“You didn’t!” Aertis yelped, when Lyria told her what had happened. They were enjoying their evening meal in Aertis’s room. “What if she takes the challenge?”
“Oh, come on,” Lyria said, pulling a bunch of grapes from the vine. “No one truly expects that gesture to result in a challenge anymore, it’s just symbolic. Telling her off, or whatever. No one has fought over it in years. Many, many years.” She tossed several grapes into her mouth, enjoying the crunch as she bit down.
“True,” Aertis replied, slathering grainy mustard onto a slice of bread and topping it with the sliced meats they had ordered. “But you never know. You’re right though, she failed Warrior,” Aertis paused to shove a massive bite of the food into her mouth, before continuing, “you’d snap her in half. She’d be a fool to
