If you are in the unfortunate position to encounter an opponent with a Domain while you have none or cannot exert your own, the best course of action is to avoid the confrontation altogether.
Of course, the young are foolhardy and believe themselves invincible. There are only four record instances of people who have won a fight against someone who had a Domain while they themselves either had none or did not utilize their own:
* Torri the Anima, of the Companions
* Solca the Magnanimous, of the Nine Lords
* The Prince of the Empire
* Ji WuMing, former Commander of the Red Army and the Whale of ZhiXia
If you believe yourself to be on equal footing with any one of these individuals, you can certainly try.
— Excerpt from Elements of Auramancy by Scholar Dayton of the Fallen Star Pavilion
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Martial Arena, ZhiXia City
"What part of this matchup did the Sage's Mirror think was fair?" Primrose asked in a forcibly slow tone. She kept her hands relaxed, a trained habit so she could stay nimble at a moment's notice. Stay calm, she thought as she took a slow breath. In and out. Do not let personal feelings ever control your actions.
She considered Shurra a friend just as much as a founding member of the Dao. The Northerner hid her despondent mood well during their intermittent talks leading up to the Festival, but the way Shurra talked about her training told Primrose that her friend was losing faith in her abilities ever since their encounter with the Tempest. Shurra needed to win this, and needed it badly. It frustrated her that the Sage's Mirror had chosen this echo of all the possible warriors it could have given Shurra to fight and gave it a Domain.
"Is big sister Shurra going to lose?" Nettie looked up at Primrose.
"It's not going to be easy," Primrose murmured. She was quite certain she couldn't defeat Roxxa's echo under these conditions. If Shurra had a path to victory, Primrose could not see it.
"But why?" the girl asked. "The Mirror's runes stipulate fairness."
"I always told your Grandfather to teach you more than alchemy." Martyker shook his head, leaning close to Nettie. "When you want peaches, you plant a tree. When you cannot reach the peach, you shake the tree. When you cannot move the tree, you wait for the peach to fall. Shurra may never eat if the birds get to it first."
It was Nettie's turn to give Primrose a look of pure confusion. Primrose, to her own amazement, felt she understood the one-armed swordsman… to an extent. She translated for Nettie. "Do you remember Bryce's fight? The echo won not because it was faster or stronger, but because it was trickier. The same here: it seems Shurra can neither overpower the echo nor outspeed it, so catching it off guard would normally be Shurra's next move. So," she added, "the problem is that the most basic use for a Domain is awareness. There should be no surprise attacks on someone within their Domain, and Shurra isn't the type to have many tricks up her sleeve. She is running out of options."
Down on the stage, the echo walked around Shurra, who didn't move from her position. Primrose suspected the echo's stomp on Shurra's foot had caused lingering damage, given how Shurra's balance seemed to favor the foot that had been spared. She was already impressed that Shurra had landed the elbow strike against the echo's neck, but could think of no way for Shurra to overcome the advantages of a Domain.
The echo lunged forward, poleaxe slicing through the air. Shurra's sword flashed, parrying the weapon to the side and striking for the echo. But the echo had stomped a foot onto the ground with its strike and the ground beneath Shurra pushed up, disrupting her footing and throwing off the path of her sword. Shurra fell to one knee again, blocking the downward spike from the poleaxe with her sword on its shaft. The weapons clashed, sliding against each other and came clean. As the poleaxe did so, the sharp edge bit into Shurra's forearm to draw a deep gash up to her wrist.
"The Mirror's runes are absolutely fair." Nettie sounded distraught, as though she was trying to convince herself. "Can Shurra not use a Domain?"
Martyker patted the girl gently on the shoulder. "Exerting a Domain is hard. Even if your friend could, it's even harder to exert a Domain over someone else's without their allowing it. It's possible she's been trying the entire time and has nothing to show for it."
"The Mirror is absolutely fair." Nettie repeated herself again. Primrose couldn't tell if the girl was worried for Shurra or unnerved that the Mirror seemed to be doing something unexpected, but then the girl asked, "What can Shurra do now?"
"If this were a different fight? Run. I would." Primrose shrugged. The mantra 'avoid engaging an opponent without a clear advantage' was drilled into her since her days as a Petal. She had tried to learn her own Domain, of course, before she was even considered an auramaster. Every auramancer has tried at least once to master the skill that easily differentiated Titled Ones and themselves, but it had always eluded her. "But, knowing her, she wouldn't."
"But it shouldn't be so one-sided?" Nettie asked. "The Mirror is —"
"Absolutely fair." Martyker finished for her. "Don't worry, I wouldn't say your friend has no chance of winning just yet."
Primrose frowned. It was one thing to coddle a child's feelings, but she did not approve of misleading a child's hopes. "What makes you say that, Martyker?"
"Please, call me the Armed Swordsman. And you should have more faith in your friend." Martyker stroked his jungle of a beard. "Honorable Master Ji hasn't intervened yet. I believe he would have unless he believes she could win. Or so the peach tumbles."
***
Shurra inspected her injured arm, flexing it slightly and wincing at the pain. Thankfully, the tendon was not severed, but she couldn't use her dominant arm to wield her sword anymore. Passing the sword to her off hand, Shurra took a conservative stance against her opponent.
The echo had kept its distance while Shurra inspected her wound, for no other discernible reason than not wanting to attack while Shurra was distracted. Shurra could appreciate that; but it also unnerved her. Did the echo make that decision because it was based on the Traitor's memory? Was this memory of the Traitor still concerned with her own honor?
Shurra shook the extraneous thoughts away. Irrelevant thoughts can be pondered later. The echo, seeing her take a stance, began walking forward again with its poleaxe at the ready. The movement of its gait had Shurra on edge; the way each step planted into the ground hinted at a barely restrained urge to charge.
The echo rushed her at less than ten paces away, the poleaxe drawing a horizontal arc towards Shurra's injured side. Shurra deflected the blow with an awkward off-hand parry; unable to match the blow with strength, she twisted her wrist and guided the axe-blade away from her body with the flat of her sword. Ducking the follow-up wide swing from the echo's arm, Shurra readied a fist for the echo's momentary opening on instinct and grit her teeth at the ensuing pain. The opportunity disappeared as the echo stepped backwards, taunting Shurra with a smile.
It knows. Shurra resumed her earlier stance, but kept her sword closer to the front. One hand was already maimed and her slowed movement should have betrayed the state of her injured foot. The echo knew it held the advantage, but was cautious enough to not present Shurra with any clear opportunity to counterattack.
It paced around her once again, forcing Shurra to continuously reposition her feet. Shurra ignored the pain each time, keeping her sword at the ready as she tried to think. What had Molam once said to her? I certainly can't do everything you can, Shurra, but that's why I try to be very good at the few things I can do. But physical reinforcement was what Shurra could claim to be good at, and this echo-Roxxa had fully matched her in that aspect.
As Shurra pivoted to face the echo once again, it rushed in before Shurra had planted her foot down, faster than Shurra believed possible. Where was the poleaxe? The echo's shoulder shifted and Shurra instinctively felt the danger rather than saw it, collapsing backwards as the echo's weapon swiped upwards where her chin had been. A quick roll and attempt to get back on her feet was thwarted as Shurra caught the echo's downward blow on her sword, blocking the attack by pushing against the flat of her own blade with her injured hand.
An explosive kick came into her vision, far too late for Shurra to block her exposed weaker side. She grunted, absorbing the blow with her body as best she could, steeling herself against the wave of pain breaching her reinforced torso. Shurra fought through the pain to catch the echo's leg under her armpit, twisting her sword downwards in an attempt to cut the echo's trapped thigh.
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To her surprise, the echo dropped its free leg, pulling itself down to Shurra's level and causing Shurra's aim to go wide; only the hilt struck the echo's thigh. The butt of the poleaxe slammed straight for her chin. It glanced off painfully. Shurra's vision swirled as she clamped down, unwilling to let go.
"You should know better." Shurra growled at the echo. "Bears do not let go."
Her second slice towards the trapped leg glanced off the poleaxe's shaft, hastily thrust in to block the attack. The echo pulled them closer using its own leg as leverage, an awkward movement considering the two of them were on their knees close to the ground. A fist flew towards Shurra's head. Shurra blocked it with her arm. She shifted her weight and rammed a knee straight into the echo's defenseless side.
"Even if you know about it, you can't block it from this position, can you?" Shurra grunted through the pain. The echo's own kick to her side had definitely broken something, even if the attack had been her momentous opportunity. She delivered another brutal knee strike into the echo's side. "You might have a Domain, but I wonder who's body can take punishment better?"
The echo slammed a fist into the ground, sending a spider web of cracks throughout the raised stage. Before Shurra could inflict another blow, the stage beneath them exploded in a rain of rock, pelting Shurra painfully all over. She shielded her face with an arm, stubbornly holding onto the echo's leg. Once the hail of rocks dissipated, she could —
"That's enough."
The leg in Shurra's grasp disappeared. Shurra groped around blindly, blinking at the dust. When her vision cleared, the Whale of ZhiXia's massive shadow stood over her. His hand hovered over her shoulder and the echo was nowhere to be seen.
Did Master Ji interfere? Shurra tried to push herself to her feet, rising with her anger. "Why did you end it? I could have finished that by —"
"The echo won." The Whale spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. He lifted his arm from near her neck. "It aimed for your neck when you shielded your eyes. If I hadn't intervened, your head would be rolling on the ground right now."
"You don't know that!" The bloodrush, still coursing through Shurra's veins, made her protest come out as an outburst. She stood up, rearing to her full height and ignoring the pain from her foot. "I could have blocked that in time! I had a chance against the Traitor! I could have killed —"
Her words choked in her throat as the Whale's finger loomed — Shurra saw it as a pillar the size of a mountain as Master Ji held it out over her the way a parent would to a misbehaving child. The ethereal weight of his Domain pressed down upon her, a feeling she'd experienced only once before in front of the Twin Stars. Shurra's knees crumpled at the sheer pressure and she fell backwards, collapsing painfully onto her rear.
She did not dare look up, staring down at the ground in front of her as the Whale of ZhiXia took a step towards her. No; even if Shurra had the will, her body would have refused to look up and meet his gaze.
When the Whale finally spoke, it was in an uncharacteristically soft whisper. "Do not take gambles where being wrong means the debts are incurred by the living." His voice dropped to a deceptively calm tone, bringing a rising tide of guilt inside Shurra. "Do you understand?"
"Yes," Shurra murmured without looking up. His words weighed on her heavier than even his Domain.
"Good." The Whale stepped away, the weight of his aura dissipating in that moment. He waved over two Priestesses from the sidelines who had been waiting respectfully. "See to her wounds."
They came forth. The younger one, a brunette with a small mole on the side of her cheek, almost tripped on the hem of her white robe as they navigated the ruined stage. The older one, copper skinned with a noble nose, inspected Shurra's cut arm as the younger one tried to work off Shurra's boot. The sudden movement on her injured foot caused Shurra to wrinkle her nose in pain.
"She doesn't seem to be in immediate danger, though I'll need to take a good look at her foot injury," the older Priestess informed Master Ji, then turned to Shurra. "Can you walk? We can treat the wound inside instead of doing it here." She gestured at the shattered stage around them, then wider to the audience in the stands.
Shurra nodded in response, but her eyes lingered on the Whale of ZhiXia. If he felt her gaze, he did not return it as he spoke to the Priestess whose role was to announce the event. The two Priestesses hoisted her up and shepherded her away.
But she did hear Priestess Kanteru give another announcement as she followed the two Priestesses back into the Arena. "That was a very exciting match! Unfortunately, owing to the destruction of the stage, we will need to postpone the other matches and fix the stage overnight. The rest of the matches have been rescheduled at the Whale's request, and we look forward to seeing the combatants show us their skills tomorrow!"
***
The Arena's infirmary was conveniently located on the ground floor, right inside the hallway leading out to the stage. The younger Priestess fussed at Shurra, but Shurra refused to allow the crowd to see her needing help walking. The older one led the way, turning at times to ensure Shurra was following.
Inside the infirmary, the older Priestess directed Shurra to sit on the bed. Shurra was grateful they did not tell her to lie down; the bed was not built for a Northerner's size.
"Ah!" The younger one spoke up as she tried to remove Shurra's boot again. "Before we forget, miss, do you want these injuries to scar? I heard Northern Warriors like to decorate their battlescars. Priestess Raella is very good, she can make even burn wounds heal without being too visible. But we really don't want to —"
"It's fine if they scar," Shurra's voice came out hoarse.
"Should be a nice, straight line then," the young Priestess beamed a smile as she finally worked off the boot. Shurra groaned; blood circulating through her foot brought a fresh new wave of pain. "Have you thought of how you'll decorate it too?"
"This won't be decorated."
The Priestess stopped, looking fully at Shurra with her striking green eyes. "What? Why?"
"Hush with the questions, Priestess Rorona." The one called Priestess Raella spoke in a gentle tone, her beautiful brown eyes focused on the gash on Shurra's arm. Her green touch, visible to even the Sightless, was warm and soft as she reknitted the flesh and skin around the wound. Even in her dejected state, Shurra could appreciate the Priestess' skill; she'd been healed many times by other healers but this freshly healed wound did not itch at all.
"For what it's worth," Priestess Raella leaned close to Shurra, gripping her chin and peering into her eyes and face, "I thought it was a close match. You should feel proud that the Mirror considered you two an equal matchup." She nodded, seemingly satisfied with her inspection. "Hmm, no dilated pupils and no pain from moving of the neck. Do a full rotation like this," the Priestess demonstrated, rolling her head around her shoulders.
But was it? The bitter thought echoed in Shurra's thoughts as she followed the Priestess' command. She had only landed one real blow, one that was shrugged off almost immediately. Most everything else had been an equal exchange but the echo had landed blows that did real damage.
"It didn't feel close." Shurra looked down, away from either Priestess. Her eyes stung. "After all the guidance Master Ji was willing to give me… if the loss didn't disappoint him, losing to my anger did. I've acted like a fool and dishonored myself in front of him."
"Goodness. I've heard of the Northern Tribes' obsession with their honor, but it's a different experience to see it," Priestess Raella spoke while inspecting Shurra's foot. "Priestess Rorona, be a dear and get the tougher gauze we use." She looked back up at Shurra. "I'm impressed you fought like this. Three of your toes are broken and it would tax me too much to fully coax the bone fractures into mending themselves. I will hasten the healing after we set it and you can come see me again after the Festival if it needs more help, but I must conserve my aura to help other combatants."
Shurra nodded glumly as the younger Priestess ran off to fetch the required materials.
Priestess Raella reached forward and held Shurra's hand. "You are too harsh on yourself, Shurra. May I call you Shurra?" She didn't wait for Shurra to respond. "Listen. When you summoned the echo and we recognized it, Priestess Kanteru wanted to stop the fight." Her face scrunched up, as though remembering something unpleasant, then continued, "I was in agreement too, and for good reason. This was a relatively contained incident, but see how we needed to reschedule because the stage was destroyed? But," she paused, reaching up and touching Shurra's arm, "it was the Whale who told us to let the fight proceed."
After a moment, the words registered in Shurra's mind. She looked up, meeting Priestess Raella's gaze for the first time. The woman's brown eyes exuded gentle kindness. "Master Ji did?"
"He did," Priestess Raella confirmed, then spoke to Priestess Rorona, who had returned with the gauze. "I will hold the foot, but you will wrap it. Do you remember how?"
"Yes, yes, I've only seen you do it hundreds of times." Priestess Rorona rolled her eyes, then went to work.
"In a way," Priestess Raella returned her gaze to Shurra, "none of us believed in you then. The only one who did was the Whale. He believed in you more than anyone."
"But I failed," Shurra pounded a fist into the bed. To her surprise, the arm only felt slight pain and the newly healed skin did not break. "I couldn't even land a single blow correctly. What have I been working towards?"
"Stop moving," Priestess Rorona complained, still working on Shurra's foot.
"I won't heal you again because of your own stupidity," Priestess Raella warned, pointing at Shurra's arm.
"I'm sorry," Shurra apologized to the two. "I'm just…" Her voice trailed off. What was she feeling? Pain? Anger?
"Frustrated?" The older Priestess finished for her.
"Frustrated." That was the word. "Yes," Shurra sighed, then repeated it. "Frustrated."
The Priestesses fell silent as Priestess Rorona worked on Shurra's foot. Priestess Raella pointed to where creases had formed in the wrapped gauze, to which Priestess Rorona replied that toes were round and did not have flat surfaces. When everything was done, Priestess Raella pronounced it mediocre but acceptable and touched the gauze with a glowing finger. The gauze solidified in an instant.
"I can only say that I understand being frustrated even if I don't understand your specific frustration, Shurra." Priestess Raella stood up, smoothing out her white robe. Shurra noticed a streak of dark red smeared over the Priestess' robe, no doubt from her injuries, but the Priestess did not seem to care. "And my unsolicited advice would be to be productive with that frustration when you can. Channel it towards being better. I am sure the Whale would expect it from you if you have been receiving his guidance."
"What would you know about my frustration?" Shurra bristled, then regretted the harshness in her tone. She tried to justify it again by adding, "And how would your frustrations compare to my being unable to face the disgrace of my people? If this was what the Traitor was like three decades ago, how could I ever hope to beat the real one then?"
The Priestess only tilted her head with a small smile. "Perhaps I don't understand, not being a Northerner." She stood up and bowed deeply to Shurra. "Come, Priestess Rorona. She will need time to rest." Priestess Raella collected the rest of the materials and walked back out to the Arena.
Priestess Rorona bowed to Shurra as well, but it was half-hearted. When she straightened up, her green eyes gazed at Shurra with reproach. "Everyone's frustrated at times, Miss Shurra. Each time we fail to save a life, how do you think we feel?" The younger Priestess followed her mentor out the door.
Shurra sat there with her thoughts. The pain in her foot was beginning to subside, yet somehow she felt even worse inside.