As Dustin's first lesson drew to a close, Nathan made the observation that his arming sword was improperly weighted for the demands of the Raskan style. Its sturdiness and heft made it perfect for Torlenian defense, or even a Halotinian warrior who wished to strike hard, but Raskan technique required a certain nimbleness of blade Dustin's weapon didn't quite possess. Thankfully, Nathan informed Dustin that he owned a blacksmithing shop and would fashion him a new weapon with ideal handling and aesthetics befitting a prince.

So with that promise, Nathan sent Dustin off to find Kyle, who would show him to the shop to get the process started. The two brought Jude along, and after Kyle showed the Monteraynians how to wrap their exposed skin in light cloth to block out the sun, he took them outside.

"I guess I'll have to introduce you two to my father's apprentice." Kyle remarked over his shoulder as the three began making their way down one of the dusty roads cooking in the rays of the almost midday sun.

"An apprentice in blacksmithing, I presume?" Dustin asked.

"Yes. Quite a woman, I must say. I think you'll enjoy hearing her stories."

"Well, I do appreciate a person with stories, so I'm excited."

It didn't take long for Kyle to thread the three through the spaces between stone buildings until they reached a dome with smoke venting out of a large window on one side. The structure's brown color was mottled with black, likely from the fire and smoke corroding the material over time. With the oppressive heat outside already being near unbearable, Dustin could hardly imagine the conditions inside.

Kyle swung the door open, and immediately a blast of hot air washed out and heated the tiny amount of exposed skin in the youths' eye slits. Thankfully, this soon dissipated, leaving Dustin and Jude to take in their new surroundings. The dimly lit chamber they'd stepped into appeared to have been designated for displaying the completed creations of the blacksmithing shop, with various tools and simple weapons spread about the space on pegs mounted to the walls. The few spears and axes present were were far outnumbered by shovels, rakes, and other such tools for farming the little fertile land the oasis could boast of.

They continued on, ducking through a pair of curtains to reach a section of the building where the first object to catch Dustin's eye was the forge against the back wall. Billowing flames danced within, sending smoke and hot air outward constantly as well as lighting the room in a flickering glow. Then an ear-piercing bang of metal on metal drew his attention to the middle of the room, where a feminine figure with her back to the three men pounded a red-hot piece of metal into a flat shape with a hammer.

Kyle sighed and unraveled some of the cloth covering on his head to expose his face, so Dustin and Jude followed suit. They exchanged a glance as Kyle stepped forward to get the young woman's attention.

"Good afternoon, Michelle." Kyle said, casually leaning into her peripheral vision. "You have some guests."

At this, Michelle turned away from her work to face them, and Dustin's eyes widened at the sight of her. The dark-skinned beauty had a captivating appearance, with attractively symmetrical facial features, pensive brown eyes, and black hair curlier than Dustin had ever seen from any of the women in Monterayne. Particularly intriguing was a diagonal scar above the woman's right eye, cutting straight through her eyebrow and ending just where her sweaty forehead properly began.

When her plump lips parted to speak, Dustin realized he hadn't made a move to acknowledge her at all, so he coughed awkwardly and dipped his head with a smile. "Greetings. I'm Prince Dustin Rickland of the Kingdom of Monterayne. And if I heard right, you are Michelle?"

Michelle made a move to bow, but Dustin stopped her with a gesture of his hand. "Yes, your highness, Michelle of the house of Yorran. What brings Monteraynian royalty way out here?"

"Sir Korynn will be teaching me swordsmanship. In fact, that's why we entered here; I will be needing a blade of nimbler qualities."

"He wishes for me to fashion this weapon?"

Dustin shook his head. "He'll do that himself. Nonetheless, he told me of a vault where he keeps a few prototype swords, and I am to peruse those to pick a style."

"Ah, in that case, I take you there." Michelle pounded the workpiece on her table a few more times before wiping her hands on a rag and motioning to Jude. "Who is your pale friend there?"

Dustin chuckled. "Jude Holt. Son of the legendary Sir Thomas Holt of Monterayne."

Jude bowed his head toward Michelle with hands folded behind his back. "A pleasure to meet you."

"I'm pleased to meet you both as well." Michelle said thoughtfully as she headed to a door on the right side of the room, "Both sons of esteemed men, as I understand."

Dustin smiled. "We've heard that all our lives. It is true, of course. Jude's father did much to reform Monterayne, and mine did much to defend our land against one of Innutuk's most prolonged invasions yet."

"Do you ever feel as if your legacy is too much to live up to?"

"Not particularly. With Monterayne reformed and kept safe, I see but one more objective requiring completion."

Michelle glanced back with her scarred eyebrow quirked. "What is that?"

"Monterayne must destroy the Innutukian Empire and shake off the shackles of those she's conquered."

"Now, that is one ambitious goal."

"And I am an ambitious man." Dustin remarked. "My mother always told me that a man who plans nothing also accomplishes nothing."

"Your mother is wise. No wonder she is queen."

"Well, she would have been the rightful queen, wise or not." Dustin replied with a chuckle, "But her wisdom is indisputable nonetheless."

"Oh yes, I often forget that in the east, kingship is hereditary. Where I am from, that isn't so."

"Intriguing...where are you from, if I might ask?"

Michelle grasped the handle of the vault door and stopped there to turn back toward Dustin, Jude, and Kyle. "I am a daughter of Forbache. When my land was free, our kings prove themselves worthy of rule. It isn't blood or riches that makes one great, but strength of character."

"I can certainly see the merits of such a system. Not that the Monteraynian way has done us any harm, but in principle...character seems a better standard to judge by."

Michelle nodded. "Anyone can happen to be born in the royal family, but not everyone has the heart to rule."

Dustin smirked upon realizing Michelle spoke almost exclusively in the present tense, giving anything she said a feeling of immediacy. "Agreed. Well, even though I am the heir to the throne by blood, I intend to be the sort of king who would have earned that honor by Forbachean standards as well."

"Then I commend you, your highness."

With that Michelle finally swung the door open, revealing a cozy chamber beyond where several fine weapons hung from the walls, specimens of true craftsmanship and more than that, works of art. Dustin stepped inside and espied a mighty sword with a blade as tall as a man and as broad as his arm. The weapon struck him as one befitting the palace of a king.

Further down the line, he spotted a saber awkwardly balanced on its pegs due to the strange curve in the blade, almost crescent in shape. Only a crook of crooks would wield such a weapon, Dustin thought. Not off lay an oddity, a sword with two blades, one on either side of its lengthy hilt.

After looking over several of Nathan's fine specimens in silence, Dustin's gaze alit on a slim sword of sublime design. It bore a single silvery blade with graceful curves beautifying its shape, tapering down to a minimal cross guard and a hilt of dark walnut wood. The handle and pommel had been fashioned from one piece of wood, and the pommel had been expertly carved into the shape of a bear's head. All in all, Dustin immediately knew he had found his perfect sword.

He carefully picked up the weapon and shot a grin back at the others before slowly swinging the blade through a series of strikes Nathan had taught him. Its weight in his hand felt perfect—light and maneuverable, but also strong and deadly. It was a weapon suiting a warrior, but yet sophisticated enough also for a prince.

"Such a sword befits you." Jude remarked with a subtle smile, "I can no longer imagine you wielding any other."

"Well, I won't force you to picture it." Dustin said with a laugh, eyes darting over to Michelle. "I seem to have found my prototype."

A smile tugged at the corners of Michelle's mouth. "Very well, then. I write up a list of materials Sir Korynn will require to fashion a replica."

"Can I not simply use this one?"

"Sir Korynn creates his prototypes of lesser metals, your highness. If I know him as I think I do, he wants you to have only the best."

Dustin conceded and handed her the sword. "Very well, then."

After Dustin and the others filed out of the vault, Michelle shut the door. Then after putting the sword down on a table, she grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill pen and set to work.

Dustin watched the quill dance across the parchment and squiggles of ink form a string of words before a question popped into his mind, so he leaned against the table opposite Michelle and parted his lips to ask it.

"Come to think of it, Michelle hardly sounds like a Forbachean name. Surely you have some sort of story to tell of how you acquired it."

Michelle glanced up momentarily from her writing, and an errant drip of ink turned a period in her sentence into a colon. "My father is a knight of Monterayne. Eighteen years or so ago, he passes through Forbache serving as bodyguard for one of your diplomats and falls in love with one of the queen's handmaidens. That handmaiden is my mother."

"I see." Dustin said, slowly nodding, "What's your father's name, then? Perhaps I know him."

"Sir Daniel Vinnfeld."

Dustin's green eyes slowly narrowed in thought. "I confess I've heard of no such knight. Have you, Jude?"

"Not once." Jude said, "Quite possibly, his achievements were simply overshadowed by those fighting on the front lines at that same time."

"That makes sense." Michelle replied, "Men of military valor always receive more recognition than those who run the day-to-day affairs of their people."

Dustin smiled. "History loves its men of ambition and its tales of conquest, after all. Does your father live in Forbache to this day?"

"No, he returns to Monterayne with a promise to come back to my mother when he is able, but never does. Whether by choice or otherwise, I don't rightly know."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Dustin said with a quick glance between Jude and Kyle, "Those were perilous times, so whatever became of him is anyone's guess."

"Yes. To this day, my mother awaits his return."

"Do you?"

"I haven't even been born yet when he departs, so I have no emotional impetus to long for his return. However, some curiosity remains, so I would like to see him." Michelle squinted and quickly scribbled another few words on her parchment.

"Not to pry too much, but what brought you out to the wildlands? It's not exactly a popular destination, after all."

Michelle glanced up sharply and paused a while before replying. "It's for my protection I come here. I fight in the Forbachean insurgent force, attempting to throw off the shackles of the Innutukian Empire."

Dustin's eyes widened, and he smirked. "You are a woman of valor yourself."

"You can say that." Michelle conceded with a shrug. "We're camping in the woods outside an Innutukian garrison when their forces ambush us from behind and start killing. My comrades' screams fill the air; blood pools everywhere and makes red mud. Our commander's head falls at my feet. In a panic, I run as far as I can possibly go, endlessly eastward until I find myself in the wildlands."

"A party of our gatherers found her collapsed in the sand beside a viper cactus." Kyle volunteered, drawing all eyes to himself as he casually sat atop a corner of the table. "Most wretched thing you could imagine; someone comes up thinking they can get water and save their life, and end up paralyzed instead."

"Another accurate name would be the Feliz cactus, I imagine." Jude remarked with a chuckle.

Kyle threw his head back in laughter. "Very fitting. Anyway, when the gatherers brought Michelle back here and we revived her, nobody really understood her speech. Us Pikalanites can be traced back to Forbache, but our language has adapted since then, so the pure language is incomprehensible now. But since my parents and I speak Alcontean, we were able to communicate with her. Just naturally ended out taking her in, and my father took her under his wing with blacksmithing as something to occupy her hands with."

"Your kindness to me is something I'll never be able to pay back." Michelle said pleasantly, "I realize I owe much."

"Well, we don't expect compensation." Kyle replied.

Michelle turned back to Dustin. "All that said, you can see why I share your mission, your highness. I too wish the Innutukian Empire brought to its knees and driven out of all the lands it's unrighteously conquered."

Dustin grinned. "Innutuk doesn't stand a chance, in that case."

**** 

A/N: And alas, we've finally met Michelle! Hope she strikes you as a valuable character to add to our cast, and that she's intrigued you already with just one chapter in the story. 😏

(Y'know what else would be intriguing...your demise if you don't vote and comment 😂)

Now, we also learned some extra bits about Dustin's ideology in this chapter, namely about him seeing Monterayne's next task after having reformed and defended itself, being to attack Innutuk. What're your thoughts on his outlook at this time...justifiable, extreme, somewhere in between? 

Hope you have a great week, and I'll see you in next week's update! I won't say much, but it'll be quite a change of pace. 👀😂