The engagement party ended only after Soral managed to show off every kind of usual entertainment magic he had ever seen. The lights and bubbles were one thing, but Ruena had to make him clean up the flower petals before they left the palace. It would be ridiculous to get on the bad side of her new allies because she left a mess behind after they helped her secure the venue. Needless to say, by the time everything was over, Ruena was done dealing with the social part of being Alodan's heir.

  She managed to hold out until after breakfast the next morning before she cornered Bastion. It was time he helped her with the main reason she had sought him out in the first place.

  "I have taken care of the engagement and given you some time to adjust," Ruena began, "Are you ready to teach me the secret of the Weaponsmaster?"

  Bastion seemed to expect her request. "Yes. I think it is about time as well," he agreed, "This training will be far from easy. If you cannot handle it, then there will no longer be any reason for me to be here."

  It was a warning that if she looked like she was going to give up, he would disappear. Ruena had struggled for years to master every weapon she could think of, even creating new ones of her own. There was no way she could give up now with her goal so close.

  "You won't need to worry about that," she assured, "I even made it through Storm's harsh training regimen. I still follow it today."

  "I was wondering where you learned such an interesting training method," Bastion noted, "It isn't something a noble would learn, but more like the fighting style of someone whose life is always on the line. Is Storm your teacher?"

  "Not exactly. He is a member of the Alodan Warriors, one who has been there since I first revived it," Ruena explained, "He is closer to Soral than he is to me, but he helps me out with his abilities and skills. I wouldn't be able to make my weapons without his crystilium."

  That caught Bastion's attention. "Is this man a Valen?"

  "He..." Ruena was about to answer that he was half Valen when she realized that might not be the case. "He has the silver hair of a Valen, but his eyes are blue," she answered instead.

  “It doesn’t sound like he strongly inherited my traits,” Bastion muttered, “Perhaps his ability to manipulate crystilium comes from another source.”

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  It took Ruena a moment to realize what Bastion meant, and when she did, she was once again reminded of who he really was. She had already known that Alodan was closely related to Cats, and that Cats with golden eyes could create or control crystilium. It would stand to reason that the founder of Alodan standing before her with his own set of golden eyes would also have such a power.

  “Storm mentioned once that he is descended from Cats,” Ruena told him, “I just assumed his ability came from there. I didn’t even think about the fact that he doesn’t have the golden eyes.”

  “I am interested in meeting him,” Bastion confessed, “but that can wait. For now, let us begin the training I promised. You will need to leave your staff behind.”

  The idea of entering into a combat situation, training or otherwise, without her staff made Ruena uncomfortable. Of course she knew that a Weaponsmaster could not become too reliant on a single weapon, but that staff was more than just a weapon to her. If it were to somehow disappear, she was certain she would be heartbroken.”

  “Soral, keep this safe for me,” Ruena called out, knowing that even if Soral was nowhere nearby he would hear her.

  Not even a moment later he appeared before them and carefully took the staff from her hands. “Good luck with your training,” he told her, “I just finished helping set things up.”

  Bastion had asked Soral to help him set up? If it was anyone else, Ruena wouldn’t have thought too much of it, but Soral’s idea of training rooms turned out to be more deadly than the assassin he tamed. He would never let Ruena get hurt, of course, but that didn’t mean she could let her guard down. Just what had Bastion asked him to set up?

  “There is one thing many people confuse when it comes to the true nature of a weaponsmaster,” Bastion began as he led her to the training ground, “They believe it involves fully mastering a certain number of weapons, or mastering one weapon perfectly while being able to manage with the rest. While there is nothing wrong with training in those ways, that is not what a weaponsmaster is.”

  If that was true, then Ruena would have never been able to pass the test on her own. Not without knowing the true nature he spoke of. “If neither of those are correct, what is the secret behind the title?” she demanded.

  The two of them reached the training ground as she spoke. It had gotten a complete makeover, with some sort of arena formed in the section they had played living chess with Xandus before. At first glance the arena lacked anything that could be used for training, whether it be weapons or opponents. However, if she thought about it again with Soral’s track record in mind the random pieces of furniture seemed rather suspicious.

  “Rather than mastering weapons, being the Weaponsmaster means having mastered the idea of weapons themselves,” Bastion answered, motioning for her to enter the arena, “It is the ability and instinct to turn anything into a weapon in a crisis, even your own surroundings. I asked Soral to set up something suitable for beginners so I can see how good your natural instincts are, and where you need to improve.”

  The arena was fine, but it did leave Ruena with one concern. Where did the crisis come in?