“We are, but you were always a nightmare to train. You got better once we made it here, but back in the pits? It was like teaching a child table manners,” Trevan countered. “Don’t deny it.”
“Whatever,” Emerian mumbled, looking away. She reached out and squeezed his arm, trying to comfort him before turning back to her Elvasi.
“We decided to leave sparring off the plan today and sit in and get some education from you. You didn’t give him full lessons, not that anyone expected you to. I think it’s important to his education, though.”
“That’s fine. You can help me, and he can go hang out with the others. You know all of this.” Trevan waved Emerian to stand with the other Andinna, who made space for him in the front row. She watched carefully, making sure none of them tried anything against her half-Elvasi mutt. He belonged to her now, and she would gut any of them for bullying him.
Trevan launched back into his lesson. Mave found a spot to stand next to Kian, who threw an arm over her shoulder. Trevan talked and talked and talked, asking questions as he went. Emerian, as Mave noted proudly, answered most of them, obviously attentive to everything Trevan was saying.
“He’s a good student,” Kian noted softly as the warriors moved into a circle around Trevan to watch him demonstrate something. “Emerian.”
“He is,” she agreed.
“What are you going to do about his plain face?” her father asked. “I know you hated being that way, so I figured you would have already forced him to get his tatua done.”
“He’s not ready,” she said softly. “Last year, I would have, but after seeing him over the last few seasons and watching him, he’s not ready.”
“The first tatua doesn’t need someone to be ready, daughter. It just makes him an adult. He’s your age. I know Luykas and Alchan held off since he wanted to wait because he’s a mutt and shit, but it’s been over a year. He’s here, and he’s living our lifestyle now.”
She agreed with all of that, but something was missing. “He…” She couldn’t put her finger on it for a moment and watched the training continue as she thought about it. Trevan was showing the warriors how the Elvasi use the net. The Andinna had stolen dozens of Elvasi weapons just for training exercises like this. She looked at Emerian, watching intently.
“He’s not Andinna yet,” she finally said softly. “He’s so close, but there’s something missing.” The right word came finally as she watched more. “He’s missing passion,” she decided. “There’s something every Andinna has in them, even the ones I hate. Passion. A violent passion. We laugh when we fight. We cheer as blood is spilled. He’s not there yet, and I think he needs to be there for him to truly embrace being Andinna and getting his tatua.”
“He won’t have that until he goes out to fight,” Kian whispered, leaning in. “Does that mean you plan on bringing him with us on our next missions?”
“Yes,” she confirmed, nodding slowly. “He’s ready enough for that, and I think he needs to take that last step. He’s not like me and Luykas. Luykas, from his own stories, was able to find his place in Anden before he reached adulthood, and I always craved acceptance among Andinna. Neither of us ran from being Andinna. Emerian did. I don’t blame him, but he did. I don’t think tatua is just adulthood for him, but a final decision between his Elvasi and his Andinna natures. First, we need to find out how deep his Andinna nature really is.”
“When did you become so wise?” her father asked, sighing. “I can’t say I disagree with you when you put it that way.”
“Blame Alchan and Luykas. They’re the ones who made the decision. I’ve just found myself agreeing with them.”
Kian chuckled. “The king and his ivory shadow once again prove to be smarter than everyone else.”
“What?” Mave frowned at the usage of ‘Ivory Shadow.’
“No one ever told you the story?” Kian tilted his head to the side as he looked at her. “That’s how we got our name. As they were growing up, Luykas got the nickname of being Alchan’s ivory shadow. He followed Alchan everywhere. They were never really apart. When we discovered Alchan was the new king, Luykas was the first to pledge himself to Alchan as a member of the royal guard. Those of us who were there and