Borelean's sword slammed repeatedly against Tharnoch's defending blade as he tried to batter aside the older man's defenses.  They had been sparring for half an hour without pause, and both were beginning to sweat.  Borelean had spent the entire fight on the attack, lunging and jumping and raining blows on his opponent from every conceivable angle.  Tharnoch, by contrast, fought in a crablike stance, shuffling guardedly from side to side and moving with an economy of motion honed over decades of combat experience.  His conservative style helped him keep even in the endurance battle against his teenage opponent.

Tharnoch growled as he parried aside another arcing overhand strike from the Prince.  "Your Highness," he said, "while you are skilled beyond your years, your fighting style is wasteful and poorly judged."

Borelean came ahead, striking quickly, forcing his opponent to give ground.  "How so?" Borelean asked, somewhat cockily, as he launched a side cut that almost hit Tharnoch in the arm before the captain slid out of the way.  "It seems to me I almost have you against the wall, Captain."

Tharnoch's response came as the Prince tried another powerful overhand slash.  He sidestepped the blow as it came down and lashed out with his left hand, knocking Borelean's sword out wide and low, too far out of position to defend himself adequately.  He pressed into the opening he'd created and brought the sword to bear on the Prince's chest. 

Before Tharnoch could call for his opponent to yield, Borelean went along with the shove he'd gotten from the captain.  He continued the down-and-out motion, rolling and spinning with impressive athleticism.  Before Tharnoch could react, Borelean's leg whipped out and caught him with a solid kick to the stomach.  Tharnoch was too battle-hardened to give in to the pain, but the kick pushed him back and created enough separation for Borelean to bring his sword back up into a proper guard posture.

Tharnoch laughed and dropped his blade to his side to signal an end to the duel.  "Well done!" he roared.  He actually seemed to be pleased by absorbing a hard kick in the gut.  "Fighters trained by nobles are often too proud to use a good kick or head-butt in combat.  It's not pretty, and a lot of fools will tell you it's ungentlemanly, but the only thing that matters at the end of a fight is who's standing and who's bleeding on the dirt.  All your bloody nobles are nobles because some ancestor of theirs was smart enough to kick an opponent in the fork and win the fight." 

He paused to probe his bruised stomach with his fingers.  "Good technique on the kick, too.  Led with the heel, to get the most stopping power out of it...  You could become a real warrior yet."

Borelean grinned, but tried not to be too happy with himself, in case Tharnoch was readying a sucker-punch or something else to underscore the message about fighting dirty.  The veteran did no such thing, but he was regarding Borelean with a thoughtful gaze.

"In fact, Your Highness, I am fairly certain you didn't learn that kind of technique from Antius Blackmoor.  All I've heard of the man suggests he was brave, noble, and foolish enough to get himself killed by someone with lower standards of decency.  And I know that the soldiers from my own detachment have been too busy with other duties to instruct you..."

Borelean didn't say anything to that.  He just stared at the captain with a blank gaze.  Tharnoch cleared his throat during the uncomfortable pause.

"All right, I'll just ask.  Are you training with someone else, Your Highness?"

Borelean answered with the same studiously blank gaze fixed on his face.  "No, Captain Tharnoch, I have no other combat trainers.  Could you elaborate further upon your earlier comment?  How is my fighting style wasteful?"

Tharnoch frowned suspiciously at his pupil.  He was almost certain that Borelean was lying, or at least failing to report the whole truth.  But he didn't want to derail the training session with an inquisition, so he made a mental note to speak to the Queen about the Prince's training, and answered Borelean's question.

"The problem, Your Highness, is that while you will no doubt one day be a very strong man, perhaps as strong as I've heard your father was, you are not stronger than I am now.  Yet you tried to fight me in a battle of strength.  You expended a lot of energy trying to overpower my defense, which, frankly, you cannot do.  But you're quicker than me, and you've got the energy and spry legs to beat me through mobility.  Use that to your advantage.  Don't try to knock down the walls when you can take out the gate more easily.  Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

Borelean bowed his head thoughtfully and regarded Tharnoch with a new respect in his eyes.  "You are wise, Captain Tharnoch.  I will remember that.  But how should I know if I'm stronger than someone else, or faster?"

Tharnoch nodded sagely.  "That's what the early part of a fight is for.  With feints and probing attacks, get a sense of your opponent's capabilities, before you commit yourself in earnest.  If you tried, for example, to outmaneuver a faster man..."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door.  Borelean stepped to attention and Tharnoch, irritated by the interruption, called out, "Enter!"

A royal messenger stepped through the door, bowed to the Prince, and saluted the captain.  "Your Highness Prince Borelean," the messenger said, "Her Highness the Queen requests your presence in the library.  Captain Tharnoch is hereby dismissed from duty for the rest of the afternoon."  The messenger bowed, saluted, and departed.

The two fighters looked at each other.  "Well, lad, get on with you," Tharnoch said.  "We'll pick up back here tomorrow.  Unless your mother wants you in the library again," he snorted.  He hung his sword in the rack of training weapons and left the room.

Borelean gritted his teeth as he watched Tharnoch go.  He didn't like having his training interrupted by this peremptory summons to the library.  He hung his own sword on the rack and stalked out of the room.   He didn't even bother to change out of his sweat-stained training leathers before he went to the library.

A few moments later, still angry, he pushed open the library doors.  Inside he found an old Aluvian man and a young Sho woman.  They were both seated at a table piled high with books, but they got up quickly and bowed when they saw that the Prince had entered.  The young woman seemed vaguely intimidated to be there, but the old man seemed hostile.  It also took a moment for Borelean to realize how tall this old man was – he was even taller than most of the burly guards that were stationed around the castle.

"Your Highness," the old man said, with a slight sneer curling his lip.  "Thank you for coming so promptly, if a little rudely.  It was not necessary for you to rush.  You could have stopped to change into fitting garb for an academic setting instead of stomping in here in your smelly armor."

Borelean blinked, unaccustomed to such rebukes.  He would have lashed out angrily, but something about the old man's size and sheer willful presence kept him respectful.  Tharnoch's lesson about testing your opponent before fully committing to the fight seemed strangely fitting here.  He hesitated before speaking, as his gaze lingered briefly on the young woman, but he turned back to the old man and asked, "What would my mother have of me, sir?"

"I am the mage Harlune, Prince.  And this," he said, motioning to the young woman, "is my student for the moment, Hoshino Kei.  Your mother has asked me to include you in young Kei's geomancy lessons."

Borelean looked at Kei again.  "We have met once before, have we not, Lady Kei?"

Kei nodded and smiled.  "I believe so, Your Highness.  I was with Master Celdiseth at the time.  But please, just call me Kei."

Harlune motioned the Prince to join them at the table.  "If you're done flirting, come sit with us, boy."  Kei averted her eyes and seemed to become very interested in the book on the table in front of her.

Borelean tried to summon up as much royal indignance as he could.  "I don't know you, sir.  Why are you teaching us if the Lady Ciandra is an accomplished mage, and a councilor?  What of Master Celdiseth, who was Kei's teacher already?"

Harlune's frown deepened, and Borelean thought he saw a flash of blue light in the old man's eyes.  "Because you're here to learn about geomancy, the blood witch's apprentice doesn't know as much about ley lines as she does about sacrificing chickens and Celdiseth is a rude, ungrateful bastard.  Let's get on with this, so people can stop pestering me to pass on my knowledge.  I hear tell you've received some lessons from that ivory tower git from Knorr.  And Kei here's learned at least the basics from the blood witch's apprentice.  So you won't be completely unprepared for what I need to teach you."

Borelean hesitated.  He was confused and lost by this sudden shift in his training.  "Waiting for me to put a purple satin cushion on your chair for you, boy?  I don't have all day," Harlune growled.

Borelean sighed and approached the table.  "Now it seems I am to be a mage," he said to no one in particular, as he sat down across from Kei.

• A few more quest dungeons have been revised this month. Once again make sure to check out some of your old favorites to see if they have seen some changes.
  
• Mr.P has decided to make the location of his home known to the players. Perhaps if we are nice enough to him, he may reward us with a new friend.
  
• Make sure that you know the location of Frost Haven, there may be a need to travel there in the days ahead.
  
• Players wishing to continue to gather more information about the Tanada Clan will have an opportunity to get more answers this month. 
  

• Based on player feedback Rare Infinite Arrowheads will now work on bundles of the appropriate shafts.
  
• Rare gems are now stackable up to 100
  
• The snow has begun to fall in Dereth, and winter is now upon us.
  
• The Scarecrows have gone back into hiding for the season. Snowmen should now be appearing on the landscape in their place.
  
• Several small typos were fixed on various quests.
  
• On the Messenger's Collar quest, the respawn timer on the Falatacot Tome has been increased.