After Thra'kara had said she still needed four minutes of rest, she walked back to the boulder and dropped down onto it hard, the same way she had the first time. She closed her eyes and rested her arms on her knees. The cuts on both arms had slowed but were still bleeding dark red down her scales.
Cait looked down at Elayna with a smile.
"Took you a while to come here to the training halls. After classes."
Thra'kara was sitting about twenty feet away and could almost certainly hear everything.
"I've been..." Elayna started, keeping her voice slightly lower because of it. "I've just been, I don't know... busy with a bunch of other stuff."
"Mm." Cait hummed, still smiling at Elayna.
"I also had some letters to write. You know. Family stuff and all that."
"Mmhm."
Elayna stopped. She knew, these reasons weren’t reasons good enough to not train. And she could tell Cait didn’t believe any of what she was saying either way.
She looked up at Cait with a slight furrow of her brows, “Maybe. Eh, overall. I’m not so sure why It took me so long...”
Cait was looking at her with a small warm smile. Not a teasing one. Her smile carried something quieter than that.
"You're not sure why?"
It didn’t really sound like a question. It sounded light and completely knowing. It was making Elayna immediately and uncomfortably aware that Cait knew she wasn't telling the full truth. Whether Cait knew the actual reason why, namely that Elayna had her thoughts occupied by her the whole week. That was another question entirely. A question Elayna could not answer from looking at Cait's annoyingly attractive face.
"...Yes," Elayna said, after a moment. "I don’t know why. I'm uh... I'm not really sure... Yes..." She tried to sound convincing but knew she wasn't.
Cait smiled warmly down at her before putting her hand on her shoulder and rubbing it. "Well. In any case I’m happy you’re here."
Elayna looked up at Cait with an uncertain expression. "Uhm. Okay... Me too?" Then she looked at the hand on her shoulder, not sure how to react to it.
"—There's Nyx and Zett and Sandra, a girl from the ember class, they're all people I lost quite a few times to, especially during the first days, but recently, the last couple of days, I only lose to them once for every three or so times we fight. Then there's the second years. I haven't been able to spar with many of them, maybe only ten of them or so. And there's one second year I lost to who's pretty interesting.
Cait and Elayna had been talking lightly the past minutes about how sparring had gone for them this week, and Cait explained ever since her first fight with Thra'kara, she’d been coming every day to spar for several hours with her after classes.
“—His name is Malto and he uses metal transformation magic, he uses it on his spear to extend its reach, I’ve seen him sometimes even use it to widen his spear and use it as a shield.” Elayna's eyes had stars in them as she talked about a second year who'd beaten her.
Cait smiled at Elayna. Mostly listening to her go on and on. Elayna had been talking nonstop since Cait asked who Elayna thought she had a hard time fighting. Elayna’s hands moved everywhere, gesturing cutely and excessively as she spoke, completely absorbed in recounting every little detail she could remember or thought interesting.
After a while. From the boulder, with Elayna still blabbering on with no intent to ever stop, Thra’kara opened her eyes and looked at Cait.
"Ready."
Elayna's last word on her mouth died out mid-sentence. Cait's expression shifted immediately from the warmth of listening to Elayna into something sharper now, something focused. She looked at Thra’kara then back at Elayna with a smile.
Cait took a step in front of Elayna and turned her head to the side, looking at her and giving Elayna a smile. "Want to watch?"
"Yes," Elayna said with a nod.
Cait, still smiling, looked at Thra'kara for a moment then seemed to realize something. She turned around for a moment and leaned down to press a quick soft peck to Elayna's lips. Then turned and walked out toward the center of the courtyard.
Elayna blushed, and saw with mild relief that Thra'kara wasn't looking at them and was already up off the rock. Ready.
Cait and Thra'kara squared up roughly twenty-five feet apart, facing each other. The bleeding on both of them had stopped. Thra'kara still had a few patches of dried blood over her forearms, and Cait a smudge of dried red on her elbows Elayna hadn't noticed until now, probably from blocking Thra'kara's punches. Neither of them looked particularly bothered by any of it. They both just lowered and took their stances.
They met eyes with each other. Then they both nodded once.
And immediately after, dashed at each other.
They both threw themselves in quickly, meeting in the middle where Thra'kara made the first move, throwing a quick jab with her left hand which Cait quickly dodged by twisting her head. Then Cait immediately had to block Thra’kara’s follow up, as the Dragon-kin's right arm came up quick from slightly below, fist aimed at her chest, Cait used her left forearm to push Thra’kara’s right hand to the side and quickly stabbed Thra’kara’s wrist with her short sword.
The stab didn’t do any more than lightly pierce the skin, between the gap of the scales and draw a bit of blood. Thra’kara obviously didn’t flinch at the stab, and immediately threw a counter by doing a full rotation of her body with her tail sweeping wide and fast behind her.
Cait jumped back, the spiked end passing by only a few inches from her. The tail cut through the air with a deep and heavy whoosh that Elayna almost felt in her chest from where she was standing. Cait shifted her short sword to a reverse grip and bent her knees before dashing forward again.
Their next exchanges of fists, swords, tails and legs were fast and fierce and back and forth, both of them always attempting to immediately follow with a counterattack or take a step back to reset. Cait's swords were insistently raining down slashes and cuts and stabs. Thra'kara's forearms and fists were coming up to answer everything quickly and without panic, her wind magic firing out in short bursts aimed to disrupt Cait’s stance whenever Cait got too close or became too fast. They were both insanely quick and persistent with their attacks. Especially considering how much they both had to defend and dodge. Every strike from either of them looked like it would just end most people.
Elayna had watched them fight before, but something about watching them now, with both of them basically going all out from the start, made Elayna, in her awe want to calmly appreciate and observe how amazing they both were. And as the fight kept going, with Elayna becoming more amazed and more distant from everything else around her and solely focused on the fight. As she observed them with intense calm and focus, the gap in their fighting ability compared to everyone else in the first two years became even more clear and distinct.
Then she looked at Cait specifically.
Watched the way she moved, her fast and chaotic movement. The red glowing haze constantly shimmering around her, her two swords which were too fast for Elayna to fully follow. And Elayna thought with how fast she swung her swords, Cait’s strikes had no right to be that loud and heavy. And Elayna also thought, privately and with a warmth that settled into her chest without any embarrassment at all:
Cait is my girlfriend... Someone this strong and amazing is my girlfriend. M-mine.
The thought arrived slowly and clearly. There was no flustered heat in her face. No embarrassed, urgent need to banish the thought. There was something subtle. Something Elayna could only conclude was pride. Pride and a quiet satisfaction of watching someone extraordinary and knowing that this person was hers. Caitlynn. Was someone she had that others didn’t. Like Elayna herself was somehow better than others because others didn't have Caitlynn. It was a very childish feeling. One she didn’t feel ashamed over. Which she probably should have, Elayna distantly realized.
Then, in the fight, Cait feinted.
Her longer sword went wide. Too wide, it was deliberately wide, opening a gap. It was almost obvious. Elayna could tell, because she was still spectating the fight with intense focus and undivided attention. Thra'kara seemed to maybe realize something was off. But still, against her better judgement, she saw it as an opportunity, something she could take advantage of. Thra'kara took a quick step closer and threw a heavy right hook for Cait's face.
Cait had apparently anticipated that Thra’kara would try to punish rather than play it safe and back off, so she reacted immediately.
Her right forearm came up and redirected the hook, guiding it to Cait's right and away from her, Cait went with the momentum, spinning in a full rotation. Her left foot left the ground and its heel came around fast and high as she lowered her whole upper body for the back-heel kick, and it connected hard with the side of Thra'kara's head. The sound it made was loud and brutal. A cracking sound followed, making Elayna wince. She knew that kick had to have hurt. Thra'kara's head snapped harshly to the side and she staggered, but only for the shortest moment, quickly after she snapped her head back and looked completely unfazed, emphasizing Thra’kara’s insane strength and endurance.
But Cait had already made use of Thra’kara’s temporary stagger. She dropped low out of the spin with her longer sword held in a reverse grip and swept the blade wide across Thra'kara's shins, cutting deep to the bone, scraping them. When Thra'kara recovered from the stagger she didn't bother herself with the pain of Cait’s swords cutting her bone. She threw down a direct punch aimed at Caitlynn’s head at the same time as her tail came from behind going around her left side. Cait dashed forward from her crouch to the right dodging the punch and tail, and was beside Thra’kara in the next instant, shorter sword raised, in a reverse grip, the tip aimed directly at the gap between the scales at Thra'kara's ribs. Completely still. Pointed straight at Thra'kara's heart.
The fight was over.
Thra'kara looked at the blade with a resigned frown. “Slippery bitch. You’re as quick and unpredictable as a dumb, frenzied, crazy cat."
She slapped away Cait’s sword and stepped back, grumbling to Cait that she didn’t have to cut her shins to the bones, saying it hurt like hell. Cait smiled at Thra’kara, saying she didn’t look like she was in pain and lowered her sword, not apologizing for the cut.
“Of course it hurts you dumb bitch. I just won't drop down and cry in the middle of a fight.” Thra'kara said as she ran her hands roughly through her hair.
Thra'kara rolled her neck once. Looked at her shins, then at her arms. Then at Cait.
“Give me five minutes again.” she said, already walking back to the rock.
"Right," Cait sheathed both swords and looked at Thra’kara. "But actually, I think I’ll spar with Elayna for the rest of the evening."
Thra'kara looked at Elayna for a moment. Then at Cait. Her expression was flat and apparently pretty unbothered with losing her sparring partner.
"Well then." She walked, completely normally, as if unbothered by the bone-deep cut on her shins and picked up a cloth from her bag near the boulder and pressed it to a cut on her right arm before swiping the blood off her shins.
She dabbed the cloth at her cuts and didn't look up as she spoke, "I guess I’ll go find some seniors to beat up. Maybe they’ll be nice to a junior and not cut my bones."
She then began walking, still showing no signs of pain, past both of them toward the archway.
"You're not going to rest here and heal?" Cait called after her.
Thra'kara didn't slow down or look back. "Nah. I'll walk like this until I find a courtyard with someone worth hitting. I like the feeling of pushing through it. Pain keeps me sharp." She then briefly paused at the archway. "Go easy on the girlfriend Cait. Pretty thing looks like she'd cry if you cut her skin, let alone her bones."
Cait raised one challenging brow and smirked. “You’d be surprised. She’s not as fragile as she looks.”
Thra’kara threw one last look at Elayna, then back at Cait, and blew one short, sharp breath through her nose, and smiled. Then walked out.
Elayna stared at the archway for a moment after Thra’kara had left. She felt her face heating up considerably at their comments about her.
Elayna's chin went to her chest as her shoulders scrunched up slightly. "She doesn’t think I can take pain. She also doesn't think I have a chance against you."
"She doesn't," Cait agreed pleasantly.
Elayna paused for a moment, then slowly looked up at Cait. "...Well, I don’t want you to... to cut me to my bones." She shivered at the thought of it.
Cait looked at her. Smiled slowly.
"I won’t. And anyways, it depends on what you mean by a chance. A chance of entertaining me? Sure. Chance of beating me? Well. What do you think?"
Elayna looked at the stone ground with a strange expression.
Then looked up at Cait and raised her chin with a confident smile and crossed her arms.
“I’ll uhm... I’ll at least land some strikes.” The smile wasn't so confident by the end of the sentence.
Cait smiled and told Elayna to take her position.
Elayna walked a short distance, and they faced each other across the courtyard.
The ceiling above them, like the great hall showcased the open sky. Not fully open like the great hall, but there was a big part of the roof above them almost cut out, where they could see the blue sky and its clouds. The low sun shone through, the warm amber of the evening mixed with the magic lights around the courtyard shining on the stone. The sounds of the training hall drifted in from the corridors and other courtyards. Elayna heard the distant impacts, the voices and cheers, the echoing magic blasts. But this courtyard was theirs alone now. Silent.
Cait had her arms loosely crossed, looking at Elayna with a curious smile.
"How about we fight with magic. You’ve already partly seen mine, my enhancement magic. I've been interested in seeing some of your fighting magic. You mentioned before you use lightning."
Elayna cast a grumpy gaze to the side.
"I can't. My control is not good enough." She said with a grumpy, small pout.
Cait tilted her head. "You can't use it at all? Not even a little bit, to maybe work on the control?"
Elayna looked back at Cait. "I can barely draw it out properly standing still out of combat," she said, with a slightly frustrated edge that was directed entirely at herself. "Using it in combat is completely out of the question right now."
Cait looked at her for a moment. Something slightly let down or disappointed briefly moved through her expression, which she quickly set aside.
"Alright," Cait sighed. "Swords and body it is then. No mana."
Elayna nodded. Then paused.
"But why not continue to fight Thra’kara?" she asked after a moment. "It looked like she was ready to continue for hours. And she’s obviously a better and stronger fighter than I am."
Cait smiled. "I could."
"So why—" Elayna started frowning.
"I've been curious how my cute girlfriend fights. We haven’t fought for a week." Cait’s eyes were warm and bright. "I also remember you making very good faces when you fight."
Elayna's expression and voice went flat, her eyebrows completely straight. "What faces."
"When you're focused," Cait smiled wider. "Or when you're fighting intensely. Or when you're kicked." A small pause. "Your expression is soo~o cute in those moments."
Elayna frowned deeply now. "Thra’kara should still be—"
"Draw your sword sweetie," Cait interrupted with a smile, and drew both of hers.
... Maybe I shouldn’t complain, Elayna thought. I mean...I definitely do want to fight her. It’s definitely a good chance to improve and push myself.
Elayna drew her sword and looked at Caitlynn.
“Okay but let me warm up.”
Cait smiled. “Of course sweetie.”
Elayna took a few minutes to warm up with sword-strikes and some simple footwork drills, working through the stiffness in her shoulders and getting blood moving through her muscles.
She was very aware of Caitlynn's eyes on her.
And as Elayna was about to stretch her hamstrings, she thought better of it and decided to turn around to face Caitlynn as she did so.
“Aww." Cait almost pouted as she tilted her head. "Come on sweetie. Don’t be such a meanie.”
“...Hmph.”
She'd expected to be embarrassed. She was a little. But mostly she found herself fighting back a smile at the fact that Caitlynn, who smiled as she cut and beat up her seniors, had just pouted at Elayna for turning around.
But uhm... Elayna thought. There's no way she's actually that sad she couldn't see my...right?... Yeah she's just teasing me...I think...
Elayna told Cait she was done with warming up, and positioned herself so that Cait stood about twenty feet in front of her.
Cait looked at Elayna with a wide smile.
“Don’t get too mad when you lose sweetie. You’ll lose. A lot.” Cait seemed to find this extremely entertaining and they hadn’t even started yet.
Elayna wanted to beat Cait... She knew she probably wouldn’t be able to, but at the very least she wanted to make Cait fight earnestly and seriously, wiping that vexingly smug and pretty smile off her face.
She felt her face go warm looking at Cait's smug smirk, that made her look even more pleased with herself. While Elayna knew she wasn't smirking to distract her, it still annoyed her a little.
Elayna drew her sword and held it firmly in her right hand. Took her stance, feet planted firmly, standing slightly diagonally with her side towards Cait.
Their eyes met and Cait nodded. Elayna knew what it meant and nodded as well.
Cait lowered slightly before shooting herself off her feet and coming fast towards her.
Elayna tightened her grip, lowered her stance and braced her core, readying herself.