Shade's Sabre

Day 4

Freyia looked consideringly at Balder and he caught her glance.

"What?" He asked.

"Asides from Mei being a colossal idiot and making a thing about you being 'exotic, but not some-one to settle down with'," Freyia rolled her eyes at the words. "Did you ever catch much flak for being mixed?"

"I think all of us half-breeds did," Balder observed, rubbing his jaw. "Asides from you, of course, you're practically Dad's mini-me, and we're all obviously mixed. Oh, it wasn't anything serious, just a few casual jabs now and then and people being overly considerate, if that makes sense, like they were pointedly trying to include us rather than just including us like we were normal? Roy was fine until he hit his collosal growth spurt, he looked a lot like you and Dad and was on track to be a Sabre until suddenly he grew practically a foot overnight and was too tall to be considered. I think it all settled right down when our bond-mates transitioned though and we all got classic black hunter-types. People realised that we were actually just made of the same stuff, you know?" He ruffled Jolene's ears again. "You're my little saviour, aren't you?"

Freyia looked away and licked her ice cream pensievely.

"You're grim today," Balder observed. "Did Daiyu rattle your cage that much?"

"It's just the pressure of being the youngest and having so much riding on me," Freyia said, camping it up, then shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I am a little unsettled at the moment, I've just got all these questions without answers, you know?" She gave a wry smile. "I'm probably just being a melodramatic teenager or something like that."

"Well, 16 is the perfect time for that," Balder grinned. "I managed to spin it out for 2 more years though, so you have to beat that target." Balder looked at Freyia. "You know Dad meant it when he said he was proud of you regardless, right? You don't need to demonstrably show you're better or anything. Just because you're the last one of us capable of being a Sabre doesn't mean that you have to be one if you don't want."

"I do want to be a Sabre," Freyia said firmly. "More than anything." 

"That's okay too," Balder said peaceably.

Freyia hesitated.

"Besides, it would be a shame to be the first generation of Bai to not have made it into the elite ranks of the Emperor's army," She remarked with a shrug. 

"Yeah, but you don't have to obey tradition," Balder observed. "That's just peer pressure from dead people."

"And some living ones."

"Yeah, but Grandma can't get much more disappointed in our family branch than she already is, so we're good."

"Mhmm," Freyia shrugged, then changed the topic. "Anyway, will you help me drill later?"

"I suppose," Balder sighed. "I don't see the point though - you're already more than good enough at the drills, it's not like you'll get any better."

"But it will stop me getting worse and it'll make me feel better," Freyia said, then grinned. "Plus, it'll make me feel better in comparison."

"Hey, I've got like a foot extra arm and leg compared to you, the signals take longer."

"If you're saying you're as clumsy as hell, I quite agree," Freyia grinned.

"Quit smirking, or you can drill on your own," Balder scowled.

Freyia turned away to check where her bondmate had wandered off to, spotted he was safe, then returned to the original topic.

"So, if Pappa had had a bondmate, what do you think it would have been?" Freyia asked conversationally.

Balder mulled it over, casually chewing on the edge of his waffle cone.