Chapter 66: Beaten and Bruised

Sand sprayed up as Remmi sent a kick scraping through the sand at Ann’s paws. Ann deftly hopped the attack, lunging forward to get in close, striking at the woman’s midsection. Two quick blows were all she got in before a palm hit her sternum with the force of a charging bull, sending her careening.

Ann looked up at the dancing lights weaving between stalactites above her. Her mane of dark grey hair was filled with sand, as was the furry strip running down her back. Her ears flicked irritably, shaking grains from the fluff inside them.  She was sweating, and irritated, but determined to get back up. Once more, she felt Remmi’s knee press into her chest, stopping that urge.

“All right, that’s it for today,” her teacher decided. “There’s a point where continuing becomes detrimental. You’re there. Honestly, you have been for two rounds now, but I wanted to see if you’d recognise that yourself. Got a stubborn head on your shoulders, Ann. Don’t let it get you hurt.”

“Thanks,” Ann grunted, taking the help up. She’d lost count how many times Remmi had knocked her down, but it had been a lot.

“Don’t mention it,” Remmi laughed, shaking her shoulders. “C’mon, let’s stretch and cool down. Important to keep limber in a fight when all we’ve got to rely on is our bodies.”

Ann followed her through a few routine stretches, working on her shoulders, back, arms, core, and legs.

Kat quickly hopped down from the rock and joined them, enjoying the movements. The rest of the crowd had dispersed around the fifth time Ann had hit the sand, losing interest in watching a clear novice taking her first lesson.

“So, remember,” Remmi said, standing. “Work on that balance. It’s your biggest weakness. Crouching and keeping low will help you with that. Those lower legs will help with that, though, so it’s just practice. Other than that, your breathing is good, your footwork needs a lot of practice, but we’ll get there. A good first day.” The woman clapped a hand on Ann’s shoulder, congratulating her.

“So, when’s the next sesh?” Ann asked, brushing out her fur. Rosalyn popped up next to her and began to help.

“Two days should be fine. Give your body time to rest. Just go through some of those footwork drills I showed you. Shuffle, keep your contact with the ground, and get used to that solid feeling.”

“Got it. I’ll start that now,” Ann promised.

“Same place, same time?” Remmi asked.

“Sure, sounds good. I might have to cut it a bit short, though. Have an appointment with a smith that day for my new weapon.”

“Ah, gotcha,” Remmi nodded, pushing her crimson hair back over her ear. “No worries. Can work on technique then. Less practical exercise.”

“Nice meeting you, by the way,” Ann said, chuckling as she reached out a hand. “Didn’t really get much time for pleasantries at the start there.”

“Bah, who needs ‘em,” Remmi shrugged, but shook the offered hand, anyway. “We got a much better introduction.”

“Well, I’ll see you later. Got some stuff to do this afternoon,” Ann said, waving as she left with Kat and Rosalyn.

“Damn, so that’s what ye’re gonna look like?” Kat whistled, eyeing Remmi as she fell into some of her own forms, practicing by herself. “She’s got a lot more upper body strength than you.”

“Probably not. She said I’d be a different build since my primary stat is Dex. Leaner, faster, less force, but more hits. Also, better at getting to weak points if the opportunity strikes,” Ann explained, rubbing a bruise that was forming on her forearms.

“That makes sense,” Kat mumbled, returning her gaze ahead of her. “Ye see how many people came out tae watch?”

“Nope,” Ann confessed. “Was a bit focused on not getting hit.”

“There were a lot,” Rosalyn piped up. “I counted maybe thirty or forty. Lots of really fancy suits and dresses. They all stuck around for a half hour or so, but left once you kinda started losing more. You did really good, as far as I know, though!”

Ann smiled at her lover’s encouragement, resting an affectionate hand on one of her horns, stroking softly. “Thanks, lambchop.”

“They were mostly noble houses,” Ilana explained, coming up on Kat’s left as they walked. “I saw the Trummels, Holdsfars, Pendergasts, Royces and Pullmans. All prominent families within the political sphere. I have no doubts you’ll be getting acquainted with them very soon,” the Avian woman said.

“That a good thing or a bad thing?” Ann asked, watching the woman’s feathers rustle as she walked. Even on the ground, Ilana’s arms seemed to flap slowly, as if trying to take flight.

“Mixed bag really. The Trummels, Pendergasts, and Royces are all aligned with Kat here’s family,” Ilana said, running a wing over her feathered head. “The Pendergasts are fairly neutral. Merchant family, so they appreciate business over pretty much everything else. The Pullmans are currently your largest detractors that were present. Oh, there’s more, believe me, but none that showed up today.”

“Thanks for the explanation,” Ann said, returning her gaze forward as they walked. “I’m sure this whole political web is crazy. How many noble houses would there be?”

“Oh, a few dozen, at least in the high nobility. I don’t even know how many minor nobles, governors, etcetera. First time in the capital? Most people get familiar with this stuff pretty quickly.”

“Oh, yeah, thought Kat would have told you,” Ann said, grinning. “From way up north. A couple tribes of Lupine up there, but I wanted to come south and see what life was like in the warmer places.”

“Ah, that explains it. Not many races can survive up there. My feathers would freeze right off!” Ilana shivered, the feathers on her arms and head puffing out.

“Hey, mind if I ask a question?” Ann asked slowly.

“Um, sure? Go ahead?” Ilana allowed.

“How do you, um, write, or handle stuff?” Ann asked, gesturing at the wings the woman had in place of arms.

“Oh, oh that. Yeah, well, usually I have an assistant to help with the writing. I make do kinda pushing my wings together for carrying things, but it does have its difficulties. I’m still early on in my Path, like you all. Hopefully, I get some kind of skill to help with that.”

Ann really hadn’t thought about some disabilities some of the Vulhardrin would have to deal with compared to the normal bodied peers. Wings, possibly entirely missing limbs? If they lost normal arms, like Ilana did, that had to be a tough situation to grow up with.

“Well, thanks for talking about it,” Ann said, feeling a bit awkward.

“You really are from the middle of nowhere, aren’t you?” Illana asked, cocking her head. “No offence taken. So, what do you all have planned for the rest of the day?”

“Well, lunch first,” Rosalyn said, rubbing her stomach. “Then we were gonna have Kat give us a tour of the city. See what there is since we’ve never been here. Bren’s gonna come along too, and I’m really hoping there’s some other stuff to see besides caves and buildings. If there are like, animals or something like that, I’d looove that.”

“Bren’d try tae get ye set up wit’ some books, but we’ve got places we can see about tha’,” Kat laughed.

“Ooh, sightseeing,” Ilana sighed. “Wish I could come along for that. I’ve got more meetings after lunch to attend. Could I be a bother and join you for that, though?”

“I don’t see why not?” Ann asked, raising a questioning eyebrow at Kat.

“Aye, c’mon. Let’s pick Bren up an’ head tae some grub.”

“So, how’d you all meet, by the way?” Ilana asked as they walked. “Gotta imagine there’s a good story behind all that. You fall kinda hard for people, Kat, but full on girlfriend in a month? I mean, I don’t blame you. If I liked women, I’d have made my pass by now.”

“Literally fell intae me lap,” Kat chuckled. “Well, kinda. Ye know tha’ recent expedition we were on out towards the border? Found this mutt in an old abandoned mansion. She’d gotten lost an’ passed out in a feckin’ snowbank that’d been formed through a hole in the ceilin’.”

“Wow, sounds magical,” Ilana sighed wistfully. “Beautiful Lupine all curled up in the snow? Yeah, I’d swoon too.”

“Then Rosalyn here was on the expedition before last. Went tae help the area wit’ a large Warped an’ Ann, uh, quite literally tripped o’er ‘er.”

“She didn’t trip over me,” Rosalyn corrected. “Just close to me. She almost landed on me, which is good she didn’t, or that Snail would have found me out. That wouldn’t have been fun. Nuh uh.”

“Right, tha’,” Kat laughed again, patting Rosalyn’s head. “An’, well, I’ve always ‘ad a soft spot fer small an’ cute.”

Ilana raised an eyebrow, and Ann interpreted that Kat was understating this fact.

“So, yeah, we ‘ad a talk, an’ we all decided we could give it a try. Just the tree o’ us. It’s feckin’ weird, an’ sometimes I feel like I’m dreamin’, but it’s workin’ so far.” As she finished speaking, Kat wrapped her arms around Ann and Rosalyn, pulling them close for a hug.

Ann felt her heart swell at the obvious affection in Kat’s voice as she described their meeting and getting together. It was nice to hear Kat talking about her like this. She looked down and saw Rosalyn avoiding eye contact with both of them, bashfully kicking at the ground.

“Wow,” Ilana whistled. “You really did fall for them. And people think you’re all gruff and prickly,” the Avian teased Kat, tickling her with her feathers. “Totally don’t have a soft mushy girl under all those muscles. No waaaay. Oh, I’ve missed you,” she sighed, wrapping Kat in a feathered hug.

“Missed you too, Ilana,” Kat laughed, not letting go of Ann or Rosalyn. “Good to be home, despite the headaches that come with it.”

Instead of finding a restaurant, Kat took them to the palace kitchens. It was a long, wide room, filled to the brim with people bustling back and forth. Along one wall was a set of ovens and stoves. Chefs, cooks, assistants and more were moving in a well-practised rhythm, white aprons flapping as they rushed to and fro. Two long tables, separated by a lane used for plating and staging food destined for elsewhere in the palace, ran down the centre of the room.

The sounds of shouting chefs and the clinking of cooking utensils brought Ann back to one of her first jobs during secondary school. She’d worked at a fast food place, and while nowhere near the scale of this operation, she felt immediately familiar.

They stood to the side until a servant stopped, bowing to Kat.

“Your highness,” the man bowed low. “How can we help you today?”

“Oh, just need some grub fer lunch, somethin’ portable if ye don’ mind,” Kat said, gesturing for him to stand again.

“We can have a few sandwiches and fresh fruit prepared in a couple minutes, my lady,” the man offered. He stood, but with none of the ease he’d been walking with prior to noticing Kat.

“That’ll be fine. We can wait ‘ere,” Kat said, mild annoyance in her gaze at the man’s nervousness. She sighed as he rushed off. “Wish I were just some jackanape. Feckin’ scarin’ people jus’ by showin up,” she grumbled.

“Yeah, but then we wouldn’t have been friends,” Ilana prodded at her with a wingtip. “Plus, you probably wouldn’t have met those two either. Come on, Kat. There’re good sides to this too.”

“Aye, aye. Ye an’ Bren always pointin’ tha’ out,” Kat grumbled.

“And who knows where I’d be right now,” Ann said, leaning up against a bare portion of the stone wall behind her, pulling Rosalyn up against her legs. “Probably still wandering in that forest.”

“Or dead, if a Warped got to you,” Rosalyn pointed out cheerfully. “Can’t discount the risks of being out alone like that. Even Twinwolves are dangerous in larger packs, though at this point we can deal with them pretty easily.”

“Gods, to be out and fighting all those horrors,” Ilana shuddered. “You all are braver than I. Couldn’t much stand getting hurt, and you seek it out. Madness.”

“An’ I couldn’t stomach half the meetin’s ye ‘ave tae attend. All tha’ back an’ forth, tradin’ words like swords? Cannae fuckin’ stand it.”

“To each their own,” Ann said, putting on her best Bren impression, which got a giggle out of Ilana and Kat.

The servant rushed back, handing Kat a basket with a bundle of clean white cloth inside protecting their food. “Please let us know if there is anything else we can help with, highness.”

Kat took the basket and let the man return to his normal duties. They caught up with Bren in a courtyard outside Kat’s room, and following Kat’s guidance, made their way up to the wall on the outside of the palace cavern. Guards roamed past them at regular intervals, but gave them ample room for privacy as they sat on a parapet to have their meal.

“Kinda reminds me of the first time we were in the Keep,” Ann sighed, taking her simple sandwich from Kat’s outstretched hand. It was simple, with meat, some sort of cheese, and lettuce. They had some grapes, strawberries, and other fruits she didn’t recognise to pick from as they chose.

“Feels like so long ago,” Kat whistled, looking out over Korvas. “Feckin’ hells, has it only been a month or so?”

“Just about,” Bren confirmed. “Quite a lot has happened. It makes time feel much slower than it normally does.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Compared to my time out in my little house, this has been a crazy adventure already. Going into a seed, fighting all sorts of fascinating Warped, getting to study them, all with a champion of a Goddess? What could be more eventful?”

“I’m sorry, did I hear that right?” Illana asked, stopping mid bite.

“Uh, oops?” Rosalyn squeaked, curling up and looking at Ann for forgiveness. “Wasn’t supposed to say that yet.”

Ann sighed, patting her shoulder. “It’s fine. That whole announcement’s going to be happening in a few days, anyway. Yeah, Illana. I’m the Champion of Orenous. If you could just not say anything about that for a few days, I’d really appreciate it.”

“Yeah, absolutely, but still. A few things make a bit more sense,” Ilana muttered. “You and Kat, and picking up Rosalyn. Kat?” the woman asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend.

“What?” Kat asked defensively. “Dinnae what ye’re talkin’ about.”

“Kat,” Ilana pressed.

“Feck, ok, ok, yeah. We can talk about tha’ more when Bren’s not ‘ere,” Kat said, blushing as she broke eye contact, staring over the city. Her crimson ears didn’t let her hide her embarrassment, however.

“Oh, I’m holding you to that one,” Ilana promised, then dropped the line of questioning. “So, kinda funny to think that Kat’s not the only important one in this group anymore. You’re going to be a hotbed of political discussion, Annita. I hope you’re ready for that. Everyone is going to be trying to get a meeting with you. Schemes are already being hatched to try to ingratiate you with certain houses simply for being friendly with Kat. You as well, Rosalyn.”

“Sorry, what? Me?” Rosalyn asked. Her eyes went wide with shock. “But I’m just… me?”

“We warned ye,” Kat said, gently rubbing the Druid’s shoulder. “Shite’s gonna happen fast.”

Rosalyn whined and shrunk further into herself, munching on her sandwich as she brooded.

“Fortunately, they don’t know enough about any of you to really get their claws in quite yet,” Ilana informed them. Eating a sandwich was awkward for the woman, but she was managing admirably. “Once you announce… that,” Ilana said, omitting the obvious implication as a guard walked past, “you’re all in for it. If you want my advice, I’d talk to King Kremdol regarding the factions you want to align with. His political manoeuvring to keep this kingdom together makes me look like a child.”

“Ye went tae school fer years tryin’ tae get better at this. Ye’ve gotta be better than tha’,” Kat said.

“Only so much I can do with what life I’ve got. He’s got a century on me, if not more,” Ilana protested.

“And what would you say if I said I trust you more as of right now?” Ann asked, finishing her meal and wiping crumbs off her shirt.

“I’d say you’re a fool, but I appreciate it,” Ilana replied.

“Just, I don’t know. You know Kat, and Kat’s good at finding people who do good things,” Ann mused. “Just wondering if having an opinion that’s not the current king’s would be a good thing.”

“Well, I’ve got my own assignments for now, so I’m off limits. Play your cards right, Champion, and maybe we’ll be working together one of these days,” Ilana offered, winking slyly. “For now? Let’s just settle with acquaintances and work our way from there.”

“Sounds good to me,” Ann said, nodding.

“Sorry again,” Rosalyn apologised quietly.

“Rosalyn, hey.” Ann gently grasped one of her horns, pulling the woman’s face up. She felt Rosalyn shiver, her body instantly relaxing at the forceful touch.

The Druid looked up, her half-closed eyes meeting Ann’s.

Ann bent down and kissed her, feeling the woman melting into the kiss, unable to hold herself together as a soft moan vibrated between them.

Ann pulled back, leaving Rosalyn a little out of breath. “It’s fine. Really. Stop beating yourself up.” She brushed away a bit of drool that had escaped her girlfriend’s lips.

“Yeah, I definitely get it now,” Ilana whispered, barely loud enough for Ann to hear.