Oliver shook his head. "I have few enough n as it is, I would not risk you until I'm confident that everyone will make it back alive."
Though he scowled, Karesh did not manage to say any more than that, though Lady Blackthorn looked like she wanted to – a fact that Alia noticed, and was desperately imploring her Lady to keep quiet, with a pleading look in her eyes.
"Would you… bring ?" Lasha asked, tentatively.
Oliver shared a look with Verdant. "On a mission with quite likely fatal consequences? I'm unsure, my Lady… Goblins are one thing, but wherever they plan to send is quite another. I already invited your father's ire earlier. I'm sure he'd be the one sending assassins after if I were to put you in harm's way on a battlefield."
She frowned at that, looking unhappy. "But I'm stronger than those three," she said pointedly. They were not kind words, but they were true ones. "If you want them stronger so that they'll follow you, you'll be waiting an awful long ti – they'd have to surpass first."
Oliver couldn't help but break into a small smile at that. He could see that Kaya and Karesh were looking thoroughly embarrassed at that truth, but Lady Blackthorn had hit the nail on the head. If his excuse for them was that they weren't strong enough, what could he say to Lady Blackthorn..?
"Fine," he said. "I'd say you're definitely strong enough to bring, no matter what we end up doing, as long as the odds are fair. But I'm not sure if you've noticed, but as far as politics goes, I'm not exactly sitting at the top of the class. If I were to bring a Lord's daughter out onto battlefields without his permission, I'm sure my position is bound to get even worse.
As too, likely, is Lady Asabel's, given that Lord Blackthorn now serves her."
"I would also note, my Lord, that I would most definitely be joining you on whatever task it is that General Skullic gives you," Verdant said. "Though I do not think you had need fear my father's disapproval in that. I imagine he would be pleased, even."
"Then..?" Oliver said, gesturing to Lady Blackthorn.
"Oh, no. I'm in agreent there. Lord Blackthorn would hang you from the Central Tower by your ankles if he ever found out," Verdant said.
"I thought as much…" Oliver said, turning to apologize to Lasha, only to find the person sitting there to be every bit as obstinate and every bit as terrifying as her father likely would be.
"No," Lasha said firmly. "You will not refuse ."
"I will not?" Oliver said slowly. She was afixing him with big round eyes. "Are you trying to hypnotize ? You do have rather pretty eyes, I suppose."
"Oliver!" Alia shouted, outraged by a re complint.
"I'm not hypnotizing you," Lasha said firmly. "I'm rely setting my foot down. On this, I won't budge. We made an agreent, that you would teach the sword. This is a valuable experience, isn't it? You're always telling how you learned the most important things in battle.
That training is not a replacent for the true thing."
"I do, and I also agree," Oliver said, "but that isn't the issue… besides, weren't you just saying earlier that you wanted to do more, that the scales were balanced too heavily in my favour?"
"That was before the trial," Lasha said, confidently. "I'm pretty sure they're back on my side now."
"I'm not disagreeing, but the sudden switch is still… worrying," Oliver said. Indeed, he did think that her standing as a witness in court was most certainly a more difficult – and to him, more valuable – affair than him spending twenty or so minutes on a lunchti each day half-heartedly teaching her.
"My Lady, does this not seem too dangerous..?" Alia protested. "Was it not ant to be a trap for Ser Oliver in the first place?"
""Ser Oliver?"" Both Jorah and Pauline noted at the sa ti, making Alia blush, but not distracting her from the task at hand.
"That has been redied. It's General Skullic that is setting the missions now, I'm sure they'll be fair," Lasha said confidently.
"Fair… Isn't the word they use to describe General Skullic," Pauline offered hesitantly.
Jorah agreed. "Insane is usually the one they use."
"Now that you ntion it, I do think I accidentally walked in on him once, as I was looking for Command Class," Oliver said, only now just realizing that it was the sa man. As he reminisced, half a dozen expectant eyes were cast his way, wanting him to elaborate.
"And?" Lasha prodded.
"And…" Oliver could hardly hide a smile at the mory. "And his furniture was smashed to pieces and his papers were all over the floor. He'd quite obviously just been a rage re minutes before."
"Insane," Jorah agreed again.
"That does sound an awful lot like General Skullic," Verdant agreed.
"Are you sure this is going to be all right?" Alia asked desperately.
"Hm? Is that it? Father does that all the ti," Blackthorn said, tilting her head to the side. "He hates paperwork. If mother is away from ho too long and he gets stuck doing it, that usually happens. I thought that was commonplace for Generals."
"You're going to be the strangest woman when you get married," Oliver said, breaking the silence, as everyone stared at Lady Blackthorn in horror. "It's a battle getting you to talk and then when you do, there's always sothing strange waiting to be said."
Lasha sniffed in distaste. "Regardless. I am joining you. I will take responsibility for whatever happens should my father go astray."
"I suppose I at least have Asabel to hide behind now," Oliver said with a wry grin, imagining being chased around the campus by Lady Blackthorn's giant bear of a father.
They'd long since finished their als as they spoke. They all had a satisfied fullness in their stomachs, and as Oliver drank that blackberry tea, it was hard to think of the Princess herself. She was the main player now, after all. He could hardly imagine how busy she was after her announcent at the trial.
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