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The Rocky Bits, Saturday Morning

"I hate you," Karla sulked, nevertheless holding her stick up in the guard position. "Hate hate hate hatedy hate."

"Now, now, witchling," Lucivar said, a large grin splitting his face, "but sweet talk isn't going to get you out of sparring practice."

It was early, long before breakfast or showers or even coffee. Not that it was possible to tell that from Lucivar's demeanor. He was disgustingly bright-eyed and energetic, twirling his sticks as he prowled around, keeping an eye out for holes in her defenses. It was Lucivar's rule: whenever he and Karla were in the same place, sparring practice had to occur.

Before breakfast. Because no one wanted to dance around in that if someone got poked too hard in the belly.

"How much longer are we doing this?" Karla ~~whined~~ asked calmly and reasonably.

"Until I say you're done," Lucivar replied, swinging his stick towards her legs. "There's all that muscle you need to rebuild after all. Interested in talking about what happened instead?"

Karla blocked his swing and kept her mouth in a grim line. And maybe hoped for other people to show up to foist Lucivar off onto them.

[Open for everyone, participants and spectators alike.]

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"You're right, she does need some more muscle!" Hercules taunted when he arrived on his severely roundabout way of heading to his office.

Of course Ender stopped by to see this, if simply because he'd been warned of it in advance. Valentine had declined coming along, though, citing that she had work to do, and Peter-- well, bringing Peter to see Karla wouldn't be a good idea.

Alai, on the other hand, had followed him down and was looking... a little nonplussed.

"Wow, you guys run quite the bootcamp here," he said. "I can easily picture you running people around like that..."

"It's not really my field anymore," Ender said, and shot him an amused look.

Warren was actually looking forward to this spar with Lucivar. Yes, he was a little rusty. Yes, he was going to have his ass beaten all across the rocky bits. Yes, he needed the refresher course.

His only complaint, really, was that he'd made the mistake of inviting his father along.

... He'd thought that maybe it would be a good way to break it to him that there was a lot that he'd missed since Warren had taken off. It was... going to be a bit over his dad's head. He was okay with that.

Karla shot a frown towards her teacher and Lucivar took the opportunity to knock her on her ass--and then step between her and the strange male. He wasn't picking up any sense of aggression from him, but habits died hard--not that Lucivar was trying to change those habits as it was.

"I'm trying to figure out what happened to all of it," Lucivar called, when he judged Hercules has come close enough. "I don't suppose you know where it went?"

Since Karla wasn't saying...

"Ahh, Warren," Lucivar said, shooting the boyo a pleased smile. Well, pleased with a side of feral. He gave Jr a short nod, remembering all too well their conversation from the last Parents' Weekend. "I was wondering if I would have to come and fetch you. It would have been fun!"

Beat.

"For me."

"That's because he's a bloody martinet," Karla said, trying to talk and defend herself at the same time. Thank the Darkness Lucivar was only running drills at half-speed. She could feel herself reaching the end of her limits already. "Kiss kiss Alai. Good to see you again."

You know, alive.

There was a psychic scent on the island, trailing down the hallways of the inn in which Sadi and Tersa had spent the night, that struck him as all too familiar, and entirely unexpected on an island such as this one.

And there was no way Daemon was going to allow this weekend to pass without investigating.

That he was instigating this investigation with Surreal slung over one shoulder had absolutely nothing to do with anything. At all. Except the fact that she possibly had a bit of explaining to do.

He stopped, just on the outskirts of the rocky bits, and watched, one eyebrow elegantly arched, in silence.

No, Surreal had a lot of explaining to do.

"Put me DOWN, you misbegotten whoreson!" she shrieked, yanking at his hair and doing her best to smash her knee into his nose. "I'll tell Tersa you didn't actually drink your milk!"

"I didn't want you to be too satisfied before we even started to spar," Warren replied, trying to slip into a comfortable smile, and mostly just managing to look like he'd swallowed something unpleasant. Not more than three paces behind him was his father, who seemed torn between hiding behind his son's wings or simply fleeing at the sight of the Eyrien that he remembered too well from his previous visit, and Warren was already regretting having extended the invite. "You're going to mop the floor with me anyhow, there's no reason you couldn't wait until we got started in order for that to happen."

Dinah had been out for her morning walk around the island, and now... Bounce. Owie. "No faaaairs. My turn!"

Yes, despite the casts. Big woo, she still had TK and she was so bored with staying on the sidelines of fighting.

Oh, and, "Hi Lucivar!"

Daemon's eyebrows kept that elegant arch. In fact, if any of Surreal's theatrics did anything at all to catch his attention, it was far more the threat than it was the hair-pulling and the flailing about. He shifted his weight slightly, rearranging her on his shoulder in order to get his face a little more clearly out of the range of her knee.

"And then I'll drink it," he replied, reasonably. "First, do, please, feel free to explain what it is I'm looking at here, Surreal."

Karla was resting after her spar when the unmistakable psychic scent of a Black-Jeweled Warlord Prince reached her. It felt like Saetan's and yet...not. She whipped her head around in time to see a much younger version of her adopted uncle carrying a hissing and spitting witch up the hill.

That was familiar. And there was a bit of pleasure when Karla saw it was Surreal that not-Saetan had slung over his shoulder.

It seemed slightly less surprising to discover that the Prince had more polished and beautiful features than Saetan than it was to realize,

"Hell's fire, he's a Black Widow!"

Karla, WHY DO YOU TALK?!?

"I don't know, she replied, voice venomously sweet. "Beyond two Blood psychic scents. One is the bluebell, I don't know the other. Ask him."

Please, stay distracted, Sadi, so she can call in a blade and practice a kidney shot while upside-down.

That? That right there? That would be Daemon's head whipping around so that he could narrow his eyes at the witch who had opened his mouth.

The temperature of the air around them dropped like a stone.

There was frost starting to form on the stones at Daemon's feet.

And then The Sadist was turning and walking toward Karla.

Was anyone surprised when a few minutes later, Tersa drifted up to see where all of her little ones had wandered off to? "Oh, look!" she said, delighted. "The other boy is here! He looks like he's been drinking milk."

"I don't need to ask him." Daemon lifted his chin slightly, free hand reaching behind his back and closing around Surreal's wrist. "I know him." Terrifyingly well, in fact. "What I want to know is why he's here."

"It's a pleasure to see you again," Alai said, with genuine warmth in his voice. "Though don't let me distract you from your match."

"Hell, Sadi, what part of 'I don't know' didn't you understand?" Surreal bitched, giving him an extra kick for good measure. "If you put me down, I'll stop trying to stab you."

True! ...she'd just take off and ~~hide behind~~ get Tersa to show her more potions.

Lucivar's stomach had dropped like the temperature when he'd caught that same familiar scent. And then Karla had opened her Darkness-bedamned mouth and he had felt the Sadist surface.

Hell's fire, Mother Night, and may the Darkness be merciful. Because his brother would not. "Go to your father," Lucivar snapped, his attention not on Warren in the least. "If I tell you to, you pick him up and go."

And then Lucivar was launching himself in the air and landing between the Sadist and his chosen prey.

"Bastard," he said evenly, keeping his hands by his side and his warblade sheathed. "Fancy seeing you here."

"She'll get thrown around the Rocky Bits no matter what," Ender commented. "Don't worry about it."

For once, Karla was smart enough to keep quiet. This not-Saetan was scaaaaaary.

"SAPPHIRE, SHUT UP!" Surreal yelled, twisting so she could glare at Karla even from her embarrassing position over Sadi's shoulder. "You do not start shit like this in public!"

If anyone was surprised, it certainly wasn't Daemon. He had a good deal of time to grow accustomed to Tersa's comings and goings. Was fond of moments like these, in fact. The slightest of smiles graced his lips as he looked her way.

"I'm certain that milk is the least of what he's been drinking," he noted, amiably. "He seems well."

Karla sulked but didn't respond. Partially because Lucivar was using her divided attention to press his attack and partially because Ender was right, damn it. She couldn't even fight back as effectively as usual.

Damn males. All of them. Right to Hell.

"It's not a match," she grumbled, loud enough to be overheard as she brought her sticks up, but not fast enough to escape getting clipped on the shoulder. "Lucivar just likes hitting."

"If you didn't do whatever you do to yourself, I'd get to hit you less often," Lucivar said easily, reversing his sticks to knock her down. Again.

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The Rocky Bits, Saturday Morning

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