Nirrvash

Enjoy!

😁

"What about the fire-wielder?" I asked, almost done filling my stomach, already itching for another round with the young mossbear.

"Who?"

'Shit! Stupid!'

"Harcon. I meant Harcon - did he make it, did he win?" To be honest, I shouldn't give a shit about the male. Yet I did - he put his hide on the line for me. And while my human me saw it as just repaying his debt, it meant more to the beast-me.

"Fire-wielder - is that how the beasts see us humans?"

My fur prickled, a shiver of unease creeping up my spine.

"How do you see me, girl?"

'Fuck!'

"Eh...you know, strong human, my - my mentor, someone worthy of listening to."

'For fuck's sake, Korra, shut up already!' Seriously, it would be far better if I didn't open my big mouth, or rather took the human tool off my finger. "Anyway, what about the fire-wielder, I mean, Harcon?"

Smooth? Hardly. Luckily, though, my human just smiled at my lame attempt to change the subject and didn't press the issue any further. "Haven't talked to him," he said. "There was a lot of fire in one part of the forest, though. My bet, he'll make it - you, on the other hand, if you don't stop worrying about others, won't."

"I know that." Of course, I did. I learned it the hard way - every damn distraction could lead to me losing the fight. But I wasn’t in the middle of a fight, not at the moment.

The truth was, however, that my dinner break was coming to an end and with that, time to start to focus.

"Good, very good. But trust me, not as easy to put others out of your mind as it may seem, and fighting, knowing that your battle can affect others, is the worst. So remember, girl, this is your training. Whatever happens - win or lose - it will only affect YOU. It's up to only you how much you take away from it."

'I know all of that.' However, I swallowed the remark this time and just nodded. That I was aware of all that must have been obvious to my human, and yet... if I had to guess, he believed that some things were just better to hear from others. And honestly, I didn't find any fault with that.

As such, advised by my new mentor, when my opponent, a young mossbear, finished off the lettuce moss, I dove into the next round of our training... without Esu telling us so.

Like before, we started circling each other, sizing each other up, looking for opportunities. The moment one presented itself I pounced - lunging in quick, releasing the poison, then darting back just far enough to stay in control of the cloud.

"You can control that cloud of poison?" my human said, sounding impressed. "I wonder what else you haven't shown me, girl."

My chest swelled with pride, but that was all I allowed myself. Any thoughts outside the fight could have led to my painful defeat. Actually, after everything my human had said to me, I figured he would keep his mouth shut, not risk throwing me off. Turns out, I was wrong.

"You're too slow."

"You need to predict your opponent better."

"I know it's easier for me to say, but be aware of all your limbs at all times."

"Don't fall into a rhythm - you'll only make it easier for your opponent."

While distracting, all he threw at me during the fight was well-meaning advice. Sure, a few bits stung - like saying my legs were too weak, or how flying would give me a real edge. Hard to argue when he wasn’t wrong, though.

'Being able to fly would be cool.' And yes, whether I liked it or not, my legs were weak. With all the bouncing around this round, trying to keep out of the mossbear's reach while keeping the beast in the cloud of my poison, fatigue quickly came to my legs. The mossbears may not have been long-distance runners, but as it turns out, neither was I. No surprise there. For over a year and a half, I was locked in a cage barely big enough to take two steps. Sure, my regeneration stopped me from turning into a total stick, but two weeks of running through woods and city streets wasn’t much of a fix. And, well, I was never the athletic type, anyway.

Not something to dwell on, though. That was a thing of the past. Instead. I did my best to take my human's points to heart, while not letting them sway me. All the while concentrating on the fight and especially on using my poison.

• 5th glyph carved on Pounce (⦿)

Oh, and yes, I did some pouncing, too. It was fun.

What I truly wanted to see, however, still didn’t happen, not even after my first victory over the young mossbear. Of course, that didn’t stop me from feeling elated. By the time the third dose of my tail’s poison made the beast’s massive legs fold, I was yipping like a pup, my tail whipping the air in glee. I bested the beast and walked away essentially unscathed.

What I didn't avoid, though, was the moss healing. Esu didn’t bother with whether I looked injured or not; he went ahead and patched me up. Can’t say I blamed him. As soon as the moss settled, my muscles relaxed, the fatigue melting like frost in sunlight.

"It's not happy," my human noted, eyeing the young mossbear grumbling under its breath. There were no words, just the beast grumbling over my fighting style. Much to my surprise, the young mossbear received no sympathy from either Esu or any mother mossbear, now returning to the clearing one by one. The rest of the fights seemed done, the fates decided for most, save for one, if the racket from the forest was anything to go by.

Not my fight, though.

What mattered was the young mossbear, who, to my annoyance, got some good advice from its parents in the end. Not that I could gripe too much. My human handed me plenty of advice, too.

Still, it sucked.

The next round of my training may have started the same way, with me pouncing in at the first opportunity, letting Sage unleash the poison. It was when my hunch turned into a certainty. Paying serious attention to what I was doing, I could now see it wasn't actually the poison I was commanding, but the mana from which it was created. 

Thrilled about it, I tried to keep a cloud over my opponent's muzzle - as before. But the mossbear didn’t stay put. It darted off, running circles around the clearing, clearly trying to scatter the cloud before it could take effect.

Had that been all it got, I would have felt as certain about winning this round as I did the last. But the advice the young mossbear received bore fruit. It didn’t just run; it let the moss on its back crawl over its snout. There, it fluffed up.

'Was it hungry?' A ridiculous thought that crossed my mind in the first moments.

"It's trying to filter out your poison, girl. Clever." My human’s praise for my enemy grated on me. It was irritating. The truth of what he said, however, soon proved undeniable. Even I could see the dried orange-colored tufts of fluffy moss on its snout falling off, only to be replaced by new green fresh ones.

In the end, I managed to win - barely. It went on too long, and I had to burn through all my mana using the poison.

Annoyingly, the young mossbear had started getting the hang of my odd ways and I could only dread what the next round would bring.

Yet not everything was all bad news.

• 6th glyph carved on Pounce (⦿)

The Great Runes had finally recognized not only my work with claws and fangs but also my skill with poison - it was worthy enough of another circle.

• 12th glyph engraved on Tail of Poison Empress (⦿)
• 2nd circle of Tail of Poison Empress formed

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Tail of Poison Empress

General Weave
12 glyphs - ⦿⦿

⦿
Death awaits everyone, but for some, it comes earlier in the form of a blazing orange cloud,
may your prey find solace in knowing that the sweet scent is something in which to be proud.

⦿⦿
Being a poison empress doesn't mean working with papers and quill,
if anything, it is about being able to bend your poison to your will.
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