The yard at Pinkmaiden rang with the sharp clash of steel, laughter, and shouted curses as young knights and squires tested one another beneath the afternoon sun. The Red Fork glimmered beyond the walls, and the scent of trampled grass and sweat hung thick in the air.

Lyanna Piper had no business being there, of course, which was precisely why she was.

She leaned lazily against the wooden rail, watching as her brother crossed blades with one of his friends… a man she knew quite well already. Her gaze, however, drifted elsewhere, to the one on the side washing sweat off his face in the courtyard basin after having had the first spar with her brother.

She pushed off the rail and wandered over, skirts brushing the dirt as if she had no care for them at all. Close now, far too close for propriety, she tilted her head slightly, studying him with open amusement.

"Now may I say you have improved the way you handle the sword over the past moons, makes one wonder how well you handle other things."