Lion Head Mesa cleopatra & her mantra,

yourself, she answered smilingly, eyes bright. i have heard so much about you, imperator! all good things, and this was the honest to goodness truth. her father was wise enough to understand a childs curiosity and earnest to know the answers to all things, and that she would ask who she could for those answers when not satisfied by the ones she received. rare though that was when coming from her father (read: impossible), he did not risk it.
it was an effort not to gush. he was renowned in her world for his own rule, and his brutish followers. toula stood a little taller, thinking of  her sister. ...i wondered if you might spar with me, she found the nerve to ask. it was not her strongest point, but toula had been told to work on her weaknesses. who better to work on it with than a strong leader of warriors?