164 AV, Mura, Spring.
oocMana’s skill when she lived was around expert in Suvai and Dual Wielding for future reference.
“Once again,” came a stern but gentle voice of the Konti standing in front of her three pupils, “Feel the flow of your weapon, an extension of your hand, a part of you gifted by our Father. Do not swing with force! Salana!” The girl’s head snapped toward her instructor, who merely laughed softly and moved toward her, gesturing with her arms as she spoke, “You are jerking too much, child. Wielding a suvai is a dance on it’s own. You learn grace and movement, you do not project your whole strength into a swipe.”
Mana stood behind Salana, who nodded at the older Konti’s words as she took the girl’s hands in her own and directed the movement of the three-pronged weapon. She leaned in and murmured, “A mesmerizing dance, it will leave your opponent bewildered, charmed.”
“Mistress Timandre!” A flash of red lit up Salana’s cheeks, resulting in a pleasant laugh from Mana, herself.
“I only tease, my dear! But do you understand? All of you, the importance of maintaining your collectiveness, a blank slate with which to work and smooth and perfect. It is vital, as vital as the sea is to us.” The suvai mistress smiled at her students, then stepped away from the adolescent Konti and waved her hand. “Today’s lesson is over, girls! Go enjoy your afternoons.”
The girls bowed to Mana and gathered their meager belongings, laughing and chatting their way out of the small pavilion. She could not help but allow a soft sigh to escape her, a slender, scaled hand reaching down to rest on the soft mound of her swollen stomach. With child once more, with child, and without the father to ever greet his daughter. Mana had never known it would ache as it did, tore at her heart in an attempt to quell the desires she felt to return to the man she loved. Why does it still linger?
She breathed in. The scent of the ocean was strong, comforting, inviting. And how she longed to immerse herself in it, to feel the shifting thoughts and turbulent emotions of the life that thrived there. She, too, was a creature of the sea, she too, could understand and see what they felt. What he felt… “No!” It was a surprise, even to herself! She had cried out with not a soul around, heart beating against her chest and thrumming in her ears faster than she ever could have imagined. She had seen him the second she had closed her eyes, the familiar feel of his skin beneath her hand, the texture of his black hair, and the intensity of his eyes.
Mana did not wait. She stepped off the small platform and welcomed the comfort of water on her skin and scales, passing by smaller pearlescent structures and fellow Konti women wading through the Silver Lake. Her family home was built higher up than those of other families, but it was still half submerged, with beautiful, intricate detailing carved onto the surface of the white stone and open for all manner of underwater dwellers. But it was clear, when Asyna Timandre turned to meet her daughter’s face, it was a gentle, worried expression that assumed her visage.
“Does something trouble you, Mana?”
“I have seen him once more, Mother. He does not leave me be, he lingers, he knows I am watching. How can this be?” Mana was frantic, she could feel it through her own words, her worry, her longing. Asyna touched her daughter’s face, forcing her to meet her gaze.
“You have bonded to him deeper than you know, child. Right here,” She lowered her hand over Mana’s heart, “The threads that tie you together, perhaps the work of the Goddess of Love. You feel him in your thoughts, and long for his touch. Love is a powerful magic, Mana. Far more powerful than even the mightiest of us seers and magicians are able to comprehend.”
“I can not do this, Mother. Already I have left my daughter without a father to know. How can this be the Konti way? You are a grand Seer, tell me… Tell me if I will see him again!”
