//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 - Foiled // Story: Servant of the Queen // by A bag of plums //------------------------------// Silver Rose sat back in her seat as she listened to more poem analyzing from Ms. Post Script. She had raised her hand once to answer what she thought was an easy question, but her English teacher had told her otherwise. After that, she kept her talking to a minimum, only speaking when she was spoken to. It’s a good thing Sunny Flare isn’t in my homeroom. She wouldn’t let me live this down... “Psst.” Silver looked up, then around. None of the other students seemed to be looking in her direction. “Psst, um, Silver Rose?” The pink and grey haired girl turned around, noticing it was Twilight Sparkle, the lavender-skinned girl sitting behind her. “Yes?” Silver whispered, hoping her teacher didn’t catch her turning around. “Sorry!” she squeaked. “I missed question seventeen’s answer on the previous page. Do you think, um, you could tell me what it was?” “Oh, uh…” Silver flipped her page back to have a look. “It’s sorrow. The author meant his sorrow.” “Okay, thanks!” she said before getting back to her work. Twilight Sparkle was indeed an odd one. Whenever Silver talked to her, it seemed like she was always thinking about something else, and she never did seem to mix around with the other students much. And she smelled different from most of the other students, and while Silver had never quite managed to determine why, she still wanted to know. When the bell rang, Silver got up, deciding to do just that. “Hey, Twilight, can we talk?” Silver tapped her on her shoulder as she kept her things. “Hm? Oh, um… okay, I guess.” “Don’t worry, it’s nothing serious,” Silver watched her. “I just wanted to have a friendly chat. You know? To get to know you more, since I’m new to your school and all.” Twilight looked at Silver as if she’d just grown a second head. “F-Friendly chat? No one at CPA does that. This is a trick, isn’t it?” Silver looked around with her hands behind her back and then shrugged with a smile on her face. “Well, I’m not like the others? I mean, I do enjoy conversations.” “Sorry, you’ve got the wrong girl then,” Twilight muttered. “I’m not much for talking, unless it’s about my research.” “So let’s talk about your research,” Silver said brightly, hearkening back to her lessons with her mother. Always let your target do the talking. Humans love to talk about themselves, and it’s a great way to find out which buttons to push when on the hunt. “Well, I’m not sure how much I can tell you, but I’ve been tracking EM frequencies with my spectrometer…” Twilight finished packing her bag and headed out of the classroom. Silver decided to follow, the smile on her face slowly diminishing the more Twilight rambled on. “Umm… so these frequencies,” Silver kept up the conversation, still curious to know how this girl worked. “You can locate them? Like for real?” Twilight nodded enthusiastically. “That’s right! I’ve been following them for months, and they’re unlike anything ever recorded before! If I manage to locate, or even harness them, my application to Everton will go through for sure!” Aha. Silver could finally sense it. This Everton was receiving quite a bit of positive energy, and she pulled off a string of it to taste. Not bad. “What’s Everton? You sound very interested in it. Is it a school or something?” “It’s an independent study program,” Twilight gushed. “I’ll have an entire room to myself and my projects, without any other students to disturb me! Uh, not that you’re disturbing me… I mean…” “So you like being on your own?” Silver queried. According to both her mother and aunt, humans were, by and large, social creatures. This Twilight was proving a far more intriguing case than she’d first anticipated. “Yeah. It’s a lot quieter and more peaceful when I’m by myself. I get a lot more work done that way.” “Well,” Silver looked at her history classroom. “This is my stop, Twilight Sparkle. It was nice getting to know you more. We should do this again sometime.” She ended with a warm smile. “Uh huh. Maybe.” Silver watched Twilight leave before entering her classroom. She was more antisocial than anyone she’d ever encountered. EM frequencies? Whatever those really were, she hoped Twilight would find them soon. At least that way, she might have more to talk about in the future. And maybe that would be more interesting. After school, Silver Rose hefted her backpack over her shoulder and headed for the fencing club, which was supposedly meeting inside the gym. As she pushed open its metallic double doors, she saw the basketball team playing on one side of the gym, likely practicing their shooting, and the fencing team in the other corner, off the court. Unfortunately, she noticed Sunny Flare near the basketball team, sitting on a bench with her crutches by her side. That girl hadn’t bothered her since her injury, but Silver didn’t like her being around when she was trying something new, especially if she did accidentally make a fool of herself, like she did in cooking class. Just keep it cool and give it your best. You can do it. What’s so hard about fencing, huh? As she approached the fencing team, one of them spotted her, alerting the others to her presence as she got closer. Silver recognized Fleur Dis Lee and Royal Pin on the team, but the others were all new faces to her. They all already had on white fencing suits. “Yes, can we help you?” Fleur asked her, flipping back her pink hair. “Umm, I was thinking of joining the fencing team,” Silver waved as they looked at her. She could smell ambition and pride all over them. “So how do I go about doing that?” A taller boy with dark purple hair pushed forward, holding his fencing helmet under his arm. “I’m Quillion Riposte. I’m the captain here. Now before anything else, may I ask, do you have any prior experience with fencing?” “Um… not fencing in particular, but I know how to wield a sword.” “Hmm…” the captain rubbed his chin. “That’s good enough for me. Mr. Fowl, we’ve got a new one!” The history teacher looked up from a book he was reading and got up, dusting his attire. “Silver Rose, I didn’t take you as a fencing type, though to be fair, I shouldn’t judge your likes and dislikes because I see your mother on screen.” He brought out an attendance clipboard and handed it to Silver. “I’ll need your name here, Silver Rose, and anything else you think we might need to know before we begin. Allergies, next of kin, medical problems, that sort of thing.” “Got it,” Silver began writing on it. “I’ll be done in no time, Mr. Fowl.” She didn’t have any allergies, well, none that she knew of anyway, so that segment was easy enough. For her next of kin, she simply filled out her mother’s particulars. As for medical problems, she left that blank. Then there was a little excerpt at the end, detailing injuries she might receive and that the school won’t be responsible for them. Silver shrugged and signed her name at the bottom before handing it back to her teacher. “All accounted for then,” Mr. Fowl tipped up his glasses. “You may begin, Quillion. Take it easy today, huh?” “Got it, Mr. Fowl,” the captain nodded. “Oh, and Silver Rose, we’ll need to get a suit and mask for you. We have extras in storage. Hopefully one will fit you.” Quillion Riposte brought Silver to one of three doors along the gym’s walls, opening it with a key. Inside, Silver could see barrels of fencing swords, racks of long-white suits, and a box with regulation fencing masks in it. “Let’s see here…” Quillion pulled out one of the suits and looked at it from top to bottom. “No, too small, I think. Hmm…” He got out another one and took a look. “Why don’t you try this one, Silver Rose? I’ll wait outside. Come out when you’re done.” “Okay. Thanks, Quillion,” she smiled as the boy closed the door behind him. Silver tried to find a way to get into the suit, eventually figuring it out after a few tries. It fit her almost perfectly, though it was still a little big, but it was better than nothing. Grabbing one of the helmets and swords from their racks, Silver opened the door and stepped outside. “Not bad,” Quillion stepped away from the wall he had been leaning against. “Looks good. I think that’ll do. Come, let’s begin our practice.” Silver followed the captain back to where the rest of the team was standing. They each had their helmets on and their swords by their side; Silver couldn’t tell who was who anymore by sight. “The rest of you carry on the usual drills. So Silver Rose, first, let’s go over the basics. This is a foil,” Quillion held up his sword and turned it over in his hands. “The sword?” Silver looked it at. It was lighter than her sword back at home, and it was much thinner. It looked kind of flimsy compared to the steel she was used to. “You mean it’s not called a rapier? Don’t you have anything heavier?” “Well, there are the sabers,” Quillion rubbed his chin. “But let’s start with the foil.” Silver shrugged. “Fine with me.” “This is the standard stance,” Quillion demonstrated, sticking his sword and foot forward, keeping his other hand away from himself. Silver easily copied him easily, since she had inherited her mother’s mimic ability. “Right. Now, when we fence, we try to get the opponent with the tip of the foil, so jabbing and thrusts are your only forms of attack.” Quillion showed her a few stabs with the weapon. “The foil has no edge, huh…” Silver muttered, sighting down the length of her blade. “Nope. Like you mentioned, it’s like a rapier. Aaaand… it makes it harder to determine a winner in a match. It adds to the challenge when you can’t wildly swing your sword. Fleur will tell you it’s all about finesse.” “Alright,” Silver swished her sword like the captain had done. “So do I get to try with one of you?” “You can have a go with me,” Quillion smiled and put his helmet on. “I’ll teach you the basics.” Silver Rose did the same and got into stance, remembering it from before. Quillion did the same and touched the end of his foil against hers. “Are you ready?” he asked, his voice slightly muffled from the helmet. Silver adjusted the suit’s chest guard and her helmet’s angle. “I’m ready.” “I’ll take it slower first, just to show you what you can and can’t do, alright?” The fencing team’s captain suddenly shuffled forward, thrusting his sword tip at Silver’s chest. She acted on instinct and swiped her blade to the side, parrying his before whipping it back around and slashing it at Quillion’s neck. “Woah, woah,” the boy lifted a hand to protect his neck. “Remember, Silver Rose, slashing with a foil isn’t legal in a real match. Remember that.” “Sorry…” she blushed and looked away. “Habit. I forgot.” Quillion shook his head and readied his weapon. “Nevermind. Again. Let’s see if you can pick it up.” He thrusted for Silver’s chest again, with Silver bringing her sword forward to parry his, this time, not swinging a slash at him. She parried another, then another, then another, doing her best to study Quillion Riposte’s movements and attacks, at the same time, learning from his actions how to fence. Silver’s eyes darted around, taking in every detail, the way Quillion’s arms bent, the way his feet moved, the way his sword tip tried to hit her. She parried aside his first strike, ducked beneath a stab aimed at her face, and leapt at Quillion, stabbing forward at the same time. “Hold it, hold it,” Quillion raised a palm to stop her. “You can’t jump either.” “I can’t jump? Then how am I supposed to get the advantage?” “Umm…” Quillion rubbed the back of his head. “Other ways, Silver Rose. Find an opening with your opponents and strike when you get it. That’s really all I can say. Openings.” “Openings, huh… Well, if you say so.” “Okay, let’s go again.” Quillion and Silver got back into position, this time with most of the fencing team gathering around to watch. The two of them saluted, then Quillion shuffled forward with a straight stab for Silver’s chest. She leaned out of the way and thrust back with her own foil. Quillion parried it aside and aimed a thrust at her leg. Silver lifted her foot and shuffled back, suddenly dashing forward with a quick stab, almost catching Quillion in the shoulder. Then Quillion raised his foil for another chest thrust, but Silver closed the distance on him, jabbing him in the gut with the pommel of her foil. As Quillion bent over from the strike, Silver dropped down and did a leg sweep, taking her opponent off his feet. Silver’s foil was at his throat before he could recover. “Some fancy moves you have, Silver Rose,” the captain started laughing. “But that’s definitely not fencing.” “My, you have some degree of skill with a blade, Silver Rose,” Royal Pin pulled off his helmet and pushed at his curly white-blue hair. “But you need more… elegance to your strikes.” The other students nodded in agreement. Silver put her sword down and helped Quillion up, her cheeks burning bright again for following her instincts. It seems her mother had taught her too well. “I’m so sorry, Quillion. I don’t know what gets over me every time I try to attack.” “Well, I’d hate to duel you in a serious fight, but here, we have rules to keep each other safe. Tell you what,” Quillion brightened up. “I have the rulebook here. Why don’t you take it with you and study it a bit. Might be more helpful than sparring with me.” He went over to where their backpacks were and scrounged through his before returning with a thick white book. Silver accepted it and held it in her hands. It was slightly heavy, making her wonder just exactly how many rules there were in fencing. “Most of it’s just lists of things you’re not allowed to do,” Quillion assured her. “There are a few stances and attack and defense patterns in there too.” Silver flipped it open halfway and scrolled her eyes down a page. There were some pictures for visual reference, but the rest of it was packed with words, though it was better than nothing. “Thanks for helping me out, even when I, erm, spar a little differently…” Silver kicked a foot in at nothing. “Maybe you should continue your practice. I’ll sit out and have a read.” “If you wish to,” the captain pointed his foil to the team and they all put their helmets back on and readied their swords. “Well, welcome to the fencing team, Silver Rose. You’ll make a fine addition once you learn what fencing is and what isn’t.”