Anya's mother kind of stormed down the halls, trying to get everything sorted... the guards weren't overly happy with the way things had gone the day before, nor were they impressed with their work for the next few weeks. They'd had to double the shifts, which meant more work for certain guards. It was a good thing, too, because they'd had multiple drunks yelling at them and trying to scale the castle walls that day. She'd also had a couple more guards watching over the main family... Anya, Luther and the king had at least three more guards on them, watching for anything that could possible be of harm. They were going to have to do this anyway once this rebellion thing flairs up again, so why not do it now and be safer? As she wandered along, she found herself walking past Sage... the bloody boy. He had caused more trouble than he was worth, and yet she found herself unable to shoo him away. If she did that, then her daughter would hate her for what she assumed would be forever. The woman sighed, knowing she would have to talk to him anyway. She paused and took a breath before turning around. "Look," she sighed quietly, rolling her eyes. She'd have to redeem herself with her daughter some how, and what better way was there to do that than to admit something the boy had said was actually right? "I've had someone look over the papers you handed over, and thought it'd be a good idea for you to come and oversee some of these training sessions." It wasn't her idea... not at all, but Anya had suggested it, and if she thought it was a decent idea, then why not give it a go? It'd make the girl happy with her, and that's all she really wanted as of then.

When the queen started talking, Sage tensed up, expecting some form of rant or scream or whatever else the queen had in store for him. But instead, she was...being nice? No, not really, but she was being respectful. Well, he supposed he couldn't ignore that. But he was genuinely very confused as to why the queen was being like this now, of all the times she'd seen him. He stopped, though he didn't turn around to look at the queen...he was half afraid that if he did, she'd react badly. There was no reasoning behind it, other than the fact that he simply didn't trust the woman. She hadn't been nice, at all, the few times he'd seen her, and she reminded him a bit too much of his own father as of right then for him to feel any sort of comfortable around her. "What do you really want," he finally muttered, turning to face her. "You hate me. So why are you trying to act nicer now that everything's worse than before?" Maybe she'd just though it over and had decided if Anya liked him she could try to as well, but he doubted that. He was being blunt, but that's what he knew. How he responded when he was uncomfortable. And if the queen didn't realize he was more used to being yelled at and threatened than being talked to nicely, then she was just as stupid as she was petty.

The woman just rolled her eyes. Well, she'd tried. She was being nice hoping it would make her daughter happy - and so she would be a little more forgiving of how she'd spoken to the girl. If she was being honest, she couldn't quite wrap her head around why Anya enjoyed being with the boy so much. She had hoped that by now that the whole novelty of the boy would have kind of worn off... she'd understood it before, and kind of assumed they were sort of attached because of the time they had in the cell, which was undoubtedly traumatic for the both of them. Still, it had been a little over two months... so why was he still here? The boy had been grumpy since the first time she'd run into him. Granted, the woman hadn't helped herself by being unfriendly, at all, but what was she meant to do? Be all nice and friendly for no reason? She didn't trust the boy, and she had no reason to, so she also had no reason to be nice. "Right," she grumbled with another sigh. "I'd rather attempt to be civil with the likes of... you than have my only child hate me for god knows how long." The woman scoffed, already unbothered by the conversation... kind of regretting it, like she thought she would.

(Sorry, this is super messy - I'm on school holiday atm, so very busy!)

(Lol no worries!)

Sage wrinkled his nose slightly at the queens response and shrugged. She had a point....of course she would want to be in good terms with her daughter, especially since her husband was, well, not the best person in the world to say the least. "Fine then," he muttered. He huffed out a breath and turned to go, then paused and looked back over his shoulder at the queen. "I'll help, but if you're letting me help I'm going with my own methods," he told her. He tried to keep his voice.. respectful. But he was still on edge a bit, and he definitely didn't trust the woman. He didn't think she'd kick him out now, because she was worried about Anyas reaction. Well, the queen would have to let him do the training his own way.

The woman turned up her nose slightly at his request... or rather, demand. Hadn't he made up a whole ass schedule? Surely the boy would stick to that. She was fine with that if that was the case, but if she was being honest with herself, the way the boy had spoken to her had definitely gotten on her nerves. Well, everything about him was frustrating. Not just to her, but to everyone in the castle. It was understandable... he was some street kid that had weaselled his way into the castle. The woman clenched her jaw slightly before giving a slow nod. "Right," she murmured, crossing her arms in an almost defensive way. "Have it your way - if anything goes wrong, if these guards aren't fit to look after the castle and something happens to any one in here as a result just know you're done for." It was maybe a threat... though, she somehow made it sound less... well, like she would follow through.

Sage stopped and turned around, giving the queen a look. "you do realize I'm doing this to keep Anya and Luther safe, right? Otherwise I'd be back where I came from." He shrugged. "Well, that or dead, which really I have no problem with." He crossed his arms too, and shrugged lightly. "I don't think there's anything you could do to hurt me at this point besides kill Anya or Luther and that's not going to happen," he pointed out. The queen was threatening him now ....wonderful. Did she have no sense of decency? And he was the one thinking that, so it was definitely a low blow. "Look, I'm not in it for me, ok, so just let me do my thing and I'll stay out of your hair," he sighed, running his fingers through his hair. The woman was giving him a headache.

The woman could tell he was frustrated... good, because she was too. The boy had caused more issues than he was worth, and now she was having to clean up what he'd left. She had enough on her plate, and the boy just made that more. She chewed on the inside of her cheek and took a breath, trying to keep herself calm. Now, the queen wasn't a particularly shouty person... but she was explosive. Unpredictable, you could say, which meant a lot of people sort of walked on egg shells around her. She'd go from zero to one hundred in a matter of moments, which seemed to be the bit that scared people one snarky or undermining comment, and it was all over. "Of course. Do whatever you see fit. Just keep in mind that if... or when you mess up it's not going to end well," she shrugged, tapping her foot to indicate she was bored... she had better things to do, and this conversation wasn't exactly going anywhere.

Sage snorted and shrugged. Whatever, if she didn't want to be here that was fine ....she could leave at Anya time she saw fit. He didn't want to talk with her, either. "Whatever," he muttered. "Shouldn't you be eating or something?" He was done with the conversation, and while he wasn't trying to be rude, the queen was getting on his nerves more and more with every second. He could almost feel the tension in the air. Besides, she seemed to think he'd mess up soon enough, so if she hated him so much why not say what she had to say and leave? He really didn't get the woman...and she was dangerous. Not only because of their ranking differences, but because if her temper. And her quite obvious hate towards him. He just wanted to go back to bed at this point...his back and shoulders were starting to hurt, and his head was getting worse by the minute. He had absolutely no desire to sit here and argue with some woman too petty to have a respectful conversation with someone. He wasn't helping her, he knew that, and he knew they were both trying ...but it just really wasn't working.

The woman turned her nose up at the boy, quite clearly bored with this whole thing. In truth, the only time she was happily talking to someone - or rather, interested in talking to someone was when they were either groveling at her feet or trying to start an argument with her. This boy wasn't doing either of those - rather just trying to be ignored and slip past her. She was alright with that, she had things to do, so she wasn't sure what she was expecting by talking to the boy. He wasn't going to react if she were to yell, and she hadn't been given something to yell at him about just yet. She was explosive, but she wasn't about to yell at someone for no reason. She pursed her lips before giving a slow nod. She didn't reply though. There was a good load of things she had to attend to, so there was no use just standing there and trying to make a conversation that just wasn't going to happen. The woman just kind of looked him up and down before rolling her eyes and turning back on her way. She didn't hate the boy - well, she did, but only because her daughter seemed closer to the boy in the few months he'd been there than she had been in the last seventeen years. In complete honesty, she was a little jealous. He'd made the two of them argue a hell of a lot more.

Sage wrinkled his nose slightly, rolling his eyes as the queen looked him up and down. It was the same old thing . .he got that look from everyone. Well, whatever. He stalked past her, brushing her shoulder on the way out....it wasnt like he was trying to push her around...he barely touched her but it was some sort of subconscious thing to tell her he wasn't afraid of her, and he wasn't going to let her boss him around anymore than what was right. Granted, he would put up with a lot from her, there wasn't really anything he could do besides talk smack. Though, he seemed reckless enough to do more, he supposed. Either way, the queen wouldn't know or care that he hadn't really meant to bump her like that. . .to her it would probably just seem like he was being rude. He let out an inward sigh, but continued to walk. He just wanted to go take a nap now.