* * *
Most of the grown-ups were in the fields, tending to the crops, as usual. Shanvi, on the other hand, was getting ready for the brunch rush hour. When he got the tables in order, he sat down to take a breather. Since he spent most of his time indoors now, he had put on a little weight and his body wasn’t used to the extra load.
He patted his belly and felt softness where his well-defined abs used to be. Disgusting. He went outside so he could jog before the crowds showed up. A few of the people who had the day off greeted him as he trotted along. The master smiled as he felt the suns’ gentle heat warm his face, already knowing that today was going to be a good one.
Shanvi made it to the end of the village two minutes later. He was surprised at how out of breath he was. It was embarrassing. Since no one was in sight, the master sat against a tree, given that the end of the village led to the plains and forest. He pulled a cloth out of his robe’s pocket and patted his forehead.
He listened to the outside noise and noted how livelier than usual the animals in the forest were. He smiled at the tune the silas chirped and closed his eyes so he could focus on that particular sound. And just as he got comfortable, the silas’ singing turned into squawking. The master sat up and tuned his ears in to see if there was some sort of beast in the area.
Shanvi swore when he heard two Little Ones fighting and getting closer. He got up, stretched, and leapt two stories into the air, bouncing off one branch and launching himself even farther.
“Enough!” he hollered, switching his eyes to infrared and seeing Catty and Aly’s forms in the distance as they approached.
“Master Shanvi, help!” Catty cried as she fled.
Before he could react, the two Little Ones zipped right by him. Shanvi swore again as he spun around and chased after them, trying to match every leap and dive. The mastras’ speed was astonishing. Shanvi felt like he was trying to catch up to Young Ones, or maybe even Mature Ages. If he was on the sparring ground, he would’ve watched the two perform their acrobatics in the trees with admiration, but the master’s paternal instincts were going into overload at the given moment instead.
“Aly! Do my words not beckon? I shall not repeat myself.”
Aly kept on Catty’s track in spite of her father’s hollers. She reached out and caught one of Catty’s tents, making the mastra yelp and shift over to the right.
“Oh, nay,” Shanvi said, knowing what was going to happen next.
Catty had a clear view of the village and the nearest hut. Without thinking, she jumped out of the trees and aimed for one of the many roofs made of clay and hay. She crashed through the top like a boulder, breaking a table and knocking over bowls as she fell and tumbled onto the floor. Aly landed right on top of her, booted Catty right off the wooden surface, and spun-kicked her out of the hut’s back door.
“Alytchai!” Shanvi landed inside.
Aly ran after the downed Catty. The mastra coughed and grabbed her side again, running into the streets. She tried to jump onto another roof, but the pain in her ribs held her down. She climbed up instead, with Aly trying to pull her back down upon grabbing her ankles.
Shanvi yanked the mastra’s arms, and before he knew it, Aly used his own weight against him, flipping him over her own body. He hit the back of his head on the hard gravel and groaned. His Little One finally stopped as she covered her mouth.
“Pappai?” Aly knelt beside him.
Shanvi was still holding his head as he rolled from side to side.
“This be all your fault!” Aly shouted at Catty as she leapt after her.
The mastra got a ball of energy to the chest the second her foot touched the top of a hut. The shot from Catty wasn’t lethal, but it still knocked the Little One on her back. Not caring about the pain in her sternums and blinded by anger, Aly sat back up and charged. Catty swept-kicked her right off the roof.
People came out of their homes to see what the commotion was, and some of them hurried over to intervene when they saw Aly and Shanvi on the ground. However the Little One got up as fast as she could and hobbled after Catty.
“Stay away from me!” Catty cried as she hopped off the hut and landed on the ground. She took two strong strides before going to all fours and taking off.
“Aly,” a grown-up said as he grabbed her. “What nonsense is this? Why are you two not at school?”
The Little One wiggled out of the master’s grip before dashing off on all fours as well. She and Catty crashed into laundry, pots, and anything in sight as they ran through the village. And just when Catty thought she had enough time to turn and apologize for breaking another woven basket, she shot back around and ran even harder since Aly was catching up.
“Mammai, Pappai!” Catty cried as she got closer to her parents’ fields.
When two nearby workers looked up to see what was going on, they saw Catty hop out of the high grass for a glimpse before Aly took her down like a wild predator. The grown-ups were too startled to even intervene. The sounds of Goolian hisses and fists and feet striking flesh broke the calmness in the area. When everything got quiet, the elder Goolians crept in to see if the two were still alive. They took a single step, and then their spines told them to duck.
A yellow ball of energy shot Aly out of the grass and sent her four meters into the sky before she plummeted back down.
“Get the lord, quickly!” one of the workers told the other.
Aly’s body was smoking as she coughed and sat up. The onlooker rushed over and set his bag down beside her.
“You are well, yes?” was the only logical thing he could think of asking.
Aly didn’t answer as she eyed the sack of wheat placed at her side. It had a long wooden handle tied around the top.
Catty’s heartbeat raced like a Goolian drummer’s hands beating to a lively song. Still, she felt safe now that Aly was down and a grown-up looked like he actually had a hand on the situation. She walked up to the master, figuring she’d have to practice her explanation to someone before giving it to her parents, but she paused when her spine tingled again.
Cattalice the Elder dropped some bowls she was helping some servants clean when she heard her child scream. Not even caring why she wasn’t at school, the mastra leapt over the banister of her top floor, and ran outside.
“Quongun...” she managed to say as her mate bumped into her from the other direction.
Quongun didn’t say anything. He just ran.
“Aly!” The only other worker in the area grabbed her by the shoulder. “Truth’s Grace, dear one! What have you––”
Pain
Aly spun around and swung the same handle she dislocated Catty’s knee with against the Adult’s head. It broke against his skull and the master dropped to the ground, not budging. Catty scrambled to her feet and tried to run again. She fell the second she put weight onto the leg Aly hit, and cried even more when bolts of pain shot all the way up her leg.
Aly picked up half of the handle she had broken as Catty scuttled back on her hands. She waited for the other mastra to get up a second time, and raised the stick over her head.
“Aly – I beg, wait...”
She blocked the blow with her forearm and grunted. Not even knowing if Aly just broke a bone or not, her entire body shivered. Aly, with eyes getting darker, strolled up to her and grinned.
“You enjoy this?” Catty got up and hobbled on one leg. “Truly, what be your––”
Aly jabbed the blunt end of the stick into the mastra’s injured side. Catty gasped, feeling as if someone just threw a boulder at her ribs. She leaned over onto Aly’s shoulder, only for the other mastra to push her off.
Pain
Aly picked up the other half of the handle and went to beating Catty’s body like a drum. The jaw, the chin, the arm, the leg – any part that was vulnerable was struck as her target curled into a tiny ball. Ten seconds later, both sticks broke again and Catty was as still as the unconscious worker lying behind h
er. Aly tossed the remaining parts of the handles away and picked the tiny Goolian up by her top.
Catty coughed blue out of the corner of her mouth. Both eyes were swollen. Her breathing was more like wheezing, and she couldn’t think of a part of her body that didn’t scream in anguish. She forced one eye open and the only thing she saw was blackness as she looked into Aly’s eyes.
“Forgive,” she managed to say through her swollen mouth and tears. “Truly, forgive.”
Aly raised her hand into a fist and pulled back as hard as she could. She held the form for all its worth, soaking in the one moment where she was finally the stronger. And then, just when Catty took her eyes off her face and looked at the wrath that came in the form of a fist, Aly rammed it as deep into her right eye as possible.
Catty’s pupils rolled into the back of her head as Aly dropped her, letting the body slump onto the ground. The black-eyed Goolian knelt down and rolled the unconscious Little One over to see if she was still breathing. When she was, Aly raised her same hand and struck Catty’s face, just as she had as before.
She felt and heard her knuckles and wrist crack with that blow, but her mind was slipping too much to acknowledge the discomfort. Ten blows in, and the body was exhausted. The hand was swelling, but still, the Goolian went on. A blow. Another blow. And another blow. And when the fabric of the mind was about to slip into complete abyss, Aly, eyes as black as death, raised her hand and an eerie glow formed around it.
The markings on Catty’s face got brighter as the final fabrics of her being went into overdrive just to keep her alive. They wouldn’t be able to work hard enough as Aly lifted her charged hand, still growing dark with the horrid aura, and swung.
Quongun tackled the Little One, her fist centimeters away from shoving Catty’s nose into her skull. The final remnants of her mind heard Cattalice scream when she saw her Little One stretched out across the grass, her body blue and black, blood and drool running out the corner of her mouth. Aly’s mind went completely blank as Cattalice fell onto her knees and kept hollering Catty’s name, her child not answering.
“Over here!” Teacher shouted as he rushed across the field.
He and Shanvi pressed the grass away as other workers arrived. Shanvi, still holding his head with one hand, knelt down on Catty’s right and tried calming Cattalice down by making her look at him. Still, the mastra just kept screaming as her child’s swollen head lay in her lap.
“Be of peace, Mistress!” Shanvi demanded as he shook Cattalice by the shoulders. “Your cries do none of us any good. I beg, I need to direct my thoughts.”
“Take her.” Quongun shoved Aly over to one of the workers. He crawled to Catty and rubbed her head.
Aly, whose eyes were still black, just stared. At what, no one could tell. Even the grown-ups trembled when they gazed at her. So dark. Her eyes were so dark, and she didn’t even blink.
“Enough, fools.” Shanvi motioned the building crowd of onlookers back. “She needs air.”
“Shall I commence, Master Shanvi?” Teacher knelt down on Catty’s other side. “I feel I shall be able to manage.”
“Then do so, lad. This is now your proper calling, not mine. If you are to become too drained, then I shall finish, if you need me to do so.”
Teacher nodded as he placed his hands on Catty’s cheeks. He closed his eyes, took in steady breaths, and concentrated. And, as Teacher’s hands started to glow a bright blue, he was able to direct Catty’s being circulation to the most vital areas with his own energy. He pushed, and breathed, repeating the pattern.
Teacher rolled over to his side and almost blacked out when he had pushed for twenty long seconds. Shanvi sat him up and patted him on the back.
“You have done well.”
Still too tired to say anything, Teacher just smiled and leaned over. Catty’s markings on her face faded as her breathing eased.
The bruises and swelling on her body were still there, but Cattalice sighed and buried her face into her child’s chest. “My thanks. By Truth’s Grace, my thanks.”
Quongun picked Catty up and headed back to the house. Shanvi was about to follow, but stopped.
“Quongun. Dearest lad…I know not what to say.”
The other master paused, not bothering to turn around. “Truly. Perhaps you know not what to say since there be nothing worth saying, Teacher. You have as much fault in this as Aly does, which is none. If there be need of an apology, then perhaps it should come from us and the rest of the village for not accepting one that be a little...different. We have brought this amongst ourselves.”
Cattalice got back to her feet as Quongun left. Before she followed after him, however, she glanced over at Aly, who still stared off into space. She looked at Shanvi, and then left.
When they were out of sight, Shanvi sat down in front of Aly. Teacher crawled over to him and studied the Little One’s face. Shanvi rubbed his mouth before snapping his fingers twice in front of the mastra’s face. Aly didn’t respond and just kept staring.
“Dearest, you can hear me, yes?” Still no response.
Teacher scooted over to the two. “Surely this one must know how to bring her out of this blind state, yes?”
“I do not. One studies very little in regards to these sorts of...creatures, given how rare they be. Yet I feel she shall awaken in her own time. I shall take her back home and monitor her there.”
“You are sure of this, yes? I know you must hate having to accept this, Master, yet we cannot be as passive with her as we once were. For three years have we tried to discount the signs, and thus they have come to us at full force with a horrid reminder as of this day. Alytchai is a Sungstra, Teacher.”
“I know!” Shanvi slammed his fist against the ground. He was about to say something coarse, but covered his mouth. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, calming himself.
Teacher didn’t say anything else while he took his time getting up.
Shanvi caressed his Little One’s face, and frowned when Aly didn’t respond, her mind still trying to find its way back to reality.
“My poor Alytchai. By Truth’s Grace, give me strength.”
* * *