Raya was sitting on the floor of her guest room with her legs crossed and her back against the side of the bed. Her fingers tapped rapidly on the carpet as she stared down at the dragon necklace in the palm of her other hand. Her face hardened, and she drew back her arm, aiming at the wall. She held this position for a moment, then sighed, deflating as she gently set the pendant on the floor.

There was a knock at the door and Raya stood up, quickly shoving the necklace into her pocket. She cracked the door, opening it all the way when she saw it was Sisu in the hallway.

Sisu walked into the room, jumping lightly onto the bed. She settled in and stared silently at Raya for long enough to make her start fidgeting.

"Was there something you needed?" Raya finally asked.

"I just saw Namaari in the courtyard," Sisu said, absently tapping at the bedpost with one of her talons. "She almost ripped a training dummy in half with her bare hands. So, I'm going to assume you haven't talked to her yet."

Raya's hand automatically went to the necklace in her pocket, her entire body tense as she shook her head.

Sisu watched Raya for a few seconds, sighing when she didn't say anything else. "Aren't you and Chief Benja leaving soon? You really need to talk to her before then."

"No, I really don't," Raya said, crossing her arms.

Sisu held her talons together and gestured at Raya. "Remember this whole thing from yesterday? You still need to sort that out. I know Namaari messed up, but she's trying."

"And why should I care?" Raya asked. She kept her voice low, hoping Sisu wouldn't hear it shaking.

Sisu rose from the bed, moving to place her talons on Raya's shoulders. "I know she hurt you. But that was a long time ago. Are you going to stay angry about that your whole life?"

"Yes, I am." Raya scowled and stepped away from Sisu's grasp. "It's not like I don't have a good reason to feel this way."

"That's not the way to move forward. You know that, Raya. Or at least I thought you did. I thought you understood that when you gave Namaari your Dragon Gem piece. Or did you just forget about all that?"

"Did you forget about the part where she shot you with a crossbow?" Raya snapped back.

Sisu let out a heavy sigh. "Every nation has a million reasons to keep hating each other and to keep fighting," she said, her voice quiet but firm. "But we've all decided that we want to set that aside to try to build a better world. Where do you think your place in that will be if you decide to hold onto this instead?" Raya opened her mouth to protest but Sisu held up a talon to stop her. "I'm not saying that you should forgive Namaari without her earning it. But you need to at least give her the chance to try. Because that's the way forward."

Raya glared at Sisu, who stared back at her with just as much intensity. Then Raya scoffed and sat down on the bed, fixing her eyes on the floor.

Sisu made a frustrated noise. "Fine," she said as she moved toward the door to leave. "You can pout about it as much as you like, but you need to talk to Namaari."

Raya winced as the door slammed closed behind Sisu. She took the necklace out of her pocket, biting her lip as she stared down at it. A moment later she sighed and got up to head for the door as well.

Raya hovered at the edge of the courtyard, half hidden behind one of the pillars that lined its eastern edge. Namaari was on the far side of the courtyard near a series of training dummies, one of which she was currently slashing to pieces with her swords. She had her back to Raya and didn't seem to have noticed her yet. Raya winced as Namaari's sword sliced the head off the dummy, sending it spinning across the cobblestones several feet away.

Namaari paused with her swords raised, breathing heavily. She slowly lowered her hands, sheathed her swords, and walked over to where the wooden head had landed. Bending down to pick up the dummy head, she spun it around in her hands, then frowned. "Are you going to try to hide there forever or was there something you wanted?" she asked, turning to look exactly where Raya was standing.

Raya sighed, rubbing the back of her neck as she stepped out from behind the pillar. "I should've guessed you knew I was here."

Namaari's eyes narrowed as she looked at Raya. Then she stood up and walked over to the pile of destroyed training dummies at the edge of the courtyard, tossing the head on top of the mess. "Was there something you wanted?" she asked again, her voice carefully neutral.

"I'm…. uh, you—" Raya stopped, her mind fumbling for the right words. Namaari just stared blankly at her, which only made her more flustered. "Do you want to spar?" she finally asked.

Namaari studied Raya's face silently for a few seconds before speaking. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Ah, come on, don't you want to hit me one last time before I leave?" Raya said, wincing as soon as the words were out of her mouth.

Namaari's face didn't change, but she turned away and walked over to a nearby table. She grabbed a cloth from the table, drew one of her swords, and began to polish it.

"I mean, I would like to hit you—no, wait, that's not right. That's not what I meant." Raya said, raising her hands to try to signal that she didn't mean any harm.

Namaari tossed the cloth back onto the table and sheathed her sword but didn't look at Raya.

"Okay. Let me try one more time." Raya let out a deep breath, brushing back the hair that had fallen in her face. She walked over to Namaari, who froze when she saw Raya approaching her. Raya reached into her pocket and pulled out the dragon necklace. She took one of Namaari's hands, setting the necklace in her palm and using both of her hands to gently close Namaari's fingers over it. "What I'm trying to say is that my father and I are going to leave soon. I'd like to spar with you one last time. Since we probably won't see each other again for a while. And, well, no one at home can keep up with me like you can." Raya's eyes moved to Namaari's face and waited until their eyes met. Then she grinned. "Unless you're too worried I'd beat you this time."

Namaari watched Raya for a long moment, then a sly smile slowly spread across her face. "If you insist, dep la. I'm not going to go easy on you, though."

"I'd be disappointed if you did."

Namaari turned to set the necklace on the table and they both moved toward the weapon rack next to the training dummies. They each took a spear from the rack and moved to stand several strides apart in the center of the courtyard. Raya gripped her weapon with both hands, watching the blade of Namaari's spear while she spun it idly by her side.

Then Namaari feinted to Raya's right, changing directions at the last moment to swing the blunt end of her spear toward Raya's leg. Raya blocked it easily and swung the blade of her spear toward Namaari's shoulder. Namaari held her spear vertically to parry the blow and shoved, sending Raya staggering back several steps.

The air between them seemed to roil and crackle with energy but Raya barely had time to register this before Namaari was moving in again. Namaari lunged forward with the blade of her spear and Raya reacted instinctively, catching the blow with her own blade.

There was a blinding flash of blue light and Raya felt herself launched backwards. She got a brief glimpse of the bright, blue sky above her before her body slammed into the ground, knocking the air out of her. Then her head connected with the cobblestones and everything went black.