14th night of the month of Ice, 17:58, Moonfall

Artemy blocks when father strikes. Lightning dances along Artemy’s arm and he kicks low, aiming to destabilize father but missing and causing father to kick Artemy in the side of his face and causing him to fall to the ground.

“My lady, are you listening?” 

Dora jumps and looks to the side where Master Parsimona Eddala stares at her with old and patient eyes. And with that, she is back to the real world. She knew what she was doing when she had asked the lesson to be taught in the very spacious coliseum of the Lunar Palace. It was perfect for a lesson when it was empty, and maybe that was why her Master had accepted the proposal, but Dora had chosen the exact time when her brother and father intended to train, and there was no better place to train in the Palace than the coliseum. 

The enormous room was located in one of the lower floors of the palace, underground and with an arena that Dora knew was used for the Direvoirs, with stone steps leading down to the arena being used as seats for those that bear witness to the duel of monarchs. 

“I apologize, Master Eddala, I was distracted” Dora says as she bows her head in a heartfelt apology that is mostly fake. She is not ashamed, she wanted to watch and maybe learn a move or two, maybe even convince her father of teaching her an Asha neutral move. 

“It’s okay child, I understand the distraction; a fight such as this attracts watchers” says Master Eddala with a smile and amusement dancing in her eyes. Maybe Dora should also take acting classes, she had definitely not convinced her Master of her fake shame. 

They both look at the fight, father has helped Artemy up and is talking to him, probably giving him tips and some praise. Father pats at Artemy’s shoulder and eve with his head lowered, Dora can see him smiling at whatever father is saying. She wonders what it is, but Dora is sitting to far up to hear anything. Whatever it is, Dora is both happy and jealous, happy of her father to be acting more like himself after the Baru earlier tonight, and jealous, because, as always, father pays more attention to his heir than his spare child. 

“Shall we continue the lesson, my lady?” Asks Master Eddala and Dora nods absentmindedly 

The silence extends for a while, forcing Dora to stop looking at her father and Artemy and look at Master Eddala, that continues to watch the two also. 

“Do you not also take training lessons, my lady?” She asks

“Not with father, our Ashas are different, after all” says Dora and pouts “My training master doesn’t really like teaching me much either. I think he is afraid of accidentally hurting me”

It’s unfair. With father as his teacher, Artemy doesn’t get a softer hand in training, but Dora’s trainers keep walking around her like a delicate flower. As result, most of her fighting movements are defensive and more about dodging than hitting someone. She also wants that connection, but she doesn’t say this to Master Eddala, that connection father and Artemy share as they fight, maybe, if Dora was better at fighting, she could convince him to fight her, to see that she could handle herself and to receive some of that praise. 

Master Eddala hums and the chuckles.

“Such a resourceful lady as you” she laughs “I’m surprised you haven’t looked yourself for a better trainer”

“No one would take me” grumbles Dora “Of that, I’m sure”

“Really? Not even the best fire Asha user in Neth?” Inquires Master Eddala, her tone almost a tease “I’ve heard he dislikes rules and he is a good friend of your brother”

Vyshe Ardashir… he had the same Asha as her and, being the Haruspex, he had trained to exhaustion, as it was one of the Vyshe’s tasks to protect Neth in case of an external attack-something that had never happened, Outsiders could not enter at will and never a group of them. If there was someone that could truly teach her something useful, that would be Vyshe Ardashir, and it was true that he was a friend to Artemy, Dora can even remember his face, as he had been at the palace many times before he rose to the Haruspex position and was forced to cover it up in public.

“That’s…a great idea, Master Eddala, I thank you for it” smiles Dora and then nods “Let’s continue the lesson”

Master Eddala nods and starts the lesson from the beginning, making Dora groan.

“The four noble houses of Neth started the Fimbul rebellion after the house Nychta, the royal family at the time, committed a crime so terrible that it was decided decided they could no longer rule the city. Do you remember what crime that was?”

“The King Menos Nychta executed a peasant family, children included, in the very floor of the Ogdra” recites Dora from memory “Such a crime was an offense not only to the people of Neth, but also to the gods”

“Very good. What were the names of the leaders of the four noble houses?” Asks Master Eddala, and Dora notices the lesson as evolved into a test. Clearly it seemed that while Master Eddala had forgiven the lie Dora had told, she would not completely leave her off the hook for it. 

“Zhao Diyu, Hallux Aud, Maxilla Saaga and Alula Drest” with the last one Dora smiled. 

“Ah ah! The Saaga was not a noble house until after the rebellion” reminded Master Eddala with a click of her tongue 

“Ah! Gizza Zasya” corrects Dora with a blush. A stupid mistake! How embarrassing. 

“Indeed” nods Master Eddala “The Lady of the house Zasya sided with the house Nychta, and for that they were punished by taking away their noble title after the rebellion”

Master Eddala continues, the test clearly over as no more questions were asked. 

“Your ancestor ended the rebellion by doing the impossible; winning the Direvoir against king Menos. Such an impossible feat to win against the void Asha, we are thankful for its extinction after the rebellion”

“Not really an extinction when only the Nychta possessed it” mumbles Dora to herself 

“In a way, but The Og made their choice and made sure no one else possessed it” chuckles Master Eddala “Not even nomads have developed”

“How could she win any way?” Asks Dora, bringing the topic back to the lesson “If it was that powerful?”

“Legends say Kek always bets on Direvoirs to the displeasure of the rest of the gods, but that when he bets, he always bets for the loosing side, such is the will of the god of chaos, to create as much as possible in whatever he does” says Master Eddala with a wink towards Dora before continuing “And it is said, that during that Direvoir, Kek bet for Alula Drest, for there was no way for her to win. But the rest of the gods were tired of Kek’s schemes, so they brought forth all of their power to Alula, to make sure she won”

“I’m sure Kek was pretty miffed with that” giggles Dora 

“He was, it was said that he got so angry that he made sure that during Alula’s coronation the rain wouldn’t stop falling” says Master Eddala “Only after Bari interfered, he stopped his grumbling and the sky returned to normal” 

Dora adored the stories of Kek, the god of chaos and lightning, even if he wasn’t her patron, he was always getting in trouble, with only his wife Bari, the goddess of death and fire, being able to solve whatever problems he ended up with. Her favorite was the reason lightning happened during storms; it’s said that lightning appears when Kek is trying to impress his wife, and Bari is a difficult goddess to impress, so he must light up the entire sky with lightning. 

“No Nychta remained alive after the rebellion and Neth prospered without its tyrannical king” finished Master Eddala as she closed the history book “Next-“

“Well” interrupted Dora before Master Eddala could announce the next lesson’s topic “The princess survived, right?”

“Hmm?” 

“Yes! Hyla Nychta, the heir to the throne was saved by a palace guard, Rukh Ardashir, he took her to the Yashma and she crossed into the Outside!” Explained Dora excitedly “The books always said that, Hyla was titled The Gentle, and the palace guard took pity and saved her from execution”

“Tales and history not often coincide” says Master Eddala with sad eyes “Princess Hyla was executed like the rest of her family and she was possibly as wicked as her father. Rukh Ardashir was just a palace guard that helped the rebellion by opening the doors to the palace”

Dora frowns. She had liked that tale when she was younger and had not yet studied the Fimbul Rebellion. 

“Why make up a story with the princess surviving, then?” She asks 

“Many saw the executions as unnecessary, that the Nychta could have been punished in a different way” explains Master Eddala “It’s a way to keep the memory alive, to make sure we don’t forget that a child was killed for her father's crimes, we cannot know if she would have been a good queen or if she would kept things the same. Some, don’t want to think about it, and others prefers gentler endings”

They stay quiet, eyes going back to the fight down at the arena, that now Artemy seems to be winning. 

“Thank you for the lesson today, Master Eddala” says Dora with a headbow “I shall follow your advice and contact Vyshe Ardashir”

“Wait better until after moonrise, it’s too late to wander outside the walls” advices Master Eddala as she, slowly and with difficulty, gets up and bows “We will continue our lesson on another night, maybe we can go over nomad contributions to Neth”

Dora nods and waves at her Master goodbye. 

Since she is going to visit Vyshe Ardashir soon, she should prepare a speech to convince him to train her. 

Yes, that’s a good idea.