The training hall was practically empty this early in the morning, at least compared to her first trip. Vittea could easily see Yasua’s large form, talking to Merritith, and she was…smiling? The large guard captain had her lips in a gentle smile as the smaller moth-woman held up her clip board, presumably going over her plan for the Vittea.
Vittea’s brows furrowed as she walked over to the pair. It didn’t seem like they were dating, but it also didn’t seem like they weren’t dating? Whenever Merritith looked away or focused on her notes, Yasua stared at her like a puppy. And whenever Yasua pointed out different sets of equipment Merritith would stare directly at her biceps or her abs. But the moment they looked at each other it was awkwardly professional! Did they not know how obviously they were into each other? Vittea glanced at Hendria standing behind the pair with a cocked eyebrow, and the guard replied with an exasperated shrug.
So, other people noticed it as well; she wasn’t just seeing things. She stared at the pair as they chatted, and received an odd look from Yasua. Vittea continued to stare, and Yasua simply shrugged. Vittea smirked. She appreciated the guard captain’s ability to accept her oddities and simply move on. It would make things easier going forward.
Yasua visibly slipped back into her hyper-professional persona, giving Vittea a firm nod in greeting.
“Good morning, thank you for being on time. Today will likely be exhausting, so be prepared. We will be focusing on basic physical training, which, if I recall, you desperately need.” Vittea saw a smirk momentarily appear on Yasua’s mouth, and she responded with a rather bratty pout. Yasua simply chuckled and continued.
“After that will be some basic flight training.” Vittea failed to contain an excited squeal of glee, which earned her an amused look from Yasua. “Don’t be too excited. I saw some of how comfortable you are with your wings. If we do things right every single muscle in your body will be sore by the end.” Vittea didn’t appreciate the delight that sparkled in Yasua’s multifaceted eyes.
“Now, get running. Three laps, no rush. I want to see what you are comfortable with.”
___
Vittea stood bent over with her hands on her knees, gasping for breath as Yasua tutted at her. Tutted! Her feet hurt, her hips ached, and her lungs were burning. The first two laps hadn’t been hard, but something about the last one absolutely floored her. She was so warm, and she wasn’t cooling down at all. Each panted breath was as hot as the last.
“Your wings. You need to use your wings,” Yasua spoke, standing over the exhausted fledgling. Vittea glared at her in confusion.
“Why should I use my wings?! I’m on the ground, they’d just mess with my balance,” she growled out. The heat was starting to freak her out a little. It really wasn’t going away.
“Just do it,” Yasua said in what Vittea started to call her Captain Voice. She rolled her eyes but did as she said. As soon as her wings unfurled and caught the constant breeze blowing through the training hall she felt her body temperature drop. All the heat fogging her brain flowed into the veins in her wings and out of the thin membranes.
“Oh,” Vittea breathed out.
“Exactly,” Yasua responded with only a slightly smug smirk. “The first part of your training will be to get you familiar with your biology. How you breathe, how you warm up and cool down, how you sense the world. Merritith informed me that she will handle teaching you about your antennae, as she is much more familiar with the terminology. When your lessons are finished, we will have you walking and talking with the best of them.” Yasua smiled at Vittea and held out a hand. Vittea took it, still panting as her body cooled, wincing at the firm grip. Yasua simply chuckled and let go.
“Alright, since you’ve already got your wings out, let’s move on to that, shall we?” Vittea’s head leapt up, her fuzzy antennae bouncing in excitement. This was it, flight time! Never again would she be forced to stumble along terrifying heights! She would leave those rude boars stranded and crying, little losers! Hahaha
Vittea’s internal cackle was interrupted when a heavy weight slumped onto the joint where her wings met her back. She looked back over her shoulder to see a grinning Hendria strapping a weight vest onto her wings. The pack sat in between her shoulder blades, while straps connected it to the flapping muscles without straining the relatively fragile webbing.
“I want you to extend your wings as far as you can, hold them there for a count of four, then slowly pull them back together. Hold that for another four count, and then extend again. If that doesn’t tire you out too bad, then we’ll move onto the bands. Got it?,” Yasua asked as Hendria finished adjusting the harness. Vittea shifted uncomfortably, the weight making it hard to keep balanced.
“Wait, are we not flying? I thought you said-”
Yasua chuckled, putting on her own weight harness, Hendra next to her with another already strapped. They were made, obviously not that Vittea thought about it, with thick woven cords of silk, with a small hardened section holding the weights. “Flying is a ways down the line. Especially with your fresh set of wings. So no, for now we build strength and flexibility, and maybe in a week we can start flying. We’ll see.”
“But at the least we will be doing the exercises with you, so if you aren’t sure if you’re doing it right, just watch Guard Hendria or myself. Any questions?” Vittea shook her head. It was hard not to be disappointed that she wouldn’t be flying right away, but…she had been assigned teachers for a reason, and she was pretty sure she was far from the first person Yasua had taught to fly. In fact, Hendria and Yasua’s stances were nearly identical. Hmm, Vittea would have to ask Hendria about being trained by Yasua. Maybe bringing her a snack would break some of the professional tension.
However, now was for moving, not for thinking. This was different from the basic wing exercises she had done with them on their first little intro session, and as she followed Yasua’s motions she could feel the tendons anchoring her wings stretch and complain. She felt the effect of the extra weight almost immediately. The previous exercises had basically been stretches, helping her new wings spread, fold, and flap, light pressure guiding her through unfamiliar motions. This was much more visceral, and to be honest she was struggling.
She looked up at Hendria, who hardly seemed to notice the weight. Was it simply practice, or…huh. As she watched she started to see the differences in Hendria’s stance, how her wings moved, the way she shifted herself to bear the weight on stronger muscles. Vittea started to shift, copying her posture, and quickly felt things lock into place. She had been bearing almost all of the weight with her wings, but now the burden was spread across her shoulders, into her back, and down along her legs.
As she corrected her own technique, Vittea saw a proud sparkle in Yasua’s eye. She beamed internally, and a little bit externally.
“Good. If you only use your anchor muscles, you’ll tire yourself out before you even get airborne. A point to remember: our wings don’t work with pure force. We redirect coils of air to help with our lift. Rather than pushing into the air, think of it as a dance.”
With a solid leap, Yasua vaulted herself into the air. Her wings flapped slowly, languidly, borrowing the force of the wind blowing through the atrium. She spun and twirled with a grace that surprised Vittea. All of Yasua’s considerable strength was not being used for power, but for control, each wing dipping and curling as it needed to. Yasua landed gently in front of a stunned Vittea, her wings fluttering as she touched down. Damn, Vittea thought, she had a really cool mentor, didn’t she?
Hendria’s expression of smug pride said the same. Vittea hadn’t been the only one watching Yasua’s performance, and the gathered crowd gave a smattering of applause before Yasua’s very professional glare sent them all back to their own exercises. Yasua stepped closer to Vittea, smiling down at her. “Got the idea?,” she asked. Still awestruck, Vittea nodded dumbly. The weights Yasua had been wearing were easily triple what she had on, and yet every motion looked light and controlled. She couldn’t help but be impressed.
She focused with a shake of her head and spread her stance. She had caught onto some key points while watching Yasua. The captain hadn’t been pushing, she had been rolling. Her shoulders moved with her wings, her two top wings dipping and followed by her bottom. The wind had coiled underneath, pushing back against her wings as they swept down again. Vittea’s wings followed the image in her head.
Doing it herself was something else. She could feel her blood pumping through her wings, tendons shifting taut as they caught the air like sails. Each push down moved the air on the tops of her wings, two opposing forces following each movement with herself dancing between them, in the slim gap that allowed for flight. The amount of air Vittea could shift was, unfortunately, but a gentle breeze. She felt the right joints bending, and could tell it was working. Her cheeks flushed. She really needed this workout, didn’t she? Even with starting to understand the fundamentals of moth flight, it did reward strength. Control required strength, after all, just as much as technique and flexibility. And after only going through roughly a dozen flaps she could feel her muscles start to flag.
She wasn’t sure how to feel. She got it, and the feeling of the idea clicking with her body was deeply satisfying, but she still failed. At least it felt like she did. Yeah, Vittea could understand that improvement took time, and she should be proud that she had made some solid first steps. But the stark gulf between what she wanted to be able to do and what she could now ached.
Yasua seemed to notice, and set a gentle, large hand on Vittea’s slumped shoulder. “Don’t feel discouraged. You are a beginner, it is only natural to be disappointed with your first attempts. We fail, we learn, we grow. With talent, you might be able to perform with ease, but you would not understand. So take a break, let your muscles rest and go work your brain.”
Vittea looked up at Yasua and let out a breath. She was right. Not being able to do as well as she wanted to was part of it, and it was okay to let it go and focus on the journey.
***
After Hendria helped Vittea out of her weight harness they showered and got ready for breakfast. The mess hall was full and noisy with chatter. The mothkin in front of her had a body type she had only seen in passing before, with three sets of legs on the floor and two sets of arms on their torso. Their head was humanoid other than a set of mandibles that jutted from their jaw, which clatter idly as they waited for their food. Two large folded wings trailed from their back and over their lower torso, the soft frilled edges dragging gently along the ground. Vittea tried not to stare, but the moth had noticed. Luckily they had recognized Vittea from her meeting with the committee and introduced themselves.
Unte was what was known as a centoid mothkin. Many mothkin retained some of their larval traits after metamorphosis. Which traits often varied from mothkin to mothkin, though there were some recognizable groups. Unte helped manage shipping logistics for silk products delivered to the Diadem and had been understanding of Vittea’s curiosity, to Vittea’s endless gratitude. They even invited her to their office for tea when she was available. They gave her a small silk card. She couldn’t read the symbols on it, but food was more important at the moment.
The mothkin ate salads. Egg salad, fruit salad, leafy green salad, any combination of fruit, veggie, and dairy one could conceive of. For the mothkin with proboscises, the cooks also had large vats of different soups, though they were effectively liquid versions of the salads. Tomato bisques, cabbage soups, even some sweeter desert soups.
Vittea grabbed herself a simple green salad with a tangy dressing and shredded cheese, then tried to find a spot to sit. The mess hall was crowded, but luckily she spotted an arm waving at her. Hendria was sitting with Yasua and Merritith in a quieter corner of the hall, with an empty seat saved.
Yasua and Merritith were chatting about lesson plans, as well as discussing some political gossip. While the hive was all in all a united entity, there were almost constant disputes about how to approach various problems. The most recent issue, other than Vittea herself, was relations with delvers. The hive had lived in the dungeon long before the adventurers from the core realms entered, and despite a rocky first contact had formed a mostly cooperative relationship with them.
The hive would assist the delvers in dealing with the larger threats in the Library, and would host traders from the realms. The delvers received aid from guides, making the Library a relatively safe dungeon. In exchange, the hive maintained autonomy, able to manage the Library alongside the Librarian without outside interference.
However, the Delver’s Guild and their associated mercantile groups had been expanding into the dungeon. Some of the hive wanted to take more aggressive action, forcing the realmers to obey the terms of the agreement. Others were urging more subtle methods, refusing to trade with visiting merchants and charging more for mothkin guides. The entire hive was agreed, though, on resisting the encroachment of the Guild. This was their dungeon, their home, and the mothkin had seen what happened to dungeons that made concessions to the Guild. Bit by bit the Guild reps would push, and push, and push, never outright breaking agreements while still wresting control of resources from local populations.
Vittea listened as intently as she could. A lot of this was still gibberish, but she was pretty sure Merritith would address the details in their lessons even if Vittea didn’t ask. The salad was tasty, the greens fresh and the dressing tangy in just the right way. The cheese was delightful, and she resolved to ask about where to get more as she half-listened to her mentors chatter.
The clerks had been dealing with pressure from the aggressive faction to clear more weapons, armor magic supplies to push back against the Dungeon Guard agents that had been venturing further into the dungeon. It hadn’t escalated to outright conflict, but Merritith was worried about their non-combatants working out in the dungeon. If they were withdrawn, the hive would only have limited supplies of vital resources. If they weren’t, they were ripe targets for anyone wanting to cripple the hive’s logistics.
Yasua’s boss had received various, often contradicting, orders to dispatch guards to various patrol locations. The dungeon monsters had also gotten restless, and had been wandering outside of their usual haunts. There was a need to protect their current holdings that had to be balanced with the desire of some in the court to more directly confront the Dungeon Guard.
As they continued their back and forth, Vittea took a moment to simply watch them interact. She wasn’t sure why their relationship status was so interesting to her, but part of it was how cute they looked together. They teased each other in a way that felt too intimate for people who were just coworkers. When they worked together they couldn’t help but look at each other when they thought the other wasn’t looking. When they talked, their attention was so thoroughly locked on the other that it took active effort to get them to focus on anything else. But there was this distance between them, a line they were both aware of without talking about it.
Vittea looked to Hendria with a raised eyebrow and gestured vaguely to the pair. She chuckled and shrugged. She had asked Hendria about them after their workout and as far as she knew they had been close ever since they came out of their cocoons, and yes she had seen the same chemistry that Vittea had. It was hard to miss. As to the odd professional boundary, she wasn’t sure. The closest she had gotten to asking Yasua had been about a year ago over drinks, and the captain had a wistful look on her face as told her it wouldn’t be professional, that spoiling a healthy workplace like that would be something she would feel ashamed of, and that she wouldn’t want to make her affection a problem for someone who hadn’t shown any signs of returning it.
Vittea respected Yasua, as short a time as she had known her, and she could understand her to a degree. Yasua probably did like Merritith, but in her mind there were so many unknowns that any move she could think of would simply be too much. So she resolved to enjoy their current proximity, and their casual relationship. However, in her observations of Merritith, she hadn’t seen another person so smitten. One didn’t look at someone’s biceps like that and chew their lip when there wasn’t interest there. But she saw similar behavior in the clerk, catching herself when she got too close, squashing a warm smile when she giggled at Yasua’s antics.
Vittea’s meddling soul was very tempted to just push them in a closet and lock it, if she could figure out how locks here worked, but she knew that would be the wrong approach. Both of them valued honesty, and only an earnest, genuine expression of affection from both of them at the same time would make them feel safe enough to try pursuing something.
Eventually the salad ran out and Vittea had to put her musings on hold. It was time for her lesson with Merritith.
Welcome back!! :)
Yay! Welcome back. Love me some cute moths.
