Disclaimer : I know I don't need to do one, but I don't care. Misty's work ain't mine. Kapeesh?
Muse responsible : Our handsome Krathnae!
First, a brief note to a reviewer, because I have the review near me now. Others will be at the end, as per usual!
Cat McDougall : Glad you like Kenan! I like 'im too. Ever notice how many of my characters' names begin with K, though? It's crazy! The non-spacing of words is actually fault, something in the uploading, I think. The only other slip-up I noticed was something small but significant (aka it bothers me); I refer to Kenan's practice sword as metal, and then suddenly it's wood. Yarg. But the chapter's been re-uploaded with that small change in place, so no worries! And I think it's nice not to have the best swordsman as Weaponsmaster too. Rhi's better at all-around things, Kenan specializes in swordwork, so that's not very good. Plus, he works his students really, really hard. Though Kamaria's not seeming to notice. : P
And yes, Companions MUST tease their Trainees well and often!
Randomized ramblings of the day : I just meandered over to deletrius, and some of these Sues are so incredibly bad I growled aloud, reached for sporks, and sometimes had to hum "One hundred bottles of Bleeprin on the wall" for reassurance.
Eep. Sorry this got delayed-I had semester finals, and then real life got in the way, and-and-sorry!
But if you want something else to read while I slave away, go read my new HP fic "Eagle's Sight." I've worked bloody hard on it, and I want reviews! XD
Sorry about the odd spacing with the Mindspeech. I'm trying to get to accept it without deleting my question marks. –rolls eyes-
Aaaand, it deleted my question marks anyway, so I'll have to remove the final colon from a few. You can infer from the italics, I guess! And the grammar is wrong in places. Ignore it. Ignore it, I say!
thoughts : Mindspeech :
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Days passed, turning slowly into weeks as Kamaria and her year-mates went through daily Gift-training, an end to the acrobatics unit as Wren departed, and the tattered remains of winter slowly wore away. Garethe returned, Lady Amaya in tow, and questioning to find her poisoner continued.
This morning, the sun was highlighting the light gilding of frost on the grass as Kamaria trudged to breakfast, yawning.
A white, four-legged figure slipped into place beside her, barely more than an apparition in the early-morning fog. To Kamaria's mild surprise, however, it was Ramya, rather than Sitara.
:How was foal-watch? asked the tall mare, sympathetically, as Kamaria yawned again.
"Terrible," she said, "The mare-she's unpartnered, her name's Reta-is expecting twins. She's due this week, so I was up all night."
:Poor thing.: replied Ramya, sympathetically, though it was unclear whether she was referring to Kamaria or Reta. :Did you get any false alarms? Reta's been a bit nervous since she found out she's carrying twins.:
Kamaria groaned. "Don't remind me. Four false alarms. Four. I almost had a heart attack the last one-I'd been dozing, and I was dreaming something about a battle with bandits, or something. I woke up and thought it was real, except it was Sitara who was expecting in the middle of the battle…anyway, we got everything cleared up."
Ramya sighed in sympathy and nudged Kamaria with her nose. : Go take a bath, then eat something.: she said, : Do you get to go to bed, or is today one of the days when you don't get to?
Kamaria groaned again. "I get Equitation first, then Gift-training, then Weapons," she said, "Then History in the afternoon, after which I fully intend to collapse."
Ramya winced in sympathy. :You'll get days like this once in a while: she said, :I don't believe they actually mean it to happen, but they allow it to because you need to learn how to keep going even when you're exhausted. They'll make allowances, though.:
"But I was only Chosen a few months ago!" cried Kamaria as she reached the fence and ducked under it, "Why now?"
Ramya shrugged, indicating that she didn't really know. :Why not?
Kamaria grumbled as she meandered up to her bath and soaked for a while, after which she sat down at the breakfast table and began to eat. Alain looked at her from his usual seat across from her, and tilted his head. "Foal-watch?" he said, sympathetically.
Kamaria nodded, her mouth full. Alain sighed. "And a full day ahead of you, too," he said, "You could always hide…"
His lifebonded stared at him, forgetting to swallow. At last, she managed to and said, "What?"
"Hide. Skip out. Miss class," said Alain, calmly, helping himself to some more cider.
"Are you insane?" was the only thing Kamaria could think of.
Enigmatically, Alain only raised a hand into the air, fingers folded into a fist, thumb sticking upwards. Kamaria stared in confusion.
"Congratulations, you've passed the test," said a voice from behind her. Herald Kiril, for all he was built like one of the Northern bears, had slipped behind her quietly as Kenan would have moved. "Even after a full night of foal-watch with a nervous mare due in a day or two, you still were aiming to go to your normal classes without any sleep or any thought of skipping."
Kamaria looked up at Kiril, uncomprehending.
"You're honorable," translated Alain, "You won't skip out on your duties even when totally exhausted. Congratulations. Now go to bed."
Bemused, Kamaria followed her lifebonded's orders, collapsed into bed, and slept.
The next day, a rather better-rested Kamaria went from Equitation to Weapons, leaning on Sitara's shoulder. :You'll be happy to know that Reta's dropped.: said the mare as they crossed the lawn leading to the salle, :A colt and a filly, in your human terms.:
"Well, hopefully she'll be busy with them for a while," said Kamaria, with a yawn. The yawn turned into a frown as they neared the salle.
She was the first one there, but why were Rhi and his Companion lying down outside the building?
Her eyes flew wide open as she realized they were hurt. Sitara and the Trainee rushed to the Weaponsmaster's side, with Kamaria dropping down to Rhi.
The Weaponsmaster stared up at her, blearily. "Mud," he said, and seemed not to be able to get another word out.
Kamaria glanced down, and saw mud smeared across Rhi's Companion-who was at last standing, shakily-and several long tracks. "Did you slip?" she said, trying to shift Rhi into a more comfortable position.
:His Companion says they were on a run and took the corner, but he didn't see the mud and slipped. He believes Rhi's hip is broken.: said Sitara, in mental contact with the Weaponsmaster's stallion.
Kamaria hissed between her teeth. "I can't leave you," she said, thinking aloud, "But we need a Healer-"
:Alain! she called, barely thinking.
There was startlement, then- :What?
:Rhi's hurt! Get a Healer-we're by the salle.: said Kamaria, conveying a bundle of information with the message.
There wasn't really a reply, other than a feeling of shock. :On my way.: Alain closed the connection.
Kamaria looked down at Rhi again. His eyes had fluttered closed, and his breathing was shallow. "What am I supposed to do now?" she half-wailed to Sitara.
Sitara was busy keeping Rhi's Companion from panicking, and took a moment to answer. :Keep close watch on his breathing.: she said, :The Healer will be here momentarily.:
Sure enough, Kamaria could hear galloping hoofbeats, and saw Ramya come to a stop several feet away, a Healer and Alain on her back. The Healer, a tall, lean woman with a face like an axe, dropped to her knees beside Rhi, regardless of the mud. Closing her eyes, the green-clad woman scanned him-and her eyes snapped open.
They locked on Kamaria's, and the Heraldic Trainee was surprised to see an intense shade of purple in her eyes. "Well, don't just sit there," she snapped, "His hip's broken fairly badly, but that can wait-it's the snapped rib that's dangerous. Link!"
Startled, Kamaria blindly felt for the Healer's mind, and at last caught it. The Healer pulled in Alain as well, and her power dived into Rhi's chest. Kamaria felt energy draining from her, not fast enough to make her ill, but a measured amount to be used methodically.
Rhi's breathing eased as Kamaria watched, a strange double-vision overlaying her normal one. The Weaponsmaster was laced with light, and so was the grass beneath him…it was a lovely sight, but Kamaria couldn't make head nor tail of it. At last, the Healer released her-making Kamaria slightly dizzy as her vision snapped back to normal-and sagged in tiredness. "He'll live," she said, "The fall broke a rib, but I've got that on the mend. I stabilized his hip, but he needs attention fast-ah."
Two Healer-Trainees, one a boy as tall as the Healer, the other a girl almost a foot shorter, came running up with a stretcher. The Healer looked at them and clicked her tongue. Reaching out a hand, she beckoned imperiously to Alain. "Heraldic Trainee, you help Teyn get the Weaponsmaster onto the stretcher, and all four of you carry that back."
Within moments, the Weaponsmaster had been loaded onto the stretcher and Kamaria and Alain were carrying one end-Rhi was heavy.
Rhi's Companion was dancing worriedly, shying back and forth in nervousness several feet from the stretcher. Sitara and Ramya were expertly keeping him far enough away to not interfere with the carrying process, and the full Healer brought up the rear.
A tall, burly Healer took Kamaria and Alain's end of the stretcher, waving them impatiently away, and the Trainees took the hint, following their Companions back into the Field. "What do we do now?" said Kamaria, at last, as they reached the salle and saw several other confused-looking Trainees milling around outside and in.
:Nessa's gathering a few likely replacements.: said Sitara, unexpectedly, :Rhi doesn't have a Second for two reasons-one, he's fairly young, and two, there isn't anyone else with good enough all-around skill for the post. The Dean's just grabbing anyone with enough skill and an aptitude for teaching, but it'll take a little while longer.:
Kamaria thought this over for a moment, but before she could reply, she was monopolized by Edim, who began questioning her fiercely.
Soon, all the Trainees had the news, and a few figures could be seen approaching the salle, being talked to by an agitated Nessa walking backwards in front of them. Kamaria squinted-the sun was getting bright, but from what she could see, not all were even Heralds-
The group reached the salle and went inside, followed by the Trainees. Nessa turned to the teenagers and clapped her hands together briskly. "This is most inconvenient," she said, "There isn't anyone with good enough all-around skill, so I had to get you several teachers. Herald Kenan-" with a start, Kamaria noticed her Gift-teacher, who winked at her-"Will work with you on swordsmanship. Herald Kyra, who is teaching a class, will help you with archery when she's free. Herald Kiril will work with you on odd weapons, such as javelins and axes. Bard Lale-" a red-clad man bowed flamboyantly-"turns out to be good with spear and staff-work, so don't expect your drills to let up." There was an all-around groan, and Nessa smiled for a moment. "Don't let me keep you," she said, and left the salle.
There was a moment of silence, and Bard Lale stepped forward. "Right, we'll warm you up with staff-work, and then I'll turn you over to the Heralds for a while, then we'll finish up with a bit of spear training. Get your staves."
Within moments, the class was equipped and armed with the staffs, facing each other in two lines. Lale had his own staff, hefting it thoughtfully in his hand before he began giving instructions.
Lale was a hard taskmaster, assigning them a series of intricate moves and keeping them in constant motion for twenty minutes. As soon as he was done, Kenan and Kiril divided the class, Kenan working on swordsmanship, and Kiril on javelin.
Kamaria was set with Kiril at first, and the Herald took them outside to fling the aforesaid javelins at the archery targets. Before they began, he demonstrated-and Kiril's first throw sent the javelin clear through the target, where it stuck half-in, half-out.
His students stared at him, openmouthed. Kiril himself blinked in surprise. "I don't expect you to throw it through the target," he said, hastily, "Aim to go through the target, but you don't need to do it in reality!"
An interesting half-candlemark passed before they were sent on to Kenan. The slender Herald had his special practice sword held loosely in his hand, and waited for them to pick their preferred swords before he began. "All of you are fairly proficient in your best-suited sword styles, yes?" inquired Kenan.
There were nods all around-Rhi had them doing freestyle fairly often these days, a mark of confidence in their skills. "We're not masters, but we're not bad," said
Jakob, after a few minutes of silence.
"Have you fought against Rhi?"
More nods.
"All right," said Kenan, "I'm going to see how your improvisation against an entirely foreign style is. Solo first, then teams. Kamaria, forward."
His Gift-student stepped forward, hefting her practice sword, and set herself. Kenan took his own stance, and said, "Begin."
Kamaria waited for a few moments, until it became obvious Kenan wasn't going to go on the offensive. She struck the first blow, stepping to the side. Kenan blocked, moving only his sword, keeping his eyes on her.
Kamaria lunged in with a flurry of blows, each of which Kenan stopped with almost annoying ease-after which Kenan took the offensive, taking Kamaria totally by surprise.
It was then Kamaria got to really see how odd Kenan's style was. It wasn't exactly that he was incredibly fast, and powerful at the same time-
All right, so that was part of it. But it wasn't just that. Kenan's way of aiming his blows, even his way of parrying were just different enough to throw Kamaria off-track. She tried to compensate, defending herself more than trying to find an opening as she normally would, but before she knew it-
Kenan hit her on the wrist with the "dull" side of his sword, forcing Kamaria to drop it with a yelp. Before she could move, the tip of the Herald's blade was resting at Kamaria's throat. "Yield?"
"I yield!" said Kamaria, hastily.
Kenan removed his blade and bowed formally, before beckoning Jakob forward.
Kamaria watched all of her year-mates get trounced as Kenan determined their skills. It never took very long. Strangely enough, Tara was the one who lasted the longest against Kenan, though she was one of the weakest in ordinary swordwork-of course, it could have been simply that she, as the best in their tumbling class, had the best agility among them.
"All right, you're all fairly skilled," said Kenan, who wasn't even sweating, "Now, I'd like you to pair with someone you're experienced at working with, and put together a strategy for fighting me."
Since their Weapons class had been split, and unevenly at that, there were only seven people in Kamaria's group. Somehow, she didn't get a partner-and ended up standing on the outskirts, feeling slightly sheepish as Edim paired with Tara, Jakob with a Bardic Trainee, and the Artificer with Maverick, the other Bardic Trainee. Kenan raised an eyebrow at Kamaria's state of loneliness, and turned his head. "Kiril! I need another one in here!"
"Hey, you already had them!" said Kiril, protestingly, sticking his head into the salle, "They're mine now!"
The Trainees giggled as the Heralds began to banter lightly, Kenan relying heavily on the fact that Kamaria could hardly be two people at once and that Kiril was unsympathetic, with Kiril maintaining that Kenan was really just greedy and trying to corrupt the students against him. It was rather amusing, the slender, red-haired man mocking the far larger, blond, bearlike man, both of them clearly trying not to laugh.
They continued in said manner for several minutes, until something stopped their debate short-Alain sauntered in, though his Weapons period had been this morning, since he was more advanced, and said, "Ramya heard. Will I do?"
Kenan darted forward and snagged Alain's arm, glaring at Kiril and patting the surprised Trainee possessively. "You don't get this one," he said, evilly, "I'll just monopolize this nice, advanced, interesting student for my class."
Kiril choked. "Hey, that's not fair! Leaving me with the beginners-"
"We both had beginners until now," said Kenan, still smiling evilly, "You'll just have to wait your turn for the advanced students-namely, until tomorrow!"
Alain stared back and forth at the Heralds, completely at a loss for words. "Let me clarify. Ramya heard you arguing about not having a partner for someone. Have I missed anything?"
"That's about it, actually," mock-whispered Maverick, "They just like the sounds of their own voices."
"Like Bards, you mean?" said Kiril and Kenan at exactly the same moment. Their heads whipped to stare at each other.
The class dissolved in laughter again, and the Heralds roared along with them. "We were year-mates," gasped Kiril, after several minutes, "That's not the first time this has happened. Anyway, Kenan, we'd best return to our duties!"
Kenan nodded as Kiril left, and released Alain's arm. "You partner Kamaria and attack me," he said, "You look like you've been riding-" indeed, Alain's Grays showed several white Companion hairs on the legs and stomach, as if he'd been going fast bareback-"So I'll assume you don't need to warm up."
Alain took a sword without argument, nodding at Kenan's deduction. "Link?" he whispered to Kamaria, under his breath.
Kamaria imagined how good they'd been before, Kenan's annoying ease with which he'd defeated all the students, and nodded, opening her mind.
It wasn't at all hard to get into a fairly deep, but still easy mindlink as they took up starting positions, Kamaria setting herself in her ordinary slight crouch and Alain bringing his sword up. Kenan made the first move, feinting at Alain only to whirl around at Kamaria-who blocked.
The pair and the Herald exchanged a few more preliminary blows such as these, gauging each other's styles as they would in a real fight. After a few moments, Kenan moved into the true offense, almost as fast as he had been while fighting Rhi.
The lifebonded pair linked deeper in defense, picking up on each other's thoughts and working as a team-though not quite as integrated as they had been before. Kenan's blue-violet eyes soon widened with surprise as the two pressed him, showing more skill together than they ever had-well, in what he'd seen-apart.
The battle began to resemble a dance as Kenan drew on more and more of his skill, and Kamaria and Alain linked still deeper. As often as not, Alain would defend Kamaria as Kenan struck, and vice versa as Kenan pressed his advantage of agility and speed.
The other Trainees watched in bemusement as Kamaria and Alain attacked in perfect unison, echoing each other's movements uncannily as suddenly they pressed the attack. Kenan was holding them off, still, but barely-
And suddenly, the two minds merged, as they had while fighting Rhi, causing Sitara to snort up some water by the tack shed in shock and Ramya to nearly trip as they felt the jolt. Kenan's feeling of puzzlement increased greatly as the two suddenly began moving exactly the same way, regardless of height and build differences. Kamaria's blows had more force behind them, and Alain moved with the dancerlike grace of his lifebonded as they pressed Kenan still further backwards-
But however skilled the two were, Kenan wasn't called the "best swordsman in the Circle" for nothing. He disarmed Kamaria, and took advantage of their linked confusion to put the tip of his blade to Alain's throat, his eyebrows raised almost to his hair. "Well, you didn't defeat me, but that was amazing!" he said, as the pair realized they were incredibly deeply linked and hastily disentangled themselves, "I've never seen such a tight link. However fascinating this is, though, I need to try the next pair. I'll talk to you later," Kenan added, glancing sharply at Kamaria, his voice sobering slightly.
Kamaria went to the barrel outside the salle and took a dipperful of water, drinking deeply and splashing some over her head.
"It happened again," said Alain, leaning against the doorframe as Kamaria took another mouthful, "I wonder…"
His voice trailed off. Kamaria looked up at him. "You think it might be dangerous?" she said, in a slightly quavering tone-though that could have been because she was breathing so hard.
"I'm…not sure," said Alain, clearly troubled, but would say no more on the subject.
A bath and dinner later, Kamaria was meandering away from the common-room to practice her mathematics when a voice called her name.
She turned around-to see the Dean and Kenan, to her surprise, Nessa's expression faintly worried and even Kenan's normal expression of slight amusement gone. "We just talked to Alain," said Nessa, "And now we're going to talk to you."
Without any more elaboration, Nessa turned and began leading Kamaria away, tailing Kenan as well. Kamaria tried to exchange a raised eyebrow with her teacher-but Kenan still looked a bit troubled.
Reaching-and straining a bit, since she wasn't getting a boost-Kamaria said to Sitara, :Do you know what the hell is going on?
:Ah…no, actually.: said Sitara, : But I think…:
:What? prompted Kamaria, as her Companion trailed off.
:I think they want to talk to you about your lifebond.:
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Mwahahahaha. And, ladies and…. -squints- Any gentlemen in there? Anyway, I'm going to leave you dangling! Whee, I love being evil. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Reviewer response time!
Shahanna : No, you don't get to find out why for a while. Because…it's plot-necessary.
Myuu-Foxgirl : Nope, no Jou-chan, at least not at the moment. I'm not planning on one. Yup, I read Harry Potter, and so do you, so go check out Eagle's Sight!
Jerry Unipeg : Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Herald Jacquelle : Yes, you are unobservant… : P Doesn't matter, though, because we love ya anyway!
Lurks in Shadows : …right, that was strange.
Blade of Fire : That he is indeed. (Kenshin.) I'm NOT going to make Kenan a complete Kenshin clone, because Kenan has his own personality. I do slip an occasional "that ," but that's pretty much it! (Notice the not-really-reverse bladed sword? I can't spell the Japanese name…)
Artemis : Why, thank you, I feel flattered. Glad to see someone likes all the character development!
Anyway, great to see you all, please review, and while I slave away on the next chapter, please go read "Eagle's Sight" over in Harry Potter! I've put a great deal of work into it, and I like it enough to plug it twice in a chapter! Later, everyone!
-Fireblade K'Chona