net. Lance then looked over the layout of the rocks again.

After about five minutes he seen that if he started with his left foot on the first spire he would be able to get a better footing for later spires and also going back a little further to get a running start from the first platform. So he tried to do it this way and noticed it helped a little bit as he made it to the third spire and made it easily to the fourth. As he made it to the fourth though he slipped slightly and fell to the net. Looking at Meiko "Damn this is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I am having a hard time keeping my balance on these spires. If I could use my powers this would so be a snap, as I would just use the platforms."

After Lance says this he noticed something about the platforms and this spires, after the odd spires the platform was only two feet about from them and really close to the spire. If he used the platform as a launching point, that would shorten the course a lot and would make it easier to get to the higher spires. Looking at the layout once more, Lance found a perfect route to take. He went back and started to run, using his left foot to jump from the first spire to the platform and bending a little more this time to get a better launch. He made it to the platform, then using both feet he bent as far as he could and vaulted to the fifth spire. Landing on it with his right foot this time he then easily made it to the sixth spire but lost his balance again and feel to the net.

Seeing that he could do it he got back up and noticed if he made it to the sixth and used his left instead and turned a little he could make it to another platform that would get him to the 8th spire and only two feet from the top. Problem was that the 8th spire was a smaller point and it would be harder to launch from it. Also the next platform from there was a bit harder to get to. So if he wanted a faster route he would have to do it this way. Lance then looked at the 8th spire and noticed something, the tip was slightly warn down. This gave him an idea, he went back to his old spot and started to run making it to the first platform and jumping quickly to the fifth and sixth spires. He then turned slightly to the right and launched to the second platform as he did this he landed with both feet and then jumped as hard as he could at the 8th spire. Lifting his right leg above his left he kicked at the spire, in the hopes that the spire would crack and fall off and it did. As the top of the spire was a little bigger now it was easier to get on. He then landed on it and launched to the top getting one foot on it but losing his footing and falling to the net below.

Lance looked at it and seen that he had almost made it "Damn Meiko, I was so close but lost my footing. I know I can make it this time and how do you like how I did that with the spire?" Looking at Meiko with a smile. Lance didn't wait for him to respond though as he wanted to get this over with, as his body was getting use to this he made it to the second platform now with ease and as he jumped to the 8th spire he had to turn a little to the left he landed on it and then launched to the top making it this time he was standing right next to Meiko. "Finally I made it. Now can I go to lunch Meiko?" Lance looked really tired after this and just wanted to relax for a little bit.

Meiko looked up at lance. "It seems your biggest problem is endurance." Meiko shook his head." Get down without falling or using your power, and then we may go eat." The cat looked at the device that pulled up the net as a vine shot over at it and lowered the net. "Best you don't fall. And if you use your powers, less food and you have to start over. You'll find you can't go back down the way you came up." The cat took the same way lance had up, and even he had a hardish time getting down, or so it seemed.

Lance looked at the platforms and knew it would be hard, but not as hard as getting up. All the platforms were three feet down from each other and almost looked like a stair pattern except a few in the middle. Lance then jumped down to the first platform only being two feet from the top instead of two. This time he would have to take his time and not rush. Lance then looked and seen that he could really just needed to climb down as the platforms were only a foot from each other. This wasn't as hard as it looked and Lance was sure he could do this. He went and climbed down, trying not to fall as he did making it to the next platform. He then slid back and put his hands on the platform to get to the next. This platform set was a little more tricky as they were at the same height and a three foot jump to it. Lance jumped and made it but just barely. He was now about half way down, it was still to high for him to jump as he was about. Kyo then turned around and placed his hands on the platform and lowered hisself down to the next platform.

Lance was now about 12 feet off the ground, being that he was about 6 feet tall and his arms reached far enough he lowered himself and just dropped to the ground. Lance looked at Meiko "That was so easy by the way, I use to climb trees as a child and this is much like climbing down from that tree. Lets go eat now as I am starving." Lance chuckled a little.

Meiko blinked at lance "Good, cause tomorrow, when rena is with us, you'll have to do it with rain. Later we'll test your awareness of things around you." The cat started to walk away, knowing lance would follow. He had a vine set up so that lance would be dragged a couple feet back after face planting and then lifted High above the ground dangling by his ankle.

"So, after lunch we'll do some more tests." Meiko looked over his shoulder to see if lance was following and if lance would fall into the trap.