Selah

I watch silently as I have been instructed by my sister wives, or at least sister concubines to be more accurate. My head is slightly lowered but my neck is already stiff from the unfamiliar posture I've been taking since getting myself attached to Sachihiro. I’m a proud Jotnar woman that has never before lowered her head to anyone besides ma and grandma, that is of course before I got myself entangled in all this whatever this may be.

There is a sense of urgency that seems to involve not just Sachihiro and his peculiar family but extended relatives, friends and even influential people of power. For Sergei the Fae to be not just Sachihiro’s trainer but also a ‘friend’ that lets him use this exquisitely constructed sparing chamber for himself, his friends and his family? Then I hear he also trains Sachihiro’s children for several hours once every ten-day in the basics of magic!

Who is this person I have tied myself to really? On top of that all of them are wielding exquisite weapons, all of them! Even the 12 year old children carry above par weapons and I don’t know how I had never noticed that before, how ma didn’t..., though maybe she did.

I steal a glance at Sachihiro standing there with his friends close by and one of his mates with a child between her kilt like some soft kept southerner with dark skin, but nothing is as it seems here. The two women that look like sisters step forward next, both have a reputation of being unruly in the longhouses and staunch in their defence of Sachihiro but I've never seen either of them fight.

I swallow my saliva as I steal a glance not at Sachihiro but the monster of a weapon he is holding at his side with the pointy butt against the naked floor. That’s the side that got me and I pity anyone else that gets skewered by that thing. I can still remember not being able to make a sound as the thing was plunged into me, I didn’t even see the move coming it was so fast.

A shiver runs through me and I look at the combatants facing off before I remember too much of what that spear did to me, the hopelessness in silence...

‘’Here, you’re shivering.’’ Isis says putting a wolf hide fleece across my shoulder. I make to protest but then I feel the soft velvety feel of the thing on my bare shoulders, the rich thick silky fur on the other side that shimmers in the strange light of this underground chamber. She adjusts something and a warm hood is on my head with the thing’s fangs still attached that tells me it’s the head that’s the hood of the thing.

I wasn’t cold but I’m not going to refuse this hood/fleece thing so I keep my mouth shut and bow my head slightly in acknowledgement. For some reason I hope I don’t have to give this back but I’m already chiding myself for wanting it in the first place. My family is well off by Jotnar standards and respected even in Northgard where-

Çlank!

My attention is diverted from my musings to the sparing match before me and kept firmly there by my surprise as I follow the fight between mother and daughter.

There is a whirling sound as Mira spins her chain weapon faster than it should be possible to spin keeping her daughter at bay. The daughter... Vigdis I think her name is stays well away from the small strange cyclones created by the chain while circling at the periphery like a stalking predator.

A sound like the ringing of a tuning iron rings out as the daughter braces herself for something and all I see is light before she is moving at speed through the cyclones barely touching the ground. Some of the cyclones try to enclose her, slowing her down but not stopping her moment fully and it’s not even a full two seconds before there is another sound of metal on metal.

A struggle ensues, one I’m either too far to see or the dark cyclones are thicker than I previously thought even though they are dispersing. Several more clashes are heard and as the darkness clears both mother and daughter are locked in a battle of strength.

The daughter is clearly stronger but somehow part of the chain has gotten entangled around her one arm with Mira pulling it taunt using her foot as a lever for leverage but even with that advantage the veins on her forearm are popping from the effort. They face each other in that stalemate a tense second before Vigdis twists away from her mother giving up her close reach advantage but also managing to twist herself out of the hold.

The chain seems to pull itself towards Mira like a living entity instead of what one would expect from an inanimate object. Surely it can’t be another one of those sentient weapons the Hito make can it? But even as I ask myself I glance at Sachihiro’s spear before looking back at the clash as Vigdis attacks again at speeds only an aura enhanced Awakened could manage bringing her sword to bear on the chains that try to reach her.

She slaps them aside with her sword in a sing hand while keeping her left empty as she moves towards her mother. The chain circles and Vigdis turns her back fully to her mother and uses both hands on the grip to block the sharp sickle to the flying of yellow sparks but what surprises me most is the power behind that strike.

I watch attentively as everyone present is watching attentively, even the children are entranced by all the fighting and enjoy the periods between fights when everyone mingles and talks about what they had noticed from the combatants. This fight in particular though has a rougher ambience to it than the three previous fights that have already taken place.

Vigdis turns again just in time to block a kick to her lower back bringing up an elbow to block another strike I didn’t even see coming before moving like a dancer and ending up chasing a retreating Mira with her sword in a reverse grip with the butt facing forward as she keeps the strange chain at bay.

They chase each other across the sparing grounds with Mira retreating mostly but also putting up a respectful fight even though she is yet to injure Vigdis as far as I can tell. By the tenth minute there is an orange glow like a flame around Vigdis keeping random gusts of cutting air from penetrating between her leather breastplates as she inflicts small wounds now and again on her mother’s body.

I’m not sure what happens next but there is a move Vigdis does using words as Sachihiro did in his fight with the big guy they call Gaia that bypasses her mother’s chain. Her sword goes straight for Mira’s head before diverting at the last second to her shoulder.

Crack.

Is the sound I hear as somehow Mira has gotten her arm up and instead of her forearm being chopped clean off it breaks loudly making Thandeka flinch next to me but otherwise I notice no one else move as Mira’s sickle again forces Vigdis to forfeit her advantage in order to remain uninjured.

Vigdis moves further back than is necessary before stepping lightly on her feet facing her mother with neither concern nor worry evident on her posture as she remains ready. ‘’You good?’’ She asks loudly without even sounding winded and her sword still help up at the ready.

‘’Hahahahahaha, yea I’m good. You nearly got me there though, but I think I'm gonna get serious now. Show you what your mother is really made off-‘’

‘’I think we’ve seen enough from you two for now, the point is not to win or lose but to asses each other. Do you have a fair assessment of Saya’s capabilities?’’ Sachihiro asks coolly having stepped forward but not directly between the combatants, that spear still in his right hand like some sort of staff.

‘’I have a good estimate of what she can do,’’ Mira says gritting her teeth. I imagine the pain of a broken bone is starting to make itself know as she cools down.

And you Saya, do you have a fair estimate of your mother’s abilities?’’ He asks looking at her coolly, not showing any kind of emotion at all. Not what I’m used to observing from him, I don’t know this man fate has conspired to tie me to I’m realising. I’ve watched him for over a year but I don’t know him at all.

‘’I always have,’’ Vigdis, Saya says with a shrug as she lowers her guard at last.

Sachi nods and steps back, a smile forming on his face as it takes on the visage I’m familiar with. ‘’Well then let’s eat!’’ He says and people start talking like they were previously holding their breaths.

‘’That was close,’’ Isis says next to me before smiling a beautiful smile on that exotic yet familiar face of hers.

‘’What was close?’’ I find myself asking though I told myself I’d shut and observe, learning my place as quickly as possible.

‘’Mira almost unleashed her demon,’’ Thandeka says conspiratically as they lead me towards the food tables on the upper platform. I’m not sure whether to take that literally or not so I just shut up again and keep at the back of my mind that I shouldn’t piss Mira off unless I’m ready to face a demon. I probably shouldn’t piss Vigdis off either judging by how she fought she might just be better than me.

I wonder how I’m to become a mother to someone that’s better than me? But maybe that won’t be necessary, my title will make her listen to me if the need ever arises. Probably.... i have to know though.

''How did Mira save her arm?'' I ask in a low voice.

Pfffh, ''She's always wearing those vambraces when she leaves the house. at least today they were useful.'' Kuyoki says having somehow made her way silently behind us, but at least i'm not the only startled. The spear may have made me flightful.