Sister was angry. I think she was angry because she wasn’t sure what she should do. She had to fight someone she thought was important, and she was trying to decide if she should lose on purpose or not.

I tried sending her calming thoughts and my belief that Sister was the best. She was smart, strong, and tricky. I believed Sister would make a decision that was best, and one she could be happy with.

Sister’s emotions settled as I projected calmness, for a second, before she became angry again. The person who she was going to fight had taunted her. He had challenged her, looked down on her, and Sister was angry that something called politics protected him.

I didn’t understand politics. Sister tried to explain it to me, but no matter how she tried it seemed a waste of time. Why would Sister have to spend time on something that required a person to spin a web of lies. Sister said politics was a bad game, a game where people twisted their words to try to gain an edge, and it seemed the only reason they bothered was over spirit stones or beast cores.

Rocs were much simpler. We knew the importance of mates, bonds, and chicks. Stones and cores could always be found. And there was no reason to try to hunt more than we could eat, it would go bad and only the scavengers would eat it.

Sometimes Sister’s people’s words were used to mark territory and claim people, and I understood why Sister would join in. Politics over land and people was more a battle than anything else. Sister said it was a way for civilization to solve problems without going to war.

It was something Rocs were familiar with, but I still tried to convince Sister that peeing against trees and stone was a better method of marking her territory. It was necessary to warn others that this area was ours and that any who would intrude would know that we would fight and kill to protect and keep what was ours.

Whatever the man had said to make Sister mad, Sister was just as angry at herself. I could feel Sister arguing with herself about her reactions. She was angry that she let his words bother her and angry that he was looking down on her.

He asked Sister if she dared?

Sister’s anger had gone cold. I’d never felt her anger like that before. It was contained, banked, all the heat from her normal rage concentrated into a purpose that was scary. I felt Sister angry before, but mostly that anger was to hide that she was afraid.

I swooped down to land beside Sister after she had made the arrangements for the arena to be cleared and changed so we would have room to fight. She hopped on my back and spurred me to flight.

Sister normally flew on her own, but I could feel her determination. She wanted to make a statement with this fight, and I knew we looked amazing together. Her flowing robes and scarves were accented with colors that allowed my plumage of golds, greens, and blues to be highlighted.

Sister said the colors she wore would billow behind us. She promised we would look both beautiful and deadly.

We flew a couple of circles around the boundary of the arena. Sister wanted to make sure I knew a line existed and if we went past it, we would lose. Sister was focused, and I was curious. I wanted to see who would anger Sister so badly.

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When the man entered, I wasn’t impressed.

I admitted he was dressed well enough. The color of his robes shimmering shades of purple, indigo, and yellow. I wasn’t sure if he was handsome by Sister’s standards. By mine, he was barely more than a snack. Tall enough, I guess, but no meat on his bones. I wouldn’t be able to feed a clutch of chicks with the little muscle he offered.

Sister was surprised when the Patriarch entered. We learned that she would act as a referee and make sure neither side died. That seemed to strengthen Sister’s resolve. Now that she was sure she couldn’t kill that man, she was determined to go all out.

Fast and furious.

Sister had decided not to treat this as a game. And not to hide her abilities. She would attack, and her attacks would be overwhelming. I approved of Sister’s decision. It was simpler for Rocs. We knew not to play with our food or give invaders a fair fight. We hunted and protected with equal parts determination and tactics.

Rocs knew that life and death were a flight of balance. That danger was to be dealt with seriously, quickly, and without mercy. These tournaments that Sister hosted. These pretend fights might help us learn new skills or how to fight better as a team, but there was no real satisfaction in them.

Without danger, they were almost worthless. We grew stronger, our ability to merge and grow easier when we faced real danger. When you practiced in an environment where you knew you wouldn’t be hurt or killed, there was no need to really push yourself.

At some signal I didn’t notice, Sister leaped from my back. I reacted to her action by releasing a Qi spike that would summon a storm. The clouds, winds, thunder, and lightning responded to my command.

It wasn’t the largest storm I’d created, the arena we were in was strange, a place of boundaries that were there and not there. But it was large enough to focus the torrential rains and lightning blasts that Sister could use.

Sister embraced the storm I had created and added a burst of ice elemental Qi. The driving rain became a blinding blizzard and Sister used that change to begin to dance. Her first step transformed the falling ice and snow as she moved into [Falling Cherry Blossoms].

The ice blizzard responded to the steps of her dance, each flake of snow turning into the cherry blossom petals that were so cold they burned. Sister moved from one fighting form to the next. Chaining her attacks together.

When she moved to [Thunder Strikes] I began adding my lightning combining our techniques into even more powerful attacks.

The next few seconds saw Sister move from one attack to the next. Each timed so that there was never a pause.

[Falling Cherry Blossoms]

[Thunder Strikes] made stronger by my lightning attack.

[Dragon Tail] a sweeping force of the wind, the kinetic energy creating a wall of solid force.

[Dancing Wind and Rain] gave me an opening, a moment between the execution and strike where I could add more of the lightning element to the attack.

A quick swap of weapons replaced her Tessen with her bow and Sister finished the attack sequence with a twined arrow, one infused with [Winter’s Bite], one with [Tidal Fury].

To those watching it might have seemed as if Sister released an explosion of Qi and both arrows arrived at the same time. Few would have understood the concentration she had needed, the control she had exerted to stack the attacks so they seemed like one attack.

Few might have understood how dangerous those attacks were, but the Patriarch knew. She knew and acted, surrounding the man that had angered Sister in a protective bubble and declaring Sister the winner.

The man shouted demanding a rematch, but Sister was done. He wasn’t worthy of her time. He offered no challenge, and there would be no point in giving him a second chance. He was either too prideful to have taken Sister seriously, or too weak to defend himself.

Sister ignored his demands, and we left the arena. Me to go hunt something, feeling a bit hungry at the energy I had released. Sister back to the room where she could see other people fight.