Three weeks later, Ty's life progressed as it always had—except that lone day. That one day that had triggered it all.
Ty had been having a bad day—but it was about to get worse. She had gotten up rather late and had had another little problem—its name was Kehel and it did not want to wake that morning. She had, after three minutes of trying to talk him out of bed, taken to a better idea—she had launched his water basin, in its totality, over his head. One could say cold water did not top his list of favorite things in the morning.
After rushing him out of his bedclothes and into shirt and breeches—something he complained greatly about and didn't get a choice in, seeing as she told him quite fervently and threateningly that if he did not want her to see him bare he could wake himself up in the goddess's cursed morning and not leave it to her.
Thus she bathed in a great hurry, no longer caring whether he saw her or not. Once again—as happened every morning—he refused to watch or to jump in the bath-tub and she had dragged him in fully clothed—though now she was developing a good deal of muscle over it, seeing as he weighed a much more than she and was not a one to move when told, obedience vow be damned.
Then she had told him to wait for her in the Mess and had run to get their things in their rooms. Sabi had greeted her and she did every morning, taking her things with a kind smile and rushing her back through the door so she wouldn't be late in getting Kehel's things into his rooms. So she had sprinted into the Mess and been on time—the only good thing about a terrible day—and joined the pack for breakfast.
Otian had begun the morning with a whole bunch of bad jokes until it was he laughing and the rest begging for mercy. Then he had decided to being on jokes that were less than flattering to ladies—and Ty's short patience begun to wane.
"Oh, I've got one!" he said gleefully. "What do women and the King's Own have in common?"
"What?" Terry said eagerly. Kehel watched Ty warily, as if expecting a bomb to go off in the room.
"That after midnight, no one listens to 'em anymore!" Otian said triumphantly as the pack burst into laugher—or most of the pack did. Ty was turning more and more red, and Kehel was becoming rather nervous. The fact that he knew why this was getting to her told him exactly how bad the explosion would go off—if and when it did.
"Oh, and what do you call a woman pregnant with a girl?" Otian continued, turning a blind eye to Kehel's mute attempts to make him cease the comedy show before it triggered Ty's infamous temper. "The perfect cleaning kit!"
Ty slammed her cutlery down on the table, making all the others jump. Otian noticed her color and paled. He seemed confused, but also to have some sort of understanding as to Ty's present lack of patience.
"Do you know, then," she said quietly, her eyes locked on her silverware, "why the Gods made men first and women second?"
The pack shook their heads. Kehel seemed to realize that they were in for something unpleasant, however.
"Because experiments," she purred in her warning purr that signaled she was very angry, "are made on rats first and humans later."
No one laughed. They all looked too startled to speak. This suited Ty just fine. Rising from her seat, she said, calmly though menacingly, "Otian, I will have no more jokes like that or so help me I will hang you from the nearest tree. Practice courts, in ten minutes, cubs. Your Tehea is in a very active mood, and you will feel it if anyone will. I warn you not to test my temper."
She walked calmly and placed her almost-full tray of food on the clearing rack, taking a roll and a bit of water for her canteen, then walked out of the Mess and headed for the Practice Courts. Taking up her staff, she dropped it straight back into the rack. She needed to practice hand combat and wind herself before she knocked the stuffing out of anyone, which was not recommendable.
Terry walked in. He looked concerned. "Tehea," he said quietly but firmly, the authoritative tone of his training, "what is wrong? We were just making fun, I don't see why you take this so to chest."
Ty sighed. Terry, her warm and caring cub, always willing to place himself in the line of fire of her temper to make her feel better. She owed him better than the load of screaming welling up inside her. She forced herself to be calm.
"Terry, I am feline more than you will understand or have already come to terms with. With felines, the female leads the pack. Insulting the leader of the pack burns in your blood. I simply couldn't take it."
Terry sighed, then gave her a one-armed hug. "Its okay, Tehea," he said. "We wont pick on not a single more Tehea no more, honest. I will warn the lads to avoid it, if it pleases you." She smiled at him.
As he let go of her and turned to head back to the Mess, she said, "Stallion, grant me a dance?"
Turning, he raised an inquiring eyebrow. He didn't understand, blast him, she realized. She took the stand for hand-to-hand combat, ready for high block.
Whispering a slight "ah", he came forward and took his place. Just as she was about to begin, Mel, Kehel and Leej came in, looking rather worried and keeping their distance. She smiled to them that she was okay, and they sighed with relief. Terry signaled he would explain later.
"What are you doing with our boy Terry, Tehea?" Mel asked, charming and smiling as ever.
"I'm going to have a round with him," she said, resuming her stance. Leej laughed.
"All right boys," he said. "Say your goodbyes to our Tehea. She's as good as in the dirt now."
"Our Ty?" Mel asked, outraged. "Now, listen Leej: Terry may be the Stallion, but if anyone can beat my Tehea's speed I will gladly bathe in the mud, and you know how I am about being clean."
"Loyalty appreciated, my blonde cub," Ty said to Mel, nodding to him and then to Terry, blocking his high strike. As they continued the dance, the boys made bets on how long either boy would last. By ten minutes both had dropped the dance and had come to full-out combat. Both were sweating heavily and each applying their personal skills: Ty's being speed and flexibility, Terry's being tricks and strength of weight.
Ty decided she was going to use feminine strengths to win now, seeing as Terry had had his little fun off tricks. Diving under a high strike, she went down to feline three paws on ground and one on elbow. Spinning and leaving all her weight on her head, now on the floor, she spun so that her feet whirred past his face, then pushed herself quickly to her elbows and taking his feet from under him. Terry was not a one to fall easily, however. Leaping up, she made for the ceiling, holding on to a log of wood right above her opponent.
As he shouted something or other and Mel and Leej gasped, Kehel cheered. Taking it to heart, she dove down on Terry, landing on his shoulders and driving a knee right to his back. He groaned as he fell to the ground, then grabbed her with strong arms and threw her off him.
As she went flying, he stretched out an arm and grabbed hers about an inch from the wall and threw her to the ceiling…
Very, very dumb move.
She struck the ceiling with skill and then dropped lightly to the ground, landing on bent knees but still somewhat standing, her arm between her knees and back bent. As his jaw dropped, she straightened and bared her hands to clawed fists.
"A feline like me," she said maliciously, "lands upright."
Leaping up, she drove her knee into Terry's windpipe and he landed with a thump on his back. She raised an eyebrow.
"Learned anything from your Tehea?" she asked him.
"Oh yes," he chocked, smiling tightly. "Beware him on bad days, for he cheats and has a thing for the ceiling."
Ty's already fragile temper pulsed, and she pressed a black-nailed hand into his windpipe, making his smile vanish.
"Just because," she growled, "my tricks are different from yours does not mean I cheat, Stallion. Challenge my honor one more time and a gasp will be all the breath you'll get. The Tehea schools his cubs into obedience."
As he nodded, she released him and stood, then struck out a hand to help him up. He took it gratefully as she looked him over. Bad bruising, nothing broken or sprained, just a bad muscle-ache to come, she noted in herself as well as her cub. As she walked calmly over to her pack behind him, she heard him muttering about wanting lilies for his funeral.
"Who's next?" she asked the group. Otian approached from a corner.
"I made my Tehea mad, and I will pay for it," he said tightly. He seemed to have realized it had been he who had started her temper, and he didn't want anyone else to have to pay for it. Terry looked at him as if he were mad as he drew up with the group and looked fixedly at Ty.
"You're a dead man, Otian," Terry gasped to him. "It was fun knowing you." The other boys set about remaking the bets. Just as Otian drew up with Ty and opened his mouth to speak, the other pages walked in, followed by the Weed.
The group rushed to their practice positions. Ty placed a hand briefly on Otian's shoulder before proceeding to her place. Otian's face displayed a hesitant smile. She smiled back at him, then took her place on the lines.
Practice was a catastrophe. Many pages tried to get to Ty with insults, trying her temper further. She drove three into the wall opposite and received a week's armor polishing duty for it. Growling, she ran to her rooms to get her books and was consequently late to her lesson, getting her a bit more work than she could handle—worst yet, it was counts. Again. Kehel offered to do it for her, but the mere unfair thought of it pulsed in her veins.
During lunch, one of the squires collided with Ty and thus dumped her full of veggies. Though he apologized over an over, it did no good for Ty, and she swallowed her food hurriedly before rushing to bathe. Kehel followed her, guarding the door to the Bathing House as she scrubbed furiously, scraping her skin raw. They were both late to the next lesson.
And so it went on, and on, and on. Ty was close to emotional collapse, her nails having carved a tight trail in her hands from her digging them into her palms to stop herself from punching every page who called her something or other. By dinner, they bled freely and her temper was at the breaking point.
Then the gang hit.