BREATH OF LIFE

13: fight

Warnings: none I can think of

SPARRING BECAME A CONSTANT FOR AMINAH. Usually, she sparred with Cinder or Ling. She never fought Wolf — she didn't have a gift to practice on him — but he did watch. Aminah got the feeling that offering advice and giving pointers were some of the only times any semblance of his normal self showed up. Not that she knew what that was.

Aminah ignored half the advice, though she knew she'd need it. Maybe it was confidence of having learned to fight her whole life, or maybe it was her inability to realize someone other than her mother cared for her. But his advice went in one ear and out the other.

Sometimes they had people watch their fights. Thorne, especially, liked to narrate the fights based on what he could hear. Sometimes her, Cinder, and Ling did a small tournament to lighten the mood. They tried to get others involved, but Iko was the only one who did — but Aminah wasn't sure how much what she learned would stick without having martial arts programming. Cress accepted a few lessons for the basics, though she didn't participate in anything more. She seemed much more comfortable working from the background than the frontlines. It wasn't safe for Thorne to fight unless absolutely necessary, and Kai flat out refused. That was fine. If their plan (whatever it was) went well, he'd never even be close to a fight.

Today, though, wasn't a day for tournaments. It was just her and Cinder. They talked during the fights, sometimes, when things got slow. Now was no different.

They circled each other. "You went to school, right?" Cinder asked.

"You didn't?" Aminah said. It had never occurred to her that Cinder hadn't, though she probably would have known. Or maybe not — she didn't pay attention to many people.

"Adri never sent me." Aminah had gathered that Adri was her stepmother. "And I have a computer in my brain. It was never needed."

Aminah blocked a punch from Cinder's metal hand, the hand hitting her arm with a thud that would leave a bruise tomorrow. "Right." She countered with a kick. Cinder dodged. "I keep forgetting about that."

Cinder attempted a kick to sweep Aminah's legs out from under her. Aminah moved back, and they resumed their circling. "Most people can't forget about it."

Aminah shrugged. "Guess I've learned to ignore the parts of people that set them apart. Can't really judge people when my existence probably breaks like, fifty treaties."

"We'd be lucky to have that many treaties with Luna," said Cinder. "Right now we have at least two."

"You'll have to add that to your list of things to get done when you're queen."

"Trust me, it is." Cinder's voice lost the teasing tone, thinking off all the things she would have to change. Aminah was sure she would add more and more before she was even close to the throne.

While she was distracted, Aminah lunged at Cinder. Her momentum was used against her, and Aminah hit the ground with a thud.

Aminah rolled onto her back to find Cinder standing above her, a triumphant smile on her face. "I think that means I've won."

Aminah pulled herself off the ground, trying to find all the places she would bruise tomorrow. "I guess so."

Normally, they would start another round. Instead, they continued talking.

"You didn't live very far from me, did you?" Cinder asked.

Aminah hopped onto one of the crates, leaning forward on her elbows. "You lived in the Phoenix Apartments, right?" Cinder nodded. "My building was on a the same street."

Cinder hummed as they both considered how close their lives had come to crossing before now. They had lived on the same street, had walked the same routes. Aminah had spent her weekends at the market Cinder used to work at. She may have even been a customer a few times.

Cinder got that faraway look she had whenever she was looking at something in her retina display. "We have thirty minutes until our meeting. We should get cleaned up."

—

LING WAS TIRED OF THEIR PLAN GOING NO WHERE. The frustration was palpable as they went in circles. Even Aminah, who winged everything (and Ling meant everything), was getting frustrated.

Here's what they had: when they decided there had been enough time, they would return Kai to Earth. He would convince Levana to hold the wedding on Luna, and while they were flying there, the rest of them would sneak onto Kai's ship. They hadn't worked out the specifics of how yet, but that problem paled in comparison to their other ones. Once they got on Luna, where did they go?

Ling, who undoubtedly knew the layout best, had no idea. Everything was too well guarded, and they had no allies in places that weren't. They would be caught immediately. No one would want to hide them. And the people that would? Ling had expanded the list from Kalise and her family to include Kalise's family as well (she was uncertain about this, but Kalise had to have gotten her rebellious tendencies from somewhere). All of them lived in Artemisia, and it was too risky to start a rebellion that close to the palace.

The problem was so simple, yet so complicated at the same time: they had no allies.

"I almost have the speech done," Kai said when the silence had stretched on too long. "A few more edits and we can film the video." Right. The video announcing Cinder's status as Princess Selene. The video they had no use for.

Why had Ling even agreed to help? She had seen it as a way out, a way to maybe see her family again. At this point, she would have bad better luck breaking out of jail on Luna than joining Cinder.

But she knew why she had joined. She wanted Levana gone. She wanted her family to be safe. Most of all, she wanted her sister, and the only way she could get her was if Cinder freed the shells. And so here she was.

"I'll figure out how we'll play the video," said Cress. "But it would be best received in an outer sector."

Here they were again.

Now they just needed a plan, and a pilot.

—

CINDER ENDED THE MEETING. She gave them an hour, then they'd come together and see if they'd come up with anything else.

They cleared out, and before she knew it, Ling and Kai were the only ones left in the room.

Kai hesitated to move, as if unsure where to go. Ling was feeling similarly, but after Kai looked almost afraid to look at her, she felt something inside her snap.

"I'm not going to hurt you, you know." Kai flinched. "It would be pretty sad if I was able to hurt you, wouldn't it?" She jumped off her crate to show just how big their size difference was. Kai was nearly a head taller than her, and clearly well fed.

Ling, on the other hand, barely cleared five feet and had never had enough food in her life.

"I'm sorry."

Ling tilted her head. "You're not." Kai straightened, as if just remembering he was the emperor of an entire continent. Ling continued to examine him. "Are you scared of me?"

Kai blinked. "Am I — what?"

"Are you scared of me?" Ling asked again. "You act like it. Or like you hate me. Aminah, too. Avoiding us. You know, we're the only ones you still avoid. You're fine with Wolf and Cress, and stars know you're fine with Cinder. What is it with us?"

"I don't hate you," said Kai, fingers dug into his skin. "And I'm not scared of you."

"Then why do you avoid us?" Ling challenged. "We're not threats to you."

"You said you were in Thaumaturge training." Ling froze, in the middle of preparing her next tirade. So, this was about him thinking she was an aristocrat.

"I was."

"Why?"

"Didn't have a choice." Ling left without saying anything else. He didn't deserve it.