Weeks went by, the winter came to a close, and the weather began to warm. Spring made its way to the East Realm. Prelinsa continued to both train and learn on a regular basis. There was a lot to do both physically and mentally, but as the weeks passed, she found that she was getting less and less tired from her sessions. It was also becoming easier to move more efficiently, though it still didn’t always come naturally. Even so, she was told that she was learning the movements very quickly. That made her feel pretty good about herself.

About a month after beginning her training, she was also instructed to learn with a practice weapon. According to the Matriarch, magic was easier to use in conjunction with a suitable medium – whether that be a sword, spear, wand, or something more exotic. After trying out several things, Prelinsa chose to learn with a wooden katana. Katanas had always been cool to her, and she liked the mobility the weapon afforded her, as well as the somewhat more aggressive fighting style compared to a longsword. Swords weren’t as big or strong as some other weapons, and were not very suited for battlefields. But she felt that they played to her strengths, especially since she would learn magic to make up for a ranged disadvantage.

In the training ground, Prelinsa and Corynn stood several meters apart, preparing for their last spar of the day. The sun was setting, casting a pretty red glow on the training field, and all of White Blossom Fortress. Each combatant put a hand on her sword hilt, ready to draw.

“Begin!” The Matriarch said.

Both Prelinsa and Corynn approached each other, then drew their swords, the wooden blades clacking against each other. They backed off, each taking a two-handed grip as they sized one other up. Neither of them took her eyes off of her opponent.

Prelinsa yelled, and swung first, but Corynn parried, and struck back, which Prelinsa blocked. The two of them backed off again. Then Prelinsa approached and delivered a few more attacks, and once again, Corynn parried them all. Corynn counterattacked, and Prelinsa tried to deflect it, but her angle was off. Corynn pushed through, pointing her sword through Prelinsa’s defense. It was over.

“Cease!”

Prelinsa breathed in and out heavily, withdrawing her sword and sheathing it. Both she and Corynn bowed to each other. Then, Prelinsa wiped sweat off her brow with her shirt, which briefly revealed the abs she’d gained from training. It had been close to three months since she first arrived in the White Blossom Fortress. Time really flew by.

“You’re doing a lot better! I have to get a little serious now, if I don’t want to be beaten,” Corynn said.

“I still haven’t hit you properly, though,” Prelinsa complained. That part was frustrating. Corynn wasn’t even fighting seriously, yet Prelinsa still couldn’t land good blows, unless Corynn was allowing it for a specific exercise.

“It’s unfair, right?”

“Huh?”

“Unfair how much stronger the Phoenix Heart makes me. Even though I’m not using magic.”

“Right. That is unfair.” Prelinsa looked over at the Matriarch. “How long do I have to keep doing this before I get to be a Phoenix Warrior?”

“I believe you are in fact ready,” the Matriarch said, to Prelinsa’s delight. “The fact that you are still standing right now, without being significantly worn out, is undeniable proof of your progress. You have also learned well from your lessons, becoming more able to handle your feelings. But you must be in your best condition in order to receive a Phoenix Spark. Granting it to you now, when you are worn out, would be much too risky.”

“I… I understand,” Prelinsa said, nodding. It was hard to contain her excitement.

“Tomorrow morning, come see me in White Blossom Castle. From there, we will travel to Pear Mountain, where I will grant you your Phoenix Spark.”

Prelinsa bowed to the Matriarch, having picked it up as a habit by now.

“Thank you, Matriarch!”

----------------------------------------

As she left the training field, leaving her practice sword there, Prelinsa was giddy with excitement over the thought of finally getting to learn the Path of the Phoenix. It was finally happening. Honestly, it was happening sooner than she’d expected. Even though she’d been praised for her rapid progress, she’d still expected it to take another year or so. She decided to walk off her excitement by taking a different, longer route home from what she usually did, heading away from Castle Hill and into an area she was less familiar with. She wound up entering a quiet district, with virtually no people around. The aurora was beginning to shine brightly overhead.

“Hey!” Someone called out to her from behind.

Prelinsa turned. It was one of the people who frequently went to the same training field as her. A female lycan with long, floppy ears that looked like part of her wavy brown hair, and a similarly furry tail. She was probably about Prelinsa’s age, though her height was somewhat taller. She looked quite pretty, which would’ve been helped if her expression weren’t so hostile to Prelinsa right now.

“Uh, you are…?” Prelinsa asked.

“It’s Camilla! Camilla Leclerc! I’m the second daughter of Marchioness Leclerc! We’re famous, you know! Gods, you don’t even remember people!” Camilla fumed.

Prelinsa raised an eyebrow, trying to remember. She did recall from her lessons that Marchioness Florence Leclerc was a prominent figure in East Realm society – in particular, a very skilled warrior. The Leclercs were also an old family originally from the West Realm, having existed long before House Silvermoon’s rise to power. However, Prelinsa didn’t know about the rest of the current family.

“Well, Camilla. We’ve never spoken to each other before. And I only know about Marchioness Leclerc, not her family. So why would I know your name until you told me?” She asked, matter-of-factly.

“You’re so rude!” Camilla hissed, clenching her teeth and balling her hands into fists. Despite being a lycan, she seemed very catty. “Why is someone like you learning the Path of the Phoenix, and not me?!”

Oh, now I see how this is, Prelinsa thought, preparing to bail herself out of this situation right away. She looked around for a supervisor, but the hour was late, the area was secluded, and there was nobody around. All the stores were closed for the night, and the streetlights were already on. She did not need something like this on the night before she finally gained the Phoenix Spark.

“I don’t have time for this. My mom’s preparing dinner,” she said.

“No! Fight me!” Camilla pointed her finger at Prelinsa. “I’m going to prove that I’ll make a better Phoenix Warrior than you!”

Prelinsa sighed and rolled her eyes. Bad flashbacks of fighting the wererabbit and her thugs came to mind.

“Let me go eat dinner first, okay? We can have a duel or something tomorrow, if that makes you happy.”

“No!! Tomorrow’s too late! You’re going to get a Phoenix Spark from the Matriarch!” Camilla screeched, stamping her foot. “I’ve been training in both magic and martial arts since I was a little girl! My whole life, I’ve been working so hard, all so I can become a Silvermoon and a Phoenix Warrior! I won’t accept that she just found someone like you and decided to teach you! I’m going to defeat you right now so that I-”

“Hey! You there!” Someone shouted. It was a human security guard patrolling the area, who must have overheard Camilla’s angry ranting.

Prelinsa sighed in relief.

The guard approached Camilla, standing directly in front of her.

“You know the rules! No fighting outside of a duel!” She said.

“There’s no time for a duel!” Camilla protested. “I need this fight now!”

“Sorry, rules are rules. Now cool it and- agggh!”

Camilla grabbed the guard by the shirt and chopped at the pressure point on her neck, causing her to drop to the street, unconscious. While she was preoccupied, Prelinsa had pulled out her phone and began making a call. “Hello, Corynn? Someone’s knocked out a guard-”

Suddenly, Camilla outstretched her hand and shot a small bolt of fire at Prelinsa. Prelinsa didn’t know if it was meant to hurt, but regardless, she reacted quickly and stepped to the side. Unfortunately, doing so caused her to drop her phone, which clattered off somewhere.

“Stop talking and pay attention to me!” Camilla hissed.

Prelinsa quickly checked her hand for burns. There were none. She just hoped Corynn knew where she was, and could get here in time before something really bad happened.

“Alright,” she growled, taking a fighting stance. There wasn’t any time for her to worry about the fallen guard – she had to defend herself first. “I’ll fight you. But only if we agree that you started this. Now, come at me!”

“Thank you!” Camilla put up her fists, which roared with fire, as did her ankles. “Here I come!” Using her flames like momentary thrusters to gain speed, she rushed at Prelinsa, letting out a yell and swinging her right fist.

“Oof!” Prelinsa felt the heat emanating off the lycan girl and stepped to the side, avoiding it. There was a whoosh and crackle as the flames licked the air. Camilla’s momentum caused her to miss wildly, as she skidded heavily to a stop. She scowled, and charged at Prelinsa again, this time much more deliberately. Prelinsa again sidestepped her. This continued for a few exchanges, with Camilla pushing the attack, and Prelinsa trying to avoid getting burned. The half-pokkit was still a bit stiff, but did her best to apply what she learned and minimize her movements.

But even with the disadvantage of not having magic, Prelinsa didn’t feel too pressured. It was weird, because objectively, Camilla had a reach advantage over Prelinsa. She was faster and more skilled than Vincent, even without upshifting. She was also putting on more pressure than the wererabbit thug, even though she wasn’t using a sword. During the brief moments when Camilla boosted her speed with magic, she was almost as fast as Corynn during Prelinsa’s sparring practice.

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Oh, Prelinsa realized. Even when she’s not going all out, Corynn is still faster.

“Slow,” she muttered subconsciously, avoiding yet another punch. Unwittingly, this triggered Camilla quite badly.

“Don’t look down on meeee!!” She screamed. “Stop running away! You coward!” Her flames burned even more brightly, and she turned up her aggression even further, moving faster to try and land a hit on Prelinsa. Her movements became wilder and less controlled, but she was still able to keep up momentum. Prelinsa, on the other hand, lacked experience, didn’t have magic, and couldn’t get close enough for a counterattack without risking a burn.

“Well! You’d run away too! If I had water magic!” Prelinsa retorted, circling around as she avoided another fast blow.

“You don’t even have magic yet! That means I can beat you easily! If you would just! Stop! Running!”

Camilla was fast and approached quickly, so stepping back or running away weren’t things that Prelinsa could easily do – she had to keep trying to sidestep in different ways, and hope that Camilla didn’t predict accurately enough to aim where she would go next. The heat was also making her really sweat now – it was draining her stamina. It was a really good thing she’d spent the last few months building that up.

But this couldn’t go on. Prelinsa was going to lose if the fight kept going this way. She couldn’t just let Camilla keep attacking – eventually, one of the attacks was going to land, and with the fire, it would hurt a lot. It didn’t actually matter if she lost or not, she just didn’t want this on her mind before learning the Path of the Phoenix. For now, she kept evading, doing her best to follow what she learned and watch carefully for an opening. Camilla was enraged and fighting chaotically, which meant sooner or later, something would have to give.

By now, both fighters were becoming weary, and more sluggish and sloppy in their movements. They’d both started this fight already tired from training that day – neither of them had the stamina to keep going for long. Camilla’s flames flickered as she struggled to keep up her aggression. Meanwhile, Prelinsa was gasping for any breath she could take, sweating terribly from all the fire.

But finally, one of Camilla’s punches went wide and caused her to stumble slightly as Prelinsa dodged. Prelinsa chopped Camilla on the back of her neck, causing her to topple onto all fours.

“Ack!”

She scraped her hands on the street, panting for breath as her fire was extinguished. For now, she remained still, and silent.

“Okay,” said Prelinsa, approaching Camilla as she too caught her breath. “I won, right? This is over. We can stop now.”

“No!! I haven’t lost yet!” Camilla screamed desperately, raising her hand and blasting Prelinsa with fire. This time, Prelinsa didn’t have time to get out of the way, getting burns on her skin and clothes, and singeing her hair and fur. She was still loaded with adrenaline from the fight, so the damage didn’t feel too bad. But it really pissed her off.

Camilla hurriedly rose to her feet, realizing immediately what she’d done and regretting it. “I, um- I’m sorry,” She stammered, looking mortified at herself. “I give up. You win-”

Prelinsa socked Camilla in the face. The lycan stumbled backward, grabbing her nose as it bled.

“Owww!” She wailed. She looked quite pitiful.

Calming down, Prelinsa also realized what she’d done. She took deep breaths, trying to cool her temper. But it was hard.

“Prelinsa!” Corynn’s voice called out, as she arrived just too late. Seeing Prelinsa’s burn injuries, she raced towards her at supernatural speed. “Medic! Prelinsa, are you okay?!” One of the people she’d brought quickly came over, inspecting Prelinsa’s wounds. Meanwhile, another person tended to Camilla, while a third checked on the status of the downed guard.

Prelinsa nodded silently, wincing. The adrenaline was wearing off, and the burns were starting to kind of hurt now. She also got a sinking feeling, as she remembered what was coming tomorrow. All she could do right now was really hope that the Matriarch wasn’t upset.

----------------------------------------

The Matriarch didn’t show it in her demeanor, but she was definitely a little upset that Prelinsa had attacked Camilla after she surrendered. Missus B. was upset, too, and scolded her for doing something stupid. However, as Prelinsa had fought in self defense, and likely wasn’t thinking very clearly after being blasted by fire, her punishment was kept to a minimum. Once she healed, the only thing she had to do was clean a section of White Blossom Castle by hand, after which she would be granted the Phoenix Spark later that afternoon.

Luckily, she hadn’t been badly injured – Camilla’s fire had been quite weak by that point, and the minor burn wounds were cleared up easily by the medic’s healing magic. Which meant she could get on to cleaning right away. For that matter, the guard was also fine – Camilla had deliberately avoided seriously harming her. It seemed she just wanted her out of the way so she and Prelinsa could fight without being interrupted.

As she was sweeping part of the floor with a broom and reflecting on her behavior, Prelinsa spotted the floppy-eared lycan, also cleaning with a broom in the same area. Her nose had been healed up from yesterday and looked good as new.

“Hey,” Prelinsa said.

Camilla grimaced. “Hey,” she replied, trying to move away from Prelinsa.

“I’m sorry,” Prelinsa began, pausing her sweeping. “I shouldn’t have punched you after you gave up. I was wrong.”

Camilla let out a big sigh, when it was clear that Prelinsa was not letting this go. “…Well. I deserved it. I did blast you with fire, so I was wrong too,” she said, turning to face Prelinsa. “But really, you went for my face? My nose is one of the best looking parts of me. How were you going to apologize if it healed crooked?”

“I think the medics would’ve fixed it fine,” Prelinsa replied, having already seen what medicine and magic were capable of – especially combined.

“Ugh. You just don’t get it,” Camilla grumbled. “Whatever. I started the fight, and you won. So I acknowledge you as worthy. The Matriarch picked a good one, huh?”

Prelinsa thought about that. “Well. I still don’t really know why she picked me,” she admitted.

“Can you just accept the compliment?” Camilla hissed, balling her hands into fists.

“Uh, sorry. I didn’t know that was a compliment.”

“Ugh, it’s fine. I know I’m not good at giving compliments. Let’s just keep cleaning, okay?”

The two of them went back to cleaning in awkward silence. Eventually, Camilla broke the silence on her own.

“…Honestly, I was jealous of you.”

“I know,” Prelinsa said.

“Yeah. It was obvious, wasn’t it?” Camilla said bitterly. “I’m jealous and stupid. I knew I shouldn’t have picked a fight. Everyone around me told me not to, but I did it anyway. And not only did I lose, I have to write three apology letters and clean this stupid castle for a month!” She whacked her broom against the floor, huffing angrily. “I’m not even allowed to use martial arts or my fire magic in public during that time. If they catch me using either, I have to clean for another week. Everyone’s making fun of me for it. Now I’m Hothead Camilla, the idiot who knocked out a guard to start a fight. I’m mad, but I know I’m getting what I deserve.”

“I get it,” Prelinsa said. “I’d be mad and jealous too. Maybe I’d even pick a fight.”

“Are you only saying that because you pity me? Because you’re the one who’s in a good spot?”

“Uh, no? I’ve been in some pretty bad spots until recently,” Prelinsa said.

Camilla tilted her head, her anger seeming to disappear. “…You have?”

“Yeah. I don’t know if you knew that, though.”

Camilla shook her head. “I didn’t.”

“Huh,” Prelinsa commented.

“Should I have known that?”

“Well, there have been a lot of rumors about me. Like how I’m a street urchin the Matriarch picked up. I figured you’d have heard at least one of them.”

Camilla shook her head again. “I don’t listen to rumors,” she said. “They’re stupid, and unbecoming.”

“Well, it’s true that I lived on the streets,” Prelinsa said. “That was like four months ago.”

“Oh.” Camilla faltered, looking for words.

Prelinsa let her find them, but when she didn’t, the half-pokkit started to resume cleaning.

“I… I’m sorry! I didn’t try to understand your situation,” Camilla finally blurted out.

Prelinsa stopped again. “I wasn’t saying it to make you feel sorry. I just wanted to make sure you knew that I get where you’re coming from.”

“Still. That was wrong of me. Instead of getting jealous, I should’ve tried to learn more about you. Maybe then I wouldn’t have picked a fight.”

Camilla bowed her head. She seemed to feel genuinely bad, and that was making Prelinsa feel a bit awkward. She scratched the back of her fox ear, trying to find some words to say.

“…You’re putting yourself down a lot, but you’re way better than some people I know,” she finally said, doing her best to emulate the Matriarch, but not doing a very good job. “Because you’re at least saying sorry like you mean it. Some people are never sorry, even when they know they did something wrong. So, uh. I accept your apology.”

“Thanks,” said Camilla, raising her head again. “I’m still jealous of you, but… I’ll try to be better. Maybe we can be friends or something. Also, I still haven’t given up on becoming a Silvermoon.”

She pointed a finger at Prelinsa.

“Don’t get too full of yourself just because you got a headstart – I won’t forgive you if you slack off!”

“I won’t,” Prelinsa replied.

----------------------------------------

The rest of the cleaning went by fairly smoothly, though Camilla attempted to do some of Prelinsa’s work. Prelinsa had to deny her – they each had to carry out their own punishments, otherwise there was no point.

“By the way, why didn’t you upshift when we fought?” Prelinsa wondered aloud.

Camilla paused what she was doing. “Do I have to spell it out for you?”

“Well, yeah.”

Camilla sighed again. “It’s because I can’t upshift. I can only downshift, and that form is… let’s just say I have a complex about it, okay?”

“Sounds cute. Can I see?”

“No!” Camilla snapped. “It makes me look even more like a slave! I-”

Prelinsa tilted her head, confused.

“…Right. I guess you wouldn’t know about that stuff,” Camilla muttered.

“You can tell me if you want.”

“Are you sure? This is a really heavy topic, you know.”

“I’m already a heavy topic, and I know Princess Corynn’s story.”

“Okay, fair enough. So. Ears like mine?” Camilla raised one of her floppy, furry ears with her left hand. “These don’t just happen naturally. My father is descended from slaves in the old Goldensun Empire. Lycan slaves were sometimes bred for aesthetics, to have ears like this.”

A horrified and disgusted look came over Prelinsa’s face.

“…I feel like hurting someone after hearing that,” she said.

“Take it out on the Goldensuns, if you ever see them,” Camilla replied, clearly already used to this reaction. “Most of them are still old, racist elves who want to take over the Greater Realm again.”

“Yeah, I definitely will,” Prelinsa replied, clenching and unclenching her fist a few times as she tried to relax.

“As an up and coming Silvermoon, you're in a better place to do it than me,” Camilla remarked.

“By the way, have you ever… thought about getting your ears replaced?” Prelinsa wondered aloud. In Prelinsa’s situation, she had immune issues that prevented her from getting anything easily replaced. But for Camilla, it was surely possible to have differently-shaped ears grown in a lab and use them to replace her existing ears.

“Yeah. But I chose not to. I thought it would be disrespectful to my father, and I look up to him a lot.”

Prelinsa nodded slowly. “At least you have a dad you look up to. Mine ran away because of my ears. I haven’t seen him since I was little.”

Camilla looked disgusted. “Ugh. What a piece of work! Really, I can’t believe some people. Have you thought about saving your punches for him instead of me?”

“Yep, but I have no idea where he is. I think it’s better off this way. I don’t know how I’d react if I actually saw him.”

“Fair enough. I guess we’re the Suffering Ear Club,” Camilla remarked.

Prelinsa snorted at that.

----------------------------------------

Having company helped the time pass more quickly, and Prelinsa was able to finish before lunchtime. While searching for lunch in the commercial district, she encountered Corynn again. The older pokkit waved.

“Prelinsa!” She called out.

Prelinsa nodded. “Corynn. Hi.”

“How’re you feeling?”

“I feel good. The magic really fixed me up,” Prelinsa said, showing Corynn one of her arms. It looked and felt perfectly fine.

Corynn nodded. “I’m sorry about last night,” she said, frowning as her ears drooped. “I should’ve come to help you more quickly.”

“Nah,” said Prelinsa. “I went somewhere different. You probably didn’t know where I was, and you needed to get help in case things were really bad. So I think you’re fine.”

“Well… if there’s a next time, I’ll still try to get to you faster,” Corynn said.

Prelinsa smiled wryly. “Thanks. I guess I also learned a lesson about wandering off to weird places.”

“I’m glad it wasn’t worse. Just be careful next time.”

“Yeah, I will. Anyway, since we’re both here, want to get something from Fuzzy Wuzzy’s?” Prelinsa asked, referring to a restaurant they both liked.

“Sure.”

The two of them began walking.

“By the way, Camilla had a lot of good things to say about you,” Corynn said.

“She did?” Prelinsa asked. That was a little surprising. But then again, Camilla had admitted herself that she wasn’t good at giving compliments.

“Yeah. She was impressed with how you fought, and insisted that everything was her fault. She also said she’d like to duel with you properly sometime,” Corynn said.

“Huh.” Prelinsa had guessed that Camilla was bad at being honest, but she hadn’t expected this. It was actually sort of funny hearing it from someone else.

“Of course, no duels for now. It’ll be at least a month until she finishes her punishment,” Corynn added.

“Yeah, I spoke to her, and she was mad about it. But she also said she deserved it.”

“That sounds like Camilla,” Corynn commented.

“You’ve known her for a while, right? Does she like picking fights?”

Corynn shook her head. “She likes duels. This is the first time I’ve seen her start a fight. Even with me, she only ever started duels.”

“Huh,” Prelinsa said again.

“I am my mother’s clone, so I think she saw me a bit differently.”

“Yeah, makes sense.”

“That doesn’t mean she can fight you, though. But I think she knows that, too.”

“I think she knew it was wrong, but wanted to fight anyway,” Prelinsa commented.

“Sounds like you have personal experience with that,” Corynn said, a bit teasingly.

“Uh. A little.” Prelinsa recalled punching Vincent at the Matriarch’s speech. In that moment, he was just so punchable. No – Prelinsa had gotten so angry that she had completely ignored Missus B.’s warnings, and could’ve gotten herself arrested. That was her fault, so she really could relate to Camilla in a way. It was actually surprising to her that Camilla hadn’t picked a fight sooner.

As she reflected upon that, a tall and very well built lycan male approached the two girls. Unlike most shifters, who defaulted to a human form with animal ears and tails, this man had a more animalistic appearance – he had a wolf-like head with a snout, fur covering his body, and digitigrade legs. This was a rare midshifted form, which indicated a high level of control over shifting – most shifters couldn’t stop anywhere between earfolk and animal forms. He wore the fully black version of the Silvermoon uniform and mask, which Prelinsa now understood was used primarily by combat officers. This man was probably a soldier.

“Princess Corynn,” he said, bowing. “I’m very sorry to interrupt, but there’s an urgent meeting for you to attend in the Western Keep. We have prepared lunch for you, so you can head over there immediately.”

Corynn immediately switched gears from her informal speech. No matter how many times she did this, it always baffled Prelinsa how readily she adapted to different social situations.

“Commander Kiran,” she said politely, but firmly. “May I know what this matter is about?”

Commander Kiran didn’t say anything, but Prelinsa could tell that he and Corynn were communicating in some way – perhaps using magic. A very dark and grim look briefly crossed Corynn’s face, the likes of which Prelinsa had never seen before. It looked murderous, like she was ready to strangle someone.

She turned to Prelinsa, her expression softening.

“Sorry, Prelinsa. This is important.”

“It’s fine,” said Prelinsa. “Just go. I’ll get lunch for myself.”

“Thanks.”

Using fire to boost her into the air, Corynn made an inhumanly high leap onto a building, jumping from rooftop to rooftop to avoid the crowds. Commander Kiran turned to acknowledge Prelinsa. He bowed.

“Disciple Prelinsa. Once again, I’m very sorry for the interruption.”

With that, he turned and chased after Corynn, leaving Prelinsa to wonder what had happened.