Midnight misery :: the in-between :: time warp

This was a bad idea. He could already tell it was. He had a whole discussion with her again, for the umpteenth time. No, it was more that she had had a discussion with him. He just had to say yes or no at the right time, or she would explode. But no matter how many times he told her that he could do nothing about it. His parents didn't listen to him like that and tradition didn't change overnight. She kept harassing him. Maybe because it was obvious what their parents intended for them in the future. Still, this girl would probably be the end of him.

The moon lit the path he took, between icy walls and shallow canals that had the light bounce of the little waves prettily. Taziel had snuck out of the palace, into the upper city and moved towards a place in which only royalty and their closest companions knew of. A small maze of icy coves and tunnels. He had said to meet in the first cove, where they could still see the sky and they had the moon and stars to give them at least some guidance. And a pool of water to practice with.

“Kaiyah?” he whispered as he entered the place. He entered with caution, feeling that he might could have been followed or that he would be first to arrive. Still, he wished he had never offered it in the first place. Maybe after all there was a reason girls shouldn't be allowed to fight.

Being a jack of all trades was deemed a curse rather than a blessing when all that was ever expected of you had been written in the stars for centuries. She was never supposed to track down herds of seals, or craft a decent fishing spear. Rather than being celebrated for bringing food to the table, she would have to tend to the wounds of those who were, listening to their noble achievements in between miserable moans and yelps. Oh, what a bright future that would be.

And to make matters worse, she would have to adhere to all of these traditions while being betrothed to the prince.

Taziel seemed.. alright, though. She’d never been bothered by his existence before, at least. This ridiculous arrangement couldn’t possibly have been his idea, or so she forced herself to believe. But by the spirits, he was dense. If it hadn’t been for her “exceedingly strong skill of persuasion”, he would’ve never agreed to teach her some real waterbending.

A faint smirk played on her lips as she heard footsteps approaching, a familiar quietly calling out her name in what she thought to be a hint of hesitation. She had hidden herself behind a corner of the cove, just a few steps away from the entrance. Perhaps, if she caught him off guard, he would know better than to ever doubt an ambitious woman ever again.

Without warning, she swiftly took her stance, facing the pool of water in front of them in an attempt to ambush him. However, as she revealed herself in the process, the icicles which were supposed to be launched at him were nothing but a sad, splash of water barely reaching the young man’s feet.

She looked down at the puddle, then back up at her betrothed with a dumbfounded expression. ”Bet you didn’t see that coming,” she tried to brush it off with a chuckle, giving him a challenging look.

Kaiyah was, indeed, a jack of all trades, but waterbending had never been a part of her versatile skill set. In fact, she might’ve just been the worst water bender the North Pole had ever known.

The soft tread of feet betrayed that somebody was already there. Taziel assumed it to be Kaiyah, but when suddenly water arose from before him, he took a defensive stance in reflex. To his relief, and presumably Kaiyah's annoyance, it was nothing more than a murder attempt.

Taziel scoffed, looking at her with an unimpressed look in his eyes. He was already irritated, so this session would only go downhill, even if she tried to be funny. Nothing was funny about him dragging himself to some secret cove to teach a girl water bending against his will.

‘‘Oh jee, no. You nearly splashed me to death,’’ he replied sarcastically. He looked at the remains of the water in front of his feet, pursing his lips a little. ‘‘You obviously don't need my help anymore. So let's call it an early night.’’ Taziel stretched his arms above his head with a yawn.

When the familiar figure appeared in front of her, scoffing at the remains of her poor excuse of an ambush attempt, it became clear that this man would’ve preferred his beauty sleep within his comfortable, princely abode over teaching her.

“Very funny.” Kaiyah rolled her eyes at his sarcastic yawn, though having to suppress one of her own in response. She couldn’t blame him for preferring his bed over some icy cove. Every sane member of their tribe would. Yet he didn’t have to be so obvious about not wanting to teach her.

”Don’t tell me you’re scared of fighting a girl,” she continued, crossing her arms as she briefly eyed him up and down. ”Though, perhaps you should be. I won’t go easy on you, you know?” Her voice was laced with a hint of sarcasm, though it was only half a joke. Compared to some of the other men in the tribe, Taziel carried himself with an aura of elegance rather than the strength of a warrior. Perhaps his royal heritage played a part in that, but she liked to believe that his slender build would leave her with less of a disadvantage than she initially would have when challenging a warrior of the opposite gender.

Taziel looked at her with a straight face when he called her funny. He kinda liked her when she was acting like this, rolling her eyes and all that. It was cute. But he forced himself to keep the corners of his mouth down and crossed his arms, only raising his eyebrows at her. Did he look like he was in a joking mood?

When she continued to challenge him, he scoffed at her, not suppressing a humourless chuckle now. “Oh no, I'm trembling where I stand!” he said sarcastically, raising his hands in theatrical defeat. If her splash of water was all she got, he was perfectly fine. He knew what she was thinking: oh he is just a petite prince, from all the men, that's the one I could take on in battle. Most of them taught that way. But he was taught waterbending almost the moment he could walk.

Taziel sighed and took of his gloves, throwing them to the side and walking past her and towards the pool, bending a small stream of water in between his hands. “Okay, fighting girl. Show me what you got.” He sent the stream over water gently over to her, hoping she would at least be able to take hold of it and bend something.