Calanthe loved her lessons with Clovis. He was a great teacher, and had been helping her hone the skills that she wanted to. Things that would help her become the powerful Blackwood that she knew she could be. Dressed in a linen shirt and leather pants, she had styled her hair like her aunts with her enchantment. She thought it was still fun, and sometimes it was fun to have people do a double take as they walked.

For so long she had styled herself like her aunt, it was easy to slip into, and so she walked side-by-side with Calliope. She was so glad to have successful role-models, but damn did it make it hard to live up to expectations. Calanthe just hoped that someday soon, despite her young age, she would prove herself worthy of the Blackwood name. For her father, and for everything he had known she was capable of.

As Calliope walked with her niece to Clovis's office, she didn't quite hide her amusement at the reactions of those walking by them. It was a delightful bit of work and she had a feeling that her niece was closing in on what she had in mind in order to earn the Blackwood name. There was a glimmer of pride, certainly, in the woman that Calanthe was becoming and, underneath everything, a strong current of affection. Though she might not ever admit the words out loud, her niece was practically the daughter of her heart given that she would never actually have biological children of her own.

When they arrived at the office, Calliope would rap her knuckles once on the door frame to get his attention as she always did, even if it was just to say hello in passing, and walked into the office. "Good morning, Belcourt."

Even though the door was open, the women announced themselves by a soft knock on the doorframe. Clovis looked up and saw Calanthe and Calliope. "Ms. Blackwood, Ms. Beckett, welcome", he said while gesturing at the chairs in front of his desk. "I'm glad we've all found the time to get together." He didn't feel the need to be super professional and did allow himself to behave a little more familiar to them. After all, Calliope had trusted him with the training of her niece and he had spoken with Calanthe dozens of times. "I hope you're both doing good."

As much as Calanthe enjoyed her lessons, this meeting, did seem like a slight waste of her time. But if they both had found it important for her to be there, then she would. She respected both of them, of course her aunt more but that was the Blackwood way and didn't reflect on Clovis' skills.

"Great, thanks Mister Belcourt." Sitting down she would have preferred they had done this on the training grounds. But here she was, hoping that she hadn't made some blunders.

If there was one thing that Calliope agreed with Clovis on, it was not standing on pomp and ceremony unless absolutely necessary. It was something she appreciated about the man and made him easy enough to work with when the need arose. If she was even remotely attracted to men, she might've found it an attractive trait but alas, she was very much not.

"Thank you, Mr. Belcourt. I'm doing well and I hope you are as well."

"I'm glad to hear", he said after both women had told them that they were doing good.

"We're here to discuss Calanthe's training progress, but I also called this 'meeting' to inform you that I'm going away for a while." He looked from one to the other. "If everything goes according to plan, I'll be in Lorendale to study their military strategy. In the meantime, I sadly won't be able to train Calanthe. But-." He held up a finger. "Luckily Calanthe has made great progress, and she has shown that she is very skilled. Recently she surprised me by wanting to practice with a whip. The Blackwood element of surprise is strong with this one, and I admire that."

Calanthe frowned slightly when her instructor mentioned he would be going away. It was slightly annoying, but she supposed that when he was back she could learn what he did. All the same, it was going to be frustrating having to take a break from someone who knew her well.

But she stayed quiet, knowing most of this was directed at her aunt. She had been the one to select Mr. Belcourt, and so surely she would select another in his stead. For now she would just have to make do, a frustrating turn of events given how much progress she was making in all other fields. "How long will you be away?"