It had been some time since Phaedra had traveled to Laconia. Of late, her duties as Lieutenant of the women archers of Molossia had kept her particularly busy. Rumors of conflicts in the north seemed ever-present and Phaedra had to be certain that her soldiers were up to the challenges in front of them. She was determined that her soldiers would be prepared, it would be unacceptable for them to suffer the kinds of losses they had during the war with the Egyptians. Even though years had passed since then, there were some things one could never forget.



In fact, it was precisely because of that war that Phaedra had made her way to Laconia to help an old friend with teaching his daughter the art of war. Phaedra wasn’t entirely thrilled about having to give this girl personal lessons when she had other more important responsibilities, but she owed Leander her life. Phaedra wasn’t one to forget her debts, so she couldn’t begrudge the soldier the simple favor of lessons. It was but a small price to pay for everything he had done for her.



Phaedra arrived at the man’s house and he showed her out to a field, already set up for archery practice. Phaedra raised an eyebrow at him. If he was already training his daughter, she wasn’t entirely sure what he had dragged her all the way out here for. Though even if he did know archery, Leander was no archer himself, so perhaps he wanted an expert’s eye to reinforce his daughter’s training.



His daughter was already out waiting for them with her bow and arrow. She seemed so young, even younger than the 16-year-olds that she often had to deal with. How old had Leander said she was again? Not old enough to join up yet anyway. She could understand his impulse to make sure she was well trained beforehand. She so often got girls who had little or no training when they first joined up. When they were still young and quick to learn she would give them a chance, but they were at a distinct disadvantage to those girls who had at least some basic experience, usually with hunting.



Phaedra wasn’t much for small talk, especially with children. Instead, Phaedra was quite brusque, jumping immediately into the same attitude she would take with any new recruit. “Adelpha, I’m Lieutenant Phaedra of Molossia. You can address me as Lieutenant or Ma’am.” Phaedra didn’t wait for an acknowledgment of her introduction. “Now string your bow and start shooting at the target so I can see what I’m working with.”