Becoming a Warrior

by Moose Tyler

  “You’re acting like it. You’re going on about not being assigned duty, and you know what I’m thinking?”

  Amaria looked at the ground.

  “All I’m thinking is I’d give, I don’t know, a hand maybe, to trade places with you. I would love to have the heartbeats to be with Mother or train for the Games, but all I do, all day long, is ride a horse around a bunch of fields, getting yelled at while I look for the enemy, which is so absurdly pointless because the enemy is at sea!”

  Amaria looked at Penelope. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes flared as she spoke. “Put yourself in someone else’s sandals for once in your life, Amaria.”

  Amaria looked at the ground again.

  “Now, I’ve got to go. I don’t have long with Mother before I have to be back in the saddle, snapping to whenever Micah gets her whims.”

  Amaria looked up. “P—”

  “It’s fine. We’re fine, but just so you know, you’re not the only one struggling with your lessons. And, this, this bare foot dung is just the honey on the bread. Your tolerance for pain is impressive, by the way.”

  Amaria smiled.

  Penelope hopped from foot to foot. “It’s not how you imagined it would be. It’s not how I imagined it either, but, as your sister, I’m telling you, practice for the Games and bring home all the crowns this cycle. I’m afraid, after this, you won’t get another chance.”

  “I’m sorry, P.”

  Penelope gave Amaria a hug. “You sure are.”

  “I’ll pray for your mother.”

  Penelope nodded. “Thank you, but I really need to go.”

  She nodded, and Penelope hurried towards Queen’s Cliff. Amaria went the other direction and walked up the coastline. She looked at the rocks ahead and saw Timber crouched in the crevices.

  “You were supposed to stay home. Bad cat,” she said sternly.

  As she walked past, Amaria cracked a smile. Though she was alone and on leave again, she still had her shadow.

  Wanje didn’t send word for fourteen moons. After Amaria had finished her last punishment swim, she returned home and saw the bird on top of the pen. She looked behind her, clicked her tongue twice, and waited. A few heartbeats passed before Timber slinked out of the trees and sauntered around the yard perimeter, stopping at the edge of the barn.

  “Go on,” said Amaria.

  Timber flicked her ears and swished her tail before going inside and leaping into the loft. Amaria had made her a bed of old blankets, and she had gotten used to the comfort. She slept there nearly every night.

  Amaria didn’t have long before the cat would creep back out, so she rushed inside the barn, clicked her tongue twice, tossed the fish she had caught in the pail, and put the red spear in the barrel. She had repaired it and used it to hunt with while on her punishment swims. She had avoided the common area all leave, opting to eat most of her meals in the barn with Timber instead.

  Timber looked at the fish and flicked her tail. Amaria casually sauntered into the yard. She heard her jump down from the loft. She looked back to make sure the cat’s face was buried in the pail before hustling to the bird pen. She untied the parchment and sent the bird home without a reward. She looked at the barn. Timber was still occupied. Amaria broke apart the parchment seal and unrolled it.

  I apologize for not sending word sooner. I hope you’ve made good use of the leave. Meet me tomorrow just past midday’s horn at the marble bench in Sacred Meadow. Bring Timber, if she’s still around. – Wanje

  Amaria crumpled the parchment and put it in the pail. She thought she’d be more excited about having another lesson. The afternoon after the special council meeting she had trekked back to the Great Ravine and collected all she could from the dead cat. Little Blade would have been helpful cutting out the teeth and claws, but her dagger, Fang had proved sufficient for the job. From a tree, Timber had watched as Amaria bury what remained of the carcass and prayed for its safe return to the Great Mother’s womb.

  The heartbeat after she had made the deliveries to Sheila and Sephora, she checked the bird pen. She checked it at least six times a day for a few days after that, but as the moons passed without word from Wanje, Amaria lost interest. She stopped asking Gypsus if a bird had come, and she no longer rushed home after her punishment swims. Instead, she and Timber would have morning dine by the southern docks while Amaria tried to train her. The cat followed her constantly but wouldn’t eat from her hand or, more importantly, let Amaria pet her golden hide.

  Now that she had received word from Wanje, Amaria had mixed feelings. She wanted to get back to training, but she was disappointed that it wasn’t Ursula’s bird in the pen. She had visited her tree every day with the same result.

  “She still hasn’t returned,” Pandora would say. “She’s officially run away with my spools.” She would burst into tears after that, and Amaria would console her for a few heartbeats before leaving.

  She spent her afternoons and evenings practicing for the Games, though she had avoided the archery range. Too many younger warriors trained there, so she set up targets in her yard and ran through what drills she could at home. Timber would watch from the barn, her head tracking the arrows each time she fired.

  At night, in the empty house alone, she had prayed for Sakina and Telsa and their mother’s safety while on the hunt. She had reflected on what Penelope had said about her lessons and her struggles with Micah, and Amaria wondered if things had gotten better. She had worried about her preparedness for the Games and brooded about Ursula and the citizens in the Stalks. She had gone back twice to see if they were there, but the field was empty and the line in the second patch of cane had disappeared, as best as she could tell. She had contemplated the boat, new arrivals, and how to train Timber, but rarely had she thought about her lessons.

  She went to the barn and picked up the water pail. Timber pulled back her ears and growled. Amaria imitated the growl. “I don’t want your fish,” she said.

  She freshened the pail before setting up the targets, and for the rest of the day, she ran through practice drills, tried to train Timber, checked on Ursula, consoled Pandora, wrote in the bound parchment, fed and tried again to train the cat, exercised, and carried on with her routine.

  The next day, Amaria bathed and packed a satchel of meat strips, fish, and fruit. Timber proved to be a fan of fruit, which was a blessing because meat was expensive. Gypsus had gotten Amaria a deal on bulk meat sticks, but her purse would drain by Genesis with how much a growing mountain cat ate. She packed herself a fresh water pouch before leaving for her lesson with Wanje at Sacred Meadow.

  Sacred Meadow was east of Queen’s Cliff. Amaria took the coastline to keep her cat away from the more populated thoroughfares. She lost sight of her while on the hidden path that skirted Center Bend. When Amaria popped out of the brush next to the northeast gardens, she looked behind her but didn’t see Timber. She waited a few heartbeats before walking through the iron archway and heading south, looking over her shoulder as she went. When she turned west and entered the clearing with the marble bench, she heard Timber in the bushes next to her. Amaria took a meat stick from the satchel, clicked her tongue twice, dropped it on the path, and walked into the clearing. Wanje was not there, so she sat on the bench and waited. Timber sauntered out of the shrubs. She licked her lips as she slinked into the bushes behind the bench. Silly cat.

  Amaria heard the midday horns blow. She took another meat stick from the satchel. “Might as well.” She heard the bushes rustle behind her. “You want this?” She clicked her tongue twice, ripped off a hunk, tossed the remains just left of the bench, and waited. Timber came out of the brush and approached cautiously, keeping her eyes on Amaria. In a heartbeat, she snatched up the snack and took it to the bushes. Amaria pulled out another and repeated the process, this time tossing the treat closer to the bench. Timber growled.

  Amaria la
ughed. “You’ve got to come get it.”

  Timber got as close as she needed before extending her neck to its fullest reach, snatching up the scrap, and hurrying back to the bushes. Amaria started to fish out another, but she looked up and saw someone approaching from across the clearing. Timber dove deeper into the brush.

  Amaria stood and shaded the sun from her eyes. That’s not Wanje. As the figure got closer, a smile spread across her face and she raced towards her. “Telsa!”

  Tesla waved excitedly, rushed over, and hugged Amaria. “Ree,” she said, clasping hold. “Oh, I’ve missed you so much.”

  Amaria squeezed back. Telsa smelled like honeycomb. “I’ve missed you, too.” She pulled away for a better look.

  She wore a light blue robe and had bare feet. Her hair was pulled up in a ball on top of her head, and her skin glowed. She had gotten taller but was still as thin as cane. She was only about two cycles younger than Amaria but much smaller physically. She didn’t have a warrior’s build. That was one of the reasons they knew she was a sage when she was born.

  Amaria glanced at Telsa’s feet again. “Sister, where are your sandals?”

  Telsa smiled. “I should ask the same.”

  “Wanje took mine.”

  “Mine, too. I’ve never seen a sage so focused on feet.”

  Amaria laughed. “What are you doing here? I’m supposed to meet her for a lesson.”

  Telsa smiled. “She asked me to tell you that she can’t make it.”

  Amaria was relieved. She wanted to spend as many heartbeats with Telsa as she could. “Praise be.”

  She stopped smiling. “Praise be?”

  Amaria grinned and nodded.

  “Who are you, and what have you done with my sister?”

  “Stop, Telsa.”

  “I’m as serious as sickness. You don’t praise be when a lesson is cancelled. Did you have an exam today?”

  “I don’t know what Wanje had planned. I’m just glad to see you, Sister. It’s been too many moons. You’ve gotten taller.”

  “Hardly. You’re looking well. Glad Sheila’s keeping you fed.”

  Amaria patted her stomach. “She always does.”

  “Sakina looked well too, only happier.”

  “You saw her before she left?”

  Telsa nodded as she linked Amaria’s arm and led her to the marble bench. “They let me invite her to the sacred pools for tea.” She sat down and scooted over. “She looked pleased to be going. Did you see her?”

  Amaria plopped down. “Mother and I went to the dock to see her off. She was calmer than I would have been.”

  “Mother or Sakina?”

  Amaria laughed. “Sakina. Oh, and she called Mother Pathenia.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Why is that interesting? It’s weird.”

  “Maybe she feels she’s ready to leave the nest.”

  “Great Mother, you sound like a sage.”

  Telsa smiled. “One of the consequences of being constantly surrounded by them, I suppose. And, don’t swear.”

  Truth be told, Telsa had sounded like a sage even before she moved to the temple. From the heartbeat she could speak, she talked like she was a thousand cycles old.

  “Sorry,” said Amaria. “It’s just this whole thing is unsettling to me.”

  “What is it, Ree?”

  Amaria shrugged. “I worry for her. I don’t know why she volunteered for this. You know Sakina, when has she ever shown any interest in anything army-related?”

  “Maybe she’s had a change of heart. She told me she’s been training hard for moons.”

  “But, if her heart has not changed, why do this? She could put herself, the others, all of us, in danger. It’s a great responsibility for someone who had to be dragged to her first armor fitting not but half a cycle ago.”

  “The Great Mother has a plan for us all.”

  Amaria rolled her eyes.

  Telsa slapped her arm. “She does, and you best not make fun. You don’t want to conjure Her wrath. Talk about putting us all at risk.”

  “Am I wrong here?”

  Telsa laughed. “Maybe. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

  Amaria shook her head. “You really are a sage.”

  Telsa stopped laughing. “This bothers you.”

  “It does. I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”

  “Do you think what you’re feeling is jealousy?”

  “What? No, not at all.”

  “So, you have no envy in your heart?”

  “Not for Sakina. For P and the others. They’ve all been assigned duty, but I got sent on leave twice since I started Quest Training. Sakina has her shield. I couldn’t have volunteered even if I wanted to.”

  “Did you want to?”

  Amaria was thrown by the question. “No. Probably not. I’m not sure why I would.”

  Telsa shrugged. “Wanje says some warriors don’t feel they’re warriors until they’ve shed blood in battle. True battle. Not the Games. Maybe Sakina is one of those warriors.”

  “I don’t know, Telsa, but enough about Sakina. Tell me about you. You’ve had your first vision. Spill the worms, Sister.”

  Telsa laughed. “I can’t.”

  “What? Why not? You’ve recounted the vision.”

  Telsa shook her head.

  “Mother said you did, on the day Sakina set sail.”

  “I did, but there was a problem.”

  “What happened?”

  “I recounted too much in the foreign tongue. Euphora and Anthea didn’t know how to transcribe it. I can’t say more. It really could interfere with the prophecy.”

  “How do you know if it’s a prophecy or a dream?”

  Telsa laughed again. “I’m so sick of that question.” She shrugged. “The best I can explain is, you know when you have a dream—”

  Amaria thought about her borrowing worm dream. It was still fresh in her mind though it had been many moons since she had dreamt it.

  “—well, when you wake up, you know it’s a dream, right?”

  Amaria nodded.

  “There hasn’t been one morning that I haven’t remembered my dreams,” said Telsa, “and every time I wake, I’m asked about them. They ask me to tell them how I know it was a dream. If I can’t answer, it’s likely a prophecy.”

  “So, if you don’t know it’s a dream, it’s real?”

  “Basically. Confused yet?”

  “Yes, but I will say, when I asked Wanje, she said it would take moons to explain. You did it in about thirty heartbeats.”

  “Well, there’s more to it than that. The Great Mother presents you three gifts when you’re in Her presence, always in the same order, always in the same manner. There’s a peacock and a whole slew of other things that have to be present.”

  “What kind of gifts?”

  “I really am risking tainting the vision, Ree. Once I figure out what some of these words mean in our tongue and it’s been recorded, I will tell you all about it. Great Mother as my witness, but now we need to talk about this mountain cat behind us. That’s the reason I’m here. Otherwise, they would have never let me out before I’d recounted the vision.” Telsa turned and looked at the bushes. “Wanje was going to help you train it today.”

  Amaria looked for Timber. “She was?”

  “She said she told you that.”

  Amaria laughed. “Wanje doesn’t tell me anything. She just said bring Timber, if she’s around. I’d have to check the parchment for her exact words.”

  “There she is.”

  Amaria’s heart pounded in her chest, and she jerked around and looked at the clearing, expecting to see Wanje standing behind her, but they were alone. She looked at Telsa.

  “You’re never going to train this cat like that,” she
said. “You need to be calm and focused.”

  “Do you think I can train her?”

  Telsa nodded. “I think so. She’s not even two cycles old.”

  “Are you sure? Looks closer to three to me.”

  “I’d have to check her teeth and paws to be sure, but I think she’s just big.”

  Amaria looked at Timber crouched in the bushes. She was big, if she was not yet two cycles.

  Telsa stood up. “You got any food?”

  Amaria took a stick from the satchel and gave it to her sister. Telsa approached the bushes slowly. She stopped and stood still for several heartbeats, forty-five after Amaria thought to start counting. Timber growled, and her ears flicked.

  Telsa laughed. “She’s feisty. She’s fighting the connection.”

  She leaned forward and put her hand out. Timber growled deeper and flattened against the earth and rolled twice. It intensified for a few heartbeats before simmering to a low rumble. The cat crawled closer as Telsa held out the meat stick. She crept forward, took it from her hand, lay down at her feet, and gnawed on the treat – the growl now a soft purr.

  Amaria couldn’t believe it. “How did you do that? I’ve been feeding her nonstop for moons now. She’s stuck around, but she won’t let me get close to her, let alone eat from my hand.”

  “That’s because she doesn’t trust you, and she certainly doesn’t think you’re the dominant.”

  Amaria looked at Timber. “Oh yeah?”

  Telsa laughed. “It’s not your fault. I will say it’s a good thing all the wolves have been taken on the hunt. She’s been prowling at night.” She bent down close to Timber.

  “Careful, Telsa.”

  Telsa looked insulted. “And whose hand did she just feed from?”

  “Yours.”

  “Precisely.” She turned to the cat. “Let’s take a look.”

  Telsa purred and reached her hand out, like she was reaching into a hole in an unfamiliar cave. Timber’s ears flicked, but she didn’t chomp her arm off as Amaria half-expected. Instead, she turned her head, rolled on her side, and let Telsa touch her neck. Telsa was equally cautious reaching with her other hand. The cat stiffened as she opened her mouth and examined her teeth.