Re: The Halls of Castle Amber...
Ariadne watched the doorway for a moment after Lance left, perhaps hoping he'd change his mind. But, she realized, if one of their aunts was waiting for him, that would certainly explain his hurry.
She looked at Jade with a wry grin.
"Jon's right, Jade. That magic stuff, well....I don't pretend to understand it, but I can imagine that getting good at it would take up most of your time, so it makes sense that everything else takes a back seat. It's like thinking that you should have learned 3 languages in the same time I learned 2. It's just not possible."
Looking at Jon, Ari bit her lip in thought.
"Renn Faire 'tournaments' aren't, as far as I know, anything like real combat. The basic skills are similar, but the fights are staged and choreographed. He'd have good agility, strength and reflexes, but he never would have killed anyone for real in a Faire."
Then she shrugged.
"Then again, he mentioned having a difficult life with many struggles and dangerous situations, so for all I know he's had to use his swords for actual defence many times. Who's to say. In any event, you're right that he was probably a quick study in real combat. I'm not doing too bad, and I've never killed anyone in my life."
Ari hesitated, wincing a little.
"Well....nothing Human, anyway."