I felt the smooth grain of the shaped wood in my hand. It was the familiar and plentiful wood from the nearby forest that separated my home from Alex’s. On one end of the staff, a cloth was wrapped tightly to serve as the spearhead. I knocked the butt of the spear against the Rings post behind me. What once was our childhood pitch, now served as the training grounds. Standing in front of the other goal was my opponent for what Jiju called an “assessment”.

“I really don’t want to hurt you Ghisé,” I said.

She raised an eyebrow at me. “You think you’ll even be able to? I welcome you to try but it’s only your first week.”

Jiju cleared her throat, “Just go easy on her.”

“”I will.”” Ghisé and I said in unison. Then sneering we both said, “”She was talking to me.””

“What is this? A bit?” Vander teased.

“You tell us. You’re the Jester to our Princess,” Ghisé said, drawing a snicker from me.

Jiju barked an order, “Focus! Now go ahead Ghisé.”

She began her approach. I gripped the spear a bit tighter, attempting to emulate the way my sister was. I didn’t actually want to hurt her, so I left my my braids untapped and held the padded end out threateningly.

When Ghisé was just outside my range, I saw her claws dig in. I didn’t know how Guardians fought, but what the hunters did wasn’t anything special. Simple thrusts with a spear is enough for beasts if claw and talon alone can’t do the job.

She didn’t leave me much time to consider what she was doing though. She whipped the spear and her body forward in a low sweep that knocked my legs out from under me and the wind from my lungs. I’d have thought her body to come tumbling along with momentum but her talons anchored her firmly.

“Ghisé, I said to go easy on her,” Jiju chided her student.

When I finally got my breath back and to my feet, Ghisé said with a smug smile, “Told you she was talking to me.”

I coughed a few times more, then took a deep steadying breath, “Fine.” My Enhancer braid crackled to life. I didn’t have skill, but I could overpower her. I began moving toward her while throwing out a flurry of jabs and thrusts, attempting to overpower her by the sheer volume of attacks. It forced her to break her footing and begin moving backwards.

My attacks continued lashing out, and I had to be careful not to trip myself up with momentum. Ghisé’s defense was solid, but after several seconds of the barrage, a strike of mine finally hit something other than wood or air, putting a pause to the fight again.

Ghisé was the one laying in the patchy grass this time, rubbing her shoulder. Not for long though; she sprang back to her feet massaging the spot. I breathed easy that she didn’t cry out in pain. We were stronger now than the day we encountered the poachers.

“Point Tali!” I claimed for myself, earning some claps from my cheering section of Vander and Reyna.

Ghisé dropped her spear and caught it with her foot. She half-hovered half-hopped on her free foot, wielding the spear one-footed. Now she was on the offensive again, jabbing her spear in from strange angles. The Enhancer braid helped me move quicker and stronger, but it didn’t help me react any faster. Magnet wouldn’t help, but the third (unfortunately) would. 

I tapped into the new braid I dubbed “Static Sense” which helped me detect minute changes to the static in the air. It also made my body feel really itchy everywhere at once. I didn’t want to lose to Ghisé though, so I powered through. I had no real strategy, I just reacted when I sensed the next attack coming, throwing my training spear out to block with as much speed as Enhancer would allow.

My muscles ached being pushed as they were, and each block was a little slower, a little less solid, until I couldn’t react in time and Ghisé got through with three strikes. A downward swing knocked my spear from my hands, a quick jab to the chest, then a spinning swing took me in the shoulder and out of the fight.

I laid in the patchy grass for a moment, as my shoulder throbbed. The itchy feeling wasn’t helping any either, so I released my braids… Immediate regret. The fight had to be closer to thirty seconds than a minute, but my muscles screamed at me for putting them through hell. Also I had magic literally running through my veins, how the heck could I lose?

I was considering how to improve my braids when Ghisé’s shadow came over me, her hand outstretched. “Tali you’re a natural!” she said. “You put up a much better fight than I thought.” Ghisé beamed and helped me to my feet.

Jiju grumbled, “Only because of her braids. From now on, no more magic during warrior training. Next month we’ll try you against Reyna. Until then, we’re continuing the fundamentals.”

“No braids?” I asked. “That makes no sense, why would I handicap myself?”

Jiju corrected me, “The braids themselves are the handicap. Stop thinking of winning, and instead focus on improving. Look at Ghisé, hard work pays off.” The look of satisfaction on my sister’s face made me wonder if Jiju wasn’t usually so forthcoming with praise.

Reyna had barely been watching the fight—I let her read the tome during my time with Jiju, but now something needed her attention more. “Uhm, Jiju—you said I don’t need to do more training.”

“If you agree, Lightblessed Talivi will let you research with her and Alex,” Jiju offered without my permission.

“Wha—,” Jiju cut my protests off with a glare. Damn she was better at that than Terese.

“Not that one, this one,” Reyna gestured to the boy next to her.

“Vander! Why?” I yelped.

She crossed her arms and huffed. “Relax Princess, I’m not interested in your [boyfriend], I wanna learn more of the old, old Hesht.”

My face went flush, “Damnit Vander, what words are you teaching her?” He just grimaced and shrugged.

“You can Reyna, if you win.” Jiju grinned devilishly and looked right in my eyes, “Better work hard Lightblessed Tali.”

———

The following month would be a lot of the same routine. I was up with the sun for morning hunting and gathering, which was becoming easier without braids, and could hardly be called “hunting” if I used them. I don’t know why the humans on Earthun used guns when doing it; that’s hardly hunting either, just waiting. Humans don’t have claws, or on Earthun even magic, but a spear would’ve at least made it a proper hunt. Ugh, proper. Well, Jiju’s training was tougher than hunting for sure, and she liked to distill Blessed and Guardian wisdom throughout Ghisé and my training.

Reyna joined us for the month as well. She was committed enough to work for her prize, even if it meant warrior training. She was motivated in the month leading up to our bout—thanks to Jiju—and trained most days a week with us. That made her something of a regular at the (now smaller) breakfast table, and in Sanctuary which held the former table. Inir and Kelz were also starting to stop by more. Inir came for the company of the clutch and to get away; Sen, Ber, and her were often chatting in there. Kelz came when Jiju needed to give me enough direct instruction that she needed someone to pair up with Ghisé so she could focus on fixing me.

That meant I saw first hand that in spite of her dismissive approach to the training now, at a time Reyna must have worked hard at it. She grew more than I did in the intervening years, but not by much. And, like leaving our clutchhome, she was the first to drop out of Jiju’s warrior camp of all my sisters. I naively thought beating her should be easy when Jiju first proposed it. Reyna was supposedly the weakest of our clutch currently—second with my return—but was stronger than everyone except Cee at the time she quit. She was getting the rust off this month, but I still needed to close the gap between us.

A proper blessed shouldn’t lose to her weakest sister. I was better at Rings than her! Losing to Ghisé was enough, I couldn’t lose to Reyna.

I knew I could win if I could use my braids. There wasn’t a lot to be done with Enhancer’s weave, but I became better at controlling the mana flow that made Hesht Spellbraids unique. As for the Itchmaster Two-thousand, I tried a few changes to the structure, weaving in support braids to try and numb the uncomfortable sensation, but I couldn’t dedicate the time needed for that one, there was no place for it in my life right now. Magnet only got the time it deserved thanks to my research with Alex.

Things I learned from researching the railgun could be applied to Magnet, and I was able to remove the concept of “magnetic bones” entirely. Now, the spellbraid interacted directly with electromagnetic fields, no need to apply those same properties to my own body as a medium.

I was also discovering, or maybe relearning the inverse cube law alongside Alex. I wasn’t sure if it would ever be possible to overcome the relationship between distance and force in magnetism—which just made pumping more mana into the braid far more exhausting for little benefit. I didn’t need to overcome that for the railgun, but there was definitely some relationship between magic and physics. I wish I knew more physics, but I only knew enough to know the existence of things beyond my understanding, but not their nature. We were firmly in experimental research territory.

It was only late at night, or in between the more structured parts of my day that I got to spend quality time with Vander or my sisters. There weren’t enough hours in the day—even with magic, but they were full in a way that made me grateful to be home.

———

{{ Cee PoV }}

I knocked at the door and waited, no answer. It was strange to knock on this place, but this wasn’t my old clutchhome anymore. It’s now a reserve for Talivi and her broods. I groaned to myself, drawing a curious shuffle from my escort. I waved her off and knocked again.

A scuffle of feet could be heard on the other side, and a moment later the worn wooden door swung inwards. Standing on the other side of the door was a human, one of Talivi’s broods. I guess they hadn’t fled or died after all. It was the older one I think, paler, all skin no feathers, no fur, no idea why she wants these things around. I looked past it to find the rest of the building empty—even the room beyond with its doorway open and inviting, which looked nothing like when Terese used it.

“You look, Talivi? Not here. Rings,” the human said—it spoke! Did Talivi teach it? My stomach turned in disgust. Why would she? It was unnerving, even if it did point me in the right direction. “My name, Alex. You Cee?” it asked.

It knew my name, and it wanted one for itself. I grit my teeth against the temptation to grab my escort’s spear and drive it into the brood. I wouldn’t, that would be improper. But maybe I can convince Tali its for the best if she gutted them. With a sigh, I turned away from the human and my fledglinghood home, heading off in the direction of the old Rings field.”

As I pushed my way around some low brush, I heard the rattle of a goalpost as a ring wound it way to the bottom. The voices of my clutchmates beyond followed.

“Point Talinir!”
“Damn Tali that was a good toss!”
“No, nope. She cheated, definitely”
“What? Did not!”
“Yeah you did. You definitely weren’t moving that quick yesterday. You obviously used magic just now.”

Standing there arguing were four of my clutch. Talivi, Ghisé, Inir, and... Kelz. I didn’t know she and Inir would be here today. I didn’t really know where they were on most days lately. I left before they woke, and came back after they were asleep. I wasn’t avoiding them, just busy. Still, now might not be the best time.

“Cee? Hey, Cee is here! Cee come play with us,” Talivi called over to us as we came into view. The rest of them turned towards us too, but Inir looked down and Kelz away after a moment. “Reyna, stop studying for a bit, we can make it three on three!”

“Pass,” Reyna responded and returned to what she was doing. Something with the other human Talivi brought back. My lips pulled into a thin line at the disregard she had for the danger it could pose.

My Blessed clutchmate fluttered her way over to us and grabbed my escort’s hands, “What about you? Jiju is no fun, but you look like you’ve thrown rings before.” She looked to me with pleading eyes.

“That’s not what we’re here for,” I barked. “Let go of Ahbe.”

“Your henchman’s name is Ay-Bee?” She started giggling at the punchline to a joke no one told. I cocked an eyebrow.

“When she gets like this, sometimes it’s best to ignore her Cee,” Ghisé said.

“No!” Talivi let go of Ahbe’s hands and grabbed mine. “No more ignoring, you haven’t come by in all these months.” She eyed my warrior escort, “Is this not a social visit?”

I pulled my hands back, “No, it is not a social visit Talivi. Remember the weapons you were supposed to make for the village? We thought we’d have heard something by now.”

She rolled her eyes and said, “I’d have thought to heard from you before now too.”

“I’m not going to play pretend fledglings with you Talivi!” I yelled louder than I intended. I huffed and composed myself, then asked, “What is the progress on the weapons?”

“Hmmm? Stalled I guess,” she said simply.

“You guess?” So casual... I could feel my talons digging into the ground in frustration. It was a very real reminder how she had a way of getting under my feathers growing up. I folded my wings in front of me and stared down at her, it was easy seeing as she barely came up to my chest.

She held my gaze, even if she couldn’t match my stature. “I didn’t want to talk about the serious things today but fine! It’s only my one day off,” she whined like a child. I scoffed unconsciously. I didn’t have days off, didn’t need them either. She continued, “Alex and I have it all worked out, even made a prototype out of stone. Though it exploded of course. In order to actually make them viable we need metal.”

“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” I can’t believe she was dragging her talons on this.

“Because Cee, this stuff is dangerous! You’re so scared of the humans at Redwall, you don’t see the downside.”

My talons were digging in to the ground again, “And whose fault is it that they have these weapons? That they likely know the village is here?” I poked her in the chest with my claw.

She knocked my wing away and turned back to the others. Kelz whispered something to her I couldn’t hear. Probably something about me.

“So,” I continued ignoring the twisting in my belly, “This is your duty, to use your gifts for us all. This is an honor Talivi, and you shouldn’t even wan’t to refuse. You know, I thought maybe after you returned to us you’d be a bit more serious.”

She sighed and met my gaze again, “Just cause you’re serious, doesn’t mean you’re right. But you know what’s best for me, don’t you Cee?” She grabbed a couple training spears from a rack off to the side and tossed one to me. I kicked my foot up and snatched it out of the air. “How about, if I win, you play Rings with us. I think it would be good for you.”

“Uhh Tali,” Inir said, “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“I accept,” I said quickly, leaving no room for our other clutchmates to interfere. “But when I win, then you'll stop delaying and we’ll get what you need to finish.”

She shrugged, “If that’s what it takes”

Kelz grabbed Talivi’s shoulder and gave her a grim look. She knew how hard I worked every damn day—she sure liked to bring it up all the time.

“What?” Tali asked.

Ghisé said, “Don’t hold back like Jiju makes you.”

Their warnings had me puffing out my chest. No gifts needed, just skill and effort. I’ll show Tali everything can’t just be fun and games.

When she took her spear up and faced me, she didn’t look worried. She said, “You know, I’ve already beaten everyone but Kelz and Ghisé.”

“And me,” Reyna called over.

Tali pouted. “Only cause you wouldn’t give me a rematch.”

“That’s not an impressive brag,” I said and held the spear out towards her.

“Cee?” Ahbe’s hand was on her own spear when she called my name—I nearly forgot about her. I waved her off again. This was for the sake of the village and Tali both. These spears could only bruise anyway.

“Sorry in advance,” Tali said. She quickly moved towards me and started testing me with thrusts. I could hear her wings beating the air, keeping her light on one foot as the other wielded her weapon.

Her attacks had no weight behind them though, she was staying light on her feet. I knocked them away easily—one, two, and on the third I carried the momentum up, moved inside her range, and put the butt of my spear into her chest, knocking her to the ground.

Ghisé growled, “What the hell Tali?”

She groaned rubbing her chest, “Mmm, yeah you did warn me.” She popped back to her feet and brushed the side of her head where a series of braids were woven into place. The air around two of them crackled.

“Good,” I said. “Use your gifts so I won’t have to hear any excuses.”

She moved in quickly, much more quickly than before—but I was already leaping back and taking flight before her spear could find anything but air.

“Hey!” she called out, then threw her spear up at me. I knocked it away, but she was already moving toward the spear rack. She threw another, and started grabbing a third as I knocked the second away.

I swooped down, coming to a short hover above her head where I rained down a flurry of attacks. She scrambled and pulled that third spear back to defend. Thanks to her gifts, she blocked all but a graze which she shrugged off, but I was already flying away before she could retaliate.

“No fair,” she whined. “Come back down here.”

“Really?!” I said back. I could hear the collective groan of the audience below. I landed several paces away from Tali and rolled my eyes at her, “You want me to handcap myself? Maybe you should just listen to the adults until you catch up.”

“Yup, and hell no.” She came at me before I was ready this time. She was thrusting her spear from varied angles at impossible speeds and strength. They were wild and bizzarre but I could hold out purely on defense, she’d have to start slowing soon and she was unrefined—some attacks were missing completely. It was during one of those wild swings that I threw my own spear out, adding to its momentum and sending Tali’s guard wide.

I landed completely, and thrust out with my claws, cutting her braids at the roots. Her face was surely one of shock as I then buffeted her with my wings knocking her down again. “You’re done,” I growled.

She yelped as one of her braids sparked against the side of her face. A small knife dug its way into the dirt next to her, thrown by the human next to Reyna. Talivi grabbed the knife, and cut the problematic braid free.

She looked to the pieces of her braids that lay on the ground between us, then up at me. The burning anger on her face had me take an unconscious step back—I’d never seen her make a face like that before. She squeezed her eyes shut, as if fighting back tears—and when she opened them again she just looked melancholy. She said, “Fine. You don’t have to play with us.”

“I wasn’t going to,” I growled. “Now, what do you need to finish? I have no more patience for this Tali.”

“Metal,” there was a slight smile in her expression now. “There’s an abandoned mine outside of Redwall, the human town.”

“You want to go near that place again? Are you crazy?”

“That depends on who you ask,” Tali laughed. “But we’ve gone as far as we can with what’s in the village. If the chief really wants to see this done, she’s going to have to give permission eventully.” She waggled her eyebrows at me, “This could be a great opportunity to show how capable you are to her. You can be the chief’s eyes and ears.”

She was playing me. This is the kind of behavior that Chief Getra warned me about, and she didn’t really even know Talivi. But no, Tali was definitely trying to win in that fight. I ran my hand up into my hair in frustration. Still… she was right. It would be a good opportunity.

Dreyva

My longest chapter yet by a wide margin, but I hope it's not too much! I just felt right for this all to be in one chapter. If you made it to this note then I suppose it was okay, so thanks for reading!