Duel Lyceum

Change of Spirit

It was night and Lyder was tired. He had pushed his body on long enough, walking through the pain and frailty that his body he had experienced since leaving the bed. He regretted leaving it, and he wanted to rest, but he could not return after putting on such a show like that. Besides, he had no reason to return, not for a while. He had forfeited his deck and thus his right to walk the halls of Duel Lyceum.

Creatures of the night rustled leaves on one side and the ocean lapped at the shore on the other. He was alone, except for the soft light ahead, which he had been following for the past ten minutes. It had grown bigger and he was getting closer.

He stepped into the clearing and was shocked to find a woman there, leaning against a tree and fishing into the sea. Moths buzzed around the light of her lantern.

'Lissa?'

She turned to him. 'Oh, Lyder. How are you doing? Sit down, sit down.' She patted the earth next to her. Lyder complied and sat next to her, sighing with relief at the ease of his muscles.

'Pretty bad, actually.'

'From your duel with Murel, I suppose. We're in the same dorm, you know. He has refused to say anything about what happened in that duel.' She reached over for her bag and pulled out a ba of chip, opening it, grabbing a few, and handing the bag to Lyder.

'What are you doing here?'

'Whenever there's a few days of freedom from work, I like to come here and fish. Then I cook them back at the dorm for everyone.'

'Such a pleasant activity for someone titled Lissa the Relentless.'

She laughed. 'True. Do you want a try, there's a lot of fish out right now?' She handed him the pole. 'It's my turn now. What are you doing here?'

'It's a bit of a long story. I guess I just need to find myself. May as well spend some time away from everyone.'

'Any destination in particular?'

'Wherever my heart takes me. Sounds cheesy, I know.'

'Yeah, it does sound cheesy.' She giggled. What part of her was ever relentless, Lyder wondered. He felt the end of the pole jerk and he yanked it up, but the fish was stubborn, refusing his pull.

'Ahh, my muscles.' He wanted to drop the pole, but Lissa's comforting hands, wrapping around his own, fuelled him with strength.

'Come on, we'll do it together.' Together they pulled, lifting the tuna out of the water and onto land. 'Nice.' She jumped up and punched the air, putting the tuna into a box full of water. 'It's massive, Lyder. Good job.'

'It was mostly your work, though.' Lyder averted his eyes, searching the ground for something he could stare at.

'It was both of us, actually.'

'Yeah, but it was mostly –'

'It was both of us,' she repeated. 'Anyway, you should stay here for a bit, I'll be back in a while.'

'Are you going?'

'Yeah. I mean, be it a spiritual journey or whatever, you're still living, and that means you need food and water.'

'Oh, right.'

She was back before dawn. Lyder spent the time catching up on sleep. Their meeting was brief, and she gave him waterskins and food to last for two weeks.