Looking around himself, Santara climbs up onto all four of his bear’s legs, sneering at the sight of so many villagers returning to the plaza.

The cheering spreads like wildfire. Snarling at the crowd in response, his expression contemptuous, Santara charges at his opponent, Ela, but she doesn’t just sit in one place. Time after time, he charges through the space she once occupied and continues to take small, but powerful kicks to his head as Ela prances around the square. The cheering increases in volume each time she scores a hit.

Standing before the café’s front door in the plaza, Bryant stands witness, grinning. To his side, Brenna and Saria watch anxiously, wearing casual clothing for a change.

“Keep that up! Do it, my girl!” Bryant hollers at Ela, cheering for her as she continues to lead Santara in her merry chase around the space.

I grin broadly, nodding in agreement with Brendt’s shouted advice. Good girl. Keep him guessing. Tire him out… but take care — don’t make any mistakes.

The crowd mills and jostles as everyone inches inward, making their fighting arena smaller by the moment.

Now what will Santara do to counter Ela’s range and speed? I cross my arms and smile.

Seemingly defeated, Santara stops in the center of the circular space left to them. He morphs and shifts form to the red-maned man, wearing a grin from the moment his face shifts from ursine to human. 

“Such cowardly tactics aren’t becoming of the ‘future’ chief of our — MY people, Delara,” he loudly declares. “You’ll have to come to me if you want to take another shot at me.” He rubs his bruised chin face as he crosses his arms.

It seems that Ela’s kicks did a fair amount of damage to Santara… but how much?

Ela continues to trot around the arena and some bolder villagers reach out as she passes to touch their champion.

Seems she has him stymied. She could just keep this up, staying out of his reach. Despite thinking that that might be a good idea, I frown. How long is this going to be drawn out? How long before he called to his people to attack if she tried that?

With a leisurely trotting pace, Ela keeps moving, *CLIP CLOP*.

She looks like could trot all day long as she is. Does she get that we don’t have that kind of time?

 Knowing from our galloping from the north, even aware of the fact that Vayne refreshed her with one of his magick cantrip, I know how much endurance she has.

Villagers all around begin exclaiming loudly, venting their rising discontent. Even in a moment like this, people are after entertainment. Don’t they get that their fates might ride on Ela’s shoulders? The most crude of these types start complaining bitterly. 

One of Santara’s eyebrows lifts as he regards the crowd around and grins, nodding.

“Don’t be so stupid! Santara wants her to rush in and make a mistake!” I yell loudly, my anger at their behavior overriding my desire to maintain the villager’s goodwill towards me. Shit… fucking morons…

The jeers and yells of these fools that seem to have forgotten why we’re here drown out mine. The ones close enough to have heard me look at me speculatively, a few shoot me a glare. I return their glares in spades, showing my ire to all who decry Ela’s strategy. I wish I could take a moment to thrash them, but doing so would cause more problems long term. Clutching at my forehead with my right hand’s fingers, I groan.

As she senses my glowering and frustration along with everyone else’s, Ela finally comes to a stop, flashing into her lithe girl’s form, her bow in her hand and right away, she fires a series of arrows directly at Santara’s face instead of from behind him.

Unphased, he grins broadly and assuming a stance, he swats her arrows from the air with his palms, one after the other.

With a scowl, Ela fires another volley of four shots, end to end and all at the exact same spot. Same as before, Santara smashes them all to pieces, splintering them faster than a bear could move. He does it all in his man’s form.

KRACK! KRACKLE! KRACK… KRACK!

One by one, Ela’s arrows are swatted from the air, rendered effectless. Santara laughs loudly when Ela sags, lowering her bow. “That all you’ve got, Delara? Ahahaha! It seems that my training paid off. You can’t touch me, no matter what you do. I’ve let the people fire arrows at me for many years ever since you were exiled — whether they felt discontent with my leadership or to give me sport. Either way, here we are, Delara. I’ve learned this just in case you somehow found the guts to challenge me for leadership. Heh…” He paces  and smirks. “But as expected, going against me, your chances are utterly hopeless.”

Ela chews her lip in response, deep in thought about his words, doubting herself a little. “We’ll see at the end of our duel Santara. It’s not over yet.”

Santara’s eyes draw together as he laughs and as he stops moving, he stands firmly like an insurmountable wall. “Very well. Keep trying, if you must. We still have some time to waste.” Santara crosses his arms again, ignoring the long wound that I opened on his arm.

Upon examination of it, I note that by now it’s stopped bleeding. Only the pain inflicted will help at this point. “I’ll tell you what, go ahead and fire all your arrows at me. Use them all. Not a single one will reach me. Charge me in your beast form if you wish. Nothing that you do at range or up close will move me from here.” He points at his feet.

I frown, my heart skipping a beat. Now this is about whether Ela can move Santara from his position? What can she do?

Ela shifts her form again and now gallops around the arena. Santara doesn’t bother turning his body to track her, only standing ready for whatever she has in mind. He turns his head just enough to keep an eye on her, but otherwise continues to conserve his energy.

Shit… it’s hopeless. Is there nothing that I can do to help her? Leaning down, I lift what’s left of my sword off the ground, rubbing dirt off it, rendered to just a jagged broken blade and its rusty hilt.

Considering throwing it at Santara’s head while he’s turned away, I sigh, stopping myself.

This is a duel, Haku. My head shakes as my lips twist. There’s no way that Ela would be okay with me stepping in, even though she did the same. The fact is, it’s different. This is HER fight. So what, if I was to intercede, what should I do? Closing my eyes, my teeth clench. Taking action could mean destroying my reputation with the villagers, even though saving Ela… Even though they would understand that I’d done it for their sakes and Ela’s, they would remember my actions. I would be branded. I’d be nothing better in their eyes than a second Vayne Windblade, a scourge to condemn.

Dropping my broken sword to the ground, I consign myself to watching with a pained expression.

Ela stops her galloping. Now he has a smug smile on his face, assured of his own victory. Why?

Ohhh… now he’s not even bothering. Santara’s eyes close. Wait… Is he giving her a free shot after saying nothing would hit him? I highly doubt that he’ll take a blow just like that. Does he think so little of her that he can close his eyes? Or… is he mocking her to try to taunt her to attack him? Shit… I blink, hearing something that shocks me out of my thoughts.

Ela poofs again and turns into a horse form and runs at Santara at a perceived gap in his defense. Wait a minute… didn’t I hear something a few moments ago? Was it…?

With a loud laugh, Santara’s eyes spring open and spreads his arms like a pankrationist, seizing Ela’s charging bulk, throwing her in a blink over his head onto her back with shattering force. Dust explodes around them.

“Hahaha!” Santara chortles in delight. “As expected you’ve lost your cool and actually charged me. When it comes to it, that’s all you really are, Delara. A mindless creature.” Santara sits up, flexing his shoulder muscles, looking mighty. Suddenly two objects land on his shoulders, embedding deeply on either side, blood splashing from the punctures.

Santara yells loudly, looking around angrily.

“Wh… where?” He snarls, glaring at the onlooking villagers, enraged and suspicious. “Ah… As expected, you humans have no honor! This is enough ‘sport’! Come,” his voice rises in volume to a roar. “MY PEOPLE…!” 

At the moment another couple of arrows fall from the sky. Turning my eyes incredulously towards Ela, I see that meanwhile she’d shifted to a girl’s form, her fingers on her bowstring. She winces with a trickle of blood leaking from her hairline down her cheek. Despite the pain she appears to be in and her legs shaking, she winks at me.

That’s what I heard! It was her bowstring…! I blink in astonishment. She was so fast and while we were all distracted, she acted!

“Don’t get so carried away pointing fingers, Santara.” Ela says softly. “No human here has fired on you. Just  call these my delayed missiles.” She giggles softly. “You only watch for arrows fired directly at you, don’t you, you boorish Bear? Did no one ever tried to rain arrows down onto you in all your training? Silly carnivore!” Ela teases as another couple of arrows plant themselves into Santara’s back. He staggers and wheels around, roaring, now with four arrows stuck into his body, not counting the two he’d somehow lost that ‘reached’ his posterior while transforming from his bear’s form.

“I WILL DESTROY YOU, YOU BITCH!” Santara’s eyes turn bloodshot, full of his rage as he shifts form, losing his own cool. Watching as he lopes at Ela in a blood rage, his movement and agility are greater than ever as he lumbers forward, showing so much ability that it seems that he’s been conserving energy the whole time!

Ela wipes the blood from her cheek and her forehead crinkles in dismay and she fires another arrow. Clumsily she throws herself to one side, but too late.

What! Why? Why didn’t you transform! You’re nowhere near fast enough in your human form! I lurch forward into the arena, realizing something is wrong. I watch helplessly as she’s bowled over as Santara mauls her.

“NOOOOOOO!” I yell, charging forward into the arena. Gathering magick energy within me, I focus hard on lightning. Closing my eyes I feel my skin tingle as I tap that source of energy that connects the human consciousness to the nexus of the unconscious. Extending an arm as I dart forward with tears running from my eyes down my cheeks, I’m suddenly blown off my feet backwards. Slamming against the nearest building, I slump, my eyes blurry. My ears ring, deafening the voices of all the villagers calling out, screaming, shouting, calling for Santara’s death.

My heart beats, the sound filling my ears and I breathe heavily as I sit up, shaking my head, uncertain of what hit me. Santara wasn’t even looking my way, so what happened?

Wiping my eyes, they clear enough that I’m able to see a cloaked form standing over Santara’s body. His cloak billows in the air and his blade is sunk all the way through the red maned beastman’s bulky bear’s form. The crowd stares in shock and many of them start cheering wildly. I can see their mouths moving, but hear very little of their shouts.

W… what… Vayne Windblade… why did you…?

Wrenching his blade free from Santara’s body, he shifts form to his man’s form and turns over, coughing and choking as blood runs from his mouth, he gazes upward at his slayer. Vayne stands silently over him, unmoving. His lips smile faintly.

Pushing myself to my feet, I charge ahead and yell, “Vayne! What are you doing? This was Ela’s duel! Why did you suddenly just…?”

“Ohhh…” Vayne turns to look at me with a ridiculing laugh. “So, you wanted your little friend to die, did ya?”

Coming to a stop beside Ela’s motionless body, falling to my knees in the grass, I say while Vayne grins mockingly at me, “No… I didn’t want… Ela… are you…?” I pull her into my arms. Ela pants, clutching a wound in her side as she stirs. Her horse’s ears twitch.

“Ela… noooo!” I yell.

“What should it mean to me that these two agreed to fight an ‘honorable duel’ between them?” Vayne asks. “That has nothing to do with me. So what? The threat is ended, is it not? Except for one loose thread.” Vayne steps forward and leans to place his hand on Ela’s forehead, his hand glowing with healing energy.

With a snarl, I slap his arm away. “Don’t touch her, Vayne.”

Vayne’s eyes widen in shock and he chuckles. “So you condemn her to death? For what? Pride?” He shakes his head. “Love touches the mind in such strange ways. Heh… Some even say that it’s a form of insanity. I’m certainly fortunate that I’m immune to such nonsense.”

Shaking my head, I chew my lip, going over everything I felt when I was in Vayne’s body and considering Jak’s lessons, everything he mentioned about it, I reason things out. I focus on healing, knowing where Ela’s injury lies. Pressing my hands against her wound, pushing her hand aside, blood wells out to stain my hands. Energy surrounds my hands, filling my body as I tap my magick energy again, using everything I gathered before being knocked away and then some, knowing that healing is a risky business when untrained, I close my eyes and pray in my mind.

Goddess Alvera, please guide me. Help me heal Ela. Please.

Ela’s eyes start closing as she lay on the grass, pale as I was after being shot in the convenience store. 

She’s going to face the same fate if I did if I don’t act. Please!

Fumbling, I force my energy from my hands into Ela’s wound and let it spread through Ela’s body. My eyes open in a shock as I feel everything going on inside her body. This isn’t healing! Why isn’t it working?!

A word for it comes to mind for what’s happening as my synapses click and I become aware of everything going on in Ela’s body in an odd way.

Remembering that Jak knelt next to Bryant to inspect Asuseni’s healing, calling it ‘delving,’ my eyes widen in realization.

Even though I thought I was aware of where Ela was hurt, I didn’t notice the numerous broken bones she suffers from and internal damage.

Damn it! HEAL IT ALL!

With a loud yell, I let all my energy loose, focusing it, changing its purpose. 

By delving, you discover every step needed in order to heal. Unless your energy is insufficient to the task, by applying your will and focus tremendously, it’s possible to…

Ela’s body begins to glow from head to toes. Vayne’s jaw drops as he stares as my magick energy spreads through Ela’s body, sweeping away the pain, knitting her bones, repairing tissues, restoring nerve connections. Fix it all! Heal it all!

My magick energy flickers and goes out like a candle quenched by a stiff wind.

The crowd around creeps closer, tightening the arena’s space around us now that the fight is over, filling the air with their murmuring and exclamations. Some gasp as the glowing fades from Ela’s body and her eyes shoot open. She gasps, taking a breath for the first time for several minutes. My skin crawls as she climbs up to sit on her side, leaning on an arm. Her eyes gaze deeply into my eyes and her ears twitch before she presses her head against mine, rubbing firmly.

“Hana!”

Pushing his way through the crowd, Jak appears, gazing down at me sternly. He glares. “Did I not tell you that healing is more complex than most any other form of magick? The complexity of it let alone… only those capable of keeping track of the minutiae details are capable of any great form of healing. What makes you think that you…”

“I’m fine.” Ela smiles warmly, turning towards Jak and leaps up to her feet, her tail swishing and ears twitching in excitement. “I think I was dead… and Santara won. I…” Her ears droop as she realizes that she lost. Jak stares at Santara’s deceased body for a long moment and then at me.

“Is that some kind of an insult, old fart?” Vayne sneers. “Blah, blah. You always over dramatize things. I mastered healing even faster than this worthless piece of shite.” He gestures at me.

Turning my head to regard Vayne, I frown.

His healing always felt incomplete. I felt something kind of off about it when he healed my wounds in the bowels of the mountain cavern. It was as though he had no real talent in the area.

I consider calling Vayne down for it, but I can’t judge him when I probably did a worse job. After all, I just learned how to use magick the other day. Once again, I’ve gambled with someone else’s life. This time it wasn’t for the sake of pride or wanting anything for myself. I acted because I knew that if Vayne laid hands on her, Ela would be scarred for life, just like me.

Pressing my fingers to the scar on my neck, thinking about the pocks on my arms, I take a deep breath.

“Let’s have a look, hmmm? The most important thing is that you’re still alive, Ela.” Jak murmurs, touching Ela’s forehead. His hand becomes wreathed in energy.

“Heh… I bet she did a shoddy job of it.” Vayne declares smugly. “The way Santara hit her, there had to be more going on than just the wound in her side. But Hana probably just focused on that, didn’t you, girl?” Vayne smirks.

Looking at Vayne thoughtfully, I say thoughtfully. “What? Shut up. She had broken bones and internal damage too.”

Vayne blinks. “You could tell all that?” He stares at me, pursing his lips. “That true, old fart?” He shoots a look at Jak.

Jak mumbles and laughs softly. “There’s no sign of any injury whatsoever. Ela’s good as new.”

With a sneer, Vayne crosses the small distance between himself and Ela and hauls up her dress, baring her wound to the crowd. “I don’t believe you. Aha! As expected!” He says gleefully.

“Oh?” Jak stares at Ela’s side for a long moment while Ela blushes and glares at Vayne. 

“YOU JERK!” she hauls back and slaps him with all her strength and surprisingly, he staggers backwards.

“What were you expecting? A crudely healed wound?” Jak laughs in delight. “You’re quite wrong.”

Pushing myself to my feet, I turn my eyes to Ela's side, blushing and rushing ahead to pull her skirt down.

“There’s no scar?” Vayne asks, skeptically.

Jak nods. “She has none whatsoever. Too bad you didn’t pay much attention to your own lessons.” He laughs and strokes his beard.

Vayne’s eyes narrow and he seethes, looking at me for a long moment. Looking at my empty scabbard, he barks a harsh laugh. “What happened to your sword? What of our duel? Did you come to surrender?”

I glare at Vayne and point fiercely at the ruined remnants of my rusty sword. Vayne sighs, facepalming. He walks over and kicks dirt over the hilt. “I suppose you broke it here?”

Nodding wryly, I shrug. “What do you want to do now? Slug it out?”

Vayne stares at me with an unreadable expression and shakes his head. “A weak girl like you wants to get into a fist fight with me now after all this?” He guffaws. “Yer truly something else.”

Walking to me, he frowns. “You misheard me, I suppose.”

“What?” I blink.

“I told you that if you impressed me, I wouldn’t stand in your way, didn’t I?” Vayne asks, glaring.

“... you… are?” I say blankly.

“Not in the least, dipshit!” He draws a finger back and flicks my forehead faster than I can follow.

“Then I guess we still have to fight.” I hold my forehead, glaring.

“Naw.” He reaches into his armor and removes a pouch, letting it dangle from his fingertips. “You’ve passed… for now. Ain’t no one in this area c’ept for our old coot master here can heal like you managed.” He snorts. “But don’t celebrate none too soon.” He tosses the pouch at me and I catch it, stunned.

Above there are loud cries and screeches. Everyone stares up into the skies as they all notice the beastkin in their beast forms, hovering above, watching.

“Wait… isn’t… it — over?” I blink.

“You’re far too naive, Hana.” Asuseni giggles from behind, coming from nowhere. Vayne jumps, looking in her direction.  Following his gaze, I see her standing where her voice came from, holding her parasol. “Did you think it was so simple that you could remove the head of a ruler and put an end to his threat?” She shakes her head in disbelief.

“Who’re you?” Vayne’s eyes narrow.

Asuseni tosses her head and merely smiles challengingly.

“I gather that the beastkin intend to attack, regardless.” Jak mutters.

“I… I wasn’t the one that killed Santara…” Ela whinnies. “Eeeeeeeeeee… Unless we can change their minds… they’ll follow his last orders.”