[Mekatra]

There was a soft whistle from the side of the courtyard. Lady Leandrea cleared her throat and waved at him in the dying twilight. "I slipped away because I was curious about what you looked like with your cat additions." She sat on one of the benches that lined the courtyard. "Continue on, I'm not here to distract you, I just was curious is all."

[Crystalkitsune85]

His ears perked when he heard the whistle. He turned his head and saw Leandra there. He blinked and went pink. "Oh um...evening." he said and bit his lip. When she said to continue he nodded still having her watch be a bit awkward. He went back to the dummy, trying to concentrate on the maneuvers that Joane had shown him in the last two weeks.

When he did a long routine he stepped back and wiped his forehead free of perspiration. He looked back over to Leandra to see what she thought.

[Mekatra]

The man from Trevor's first night in the baths peeked his head into the courtyard and raised a brow. "Oh hello Lady Leandrea, and Lord Trevor." He nodded his head at the two of them.

Leandrea was blushing when Trevor spoke to her. "Oh goodness, you're amazing. I bet you're very fast in a fight against a real person. It looks so dangerous. Do you have claws too, or just a tail and ears?"

Ermi chuckled at her gushing. "Looks like you really know how to impress the ladies. Looks like Joane's training is paying off."

[Crystalkitsune85]

Trevor blushed at her enthusiasm. "My fingernails get sharp, but they're not pointed like a cat," he said. "I can use them to grip onto certain things." he nodded. When Ermi came around and he scratched the back of his head when he said he was impressing Leandra. "Oh uh..heh. I"m not doing anything special," he said sheepishly. He definitely wasn't used to praising or the kind of attention that Leandra was paying to him.

[Mekatra]

A bell tolled in the distance and Leandra hopped up. "Oh no, her majesty is going to murder me. I told her I was going to ask the cook for a snack." She flushed and curtsied to the two of them, then disappeared out of the courtyard.

Ermi raised his brows at Trevor. "Well, I guess you've already found an admirer or two then? Here I was worried you were interested in Joane."

[Crystalkitsune85]

He watched as Leandra ran out of the courtyard and back into the castle. He turned to Ermi. "Interested in Joane? No no," he said defensively. "She's just my teacher. I have no interest in her as anything else. I don't know the first thing about courting a woman anyway so she wouldn't be interested in me!" he said laughing nervously. "I never had anyone tell me how to court women if I was interested in one."

[Mekatra]

Ermi might have looked a little relieved and he nodded. "You mean you never flirted with girls before coming here? I mean, of course it's a little different than courting a noblewoman of course, but the ladies like to be flirted with regardless of their class." Ermi stretched and pointed to the wrestling circle. "Care to go a couple rounds? So is it Leandrea that you have your eyes on? She's clearly already got eyes for you."

[Crystalkitsune85]

He blinked when Ermi suggested the spar. "Oh um...sure. I have a feeling you'll snap me like a twig, but if I don't train at all Joane will be mad." he said.He got some more padding on and changed training swords. "Leandra is very nice. As far as ladies go, she's the only one I've met besides Her Highness and Joane. She's pretty and sweet, and smells nice." he said getting lost in his own thoughts.

[Mekatra]

Ermi swatted him on the shoulder with the flat of his training sword. "Pay attention. You'll meet others." He circled around him and kept low, eyes on the cat's weapon. "Don't drop your guard."

[Crystalkitsune85]

He yelped slightly and shook his head free of thoughts of Leandra. "Maybe so." he said. "But I can see me liking her..." he admitted. He then started sparring with Ermi, using all the moves that he knew that Joane taught him in the last two weeks. Ermi was definitely harder to fight, but he wasn't doing poorly. He was quick on his feet so he could go through maneuvers pretty fast and fluidly.

[Mekatra]

"Joane's going easy on you, I believe." Ermi chuckled as he disarmed Trevor and put him on the ground. He put the dulled point of the training sword on the cat boy's throat and shook his head. "Tsk Tsk, you're dead. Let's try again."

Ermi ran him through the drills until he could effectively evade most of the common maneuvers. "You need to learn to analyze your opponent."

[Crystalkitsune85]

After a couple rounds of fighting with Ermi, he was panting and was perspiring. He leaned against one of the stone supports in the courtyard, resting. "I think she was easing me into it, but damn." He said. He righted himself after a moment and walked over to put his training sword away. "Now I need a bath. I don't think I ever sweated so much. Joane should have you with us during my training sometimes. It'd be helpful for teaching I think."

[Mekatra]

Ermi threw his head back in a laugh as Trevor stopped to rest, and then called the session entirely. "She's just not training you as intensively as I would. You and I can start sparring a couple times a week when I'm not busy with other duties." He nodded about the bath and deposited his own equipment where it belonged. "You'll have some nasty bruises come tomorrow. Maybe you can get the Lady Leandrea to rub you with salve."

He led the way to the baths. It wasn't the same boy manning the bath this time. Ermi waved to them and shucked off his sweaty clothing. He hadn't bothered to go get any extra clothing, apparently confident enough to walk back to his quarters wearing only a towel.

[Crystalkitsune85]

Trevor blushed gently when Ermi mentioned him being rubbed with salve and he tried to change the subject "So are you with Joane then? Her male 'friend'." he asked. "She mentioned how she wished she had her room to herself again because her love life was zip with me there." he said as he disrobed and grabbed a bucket of water and soap to wash the sweat and grime off first before he went into the main tub. He learned from the first bath two weeks earlier how things were done in the bathing room. From each time following he did it as he was supposed to.

After getting the initial dirt off, he dumped the bucket out to a drain and then slipped into the main bath and heaved a contented sigh at the hot water on his aching muscles.

[Mekatra]

It was Ermi's turn to flush slightly. "Ah... nothing official. Joane is... difficult when it comes to romantic endeavors. She and I are indeed very close, but she is adamantly against any suggestion of marriage. I appreciate her strength and will. I also know I am not the only one that she is affectionate toward." He looked a little sullen for a moment, but then brightened as he rinsed off and sank into the tub. "Not to say, of course, that she is not a woman of virtue, just that she is intent on doing what she pleases and I have no intention of trying to tell her otherwise. She is, among other things, an accomplished swordswoman."

[Crystalkitsune85]

"That she is. It'd be a shame for her to stop what she's good at to settle down. Maybe as she gets older and retires from the guard will she consider settling down." he said as he scrubbed his skin pink. "I never figured marriage would be on the table for someone like me. I figured I'd just be, me, myself and I, until I got killed or died of old age." he shrugged."Amazing how things can just change suddenly." he mused. "Leandrea seems like a nice person, and if I had to get married to anyone I wouldn't mind it with her."