GoldenCat/Heads05
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- - Back to A Dance of Angels
Path of the Golden Blade
The Bridal Veil...
A great waterfall not too far from Spire...
The extremely mountainous terrain of Whiteshield allowed for many waterfalls such as this, and it was a wonder... falling from so high up, straight down and narrow, the purest white foam on it, on a mountain of clear stones almost azure in color... 'just like a bride's veil' it was said. And many figurines of Brides could be seen there, a place of pilgrimage, incense and the figurines sacrifices to wish for a lucky marriage.
The Prince stood before the waterfall, and shouted. He shouted, with river pebbles on his mouth. He shouted, as he had done every time he got there... trying to raise his voice higher than the crashing waterfall.
It was not like the sea the parable that inspired this training method happened in, but it seemed to work well enough, he thought... giving him the voice, the confidence... and, well, it was nice to bring Kanti here.
So much of Whiteshield to show her... so much to show them all.
Seeing the Bridal Veil untouched filled Alexander with a little bit of hope.
There was places untouched, yet...
Valencia Silverstar: A silver streak catches the light. Glinting as it descends through the sky, diving, diving down into the misty place by the waterfall. The mist parts at her passing, the wind carrying her in a great gust of energy. She pulls up at the last moment, almost hovering for a few seconds, wings spread to either side, catching the air. Then she touches down, clad as she had been for the battle before. No armor, just the attire. And her sword. Radiant.
Kanti: Kanti sits on a rock, legs drawn up to her chest, watching her prince and his odd behavior, occasionally looking about her at all the brides, feeling just the tiniest bit of jealousy that they are to be wed and she never will.
The waterfall had impressed her, was beautiful, and yet it was water and she had found more beauty in a single candle flame.
She rose smoothly to her feet as Valencia landed though, and courtseyed.
"Welcome, Lady Silverstar." She said softly, a voice that still carried past the falls.
Valencia Silverstar: "Thank you." Valencia says, furling her silvery wings, the faint mist rolling back toward her from where she had disturbed it with her landing. "Prince."
Alexander: The prince stops as he hears Kanti, so absorbed as he was in his training... and slowly takes the pebbles out of his mouth, throwing them back on the stream close to his feet. He turns around, straightening his violet coat, his wings twitching with some embarassment to find the Silver Angel there... and smiling, happilly.
He runs to her, taking her hand, kissing it tenderly "Lady Silverstar. I was worried you would not show... I trust it was not hard to find the Veil?" He asks, turning to see the waterfall, not letting go of her hand. "Beautiful, is it not?"
Valencia Silverstar: "It was not difficult, no." Valencia replies, looking around a bit, then glancing at the Terrestrial. She didn't look very happy. Then Valencia's gaze goes back to Alex. "I came here once...for something to do with someone's wedding. A few decades ago, and it is as beautiful now as it was then. Odd that they did not desecrate this place."
Alexander: "Whiteshield is big.... I think it was just not significant enough for them. Not when they were ritually destroying all the temples at Spire..." He sighs. It was not good to remember that... it always made him feel so... his country, desecrated like that. It gave him sorrow, it gave him anger...
He held the coat closer to him with his free hand.
"Someone's? Never yours'? You were married before, right?" He asks, motioning for her to sit down, amidst the damp stones there, far from the waterfall.... he wondered about Kanti. He had not brought her here before, and it didn't seem to make her happy... was it the water? "You look beautiful with the Leotard, milady. Makes me think what the Dark Angel would be like were she pure..."
Kanti: Kanti settles herself back down to the rock she had been perched on once Valencia had sat, regarding the pair of them with polite, attentive interest, an inerest that only intensifies with the mention of the dark angel.
Valencia Silverstar: "I was married in Port Aurora and Windia." Valencia replies, gaze flickering to Kanti for a moment before going back to Alex as she sits primly. "And yes, Selina did copy this style. She told me so herself."
Alexander: "She did?" He asks, curious... ah, Port Aurora. Her place... he had never been there. He wondered what it was like, a place overseen by her... probably as beautiful as her, with a beauty of a certain cold, a certain decorum all her own.... "I... was not aware you had talked with her. I... thought you were not very keen about her... what with all she did for her house, for Windia."
Valencia Silverstar: The Lunar runs a hand through her hair, looking at the waterfall now, at the mist around it. "I am not. But, if she is earnest in what she wanted...it would be wrong of me to stop her. She deserves her chance."
Alexander: "That she does." The Prince says with a nod.
"I have been trying too hard to fight her over..." Then he catches himself, noticing it is Valencia he is talking to... and quickly changes his subject. "Oh, but, nevermind... have you been properly introduced to Kanti?" He asks, with a big smile, trying to cover up his faux-pas as he gets up, to present his Terrestrial to the Silver Angel...
"She is a Spear Saint of the Viridian Radiance... she can destroy the dead with a touch, sending them to lethe!"
"And she has been my servant..."
Valencia Silverstar: "Fight hard over...?" She asks the Prince, eyebrows raising a bit. "What are you two fighting over?"
Then she looks to Kanti and shakes her head. "I have not. Hello Kanti. Are you from the Blessed Isle?"
She looks like she might be well-bred enough.
Kanti: Kanti rises from her rather casual seating to one more appropriate to a person addressed by someone with Valencia's rank, slipping to her knees on the gravel.
"Hello, Lady Silverstar." She says to acknowledge the greeting, before she gives a small shake of her head. "I was, but the last time I lived there for any length of time was over twenty years ago."
Valencia Silverstar: "Do not kneel like that." Valencia says. "Especially on this gravel. I would not have someone do that for my rank."
Kanti: Kanti gives Alex a briefly panicked look, but smoothly rises to a more neutral pose, trying her best not to look apologetically at Valencia, something she doesn't think the woman would appreciate.
Alexander: He looks at Kanti with... pride. He smiles at her, presenting her to Valencia with the utmost care... "She feels comfortable like that, My Lady... she has been in many courts over the years, and has been trained to be a courtly servant. It is how she knows how to act, no different from us."
"And I am proud to have her serve me."
"I am surprised to see a noblewoman of your station to be uncomfortable with such gestures..."
Valencia Silverstar: "Kneeling at the start is acceptable. But I do not want to speak to someone with bent knee for long." She says lightly, then sighs and recrosses her legs. "Not many courts have Terrestrials as servants." She looks probingly at Alexander. "Which courts did she serve in?"
Alexander: "I... do not know for sure, My Lady..." He rubs the back of his neck, a little embarassed.
"I heard she has been to... well, Heaven for a long time. At least, this is what Fiona tells me. And I know she travelled creation before, with her master, Damian Freville. But..." He turns his gaze to Kanti, as much to escape Valencia's as anything else... "What courts did you serve in, Kanti?"
Kanti: "I visited a great many courts with ..." Him "...Damian Freville. Mortal, divine and somewhere in between, my prince, Lady Silverstar. In the four cardinal directions, in Yu-Shan and on occasion in the Realm."
Valencia Silverstar: "Hmm." Is all Valencia replies with, looking at neither of them now, staring into nothing, as if in thought.
Another 'him'.
And what are those two fighting over?
Alexander: The Silver Angel answers so simply, and there is a long moment of silence while the prince paces about... and then he looks at the Silver Angel, knowing she will ask about that soon... "Well, My Lady... you must be wondering why I called you here. Well... you are Valencia Silverstar. The Blade of Winter. Chosen of Misera. The swiftest, greatest swordmistress on the North... and, well... I wanted to know if you had time to teach me. I have sparred with the Pale Angel, but.."
Valencia Silverstar: She raises an eyebrow, looking back at Alex. "Me? We could, but...only the Pale Angel?" Her tone is oddly curious. "Not the Dark as well? They have different swords and different styles. As do I. You should get a wide range of experience."
Alexander: "Yes, I never..." He looks a bit... embarassed, about it. And a bit regretful. He had never considered.... "She... we did not talk much, until right before she was... gone. She had always scared or infuriated me. I always felt she was... unnaproachable. Only now that she is gone I can appreciate all she did for me... all she helped me with." All the advices she had given him. And... and the pleasure, searing hot just to remember....
"But you are right. I should learn from her."
"I have trained a little bit with Kanti, too. But I probably should train more with her, as well... right, Kanti?"
Valencia Silverstar: "It is often that way with people." Valencia concurrs, noting the halting tone of Alexander's speech. Something had happened...?
"Spears are not the rank and file weapons people think they are. So, I would say yes."
Kanti: "As it pleases you, my prince." She says quietly, with a bow of her head.
"I would be more than happy to spar with you, either unarmed or with swords. The Lady Silverstar is correct in that many styles are good to train against."
Alexander: "We should, then. Pehaps now?" He asks, wondering, hoping he is not suggesting something silly...
"Pehaps we could all spar at the same time? Or two together while one watches...?"
Valencia Silverstar: "For a beginning, let us practice one on one." Valencia says as she draws her blade, getting to her feet now. "Let's see your sword, Prince."
Alexander: Alex looks around... "I... do not have one with me."
"My sister... she has given me one, but it is too big and... unwieldy. Hard to carry around."
He sighs, hands on his pockets... "We can go back to Spire to pick it, if you wish. Its halls will be better for practice, anyway..." He sighs once again. Why did he not think about it before? "... sorry I was so careless."
Valencia Silverstar: Valencia sighs. "You know, I believe Elizabeth is beginning to annoy me. A very rare thing, that." The Lunar says as she sheaths her own weapon.
Back in Spire...
A beautiful hall.
A dance floor.
Polished marble until it was a mirror, reflecting every movement of the beautiful angels that walk over it. Catching every glimpse of the Moonsilver armor, of the silver feathers, of the wings that seem to radiate sunlight of a boy with the beauty of wyld princes. Chandeliers burn elaborate candles, and a soft incense takes the air. For their beauty, for their surroundings, one would think they are ready to dance...
...but for the blades on their hands.
The Prince lifted the claymore. It was heavy and powerful, like Ainerach. Sunset Lament, the weapon that killed Avia and was bestowed upon the Prince was a powerful weapon, but he was still getting used to it. The claymore would do, for this sparring. It would do. Effortlessly, Valencia saw the boy raise the blade, pointing it at her. A boy his age, of his build - especially his current build, looking smaller and more frail than he did before - and yet, just as beautiful, in a way no human being had the right to be - should not handle such a great weapon so effortlessly. And yet, he did. As it it was not even there.
His gaze lingered. As if he could not decide wether they would dance with their hands or their blades.
Perfect amethyst eyes brushed over Valencia's skin and leotard almost like a touch, and even Alex caught his own look, trying hard to find her eyes and lock his gaze on them... still far, far more intense than he wished to be, or modesty had any right to allow him. And so, he spoke, to try and focus on something but her form... "I am ready, Silver Lady. Go easy on me, will you?"
Sunset Lament, the great Scythe-curved blade of crimson hung on a corner of the hall, against a wall.
It seemed to wait, caught on its sorrows...
Valencia Silverstar: Steel grey eyes look over Alex's form, likewise, appreciating and sizing for a moment, then they flicker back to the Prince's face. She stands, perfectly still except for slight breaths, and draws her own weapon. Winter, storied and a legend in its own right, almost feeds cold whispers into her mind about how it wants to be used for this. She raises it with both hands slightly to one side, and the sun gleams on one fell edge. "We should try to avoid damaging this room."
Is all she says, then she walks at him. Walk quickening, blade held in that ready position. Not far from Alex, Valencia breaks into a brisk trot and brings her weapon across at him, to break him into the flow with something easily parried.
Alexander: He watches her walk...
It is like a dance... he thinks, before reigning his thoughts. It was hard to believe...
That he was about to begin a spar with the greatest swordmistress of their lands, with the great Valencia Silverstar... even though he had held Ainerach, such a great legend on its own right, even though he had sparred with the Pale Angel... the thought of Valencia, the thought that it was Winter coming for him... still made him shiver.
But he still held himself well enough, stopping Winter, the metal of his blade letting out a few sparks as he held her back, dragging metal on metal as he moved to Valencia's side, keeping her blade busy with his', before disengaging, spinning around himself to strike at her back...
Valencia Silverstar: Valencia doesn't even turn to him as he gets around her. With speed matched only by a few, Winter arcs out in a one-handed grip and checks the claymore, sparks dancing between them as she halts the Prince's momentum almost completely, the smaller daiklave sliding along the edge of the larger sword and taking its course downward. She pulls it back before it can be caught and taken away from her.
He is not bad.
Did the Pale Angel show him this?
Or was it his instructers?
But the Pale Angel uses a huge sword. Valencia...does not. She moves, still without turning and shifting her axis, and gets to his blind side, the side Alex exposes from using such a large and cumbersome weapon. Even strong as he is, the mass of the sword will make him slower to react than she in that situation. The Lunar brakes her movement with her wings and strikes out at his unprotected side.
Alexander: He tries to move... but to no avail. She is fast, and more than fast... she is good! Her movement, the use of her wings... that use of her wings, that speed the Pale Angel could not match, and the sword strikes at his side, thankfully just the flat of it... which is enough to pull much of the air from the prince's lungs on a gasp, and take his balance away...
Under the impact, he is pushed to the side, and like a dance, steps to try and keep from falling... what he does, less battered than Valencia would expect.
He was a Zenith.
And he could withstand far, far greater punishment than ordinary men, even so young.
"Oof... the... room will be... fine." He finally replies. "That is a nice movement.. .what with.. the wings."
But he takes his breath back a moment too early, jumping up, having his wings push him far higher... almost to the chandlier, claymore held behind her and falling towards the Silver Angel's shoulder... ".. and this is mine!"
Valencia Silverstar: "Too open!" Valencia raises her sword to parry his, moving quickly as his sword arcs down...and uses it to move underneath him, wings flattening down to the ground so as not to get in the way. She narrowly avoids his leaping attack, almost skidding past him. Then she turns as quickly as she can and lunges back at him.
Alexander: But he moves fast, this time, the claymore touching winter in another shower of sparks... and then he stops, once again using his footwork to step back, this time not for balance, but for... care. It felt as if his claymore would break. Faced with Winter as it is, of such ordinary metal...
The sun touches him through a window, and for Valencia, it is as if he was covered in gold. "You... you are too fast. You fight so different from her..."
He is wary. His eyes are on her form, looking at her stance, getting ready for the slightest movement...
... and waiting on her next step.
Even though his Hearthstone made him nimble like a cat, he was so fast...
Valencia Silverstar: "Do I?" Valencia asks, crystal voice a bit amused at that. The Pale Angel probably wasn't as fast as her. But she could very well be more powerful.
I wonder if he has enough speed to get inside her defense.
Maybe, maybe not. "She has her strengths as well. So will Selina." Valencia moves in, feinting with an easy to pull back blow, trying to draw him out to one side and leave him open again.
Alexander: And he does not see it.
He takes the feint at face value, seeing it as the real blow...and for a moment, he smiles, knowing he is finally able to match her speed, the claymore kissing Winter once again! "Oh, she does. But after you two... the Dark Angel might not even be a challenge!" He says, confident at least, pushing the feinting blow aside and bringing the claymore to her side!
Valencia Silverstar: "She might not?" Is all Valencia says, pulling back partially, redirecting her faint and remaining momentum partially, as she moves to one side past his blow and smacks the flat of her blade there. Close enough, he would have gotten her if she hadn't set it up.
But then, if she hadn't set it up, she would not have left herself so open.
"Got you."
Alexander: It hits him once again, and this time he does not move back, just groans, stepping around to face the Lunar once again, his face red with the flare of pain... "... ow." is all he can say, taking a step back...
And then, he moves foward, striking at her face, at her side, at her legs, back at her side... moving fast as running water, many fast and furious strikes, hoping that she is not fast enough to stop them all, even as such movements make his side burn with pain...
Valencia Silverstar: Valencia's expression doesn't change as she lands her hit, though it hardens a bit as Alex flurries at her. Desperate strikes, not as good as she is with the blade, it is still fast and furious enough to make the Lunar take to the air instead of trying to parry them all. She parries the first few, then leaps back. One of his strikes hits her leg as she is sailing away and to the side. Only the flat, but it knocks her off balance, and she comes crashing down to the ground. But her blade whips up, even as she lays there. "I would say that makes this a draw." Her voice contains some amount of approval.
"But do not rely on such tactics."
Alexander: "I will not.... You could see each and every one... of my strikes coming, however." He says, smiling... walking closer to her, touching her blade with his' and looking at her like that... panting a little. "So I had... had to move fast enough so you would not have time for it. Only way I saw to do so." He nods... and begins to offer his hand to help her up... but does not say it. Instead, he just admires her, there...
"You are so beautiful, lady Silverstar..."
Valencia Silverstar: Valencia gets to her feet. How pretty his voice sounds. Pretty? Beautiful? It is hard to find a word for it, a word with an exact fit.
Hmm...
"With my magic, I would have been able to defend against it much more easily, however." Then she sighs and shakes her head. "But, you did well regardless. And," She says with a faint smile. "You are also beautiful."
Alexander: As she begins to get up, his hand touches her face, holding her there after her head shakes, caressing her cheek, there as she is, so taller than him, and yet he is able to hold her face, standing... the mark of the Zenith shows in his forehead. It fills his being, fills it with light, and his wings spread behind him, illuminated with the light, delineated by shadows. "Using the flame of my essence," he says, and with a short, harmonious movement that seems to come in slow motion, he strikes her hand without harm, sending Winter away from her hand, skitting on the floor... "I could strike truer."
There is pride, on his voice. And power. It came so... naturally. That movement, he did not know it... that harmony.
To stop conflict, to disarm your nemesis. To bring peace from conflict...
He leaned down, and his nose touched hers'. "Thank you..."
Valencia Silverstar: "So I see." The Lunar replies, and nuzzles her mate's nose in return. There is not much to say after that, though she does eventually stand up.
But pride and power can cut both ways.
Be careful...
A flicker of before comes into her mind, when it had. But no, that was then. He will not fall to that this time.
Not this time.
"That was...fun."
Alexander: A sigh of disappointment as she gets up. It was so sweet to hold her there...
But what could he do?
"Yes... it was." He says, wiping some sweat out of his face. "I will be sore for a little while, though."
And then, he smiles, a smile that brightens the room by its very existence, before he flutters into the air, his arm snaking around her waist, gentle, but showing his titatnic strength as he pushes her up to him, his lips touching over hers', in an embrace as sweet as their previous kisses, but more... powerful. Passionate... "... but you are not escaping from me so easily, My Lady." He whispers as he breaks the kiss, nuzzling her nose once again, amethyst eyes locked with her icy-blue ones... "You are not getting away..."
Valencia Silverstar: "Getting away?" She asks that, amused now. "The floor is cold and hard...but who said I am trying to get away?" Then Valencia kisses him back.
Alexander: Valencia Silverstar
The Silver Angel
Chosen of Misera
Heroine of the North
And her lips... they taste like honey
So... warm
He would never guess. Color of silver. Skin of ice. Wings of snow. Winter in her hand. The Ice Queen of the North. And her lips seemed to melt on his', her tongue seeking his, his lips parting hers', and parting themselves to accept her. He did not want to break it. She seemed to melt on him, like running moonsilver... liquid... but warm.
And it was her... Valencia Silverstar. It was surreal.
His wings fluttered back, and his blade clung to the floor. He felt her bosom on his chest... could hear her heart.
And she... could hear his'.
But nothing lasts forever... and he breaks the kiss, with a naughty smile.
"You would prefer a bed, then?" "Or maybe to lie in the grass...?"
"But..." He comes close to her ear, kissing it, and whispering... "I thought you would like hard things..."
Valencia Silverstar: "Sometimes." She says with a blush, voice almost a whisper herself. "But not at my back." She lets him hold her, though...it feels...oddly good. Natural. As if it is right. And knowing what she does, even only a bit, as well that it should. "Why do you ask?" And now her voice is a naughty whisper, warm as well, still somewhat stately.
Alexander: "Because..."
What? He could not... he could not do much. Not after what Elizabeth had done with him. Not until... not until... he sighed, in his mind. He only felt the lust barely, if at all... but love, and conquest, moved him. And thus, did he kiss her ear, and her cheeks, down to the hollow of her neck. He blushed, however... and he did not want her to see it. To see how embarassed he was to say it... what he had to say, now that she asked. "Because... I want to have you."
His arm tightened around her waist. His leg went between hers', pushing, the hard thing he had to give instead. "Because I want to give you joy. To make you melt over me. To make you cry and whimper, sing like the silver bird. My lady, my love, my mate." The leg pushed up. And rubbed. He never realised before... how close to naked she was, with just that leotard. "Because I want to make you whimper and cry, and I want to know exactly what you want... what you like..."
"Because I will do it... and I will be hard." Every word she did not stop made him more confident. More and more...
And now he had a naughty smile, and saying those things begun to excite him...
Valencia Silverstar: "Oh, really?" She asks again, kissing him once more, still blushing. The leg is...something. But not enough. It occurs to her that people might see this.
They'd better turn a blind eye...
And even later...
The Gardens beneath the Palace of Timeless Winters...
The Prince of Whiteshield did not get out much, he realised. Unlike many, who walked around Spire, helped those they could, he stayed around, in the middle of the insanity of his life. Not that he has not left. He had gone to the Boil and back...
Tasya... he wondered about her. His every touch was destroying them, wasn't it?
Kanti, the Pale Angel... how would he tell her? And the Silver Angel, and...
I ruin all the lives I touch, do I not?
Is this some curse you have placed on me, 'Shining One'?
Or is this my own curse, my own fault?
How is it not my fault?
I have made them cry... I will make them cry.. so much...
But he had to to shake those stray thoughts, this guilt that festered in his chest nearly every minute of every day, to take it out of mind, now. Or he would regret it later, he knew, amidst cuts and bruises, with a bruised ego.He walked to a clearing with Kanti, here in this Garden where she felt at home, he realised. A healer, she understood Wood almost as much as Fire, or so the Prince thought. Amidst the large trees, their shade, the leaves under their feet... he watched his lover.
It was strange. He always felt like protecting her. He could do anything to her.
She was...so frail, so much of the time.
Even now, she would kneel if he said so...
But he would not. And then...
With the spear in hand, determination on her eyes, he knew... Kanti was one of the deadliest creatures he had ever met. She was deadly as the great Black and Golden Suns, as the Silver Lights he had seen. She had such a skill in all things, and her ability to destroy the darkness with her spear was on par with her ability to dance, and to please. And that is to say...
That much like the others he sparred with, he knew he was out of his league.
"Are you ready, Kanti?"
Kanti: Kanti walked out into the garden with her prince, talking the time as they walked in silence to look at the trees and the flowers that still bloomed there now, taking the time to see how they had changed since last she walked here, occasionally looking to her Prince, wondering what dark thoughts brewed below the surface.
Why does my prince worry so ...?
I know he worries about me, about his lady, about so many people ...
It is nice to know that he cares, but I wish he did not worry so much....
I wish I could do something for his worries...
Then they had reached their destination and she stopped, taking up a martial pose as he asked his question.
She bowed then, not the bow she gave him to show her respect for him, but the bow appropriate for two who would spar together, one that meant she did not have to take her eyes off him. As she rose, she adopted the posture of the saint in repose, and brilliant prayers traced in fire and viridean danced around her.
"I am ready, my prince."
Alexander: "Good." Is all he says, readying the large blade. Sunset Lament, the crimson cleaver Elizabeth had made...
Nothing like Ainerach. Nothing at all.
"The Silver Angel told me to practice... to be ready. To see your own style in action..."
I have never sparred against a spear before...
And it shows, in his lack of compensation for her reach in his stance.
"Then... here I come!"
The leaves all sail upward, a wind from his wings as he came at her, the great crimson cleaver in a long strike from his upper-right side and down on the Dragon-Blooded...
Kanti: Kanti watches the blade as he flies towards her, the oddly peaceful look of her style on her face as she does. Her movement is slight though, a few beats of the dance, enough to start a slight haze around her, one that only grows as she swings the spear around.
She presented her prince with a simple choice, to break off his attack or be impaled first.
Alexander: And be broke it off, the wings carring him back with a gust of wind that moved Kanti's hair, throwing leaves on her... just as he caught a gust of wind, changing his position, coming at her from her left, the flat of the blade against he side... the sun fell on his face as he did so, the halo around his head gleaming proud.
Coming... for me... There was little to choose, and he broke it off, the wings carring him back with a gust of wind that moved Kanti's hair, throwing leaves on her... "Just defense, Kanti? I am not your master here, you have to fight back... you have to spar with me, remember! You are not helping otherwise..."
He said, not realising how much he was undesrestimating her as he did, so, just as he caught a gust of wind, changing his position, coming at her from her left, the flat of the blade against he side... the sun fell on his face as he did so, the halo around his head gleaming proud.
Kanti: Kanti didn't allow the leaves to touch her, dancing between them with an effortless grace, the flickering motions of her legs and hair whipping them close around her, but never letting them touch her, and Alex can see that this too is a part of her dance and her style, the motions too instinctive to be concious.
As he attacked her once more, this time, she held the spear wide, letting him come closer before she swung her leg out and up, kicking his blade wide and bringing her spear around to attack, incense roiling off the blade.
As he hurtled backwards from the carefully stuck blow, one to send him flying without hurting, she bowed.
"As you command, my prince."
The pause was brief though, and soon she was moving toward him across the grass, her feet drumming out a rythym.
Alexander: The incense, all around him. So fragrant. So delicious...
So confusing!
His blade kicked aside, the spear striking his side, he falls, almost against a tree...
And she is coming.
So beautiful. The incense made him feel in a ball...
She was dancing.
It was a strange sensation. He knew the spear. Part of him froze in fear as it came to destroy him. Because she destroys the darkness, the wrong, and he is every bit wrong... and yet... part of him had to be convinced this was not a ball, that she was not dancing, so beautiful and filled with incense as she was! But he did convince himself, reacting a little late, but not late enough not to push the spear aside, and in single movement of his wings, to jump so far away from her, nearly kneeling as he came to the ground.
... fast...
Beautiful...
Kanti: Kanti watches her prince sail away from her on a breeze, pushing with powerful strokes of his wings.
She flickered then, a candle blown in the wind, and then suddenly she is moving towards him even faster, the leaves caught in her wake browning slightly, and then she leaps and she is flying towards the prince, spear held down as she comes in to land.
Alexander: He waited on her now.
He sharpened his mind, and saw through the incense.
He sharpened his mind, and saw through the dance.
His eyes like a hawk's he saw her strike for what it was.
And the hawk of light's wings met the garda bird's long beak, breaking her strike.... beatting the garda bird to the side, and then she was within the hawk's wings. He looked at the flaming being, knowing how his feathers would burn if he stayed too close, and then his beak came down on her, wings closed like barriers so she could not run....
Kanti: Kanti does not need much room to dance.
Kanti had danced on the head of a pin, once.
Kanti would dance so closely once more.
And so it was that the spear fell away to another cloud surrounding her, and handclaws thrust up to knock his beaksword aside following through as she did, breaking out and through his wings and blackflipping away on the grass.
She adopts one of the postures of the saint as she waits, the spear appearing once more.
Alexander: He saw through the incense, but her dance... it was too good, and she moved away.
The spear was not there, in the clouds, and then it was.
The prince balanced the blade with both hands, as it angled behind his head.
"It is... so beautiful. It is not just the spear... it is a dance, it is incense..."
"It is so intricate, Kanti. So different than mere weaponsmanship."
"How did you even learn how to fight like that?"
Kanti: "I was taught well, my prince."
She says, with bow, and then she is flowing towards him once more, moving to a different beat, spear spinning and twisting, gently probing.
"I have danced with a Crimson Shieldbearer in the eternal dawn to the East of Yu-Shan."
She changes the dance then subtly, no longer striking with her spear, spinning instead in a proccession of wheeling kicks, each one perfectly timed.
"I have sparred with the Goddess of Dance in one of the great halls of Serenity."
The spear fades once more to a cloud of incense, visible only in the the larger cloud that surrouds her, letting punches fall towards her prince.
"I have read the scriptures of the Saint in the Temple Atop The Verdant Mountain, and I have understood them."
She stops, suddenly, the spear flowing back into her hands as the incense cloud clears somewhat.
"I fight as I do because I can do no less, my prince. No more and no less."
Alexander: She comes... and his mind tries to conjure the images.
A Crimson Shieldbearer in Heaven. A Godess of Dance. Could even a godess dance better than her?
But he had little time for imagination as she came, as an onslaught of incense and heat. The kicks, and then the punches... driving him, back, and all he could do was defend, stepping back every time under such a flurry, until he had his back to a tree... having lost so much ground.
His wings beat him off the ground, then, and he falls on the branches of the great mango tree, looking to the Fire Aspect below, in the clearing cloud of incense. "You can always do more, Kanti. Always. You are grand... but we can always do more."
And we have to.
Kanti: "My prince, you misunderstand."
She says with a bow and then a leap, landing in the branches of the tree, dancing fast enough that the limbs do not burn as she twists through them.
"All I can ever do is my best."
"No more, my prince, and no less."
"That is all I have ever done."
Alexander: He could see through it now. Through the incense, through the fire, and to her. It was already fading... it was the blade. If he focused on the blade, on the edge and nothing else, filled it with his light... the light would pierce any illusion on his way. Yes, indeed, it was the blade. The prince inhaled, and danced around Kanti, behind the tree... "I see... and you have, Kanti. You are always the best. One of the best. Always." Comes his voice, from behind the tree, where she does not see... And all I can do is try to be like you. We are so much alike, Kanti... even with the world of difference between us. I wonder if you know... that I feel as tainted as you do, even with no touch of shadow in me.
... and then to the other side, hiding his movements behind the tree before he came around to strike at her!
"And I am your master. I have to do just as well."
I have to. I have to be worthy of all of you.
Kanti: Still the dragons do their best to protect her, wheeling her with a sudden kick that trailed smoke behind it, attempting the push the blade away, long honed instinct already pushing her away from the tree in a run that makes her flicker like fire, in an attempt to evade the cut.
It's too fast though, Kanti not expecting the way Alexander just ignored the distracting scent of the incense and the confusing swirls of the smoke. The blade caught her and lifted her, sending her flying backwards towards the trees.
"Well done, my prince." she exhaled in a whisper as she steadied herself
Alexander: He moves to keep pace with her, trying, trying...
Her compliment, for some reason, filled him with... fire. With warmth. With pride.
For she was not his servant now, but the mighty garda bird. She who destroyed all the dead...
And that warmed him. That made him move faster... and wish to end this!
Sunset Lament flashed between the trees, breaking a branch and sending a shower of leaves towards Kanti... all gathering around her grip on the spear, making it pain... and then, Alexander touched the spear with the curved blade... and with a sharp movement, sent the spear spiraling below, moving to cut Kanti's movements... so she couldn't jump down for it!
"A warrior without its weapon. Yield, my lady."
He flashes a smug smile. In his mind, there is a little Alex dancing.
I did it!!!
Kanti: yield.
Alex can see the instinct to obey him ripple through her frame before it is supressed.
"My prince, while I can think of few times when I would not yield to you, this is one of them." She adopts the tenth posture of the saint, the saint atop the mountain, and then she dances down the tree branch towards him, legs sweeping out from the complex dance. forcing him off balance.
"Saints do not always have weapons to fight with, my prince, and my hands are the match of your sword." And as he considered that, she caught him with her foot, a touch of alabaster essence sending him flying upwards.
She leaps after and catches him, twining her limbs with her, a sharp twist freeing the sword from his hand. And then he hit the grass, Kanti atop him, still gripping him.
"And now you too are without your weapon."
To puntuate her statement, his sword plunges blade first into the garden a few yards away.
Alexander: So beautiful.
And then, he was shot up with a single touch of her feet.
Caught in the air like the master catches a bird in mid-flight, held like a lover, he fell, then... up and then down, so hard, his wings almost snapping, wind knocked out of him, seeing black for a moment before a black-starred vision returned to him, his back and wings hurting so much... and she was above him. Glorious. Beautiful. Powerful. Graceful. Victorious. "I yield." He can only say, softly....
"I have to keep this in mind... I am too used to fighting swordmistresses..."
Kanti: "This is why the Lady Valencia said it would be good for you, my Prince." She says softly, and then slowly uncoiled her limbs from the ways they were twisting his own.
"Do you wish for me to look at your bruises, my prince?"
Alexander: He lies sprawled on the ground, arms limp to either side of his' as she lets them go, breath coming ragged.... that had hurt. He had tried to disentangle himself... but there was no way. He was stronger than her, and he called upon all of his strength... but she had technique unmatched. He had no change of breaking free as long as she held him. He had to remember this. He could not let one like Kanti, barehanded, get through his defense... he simply could not.
Even without a weapon in hand, she was deadly. Maybe just as deadly, only differently.
He looked up at his servant, "Oh hell yes. Please, Kanti..."
Kanti: Kanti looked apologetic then, as she picked herself up from on top of him and helped him roll over and then undid the laces on the back of his shirt, pushing the fabric up and looking decidedly guilty as she worked her essence into the wounds, taking some of his pain away.
Alexander: Alex looks back... seeing how she looks so guilty... and frowning.
"Kanti... you won. You beat me. You should be happy."
"You did nothing but what I asked of you. Thank you!"
Do not be sad... I do not want to ruin things for you too, to taint our happyness too...
We should be happy. This is why we fight. To bring happyness back.
- - Back to Eighth Movement
- - Back to A Dance of Angels
