Kaelen's attack was all brute force, a freight train of muscle and wood aimed directly at Ravi's head. There was no finesse, no grace, just a burning desire to humiliate him.
Ravi had a dozen ways he could have handled it. He could have shattered Kaelen's sword like he did Lyanna's. He could have disarmed him with a flick of his wrist. He could have stood there and let the blow land, which would have resulted in Kaelen's arms breaking in three places from the sheer force of the rebound.
All of those options would have been a disaster.
So he chose the only one that made sense.
Instead of blocking, he moved. As Kaelen's clumsy swing began its arc, Ravi took a small, deliberate step forward, into the attack. At the last possible second, he dropped his own sword and let his legs go limp.
He didn't try to block. He didn't try to parry.
He tripped. Masterfully.
His 'stumble' took him under the apex of Kaelen's swing. The heavy wooden practice sword whistled through the air exactly where his head had been a moment before, missing by a scant inch.
The momentum of Kaelen's all-out attack, meeting nothing but empty air, was his undoing. He was wildly overextended, his balance completely compromised. He was a spinning top about to tip over.
As Ravi fell, he didn't just collapse. He guided his fall. His left leg, 'accidentally,' hooked behind Kaelen's ankle. It was the lightest of touches, no more pressure than a breeze. But for a man already off-balance, it was like having the floor yanked out from under him.
Kaelen's roar of exertion turned into a yelp of surprise. His feet went out from under him, and his massive body crashed to the dusty ground with the force of a felled oak tree. The landing was not graceful. His own sword got tangled in his legs, and he ended up sprawled on his back, winded, covered in dust, and staring up at the violet sky in utter confusion.
Ravi, meanwhile, completed his own fall, rolling into a messy heap on the ground a few feet away, groaning for good measure.
For the second time in five minutes, the training yard was dead silent.
Ravi pushed himself into a sitting position, rubbing his head and looking around with wide, innocent eyes. "What happened? Did I miss?"
Kaelen's cronies were staring, their jaws slack. Lyanna… Lyanna was watching him with an expression he couldn't decipher. It was a complex brew of relief, exasperation, and something that looked suspiciously like grudging admiration. She'd seen the whole thing. And unlike the others, she had the trained eyes to see that it wasn't an accident.
A clumsy amateur doesn't use his opponent's momentum against him with that kind of flawless timing. He doesn't execute a perfect leg sweep disguised as a stumble.
It wasn't luck. It was technique. Sublime, masterful, and completely hidden under a veil of incompetence.
Kaelen scrambled to his feet, his face crimson with a rage that eclipsed his previous arrogance. Being beaten was one thing. Being made to look like a fool by his own strength was another.
"You… You tripped me!" he bellowed, pointing a thick, trembling finger at Ravi.
"I think you tripped yourself," Ravi said, forcing a quaver into his voice. "Your swing was… really fast."
The crowd of onlookers, initially stunned, began to snicker. It started as a low chuckle, then grew into open laughter. The mighty Kaelen, the guild's resident loudmouth powerhouse, had been felled by an F-Ranker who literally fell down. The story was too good not to be told.
Kaelen's humiliation was complete. He looked from the laughing adventurers to Lyanna's unreadable face, and finally to Ravi, who was still sitting in the dust looking utterly baffled by his own survival.
With a final, inarticulate roar of fury, Kaelen threw down his practice sword and stormed out of the training yard, his cronies scrambling to follow.
The show was over.
Lyanna walked over and offered Ravi a hand. Her palm was warm and calloused, her grip firm and real. "Are you alright?"
"I think so," he said, allowing her to pull him to his feet. He made sure to put his full weight on her. She didn't even budge. "He's really strong."
"And you," she said, her voice a low murmur meant only for him, "are a much better dancer than you let on."
She didn't elaborate. She didn't need to. The statement was clear. I saw what you did. I know you're lying.
But there was no accusation in her tone. Only a deep, swirling well of curiosity.
They walked back toward the main hall, leaving the whispers and laughter of the training yard behind them. Ravi felt a profound sense of exhaustion. It was more tiring to pretend to be weak than it ever was to actually be weak. Each interaction was a high-wire act, each conversation a dance around the truth.
As they reached the guild hall entrance, Lyanna stopped him.
"You're a puzzle, Ravi," she said, her icy blue eyes searching his. "Nothing about you makes sense. Your clumsiness is too convenient. Your luck is too precise. You break things that shouldn't break and survive things that shouldn't be survivable."
He opened his mouth to offer another weak excuse, but she held up a hand to stop him.
"I'm not asking for an explanation," she said, and his heart gave a lurch of surprise. "Not yet. Because whatever your secret is, you chose to use it to save us in that cave. You chose to get yourself hurt to protect people you just met. That tells me more about your character than any 'truth' you could tell me right now."
She reached out and brushed a speck of dust from his cheek. The simple, gentle touch was more electrifying than Kaelen's charge.
"But know this," she added, her gaze sharpening with an intensity that pinned him in place. "I will figure you out. One day."
With that, she turned and walked into the guild, leaving Ravi standing alone in the afternoon sun.
He was no longer just the princess's stray pet. He was her personal project. Her mystery to be solved. And for the first time, the idea of his secret being discovered didn't feel like a threat.
It felt... inevitable. And maybe, just maybe, he was okay with that.