Author's Notes: Ok so maaaaaayybe I'll end up with an actual schedule for uploading, if I can churn through chapters reliably between my classes. However, I found something out Wednesday that might throw a wrench into that.
So I used to have two dogs. One of them died last year at about this time of year. And last wednesday we took our surviving dog to the vet, and got the news that he's got lymphoma, a type of cancer and only has 2 to 6 weeks to live, if we don't put him down before cancer takes him. We don't want him to suffer, after all. So yeah, some of the chapters coming up will be a little on the depressing side.
Disclaimer: I do not own the legend of Legaia
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Chapter 36: Rumble
Shera was just starting to get bored when her name was called to enter the ring finally. Watching the first two sets of people go did nothing besides make her more excited for her turn to fight.
She and Vahn had been put into the third of five groups, along with fighters that were known to be good fighters. Shera didn't mind the fact that they weren't in the top group, she could see some of those fighters on the other side of the room, and she didn't think she could take on any of them on her own.
The crowd around the ring parted as Shera walked up to the ring with her spear in hand. Noa and Gala cheered from the other side of the ring as she handed the spear to the referee so she could duck under the ropes. Vahn was sitting by his preparation station, he had fought already.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce to you Shera, Queen of the Ring!" Shera walked to the corner opposite from her already-introduced opponent, carefully cracking her neck. The crowd roared, and Shera had to wonder who had come up with her nickname. She wasn't the only woman in the ranks, but she was probably the highest ranked. The next highest ranked woman was in the second tier. Maybe it was the crown?
The man that she was facing scowled at the crowd's reaction, but Shera barely blinked at it. She had already started to meditate while she waited, and all it would take is a moment of focus to drop into the mental place where she could all but predict what her opponent would do.
"By now you've heard me explain the rules at least a dozen times. No aiming to kill or permanently disable. If your opponent falls to the ground, you must wait until I have confirmed that they will continue. If you do kill your opponent, even by accident, that is an automatic disqualification. If your weapon breaks, a halt will be called and you will have the option to retire or continue. If, at any time, you wish to surrender, almost any of the phrases used will be recognized." Shera smirked a little at that last one, keeping her eyes on her opponent. The referee looked between the two of them with his hand in the air, then dropped it, darting backwards to get out of the way.
Shera settled into a ready stance with her spearhead pointed towards the ground, holding it more like a staff. She didn't want to kill the man, after all. Her opponent, on the other hand, hefted the club he had and darted towards her. She took half a step forward to make sure that she wouldn't hit the ropes when she swung, her eyes harder now than they had been before the fight started.
She didn't even wait for the man to get too close to her before she spun her spear to knock into his club. The man flinched with the impact, and Shera took advantage of the flinch to give him a good hard crack on the side with the flat of her spear. He flinched again; his armor didn't cover him as well as it should have.
Despite that, he lunged forwards again. Shera twisted and caught the swing on her back, barely even wincing at the impact as it made it through her armor. She may have bruise later, but at the moment, she didn't even stop to consider it before using both her leg and her spear as leverage to knock the man onto his own back. Once he was on the ground, she set the butt of her spear on his chest and looked at the referee, who blinked at her a few times.
"...I yield." Shera stepped away from her opponent as he held up both hands in a gesture of surrender. The referee bent down to help him up as Shera twisted one hand to rub her knuckles over where she'd taken the hit, checking to see that there wasn't a dent. She acknowledged the win and ducked under the ropes again to go wait for her turn in the next round, running her fingers over her old spear.
She hadn't brought her newer spear in case it got damaged badly. Fighting a human was harder than fighting Seru, for sure. She didn't want to have to get another new spear so soon after replacing her old one. Her fingers found the crack in the shaft she'd been aware of, and she sighed, relieved. It was no bigger than it had been before.
"Now then, let's get the next round underway!" Two names that Shera didn't recognize were called out, and she stopped listening to the referee, crossing her legs at the ankles in front of her. She blinked as a pair of young woman cautiously walked up to her, and tilted her head to the side as she looked at them.
"Did you want something?" She kept her voice as gentle as she could as she spoke to them, but she rarely did 'gentle' well. Thankfully, the girls did not flinch or run away like she half expected them to. One of them did glance nervously at the other.
"Where did you learn to fight?" Shera blinked a little at that and gestured for the girls to sit so she wouldn't have to crane her neck to look up at them. They sat, carefully, so that their skirts would stay under them.
"There was a Biron monk trapped in my village by the Mist," Shera answered, and tilted her head to the side at the looks of disappointment on their faces. "I don't know if the ones on the roof would be willing to teach you, but at the very least, someone here will be willing to teach you, if you want to learn." There was a shout and a roar by the ring, and Shera glanced over that way. "I would suggest at least learning how to defend yourself, even if you don't have the time to get to the level of training I have." She glanced back to the girls and smiled slightly. Both of them looked hopeful.
"Really? Will we have to learn how to use a spear like you? Or get armor?" Shera blinked at their chatter and smiled a little before starting to stretch the muscles that controlled her grip.
"I'd suggest learning something smaller, or how to fight without a weapon at all. If you fight for self defense primarily, you don't want to be caught without what you know how to use. If you keep your hair long, make sure you know how to braid it tight against your head. I have to have Noa braid mine because it's so awkward for me to braid my own hair." Both girls watched her intently. "Also, keep in mind that you don't have to stick with the first teacher you come across. Find one that suits you and respects you." The girls blinked at that, and looked at each other.
"That's a very different thing than what the other women said. They all just told us which fighters were willing to take on students. Nothing about whether any given teacher would be a good fit, or what to learn." Shera smiled wryly, and turned her head as she heard Vahn's name called.
"I wish you both luck. I'm going to go watch my friend's fight." Shera heaved herself to her feet, leaving her spear behind, and walked to the arena, scooting around the crowd to where fighters were allowed to stand to watch each other's fights. Sain gave her a wide smile as he sidled up to her, but she ignored him, resting her elbows on the lowest rope.
Shera was rather glad that the brackets for the tournaments were usually fairly small, twenty people at most. It meant that when her bracket was up to fight, she didn't have to wait very long.
Vahn's opponent was, at the very least, talented. Vahn's swords had been replaced by wooden ones, and Shera could already tell that they were splintering on impact. His opponent was on the offensive, but Shera could tell that Vahn was still in control of the fight. Judging by the sound of the other onlookers, she was about the only one that could.
When Vahn finally decided to finish the fight, everyone around her was shocked. Shera simply laughed quietly and walked back to her waiting station to grab her spear and sit there until her name was called again. The girls had wandered off, hopefully to find someone who would respect them and be willing to teach them how to defend themselves.
Shera had just enough time to make sure her muscles were loose before her name was called. She walked back up to the ring with a steady gate, and was mildly surprised that she'd been called first. She took her pick of corners, and selected one that was nearer to Noa and Gala. She set the butt of the spear on the floor and stood at ease, her face calm.
The guy that walked up to the ring was one of the ones that had come to the inn to party a few days ago. He offered a small smile to Shera, and she gave him one in return. They ignored the ref as he riled up the crowd, up until he gave the signal for the fight to start.
This fight didn't last too long, either, but the two of them were still grinning as Shera bent down to help her opponent back up to his feet after she'd disarmed him and knocked him on his back in one movement.
Shera didn't walk back to her ready area because there were only a few fights left. She watched the refs argue with each other to figure out who was going to fight who, because there were only five fighters left. Eventually, it was decided that there would be three fights, and the winner of the first one would fight whoever was left over. Who was where in the lineup was settled by drawing straws.
When the slate was set up with who would fight who, Shera frowned. Vahn and Sain fought first, and she fought last. The other two were also regular fighters, but they seemed to largely just accept her presence. Shera leaned her spear on the side of the ring and watched the first fight, with impartial eyes. At least at first.
Sain used a spear as well, and was very good at keeping Vahn at a distance. Unlike the last fight Shera was in, there were no smiles here. For some reason, the two of them seemed to be holding a grudge against each other. Shera tapped on the rope she was leaning her arm on as she watched, her eyes intense. If Vahn got hurt badly, it would take time for him to heal, and they had already spent so much time in Sol. She could trust Vahn to pull his strikes even if he was riled up, but she couldn't say the same of Sain.
One of the other fighters had to grip Shera's shoulder to keep her from jumping into the ring as Sain sent Vahn's wooden swords flying with a triumphant grin. The ref stepped in as Vahn flexed his hands and shook them out to get rid of the numb feeling in them. Whatever it was they said, it was lost under the roar of the crowd. Vahn slid into the fighting stance that Shera was so used to seeing, his hands open. The ref nodded, held a hand up, and stepped back out of the way, signaling that the fight would continue.
Sain took a while to adjust to the difference in the fight after Vahn had switched to unarmed fighting. More than once, Vahn was able to swat aside a thrust of the spear and get in close, and land several hits on Sain. Shera smiled grimly at that, he must have been watching Shera and how she fought, to learn how to get past a spear user.
By the time the fight was over, both Sain and Vahn were out of breath. Vahn was on his back on the ground, the tip of Sain's spear pointed at his throat. The crowd was yelling, either for or against either of the fighters, or about the fact that Vahn's head had actually bounced off the floor when he fell. The ref had to yell particularly loudly to be heard over the crowd, and when Sain looked up, he flinched a little at the look Shera was pointing at him.
Gala and Noa supported Vahn as he nearly fell sliding out of the ring. Gala looked over to Shera and nodded. They would get Vahn back on his feet after he had worn himself out. All she had to do was make sure that she got the rest of the coins that they needed to get the Soru bread they needed for the Sage's Chests. Showing Sain what happened when he took down one of them was just a bonus. One that she was going to savor.
Sain was surrounded by his groupies as he recovered, and Shera went to check on Vahn, leaving her spear by the side of the ring. He had a cut on his forehead from a particularly hard strike, which Gala was dabbing some medicine on. Shera crouched next to him, keeping an ear on the fight going on in the ring.
"How's your grip?" Vahn blinked at Shera. She winced a little, seeing that one of his pupils was slightly larger than the other. "Gala, I think he needs a bit more than medicine." She gestured towards her own eyes, and he nodded, a frown on his face.
"I noticed it already. But using that in here would just cause panic. I'll send him down to the inn with Noa once your fight starts." Shera sighed a little at that, but nodded. Meanwhile, Vahn was looking at his hands, flexing them slowly. Shera patted his shoulder to get his attention.
"Don't worry about it, Vahn. Just make sure you get some rest, alright?" Vahn blinked and nodded slowly. Shera stood up and walked back to where she left her spear just as the second fight was ending. The referee came over to speak with her instead of immediately starting the next fight.
"Your friend, is he alright?" Shera glanced up at the man as she did a touch-check on her armor, and turned her head to look at where Vahn and the others were. THey hadn't left yet, mostly because Shera's fight hadn't started yet.
"At the moment? No. But he shouldn't stay that way for too long, and it shouldn't affect him permanently. He'd be already getting healed if not for the fact that we don't want to cause a panic in such a crowded space." Shera adjusted her right arm so that the man would realize she was talking about using Seru magic. The man glanced at Mule before nodding.
"Alright. That's a relief. I've seen folk retire because of a hit like that, and you folk aren't just fighting for the coin." Shera offered him a smile, and he backed up to walk to the center of the ring. "Ladies and gentlemen! Here we are, at the last fight of the semi-finals! Are you ready?!" The crowd roared, and Shera rolled her shoulders. "First up, you've seen her live up to her title several times already! Shera, Queen of the Ring!" Shera ducked under the ropes and climbed up into the ring calmly, walking to a corner and leaning against the post there, spear in one hand. "And her opponent! You've seen him many times, a regular of the tournaments here in Sol! Sain!" Sain climbed into the ring as well, a look of worry just barely covered by a veneer of confidence. As Shera watched, he steeled himself before meeting her gaze.
He was scared. Maybe not of her, exactly, but of having to face her. He didn't know how much trouble he was actually in, facing her when he had already done something to make her angry. She had been picked over Vahn as the prized student of their mutual teacher. Not that either of them had told anyone that here in Sol.
As the referee started to hype the crowd up further, Shera pushed off the post she was leaning on, adjusting her grip on her spear. Both of them used the same weapon, so it was bound to be an interesting fight. There weren't too many tournament fighters that used a spear, so Sain would be less used to fighting someone who used a spear than someone who used even two swords, like Vahn. On the other hand, he probably had more experience with the weapon.
"And...begin!" Shera smirked at the start of the fight, and stepped forwards, spinning her spear around to face him, pinning the haft between her arm and side. She felt the surge of adrenaline as the crowd roared for her. It was very different from a fight in the Mist. There was no desperation here.
Sain jumped on the offense, which suited Shera just fine. Deflecting his attacks took less energy attacking back. The longer she wore him out, the more energy she would have for the fight afterwards. He wasn't pushing her back, just swinging at her as if he could overpower her. She'd felt harder strikes sparring with Vahn, and more recently, fighting Gaza.
The only time she jumped back was when the shattering of wood made the referee call a pause. Shera looked at the two pieces of broken spear in her hands, and tossed them to either side with a shrug. She'd known the spear was going to break sooner or later, having it break now wouldn't shake her any.
"Are you willing to continue?"Shera glanced at the referee, and nodded before taking a deep breath and sliding into the stance that Tetsu had drilled into her when she was young. It was identical to the one Vahn used, and she could hear that the crowd recognized that. "Right. And...go!" Now, Shera moved to be on the offensive. Where Vahn had taken a while to get through Sain's defenses, Shera was past the danger area lightning quick, and striking at Sain's exposed arms.
Sain had to use his legs to get her to back off, though he was wincing with each swing of his spear now. Shera had struck the exact muscles that she knew were used primarily for using the spear hard enough to bruise. She knew, and Sain knew, that the fight had just been decided, but it sounded like most of the crowd didn't know it yet. The smile on Shera's face as she stalked forwards was enough for Sain to grit his teeth and glare at her. Which she preferred to his flirtatious looks.
Shera didn't bother slapping aside a strike Sain threw at her, she just caught the haft with her right hand, stopping it dead. Sain tried to move it out of her grip, but it still didn't budge. Shera held it as she stepped forwards and kicked Sain's legs out from under him, then pressed the butt of his spear against his chest to make sure he stayed put.
There was silence for a moment, and then the crowd roared again. The referee had to wait several minutes before he could be heard again. Shera didn't mind waiting, though Sain was starting to look impatient before the roaring ended.
"The Queen of the Ring is the winner!" Shera let go of Sain's spear, and he dropped it, not expecting her to let go. Shera moved to her corner, leaning against it as the referee helped Sain up. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled as she saw Gala leaning on the ropes next to her.
"It's not like you to play with an opponent," he said under the noise of the crowd. Shera shrugged, folding her arms in front of her. "That wasn't just because he's been annoying you for more than a week, was it." Shera smirked a little, her eyes on Sain as he slid out of the ring without using his arms.
"Maybe, maybe not." To be honest, she wasn't sure why her anger at Sain had spiked so much when Vahn had gotten hurt. She'd never gotten so protective of him when he'd gotten hurt training back at Rim Elm. But she knew Gala. He acted serious and dutiful, but on occasion he made a comment that reminded her that even he had a sense of humor. And he was like a brother to her, by now.
Shera's last opponent climbed into the ring, a pair of wooden swords like the ones Vahn had been using attached to his sides. Shera lifted an eyebrow at that, and carefully stretched her wrists, making sure that the feeling didn't go beyond a stretch. Already she could feel the burn in her muscles from fighting. She hadn't gotten hurt enough to warrant any healing, so the burn was stronger than most of the days that Shera had been traveling, if not by much. This wasn't going to be an easy fight.
"Here it is, folks, the fight you've been waiting for! The finals of this tournament! The Queen of the Ring, Shera, versus the Lone Wolf, Lucretius!" Shera lifted an eyebrow at the name. "Who will win?! I certainly don't know!"
The man nodded to Shera in acknowledgement, doing the same exercises to stretch his wrists that Shera had been doing not long ago. He looked like his last fight hadn't been as easy as he had expected, a bruise forming around his right eye already. He didn't have his arms bared the way Sain had, so he already seemed smarter than Shera's last opponent.
The two of them walked to the center of the ring. Shera was already reaching for the peace that would help her stay ahead of Lucretius's swords. The crowd was already yelling loudly enough that the ref had to wait to start the fight. The three of them could hear each other, though.
"I get the feeling no one is going to dare use 'fight like a girl' as an insult after this," Lucretius joked with a small smile. Shera shrugged at that with a small smile of her own. "I was rooting for you in that last fight; Sain can be an ass at times and needed getting taken down a peg or four." That got Shera to snort.
"I'd been looking forwards to that all week, actually. You should have seen the look on his face when it was announced that I was in the same bracket as him." Lucretius snorted, a brief grin crossing his face. "Maybe now he'll realize that armor isn't just for stopping killing blows." Shera couldn't say that she had as much armor as most of the other fighters, but she did have a Ra-Seru partner that more than made up for it. "Also, please tell me that you picked your name for the ring and not the one your parents gave you." Lucretius snorted at that, but didn't have the time to answer.
"Heeeerrrrrre weeeee goooo!" Shera rolled her eyes at the referee's dramatics, but took a couple of steps back to slide into her fighting stance. She caught Lucretius rolling his eyes as well, and he settled his swords in his hands. He used a different fighting style than Vahn did, which made Shera frown, but she'd already been planning on taking this fight seriously anyhow.
The referee dropped his hand and jumped back to get out of the way. Lucretius didn't bother waiting for Shera to move, he immediately swung his wooden swords at her, one after the other. Shera managed to duck under one and sidestep the other, pacing around Lucretius with a headache starting to grow from how hard she'd grabbed at the ability she had learned while in the Biron Monastery of Drake Kingdom.
Immediately, she could feel that she had the disadvantage. With Sain, he'd only had one weapon, and she had been remarkably familiar with the ways of using it. Lucretius had two swords, a type of weapon she actually wasn't familiar with despite Vahn using it, and used a style she hadn't seen before.
What was worse, Lucretius seemed to notice the same thing. He kept pushing Shera to be defensive, keeping her dodging his attacks as they came too fast for her to slide past. While he was wearing Shera out, though, she was figuring out his techniques.
She spotted an opening finally, and slipped through the pattern to land a flurry of blows on him, focusing on his right side, because he was already starting to have trouble seeing through his right eye. In order to get her to back off, Lucretius headbutted her, and they both staggered. Shera wasn't bleeding, but she did hold a hand to where their heads had collided. Lucretius, however, had gotten cut by her crown a little, and had a thin trickle of blood sliding down his face.
They stared at each other for a moment, and then grinned, amused. Shera would have laughed, but she was out of breath still from dodging for so long. Lucretius didn't stop long enough to let her catch it.
Shera managed to keep dodging, but she missed the leg swipe that he used until she was flat on her back with the tip of a wooden sword at her throat. She gave an out-of-breath chuckle at that and lifted her hands in surrender, panting hard.
"And the winner is...Lone Wolf Lucretius!" Lucretius helped Shera up, holding both of his swords in one hand. The crowd roared, and Shera shook his hand before moving to where Gala was waiting for her and sliding out of the ring. Her legs just about gave out on her as she stood up again, but Gala supported her until she could stand on her own again.
"I guess it's good to know that even we can get worn out," Gala joked. Shera nodded and let him lead the way through the crowd to her little preparation area. She didn't miss all the admiring looks that she was getting. They weren't for her body anymore, they were for her skill.
"I'm gonna sleep so hard tonight, I just know it." Shera sat with a grunt, and started to take off her armor so she could stretch properly. "And at least that old spear got to go out with a bang," she joked. Gala snorted at that and stood against the wall next to her.
"I'm guessing you're going to want to train against Vahn more often," Gala murmured, just loud enough for her to hear. "Even if he doesn't use the same style. It might not be a bad idea for us to start going through unarmed katas in the morning, either. You looked just a little rusty when Sain broke your spear." Shera shrugged, and winced at the pop it caused in her back.
"I certainly didn't feel it. Though I need to work on keeping my footing while dodging." Shera looked up as one of the casino employees walked up, carefully stretching her shoulders out.
"If you want to go get some rest and come back to find out your winnings tomorrow, you can. They're not going to get announced until the final bracket is done." Shera grimaced a bit at that but nodded.
"I'll do that. Thank you for telling me. I think if I stayed until the last bracket, I'd fall asleep." The casino worker chuckled at that, and moved on to the next person that was waiting for that news. Shera stuck a hand up for Gala to help her to her feet, and grunted as she straightened her back.
"I'll carry your stuff. Good thing the casino isn't too far from the inn." Shera muttered under her breath that there were still stairs involved, and waded through the crowd to the exit.
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"Let's see...well, between the two of us, we definitely have enough tokens for eight loaves of Soru bread." Shera leaned on the casino counter, looking over the scraps of paper that the casino worker on duty at that counter had written down their token counts on. "Barely." Shera looked slightly disappointed at how few tokens they'd gotten.
"Good thing that's all we needed, then." Shera sighed at that and nodded, running her fingers through her bangs. "Probably would have gotten more if I'd kept my footing." Vahn rolled his eyes at Shera.
"You can stop kicking yourself for that anytime you want," he drawled, and looked up at the worker. "How long will we have to wait for a large order? I know plenty of the fighters rely on the casino for their food, so we don't want to be the reason someone goes hungry." The woman blinked at the consideration for others, and thought for a moment.
"Tomorrow, likely. I'll make a note to let the bakery know we'll need eight more loaves than usual. That work for you?" Both of them nodded, and she smiled widely. "Great! Anything else I can help you with?" Shera and Vahn exchanged glances for a moment.
"Nah, I think that's about it. Thank you, though." Vahn gave the woman a polite smile and pushed off the counter. "Come on, Shera, let's go see if Noa and Gala are up yet."
Shera also offered the casino worker a smile before following Vahn out of the casino, wincing a little at the noise of the machines. She sighed and stretched her arms over her head once they were out on the main walk, grunting a little as her back and shoulders popped.
"Should have stretched more," Vahn teased her, and turned to walk down the stairs to the inn. He held onto the handrail, not trusting his balance just yet.
"Probably. But we were the first ones up and we wanted to know how many tokens we got. Should we go get the seedling today so we don't have to hike all the way to the roof tomorrow?" Shera hummed a little as she followed Vahn, rubbing at the back of her neck.
"Probably. Maybe we can have Gala do that? I'm still feeling pretty stiff, and your balance is a bit off yet." Shera saw Vahn's shoulders tense a little at that. "I'm not blaming you for it at all. Hey, if Noa's up, why don't we have her heal you again, see if that helps your balance." Vahn sighed at that, but it wasn't an exasperated one.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Good morning." The two of them reached the inn and stepped into it, Shera staying by Vahn's side to rescue him from tipping too far in any direction. The innkeeper looked up to smile at them, setting out two breakfasts.
"Good morning. I'm still rather surprised by how early the two of you got up today. I'd have thought you two would stay asleep for a great deal longer than usual." Shera shrugged and made sure that Vahn was sitting before moving to the other placement and plopping down.
"I pulled a muscle in my back, that's why I woke up." The innkeeper winced a little at that and glanced at the door as Gala stepped out, his short hair standing in every direction possible. "Morning, Gala." He waved, looking grumpy, and walked over to half lay on the table, pressing his forehead against the wood.
"You look worse than I do," Vahn commented, poking his eggs with a spoon. "Is Noa dreaming loudly again?" Gala nodded, not lifting his face from the table. "Huh. Wonder what she's dreaming of." Shera and Gala both shrugged, and Shera sipped at her tea.
"If any of you want to take a bath, I can get one for you, by the by. All of you look like you could use a little pampering, between that fight with Gaza and the tournament." Gala lifted his head to blink at the innkeeper as she brought another breakfast out for him.
"I think that may be a good idea, for all of us," Gala slurred. "It'd be nice to take another several days to be sure we're up to heading down to Warrior's Square, but I think we've spent more than enough time waiting here in Sol." Shera nodded in agreement.
"Alright, I'll go start getting a bath ready for whoever finishes breakfast first." The innkeeper left, and then came back to set down another breakfast for Noa when she got up, then went back into one of the unused rooms. Shera picked at her food, but she was the first one to finish eating, so she went to see what the innkeeper was doing.
"Already done eating? Wow, you eat quickly." The innkeeper smiled and straightened from where she was kneeling by the tub. "There's a few other tubs here, so you won't need to worry about getting out too soon. There's some bath salts, if you'd like, as well. They should help with your bruises." Shera blinked at that.
"I see. Thank you." The innkeeper nodded and left, making sure that she set a clean towel within reach of the tub. Shera double-checked that the door was securely closed before she got undressed. She'd been the first up and had made sure to change before Vahn was up for a reason. She was covered in bruises.
She hissed a little as she sank into the hot water, and slowly relaxed, feeling her muscles slowly relax from where they had cramped up already. She eyed the little bucket of bath salts, then reached a dripping hand out and scooped some into the water. The salts were supposed to speed up healing, and that was what she needed.
She closed her eyes and sighed as she felt the heat sink into her bones, and lifted her right arm to look at Mule, a small smile on her face. He was gleaming brighter than he had been for a while.
"You missed soaking in water too, didn't you?" She spoke softly enough that anyone passing by the door wouldn't overhear. "I can't believe I keep forgetting how much better I feel when I'm around water, after spending so much time away from large bodies of it. It must be worse for you." Mule gleamed softly.
"It is a relief, though this tub isn't really big enough for either of us. When we see the ocean again, we should take a swim." Shera chuckled in response to Mule's suggestion, and stretched slowly, wincing. "Why haven't you told Vahn how much you got injured?" That got a heavy sigh, and Shera sunk in the water up to her chin.
"Because he's busy making sure that he gets healed up, too. It's thanks to Noa that his brain didn't get scrambled badly because of that injury Sain gave him. I don't want him to worry about me when he has to focus on getting his own recovery completed. As it is, I keep feeling that we should wait a little longer before we head down to the square." Shera reached down to her left leg and ran her fingers over her scar there. "We don't want to be caught unprepared. That fight with Gaza is still in my mind. And we don't know what Songi is up to." Mule sighed, his light flickering a little with it.
"I know. And the four of you will so often put the needs of others ahead of your own. I suppose that is why you make such excellent heroes." Shera frowned at that, and lifted her arm to look at Mule's form again. "But perhaps the time you four have spent here in Sol has been for the best. People have learned that you all are yet human. You can be hurt, get frustrated, be beaten. You never spent long enough in a single place besides your homes for people to learn such things before. Here, perhaps, you will be remembered as people, as humans, rather than figures of legends." Shera frowned deeply at that, waving her hand in the water to feel the currents.
"I don't think any of us have even bothered to think about that. Does it really matter what the future thinks of us, so long as it exists? Would it even exist if we hadn't begun to awaken the genesis trees? Or would it still exist, just without the majority of humans?" She sighed again. "We've seen people look at us with such hope in their eyes. It makes me uncomfortable. I travel and fight because of the people with me, not because of them. But if I tell anyone that, they'll think less of me. I'm not as altruistic as Vahn is." Mule hummed encouragingly.
"Stories are bound to forget about the selfish motivations heroes have to keep themselves going. Noa travels so that she may learn about her parents, and Gala because he was cast out. Over time, they have grown to regard you much the same as you regard them. The four of you have become family of a sort. There is no shame in fighting to protect your family." Shera closed her eyes and carefully leaned forwards to test how much flexibility she'd gotten back.
"And yet what others think of me is able to get under my skin so easily. In Octam, we were largely kept away from the average person. Ratayu, as well. We spent time with soldiers, not with the people. Here, in Sol...There are no soldiers, from what I've seen. Warriors, yes, but no soldiers. People here rely entirely on the Mist being unable to climb the stairs, they only care for fighting when it's done to entertain. They don't even know what it's like to live in the Mist itself, to breathe it everyday, and feel it seep into them. Even the people of Vidna were at least aware of some of the dangers they faced when the fans failed." Mule hummed, and Shera could feel him wash away the worst of her anxiety.
"It is true, they don't know many of the things that you survived. Soldiers are, indeed, able to understand what you have gone through than common folk are. They know the struggles of carrying the hope of people unable to fight. It is sensible that you seek out the company of those who are able to understand. So please, worry less about such things." Shera sighed and sunk into the water more, until her nose was just out of the water. She stared morosely at the place the water's edge met the tub.
Mule made a lot of sense, but part of her couldn't help but begrudge how much sense he actually made. Maybe that was the part that still bore the taint the Mist left on those that grew up with it. Or maybe she was just being stubborn in her misery. Mei had accused her of that more than once, when they were young, and Shera was just starting to get used to Rim Elm.
"Don't forget that the others will lend you a shoulder, if you need it," Mule said softly. "I know that I have given you the confidence to stand on your own, but..." Shera sighed through her nose as Mule trailed off. She pulled out of the water just enough to whisper without the water pouring into her mouth.
"Mule, could you...leave me to my thoughts for a while?" The Ra-Seru hummed an affirmative and his light faded. The touch of his consciousness moved away from Shera's a little, giving her the mental space she craved.
That was what had been bothering her. She hadn't been able to get enough privacy the entire time that they had been in Sol. She wasn't exactly suited to cities. Or at least, not a city where you couldn't go to the outskirts without worrying about getting killed.
Shera sighed and started to stretch again, carefully mapping where her discomfort lay. The bath was certainly helping her a great deal, and while she couldn't say that the salts did anything for her aches and pains, the smell did get her to relax a little more than the regular old hot water would. She wasn't sure about how her bruises were doing, it was a little hard to tell with the water's surface rippling so much.
After what was maybe an hour, Shera washed her hair and got out of the bath, drying herself off carefully. She stretched again, and then took stock of her bruises. The bath salts had definitely done something, the bruises were starting to fade a great deal, and her flexibility was better than it had been that morning.
"Just to be on the safe side... Mule, do you think you could help me with summoning an Orb?" She felt Mule hum, and the Seru appeared for a moment. Shera sighed as she felt the healing coolness of its power as it healed the tears inside her muscles.
Once she was dry, Shera noticed that she had forgotten something, and planted her face in her hand. She sighed and twisted her hair up off of her back and tied it in place with piece of rope. She then wrapped her towel around her and poked her head out of the room, blushing. Thankfully, neither of the guys were around to see her, though the innkeeper noticed her.
"Did you forget to grab some clothing," the woman asked with a soft smile. Shera nodded, blushing even more. "I'll go and grab you some. Would you like me to brush and braid your hair as well?" Shera nodded, and the innkeeper bustled off. Shera sighed and closed the door again.
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End Notes: This chapter feels a lot like filler to me, but it does wrap up a few subplots quite nicely. I enjoyed writing the fight scene between Shera and Sain. Also, for those that are wondering, Sain is a nod to one of my favorite characters from the first Fire Emblem game to come to the states. He's not a main character there, but he's still pretty amusing to me.