Lessons

"Submit." A soothing, male voice crooned inside the girl's mind. Ice wrapped around her legs and reached up along her body. With every passing second, her chance of victory slipped further and further from her grasp.

"Just relax." The voice said soothingly. Listening to it was dangerous to the girl. The too familiar voice spoke in time to her heartbeat in phrases she'd heard it say many times before.

A shadow passed over her half-frozen body. Looking up, the girl saw the shadowed body of a dragon passing under the sun above her. The dragon's head was lowered and the she could feel its piercing, demanding gaze on her skin.

"You've done extremely well but you don't have to fight so hard." The voice said.

The girl's eyelids fluttered. She was so cold. Her breathing had slowed considerably as the ice was now at her waist. White mist formed as she exhaled.

Fuzzily, she knew she was losing. She'd tried everything, but nothing she could do, none of her magic, could pierce those armor like scale. The voice was wrong. Everything was at stake for her, her heart, her freedom, her life, but she was once again powerless.

The dragon swooped low over her head. It's light blue scale's glittered beautifully in the afternoon sun.

The ice had reached the girl's chest now. Each breath she drew was laborious and took a herculean effort.

"It will be over soon." The voice crooned softly, "Just rest."

The girl foggily knew that if she caved and relaxed the fight would be over. She wanted to fight; she needed to win, but she was so tired.

The dragon landed in front of her. She blinked groggily at it trying to bring her eyes into focus. The dragon watched her expectantly as its ice climbed higher still on the girl's body.

The girl could feel her pulse slowing as she tried to shake her head clear again. She couldn't the ice had reached her chin.

'Why?' she thought fuzzily, 'how can it end like this?' She worked so hard, but it hadn't mattered.

Despair choked her as her eyelids drooped and then closed. The ice covered her head as the girl fell into darkness.

***

11 months earlier:

"Winner, Alexi!" Sarge's clear, strong voice bellowed across the training arena.

The handsome golden-haired boy in the center of the ring, Alexi, lifted his spear tip from the neck of the girl in front of him. To all observers she was ugly. Her murky green eyes were too far apart and magnified like a bug's eyes under her glasses. Her bulbous nose and cheeks were stained a garish red in humiliation and her wide, slightly lopsided mouth was caught in an unpleasant pout. She was splayed across the floor on her back and she resembled nothing so much as a bag of potatoes. She began slowly to make her way to her feet to the whoops and jeers of her classmates.

Alexi reached a hand down to her.

"Here, let me help you up." He said. His words were kind, but his delivery was haughty and supercilious. The girl took his hand anyway and hung her head as he pulled her to her feet. If he noticed that she didn't weigh as much as her size belied, he didn't show it. They walked back to the stadium seating together. "Try to stay on the balls of your feet. It'll prevent you from getting tripped up so easily." He told her as they reached the first row.

"Thanks." She mumbled quietly as they parted ways. Since she turned her back to him, she was unable to see that his dark eyes followed her as she rejoined her two friends.

"Don't look so down, Ro." Her blond friend, Aerie said as she sat down. "You're doing just fine." Ro lifted her head and met Aerie's eyes in confusion. Her friend, Momo, sitting on Aerie's other side quietly spoke up.

"We've all had combat training from a young age, so it's to be expected that you, who haven't, would lose."

"But it's been six straight losses. You'd think I'd be improving at least a little. All my fights end in thirty seconds or less, with me on the floor." Ro said with exasperation.

"But you probably are getting better. It'll just take some time. You'll see." Momo insisted quietly.

"Thanks, Momo. But you guys don't have to lie. I know I am terrible." Momo smiled slightly in reply. It was lovely and rare to see. Momo was very shy and reserved which was counter intuitive to her model-like looks. She had straight, shiny black hair cut into an A-line bob and bright violet eyes that always seemed to sparkle. Her mouth and nose were perfectly formed and pretty. She said she got her facial features from her mother who was a siren, but her hair and her pale skin came from her father's side. She had yet to say what he was.

Momo was the total opposite of Aerie, who was blond haired and blue-eyed. Aerie was beautiful as well but was also tall and built compared to Momo's petite and slight. Where Momo was quiet and shy, Aerie was confident and outspoken. Ro still didn't understand why they weren't more popular, but she felt lucky. If they were popular, they probably wouldn't be friends with her, and their friendship was what she relied most on at this school.

"Next fight, Angelique and," Sarge ran a finger down his clipboard, "Aerie." He called. Aerie stood, smiling and stretching.

"It should be a good fight." She laughed as she began to make her way to the ring.

"We're routing for you!" Ro called and waved. She then looked at the girl, Angelique, who was shooting daggers at her with her eyes.

To say Angelique hated Ro would be an understatement. It was instant aversion between the two of them since the moment they first met. Angelique with her doll like face, her golden-streaked brown hair and her honey eyes, expected everyone to immediately bow to her beauty and charm, and Ro, stubborn and ugly, refused to bow to anyone. To make matters worse, Angelique had selected Momo and Aerie to be her two top subordinates only to find out that they preferred the company of Ro to herself. It was around that time that Angelique had started calling Ro the Nug, for Notably Ugly Girl, a nickname which stuck. Ro, Momo, and Aerie completely ignored this and her, which incised her farther. Now matters were at a standstill, Angelique ridiculing Ro whenever she could and Ro not caring in the least.