Black Ice-Completed

Nyota had thought it would be simple to learn how to use a sword. But the first things they taught her were the correct stance and the movements required to parry, block, advance, fade, and so many others. It had taken several months to learn without even the use of a sword.

As they advanced on, Nyota learned that Avia had far more patience in teaching her then Lily did. If she made a mistake with Avia, the beautiful thief would show her once again the move and what Nyota did wrong. When she made a mistake with Lily, the Amazon would grow red in the face and either slap the offending body part, make Nyota do many excruciating exercises, or chores depending on how severe the mistake was.

As time moved on, Nyota had been training with the two for almost a year when Nyota had finally lost her temper. She had made a mistake repeatedly and instead of showing Nyota the mistake, Lily kept hitting her with the wooden training sword over and over again.

She couldn’t figure out what she was doing wrong. Finally Nyota had enough and turned into her wolf with a howl, pinning Lily in place on the ground.

Emerald eyes stared into brown and Lily felt a small trickle of fear as Nyota bared her fangs with a deep growl. Lily bared her own teeth and as she glared at Nyota she spat out, “If you’re just going to shift whenever the going gets tough then leave! There’s no point in training you with a sword if you’re just going to behave like an animal!”

Nyota continued to glare at the Amazon, the words slowly reaching into her enraged fog. Nyota growled low and wrinkled her nose. Who was she to decide on that? “You forget Lily,” she growled as she put more pressure on Lily’s chest, “I am part animal.”

As the house door slammed open, Nyota never even looked up when Avia descended the outside steps, instead she kept her eyes train on Lily as the other woman cried out, “Nyota, get off of her!”

Nyota growled low and shifted her weight so that there wasn’t as much pressure on Lily’s chest, “Remember this, Amazon. I’m part human and part animal. The animal would have killed you in defense for your continued assault, the human is letting you live!” She said before baring her teeth once more and moved off of Lily and into the forest.

Lily sat there for a moment trying to catch her breath as adrenaline finally rushed through her. Grabbing Avia’s hand to help her up, she stared into the forest where Nyota disappeared, rubbing her chest, “Do you think she’ll be back?”

Avia gave a nervous laugh but knew Nyota would be back and voiced her reasoning, “Her backpack is still upstairs as well as the sword. She wouldn’t leave those behind.”

“I think I’ll leave the training to you then,” Lily said as she picked up the training sword and moved slowly back into the house, “She has a bigger temper than I do and when two hot heads collide, wild fire tends to spread.”

Nyota stayed away from the house for several months. She traveled from one slave sale to the next, trying to find a lead on Veronica but was never able to get ahold of anything substantial.

At one point, Nyota even went to Sinkendra, a huge city that floated on the water in the middle of a great lake. There she learned about something that would benefit both Avia and her, and she rushed back to the house to tell the thief.

…

“The records are on the move! They’ll be at a Kar’s house at the end of the year where there will be a huge sale!” Nyota said as she rushed into the kitchen were Lily and Avia were eating.

Lily blanched at the sight of Nyota but Avia keened out in excitement and started jumping around in celebration.“Which Kar?” Avia asked once she calmed down.

“Uh Bayern or Beryen,” Nyota said as she stumbled over the name.

“Beren? Kar Beren, he’ll have the books next?” Avia crowed and for the next few months the women looked to each other in planning the specifics of getting the book.

One evening, Avia pulled Nyota to the side and held her hand out to show her three small little beans that glowed like lightning bugs, “These are mananei beans. They grow in certain parts of the swamp, usually the more dangerous areas. They have the ability to connect minds of those who eat them, for a short time of course, “Avia said as she noticed Nyota’s look of panic.

Nyota didn’t like the thought of someone reading her mind or much anything like that but if they were going to split up at Beren’s place they’d have to have some way to contact one another

As they waited for the time to draw closer to the auction, Avia continued Nyota’s sword training and the thief saw an immense improvement in the wolf. She didn’t have to show Nyota the move over and over again, it seemed the altercation between wolf and Amazon was for the better.

As the date moved closer they came across another snag that was unforeseen.

“I don’t have a dress,” Nyota said when Lily and Avia started talking about what clothes they were to wear for the auction.

“What do you mean?” Avia asked in puzzlement. She had dresses ever since she had escaped Alabanona, how could Nyota, who had been free her whole life, not have any dresses?

Lily, though, understood immediately and ushered Nyota to her room. Lily had been born into the Ipotei caste, a high elite of warriors back in her home continent. She had only ever worn leather and armor until she had become accepted into the Amazon’s tribe and met Avia.

When Lily closed the room to her door, she smiled softly at Nyota, “Let me guess, fur and leather your whole life?” and she smiled when Nyota just nodded in bewilderment. “I have something that may fit you and you’ll look amazing in it as well,” she said as she dragged the wolf over to her closet. There Lily began looking though bags and cried out in excitement when she finally got to the right bag, “Here! Try this on!” she said shoving the bag into Nyota’s arms.

Opening the bag, Nyota looked at all the green material, material that matched her exact eye color. But as she looked at it, Nyota began to get an unsettling feeling, “Maybe I should stay here, just in case something should go wrong.”

“Just try it on! I swear you’ll feel better once you’re in it!” Lily said reassuringly.

Nyota sighed but did as she was told and found that Lily was right. As they looked in the mirror, Lily looked happy, “There, you’re going because that dress fits you exactly as I thought it would!”

Nyota stared at herself in the mirror and swished the material back and forth. Drawing a hand to her face she actually looked at the woman in the mirror and thought herself beautiful for the first time. Her long blood red hair fell pass her shoulders with a slight wave. Her pale face was oval with her eyes looking quite big compared to the rest of it. If you looked fairly close you could even see the scars from previous fights she had endured.

She wished Syn could be here to see her, Nyota thought and instantly shut it down fast before she could shed tears. He was the one that had left. He was the one that couldn’t accept her as she was and didn’t believe she could take care of herself. How could he think she would be alright sitting behind him and not beside him?

Nyota jerked as she felt arms wrap around her shoulders and focused on the mirror to see Lily hugging her. “Whoever he was, he’s a fool,” she said before giving Nyota another squeeze and then moved away to pick out her own dress.

Nyota turned back to the mirror and let out a small sigh before taking the dress off. If Syn was a fool then so was she.