Pryseia wasn't at breakfast.
Of course she wasn't, she was off performing for aliens who didn't see her as a person.
Elytra didn't pass her in the hall on the way to the training sims.
And why would she, when Pryseia was off fighting in the real thing.
The lessons today were all more advance combat techniques. Things like optimal placement on the battlefield, using terrain to your advantage, the pros and cons of different weather conditions. Elytra could barely concentrate on the artificial training instructor, her thoughts constantly returning to the closest thing she had to a friend in this place.
Pryseia hadn't been braggadocios about it, but she was clearly confident in her skills as a mech pilot. Elytra could only hope that the other woman was as good as she claimed, because she didn't know what she would do without her here.
And as she mindlessly ate her final meal of the day, Elytra realized that it wasn't just about the promise of escape. She liked Pryseia, the strange alien who, despite the secrets she kept, whatever reason she had for wanting her to pilot the mech that the baithaizans were holding as the prize for this tournament, seemed to like her too. Even before all the chaos involved with her abduction, with all the nonsense that came with her job as a long distance courier, Elytra hadn't had much time for a social life. Adult life had her childhood friends spread all across the globe, and she hadn't seen, hadn't spoken to any of them months before she was taken. She didn't even know if they were still alive, killed in the raid that landed her in this place, or of old age, because from the state she'd been when she'd awoken here, she was pretty sure the baithaizans had her in stasis for a long, long time.
Caught up in living paycheck to paycheck, Elytra hadn't realized how lonely she'd been.
That loneliness struck harder when she entered the socialization area and didn't find Pryseia waiting for her. Nevertheless, she went to her usual spot and settled in to watch the matches from the day.
Just like on the previous day, the identities of the pilots weren't commented upon by the announcer, who simply congratulated whichever colour mech won the match. Today was five purple to one green victory, and Elytra had a sneaking suspicion as to who the green pilot was.
Unlike the still-hesitant movement of the other mechs, this one had traversed the battlefield like second nature. While this mech had taken hits and missed attacks, they were all done performatively, as if the pilot was being careful to not show off how skilled they really were. After drawing out the bout for an entertaining amount of time, the green mech had delivered a precise blow to the sensor array on the purple mech, effectively blinding the pilot within, all while doing no harm to the actual pilot themselves. That had to have been Pryseia's work.
Back in her room, the lights dimming for the night, Elytra just hoped that her guess was right.
Of the nearly sixty people who had survived the initial round of to-the-death eliminations, only around thirty remained, the rest having been sent off to whatever branch of the Baithaiz army that would take them.
As such, it was easy to spot Pryseia in the feeding area the next day.
Separated as they were by their assigned seating, Elytra couldn't do more than give her a wave from several tables away, but Pryseia readily returned it, smirking with all the confidence of a person who knew they'd be just fine.
Knowing that the other woman was still with her made Elytra's training session go by quicker than it had the previous day.
And when socialization time came around after the evening meal, Pryseia was waiting for her in their regular spot.
"I'm really glad you're okay," Elytra told Pryseia before she'd even fully sat down, "I mean, I was certain you would be fine, you're as confident as a calpherak when it comes to all this mech piloting, but still… I'm glad you're still here."
Pryseia had initially grinned when she'd seen Elytra come over, one lip pulled up in a smirk, but at the other woman's outburst, her expression softened into something genuine. She regarded Elytra quietly for a moment, before she bumped shoulders with her.
"As if I'd abandon you here. I said I'd get you out, so get you out I shall."
"You better," Elytra replied with a little laugh, "This place is getting boring. That was you in green for round four yesterday, wasn't it?"
"I'm glad you were paying attention," was Pryseia's reply, smirk back in place, "Observing your opponents is a vital skill to cultivate, so we'll switch things up for this evening's viewing. I want you to tell me what the combatants today did right or wrong. I want you to be as confident as a cal… ah, hm, whatever it was you called it."
"Calpherak. It's… well, technically it's a prey animal where I come from?" Elytra explained, "It's not a large creature by any means, but it does have a surprisingly tough exoskeleton, and it can lock itself into immobility, making it too big to swallow, while its exoskeleton makes it too difficult to crunch through. They will often stroll through packs of predators on the way to their food sources, because they know nothing there poses a threat to them."
As the lights dimmed and the matches from the day began to play, Pryseia grinned widely. "A calpherak is a more apt comparison than you know. Now tell me, what did that pilot do right?"
That night, Elytra's dreams were filled with not just the heads-up-display she was subjected to for hours a day in the training sim, but with strategy as well. Actively observing the people who had the potential to be her opponents in this tournament she was an unwilling participant in had awoken something in her. Hearing facts from Pryseia had been one thing, but to find them herself? To catch a misstep, to see where someone opened fire at just the right time? To say nothing of Pryseia's proud grin as Elytra pointed out things that neither the other woman or the sims had taught her. She was beginning to feel a bit like a calpherak herself.
But that all changed when the morning announcement came, and Elytra's name was called.