A Simple Darkness (The Young Ancients: Tiera) (28 page)

"You think you're calling my bluff, is that it? That as an Instructor I'll be fired for doing something with Count Lairdgren's granddaughter?" He stepped back though, instead of forward.

Tiera tried to think of even one person that would insist on that, considering it was against The Rules. She came up empty. Karen would have probably
ordered
it done, just for practice and Ali would have offered to join in. The King wouldn't care at all, and while the Headmaster might have a problem with it, given her earlier issues at the school, it could probably legitimately be referred to as simple instruction. Honestly, it could be
anyway
, given her lack of knowledge on the topic.

 "Not really. I think it's probably safe enough, so, what do I do? I'm almost certain you should be closer..." She crawled to him, a bit awkwardly. The stone floor was hard under her knees, but she didn't complain. It was just a mild discomfort.

Frustratingly enough he took another step back, looking suspicious.

"
Fine
. I want you to sing the female portion of 'Fly With Me' for the class tomorrow. But let this be a lesson to you. Don't miss my class in the future."

She blinked, getting that nothing was going to happen then. Standing up she moved even closer to him. He wasn't great looking, but not ancient or anything and while she had no experience, the idea didn't scare her. Not a lot really did. For a moment she wondered if that were tied into the anger she felt most of the time. It didn't come now however. She simply felt relieved. That was a song she'd already memorized after all. She'd have to practice it of course, but that was to be expected.

"Well, alright. I wasn't lying about not knowing what to do, but if you ever want to tell me, I'm willing." She tried to look flirtatious, but was almost certain the man thought she was teasing him.

Karen was still there when she got in at least and sat with her, eating in their room while she recounted the experience. There was a cluck of the tongue, but no specific explanation of what she needed to improve. When she asked, her roommate chuckled.

"On this one it isn't
you
at all. He might get away with something like that on occasion, I mean it does happen, never to me, but some of the cuter girls get good grades awfully easily from some Instructors. I hear it really isn't bad here at Lairdgren, but Crane shouldn't have made the offer if he didn't mean it. That was actually a bit rude of him." Holding up her hand to stall for time, she ate some dried pear. "Not that it wasn't stupid going after you. Conserina Lairdgren,
in
Lairdgren County... Well, you did the right thing, he can't fault you there. We need to find you someone to practice with. It makes things more fun, no matter what your friends try to tell you, knowing what you actually should be doing first. Isn't Alphonse supposed to be coming in for that?" There was a slightly wicked grin and a glint to her eye.

"Don't tease, but... yes. I guess no messages have been needed sent yet? That or I was out of touch when they were."

Karen didn't know, but didn't seem worried about it. She did have something to do, she said, and left without explaining it to her, meaning that she was left to run to the evening meditation class. It was smaller than the rest and the instruction came from a peaceful looking older woman, that was named Doris. She just asked for Tiera to clear her mind and keep trying to do it, with her eyes slightly open.

It was a lot harder than it sounded like. After about half an hour they switched to thinking of nothing with their eyes closed, which was easier, but still didn't really work. The best she could manage was making the internal noise go down by about half.

The woman nodded when she reported it.

"And tomorrow half that, and so on. Never to true emptiness, but ever closer."

Then the woman suggested she go to her room and contemplate what she'd learned. It seemed silly, but as she walked she thought she understood. By focusing on nothing, which was what she'd been learning about, her mind cleared for a bit. Then by remembering that feeling she could find much greater silence and so on. It wasn't perfect, but it was a start.

She wondered if the same was true of learning to turn off shields? If she could do that, capture what it was like and make it stronger, would that help? Karen wasn't back, to test on a living person actively resisting her, but after she practiced her song and reviewed her math she decided that sleep would have to do for the time being. The world was filled with ideas, but she didn't have to do them all instantly, did she?

A second after her eyes shut a soft knock came at her door. She was at it before she realized that she'd moved, slapping her shield. When she opened the door it was Reggie. A crying and brightly orange eyed Regina, who tried to hug her instantly. It took a bit to navigate the whole thing, since the girl tried to hug her instantly, sobbing and not able to say anything, that meant she hit a force that wouldn't let her through at all. Tiera pulled her into the room, ready to fight if she had to, not knowing who'd hurt her friend, but getting that someone had.

It turned out that someone, was her.

"I... miss you so much. I'd just hoped that we'd have more time together, and you haven't been to see me at all." The girl tried to laugh, but it turned to tears again after just a few seconds. "We only did anything together the one time. Was I bad? Or... unpleasant somehow?" She sniffed, which didn't sound too congested at least. Tiera didn't cry often herself anymore, but when she was younger her nose would run horribly when it happened. It was gross.

At first she was a little baffled, but then she covered, understanding that, as strange as it seemed, her friend was still worried about her, and had maybe even missed her.

"Oh, love, don't be silly! I was just busy and didn't have time in my schedule yet. The Dean added a class for me. Meditation. I think I like it so far, but it takes up the time after dinner. Only an hour, but I figured that you'd be in bed already, so I didn't want to wake you." Or, more truthfully, she hadn't thought about it at all. To cover that she kissed the girl, still working out exactly what to do. Then smiling, she mentioned the thing with Instructor Crane, to explain why she hadn't stopped by before meal time. The other girl seemed amused by it, rather than mortified.

"Oh... That's, rather sad, isn't it? I mean you were there and willing and he stopped himself? He should have at least named some noble reason. Are you going to try for him again? Maybe he was just having
problems
? I have to admit, I'm a little jealous, but it isn't like he's a lover or anything, so I guess that's alright. Really though it was probably that he realized that you'd actually do it that spoiled it for him. Some men like to feel like they're in charge of the whole thing and making you perform. You can only ask, I suppose."

Tiera liked Regina a lot, and she realized, it was at least a little more than that. After all, she should have felt awkward and like she wanted to get rid of the other girl, instead of like taking her to bed, but she didn't. Not at all. It amazed her to no end, but there it was. She was falling in love.

It nearly overwhelmed her for a moment, and she started kissing the girl harder, working down her neck, feeling like she couldn't control herself at all. That had never happened to her before, not like this. In a fight, or when she took off the Count's arms and legs, but this was different, she felt just as driven, but she wasn't lashing out. Though soon enough her tongue was. That happened quickly and after a bit the other girl moved so that she could take a turn. For some reason she kept expecting Karen to come back, but it didn't happen. Afterword they held each other, pressing close, lying in the dim light of the glow plate.

Getting up slowly the girl tapped her chest, making the single amulet there cause new clothing to pop into place, which looked like tan silk clothing. It wasn't what she wore to school herself, but a lot of the wealthier kids did that. Tiera dressed like the poor kids, and most of the fighters. They might wear fighting leathers, but in the main they kept their clothing choices humble and functional. No one had told her to directly, but she'd always done that. She'd come to school wanting to make friends, but she'd known not to try and be too flashy. People that were attracted to that kind of thing weren't the ones she was interested in.

The silks did look nice on Regina though, especially across the back, as she walked away. Hopping up she got her own, much plainer, clothing on and walked the girl to the door. Standing with it open, in the cool fall air, Reggie kissed her again.

"I think I've always loved you. Is that insane? I
feel
like it's true, even though it can't be. We just met really. Does that make any sense? You don't have to say anything, but, I wanted you to know that. I love you." She sounded shy and darling then, so much so that Tiera felt like she was about to burst and nearly pulled her back inside.

"I love you too. So much." They kissed for a while, and then, without another word, her friend jogged away, headed toward their old room.

Tiera felt flushed and warm inside, though a bit of worry trickled into her stomach as she settled into bed, still alone. Had she said the wrong thing somehow? It was what she felt, at least she was pretty sure of it, but now that the other girl was gone the feeling started to fade. She still liked her, because, who wouldn't? She was smart and funny, very cute and kind all the time. A little jealous, but that wasn't a horrible thing, it just meant that she liked her, right? Even at that, it wasn't like it would have been back home. Reggie was willing to let her do things with other people, for fun, or to keep the social contract. She just wanted to be loved.

Didn't everyone?

Sleep didn't come for a long time then, and when she
did
get up, feeling a little fuzzy headed and more than a bit off. Karen
still
wasn't back. That was fine, since she was an adult and didn't answer to her, but it seemed a little off. There'd been no warning that she wasn't planning to come back the day before. Tiera hadn't given her any warning when she'd taken off either though, so maybe it was a lesson? She didn't feel too worried yet. Hopefully Karen would have told her if there was a war she was going into. Tiera would have helped. Gotten some snacks ready or something useful like that.

The morning was a little different since Havar was gone too, which left the whole thing feeling just a tiny bit out of place. The man was kind of her lucky charm in the practice yard after all. She did manage to get Davie to work with her, and after half an hour of him beating her fairly hardily in unarmed combat, which showed her that Havar obviously loved her dearly and was holding back just to be kind, she was sure, he waved to another boy. This one had lighter hair and practice armor on and walked over to them looking a bit like someone had kicked his puppy.

It wasn't her, she loved dogs.

"Jerral! This is Tiera Baker. Conserina five, Lairdgren. Tiera, this lunk is my little brother, Jerral Derring, Countier third, Derring. Since no one is watching, I was thinking you two could have a sword bout. Full force, but with blunted weapons. No blows to the head." Laughing he tossed them both blades from the table and started chuckling. "
Go
!"

It didn't take long, because after a dozen, very poorly aimed hits to the legs, one Jerral Derring dropped his practice weapon and surrendered. He hid behind his hands , smiling just a bit.

"Mercy!" He hadn't even tried to really hit her, which was probably due to her being smaller than he was. A good bit. Some of the others were like that too, but it made it harder to learn, if they weren't going to take her seriously.

On the good side Davie seemed to think so too.

"Jerral, you
have
to get past that. Go ahead and actually try to hit her back. She's tougher than you are, and not just a little, but you have skill on your side. Reach too. For now. Forget that she looks like a little girl and do
something
. Otherwise you're going to be helpless in the face of half the human race and they
will
kick your butt."

 It took a bit for her to get the idea, but Jerral just couldn't hit
women
, so it wasn't about her being tiny at all. That was a bit stupid of him, but she kind of got the idea. Men weren't supposed to hit girls, not in general. She couldn't help him though, because he couldn't see past that and would give up, even if it made him look bad in front of the others. Or would just take whatever was dished out instead. Davie wanted him to try and work on it, but the boy just couldn't make himself, for some reason. Since about forty percent of the good fighters in the world were women, that was a massive handicap. The kind of thing that made it so he basically just couldn't keep on as a fighter at all, if that didn't change.

After they tried again three times, the same thing happening in each bout, Davie just stopped and shook his head.

"This isn't working. I... Honestly, I don't know what to do. I know that I have to do it, I just... can't."

The voice that came from the side had an answer. It wasn't a great one, as far as Tiera was concerned, but it did seem like it might get Jerral's attention.

It was Judy, who stood dressed in light cream colored padded fighting armor of her own. It was what people wore when practicing with a blade, since unlike a club, those could really hurt you. Even the dull ones. Or, Tiera reflected, sticks hurt too, but not as much, or as fast.