Verrin tried to move Lume out of the wards the next morning, arguing that Surestrike's apprentice should receive suitable rooms for her stature.

Nax strangled that idea in its crib, saying the comradery living in the wards was invaluable for a young fighter like Lume. Seph was amused; he and Nax were barely a cycle Lume's seniors.

Verrin wasn't happy about Nax stymying him, but he knew better than to question Nax on what made a better fighter; instead, he brought attention to her in other ways.

When Nax and Seph came to the wards after Seph's shift harvesting, Lume wore some of the finest fighting silks Seph had ever seen; Verrin spared no expense in making it known who Surestrike's protege was.

Lume looked uncomfortable when she and Nax stepped onto the sand, her fingers sliding over the smooth silk Verrin had gifted her.

"You'll get used to it," Nax said, his mask adding a buzz to his voice that Seph wasn't used to even after all this time. "There's no clothing better for a fight this side of the Thale. I'd say I'm surprised Verrin paid for them, but he'll make his chips back and then some when this is all said and done."

"Surestrike doesn't wear silks," Lume replied.

Seph snorted. "Surestrike didn't need Verrin's help to stand out. Lord of Darkness over here was winning fights before he could walk." He was wearing his carved mask again today, the pale driftwood a stark contrast to Nax's chitin.

This time, Nax didn't rise to his bait, continuing to look in Lume's direction. "I'd wear silks if I had the chips to spare; you know a little about that."

"That's true," Lume chuckled, "I'd just gotten my leggings into decent shape yesterday."

"I looked into where your chips are going: nutrition. It's a good idea. Always invest in your body if it's your career." Nax pressed his hands together in the customary Tuwallin salute and bowed at the waist, a practiced motion of respect. Technically, as his pupil, Lume should perform the salute first. Nax had never been one to stand on tradition.

"We'll start with an open spar. I want to get a feel for how you move on the sand; what your strengths are and where you need help. Watching is good, fighting is better."

Lume returned the salute, her eyes lighting up at the prospect of sparring with Nax. Seph couldn't help but smile at her earnestness.

She came in low, much more cautious than she had against Jesso the day before, and Seph noted that she looked almost timid facing Nax.

"Good. Stay grounded, focus on defense against an unfamiliar opponent. Wait to see if you're the superior fighter." Nax circled opposite Lume, his hands raised in a loose guard that was less wall and more net. When he threw a testing blow, Lume jumped back like a snake had struck. "Careful is good. Fearful isn't. There is such a thing as too safe."

Lume frowned at herself, seeming to struggle for a moment with her fear before wrestling it down. Her movements more fluid, she began probing Nax in earnest. Testing blows were followed by gentle redirections, snapping kicks slipped with feline grace, attempts to grapple foiled the same way one would a particularly unruly toddler. Seph watched Nax work with a sense of wonder that hadn't faded over the years.

"Better. Still too timid. Don't worry about defense, just focus on your attacks. I won't retaliate." Nax stopped circling, turning himself into an ironshell where before he had been a whisperclaw. His liquid grace solidified into a towering wall, and this time when Lume came at him he rebuffed everything directly. Instead of slipping he blocked. Instead of redirecting, he offered up the harder portions of his anatomy, letting Lume strike his elbows and knees instead of her intended targets.

After a particularly vicious hook connected with another elbow, Lume winced and shook out the offending hand. Nax called a halt.

"Good. We can stop there."

Lume raised her arms above her head, Seph noticing with approval the way she filled her stomach with each breath instead of her chest.

Nax clasped his hands behind his back, reminding Seph of one of the great hammerbeaks that nested on Tuwallo's cliffs. "A good start. Your instincts are good, and your technique is workable. We'll focus on offense first. If we're going to do this in the timeline we need, you have to stay relatively healthy between fights. That means finishing quickly enough that you're not soldiering through injuries after."

Lume nodded, her earlier determination unbroken in the face of Nax's impenetrable defense. "I'm ready."

Seph smiled. This might work after all.

LINE

Lume's first fight was six days later, pitting her against one of the hundreds of fighters employed to promote more marketable talents. The other woman was half a head shorter than the Ojentus, and her body was more scar than tanned skin. Seph thought she might've been a carnacle harvester before her time in the sands.

Surestrike stood in the wings, his imposing mask and ever-present stillness lending a weight to Lume's fight that wouldn't be there under normal circumstances for such a low-tier bout. Verrin had been marketing this match with everything he had, telling the entirety of the outskirts that Surestrike had taken one of the fry as a student. Already, there were artists' renditions of Lume circulating the outer rings of Tuwallo. She had been uncomfortable for days with the attention.

Seph couldn't help but be proud of her now. She stood tall in her fighting silks, breath even, hair tucked into a tight tail behind her. Nax had helped her warm up in their chamber before the fight, so now she did her best to imitate her teacher's tranquility.

He thought she was doing a fair job of it, in truth. She could've been mistaken for his daughter, if not in appearance then in bearing. No one here knew that Nax was just barely her senior, and there were rumors among the people that Surestrike was as old as his fiftieth cycle. Seph had no doubt Verrin would be working that angle however quietly in his attempts to milk these fights for all they were worth.

The crowd hushed for a moment as the sound of the announcer rang through the arena. "People of Tuwallo, do we have a treat for you this evening! On the sands, a veteran of more than a hundred fights in our humble arena, the Serpent in the Sand, Helit Baresh!"

Sparse cheering rolled through the stands, and a smattering of polite applause and stomping greeted her name as the woman below raised a silent fist.

"And her opponent, making her debut in the Tuwallo Arena, hailing from the Ojentus tribe, we have Lumellin Ojenta! Student of Surestrike, our fighter with the most victories in Tuwallo's history! A name that surely everyone in this arena knows!"

Where her opponent had acknowledged the slight swell of the crowd on her introduction, Lume was stoic when the wave of sound crashed through the arena. Verrin's people had clearly done well in elevating Lume to celebrity status before she'd ever had her first bout.

Seph listened as the announcer went through the standard pre-fight pleasantries, reviewing the rules of the match for the spectators. Standard single round, to incapacitation or surrender. Verrin had experimented a few years ago with a more structured model using a point system and divided rounds.

His fight attendance had cratered within days.

Now, he stuck to the basics: two fighters brutalizing each other in the ring. Seph wanted to decry the arena as barbaric, but he couldn't. The thrill of watching two experts in their craft was too strong, despite the brutal medium. And above all else, the fighters loved it.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Seph had thought at first that most of the fighters were poor outer ring citizens, people who turned to fighting because they had nowhere else to go. The reality was the fighters here breathed battle and drank victory. Every fighter in Verrin's arena, slipscale though he was, chose to be there.

He was roused from his musings by the shout of the announcer signalling a beginning to the bout.

Lume tore off towards Helit, her feet gliding over the sand like a hammerbeak skimming over the surf. Helit did the same, not content to wait for Lume's advance.

Seph knew something was wrong immediately. Not with Lume, she looked fine; poised, controlled, and ready for anything. But Helit was something different.

She was moving too well.

The woman looked like a predator prowling across the arena, all smooth grace and deadly precision.

Seph watched as Lume opened with a straight kick, likely hoping Helit's momentum would carry her into the outstretched foot.

The smaller woman twisted and caught the offending leg between her side and arm with a lightning fluidity Seph and Nax hadn't seen when they watched her spar. Thoughts raced through Seph's head before crystallizing into understanding. She was a plant.

It was the only thing that made sense. He and Nax had scouted Lume's prospective opponents thoroughly. A loss in her first bout would've been devastating to their plans. Helit moved well, and she was clearly trained, but she didn't have the speed or technique to pull off a maneuver like that based on what they'd seen. Now, she looked like a different person.

Seph's thoughts continued to whirl, trying to figure out how they could spin a loss here. Plans were created and discarded in an instant. Before he could fall too far down the well, Lume solved the problem for him.

On seeing her leg engulfed in the other woman's grip, she didn't attempt to escape. Lume pulled her trapped leg back toward her body, left the ground with her other leg, and slammed her heel into Helit's temple.

The woman dropped like an anchor, her boneless limbs flopping to the sand around her. There was a lull in the stadium for a moment, like the arena was holding its breath.

Then there was a roar from the crowd, so loud it hurt Seph's ears, sweeping up through the stands like a deluge of sound. The announcer capitalized quickly while Lume beamed, having turned her opponent on the arena floor much as she'd done with Jesso.

"An incredible debut! Lumellin Ojenta takes her first match spectacularly! A spinning heel kick so fast The Serpent in the Sand stood no chance! What else could one expect from Surestrike's chosen student? Spectacular!"

Seph looked to see Nax's reaction, but Surestrike was already disappearing back into the fighter's tunnels.

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

"Open the door Verrin!" Nax shouted, his rich baritone exhibiting the buzzing quality that came from his mask's chitin construction. "I know you're in there. If I have to break the door, it's your fingers next!"

The owner's box was secluded enough that no one had heard him shouting yet, but if Verrin didn't open up soon they would. The lock clicked, and Nax was met with the sight of Verrin opening the door and licking his lips sheepishly. "Now hold on, Nax. I didn't know, I swear. Helit has been a bottom-tier fighter her whole career. No one knew she was that good, least of all me."

Nax pushed into the room, moving Verrin backward like he wasn't there. "Verrin, if you lie to me today I'll gut you. I've been training Lume for six days, Verrin. She wasn't ready for a fight like that, and if she hadn't pulled off one of the finest knockouts I've ever seen she might already be crippled. In her first bout, Verrin. Do you see the problem? The plan doesn't work if she can't keep fighting."

Nax fought to keep his breathing even and his voice above a growl, but it was a near thing. "Now I trust you to put yourself first, Verrin, I always have. Glintravens are jealous of your greed. So look at me and tell me you didn't know."

The portly man had stumbled back to his seat, his bulk jostling the plush chair Verrin occupied during the fights. "I swear on the Fortress' wrinkled ass I didn't know a thing! Why would I want one of the most promoted fights in the arena's history to end in an embarrassment? Helit has to have been throwing fights for years. She knows she won't fight after this, the only way she risks it is a bribe so fat I can't pay it, or a threat a Hollow can't enforce."

Nax stared at him for a long moment through the harsh visage of his mask, the chitin hiding his furrowed brow. After a tense moment, he spoke. "I believe you."

Verrin started as Nax turned to leave. "That's it?" He asked, incredulously.

Nax placed his hand on the door, open hand where before he was closed fist. "Lume just beat a fighter she should've never been in the ring with. They burned someone with a career they've been cultivating for cycles, just to see her lose." He stopped, looking back at Verrin with a chuckle. "I've had her for six days. Maybe this will be more fun than I thought."

Verrin swallowed, and once Nax opened the door he finally seemed to find his courage. "Just make sure she knows the stakes! This isn't a rise to greatness, it's all of us Hollows learning our place!"

Nax stopped. He turned, his frame filling the door while the light reflected off the chitinous mask he'd worn to fame. "Maybe you should be more ambitious, Verrin."

He left the man sweating behind him.

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

"Did you see that? I thought I was done and buried!"

Lume had been going on for the last ten minutes to Seph, and he was grateful for Nax's entrance. He liked Lume, but she was... a lot. The woman was a ball of enthusiasm at the best of times, but after the spectacular performance she'd just put on she was practically blazing with emotion.

"I did. An exceptional recovery. You turned a weakness into a strength." Nax sat down, his unnatural stillness while he wore his mask doing little to damper Lume's mood. "Next fight, however, maybe you can avoid getting your leg caught?"

Lume looked embarrassed. "I thought it would be good to keep distance, and she was running so fast..."

Nax nodded. "You thought it would work. I understand. But would you have done the same with me?"

Lume shifted uncomfortably. "No. It would've been too risky with you."

"But against the Sand Serpent, you felt you could. As first lessons go in the arena, this was an easier one to endure ." He leaned in, the dark lines of his mask making his large frame even more imposing. "Underestimate your opponent, and you're done. If you hadn't surprised her with the heel, she would've broken your knee easy as a thunder ape cracking open an ironshell."

Seph snorted at the image. Most Tuwallins had seen one of the great beasts come down from the jungle to scour the beach, and when they found the enormous mollusks they broke them open with a speed that made their ironshell moniker look like a jest.

He laid his hand on Nax's shoulder, holding him back in spirit if not in body. "But she did. And it was well done. Credit where it's due, Helit is the one who won't see straight for weeks and not Lume. A victory still deserves praise."

He saw the light of hope enter Lume's eyes, and he had to admit a certain satisfaction at seeing the woman so excited after the bout.

"True," Nax finally responded, and Seph watched as the breath Lume had held was finally released. "I don't know that I've seen a more spectacular knockout in the last cycle. An incredible recovery."

And here, finally, Lume's smile returned like the suns emerging from a clouded sky. "I know! I keep seeing it in my head. The whole world goes still when she grabs my leg, and I just have this flash of lightning that shows me what I need to do. And I just... Did it." She trailed off, enthusiasm giving way to quiet satisfaction.

Lume pressed her hands together in the Tuwallin gesture of respect and bowed at the waist. "Thank you. Both of you. I've learned more the past six days than I did in the last four months among the fry."

"Don't devalue your time with the fry," Seph replied. "That was your foundation. Without them, we would have spent months laying the groundwork for you to even begin learning. You've leapt beyond that because of the fry, not in spite of them."

"As you say, Teacher Drift," she intoned, performing the salute once again. Seph squirmed under his robes. They'd had a hard enough time getting Lume to stop calling them Master, despite the hint of laughter in her tone.

"We'll stretch, and then we can go over the fight again. I saw half a dozen issues with your stance and your gait. We'll need to tighten those up if you're going to continue."

Seph stopped his friend before Lume's face fell any further. "I think that can wait until tomorrow. Why don't you let her celebrate? You remember your first win, don't you?"

Nax had just passed his twelfth cycle at the time, not that either of them would mention it. The boys had managed to pilfer an amphora of some truly vile ale, and most of the rest of the evening had turned into a contented blur.

"Fine," Nax replied reluctantly. "Tomorrow morning. Tonight, you celebrate."

"Yes!" Lume cheered, jumping and punching the sky. "You should come! Both of you. Imagine the party if Surestrike shows up to the wards to celebrate!"

Nax and Seph exchanged a glance through their masked visages. Farris was counting on their portion of the purse this evening, and the chances of being unmasked in a crowd were too high.

"We can't," Seph finally replied. "But enjoy yourself, Lume. You deserve it."

Nax nodded, though Seph could tell it pained him. "Agreed. Well done Lume."

The woman lit up like a third sun again and sprinted out of the room.

Seph chuckled before turning to Nax. "It wouldn't kill you to give her some praise. It really was a spectacular finish."

"I know," Nax sighed, the stiffness in his shoulders slowly bleeding away. "But this whole thing almost ended right there, Seph. If she breaks her knee she might never fight again. Lume should've never been in the same ring as Helit."

"She won, Nax. And she'll have more fights where she makes mistakes before this is over. You're going to have to deal with it better than this."

"I know," he repeated, this time with a bone-deep weariness that had been lying under his stoicism. "Just not right now. It's different when it's me, Seph. Watching her go out there and almost get crippled because I didn't prepare her enough is ten times worse."

"I hear you. But she won, Nax."

"She did." Nax stood, his earlier tranquility returning. "Thank you, Seph."

"Always," Seph replied. "Now let's go over the notes for tomorrow morning."

"I thought I was the carnacle," Nax laughed.