“You don’t belong here.”
“Huh?”
“Your kind does not belong here.” The girl keeps her glare on me. I sigh.
“Says who?” I carry on with my chores.
“History.” That's her argument? Lame.
“History can change.” People on the other hand are apparently incapable of it...
“You're a sore to look at.”
“Than don't.” I shrug my shoulders. A punch lands in my gut. I cough once and drop my load... Something grabs me by the skull.
“Don't get full of yourself just cause you managed to kiss up to royalty! They're probably keeping you as a pet only anyways! Pathetic.” She grins at me all satisfied with her “cleverness.” Dumb whore.
“I'm not..” I try to speak, but I have to admit - that hurt.
“Not what?”
“Full of myself... You are!” I kick her off me now. She tumbles back. Damn it. I'm not strong enough... I always hated physical training. Now I'm paying for it...
“What makes you think you are so much better than me, exactly? You load the laundry a bit faster with those overgrown limbs? WHAT! You can reach a bit higher with those legs!” I feel my voice change. “What makes you so great, exactly!? What have you done so noteworthy to earn the right to JUDGE ME!!!” My words get louder... “HUUUH!!” I feel something breaking inside me... The girl stares at me perplexed. I step forward, toss a handful of dust in the air and start chanting inside my mind. The water around us begins to stir...
“YOU DON'T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT ME OR THEM!!! What gives you the right to act all high and mighty!! HUUUH!!” Something's wrong with me. My body trembles, my voice keeps getting louder. I grab the girl by her shirt and pull her to my level. The waves inside the tanks pick up.
“The only pathetic thing here is you.” I spit the words out right in her face. She snaps and punches me. Now I've done it... Why couldn't I just keep quiet like before? I keep my hold on her still. The spell breaks... What was I trying to chant there anyway? Noises pick up around us. I take the beating.
“STAR!” Something pulls the punches away from me. “Star! You ok? Look at me!” I feel light taps on my skin.
“Zar... Cri...le?”
“Yeah. I'm here. I gotchya. Come 'er.” He picks me up by my waist. “Can you stand?” I nod. “Good. Wait here.” He leaves me swaying in place.
“Come here, you bitch! I don’t give a damn if you're a chick, I'll murder you!”
“Don't...”
“Huh! Why! Star-dear, you must have hit your head too hard.”
“Don't. I don’t want... More trouble...”
Crile grits his teeth. “Fine.” He growls at me. “Fine. If you say so.”
“Such an insult to our people to have that thing be called "Star-dear!”
“Bitch!” Oh no. I grab thin air. Too late. I hear screams and thuds.
“What is going on here!” Great... “Break it up! BREAK IT UP!” I feel something bump into me.
“Sorry there. Here.” I feel warmth from one side of my body. I pry open my swollen eye. Crile holds me to him. I hate it when he does it... The way he towers over me always makes me feel weak and small...
“Explain!” The Instructor demands. "Who started this!"
“She did!” The Big Bad Bitch points to me. Of course.
“BULLSHIT!” Crile protests. Don’t. “You beat her up first!”
“It was self-defense!!”
“MORE BULL!” Stop. Please.
“ENOUGH! GET BACK TO WORK YOU FOOLS! THERE'S NOTHING TO SEE HERE! Not you three.” The Instructor points to us. “Obviously I cannot let this slide even if it is you, Shadowkill. I'll have to detain you three for starting a brawl.”
“I refuse.” Crile! “I request treatment for Amana Starlight.” Stop, dummy! “I'll take her share of punishment instead. Is that acceptable? And for the record - I never intended to get out of this with my name. Neither one of us three.” He adds.
“No. She can carry out her detainment after getting treatment.” The woman completely ignores Crile's words. Tch.
“Isn't she supposed to be a healer?” The Bitch mocks me.
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“Shut it, you.” Crile barks at her. Thanks. “Ok. How about this then.” Crile throws a quick sting to the Instructor's face with the back of his hand, blooding up the nose. MORON!!
“A WEEK IN THE CELL! GET LOST!!” The woman gurgles. A few other Masters run up to her now.
“With pleasure. After you treat Starlight.” Stubborn mule!
“Such insubordination!” One hisses.
“Put another week in for me. I don't care.” The women quickly patch up the Bloody-Nose first and then one of them hesitantly approaches me. He could have used his own potion on me... Why all this? I feel my face go numb. The swelling will have to wait, sadly.
“Satisfied?”
“Very. Thank you.” Crile bows to them. “I'll see myself to my cell now.” He turns to me. “Stay here. She'll be here soon. Carry on with the laundry as if nothing happened.” He whispers into the top of my head and walks away. For some reason I do as told. I pick up the scattered bedding and proceed to my chores without saying a word. None of the other four say anything to me. What in the world just happened?
Amana got into her first fight here... It happened later than I anticipated. I let my guard down... I wasn’t there either. Crile took the grunt of it and had to stay two weeks isolated. I’m pretty sure he did it on purpose. As soon as Star’s face went back to normal, she asked me to train her more. I don’t like the idea of her fighting at all, but I can see the necessity of it...
“Why did you do it?” I ask into the darkness. “You sat there for two weeks for nothing...”
“You are not nothing, Amana. Not to me, not to Breeze. But if you must know. I needed a vacation. The chores were killing me. I figured if I can cause a bigger ruckus I can overshadow your little fight and only one of us gets to suffer.”
“Idiot.”
“Love you too.” Crile pats me on the head. “Rest well. I'll keep watch a bit longer.”
“There's no reason to keep watch for anything. You just want a chance to see Zarri fresh outta the shower.”
He laughs somewhere. “Got caught, huh? Alright. I admit it.”
“Dummy.”
“Fine. I'll go. See you tomorrow.”
“See you.” I answer quietly to nobody...
“Uh-oh. That did it...”
“Nobody's taking her on...” Zarri stands in the ring alone. She already took out three sparring partners and nobody else wants to fight her now...
“That's cause they think they'll get executed or something if they hurt the Heir...”
“Spineless cowards.” I let the words slip. Crile chuckles next to me.
“Agree. Well. Wish me luck.” He taps my shoulder.
“Have fun.” I watch as Crile takes on the challenge. A fight with an audience, that is. I've seen this one too many times. I'm well aware that it takes everything he has to hold his own long enough for her to be satisfied... Although, right now Zarri doesn’t seem too thrilled to see him. She charges in first. Crile puts his guard up just in time. Oh. That's new. Zarri spins on her hands hammering in a series of heel kicks into Crile's forearms. Half a step at a time she makes him move backwards. She picks up speed and...
“The CLAWS! DON’T!” I call out to remind her of the no-shifting rule, but it's too late. Scraps of leather fly all over the place.
“ZARRI!” I try again.
“BACK OFF!!! She's mine!!” Crile grins. I sigh. Your funeral. Zarri pushes herself off the ground and does a backflip. She jumps once, closing the distance between them and goes airborne. Same tactic, different method: a barrage of kicks from above. It looks like she's hovering mid air, but really she just keeps pushing herself off Crile's shoulders. He's using Mana Control. I can see the holes his feet are slowly digging him into. He keeps lowering his center of gravity to keep himself from towering over... Zarri lands both hind claws onto him and Crile finally looses his balance. Rather, he lets himself get knocked over? Zarri quickly jumps off.
Her half-form is as beautiful as always. Crile takes out his knives and goes for it. Oh, she's in a really bad mood today. Zarri goes in for the kicks again. She presses her upper half to the ground and knocks the daggers right out of Crile's hands. He grabs her one foot with both of his hands and flips her mid air to the side. She spins and lands perfectly back on her feet. Zarri puts her front claws into fists and a ferocious hand-to-hand begins. Her hands almost double in size when she shifts. If it were normal sparring, Crile would have ended this long ago. However. It's no telling when she'll let her claws out. Usually when fighting in her half-form she has the claws out all the time, but sometimes she goes back and forth between retracting them. That makes it trickier for Crile. He could catch her punches easily, I've seen him do it, but if she lets her claws out the last second he'll lose his fingers...
“What is he?”
“Her punching bag?”
“Dead meat, more like it.” Someone says somewhere in the crowd.
“That's rich coming from a bunch hatchlings. Neither one of you had the balls or the spines to take her on, so don’t you dare insult the one man that has what it takes to stand next to her in the ring and take it. Besides. You should be happy. Just imagine how many dead meats you'd be looking at if she actually had gotten serious with any of you besides Shadowkill. All of you are just afraid to admit that your level of skill is simply beneath theirs.” I answer into the crowd. Hope you choke on that. Nobody says anything more. As soon as my annoyance dies down, I thank the Stars that Crile didn’t hear me say any of it, or he'd rub it into my face for sure.
This is so not what she wanted... Maybe I shouldn’t have come here... That way Zarri could have gone all out without any worries... Crile too...
Zarri knocks Crile flat on his ass with a beautiful roundhouse. He struggles to get up. I step up and start counting.
“8. 9. 10. You're out.”
“Damn it.” Crile wheezes at me. He finally manages to sit up. Zarri sways to the sides, as her shift ends. I catch her. The crowd disperses too. I notice something shiny underneath Crile's leather...
“Are those... PLATES!! CRILE! YOU COULD HAVE SERIOUSLY INJURED HER WITH THOSE!” Crile throws me a look and a plate off his forearm. I stare at the piece of metal under my feet. I flip it over with my foot. Scratches go all the way through the metal... I look up at Crile again. His forearm is already bruised... Oh...
“Give him a break, Star. I over did it today...” Zarri whispers on the verge of passing out. “You should switch to chain-mail already. The chains tangle up my claws a lot more. It'd be harder for me to use them.”
“I'll consider it.” He stands up and offers to take Zarri over from me. I let him, only because I am weaker and I know it...