During the week that Zera had secured for him to recover, Pyrus began taking lessons in meditation and relaxation techniques from both Zuma and Zera. Also he'd begun to do research into his planet's history; most specifically the ancient fighting arts and legends. However, that wasn't what was bothering him at the moment. At this very moment Pyrus was concentrating on someone rather than something: that someone was Zera.
[By the Inferno, what would have happened to me if she hadn't helped me?] Pyrus wondered as he opened up a new viewer to read about some old story about Fire Warriors
"Morning Prince, how are you?" Graveheart asked from the doorway
"Better, thanks to Zuma and Zera" he replied and went to speak to his friend
"Ember has been raising his ire around Zera lately; he's still a bit sore on both counts" Graveheart said
"Well if he touches her, he's stripped of his rank and protection and Cryos can throw him from the highest mountain" Pyrus had been told of Ember being increasingly hostile towards Zera lately
"You're taking this a lot more personally than I might have guessed" Graveheart intoned
"She saved my life and the reputation and the hope of Planet Fire and its people. I don't think I can ever repay that kind of action" Pyrus sighed and leaned on a chair
"Just make sure she never has to do it again" Graveheart replied and left the young Prince to his own devices.
Pyrus sat back down and began researching the ancient technique he'd heard of in some of the older scriptures: The Blaze; an inhabitant of planet Fire can channel the fire of their body into a single place like their fist of foot. The Blaze is an extension of that: the fire is concentrated so hard that it flows from every part of the body and could even be fired over a short distance. Pyrus assumed the actual event was less dramatic than its name sounded, but he found it fascinating none the less.
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Ember was sitting at the council table while Femur and Cryos 'discussed' the trade quotas between their two planets while Jade watched the Vizier very closely: while she was adamant that what Pyrus had done was the very height of stupidity, with his age and all that was expected of him they had to allow for some margin for error.
[He's been actin' edgy all day] Jade thought
"Excuse me, I have business to attend to" Ember said and got up to leave; he steamrolled right past Femur
"Hmmm, I wonder what got him in a bad mood" Femur said and chuckled
"Seein you toad would be enough for me" Jade spoke before she realised how her words sounded
"Awwww, you do care" the reptilian emperor jumped up on the table and smirked lewdly at Jade; Cryos just rubbed his temple in frustration.
Before Jade could grab him by his frill; Femur jumped back, but something fell from his pocket and floated to the table in front of Jade. So confronting was the image, though not in a bad sense, Jade stopped moving for well over a minute to simply take in the image. It was the photo Femur had taken of Pyrus and Zera when they were asleep in Zera's room. While hardly an obscene image, it could still cause both their people some tension. Jade had to admit it did look kind of cute: Zera had shuffled up and was lying on Pyrus's chest and Pyrus's arm was around her waist.
[By the crown of Mantle, if Cryos or Ember saw this they'd raise the roof] she thought
"Jade, what is that?" Cryos asked, seeing it would be a few minutes before Femur would stop giggling
"Just an old photo I had, must have fell out of my pocket" Jade said and hurriedly grabbed it and put in her armour
Femur just smiled a small smile: neither an arrogant smirk nor a lewd grin, just a smile; like the one given to a fellow conspirator. Once the meeting was adjourned for lunch, Jade (unwillingly) sought out Femur. She found him trying to unsuccessfully chat up one of Cryos's female servants. After saving the poor girl from Femur's less than charming charms, she demanded an answer
"Why have you got that photo, or more to the point, why does it exist?" Jade hissed
"I don't see the problem toots, why should you?" Femur asked, genuinely bewildered
"Their elders will go insane if they see this" Jade was incredulous to Femur's attitude
"They are old enough for that kind of relationship if they want it; so don't have a fissure" Femur brushed her off and drank something
"Look Jade, if you ask me this Alliance is working, but its hard yards for Pyrus, he's still young while we're all adults. If being with Zera makes him happy then let it be" Femur, in a rare moment of maturity, defended his young friend
Jade could only stand in stunned silence as Femur went to resume his talks with Cryos over the trade quotas and for once in her life of knowing him, Jade thought 4 words she never imagined thinking 'The toad is right'. With these life-altering words said, however quietly, Jade left to speak with Zera.
"If I'm gonna ask her, it'll be to her face" she muttered
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Zera was practicing her staff combat in a training simulator against soldiers of the various worlds (all holograms of course), the hardest to beat were Fire soldiers. Bone's troops were powerful but they weren't very smart and a few well placed blows would disable their smart suit and then they went down quick. More subtle methods were required to beat Ice soldiers and Quariors: using nanites to stop them from moving and quick fewjabs to the head and lower body were enough to do them in. Fire soldiers on the other hand were harder
"Grrr, stay down" Zera growled as she battered the Fire soldier hologram again and nailed him with a strike to the temple with the pointed end of the pike. Had the soldier been real, he would have died
"Your pike work has improved" Jade commented from the door
"Thanks to you in no small part" Zera said
"Zera, there is something of a personal matter I need to ask you about" Jade, ever the blunt one, said
"Oh?" Zera was getting nervous
Jade handed Zera the photograph that fell from Femur's pocket. There was a long silence as Zero drank in every detail of the photo and its possible implications should it fall into less sympathetic hands than Jade's or her own. Zera put on a brave face and looked straight at Jade.
"What of it?" she asked
"Zera, this could damage everyone involved, including your father" Jade tried to appeal to her love of Cryos
"This was a private moment between me and someone I care about-" Zera clamped her hands over her mouth as soon as the last four words were spoken
"Ah, I see" Jade had her suspicions about this since Zera let Pyrus stay in her room when she found him almost overdosed on drugs
"What do you see?" Zera was confused
"You know what I mean" the rock woman replied and left the room
"Wait, who took the damn photo?" a frustrated Zera cried out and ran after Jade; but she was gone.
In his training hall, Pyrus was concentrating, hard. He was willing his internal fires to flare up and appear all over his body. He was attempting a Blaze, according to ancient scriptures it could be attained one of two ways: a life time of fighting training or a single event that caused enough emotional flow to trigger it naturally. He felt a tiny jolt in his stomach but then it was gone again and he fell to the ground
"Damn it" he cursed silently and picked up his pike to resume his drills
"Hey kid, you're getting handy with that big stick" Femur's lite-hearted voice filled the room
"Hi Femur, how're you doing?" Pyrus asked
"Well, and no offence, in regards as to my health, a bit better than you, but as for luck with the ladies, you've got me beat" Femur's trademark grin appeared on his reptilian face
"Excuse me?" Pyrus's heart began to beat very fast
"Come on kid, you don't need to play innocent with me: I saw you two all cosy last week" Femur was still grinning, wider than normal if such a thing were possible
"Look Femur, nothing happened…" Pyrus assured him, although Femur thought he could sense, apprehension in that statement
"I know that, jeez, I'm not that dense Pyrus. I'm just saying your track record with women, such that it is, is far better than mine" Femur chuckled
"Oh boy, how many people know these details?" he asked; fearing the wrath of Cryos
"Only myself, and the other obvious parties" he grinned and patted his chest pocket
Femur's eyes snapped wide open: the photo was gone. Quickly re-establishing his calm façade for Pyrus's sake, he went over this morning's events and realised that the photo must have fallen out when he leapt over to Jade's side of the table earlier today and fallen out. This meant that they were in serious trouble.
"Femur, you okay?" Pyrus asked
"Yeah kid, fine, listen, I'll leave you be for a while, let you digest this information as it were" he said and backed out of the room
Femur was glad that Pyrus was a little too wrapped up in how to explain this to anyone who may know about it. Of course now it was highly possible that this was indeed the case so he very carefully backtracked all his steps to places that he could have dropped the photograph. Just as Femur turned a corner, he ran into Jade, literally.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't give this to Cryos" she threatened and held the offending photograph that Femur was looking for in front of him
"Oh thank the Heart, oh man I thought someone else had it" Femur lowered his heart rate and breath rate
"I'm waiting" Jade barked
"I don't care who you share it with, but then again its nothing to do with me" Femur said and walked away
[DAMN IT, that's the second time today that toad has been right] Jade wasn't having a good day
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Pyrus was again walking around the Ice Palace, although now he was much better than the last time he took the particular route. Gulping and praying in his head, Pyrus knocked on the door nervously. Soon, a soft voice wafted from the other side.
"Come in" Zera called
"You know I could be anyone" Pyrus said with a grin as he came in
"But you aren't anyone, you're Pyrus" Zera replied
"What if it wasn't me?" Pyrus asked
"I'd beat the living crap out of you with my pike" she replied in a sweet voice
"Oh, is that so?" Pyrus challenged
"That is so, young prince" Zera retorted, her eyes dancing with fire and her mouth curled upwards in a smirk
"Care to make good on that?" Pyrus extended his pike with challenge in his eyes
"With pleasure lava-head" Zera said and brought her own pike out
"Here, sure you don't want to mess up your bedroom?" Pyrus asked for levity
"In the 10 seconds it will take me to knock you out, I won't even scuff the carpet" Zera cried and leapt forward
Pyrus blocked the strike easily and smirked at the female Ice being. Zera's eyes twinkled and she tried for a low strike but Pyrus just used a low block to parry the move. Zera pushed herself off and took a guard position: clearly the meditation training had helped Pyrus. Zera decided to up the ante and closed her pike. Pyrus, sensing the challenge; also closed and discarded his pike.
"Think you can handle me?" he asked smugly
"If I can handle Jade, then you're not a problem" Zera said and launched into a furious barrage of punches, using all four of her arms
"Well, this is, far more, challenging" Pyrus grunted as he blocked the punches and retaliated with a few kicks to get Zera to back off
One powerful kick was all Pyrus needed to get Zera to a more manageable distance and with one powerful move, Pyrus kicked Zera's legs out from under her then with a little less power kicked her across the face. Zera blocked the face kick but its power was enough to send her sprawling backwards. Still dazed, Pyrus jumped on top of Zera and pinned her, only then did he really notice they were on her bed.
"Do you yield?" he asked
"No way" Zera hissed
"Well, this bed is comfortable so I can lay here as long as I need to before you surrender" Pyrus boasted with a grin
[Wanna bet hot stuff] Zera went red when she realised she thought that in a very different context
"Zera, is my flame reflecting off you or are you embarrassed?" Pyrus teased
"I'll show you" Zera muttered
Pyrus had become accustomed to surprises over the many months of the Alliance. Beast Drone attacks, War Councils and other assorted shocks of being a ruler. However none of these prepared him for what happened next. Zera leaned up and kissed Pyrus softly. His grip relaxed and Zera's arms were free: he half expected her to knock him flat but instead they snaked their way up his back. Although just so Pyrus knew who was in charge, Zera flipped them over so she was on top of him. The kiss then broke.
"You scared the hell out of me last week, I thought I'd lost you" Zera said
"I nearly lost myself. I never imagined I'd mean that much to you, I'm sorry" Pyrus replied, stroking her cheek
"Well you do, stupid matchstick" Zera said and laid down beside him again
"Zera, do you know that there is evidence of our close relationship in the possession of Femur?" Pyrus asked
"What, but I though Jade had the photo?" Zera said
"OH CRAP" they both yelled in unison