Sage had to admit he was a bit surprised when the queen responded the way she did. He knew she'd be smart about it, but asking him to show her what he was thinking was something he definitely didn't expect. Or deserve, really, after barging in like this. He threw a surprised glance at Luther, who was still hiding behind the wall and then shrugged. "Well for one, the training methods you use aren't going to help the soldiers. They're used to hacking with huge swords at other big guys and rely on strength to win. The people out on the streets use whatever they can find...glass, rocks, stuff like that. They'll dart in under the huge swords your men are carrying before they can react and-" he made a motion jerking his thumb across his neck. The queen would know what he meant, it was clear enough. "They're all skilled in cunning close combat, and rely on speed not strength." He pointed in Luthers direction. "Even Luther and I have different styles. I'm a street kid, he's a knight. If I tried to meet him the way he fought would you expect me to win through brute force?" The answer was no, and the queen would realize what he was talking about when she compared the two of them. "Until your men gain the skills they need and gain some stamina, there's nothing else we can do but fortify the castle just in case." If the guards couldn't make it through a snowball fight, they had their work cut out for them. That is, if the queen even listened to his suggestions.

The queen just kind of soot there for a while, kind of pretending not to listen. Just to keep the peace. Though, the guard was actually a little intrigued by what the boy was saying, slowly nodding along before scrunching his nose up slightly. "He has a point you know. Even all armored up our guys are gonna get their heads bashed in. They'll be run around until they're exhausted then they're going to get their throats slit." His voice quietened down a little as he looked towards the queen, who was... well... fuming. She shook her head a little, glancing from Sage to the guard. "Why did you need a child to tell you that?" She spat out, letting her temper get the better of her for a moment before rolling her eyes. "We pay you to train our guards. So that they're fit enough to fight anyone that challenges them. And yet, this boy managed to figure this out." She grumbled, holding her hand up as the man opened his mouth again. She didn't want to hear any more from him. Her anger had kind of switched from one person to the other. She wasn't planning on listening to anything the boy had to say, but if he had more of a clue about what was going on within their own kingdom than they did, well, they'd better pay attention.

Sage looked back and forth between the queen and the other man. He wasn't sure who he was, but he was telling the queen he knew what he was talking about so...he couldn't be all bad. "He's aware of their weaknesses, that's why he's training them hard. The issue is that you're training your men for muscle strength and the perfect sword strike, not stamina or actual fighting." He shrugged and pointed at the map. "That's going to have to wait until you can make your men be able to last longer than their ten minute snowball fight earlier." Yes, that had been intentional. He'd wanted to be sure if all the men's strengths and weaknesses. "You have men who can do it, given the right things to do. Others are gonna just have to hope they can keep up and not get killed. But I think that they'll all be able to hold their own in a week or so." He shrugged. "It'll be fine until then ... Getting a group of street people together takes a while, and agreeing on a leader for the group is even worse. They're not organized. That's their weaknes." He scrunched his face up slightly. "That, and the fact that they're starving and sleep deprived and half dead already."

The queen just kind of groaned and wandered towards the window. There were still people training out there... only a few because it was getting dark, but they were working hard. Most likely the kind of men that Sage thought could do it. She looked over to the door, which had wallpaper on one side of it, where Sage had ripped it open. Luther's feet were poking out, bouncing up and down impatiently. She rolled her eyes slightly and called him out. "Luther, get out here." She hissed, pointing towards a seat in the corner. The boy slinked out and sat down as instructed, slouching like a punished child. She looked back to Sage, very clearly impatient with what was going on. About how much she didn't want him to be right, and about how right this child was. Man, she shouldn't have let him come back to the castle. She had to listen to what he was saying, and do something about it, or else, she'd be seen as a bad leader - and she just couldn't let that happen. "Right then." She murmured, going to a drawer and grabbing a sheet and a few pens. "If you think you know what you're doing - that you know more than this man here - then why don't you take this? Go away and create a little training schedule for the week and come back for us to look it over." It sounded like she was giving him a chance... but really, she just wanted rid of him. It'd get him out the way, and when he came back she could do the same again - unless, of course, it was actually a decent plan. "Now, get out of here. We actually have some work to do." She snapped harshly, pointing towards the door.

Sage rolled his eyes and snatched the papers from the queen. "Fine," he growled. "But only because it puts your daughter and Luther in danger if you two screw this up." He stormed out of the room, eyes flashing, quite literally bumping the queen with his shoulder as he went out, pushing her out of his way. Maybe it was a bit overkill, but she was in front of the door he needed to get to, and he was incredibly annoyed with literally everyone right now, and mad at most of them too. Anya and Luther he'd could deal with, but everyone else could go get themselves killed for all he cared. But that only made him more determined to make a training plan the queen could find no flaw in to just shoo him away again. She'd have to put up with him, so she may as well get used to him being around. And being himself.

The woman squeaked a little when he shoved past her, anger burning in her eyes. She didn't like the boy. And she wasn't sure why he was still here. She had been sure Anya would have kicked him out by now... gotten bored of him, or seen how different they were and that they couldn't really be friends. Or that he'd have stolen something or other and that she'd have no choice but to tick him out. But she bit her tongue. She still couldn't kick the guy out without Anya getting pissed off. Hell, she knew the girl was stubborn, but why was she still holding onto some tavern boy? It seemed rather stupid. She huffed before looking to Luther who was still sitting in the corner chair, messing with his fingers. "Are you not going with him?" She mumbled, to which the boy nodded and sprinted out the door to catch up with Sage. The boy trotted up behind him before humming a slight thought. "It's about seven... with any luck, there will be dinner waiting for me in my room. I'll see you tomorrow, maybe? I can give you a hand with this schedule of yours?"

Sage grunted in agreement. "You'll definitely make a better king than what we have now. You and Anya will have no trouble getting the people to like you. As of right now we have a queen too pretty to take any advice and a king who can't be bothered to even visit his daughter after she's been held hostage for four weeks and is nearly dead!" He was on a rampage now, and hadn't stopped stomping around. He was mad ....and he was going back to his room to calm himself down.

Luther nodded slightly pausing in the halls for a moment as he watched Sage stomp off. "I'll... see you tomorrow? Oh, and do you want me to send Anya over?" He almost asked before wandering off towards his room. He knew they went back and forth to each other's rooms, probably because they ate together - Anya had plenty of people to go sit with, but he assumed Sage was more reluctant to come out. He'd only ever seen him out the day before, on Christmas, and whenever he was out causing trouble with Anya. But before they'd started getting better, he barely ever saw the boy. He didn't really know what he looked like until not all that long ago. But he kind of didn't want the girl bumping into Sage when he was so upset. He said he could flip a switch and go crazy, and what if he hurt her? Whatever, if that was the case then Anya would get out of the way. He couldn't piece together why Sage had been so upset though. He was listening in an all, but at lease the queen had been civil, right?

Sage stomped into his room and tossed the stuff on the table beside his bed, pacing back and forth across the room furiously. Gosh, he had to get a grip. He was going stir crazy inside this castle...he had to get out and do something. But now he couldn't just leave, not that he'd do that before anyway. But he couldn't sneak around without raising more suspicion than he already did. And there was no chance of the queen liking him enough to let him do as he pleased in that way. He knew she just wanted him gone, and that she'd probably refuse anything he suggested, even if it was a good idea. The only reason she'd even let him talk was because the other guy was there to tell her he was right. And she was furious about it. He couldn't even complain to anyone here about the crappy rulers, not even Any..they were here parents. He'd paced enough by then, so he started doing other things to exhaust himself...push ups, sit ups, squats....anything he could think of. So when he finally collapsed in his bed over an hour later, sweaty but feeling much better, he fell asleep pretty quickly.

Luther waddled back towards his room, bumping into Anya on the way up. He gave a small smile to the girl, who was holding an empty tray. She looked a bit grey - like she'd been crying or something. She probably had, and it was probably an overreaction to something. This rebellion thing was scary, for sure, but he didn't see it as something to cry about, not yet at least. The girl smiled back slightly before starting to wander past. Luther groaned before grabbing her hand to stop her. "Hey, I was just with Sage. We had a run-in with your mother, and I reckon she pushed a few buttons... I don't know if you want to go talk to him. He was pretty angry." He shrugged slightly. Anya just shook her head slightly. If he was already upset, she didn't want to get in his way and make it worse. He could hurt her pretty badly, and she'd already upset him today. Though, she did need to go and apologize and talk to him about what he thought about going to scout out the village. He'd probably be a bit more inclined to listen to what she had to say than her mother. "I need to go talk to him... I pretty much told him to get lost today, so I'd better go see him..." She murmured inwardly before wandering off first to drop her plate in the kitchen and then towards Sage's room. He might have been asleep... if that was the case, then she'd let him rest. He didn't need her limpiting to him when he was already upset. She knocked on his door, and when she got no reply she quietly poked her head through the door. "Sage...?" She whispered before wandering in. He was dead asleep. She couldn't help the little smile on her face when she saw him so... relaxed. He always looked more at peace when he slept. More his age. And it was sweet really. She looked around for a moment before wandering over to a little couch in the corner and flopping down on it with a soft huff. She'd normally jump in there with him... but she figured he'd need the space. Quite literally. And she should have probably just gone back to her room, and if she couldn't get comfy, then she would she laid there for a short while before deciding she'd just stay. She went to find a little blanket and got undressed before flopping back on the couch, getting curled up under the blanket before slipping off to sleep.