The Quest for Normania #1: The Door of Andrios

13. Of Bonds and Khams

Mithra led Norin to the terrace above the library.

"We can have a good match here," she said whirling around into the vast open space. "Just as long as" – she reached the low wall and stopped, her hand resting on it – "nobody falls from here."

"Right." Norin took out his sword. "Whenever you're ready, pal!"

"Yes!" She skipped away from the wall and brandished her own weapon—a double-edged sword. "On the count—three... two... one!" She leapt forward, always the one eager to start a fight.

Norin dodged her blade and pushed himself up to jump, his sword held with both his hands above his head. He fell towards where Mithra stood, but she dodged, too, and his sword clanged on the stone ground.

Mithra changed hands and raised her sword towards Norin, who used his own weapon to block hers. They struggled to gain an upper hand, before Norin's feet slipped and hurtled to the ground. Swift as a lightening, Mithra threw their swords away and held him under her arms.

"Steady, steady," she said softly. "You did well enough to fight off an ambushed enemy."

"Thank you," Norin wheezed. "I think I... will stick to my magic."

She smiled. "We can do that on our next practice match." She steadied him, dragged him towards the wall on the far end from the entrance, and sat him against it. "Did you know what happened here the last time I came?"

"You... came here before?"

"When I waiting to practice with you, earlier to-day." And she proceeded to tell him how she'd encountered the stranger in soldier clothing, before she shook him off and raced back to the library. And how she had found Cassandra and Teresa eating each other's faces off when she discovered the terrace.

Norin stared at her incredulously. "Hey, I was actually going to ask you that!" he exclaimed, his weariness gone by now. "Did you see the way she looked at Cassandra when she gave that tip? Teresa, I mean."

"Yes!" replied Mithra with a grin. "Anyway..." She paused in her tracks and stood before him. "Do you think... you can teach me magic the way you do it? I mean, I'm just as much a mage as you are, but you... you're so different – your magic is so very different from mine, even if we did learn from the same teacher. You know a lot more than I do – probably because you read those fucking books so darn much!" She laughed lightly. "But before you answer that... Tell me, Norin Zura, do you or do you not want to be my Sanguinus fratus?"

Norin smiled at her confidently. "I do want to be your Sanguinus fratus, Mithra, if you're willing to be mine. I'll do anything to protect you always, just like you've been doing to me. It'd be an honour."

Mithra blushed. "Well, bullies are nothing compared to monsters like the octopus we faced the other day. You know that, don't you?"

He nodded. "As a matter of fact, I do. What I meant was you always cared for me like you were my sister." He paused. "Older sister."

"Yes, I always felt like I was, too." She nodded with equal determined as him. "All right then—from now on, this minute forward, you and I will train to be each other's Sanguines." She extended her right arm.

He nodded as he shook it. "Deal!"

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During lunch, between them, Mithra and Norin informed Eura Ansari about their talk with Rumin Nyagal and what she had told them.

Teresa and Cassandra sat silently, a few chairs away from them, listening as well.