voice; unseelie.

[survivra]

Each day that goes by that we're waiting for something to happen is each day the Void gets closer to all of us. We lost all last month to fight against it due to the Black Shuck's orders, and now we're left scrambling to make up that lost time. Isn't that a bit too convenient for those who would have us die against our will, to squander the little time we've left?

I can't shake the feeling there's something more that's happening than we're being told, and more we ought to be doing than simply preparing. The least we could do for now is try to figure out what that is. If you've no experience with self-defense, then I can help with that; and if you have that, or at least some experience in finding your way through the woods without getting lost and setting off warning signs wherever you walk, then I suppose I'm your lieutenant, if you wish to scout our borders.

Either way we know something is stirring, and we'd better be prepared for it.

Comments

voice;

[survivra]

[ Katsa glares at her locket before she remembers that Azula can't see her. ]

Does he know? That you're here, I mean.

voice;

[uncertaindestiny]

Of course he does.

[Azula's glaring at her locket, too. Lieutenant or not, there's no excuse for treating her with so little respect, she thinks.]

We spoke at the feast.

voice;

[survivra]

Well, at least you found each other. It doesn't always happen.

[ She sounds defensive. She would know.

Katsa reins in her frustration for a moment and tries to re-center herself from this information. ]

You said you're a liability in a fight, but you know hand-to-hand combat. I've seen Zuko fight. He's good. I don't know if your home kingdom trained girls and women to fight, but if you were trained as he was, you're no liability even without a weapon.

voice;

[uncertaindestiny]

I'm better than Zuko.

[It's not arrogance, oddly enough. It's plainly stated fact. At least in her mind.]

Hand-to-hand I'm as good or better than Zuko. No one in the Fire Nation was as competent a bender as I was. [And though that power is gone, her forms still have power, and she isn't afraid of using them to make contact.]

Zuko learned to fight with weapons as well, which, as I said, is the one area I've very little training.

voice;

[survivra]

Then you were formidable, Princess.

[ Katsa assumes Azula's title through her relationship with Zuko and takes her statement as fact, too, rather than a boast. They speak of their own skills in the same way. ]

I should like to fight you. I wonder how good you are, to be the best in your nation. Prince Po—the best hand-fighter in Lienid—would as well. [ And suddenly she has an urge to grin, imagining it. A shift from seriousness in combat to play. Once that never would have been imaginable for Katsa. ]

Though it's good you'll learn use of a knife or sword as well. They should come easy to you with the rest of what you know.

voice;

[uncertaindestiny]

I would be happy to demonstrate my skills.

[After all, in this world, no one knows what she's capable of. Not beyond Zuko. There's no shame in having to prove herself to all of them. After all, she wouldn't take anyone at their word about their skills. She doesn't expect strangers outside of the Fire Nation to take her at hers.]

voice;

[survivra]

Then I'll see you sometime soon in Caer Scima's training ward, I hope, for such a demonstration.

voice;

[uncertaindestiny]

I'd be honoured.