Veils of Storm

15. The Coast of Endir

Cage had been right. After a few days at sea, Kat had found her balance and no longer had any issue with the fact that there was no land to be seen in any direction. She now enjoyed the breeze, the rays of the sun on her skin, and the stars at night.

As the days morphed into weeks, she found herself settling into the simplicity and rhythmicity of her tasks on the ship, how everyone knew what to do, and every task was divided. Even if she'd first believed she'd been assigned to kitchen duty, it turned out that each of them took turns with everything that needed to be done. So she'd learned how to gather sails, climb into the crow's nest  as well as sort out supplies, and clean their rooms.

The only thing that wasn't simple or predictable was her training with Trix.

"Come on, duchess, I know you can touch me."

Kat wished she could, but no matter how quickly she swung her sword, he danced out of her way. Most of the time laughing.

"Try keeping your feet further apart, sweetheart," Cage called from a bit further off where he was trying to practice magic with Jinx.

"Why, so he can slip between them?" she mumbled between her teeth.

"Oh, that sounded dirty," Trix said in a sing-song voice.

"Watch it kid, because you can't outrun me," Cage said.

"Leave her alone, Cage. She can take care of herself," Jinx pointed out.

Kat wasn't sure if she appreciated the vote of confidence or was annoyed by her butting in. Even if they'd spent a fair amount of time together, she still had mixed feelings about Jinx. She didn't like the fact that it was her giving Cage magic lessons more often than Jazz. She didn't like that Cage was actively trying to use magic either, even if she understood the reasoning behind it. After all, once her training started, it became very obvious that Cage could also feel it when she got hurt. It plunged them into an endless discussion on risks and strategies, but Cecile had closed off all gates again.

The easiest way to avoid it would be to make sure they were far apart enough not to be used against each other. But the rest of the curse supposedly turned blessing wouldn't let them. And it was that very reason that had led Cage to try even harder to learn how to use his magic.

A part of her just felt left out because she still didn't seem to have any magic herself. Even the voices had fallen silent, not that she regretted that.

Trix charged at her. Kat stepped out of the way and jabbed her sword towards his stomach. He twisted and avoided her attack, then turned and placed his blade under hers. With a groan, she watched him twirl the sword, throwing hers out of her hand. She had never actually learned how to avoid that.

"That always gets you," Trix observed, picking up her fallen weapon.

"I know! But I just can't figure out how to avoid it. Can't you teach me?"

Trix handed her the sword, deep in thought. Kat waited, wondering why he wouldn't want to.

"I'm not sure I know how," he finally said. "For me it's a reflex that I don't have to think through, so I'm not sure I can replicated."

"How about you teach me to disarm you, then?"

"Oh, that I can do." He reached out his sword as if ready to attack. "Come on, reach out as if you want to stab at me."

She complied, her shoulders tensing, but Trix moved in slow motion to show her the inner workings of the movement. How he settled the tip on one side of her guard, how he then twisted in the opposite direction to force her wrist into an uncomfortable angle, how after that, he flourished upwards to dislodge the weapon. Yes, the movement didn't seem like magic when she saw it deconstructed like that.