“Why haven’t I been practicing with this the whole time?”
“We weren’t moving that fast, or doing anything that dangerous, during the drills. I wanted you to grow accustomed to the actual weight of your weapon. But for sparring… I’m not going to even risk having you knick me with that thing. Who knows what it’d do to me.”
Vi looked to the weapon, and agreed. It was likely for the best… She’d always heard crystals led to madness, and monstrous corruptions of mind and body. But the scythe had also been in the hands of the morphi for generations. Perhaps, somehow, they were immune… or perhaps they’d just never handled the weapon enough. Vi wouldn’t take chances, in case it was the latter.
“I’ll use different weapons each round. Your only objective is to land a killing blow on me.”
“Understood,” Vi said, and the sparring commenced.
With two weapons, Arwin formed an X to catch her scythe, pushing it off and digging the blunted wooden point of one into the soft part of her throat. When Arwin wielded a single sword, Vi had slightly more luck keeping the woman at distance—until Arwin caught the pole in her hands, yanking the wooden weapon forward and Vi with it. She stumbled and fell, blinking up at the sword in her face.
“I know you have more than that, up with you,” Arwin commanded gruffly. They clasped forearms and Arwin pulled her upright. Vi swayed wearily and ignored every stinging pain in her body. “You were good on distance there; you just need to identify openings to attack better. Defense is only useful to create an opening for offense.”
“I’ll focus on openings, then,” Vi said, and they continued on.
Arwin was nimble and skilled—a trained warrior through and through. No matter how many hours she put in, Vi wasn’t about to make up for the difference in their years of experience.
And yet… when an opening presented itself, Vi took it.
Arwin’s weight shifted—Vi recognized her preparation for a lunge. She dodged to the side. Swiping the blade low, Vi hooked Arwin’s ankle and pulled. The woman was sent off-balance, dancing from foot to foot to try to stay upright.
Vi pushed the blade this time, hitting the fronts of her ankles. Arwin slammed the tip of her wooden sword into the ground, using it for support. She crouched low, about to strike again. But Vi was too fast.
She swung the scythe around, stopping it right at Arwin’s neck.
For a brief second, they both panted, staring at each other.
“Well done.” Arwin recovered her breath much faster than Vi. “Perhaps you have a fighter in you yet.”
Vi eased the scythe away from Arwin, leaning against it for support. “I have a good tutor.”
Arwin flashed her a genuine smile, taking the scythe and returning it with her wooden sword to the rack. Vi took the expression as a sign of hope—perhaps she really could convince the woman to go with her on her journey.
“Come along.” Arwin started for the exit.
“Where are we going?” Vi grabbed the crystal scythe and followed Arwin out of the training room. They went through the normal doors, into the usual hallway, but then took an unexpected turn down a wing of the palace Vi had never been to before.
“You’ll see soon enough.” Arwin glanced over her shoulder, making sure Vi was still close behind. “You did well today. You deserve—and need—some recovery.”
The potent scents of flowers and woody herbs filled the air on clouds of steam. Arwin led her into a bathing room. There, Vi discovered the source of the aroma—three large tubs, like barrels cut in half, filled to the brim with steaming water.
“Strip.” Arwin pointed to a tall table on one half of the room, then to the tubs. “And soak. It does wonders for the body.”
Vi hovered as Arwin headed for the tall table on the room’s other side. She slowly peeled her sweat-drenched shirt off her skin, revealing a tight leather binding underneath before Vi could look away. Vi would have called it a corset, but it covered the breasts only—not down to the hips. Additionally, it had thick straps that wrapped over the shoulders and—most fascinating of all—it was fashioned to cover the entire breast, accentuating no cleavage, and was tied in the front.
“What?” Arwin caught her staring. “This?” She motioned to a fairly large, crescent-shaped birthmark underneath her collar bone.
“No, not that. Why do you bind your chest like that?” Vi blurted.
“Keeps them out of my way. They’d be way too painful to deal with if they were bouncing about during combat or practice.” Arwin paused, mid-loosening of the ties. Her eyes caught Vi’s. “What do you do?” she asked cautiously.
Mutual fascination filled the air to the point that Vi felt dizzy with it and couldn’t help laughing. And the laughter felt so good that she didn’t even bother trying to stop it.
“Look at us,” Vi said finally when she was under control. “Fascinated by each other’s lives, even when it comes to undergarments.” Arwin gave her a small grin. “We have nothing like that where I’m from. Our underclothes are meant to tighten the waist or accentuate the bust.”
“We have corsets too,” Arwin said.
“I see.”
