Saxifrage Fire

0016

Alethea shielded her eyes with a bandaged hand and glared at the bright afternoon sky. Why did the weather have to be so perfect? Didn't it know her world was chaos?

"Are you sure you're okay?" Oshi asked.

She snapped herself back into focus and knelt to remove her shoes. The ground on which they stood was soft- the grass was gold from the summer heat but not so dry it would poke through the bandages around her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. In truth, it hurt to move, and her limbs felt like they were a thousand pound each, but she had to do something with this amassing energy pulsing through her bones lest it take over her mind in flashbacks of her mother's death and wishful visions of her shooting Father in the face. She needed to pound flesh with her fists and Hitoshi was trained to take it. She studied her friend- he was searching for sticks and pebbles to remove from their natural arena to save her feet the pain. Her heart warmed- she hadn't asked him to do this.

She tossed her boots aside and stood, testing how the grass felt on her burned feet. It could have been worse.

Oshi tossed his bag off his shoulder and knelt to unpack mysterious items.

"I wish we had the time for me to train you traditionally as my parents trained me, but we don't, so I'll have to improvise."

She glanced him over; he'd never mentioned his family before.

"Save your traditions for someone with cleaner blood."

He didn't reply as he pulled out four mysterious items wrapped in silk cloth.

She watched his expression wane as he ran his hand over the treasure as if each piece held the souls of those he'd lost.

He cleared his throat.

"I think we'll start with standard weaponry. I hate to admit it, but sometimes you need to fight bullets with bullets. You mentioned you were in the Garda?"

"I served two years in the Reserve- patrolled the southern gate of Eirene. I never had to fire a shot, but I have basic training."

He pulled a pistol from its case and stood, flipping it over to hand to her.

"That's a PR 5. Standard mag clip. A little heavy on the drawback. It's a clean shot."

She held it low with clammy hands. She'd handled guns before and had thought no more of it than driving her motorcycle but standing there before the last of the Heilan people she suddenly felt a surge of distrust for herself.

Hitoshi glanced her over and smirked.

"Relax. It only fires if you pull the trigger."

She laughed sorely.

He hurried to a tree about twenty feet off and slashed a square in the bark with a knife. He hurried back and nodded.

"Let's see your technique."

She took a strong stance and raised the gun with both hands. Her shoulders tensed and her heart throttled in her chest.

He grasped her shoulders.

"Relax. Bend your elbows a little. Tighten your biceps."

She turned and snapped.

"I have training!"

"Sure. But it's likely a different experience as a Koro."

She scowled. Had he just referred to her as one of them?

"Okay, fire."

She pressed her finger to the trigger, but it tensed. She couldn't pull it. The tree started to shift and split in her vision and the memory of her Mother's blood bursting into the air flashed in her mind. She dropped her aim.