Ivory
Alone.
In silence a young girl knelt, few rays of sunlight cascading down upon her, breaking through the otherwise dim room. Her lips were parted in breath, but no words were uttered.
She dreaded this part of the ritual.
In fact, she dreaded every part of the ritual.
This part, however, scared her.
For in this segment of the ritual she was separated from the rest of the village, given time to herself, left to her thoughts.
Time to really think her decision through.
And she was scared to go back on it. She didn't want time to think. She wanted to get this over and done with as soon as possible.
The silence was hostile, threatening even. It was trying to tell her to go back on everything and end this ritual right then and there. End the torment.
You could get killed, it said.
Just be a village healer, it said.
She closed her eyes in an attempt to shut out any more encroaching thoughts.
No, she thought, I want to do this! I want this more than anything!
Opening her eyes, she looked up to one of the windows; her icy blue eyes, and platinum hair shining bright within the small bit of light.
How much longer will this take?
As she began to feel like she was about to lose it, the door opened and a group of elders entered the room. They were followed by a younger couple who gazed at the girl kneeling. Both had varying degrees of worry written across their faces. Like the girl, everyone was wearing colorful and warm clothing.
The girl looked at the couple and gave them a small smile before turning to the elders with eyes wide; curious, nervous, awaiting their words.
The one in the center, an elderly woman, stepped forward. She stared down at the young woman. Her voice was brittle, but contained authority.
"Ivory Noaldi. We have given you plenty of time. Are you still—"
"Yes," said Ivory, interrupting her superior with a light voice heightened by absolute certainty and determination.
The elder stared at the girl, narrowing her eyes, searching her soul for any hint of doubt.
Ivory saw her wrinkled features relax. She smiled.
The room fell silent for only a moment. One of the elders, a man with a long beard, spoke next, his voice gravelly, "We will now begin the rite of oaths. With these you will promise not only us, but the spirits as well, to commit your life to this village. Are you ready?"
Ivory's smile vanished. "I...I am, Patriarch Redwood."
"Then we shall begin."
The girl took a deep breath, trying to keep it together. Gritting her teeth, flexing her outstretched fingers. She was ready.
"Do you swear to uphold the values of the village while you are away?"
"I do."
"Do you swear never to quit your training?"
"I do."
"Do you swear to keep in touch with the spirits?"
"I do."
"Do you swear to return to this village after your training is complete?"
"I...I do."
"And finally, do you swear a greater loyalty to your village, and to cut ties with your future team once you are finished with your training?"
She felt her teeth automatically clench. Her eyes closed.
Apparently she waited a bit too long. "Miss Noaldi‒"
"Yes, I do."
The elders glanced at each other, then back to the girl.
The woman in the center spoke next, "Now, Miss Noaldi, you are aware of what occurs if one were to violate the oaths taken?"
Opening her eyes again, she looked straight at the Matriarch. "I am. I shall forever be banished from the Reilu and my connection to the spirits will be automatically severed."
"Correct," the old woman offered a gentle smile to the young girl, "I am sure you will become a wonderful huntress for our village."
Ivory gazed down at her knees. "Yes, Matriarch Delft. O-of course."
"To finish off the ritual, we will give you a bracelet; made of soft reindeer leather, broidered with pewter wire and a button made of reindeer antlers."
She looked up at the Matriarch as she pulled the bracelet from her robe and continued speaking, "This bracelet serves as a reminder of the oaths you swore today so you shall never forget your promise. Ivory Noaldi, please hold out your left hand."
Another deep breath. The girl nodded and held out her pale, slender hand.
Leaning forward, Matriarch Delft slipped the bracelet onto Ivory's wrist, letting it slide a bit before stopping halfway down her forearm.
The Matriarch smiled at the girl. "Congratulations, Ivory. You have just started on the path toward becoming a huntress. Make sure you do well in your studies."
Ivory absentmindedly nodded, not hearing what the older woman was saying.
Instead her ice blue eyes stayed on the bracelet, staring at it with what looked to be despair.
Despair and loneliness.
Present Day
Soft reindeer leather, pewter wire, and reindeer antlers.
A pity for that animal to die just so I can be enslaved by oaths.
Ice blue eyes stared at the bracelet wrapped around the young woman's pale wrist as she thought of its purpose. Its divine purpose.
Divinely rotten and cruel.
And yet she has no intention of breaking it. She had seen what happens when someone did.
Poor Ms. Delft...
"Excuse me, Miss Ivory...is everything alright?"
Ivory's head snapped up at the sound of her name bringing her back to the now. She found herself at a market stall in downtown Mistral. One she frequently visits for groceries.
She glanced at the market stall owner. "Oh!" She exclaimed, chuckling before tucking some of her short, pale blonde hair behind her ear, "Sorry! Uh, yeah...yeah, I'm fine. Just got lost in my thoughts. The usual thing." She explained, giving her normal smile: wide and bright.
The man behind the stall nodded. "Of course, I get that all the time, and my husband hates me for it!"
Another chuckle. "Yeah, sorry again. Anyway," she said, looking at the bag in her left hand to see a red fruit inside, "Tomatoes, right! So, how much for this amount?"
"Oh no, you already paid. That bad of a space out, huh?"
Blinking, Ivory saw the lien in the man's hand. "Oh...heh, guess so." She put the bag of tomatoes in one of the larger bags she was carrying with her right hand, then shifted a few of those over to her left, "Well, I better get going. My teammates can get riled up when I am late cooking dinner."
"Okay. Tell Teala I said hi!"
As the young woman turned to walk away, the tassels of her red pelerine twirling with her, she turned her head back and nodded. "Of course!"
Continuing on her way, she suddenly froze in her tracks as she nearly bumped into someone. She took a step back to apologize. "Oh, sorry!"
The man she almost ran into towered over her, though given her height, that wasn't much of an accomplishment. He wore flowy robes along with a coat and sash covered in patterns she's only seen on people from Vacuo.
He wasn't smiling. Instead the rouge eyes he carried stared at her. His hand rested on the pommels of dual swords held within a scabbard.
She offered a smile.
He replied by walking away.
Ivory tilted her head as she watched him leave. She wondered if he disliked her tribe. There were plenty of those around Mistral.
"Hm...strange guy. Weird clothes, too."
Continuing her walk, she realized that she was one to talk about clothing. Her own clothes were modeled after that of her village.
A white fur coat with red and brown lining the buttons, which went down her sternum. This lining was also found around the high collar of her coat with little bits of white fur poking out the top as well as down her sleeves from her shoulders. These ended at just after the elbow in red cuffs where a single brown line cut off what would be a perfect reunion.
A red and brown belt was wrapped around her waist, letting some of the fur surround her hips before there came a blue skirt that went just below her knees with red lining the bottom. For leggings she wore dark blue pants and white fur boots. A red ribbon was tied around her wrist for accessory.
In addition, she wore the strap of her weapon Maderakka, which looked to be a plain splitting axe, across her body. It dangled behind her with every step.
Admittedly, at Haven it wasn't too big of a deal. Everyone wore their unique clothing unless it was class time. Then they wore the standard uniform.
At the thought of class, she sighed.
That's right! The school year is coming soon. More classes, more boring studies. At least I'll finally be able to meet Teala's brother!
She smiled at that, knowing how much her teammate talked about her little brother.
"Stop, thief!"
Her head picked up at the shout, looking towards the source to see a man running through the marketplace with a bag in hand, being chased by another man
They were running towards the intersection she was at. Knowing what was going on, she smirked and she held a leg out.
The thief laughed, peering over his shoulder as he was getting away with the stolen goods. "Hah! Catch me if you can, you‒wah!"
Suddenly he tripped over something and slammed against the ground, his bag opening to let dust crystals tumble out across the floor.
"What the fu…" he trailed off as he pushed himself up to his knees and looked over his shoulder to see what tripped him.
A young woman gently laid down some grocery bags to the side. She turned around and waved at him with a grin.
"Guilty as charged!" She shrugged.
The store owner caught up and bent over to regain some breath. "Got you! Thanks, young lady."
Ivory curtsied. "My pleasure!"
Glancing between the two, the thief grabbed the bag and stumbled back onto his feet, reaching into his jacket to pull from it a revolver. The crowd around them gasped as he aimed it towards the store owner and Ivory.
"This is mine! You hear me?!"
Ivory frowned. "Well that's just stealing."
"Shut up!" The man jabbed the gun in her direction before aiming it at the store owner then back at Ivory.
She seemed to whisper something.
"What was that?" He asked with the gun shaking in his grip.
"It's me." A silky smooth voice spoke in his ear, causing him to jump and aim the gun at the person next to him.
Only to find no one there.
His eyes wide, he turned back to‒
The thief's wrist was seized and lifted quick enough for him to react too slow as he shot a bullet into the air. His arm was then twisted, earning a grunt in pain from him, before he felt himself be pulled into an elbow, bashing his face.
The force was so great he let go of the gun to reach for his head, nursing it as he looked ahead to who did that.
The young woman was already walking away from him while flicking the cylinder of the revolver open and tapping the back of it to let the remaining bullets fall harmlessly to the floor in a short burst of clinks.
She then spun the cylinder, slapped it shut, tossed it up and grabbed it by the barrel before turning around.
She smiled at the thief and chucked it on a nearby rooftop.
"Now how about we call it a day? I got dinner to cook."
The thief growled, clutching the bag closer to his chest as he reached behind his back and pulled from it a kukri, a weapon with an inwardly curved blade. "You won't be making it to your kids, bitch!"
Ivory put a hand to her chest. "Aw you think I'm a mother. I'm flattered, but no. It's my teammates. For you see..."
She trailed off as she reached over her shoulder and looped the strap of her weapon from around her body, holding the axe in both hands: one wrapped around the handle, the other gripping the metal belly of the haft. The metal looked like it was a guard against blades, used to block so that the wood around it wouldn't chip.
She then pulled the belly of the haft out slightly and down as a barrel emerged from the top of the axe head, she racked what was now the pump of a shotgun, her finger nearing a trigger that flicked out of the grip.
"I'm a huntress-in-training."
The thief glanced between the weapon in her hands and her.
Instead of doing the smart thing, he tried to surprise her by charging at the girl while swinging his kukri at her head.
She ducked under and used the pommel of the axe to hit his back. He shouted in pain, then turned around and watched as she walked to the other side of their little arena while pressing something near the head of the axe. A slab of metal emerged from the back of the head to make it look like a hammer was on the other end.
"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear," she smiled, "Drop your weapon and surrender, please. Consider this your final warning." She shouldered her weapon and tilted her head.
"In your dreams!" He said as he went in for another swing towards her body.
Ivory merely sidestepped, flicked a karambit blade from the pommel of the axe, and sliced at his wrist.
The thief yelped and dropped the kukri to nurse his wound, the weapon clattering against the floor.
Facing away from him, she kicked at the backside of his leg, forcing him onto a knee.
She pivoted on her heel, hooked the hammer's underside around his head and pulled the trigger of her gun.
Bang!
The recoil behind the gun propelled his head back into her waiting outstretched knee, connecting with a large thunk!
He was knocked unconscious almost immediately.
The crowd surrounding cheered for the huntress' victory.
Lifting the axe, barrel pointed to the sky, she racked the gun. A shell shot out from the ejector to clack against the floor at the same time as the thief's incapacitated form.
Pushing the pump back into the haft, the barrel and trigger retreated into the weapon along with the karambit blade. She pressed a button near the head of the axe to make the hammer pull back in.
Throwing the strap across her body, Ivory crouched down and picked up the dust crystals. Once all were collected within the thief's bag, she stood up and held them out to the store owner with a smile.
"Thank you!" The store owner graciously accepted the bag back and bowed to her, which she returned.
"It was a pleasure! It's nice to take out a criminal every once in a while."
"Please let me pay you!"
She waved a hand off. "No need. Why should you pay me for doing something the authorities do? The fun was all I needed."
The store owner nodded. "Thank you-uh...what's your name?"
She walked over to the grocery bags and picked them up while flashing a bright smile. "My name is Ivory Noaldi. From Team NUIT."
"Thank you, Miss Noaldi! Please stop by my shop whenever. I'll give you a discount!"
She chuckled as she walked past him. "I accept the generous offer. I'll try to come by when I can. Now, if you don't mind, it's getting pretty late." She said, looking at the sun as it descended close to the horizon.
"Of course. Again, thank you, Miss Noaldi."
"Again, my pleasure!" Ivory exclaimed before exiting the marketplace.
Once she was a few steps away, she glanced to her right. "Thanks, Maize."
"You're welcome, dear Ivory." The silky smooth voice returned as what looked to be white smoke suddenly came together to form the transparent figure of a woman, smiling at the young woman. "I was a bit worried for your safety there."
"Don't be. He was a small-time criminal, plain and simple. He knew nothing of actual combat."
"True, but one slip up, and‒"
"And we aren't having this conversation. I appreciate your concern, but everything turned out fine."
"Alright. I guess my work is done, then. Bye, Ivory."
"See ya, Maizy."
The woman's figure dissipated into smoke, leaving the girl on her own.
Ivory rolled her shoulders as the strain of the groceries' weight began to hurt a bit. She wished that someone could help her carry these back.
Teala and Umbra are probably already back from their hunt. And no doubt Noche is‒
She stopped as something caught her eye.
A bunch of unconscious bodies surrounding a couple of people. One of them a short woman, the other a tall, hooded man.
The man looked very familiar to her.
"Noche?"
A/N: For any who have stuck through the hiatus, I thank you. Things have been tough for us all, so I hope this can help you through stressful times. One more chapter to go before we move on to the next team of huntsmen, and then we are on to the main story. I hope that you guys enjoy what you read! If you want to see the art that would've been with this piece, then check out the Archive of Our Own version!