After that encounter with that melusine I went home wondering if she had found a sparring partner, and to my surprise she had indeed found someone I could spar with. That next morning I planned on going back to that cafe to find that melusine. Though it seems she had beaten me to it. Just as I opened the door Menthe fell forward.

I grabbed her just as she was about to fall face first on the ground.
"Are you okay?" I put her back on the ground.

"Ah, yes! Thank you very much ma'am." She seemed a bit embarrassed. "I was just about to knock on your door to inform you I've found the perfect match for you!" She smiled up at me; her voice was so cheerful.

"Uh, a match?" I asked confused. "Oh, for a duel!" I then understood what she meant.

"I've found a nice young lovely lady trying to work on her sparring abilities. You two are the perfect match! Not only does this mean you can duel her once, but you may even be able to train her. Which means tons of duels!" She jumped up and down in excitement. "That's what you want right?" She noticed my lack of emotion.

"Ah, yes of course. That sounds amazing." I wasn't too excited to be around another lady that wasn't Navia. "You're very excited yourself though." I pointed out her energetic behavior.

"Why, of course! How could I not be excited? I love helping people! That's my duty." She smiled and saluted at me as if I was her commander.

I giggled a little, she was very cute there was no denying that. "So who is this lovely young lady you want to introduce me to?" I was still smiling at the melusine's previous actions.

"Ah, well unfortunately you may not be able to actually meet her." Her excitement from before suddenly vanished.

"How do you mean?" I was intrigued by this statement and her change of attitude.

"Well the young lady has requested to only be seen under a fencing mask." While speaking, the melusine seemed worried at what my response might be. She likely was afraid this might make me decline the offer. "I'm not sure why. She didn't really explain."

"I see, that's alright. We'll manage. After all, you don't need to see the other face to spar." I smiled at Menthe assuring her that changed nothing. Though I was very intrigued by this request, but everyone had their boundaries. "So when will be our first duel?" I asked in order to properly prepare for it.

"Uh, that i'm not sure of, but the lovely lady has given me a paper she requested me not to open. So perhaps it has your meeting times there!" She handed me the note.

I grabbed the note. "Thank you very much, you have been so helpful. I appreciate that." I gave her a smile, a sincere smile. "Would you like to come in? I could make some tea."

"I would love to, but I have some duties to attend to today." She frowned. "Maybe next time, thank you very much, Miss Clorinde." She went back to smiling.

"My pleasure, Menthe." I smiled at her one last time, and shut the door as she walked away from my front porch.

I looked at the piece of paper she had given me. Who was this girl I was supposed to spar with? And why did she wish to stay anonymous? I shrugged it off not thinking much of it. I finally unfolded the piece of paper. It was all crumbled despite being folded, and it smelt like freshly picked roses. The note, it smelt just like the one thorned rose that had fallen by Callas after the duel. I questioned reading the letter, the handwriting looked so neat; it was definitely a lady's handwriting. I finally gained the courage to read what the note said, and it was nothing important. It contained a few dates, times, and locations. Nothing special, but I couldn't brush that smell off. At the time of the duel I hadn't noticed, but the rose smelt just like Navia. She must've sprayed some of her perfume on it, and the note smelt just like that. I didn't think too much of it, it was a popular fragrance. And I didn't want to think of the possibility that the girl i'll be sparring with is Navia, not after what happened.

According to the note we'll be sparring in 2 days at a location near Poisson. For some reason I felt quite nervous about sparring this girl. I was confident in my skills, so really there was no need to be nervous. Was it the thrill of not knowing who im up against? Perhaps, but she needed training so there was no need to worry. Thats why I was sparing her in the first place.

But I couldn't brush the thought off. So I grabbed my sword and went outside. I had a puppet I used for practice in my backyard. Holding on to my sword tightly, I practiced with the puppet. Since my opponent was gonna be faceless I could think of her as a puppet to calm my nerves, and that's exactly what I did.