“No one has done this before either…” Ayente stared around in the firelight at the corpses of dead fenrisu. The bodies of the beasts lay scattered about, many severed in two from the weapon of her companion. Shadows shifted around them, cast by the bonfire where a dead fenrisu put the smell of burning meat into the air, the acrid smell of burning fur, the sweet smell of burning meat, the popping of the heating fat as it burst and flesh was slowly consumed, and the sizzling of red blood… ‘Like battles back home…’ Archos pondered as Ayente sat down with the wiggling fenrisu pup.

“The fenrisu have never been defeated by your tribe before?” Archos asked as Ayente cut away a sliver of meat and held it out to the little thing. It squalled and whined, but she held it fast, and when she held out a sliver of meat, it snapped the offering up and whimpered for more. She started cutting off more strips, little pieces at a time, and the little pup wolfed it down with utter desperation. Its white eyes were wide and filled with awe, it no longer struggled after the third bite, as if it feared to escape food.

Ayente shook her head, “We have never truly fought them, once on a hunt, one of our people was wounded by the prey. A fenrisu pack caught the blood in the air, whether by our prey or by our wounded man I do not know. They came, surrounded us, he remained behind with his spear, we fled with food, and heard his screams as he was torn apart by their jaws.”

“I see. I am sorry.” Archos said as he began to take up the bodies and cast them onto the sled with the unikoslof.

Ayente kept her face neutral as he hefted the massive body of Fen’Maki atop the lot of them, “My tribe will not believe their eyes when they see what we bring to them… never has so much food been in one place before.”

Archos grunted in a noncommittal way as the little pup chewed on a strip of meat that still had its fur attached, “Will that sway them when it comes time for me to teach?”

Ayente closed her eyes and slowly stroked the pup that swallowed a little bite and then yawned before curling up in her lap. “Were my chief alive, yes. Voket ibto etka oniham. He say often.”

“What?” Archos asked with a stare.

“What works, always do.” She replied with a wistful smile as she stroked the little pup that now smacked its lips in satisfaction.

“Wise. But now with no chief, what will they do?” Archos pressed the matter and knelt in front of her.

She looked down at the little fenrisu as she thought it over. “I do not know. Our chief must be mourned, but we have many to mourn and we must act. The other tribes may know our weakness, you are our only hope that they will not come. But you… you go home one day?” She bit her lower lip and shivered a little.

“You will not stay for a generation to grow up, for our numbers to grow, and we, we must know all we can. Malach may not be our chief by law, but the voice of the gods has always had the largest say in who is chief. None of the other…” She bit her lip hard enough to make it bleed before she could spit out the words and her eyes welled up.

“I cannot call them this thing. I cannot speak what they call us now, not with the knowing you have given me. We are not the shame children! We are not cursed!” She balled a fist tight and hatred seeped from every pore, sweat sprang afresh on her brow and her entire body shook with rage.

“Curse him! Curse them! Curse whoever first spoke the lie that ruined my life!” She shouted to the sky where the water moon tugged back and forth in its endless rhythm. Her face twisted into a mask of rage made all the more fearsome by the red streaks that raked across her face.

Archos reached out as a fresh round of hate filled sobs and railing curses and words he did not understand, flew from her lips as the reality of her world hit her all over again. His talon went to her chin and he raised her face up so that her ice blue eyes fell on his fiery red pupils. “That world you knew is dead, that is the power of a new knowing. It cannot touch you if you do not let it.”

She forced her lips to close and though sobs choked out occasionally, she grew quiet and he could see in those bright eyes as the cloudy tears were violently wiped away at her hand, that her mind was already working on his question.

Finally, words flew fast as wind from her mouth as she thought the matter over more, “The other elders, nor Malach himself, would ever let a chief be who would listen to me, they may listen to you out of fear, but they will bar the way at every turn.”

“Then they are in the way.” Archos pointed out. “What of the younger, the warriors who survived, those with whom you fought, what of the, no, I will not let them be called as they have been called before.”

“The bonds of hunts and fights are thick, but they fear the gods wrath, fear it so much that they would accept the word of the voice of the gods, and follow who the elders give leadership to.” Ayente took a deep and unhappy breath as she stared out into the flames.

“There is a solution then, a very clear one.” Archos explained to her very slowly.

He kept his talon beneath her chin, so that she had no choice but to meet his eyes, her small pink hand went up as the whites of her eyes widened. Her hand went around his deadly talon, heedless of any incidental cut, understanding dawned.

His other talon came forward, and brushed the blonde hair out of her face, caressing the marks the unikoslof left on her. “Will you do it?” He asked her.

“Can’t you…” She began to ask, the hairs on her limbs stood on end.

“No, if I do it, then I will simply be a monster, I ‘will’ support you, as I did my brother in arms, but this is not my tribe, they are not ‘my’ people. I am among you, but am bound only to you by blood and battle. They would not accept this from me, I will be a… gyop’mal. A monster, but if you do it, and I support you?”

“They will fear you still.” She said gently, her hand stroking his impossibly hard scales.

“Good. Let them fear me. But you? You they will follow, if they have no choice, and we may drag them back from self… killing, whether they like it or not. If the young follow, the old have no way to refuse. Only their fear is in your way.” Archos said in a soft voice, he drew his head down, so that he was close to her face, the heavy, hot breath of his nostrils on her face, the smell of blood all over his body, the massive teeth bared whenever he spoke.

But she felt no fear. She drew her hands up and touched the underside of his jaw, “And I have no fear left in me at all. Nothing is in my way that I cannot kill, they can take no more, they stole my life, I take it back when we return. I will take my place in the tribe, by taking my tribe.”

She took her hands and placed them on his scaled lips and pulled lightly, he allowed her to lower his head further, and she placed a kiss up above, so that his eyes could see where she touched them.

“What is that gesture?” Archos asked in confusion. His brow furrowing as he tried to understand what she’d just done.

“A sign of great affection, we call it a kiss, in so little time, you have done more for me, for less reason, than my own mother. I am… grateful. When we return, I will kill Malach, and take the tribe as I take back my life.” She stared into his eyes without blinking, the icy blue as cold and calculating as Tascarus in his command tent.

Archos began to laugh, low and grim as he watched the wheels turn within her mind. ‘If she had been born a dragon… she’d have risen to the heights of power. Decisive, intelligent, creative, and utterly without fear. I can’t wait to see what she does.’ He drew his talons away and stood up.

“Good, but for now, you must know more about how to fight, you have good instincts, but there is more to know than that.” Archos stood up and backed away from her.

He looked around, and then in a moment of inspiration, he approached the body of Fen’Maki, and cut off a leg. She watched with her eyebrow raised as he cut away the flesh and fur of the beast until it was reduced to a single long bone. “Don’t risk your spear, practice with this. I will teach you what you need to know, so that you can kill anyone you need to kill, before they even know they’re dead.”

Archos tossed the bone to Ayente’s feet, and she gently laid the sleeping fenrisu pup aside. She picked up the bone and positioned herself opposite him.

“Now attack!” He said swiftly, and she struck, he moved out of the way and in a flash his sword was held at her throat.

“You moved!” She complained and furrowed her brow.

“Yes. Always get out of the damn way.” he said and rapped her atop the head lightly with the flat of his sword.

“Even if you can stop a blow, the blow will also stop you, and if your opponent is stronger, stopping their blow will move you where you do not want to go. Get out of the way, stay out of the way, and do against them when their weapon hits nothing but air or earth.” Archos said as he took position again.

She pouted and rubbed the top of her head.

She thrust the bone at him, only for him to avoid it, step in, grab her hair, and pull her forward, she fell and sprawled on the earth. The taste of bloody dirt and mud was thick on her tongue, and she spat it out, just as she felt the tip of his sword on the center of her back.

“You grabbed me.” She complained as she lay there tasting defeat.

“You just died.” He retorted. “Let the stronger grab you, and you are dead. Let them hit you, and you are dead, let them control you, and you are dead. The best way to win any fight, is to ensure that they must constantly defend. Always control the fight, and end it as quickly as possible.”

He took the sword tip away from her back, and she punished the earth beneath with a savage punch that splattered more fenrisu blood soaked muck onto her furs and flesh before she got up.

“Again!” They said as one, and she saw the corner of his mouth draw back in his version of a smile as they understood one another.

“You must be relentless!” He exclaimed as she attacked, swinging the bone at his side.

His tail darted out and caught her between her feet, she tripped and sprawled out in front of him, her face coated with mud, she felt the tip of his sword on the back of her neck.

“You must be aware of all things, the stick you do not see may cause you to fall, and then you are dead again!” he exclaimed, she punched the earth and shot to her feet again.

“You must show no fear, instead you must cause fear! Make yourself a terror that they want to flee from!” He said as she curled her lips into a snarl and swung the bone again and again, he paced himself as he withdrew, she avoided his tail as it came out to trip her up again. “Good… good…” he repeated with the tiny drawing back of his lips that served as his smile.

“But everything is a weapon!” He said, and scooping up some bloody mud, he cast it into her face, it splattered over her, and the world went dark, and then she felt the flat of his blade strike her breasts, and down she went on her back.

She sputtered and spat out the fenrisu blood again and wiped her face clean so that her eyes could meet his again.

“The world is a weapon too, if you know how to use it. Distraction, as you can see, can kill.” He tapped the tip of his sword over her breastbone.

Ayente felt the little stinging touch of the lesson being driven home. “Again.” Was all she said as he took the sword away from her body.

“Good answer, but now that you have absorbed some lessons and… tasted defeat, in more ways than one, it is time you learned some basic forms.” he let his jaw fall open in a laugh, and she turned cherry red in the face at his terrible joke as she spat out more of the dirt and mud she’d eaten as he pounded his lessons into her.

“What are ‘forms’?” She asked as she stretched out and straightened her body up, already feeling bruises form over her flesh.

“The path to knowing without knowing.” Archos explained, with that familiar tug at the corners of his lips told her he had a smile as he began to draw out her limbs. “When all is known to you, without being known, there will be little that you cannot kill.”

“I cannot wait!” She exclaimed, and held her body still as he gently guided her motion with one talon curving around her wrist and guiding her strike.

“Just don’t fill up on dirt, there’s plenty of meat to eat instead.” He teased, with a rough laugh that earned him a glare from her fearsome eyes, that she could not truly put anger into.