Blood-Forged

Two hundred and some odd years ago...

Tejara stabbed her wooden practice sword into the ground and leaned against it, panting hard. Her long black hair had shaken loose from the pair of neat buns she usually kept it in. Clumps of hair stuck to her face with sweat, the rest falling in waves down her back.

Across from her on the small training field with the grass all torn up into dirt was Eun. He held his blade off to the side, pointed down, also panting hard. He slowly leveled his balde at Tejara and said, “again.”

Tejara barely had time to parry the heavy blow Eun struck out with; she was nicked to the ground with the weight of the blow, her wooden sword falling from her hands. She instinctively closed her eyes when she fell and when she opened them she was staring at the point of Piercing Gale.

At the edge of the training circle were a handful of guards that had stopped to watch after their shifts. Many of them didn’t like sharing their training and eating spaces with a former death row criminal but even still, they couldn’t help feeling a stab of pity as Eun once more barked, “again.”

One of the off duty guards leaned over to his friend beside him and asked, “so do you think he’s punishing her for something or is he just in a bad mood?”

“Oh, he’s definitely just in a bad mood.” A voice answered from behind and the pair of guards jumped.

They turned around and both immediately dropped to one kniee, calling out, almost in unison, a respectful, “Your Highnesses.” The other guards also noticed the two princes and the strange guest from Xoran and knelt down as well with a chorus of “Your Highnesses”.

However, the sparring pair in the center did not notice the arrival of Ves’hil’n and Ka’shin’lai. This time Tejara was on an exhausted, desperate offensive and Eun on a bored defensive. After watching them for a few seconds, the Xora soothsayer turned to Ka’shin’lai and said, “those two are destined for this fight.”

Ves’hil’n grinned as he watched the fight. He waved and called out to the Swordmaster, “Eun!”

Eun’s ears turned pink and he looked over to Ves’hil’n. Tejara, unable to stop the momentum of her swing, struck Eun square in the head. Eun crumpled to the ground.

“Teacher!” Ves’hil’n cried out, running for him. Tejara dropped her wooden sword and knelt down, her head bowed.

Eun sat up, rubbing his head. While everyone else was frozen to the spot, Ves’hil’n rushed over and bent down, offering a hand to Eun. Eun took it but didn’t use it to pull himself up, instead asking, “what did you call me?”

Having already forgotten his crime, Ves’hil’n tilted his head to the side, frowned, and answered, “Teacher?”