Cassian remembered the rush of weilding a sword for the first time. Knew the sense of purpose that melted into every inch of your body in learning how to protect and fight for what you beleive in. It had given him something to live for, something to look forward to, something to be proud of.
It filled him with an overwhelming warmth to be able to present that to Nesta.
By the look on her face, that spark was igniting a fire under her skin just like it had his.
Some trainees were a pain in the ass. They didn't have a bite, a hunger to learn or progress. Before he could train them to be warriors, he had to train them to want it first. Train them to weaponize and refine thier passions, their anger.
With Nesta, Cassian knew that wouldn't be a problem.
Nesta had always been a warrior. Always a fighter, always light on her feet ready to spar. Sure, her weapon was her words, her eyes, but that did not make her any less deadly. She was too sharp, too wicked for her own good.
She was practically drooling, eyes wide and mouth agape looking out onto the training feild. He would have to keep her from letting that unpredictability bubbling over in combat.
As a General, Cassian had to turn people into warriors.
As her mate, Cassian would have to turn a warrior into a person.
Even with her siphons on, that white void began to form on her enclosed fists. She was getting ahead of herself.
Cassian took a breath, but just then Sera shouted over the hum and drum of the training feild, "TIME! LET'S MOVE LADIES, GOOD WORK TODAY!"
The females responded immideatly, stopping thier training and resetting the training field and dragging targets and weapon holsters back into the thick brush of the forest. Casssian stepped closer to Nesta as the females ran past them and into the path leading back to camp. They parted around Cassian and Nesta like a rock in a river.
_______________________________________________________
The wind from the females running past whipped the lose strands of her hair around her face. Time slowed.
Something ancient, deeper, stronger then she had felt before spiraled inside of her at the sight.
Silent sounds were isolated in her ear.
A huff of breath as they ran past.
The crackle of leaves underfoot.
The creak of creasing leather.
Nesta straightened, stepping away from Cassian.
The females continued to part around her, the sea of power splitting before her.
Nesta let the wind flow through her. Cleansing. Clearing. Laying her honest and bare before these females she would evolve into.
She had a purpose. She had never had something that pulled her, called to her, ebbed inside of her like her magic did at the sight of the training grounds.
This was what she was meant for. That swell she had felt on the hill standing above the battlefeild during the war with Hybern.
She had screamed Cassians name.
Everything, every inch of her screamed to be down there fighting side by side with him.
She let the sounds of feet and huff of breath drown her out. She closed her eyes and felt the wind wipe away her regrets, her fears.
Nesta felt pure, patient. Ready.
When all the females had passed, she took a deep breath.
Shoulders and head high, she turned to Cassian.
And smiled.
__________________________________________________________________
Cassian was almost knocked on his ass.
There was nothing wicked, nothing malicious or stinging in that smile. It was happiness, it was fufillment.
It was the most beautiful thing Cassian had ever seen.
So he was completely unprepared for the right hook that slammed into his cheek like a hammer.
Nesta had punched him so hard he was seeing stars. He was knocked back against a tree, clinging to a branch to stay upright.
"What the hell was that?" He wasn't mad, just....confused? It was actually a pretty good punch.
Nesta was cradeling her hand, wincing and cursing under her breath.
Cassian laughed, pulling a wrap of cloth out of his pocket. He approached Nesta and reached for her hand. She nodded, and he spoke as he wrapped her knuckles and wrist.
"You have to tuck your thumb down like this-" He demonstraeted as he continued wrapping. "Or the fist will always be too lose and hurt."
Cassian tucked the tail of the fabring into intself at her palm and began the other hand.
"You also cannot straighten your arm, or the shock will hurt your elbow. Plus you get more power from a bent arm."
"But it's a good place to start?" Nesta looked up at him and asked.
Cassian smiled down at her. He was done wrapping her hand, but he still held it like a delicate rose in his own.
Nesta winded up to punch him again.
"Woah, hey!" He stopped her fist mid air.
"Would you stop doing that?" He dropped her fist as she stepped back, opening and closing her fistsas if discovering them for the first time.
She looked up at him. "When you look at me like that I'm going to punch you."
Cassian blinked. "Look at you like what?"
Nesta started walking toward the makeshift ring, still opening and closing her fist.
"Like I'm fragile or delicate. You and I both know that isn't true and it's just going to get in the way of you training me if you think I can't take a hit."
Cassian jogged to catched up to her. "Nesta, you can't take a hit. You don't know-"
She turned on her heel and threw another punch just as Cassian caught up to her. He ducked, feeling the phantom wind from the punch graze his cheekbone.
He grasped her wrist before she could retract her fist and pulled her arm over his shoulder. His other hand wrapped all the way around her waist, grasping the elbow of her other arm and fully pressing her body against his.
Effectively trapping her, but Nesta didn't struggle against him.
Only met him with eyes filled with such fire he started sweating.
"Stop. Trying. To punch me." He whispered, their faces to close that the tip of his nose brushed hers as he spoke.
Nesta's eyes hardened, deep and cold. "Are you going to discipline me, sweetheart?"
His suprise loosened his grip ever so lightly.
Nesta smiled like a true witch and her knee was in his groin.
"Nesta!" Jaida ran toward the pair, Cassian now doubled over.
"Twice." He rasped as Jaida stopped before him. "This has happened twice."
"If you don't want to be treated like a boy on a schoolyard, I suggest not acting like one."
Cassian looked up at Nesta, "Are you joking me?"
Nesta's lips curled up, if only a bit. "You know I'm not."
"Okay." Jaida clapped her hands together.
"Cassian-" She looked down at him, still hunched over, hands to his crotch. "You sort...yourself out."
Nesta crossed her arms. Jaida turned to her, pointing a finger at her. "Nesta, you come with me, dove."
Jaida started walking and Nesta fell into step behind her. Cassian braced his hands on his knees, the pain still reverberating through him as he watched Nesta throw him a vulgur gesture as she sauntered away.
He cackled and fell to the ground.
____________________________________________
Inside the tent, Verra and Jaida explained everything.
These females had been getting up before dawn every morning for weeks to train. It had been Jaida's idea, and she was even the one who spoke with Serra about leading the training. Serra had begun with only 13 females, and now it had grown into a kind of morning ritual, a small repreive before the day began. Cassian only knew about it becasue Lori had informed Az of it, who then told Cassian.
Nesta sat between the females in the latern lit tent. "And Devlon knows none of this?"
They both shook their heads. In the long med tent, meant to hold 30 or 40 Illyrians, the emptiness of the questions rang too loudly.
Nesta wrung her hands in her lap, scared to ask. "What would happen if he found out?"
Jaida sighed, brushing her hands along her thighs, smoothing her dress.
"Well, he would shut it down, no doubt. He would try to hide it from Rhysand, which-"
"Rhysand doesn't know?"
"Rhysand is on the verge of war on two seperate fronts. The last thing he needs to worry about is us."
Verra smiled desipte themselves. "And if it's out saftey he would be worried about, I think it's safe to say that we've learned how to handle ourselves."
Jaida glanced sidelong at Verra.
Verra only shrugged. "Don't you think?"
"I have to agree." Nesta spoke, noting Jaida's restrained smile as the female in white glanced down.
"Nesta," Verra said, "I know about what happened in Velaris. About..." They gave a pointed glance at the Dragons Breath Opal on the choker Nesta wore. She absent mindedly put a hand to it, finding it unnaturally cold, even in the chill mountian morning ait.
The healer spoke gently. "While Cassian will be training you to fight," They held out thier hand, a small kernel of gold appearing in thier palm. "I will be working with you to see what your magic can do. Thank kind of power is something seen rarely."
Verra gave a pointed glance toward the flap of the tent before continuing.
"One condition is that we have to keep it a secret from-"
Cassian burst through the flap, his overshirt tied around his waist and hair pulled back. He was bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet, always moving and ready for action.
"What's the matter, hotshot, you don't want to punch me anymore?" He sneered at Nesta, nodding at the other two females in the tent. He tugged on the end of Nesta's braid and dipped out of the way before she could whip around.
"Leave the poor females alone and lets go, sweetheart!" Cassian shouted as he exited the tent.