To Bloom

The heat of the day was already getting to Ksateca. As she dressed into her training attire, she could feel sweat clinging to her back and brow. For a moment, she contemplated ditching her training and taking a dip into the pools, but the thought of her instructor’s anger made her stay put. She sighed, blowing strands of hair out of her face.

“You ready, Ksa?”

An arm wrapped around her neck, loose and familiar. Then, a horn bumped to Ksateca’s temple. The touch heated Ksateca’s skin even more, and the reaction shocked Ksateca. With wide eyes, she met Iya’s gaze.

“Are you fine?” Iya asked, smiling but raising one eyebrow in question.

It struck Ksateca how deep the black of Iya’s irises were. If she stared long enough into them, she imagined she’d be forever lost. If—

“Ksa.”

She jumped in her skin. Heat began to flood her cheeks.

“Sorry. I don’t—I don’t—”

Ksateca pressed a hand to her forehead and eyes, mind racing.

“Here. The heat is getting to you, yes?”

Iya handed Ksateca her water skin. Ksateca carefully made sure she didn’t touch Iya’s fingers as she took it and drank from it, sure to not touch the mouth of the water skin with her own. The water made her feel better, and she handed the water skin back to Iya, who was staring at Ksateca.

“Thank you.”

“Not a problem,” Iya said. She smiled, put the water skin away, and clapped Ksateca on the shoulder. “Now come on.” Her hand lingered on Ksateca’s shoulder before she made her exit.

As soon as Iya walked away, Ksateca rubbed her hands over and face. Her mind raced. She had known Iya for years. Since they were children and selected as training partners. She never, ever, had that reaction to Iya. So what was that?

Ksateca couldn’t think more of it when the martial bell rang. She hurried to the arena.

When she entered it, Iya waved her down and gave her a strange look.

“Hurry. Don’t know what took you so long, but Master Chiua is about to begin.”

Ksateca lined up next to Iya, hyper aware of how close she was to touching her. She continued to sweat until Master Chiua appeared from her residence, and started giving instructions.

“Everyone, today we will be practicing your grappling skills. Please start off with your pair. Listen for the switch.”

Ksateca’s stomach dropped. She glanced at Iya who was grinning at her. Iya tapped her arm with her elbow. “Ready to get your ass kicked?”

Heart hammering against her ribs, Ksateca laughed. It came out as a breath, the muscles in her face barely moving. Cotton seemed to line the inside of her mouth. Again, Iya gave her a strange look. But she dropped into a grappling stance, forcing Ksateca to do the same.

Ksateca waited. She mirrored Iya’s slow step as they began to circle around each other, arms up as they gauged each other’s movements. Iya took a small step forward. But it was with her left foot, not her right. Ksateca did not bite. Iya smiled, revealing her sharp canines. The smile reached her beautiful eyes, the dimples in her cheeks accentuating the curvature of her lips. Ksateca briefly wondered what it would be like to kiss her.

Iya took a step forward with her right foot and slipped past Ksateca’s guard. Just like that, Iya was behind her, wrapping an arm around Ksateca’s neck and using her other arm to prevent Ksateca from prying it away. Iya turned to sweep Ksateca off her feet to take her to the floor. Within seconds, Iya’s legs were wrapped around Ksateca’s hips, locking at the ankles to prevent Ksateca from bucking her off.

Ksateca tried. She tried to break the lock around her neck, stealing her breath with every second that passed. She tried to free her other arm, now pulled behind her back. She scrabbled with her heels to loosen the iron-grip Iya had her in.

Black spots began to swim in her vision.

She slapped her one free hand on Iya’s arm wrapped around her neck and Iya released her.

Ksateca struggled to catch her breath. She blinked and blinked, the edges of her vision blurry. She could not hear a damn thing as she rolled to her side and fed her lungs, taking in gulps and gulps of air.

A hand laid on her back as she began to regain her breath. It rubbed soothing circles, and it made every hair on Ksateca’s body stand on end.

“I’m sorry, Ksa. I didn’t—sorry.”

Heat flooded Ksateca’s body. Humiliated, she shook her head, shrugged off Iya’s hand, and stood to her feet. She bowed and accepted defeat, the eyes of her comrades boring into her flesh.

“No need to apologize. You beat me,” she mumbled.

She avoided Iya’s gaze, unable to figure out what was going on in her own head. Master Chiua managed to save her when she clapped her hands and yelled, “Switch!”

Ksateca said nothing more and moved on to the next practice bout, going clockwise to greet her next opponent. She went through the motions, losing each bout until Master Chiua dismissed them for the day, granting her sweet mercy. She sprinted out of the practice arena, ignoring Iya when she called after her.