Flightless Illyrian ( Azriel ff ) (On Hold)

6.

More to Her Than Meets the Eye 1.0

Meissa had just finished her warm up when she heard a low whistle from behind her. She turned around to find Cassian leaning against the banister.

"Oh, you have the Illyrian spirit all right", he drawled, pushing off the wall.

"The others won't even consider waking up for another hour", he scoffed, "and a half", he added, frowning.

"Well, they can sleep in. It's not like they're at a war camp anyway", Mei shrugged, wiping the sweat now sliding down her temple.

"And neither are you", Cass reminded her, not that she needed a reminder. She knew she was no longer in that hell-hole where she had to be cautious of every breath she took.

But Cassian was looking at her without breaking his stare, as if he could see through her. See that it wasn't just out of habit that she'd come up here earlier than she had to.

No, she'd been eager for this to begin. She'd woken up early, buzzing with excitement, had gotten ready and found her way to the training rooms based on the directions she'd gotten from Nuala the previous night.

"No, I'm not at the camp anymore. But the camp is after me", she admitted.

Noting the concern that now flickered in his eyes, she went on, giving him a side smile, "And even if that wasn't the case, I'm just excited to learn from the best."

Cassian snorted at that, "of course you are." Before he could say anything else, another voice came for behind him,

"I thought we were supposed to be training", Azriel murmured, walking towards them. On seeing her, he offered her a small smile.

"Good morning to you too, brother. As always, you're in a delightful mood."

Azriel just rolled his eyes in reply to his brother in arms. Cassian just flashed his teeth at him.

"Right", he said to no one in particular, "Let's begin, shall we?" Both warriors started moving towards the table on which the weapons had been laid out.

"Umm. Before we start", Meissa voiced and both the males halted, turning to face her.

"There's something I wanted to ask you", she said, looking right at Azriel. He nodded at her to go on.

"When you... when you found me", she stuttered, biting her lip, "near the wards I mean, there was a, I mean, I had a blade. I must've dropped it somewhere. I was wondering if it wouldn't be too much trouble to go and look after this session, or maybe– "

Before she could finish, the blade appeared in Azriel's hand and she lurched forward, then stopped herself at their slightly amused reactions.

"Sorry", she grimaced, putting down her outstretched hand.

"It's just, I'm quite attached to that blade". She began explaining, "It is the first blade I'd earned from my father, before that it had belonged to him. It's the first blade that he ever earned actually-", she cut herself off, she was blabbering now, her face getting a bit red.

But there was no judgement on their faces. Az simply walked towards her, extending the blade, handle first, in her direction.

"It's a fine blade. Your father must've felt very proud in giving it to you", he said to her, his eyes soft.

Cassian was at the weapons table now. "Thank you", Meissa said, taking the blade from him. "And for earlier as well", she said just as he began to turn away.

"I never really got to thank you, for finding me and bringing me here. "

Az just shook his head once, "you don't need to thank me."

"I do", she said, taking hold of one of his hands.

She looked at it now. Looked at both his hands. Those beautiful hands, they had been–, those were scars from burns. Someone had hurt him. To go to such an extent... Now wasn't the time to ask about it. As her lips pressed into a thin line, he lightly pressed on her fingers. She looked up at him, swallowing once.

"You could've left me there, or asked a guard to take care of the matter. But, you brought me into your home. So, thank you. For doing all that for just a stranger."

Squeezing once, she let go of his hand and turned to where Cassian was waiting for her in one of the white rings made out of powdered chalk.

"Come on now", Cassian drawled, a mischievous half grin on his face. "I promise, this will hurt only a little"

Meissa huffed a laugh as she set her feet apart in a fighting stance, "Sadly for you, I'm not sure if I can promise you the same." A small, taunting smile curving  her lips. "Don't tell me I didn't warn you."

Cassian's brows lifted up at the challenge, surprise and delight lighting up his eyes, "this is going to be fun", he exclaimed as he thrust his blade towards her.

Note: Hey again. :)

So I've decided to do changing POVs. Expect them to show up anywhere from the next chapter onwards.
I'll try to clarify who's POV it is within the first paragraphs itself.

And just so there isn't any confusion, I'll restrict one chapter to one POV.
However, for this reason some chapters might be slightly shorter.

As always, thanks for reading and showing support by voting <3