“Where is Princess Astianna? Jilia, go search for your sister in her room…oh there she is!”
Asti arrived in the weapon room, out of breath, hungry, and tired. She had just come from the forest where she had been practicing magic with her older brother, Jerr.
“Why are you so late for sword fighting practice, Princess? It is disrespectful,” the royal trainer, Kaelin, said sharply.
Asti, panting, bowed her head. “I apologize.”
Kaelin gave her one last look, then turned to the rest of Asti’s sisters: Jilia, Kelessa, and Anneliese.
“Today each of you will match up, and we will fight against each other,” Kaelin said. Asti winced. She disliked
sword fighting. Actually there was a better way to put it: she hated it. She found it horrible, and she was horrible at it. She would rather fight from the distance, preferably with magic. If only it were...allowed. But it would never be.
“With real swords, Kaelin?” Jilia asked eagerly.
“All of you may, except Princess Astianna,” Kaelin said sourly. Asti bit her lip, avoiding her gaze.
“Why not Astianna?” Anneliese piped up. Asti rolled her eyes. It was all too dumb; the answer was obvious. And Asti knew that Anneliese knew that too.
“Astianna isn’t quite ready to use a real weapon yet, I am afraid,” Kaelin said coldly. Anneliese mouthed ‘oh’, then smirked at her older sister. Asti restrained herself from punching Anneliese squarely in the face; not like she could do it anyway. No, she could summon an Aerial Sword and let it stab Anneliese in the chest (with the hilt, of course; Asti wasn’t that violent)…Asti would like, no, love to see the look on her snobbish sister’s face. Asti smiled. Anneliese had joined the rest of Asti’s sisters in hating her. They thought Asti dumb, stupid, and hopeless…just because she was horrible at sword fighting. Sword fighting, sword fighting, sword fighting. That was all that royal women seemed to care about. They all wanted to be proud warriors for their country.
Asti’s sisters, being princesses and role models for Jerome, could only tease Asti at certain times, but they still managed to find ways to hurt her, those stuck up brats. They were better than she was, blah, blah, blah. She was seventeen and still had problems swinging a sword, blah, blah, blah. She would never be a warrior…
Asti didn’t want to be a warrior, though! She wouldn’t care to be one, though all her relatives thought so. They looked down to her as a pitiful, weak, creature. She remembered her father telling her a long time ago: ‘Don’t worry dear, you are just a late bloomer.’ That was what everyone told her. Aha! Her father, her parents, her family…everybody turned out wrong. She would always be hopeless with sword fighting, and she planned to stay that way. She had other plans for her life…
“Daydreaming, Princess?”
Asti blinked. “Of course not, Kaelin.”
“I said ‘You are my partner, so let’s get to work.’”
Asti felt nauseous. Kaelin? Her partner? Was she just planning to beat Asti up?
“Now all you want to do is try to hit me, alright?” Kaelin said slowly and carefully as if talking to a small child. Asti glared at her.
“Good.” Kaelin handed Asti a small wooden sword, which looked like a child’s play toy. “I’ll try not to be too hard to hit.”
Asti looked around her shoulder, to see her younger sisters swinging at each other and dodging the other’s blows. She sighed, watching Anneliese. Anneliese was already better than all of them, though she was the youngest.
“Go! I said ‘go’, Princess Astianna!” Kaelin looked irritated. Asti jumped, startled, then turned back to face her trainer. “Swing!”
Asti swung, trying to keep her grip on the weapon. She missed. And missed. And missed and missed and missed. Finally she was so tired that on her final swing, the weapon flew out of her hand and hit a nearby tree. Her sisters burst into laughter.
“Still having some trouble, sister?” Jilia whispered, face serious. Asti ignored her. “At least try to hold on to your weapon, Astianna."
Kelessa just giggled along childishly.
Before it was Anneliese’s turn to participate in the ‘lets-tease-Asti’s-sword fighting-game’, Asti said loudly, “Shut up! Will you shut up?” When she saw Kaelin glare in her direction, she added a useless “Please?”
Her sisters smirked. “Shut up! Will you shut up, please?” Anneliese mocked quietly once Kaelin had disappeared into the weapon room.
“How oh so polite you sound,” Jilia said. "It won't do to have a queen with manners like yours once Mother passes away."
Asti had had enough. “SHUT UP!” She yelled, and ran as fast she could into the castle, ignoring her sisters’ laughter behind her.
I didn't see any mistakes and I have no nitpicks.
