When the cadence of the march was done and there was only the sound of the beating drums and pounding feet, the elven assassin let loose with the music of her homeland. She sang of open roads and open skies, of desires fulfilled and dreams that did not turn to dust. She had no idea if her voice carried to the back of the line, and she didn’t care. Her skin tingled and her heart sang with her, the warm breeze blew, and for a moment she reached up to catch the long hair she used to have. The hand came down again, but what golden strands remained, wafted over her ears, and she rocked happily in the saddle. ‘It’s not an undead mount, but I suppose there is something to be said for the living.’

Sado looked on from his place in the line, but kept his mouth shut. Instead he only kept his longing eyes staring at the back of his rescuer. Her shoulders rocked with the kind of lazy happiness one expected of a day trip. The weight of the armor on his body was nothing to the strongest warrior in Komestra, and so he was undistracted from his daydreams. He briefly closed his eyes to savor the music of his mistress. When her hand went up to touch long hair that was long gone, and came down disappointed, it was all he could do not to shout, ‘You’re beautiful!’ in the foolish hope of reassuring her.

The warning of Diana came to mind, ‘It will never happen.’ It mirrored the warning that Nua herself had given him, not long from when she’d given him the most savage beatdown of his life.

‘I can still hardly believe it.’ He thought as he looked at her sylvan frame, at a glance, she seemed ‘delicate’ until her touch showed the opposite. Determination crystalized in him while he contemplated the battle ahead, ‘I will prove myself worthy to stand at her side.’

“Better.” Solution said when Shi threw Veema on her back.

For a moment it felt as though Veema might tap out, until Solution crouched by her and said, “Remember the one that hit you? Remember the one that dragged you away from mommy so that someone ‘could’ hit you? Every time you surrender, you’re saying that it’s OK to do that to you. Is that OK? Is it? Do you want that? Get angry!” Solution growled out, “Never apologize for being angry, little girl, or be ready to live where you are right now.”

Veema resumed her struggle, while Shi began to silently twist. “Is it OK to break it?” Shi asked, “Mistress said not to hurt people without permission.”

Solution looked down at Veema whose shoulder was underneath Shi’s foot, and her arm locked by her blue haired sister. The monster thought for a moment, “There is a way to get out of this, so yes, break it if she fails.”

The golden haired beautiful monster then stood up and watched as Veema struggled to think. “Come on!” Lenah and Straen shouted, pausing their drill to come watch the struggle. Spurred by the cheers of her companions, Veema strained her muscles, her hair trickled with sweat, and finally she spasmed and shrieked as the arm snapped. “Healer!” Solution called, and a frail old man in a silver collar approached, he glared at Solution, but cast a spell that ended the pain and the bone began to knit back together at the break.

“There there.” Solution said flatly and wiped away Veema’s sweat and tears. “Now get up and do it again.”

“Oh and Shi?” Solution said, stopping the blue haired girl in place for a moment.

She turned around. “Yes?” She asked in the usual quiet voice.

“Don’t ask next time. Here, anything goes ‘short’ of killing.” Solution rotated her wrist around to encompass the room.

She nodded with a tiny smile and took up her position again, with a wooden knife in hand. Solution looked over at the young elven girl, “Veema, we’re doing this again and again until you break that hold.”

“Yes, Lady Solution.” She said, lowering her eyes and then raising her wooden knife.

“Begin!” Solution snapped, and they sprang at one another with lethal intent.

Silent as death, they went for one another, ‘They’re getting ‘slightly’ better.’ Solution considered as she watched over the Pain Children. Still, it was over with shocking quickness, and Shi showed no mercy the next time. She snapped Veema’s wrist, forearm, and arm in short order.

“Do you want to quit?” Solution asked the only free girl in the foursome. “Say you want to quit, and I’ll have the healer come out, and you can go carry laundry and wash clothes for the rest of your life.” The monster crouched down and stared at the girl on the ground who writhed in pain.

“No!” Veema shouted in a reedy half wail of pain.

“That isn’t how you say no to fate, child.” Solution said quietly. She looked around to the other three, “How did I tell you to say no to fate?”

“Stand back up!” They shouted, and Veema rolled over on her belly, she got her knees up under her.

Her entire body was awash with pain.

“How do you say no to fate?!” Solution demanded louder.

“Stand back up!” They echoed, and Veema began to raise her head, she shook from the effort, the other blows that Shi had landed before getting that damned grip on her again, left her spasming in multiple places.

The healer emerged, despite not having been summoned. “L-Lady Solution… she needs…” The monster raised a hand behind her.

“Cast that spell old man, and I’ll eat that hand of yours. You don’t decide what she needs.” Solution said with icy calm, bringing him up short.

Veema felt the bump on her head when she tried to raise her head further, and it slapped back down, she gritted her teeth.

“Stand back up!” They shouted again, and Lenah briefly broke from her sister to hold out a hand.

“No!” Solution snapped, stopping her cold. “There’s no time in the heat of the fight to help like that, so there is no time in training. You will stand and get stronger, or you will fall and you will die.”

Veema groaned in pain, and with what force she could muster, flung her upper body back so that she was upright, crying out in pain as it jostled the badly damaged arm. Her right leg spasmed as she tried to move it, but move it did. It shifted a bit, drawing a scraping sound over the mat, and inch by inch, she rose up to her shaking feet again with a fragile, equally shaky smile on her face.

“Now. Now you can heal her.” Solution granted permission to the magic caster, and moments later, the injuries were fading away to nothing.

“Good! Now again!” Solution barked, only as Veema took up the wooden knife she stopped in front of Solution.

“Teacher… How do I break that grip?” She asked with a frustrated, furrowed brow.

Solution’s crystalline laughter was enough to stop the others before they could take their places.

“That, my little student, is how you learn. It took you long enough. Now… let Teacher show you how it’s done.” Solution said, and lacing her fingers together, she stretched out, making a brief crackling noise before holding out her hand to Shi. “Give me the knife, and the rest of you come watch.”

The days passed swiftly on the march south. Nua’s warriors and their baggage train covered ground quickly, before a week was fully finished, she found herself closing in on the designated ground, more importantly to her, she was going to be there early. “Where is everyone?” Botisa asked, after Nua had called a halt. He was looking around over the open ground for people who were not there for almost a minute before he looked over to Nua who remained atop her horse.

“Onimeus, would you like to tell him, or should I?” She winked at the old man by her side.

“My Lady honors me.” he bowed his head, “It's a principle of war to await the enemy at your leisure. With that in mind, Ambassador Botisa, we come early so that we may be well rested, and well prepared.”

“Prepared?” Botisa looked over his shoulder at the thousands of armed warriors. “You look prepared now.”

“We are, but our ally isn’t.” Onimeus said, and Botisa cocked his head.

“Your ally?” The ambassador asked, “You mean Prince Isaura and the other mercenaries?”

“No, ambassador.” Onimeus pointed down at the ground, “That. The world itself will be our ally. We will cut wood from the forest nearby, put small stakes in front of our infantry to halt any cavalry charge and slow any infantry advance. We will… well, just wait and see.” The old man’s head went back in a hearty laugh, “Just wait and see.” He looked to his mistress, “My lady, do I have your permission to begin preparing the ground while you’re gone?”

“Go ahead, Onimeus, it’s time to see if Kaiji’s words were idle praise to an old friend, or whether you are everything I’ve heard.” Nua slapped him lightly on the shoulder, “Set them to work, at the far end of the sanctified ground, days before the fight, we should go unnoticed for awhile, I’m guessing the others are… busy.” Nua snickered a bit. She was just about to spur her horse onward and leave them behind when Onimeus spoke up.

“You need a guard, my lady!” He all but shouted.

Nua opened her mouth to make an angry objection, “I’m not in Pas’en, nobody here has reason to kill me… yet.”

“That you know of, my lady.” Onimeus reminded her ominously. “The ones responsible for taking Priceless were never uncovered, nothing says they came from Pas’en, and I remind you that at least one of those men fled the city. He might have been from elsewhere.” His eyes blinked and he took the reins of her horse in hand. ‘Please.’ He mouthed, and Nua’s objection died in her throat.

“You can let go of the reins, Onimeus.” She half slumped for a moment, “I’m not going to yank an old man off his horse to avoid his good advice. Fine, you’re right, out of the city I thought I could relax a little, but I can’t argue with you.” She looked over her shoulder. “Sado! Get a horse and then get up here, you’re my bodyguard for the meeting.”

“My lady!” He shouted, and fell out immediately.

He didn’t keep Nua waiting long, he was back within minutes atop a black horse that matched her own, with a charmingly boyish smile spread out over his youthful rounded face.

“Good enough now, Onimeus?” Nua asked, and the old man let go of the reins of her horse.

“Please… forgive me." He bowed his head humbly, and Nua cut off his apology in an instant.

“For what, loyalty? Worrying about me? Bah! It’s as refreshing as it is bothersome.” She winked, and spurred her horse towards Kai’sen, leaning into the wind, “I’ll be back soon! Be ready when I get back, and the beer rations will be doubled the night before the fight!”

Her voice carried, and there were cheers at her back over the promise.

Sado spurred his horse after her, whether she was slowing down or not, he didn’t know, but he gradually managed to bring his horse almost even with hers.

Riding with her, watching her hair and cloak flapping in the wind, it was easy to pretend he wasn’t her property, ‘How long will it be before we get there… we’ll probably have to stop for at least a few hours to let the horses rest.’

As he looked over to her, she did not look at him. Her eyes were focused in only one direction, forward.