When Sandfinch showed up for her third combat training session a few days after the initial theft, her first comment was [You aren’t wearing your head Theerin? Why? If it’s just to make me feel better you really didn’t need to.]

As we walked over towards the rack of weapons we’d be training with, I replied [I need to get used to fighting with Lifesight just in case, so I left my head on one of the reservoir’s filling nozzles. Also, your signing has really improved.]

From the way Sandfinch vibrated up and down a bit next to me, it was plainly obvious that if she had a full set of vocal chords she would have just chuckled a bit. A moment later, she signed back [Well, it’s been my only way to talk for the past week, so I’ve had lots of opportunities to practice.]

As Sandfinch finished signing that, we arrived at the weapon rack. I quickly drew one of the broadsword polearm tips from the rack and started screwing shaft sections into its base to assemble a full-length swordstaff. As I handed the weapon to Sandfinch, I signed one-handedly [Polearm practice today. We’ll be doing full spars to dismemberment.]

Sandfinch signed a quick acknowledgement, before asking [Tournament rules or skirmish?]

As I finished assembling my own weapon, I answered [Skirmish. That’s what an actual fight is like, so that’s what comes first.]

Sandfinch wasted absolutely no time after reading those handsigns, making a swing for my right arm with the swordstaff before I could even announce the start of a bout. I caught the blow on the shaft of my polearm, deflecting it upwards even as I swung my weapon down at Sandfinch’s left side.

A few seconds later, I’d disarmed Sandfinch in quite a literal manner. I quickly picked up Sandfinch’s arms from the ground and set about reassembling her. That done, I signed [Good try at a surprise attack, but you spent a moment too long on the wind-up. If you’d gone straight from holding the weapon at rest to a diagonal downwards strike I wouldn’t have had as much time to respond, and you’d probably have amputated me.]

Sandfinch meanwhile was busy testing her arms to make sure they’d gone back on properly, before she replied [Alright, that mak-]

I of course interrupted her by cutting off one of her legs at the knee, sending her sprawling to the ground. As my apprentice reassembled herself, I signed [Remember, skirmish rules. Talking distracts from your opponent, especially with sign languages. You need to make sure you’re not in a vulnerable position when doing it.]

Then I helped put Sandfinch back together again. What followed were several hours of skirmish-rules Swordstaff bouts. I came out on top for most of them, but Sandfinch managed to take me down twice towards the end of our session. It was getting towards midday, and I told Sandfinch [I’ll just go get my head back on, then we can do some firearms training.]

Sandfinch just cocked her neck stump to the side and asked [Aren’t guns basically useless against Founts until you get up to heavy explosive weapons?]

I made a thumbs-up gesture as encouragement for good thinking skills and replied [That’s true, but not everyone you might need to fight is a Fount. In fact, against a Drain caster a gun is one of your best options, since it lets you hit them at range instead of trying to close to melee while constantly being bombarded.]

And with that, I walked over to the municipal Life reservoir. Lifesight let me tell that plenty of travelers were gawking at me walking around headless, but most of the people who actually lived here had already gotten more-or-less used to it. A few minutes later, I arrived at the reservoir building, and after climbing the stairs to the filling deck, I wandered the rows of nozzles to find the spot where I left my head.

As I did so, I noticed dozens of other heads left on various filling stations. Apparently I'd started something of a fad among Founts, probably due to the convenience of being able to do other things while filling. I counted at least a hundred other Fount's heads on the nozzles before I came into view of my own, waving to myself to make sure the headless woman walking towards my head was actually me. Closing my eyes helped with the dizziness involved in putting my head back on, though Lifesight cutting out when I did that was its own kind of disorienting.

Either way, now that I had my head back on my shoulders it was time to go back to the training grounds. Compared to my trek from the training grounds to the reservoir, I attracted a lot less attention. Also, now that I knew some of the other Founts were trying out being headless with Lifesight, I was able to spot the occasional headless person wandering around doing stuff.

However, I wasn’t expecting that the instant I got back to the training grounds, Sandfinch would immediately grapple me in a hug while vibrating in fear. After a few moments of breathing in the high-pressure plume of Life-vapor from Sandfinch’s neck stump, I managed to get my arms free and ask [Sandfinch, what’s wrong?]

Sandfinch let go, but only to quickly sign [One of the thieves is using my head to give himself a blowjob and it’s scary and gross!]

I felt my face contorting into a rictus of fury as I immediately signed back [Bite his dick off.]

Several moments passed without response from Sandfinch aside from sitting down on the ground, before she signed again [Real blood tastes bad, not like Life. I can hear the screaming even through the wax they shoved in my ears, and they’re jostling my head around like they’re fighting over it.]

Without much else to say, I sat down next to my apprentice and started giving her a backrub like she’d enjoyed for years now. After a couple seconds, Sandfinch leaned into it, the pulse rate of her plume slowing as she calmed down a bit. A bit into this, Sandfinch signed [I hope those men leave my head just lying in the desert somewhere. Then at least I wouldn’t have to worry about anything being done to me through it.]

After a few moments of thought, it occurred to me to ask [You’re talking like your head isn’t part of you. Is that intentional?]

Immediately, Sandfinch signed back [Yes. It’s blindfolded, earplugged, noseplugged and now gagged. I can’t do anything through it so it’s just an object.]

In response, I just pulled Sandfinch into a hug and asked [Are you still ready for firearms training?]

[Yeah.]

The next day, Agito greeted Sandfinch and I at the vocational school. There was a brief exchange of formalities, before Agito signed [I’ve got some bad news. We figured out where the thieves went.]

Sandfinch had been rubbing some disinfectant ointment into her neck stump when Agito signed this, so it took a couple tries for Sandfinch to get the message. Still, as soon as Sandfinch knew what had just been said, she asked [Excuse me, why is knowing where the thieves went a bad thing?]

Agito sighed, before she said [Because they went to the River Kingdom of Loi, more specifically to the Loi Delta to the Northeast. We can’t send a task force there to bring your head back without it getting taken as a declaration of war, and Loi’s forces outnumber ours by about thirty to one.]

Sandfinch sagged with defeat, her only reply a simple [Oh.]

I thought for a moment, before a plan came to mind and I asked [Loi won’t notice if just two people sneak in, right? If Sandfinch and I go on our own to get her head back, we’re not an invasion, we’re just a pair of travelers.]

Immediately, Sandfinch perked back up again and signed [Yes, I absolutely want to go get my head back!]

Agito smiled, noting [The basic idea seems workable. That said, to avoid attracting attention we might want to find someone willing to lend Sandfinch their head.]

Sandfinch had other ideas there, saying [No. I’m not depriving anyone else of their head for prolonged periods, and that’s final. I’m going headless.]