(Music to be played from Second half of the chapter)

Laticia dropped her loaf of bread on the table, and her hand fainted down to the table, both of her eyes bulged out, but not a drop of tear. She was not beautiful anymore. She remembered a horrible event from the past, which she never wanted to recall. But even the slightest reference triggered her potential fears. She hallucinated

"Where is mother, father!? Where is she! Why was she not with the seventh army! What had happened to her!?" (Laticia's voice)

An evil voice shouted

"She is DEAD, Lionheart! Your blood is cursed! Soon every living thing with that blood will succumb to the mighty Devastus! A pathetic creature like you does NOT deserve to live! Neither does your father OR YOUR BROTHER-"

"Snap out of it Laticia!" Dyren shook her by her shoulders. She felt like traveling dimensions across back to her realm. She was safe. So are her brother, and her father. 

But her mother.

She appeared pale and weak. Dyren "I am sorry, alright? I told you I will never do this but I am an idiot. I am-"

"No," She held Dyren's hand back. A drop of tear escaped from her left eye, a salted tear fell from her face after scaring it with a fine line of water, then dissolved in her bread she was holding. The entire room went quiet, except for the burning fire of the fireplace.

Aurantia sat there helplessly not knowing how to handle this - she had no idea what was going on. Dan very swiftly rushed for a glass of water harshly moving his chair around and offered it to her. "Here!" 

Worry spread across everyone's face.

She took a sip just for the sake of it and seemed to calm down. She took deep breaths and then looked at Dyren with an apology.

"That's okay," She said glumly. "It- It's nothing. Please do not take this on a serious note. I am alright-t" She stuttered without her realization.

Aurantia after having her thoughts decided to intervene and deal with the situation herself, though being late, "You alright, Lionheart?"

"I am, Sister. Nothing to worry about. Its just a-, a-"

"It's fine, relax, Lionheart,"

An Ominous silence followed for a while with Dyren expressing desperation in his eyes looking at his sister in a state like that. To think that he was the reason for this, added more pressure on him.

"Well, Sister Aurantia," Laticia mumbled, then developed her voice stronger, "My brother wanted to duel Dan Danferos for over a month now. But it was not possible as a consequence of his recent events. Would you permit a duel between Dyren and Dan?" she badly diverted. 

Everyone knew that she was not alright, yet she tried her best not to accept it.

Aurantia noticed the time by the Moonflower. Its ascent showed that it was around three hours past sunset; was not too late. "I can, but I consider Dan to be really skilled in Sword dancing. Only someone who can match his skill level can safely duel him," She said, gazing over Dyren. 

"Dyren is a certified master of Imortian sword dancing," Laticia now had a reason to smile, to mask her despair and trauma. Dan seemed to buy it, but not Aurantia.

"M-Master!?" Dan gaped at Dyren in absolute surprise. "T-That, How-w," he stuttered nonunderstandable phrases. Dyren had to stop him. 

"I guess, I should have told you earlier," He grinned awkwardly, burying his left hand in his hair, tilting his head.

"You are an interesting boy, Dyren," Aurantia said as a matter-of-fact. 

"Meh, 'Interesting'," Laticia rolled her eyes.

"As long as you both do it here in our father's ring, I don't mind at all really," Aurantia ensured, then quickly added, "But make sure not to hurt each other." as a warning.

"Ah yeah!" Dyren rose from his chair after gulping down an entire glass of water. "Finally after a month of searching for you, you stand right in front of me! Today I am getting my win against the best of the fourth wall!" Dyren announced quite frantically. It did not sound natural at all, especially with the weight of what he had just done to her sister. 

He felt tremendous guilt.

Dyren walked towards Dan and waited for him till he finished his bread. The man was a slow eater. Only if Dyren took that long to eat, Laticia would have destroyed his status by her nicknames.

Even while he ate his way, she would comment that he ate like a Southerhelm Monkey. 

Aurantia rose from her chair after Dyren and approached Laticia, who did not even complete her soup, let alone bread. 

She leaned forward to Laticia and hissed, "Would you mind having a talk with me while the boys do their affair?" 

"Yeah, that's alright," She replied instantaneously. Aurantia had earned her place in Laticia's mind already. She really needed a talk with someone, like her especially. 

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Outside the house after waiting for Laticia Lionheart to finish her meal, Dan and Dyren scurried through the hallway after retrieving his father's sword from his father's room and through the gardens to reach the sparring ring. The fences were all crept with vines and surprisingly, some very small beautiful flowers. Even Dyren seemed to show some little interest in it.

Dan started cleaning out the arena,  performing few swings using his father's sword to cut out the vines. "Careful with the flowers, they can be used for something else," Dyren blurted, quite impressed with Dan's sword movements. Some of them matched his own. 

The arena was at the edge of a cliff. One could see two other walls of Sieg Imor from here, this height. 

The mansion was secure away from the cliff. There was a dirt path leading here from there through the gardens.

"Good moves, learned from father?" Dyren took out his sword gently from his sheath and held the blade edge with his other hand. 

"Yes, father thought me many things," He took out the last vine, refurbishing the arena like new. The gusty winds did their job in clearing the dust. "Even the advanced techniques of a master. I could call myself a semi-master in sword dancing, though I am not officially one," Dan picked up the unharmed flowers he had plucked out before pushing away the vines. 

"Most of them are Hair creepers. Your sister can have it," He commented while picking up the last of them.

"Can your sister sustain the flowers?" Dyren sliced through the air with his sword, giving awful gliding noises.

"Her hair is a bit weak. It turns ashen colored when a flower creeps over it," Dan held over a dozen flowers in his hand, after resting his sword over the fence of the arena.

"Oh, Alright then. Should fit my sister though. Would you mind giving these to her for me?" Dyren gave a warming smile. Dan nodded with an "Of course!"

Dan went off in a flash, while Dyren thought "Laticia will be showing off her braids like crazy. Should prepare to deal with that," He chuckled creating an image of her hopping around with those flowers. "Anything which makes her happy," 

"I am back, Dyren," Dan announced jubilantly. 

"You are fast," Dyren seemed to gap his mouth.

"Mansion ain't that far from here. They were just discussing the garden's ambiance, walking right next to the cliff entrance." He picked up his sword and held it high such that it could reflect the moonlight and show off its glory. 

"It is mine honor to duel with that sword," Dyren glanced at the sword, even though it hurt his eyes.

"Anything else you would like to ask? Clearly, we have a lot of things to discuss," Dan lunged his sword at the air, to rival Dyren's noise he made earlier.

He succeeded.

Dyren after giving some thought, said, "Your Sister seems to be someone other than an Artist and a Sorcerer for some reason. She seems like a fighter. I could sense a fighter when I look at one. Does she know sword dancing too?" Dyren practiced his stances while asked Dan.

"How could she? It was forbidden for her to wield a sword back when my father was alive. But she is good at wielding an Imortian staff!" Dan claimed proudly.

"What?" Dyren's disappointment was evident in his tone of voice. "Article seventeen was revoked like four years ago. Didn't your sister seek training after that?" Dyren frowned. 

In fact, wielding a Sword in Immortalia was considered a greater symbol since ancient times. Wielding an Imortian stall was a recent symbol of honor. But both of the symbols were good rivals.

"My sister never wanted to defy father's ideology. He always believed that the ancient laws are right. Therefore he always refrained from teaching my sister the art of a sword. He would have hated the revoking of the law," Dan conveyed strongly. 

"What do you think is right, Dan?" Dyren glared at him, with his face becoming quite stern.

"I honestly don't know," Dan said dreamily.

It was clear that he was conflicted between his father's legacy and his sister's right.

"I hate that my sister was forbidden to learn something just because she was born in a different gender than mine," he let the tip of his sword touch the ground. "But I also believe that the ancient ways mean something," Dan conveyed the last sentence with a lack of determination. "But I know this, someone out of the random was not meant to change it," Dan turned cold with his voice, and clenched the sword's handle, tilting it upwards.

Dyren felt like he was being attacked personally. The entire country would realize that the Prince took the bold step of revoking it. It's still controversial among the conservatives, but Dyren could not fathom why Dan insulted the prince himself. 

Dyren had high respect for the Prince of Immortalia. It was clear from Dan's words that he was against the law itself, but he had some grudge against the Prince too, for whatever reason.

"I also believe that change is inevitable as time passes by," Dyren struck his sword to the ground, and continued. "Old ways must be replaced with the new ones to keep ourselves from expiring out," Dyren stood his ground against Dan, even before the actual duel started. 

He expected sparks flowing between their golden eyes. Not many people had golden eyes. It was rare.

"Well, sound statement, can't argue with that," Dan backed off and broke the tension himself. Dyren withdrew to his normal, pleasant face at once. "I promise I will put more thought into it after we are done with this duel," Dan promised.

"I would appreciate that," Dyren smiled in satisfaction, as he prepared his stance against Dan, following him.

Their glistening swords at the moonlight and their fierce golden eyes met each other at a distance, warning each other of what was to come.

I am pretty satisfied with how I managed the dialogues with simultaneous actions. Tell me if this chapter actually was better in giving details to actions better than the previous ones! :)

Chapter Word Count: 1876