Elegy for a Star

Mairaela had been sleeping over every night for the last week, and as promised, she’d been giving Tess head before they went to sleep every night. Then there were the mornings. The afternoons. The after-dinner desserts. Any time that Tess brought up that Mairaela’s promise was paid, the Fey would insist that she couldn’t remember the other times. Tess had just learned to go along with it. It seemed to make Mairaela happy and it definitely made Tess happy.

Oddly enough, except for the times that they were having sex, Mairaela was rather aloof and off in her own thoughts. They still had dinner together. Well, sometimes. But the Fey spent more and more time by herself, only coming to Tess when she was in need.

Tess didn’t feel particularly used. If this was her only experience with Mairaela she might feel disrespected, but she knew that there were some feelings involved, at least from their time in the Void. She knew that Mairaela just needed a distraction from whatever was bothering her, and Tess was happy enough to give it.

Still, with Joyona either off at Oar’s Rest or studying to make up for what she missed of class, and with Gwendolyn not talking to her and not coming back to the dormitory, Tess didn’t have much to do. Well, besides training. Her sorcery class was still in the theory stage, and most of it was about what Gwen had already taught her.

So Tess had been spending a lot of time with Ylla lately. Well, Ylla and Miri, but when it came to the latter she didn’t really have a choice. Not that she minded. She had grown to quite like Miri, even more than she may have before.

In any case, Ylla had become something of a friend. She still called Tess little mouse, but that wasn’t much of a big deal to her. Tess considered herself rather mousy, and compared to the tall Ylla, she was little, so she supposed it was a fair nickname to be called. She’d learned that Ylla was from a city known as Isyenalin, but was born in the capital of the Winter Court: Syln Caelora. Hearing about how harsh the conditions are there, she had newfound respect for Fey of the Winter Court. Ylla especially, who grew up an orphan.

In any regard, the two of them began to get along, and it became a common thing for them to be seen together. She just hoped that Mairaela hadn’t noticed yet. She wondered how the Summer Fey would react if she knew that Tess was willingly—eagerly, even—spending her time with a Winter Fey. She wondered what Ylla would think if she knew about Tess’ regular bedroom shenanigans with Mairaela. At the thought, Tess felt a little bit pulled in two directions.

“When’s your match?” Ylla asked, nudging Tess on the arm, “Mine’s tomorrow.”

“So is mine,” Tess responded.

This week was the week of conflict, a week of student-on-student combative matches ending in a combat festival that’s different each year. That day is called Lady Morro’s Day, named after the late Goddess of Conflict, who was defeated by the Black Sun only after killing three hundred Old Gods. She was an icon among warriors, the Valkyries of the Empire especially. The Valkenlord, now ruler of the Empire, has vowed to bring Lady Morro back to life, but no one expects him to.

No deity has ever been brought back from the dead, and there are a good few that have died, including Vitr, the brother of the God of Light, Uthr. Vitr was the God of Life. He was the first to approach the Black Sun, greeting it with his herald’s horn as one would for a king’s arrival. For it, he received a spear down his throat and out his belly. He was the first, our God of Life, and ever since his defeat, magic has been unable to bring the dead back to life. Tess wondered what they lost when Morro died, because they still had plenty of conflict. Perhaps it was resolution that she took with her.

“Who is your fight against?” Ylla asked her, watching as the stage was set for the first matches. They were in the middle of the crowd, upon a bit of slanted ground that gave them the ability to see over the heads of those in front of them. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but it was loud enough that her and Ylla’s conversation would get lost in the chaos.

“Oh,” Tess said, looking upward for some divine intervention, “I… don’t know. Am I supposed to know?”

“I swear…” Ylla groaned, “You’re hopeless, Tess. How do you remember to breathe?”

Tess rolled her eyes, “Well, fine, but who are you up against?”

“Duk.”

“Duck?”

“Duk.”

“Is that a person or are you fighting a small animal?” Tess asked.

Ylla chuckled, “Hopeless. Guy’s name is Duk Dun Mar. He’s been up for a commission to officer for years now and keeps turning it down. Fucker likes fighting in the Void too much.” Ylla let out a sigh, “It’s addictive, I’ll give him that.”

“You’ll get him,” Tess nodded, having never seen Ylla fight.

Ylla gave a little laugh, “I appreciate that, but I’m gonna get my ass handed to me.”

Tess raised an eyebrow, “You are? But you’re so…”

“Confident?””

“Right,” Tess nodded.

“Part of being confident is knowing your limits,” Ylla advised, “And Duk is far beyond my limits. Maybe in the Void I could put up a fight, but not out here.”

“Because of your gift?”

“Yep.”

“What is your gift, by the way?” Tess asked.

Ylla’s eyes widened, “Excuse me, little mouse, do you know how rude that is?”

Tess was taken aback. Had she offended her?

“That’s like asking someone’s dick size,” Ylla shrugged, “Personal information, you know?”

“Sorry,” Tess responded, looking back toward the stage. For a moment, she wondered if Ylla knew. Was she hinting at something?

“What about your friends’ matches?”

“Um.. Joyona’s is today. Mairaela’s too. Gwen’s is on the third day,” Tess replied without much hesitation.

“Oh, so you can remember their match dates but not your own opponent?” Ylla groaned, “Hopeless little mouse.”

“I just hope…” Tess paused, taking a deep breath, “I hope Dame Gwendolyn wins hers.”

“Yeah, we’ll see,” Ylla replied, “You think she’s here somewhere?”

Tess shook her head, “No, she’s probably going to be completely absent until her match. It’s going to be real important to her; I know it.”

They stood in silence for a moment. Well, relative silence; The crowd was pretty loud. Ylla eventually spoke up and asked, “She’s important to you, huh?”

“Yeah,” Tess replied, wiping at her eye, “Really important.”