Shade's Sabre

Day 9

"Look, if you're going to fluff around with swords, at least do it with live steel," A voice drawled from nearby.

There was a clatter as, mid-dance, Freyia dropped her wooden swords and caught the metal ones singing towards her. Balder turned to see a woman, cut and dyed Spirit Tamer sterotype asides from her sleeveless blue shirt sashaying towards her, a slinky black, almost panther-like bondmate at her heels. It was still a hunter type, but there was something more definitely feline about this one, and it had the same unnerving green stare as Macavity downstairs. All Spirit Tamers were hard to age, as they looked pretty similar from the age of about 20 onwards, but if you looked closely, there were the spiderweb cracks around her eyes and across her forehead, and the lightest dusting of silver at her temples.

"Hi Aunt Xiu," Balder said. "I didn't hear you coming."

Xiu grinned.

"That is the sign I'm doing my job properly," She watched Freyia, shaking her head slightly, eyes mesmerised by the whirling blades. "She's good."

"I heard that," Freyia observed. 

"You were meant to," Xiu called. "You can tell you're from good quality stock."

"Not that you're bigging up your own ego there?" Freyia called back. "But thanks."

"I don't suppose you'd want to jack in the ideals of being a Sabre and come and join the Blades?" Xiu asked brightly. "We can make it a family thing? I know, every-one wants to be in one of the Elite Regiments, the Arrows, the Sabres or the Golden Guard, but consider, the Blades are every bit as good as the Sabres, and we get to go fantastic foreign places, meet new people and get paid a whole lot more! Sabres just means being the honour guard of the Emperor and Prime Minister, they rarely ever see action unless there's a war, and if you're going to be a bodyguard, why not get paid the going rate?"

"Because I can join the Blades any time I like," Freyia called. "But I only get one chance to join the Sabres."

Xiu paused. 

"Good point, I won't lose hope of tempting you to the dark side just yet then," Xiu grinned.

On Xiu's blue jacket was a symbol similar to that her brother Feng had worn, only instead of crossed sabres over a set of scales in gold, this was just a pair of crossed straight swords, picked out in silver.

"Besides, it's not just about the money," Freyia responded.

"Yeah, yeah, you managed to pick up your father's ideals," Xiu observed. "Did you two manage to see him off by the way? Daiyu said you headed off that way at breakneck speed."

"Yeah, we saw Dad and Pappa off," Balder nodded.

"It's so sweet they get to go on a mission together," Xiu said brightly. "But those who slay together, stay together, or so I'm told. Speaking of Daiyu, she said you were very sassy with her today. I of course refuted that, I have no idea where you'd pick sassy genes up."

Balder snorted and Xiu bumped him gently.

"You know, I don't know how I've survived school," Freyia observed. "What with Balder dating my classmates and you dating my teacher."

"Ah well, it's character building," Xiu said brightly. "You're a Spirit Tamer sweetheart, awkwardness comes with the territory."

Freyia threw her swords up in the air and caught them in one hand, before sweeping a bow. There was a smattering of applause.

"Owch," Freyia touched her cheek as she straightened up. "You keep these things sharp."

The blade had spun a little close to her face on the way down and had nicked under her left eye with the very tip. Her fingers came away red as she touched it.

"They're swords, darling," Xiu observed. "They're not made to be safe. But i suppose they are a little longer than you're used to."

Xiu held her hands out to take the swords and Freyia held them out. Xiu carefully sheathed them in the sheaths on her back, so each handle was in easy reaching distance.

"You're sinister, aren't you?" Xiu asked conversationally.

"Sorry?"

"Sinister," Xiu observed. "You're left handed."

Freyia gave her a look with some asperity.

"I'm equally lethal with either hand, thank you," She countered, then relented. "Yeah, but I can do most things ambidextrously. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it seems weird you'd cut yourself with your dominant blade..." Xiu looked at her, then down at her bondmate, with a significant look. "Don't be surprised if your favourite stuff starts disappearing."

Freyia looked blankly at her, but Balder looked sharply at her.

"You think..."

Xiu bumped him again to cut him off. Freyia looked between them, eyes narrowed.

"Stop being mysterious supercilious children of guns," Freyia said coolly.

"She always gets more eloquent when she's insulting people," Xiu observed to Balder. "Have you ever noticed that? The more polite the insults, the more she hates you."

"More to do that we're surrounded by small people," Freyia observed glacially. "There are other words I could use, but I'm not sure Grandam would approve of me increasing the family's lexicon."

"Yeah, and have you ever noticed that she can close the distance very quickly when you piss her off, and she's got a wicked left hook?" Balder returned, warily stepping back.

"Why do you think I got my swords back before being smart?" Xiu said with a grin. "I know better than to antagonise some-one while unarmed." She looked back at Freyia. "You'll find out, don't worry." She raised her voice and looked around at the gaggle Now, dinner is about to be ready, and no-one wants to antagonise Mamma, now do they?"

Xiu turned and headed back towards the stairs to the lower level. Balder caught Freyia's gaze and shrugged, following after her. Freyia scowled after them both.

"Oh sure, leave me to put the swords away," she groused after them.

She bent over to collect her fallen swords only to find herself practically face to face with her bondmate. All the way through the dancing, they had been sunbathing, while keeping a cautious eye on the children running around, now they darted forwards, putting a paw on her arm. She bent over a bit further to stroke them, and as she did, they leant in and she felt their rough tongue flicker across her cheek and over the bleeding cut. At exactly the same moment, her world went abruptly back, then snapped back in, like a frame of a movie had been removed to make a sudden judder. For a split second everything went abruptly silent, then the sounds of the tree rustling in the wind and the chirping of the birds rang again. Freyia looked into her bondmate's face and blinked.

"You know, I don't think your eyes were blue earlier."

The bondmate sat back on their haunches and flopped their head to one side in the most adorable fashion, blinking those big, now ice-blue, eyes. She felt a thrill run through her and she tried to hide the grin. Her bondmate gave a full body wiggle then pounced on another one of the abandoned swords, took a firm grip on the hilt and trotted off towards the storage cupboard with it. Still grinning, Freyia collected the others and followed after him, amused by the sassy little sashay they had going on. She knew there was a trigger for transition, every-one did, but it was one of the few things adults didn't talk much about and that you were actively discouraged from finding out. Freyia touched the cut on her cheek, and much to her surprise, found that she couldn't even find the slightest trace of it. Her bondmate triumphantly dropped the practice sword in the cupboard and looked back as if to say 'aren't I smart?'.

"Yes gorgeous, you are very smart," Freyia assured him.

She picked up the blades and replaced them in the rack, before, checking that her bondmate wasn't stuck inside, closing the door firmly. She looked down at them.

"I suppose this means I'm going to have to finally find a name for you," Freyia observed.

Her bondmate sat on her boot, staring up at her with another little happy wiggle.

"Now come, on race you downstairs before Grandam has our guts for garters," Freyia said, then giggled as they immediately took off. "Oh, no fair!"