Two Tails, One Rotten Heart

Welcome to Siren City

Apparently monster training required waking up before everyone else, being yelled at by annoying sirens, and building up patience so as to not murder those annoying sirens. If Nala was being honest where her skills were right now if she really did try to end Asherah she would end up dead and Cari might just bring her back from the abyss to kill her all over again. For the past week Asherah had started each morning by throwing Nala off her bed with a big grin on her face and announcing that it was training time. Nala had tons of bruises from the rude awakening alone not to mention the actual training.

The first thing the girls started on was showing Nala how to properly use her tail. Cari was one of the fastest swimmers in the city and so she would show Nala how to slice across the water like a storm.

"You're thinking about it wrong tadpole." Cari had her arms crossed as she watched Nala who was supposed to shoot forward and then make a sharp right turn. So far Nala had only succeeded in slamming into a boulder and rolling in the sand after failing to make a turn. She was also providing great entertainment to Asherah who howled in amusement any time Nala's face hit the floor.

"What exactly am I thinking about wrong?" Nala snarled at Cari after picking herself up from the floor. Cari answered by grabbing one of the light orange fins attached to Nala's tail and pulling so that Nala found her back pressed up against the sand with her tail practically in her face. It was an uncomfortable position and her body was curled up in a way that would surely break her spine.

"This," Cari shook the fin, "this is not a pet that you command. It is a part of you, it is you just like you arms or like when you had legs you need to...to..." Cari fell silent as she tried to make Nala understand.

"You need to accept it. Accept that this tail is you now. Just like when you were child and used to run until your legs were barely touching the floor use your tail and fly." Both girls turned to look at Asherah who had looked away. For whatever reason Nala had not thought that this girl, this animal in human skin, had once been human, like her. Cari let go of her tail and Nala rose to try the turn again.

Just as Cari was one of the fastest swimmers Asherah was one of the strongest fighters in the city. It was both good and bad for Nala, good because she was being trained by the best and bad because Asherah was going to try her hardest to break Nala down. Cari observed as Asherah walked Nala through the basics. She had yet to try to shift so at the beginning it was mostly watching the other girl as she demonstrated how to use their claws to rip through someones flesh, where to dig the claws in to fish out an organ, how to use the stinger on their tails to paralyze their prey, how to move their tail and use the strength behind it to break apart entire ships. Nala would never admit it but she was awed.

"Does everyone in the siren city do this? Hunt down humans?" Nala asked while taking a five minute break after Asherah had shifted back.

"The what?" Cari stared at Nala and she stared back. What did I say?

"Siren city? Didd you really not know this place was called Atla?" Nala was struck dumb for a moment. Asherah burst out laughing in that wild howling way she did and even Cari chuckled a bit, the first time she had actually ever laughed in Nala's presence. Nala swore she felt her rise up in her cheeks and then bitterness at being laughed at.

"How was I supposed to know? Getting information out of any of you is almost impossible" she hissed.

"Come on girl, since we got you nice and angry now try to shift." Asherah giggled.

Nala did not shift.

It was not only swimming and training that the sirens forced on Nala but also learning their history, the different gods they worshipped that represented different things. Cari forced her to go to the temples that Nala never even knew existed and pay tribute to the gods. It reminded her of long ago going with her family to church before she gave up believing in anything. Cari's words were, the gods were bastards but it doesn't hurt to have them on our side if any of them still exist. Not only that but Nala also had to study the sounds and language of the sirens, if hunting which sound meant danger or food or attack. It was tedious. The temples and studying weren't the worst of it, according to Asherah Nala had to actually interact with the other sirens which meant dining with them. The couple had their own group they sat with and not one minute into the dinner Nala already felt the need for violence. It was obvious none of the girls trusted her and they threw barbs any chance they got.