Lineage

After well over an hour sitting in the study ‘with’ Svea, we said our reluctant goodbyes and allowed each other to continue with their day. I left the study, feeling very downtrodden and upset about my ‘wife’ and daughters being so far away, along with the rest… almost all of my family. With a depressed sigh, I headed around the corner and almost bumped headlong into Annerose, managing to stick my hands out and catch her shoulders before an accident occurred.

“Oh!” she exclaimed in surprise, almost dropping the sword she was carrying in her hand. “Hello there.”

“Sorry. I should’ve been paying more attention,” I said quickly, giving her a gentle smile before looking down at the sword she carried. “I haven’t seen you with one of those yet. Going somewhere special?”

“As a matter of fact, yes I am,” Annerose nodded. “I’m heading out to this place’s training yard to get a few rounds in with a practice dummy… I need to shake the dust off with a sword so I don’t get a bollocking from my teacher when she arrives.”

“Teacher?” I asked.

“Yes, my combat instructor, Miss Claire, is supposed to be arriving in Falketurm in the next few days to check the progress of her ‘prize student’ from the Puma Academy in Mallborough.”

“That’s in the Kingdoms, right?” I asked her.

“Yeah, place where I was raised,” Annerose nodded. “Miss Claire was a mother-figure to everyone that she trained, in the same way that Master Vortega is to the Ox Academy and Luna is to the Panther Academy.”

“Hang on, I thought the old guy in Winter’s Maw was the main teacher at the Academy there?”

“Kind of. He’s the current teacher of the Panther School of training, whereas Luna was the creator of it,” Annerose said, giving me a brief education. “She should’ve taught you that in your first years of training.”

“Yeah… she was probably meant to…” I chuckled, scratching the back of my head. “But I think I might’ve skipped… most of my lessons on that kind of stuff.”

“Why?”

“Blowjobs are more interesting that books,” I shrugged.

“And on that note, I’ll bid you farewell,” Annerose said. “I need to go imprint a dummy’s face with the pommel of my sword before I forget how to do it entirely.”

“Maybe I could be your sparring partner?” I asked. “We’ve both got similar levels of training… kind of.”

“I’ve been trained to wield a sword since I was four,” Annerose said with a cocked eyebrow. “How long have you been training for?”

“Let’s not disclose that information and merely ask you to go easy on me?” I asked, batting my eyelashes at her.

Her response was one of a bemused eyeroll followed by a finger beckoning me to follow her.

“Do you not want me to aim for the face?” she asked as we headed out into the training yard. “It being your only asset and all.”

“That hurts my feelings,” I pouted.

“I’d threaten to hurt your balls in this coming round,” she said, looking over her shoulder with a smirk. “But someone upset by that response clearly doesn’t have any.”

“Yes, you may be able to insult my pride,” I shrugged, locking eyes with her as she continued to stare at me. “But can you deface the spirit of that door?”

“What do-” she began, turning around to walk face first into the wooden door she hadn’t seen coming due to looking at me as she walked forward. She slammed nearly every part of her front into it, making a noise akin to a Wildebeest crossed with a puppy as the pain spread through her body, cupping her face in her hands while I hunched over, trying not to die of laughter.

“Don’t. Say. A. Fucking. Word,” she snarled furiously, attempting to boot the door open only to have it give no ground and force her to stagger back slightly.

“It’s a pull door,” I said, on the borderline of crying from how hard I was laughing, the raven-haired warrior’s face now red as a tomato as she gingerly fumbled with the door handle and pulled it open.

“I swear to the heavens that if it was locked, I would’ve killed myself,” she growled as we headed out into the training yard. We took up positions, using the sparring swords’ custom scabbard lock to keep them from flying off during combat instead of using the blades of the weapons, and faced off against one another.

“Now before I punch your teeth down your throat,” Annerose said, placing one hand behind her back in a fencing stance. “Mind telling me a little bit more about yourself?”

“There’s not really much of a story to tell besides the sex,” I chuckled, gripping my sword with both hands as a visual middle-finger to Annerose’s fencing stance and seeing her begrudgingly do the same. “And you’re not a woman who likes that kind of thing.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, rushing forward with a low-side swing that I managed to catch with my blade, slamming my fist into the side of her head and causing her to spin away.

“From what I understand about you, you seem to avoid all mention of the subject, even jokingly,” I responded, clashing swords briefly before she slithered her way past my guard and kneed me in the stomach and slammed her elbow into the back of my head. The blow knocked me to the ground and she placed the scabbard-covered tip of her blade against my head.

“Point to me,” she said, offering me a hand up as she continued to speak. “And the reason I avoid talking about it is because it’s not a subject that should be spoken of as casually as you do.”

“Why not?” I asked, lunging forward with a stab that was knocked aside. “It’s a natural human function, right? You bring up bathroom problems and illnesses with your friends, so why not sex?”

Annerose was silent for a second, unleashing a flurry of blows with more connecting than I would’ve liked, using the disruption in my guard to sneak close, elbow aside my sword arm and lay her sword flat against my neck.

“Point to me,” she said, stepping back and rolling her shoulders, bouncing from one foot to the other as she turned around to face be again. “It might be natural… but it’s too intimate a subject. Sex is supposed to be something special between people in love.”

I’m not sure what the look I gave her was, possibly one of heavy confusion, but whatever it was, it offended her. She lowered her eyes as a blush came onto her face, lowering her sword slightly as it happened.

“You think I’m an idiot, don’t you?” she asked.

“Not at all. I just think differently from you,” I said, walking over to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. “I grew up in a place where sex for bargains, sex for thank you’s, and sex for the sake of it was common. I was introduced to the concept of it when I was eight because I walked in on a visiting prince and one of the castle’s chambermaids nailing in a bedroom I kept all my toys in.”

“That…” she said, her eyes wide with shock. “That must’ve been horrible.”

“It weirded me out, at first,” I shrugged. “But once it was explained to me what they were doing by my parents, my mother in particular being a woman that was very sex-positive, that uncomfortableness soon faded.”

“What do you mean by ‘sex-positive’?” Annerose asked, giving me an unsure look.

“I mean that my mother was never the kind of woman that believed sex should be some taboo, unspoken act that lasted fifteen minutes in the dark before rolling off your partner and crying,” I explained. “She believed that sex should be a pleasurable experience that both parties enjoy thoroughly, be it in just carnal pleasure or never-ending love. She implored more schools to teach people about sex, conception, and other subjects people couldn’t mention without feeling nervous and awkward or giggle uncontrollably at it.”

“I… I guess,” she said, scratching the back of her head.

“And the introduction to it at such a young age made that awkwardness when it came to discussing it melt away,” I shrugged. “I talk to everyone about sex because everyone I talked to was having it. Politicians, councilmen and women, maids, servants, chimney sweeps. Sex was a thing that was ingrained into my lifestyle because it was both a currency and a pastime for so many people. And that’s why I tend to bring it up too much and make people like you uncomfortable.”

“What d’you mean ‘people like me’?” she demanded, insulted by my manner of addressing her.

“I mean people who still feel awkward discussing their sexual preferences, people who can’t openly flirt with someone because they feel uncomfortable with it, and someone who holds sex as some kind of precious item only to be given to a marriage partner,” I explained. “Because that’s the way you’ve been brought up. I don’t think any lesser of you for it, it’s just not who you are?”

“And what about the other girls you’ve slept with?” Annerose asked, nodding her head and taking up a fighting stance again. “Have they been as casual with it as you have?”

“Some, yes. Others, no,” I answered, lashing forward with a series of slashes to push her back, then using my foot to sweep her legs out and place my sword against her throat when she hit the floor. “Point to me. Some of the girls I’ve slept with were willing to have sex within minutes of meeting me.”

“Right, I don’t believe that for a second,” Annerose said with a roll of her eyes. “There’s no woman out there that’s that shameless.”

“Why do you need to be shameless?” I asked, offering her a hand.

“Because you have to have some self-respect, or some lack of self-respect in this case if you just fuck someone within minutes of meeting them,” she said, taking my hand and hefting herself up. “That’s outright whorish.”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “It might be to some. But to me, I see it as a woman willingly sleeping with someone because she enjoys it. Sex isn’t a treat you give the dog when they do something right, it’s an act that both parties should find pleasure in. And I don’t think a woman should be judged on promiscuity when a man doing the same thing becomes a hero.”

“I… well…” she said, unable to find words as she squared her stance again. “I don’t believe you. I just can’t.”

“How do you think it happened?” I asked her, deflecting several blows and booting her several more feet backwards, winding her slightly.

“Excuse me?” she asked.

“What scenario would you envision for that to happen?” I asked her. “Tell me.”

“Well… I’d imagine you met at a party, shared a few drinks, before retiring to her bedroom for the night,” Annerose said, the redness on her cheeks and the lack of any descriptive language giving away her awkwardness.

“What if I told you that I met the woman after taking out a contract on her due to her status as a bandit leader, cut down her crew, and found her fingering her pussy upstairs, away from all the action?” I asked her. “And upon spotting me, demanded that I fuck her on the spot, and me being the polite gentleman that I am, decided to fuck her brains out and keep her on my payroll because of how nice that big, Neko ass was?”

I analysed her face as I spoke, seeing her flinch and redden at every descriptive, sexualised word used in that sentence and grinning decidedly as I finished, managing to knock her down in another clash and place my sword at her throat.

“That there,” I said, pointing at her red face. “You’re ashamed of sex. You can’t even think about it without blushing, can you?”

“I have had sex before, you know?” she barked in an angry manner.

“Was it the way I described it? An act committed for fun on the whim after a night out with a friend or close one?” I asked. “Or was it the other way: an awkward, in-the-dark mess of unpleasant humping?”

“I don’t need to answer that…” she growled.

“You don’t need to,” I said, offering her a hand again.

Once she was up on her feet, she dusted herself off and took up a fighting stance again, rushing at me several times with renewed anger, now putting me in the hot seat.

“So if it’s so unbelievably easy for you to go out and sleep with any woman you want,” she began, lashing vicious attacks from every direction she could. “Why haven’t I seen you with one here? Why haven’t you slept with Kalla yet? Or any other one of Khalifa’s whores?”

“I haven’t slept with Kalla because I can’t bring myself to do it in good conscience,” I said, taking a vicious hook to the jaw and getting knocked on my ass again.

“Point to me,” Annerose said. “And why?”

“She’s not old enough. Her mind is that of a child, a sexually exploited child, and I can’t find that attractive, no matter how beautiful her body is,” I answered, allowing her to help me to her feet. “And the reason I haven’t gone for one of Khalifa’s whores is because I’m too busy training and working.”

“That’s… that’s not what I was expecting to hear…” she answered, rolling her shoulders several times. “I was expecting something much more…”

“Misogynistic?” I offered. “Possessive? Derogatory? Expecting me to be a womanising asshole that uses and discards women while quills because of my attitude to sex?”

“... A little, yeah…” she nodded. “You… you’re not like that?”

“Not ever,” I said with a shake of my head. “It was a message engrained into my head and a code of life I live by more than I live by the written laws of my kingdom: Respect for women. I don’t use and abuse my position to get women to sleep with me, I don’t threaten or blackmail them, I don’t refer to women in derogatory terms nor do I think less of them because of their willingness to sleep with me. Sex is a consensual act between two equals, with both of their opinions, tastes, and desires taken into account during the act. Sex isn’t a man using his partner like a plaything to get himself off and then tossing the used tissue aside for a new one the next day. That’s just not who I am.”

“That’s good to hear,” Annerose said with a small smile. “I imagined that… that you were like all the other rich assholes that used women. I’m glad to see you’re different… and you’re right, Richter.”

“About what?” I asked her.

“I am ashamed,” she admitted with a nod. “Not just ashamed… scared, too. Sex terrifies me, just thinking about it makes my heart beat in a bad way and discussing anything remotely intimate with someone makes my head go light and makes me feel sick with nervousness.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that, Annerose,” I said with a comforting smile, patting her on the shoulder. “I’m not going to judge you because you’re not the same as me. Don’t worry about it.”

“Good… I was kind of worried earlier in this conversation,” she said, grabbing hold of her arm behind her back. “I thought that if I told you I wasn’t interested in sex that… that you wouldn’t like me anymore.”

“No. Not at all. That’s your choice to make, and I’ll still respect, and like, you even if you’re not interested in sleeping with me,” I said with a warm smile. “In fact, if it makes you feel any better, I’ll stop making so many sexual references around you?”

“No, no. I don’t mind it when you do,” she said, flustering quickly and exclaiming her protest. “I wouldn’t want you to try and change the way you operate just because I work differently.”

“And I’ll say the exact same to you,” I nodded, patting her once more on the shoulder and taking a step back. “Come on then, bud. Let’s see if I can’t slap you around a little more.”

“Heh,” Annerose said, scratching her nose and squaring her stance once more. “Good luck with that, pal.”