Disclaimer:I don't own Velgarth, nor the concept of Heralds, Companions, etc etc. I do own Kamaria, Alain, and all related characters, however!
Muse responsible: Krathnae!
You know the drill. :Mindspeech: thoughts
And yup, there's some ballet in this chapter.
Oh! Guess what?
I GET TO SEE RIVERDANCE LIVE!!!!!!! It was a birthday present and I CAN'T WAIT!!!
Kamaria strolled into Weapons class the next day, only to find the floor covered wall-to-wall with soft mats, a strange woman talking to a flutist by one of the mirrors, and Weaponsmaster Rhi chatting animatedly with Sivan and Garethe. "Shoes off!" called Rhi, without even bothering to turn around.
Bemusedly, Kamaria removed her shoes and set them by the wall, standing uncertainly on the mat. There were a few other Trainees here-Maverick, the Bardic Trainee, Mandel, and Tara, who were all looking rather uncertain as well.
Soon the rest of the class filed in-and the looks of confusion were now repeated on every face. At last, Rhi turned away from his conversation and beamed at his class. "My larks, we are going to spend a month and a half on acrobatics! Hopefully, those of you who are...clumsy shall become more graceful, those of you who need it will build up body strength, and all of you shall learn better body-control. This is Wren."
The strange woman-who, Kamaria now saw, was rather short-stepped up to Rhi's side and nodded amiably. "Wren is a tumbler," continued Rhi, "And an acrobat. Questions?"
Kamaria raised her hand. "Chantrea," called Rhi. "Yes?"
"Er..." said Kamaria, "Why are Lords Garethe and Sivan here?"
Sivan's mouth twitched to hear his sister referring to him as "Lord." Garethe kept his expression still, but said, "To learn, Trainee. As you are all here for."
"Oh," said Kamaria.
Wren cleared her throat and said, "Who can dance other than those Court partner-dances? Jigs, reels, and so on?"
Three raised their hands-Tara, a Blue Kamaria didn't know, and-
:What are you doing here?: said Kamaria, startled, as Alain raised his hand.
:Tumbling. If you'll be observant for once, O Lady, you shall find not only your year-group, but other Trainees in age from fourteen to sixteen,: said Alain, impishly. Kamaria rolled her eyes.
"Forward," ordered Wren. "You." She pointed at the Blue. "Name."
"Tarana, milady," said the Blue, ducking her head.
"Not 'milady,'" corrected the woman, "Call me Wren. It's my name. What can you do? That isn't a Valdemaran name, is it?"
"I'm with the Rethwellan delegation," said the Blue, respectfully, "My parents put me in schooling because-well, I need something to do."
"Hmm. What dance do you do?" said Wren, pacing forward a few steps, around Tarana, and looking the girl up and down.
"Four-four time," said the Blue, "Slow. I-there isn't a translation in Valdemaran-we call it ballet."
"I've heard of it," said Wren, amiably, "Go."
She waved her hand at the flutist, who began a slow, wandering melody. Tarana took a breath or two, then began to dance.
The rest of the class watched interestedly as she extended a leg behind her, bending forward slightly, arms curved gently, and then broke the pose to go spinning and leaping across the mats. She paused at the other end of the salle for a few more...well, poses was the only thing Kamaria could think of to call them-extending a leg and pointing the toe, bringing her foot up as high as her head, and so on.
Wren cut her off after another series of jumps and pointed to Alain. "You. Name, what you dance, the timing."
"Alain, six-eight, and-well, I'm of the merchant Clans. LaFiara-"
"Owl?" said Wren, interestedly. "There was a Fox in my troupe once. Do you do the same jigs?"
"Not quite the same," said Alain, "But yes, it has mostly the same form."
Wren waved her hand at the flutist again, and the flutist began a new song-beginning with a long trill, then descending into a fast, intricate melody. Alain blinked a few times in surprise, then began his own dance.
This dance was extremely quick, and was obviously difficult. Alain traveled forward and backward, side to side, his footwork complex.
Wren let Alain go on for slightly longer, but stopped him in the middle of a song. "Wonderful control," she said, "You. Name."
"Tara," said Tara, quietly. Wren raised an eyebrow. "Tara, Tarana," she muttered, "How am I supposed to tell you apart-no matter. What do you do, Tara?"
Tara didn't answer, however-instead, she raised her arms above her head, took a preliminary few steps, and tumbled forward, springing off her hands and spinning in the air-
Most of the Trainees jaws dropped as Tara flipped and cartwheeled, somersaulting and tumbling through the air. She stopped at last in front of Wren, holding her hands above her head and breathing hard. "My mother was an acrobat," she said, between breaths, "She settled with my father on our farm, and taught me everything I know-I only had a few years to go before mastering tumbling when I got Chosen."
Wren looked impressed. "Well, a lot of this will be review, but I can probably teach you a few things. Stagger lines, face the mirror!" she barked, and Kamaria's class hurried to obey.
Wren began with stretches, and then toe touches, then push-ups, then stomach-strengthening exercises. Kamaria was panting by the end of them, and was glad she had already been in Weapons for months-she never would have been able to do this before!
It was rather annoying that Wren wasn't even sweating, actually. Neither was Rhi, who-to everyone's surprise-was participating, or Sivan. Garethe was not taking part, instead chatting with the flutist at the side of the room.
"We'll begin with different types of leaps and jumps," said Wren, "Before you can do what Tara did, you need to know how to jump."
And so they began-running different ways, learning different types of leaps, and working on the arms to go with them. Next came long periods of jumping up and down, with the feet in different positions, and at the last, tentative forward and backward somersaults.
By now, all the Trainees were sweat-soaked, and even Wren was breathing hard. "You'll do," she said, "Go take hot baths. I'll see you tomorrow."
Alain and Kamaria gravitated towards each other as they put on their boots and left the salle, leaning upon one another. "I hurt," said Kamaria, as Alain wrapped an arm over her shoulders and she brought hers around his waist.
"Me too," said Alain, as they began to walk slowly from the salle.
There were about a dozen Companions waiting outside; they divided and went to their respective Chosen as the other Heraldic-Trainees staggered out. Ramya and Sitara flanked Kamaria and Alain, allowing their Chosen to put their free arms over their backs as they stumbled away.
:Tomorrow's going to be worse,: said Sitara, sympathetically. I am so glad I'm not designed for acrobatics!:
:You've got the advanced obstacle-course tomorrow as well, both of you,: Ramya chimed in, :Right after Weapons.:
"I bet they planned this," muttered Alain, sourly. "Just when we hurt the most..."
"Wonder if we'll last?" mused Kamaria. "Has anyone ever died of sore muscles?"
:Not that we know of,: said Sitara, cheerfully.
"How can you be so cheerful?" said Alain, glaring at his lifebonded's Companion. "Kamaria, link her in with you for a minute."
Kamaria reached for Sitara's mind and twisted, making her Companion aware of all that was going on in her body-
:Ow,: said Sitara, after a moment, pulling out. :All right...enough with that, then.:
"Yes, quite enough with that," said Kamaria, too tired even to roll her eyes.
The girl's bathing room was packed. All of them were moaning about Wren, except for Tara, who was marginally better off, and a girl a few years younger than Kamaria called Ronni who had escaped, due to having fractured her ankle. Kamaria had been lucky enough to get there a few minutes before everyone else, somehow, and was stretched out in a tub all to herself.
Some of the less lucky ones were sharing a tub, though by now no one much cared as long as they had some hot water to call their own. Too soon, the bell for dinner rang, to a groan in unison from all the girls in the tubs, and Kamaria had to haul herself reluctantly from the tub.
Dressed in her sleeping-clothes and a robe, Kamaria flopped down opposite Alain at their usual table and reached up behind herself to twist her wet hair out of the way. Alain nodded at her tiredly from the opposite side of the table. "I see you got a soak," he said.
"I was lucky enough to get a tub to myself..." Kamaria replied, slumping in her seat, "Some people had to share."
"Hah. Everyone was doubled on our side," said Alain, enviously. "Lucky. Of course, knowing you, you probably tactically and strategically fought off a bunch of other girls with half a towel and three bars of soap to win your lonely soak..."
Kamaria considered this image for a moment, and giggled slightly. "Not quite how it happened...I got there a little early, somehow, and took one of the corner tubs, so I was mostly overlooked."
"At least we don't have work tonight," said Alain, with another sigh. Kamaria nodded vehemently. "I finished it all my free period after lunch, thank the gods."
"Huh. And here I was with no work whatsoever," Alain teased, "Ah, the free period...blissful unawareness of Weapons...wandering around Companion's Field with Ramya as you slaved away in the Library..."
Kamaria kicked him as the Trainees on serving-duty began bringing out the dishes.
The table filled, as tables will when hungry, exhausted teenagers detect even the faintest aroma of food. The chatter was subdued that night, though, as the Trainees busied themselves with eating and hurried off-presumably for another soak, or the Library, or perhaps to see their Companions.
"Going to soak again?" said Alain, glancing up at Kamaria.
Kamaria's mouth was full at that moment, so she opened their connection and replied, :No, I don't think so...I think I'll try to beg a massage off Tara or Maerie, and use that bruise-ointment stuff Mother gave me for Midwinter.:
:A massage sounds good,: said Alain in the same way, :But you don't have to beg one...I'll trade you a massage for some of that ointment.:
:That doesn't seem enough!: said Kamaria, surprised, :How about... trade a massage for another massage, ointment for some help in Mathematics?:
:Done,: said Alain, immediately. :Best not let the ladies know about this-: a picture of Ramya and Sitara flashed through their connection-:They'll tease us for hours on the various meanings of "massage.":
Kamaria winced. "You're probably right," she sighed, aloud this time.
They finished their meal soon enough, but paused as both stood. "Er...your room or mine?" said Kamaria, "At the risk of sounding odd?"
"Doesn't sound odd to me," replied Alain, loyally, "Yours. It's probably cleaner."
Kamaria thought for a moment. "Yes, I suppose it is..."
They hadn't counted on the other girls in the girl's wing, however, on their way to Kamaria's room. A few suggestions were tossed at them by some of the more mischievous girls, and the older Trainees simply smirked at them.
"You first?" said Kamaria, opening the door. "I can wait for a while."
"Best leave the door open," said Alain, mock-sighing, "Or Havens know what that crew will think up."
Kamaria propped the door open with one of her boots, pointedly, and shrugged off her dressing-robe. Alain was sitting in the chair. Opening her mouth, then thinking better of saying what she wanted to aloud-especially with a few girls just within earshot of the door-said, :Shirt off, lie on the bed. I'll find the ointment for when your turn's up.:
Alain didn't argue, merely followed Kamaria's orders and stretched out on the bed as Kamaria rummaged in a drawer and found the ointment in its little jar. Kneeling on the bed beside her lifebonded, Kamaria began to knead his shoulders, leaving their mindlink in place. They didn't speak, but Kamaria found the more tension she massaged from Alain's back, the more relaxed she became...
Someone was beside her in the bed, breathing quietly and slowly in the rhythm of sleep. Kamaria blinked awake, and found that the candle had been snuffed, the door closed, and a blanket thrown over herself and Alain, who had an arm over her. Wonder who that was... she thought to herself, hazily, Alain, maybe...
Of course, that didn't explain why he was still beside her...
Giving up the fight against exhaustion, Kamaria fell back to sleep, unconsciously snuggling closer to Alain.
Aww, cuteness. OK, a few reviewer-responses now, since I skipped last chapter! (Bad Fireblade!)
Myuu-Foxgirl: Yes, it took me a month. –growl- Got ANY idea how hard it is to write a Midwinter fic in the middle of SUMMER? Don't say any more on that. Ooh, and fanart? AWESOME! Show me as soon as they're done!
Herald Kayla: Claddaghs are awesome indeed! Glad I won you over! And no, Garethe didn't kill the Evil Earl. The Earl was sentenced to mucking out stables and now caring for the young Companions, who really aren't happy about him kidnapping and attempting to severely injure someone's Chosen. Nope, Garethe just threatened him. –chuckle-
Everyone else: I still love you, but these are the only two that really needed responses! Until next time!
-Fireblade K'Chona