Apollodora II

14th night of the month of Ice, 17:58, Moonfall

Artemy blocks when father strikes. Lightning dances along Artemy's arm and he kicks low, aiming to destabilize father but missing and causing father to kick Artemy in the side of his face and causing him to fall to the ground.

"My lady, are you listening?"

Dora jumps and looks to the side where Master Parsimona stares at her with old and patient eyes. And with that, she is back in the real world.

They both knew about Dora's intention with being taught in the same place where her father and brother were training.

The coliseum of the Lunar Palace was an impressive structure, looking similar to the court room of Night Hall but not adapted to house people. The coliseum was made for fighting—Made for Direvoirs, the sacred duel that could crown a monarch—, with a large round arena and minimal seating space around it. Enough to allow Dora to take a lesson comfortably, the only interruption being the echoes of the fight below. It was the reason she had chosen it, wishing to see her father and brother train, even if it affected her studies a little.

"I apologize, Master Parsimona, I was distracted" Dora says as she bows her head in a heartfelt apology that is mostly fake. She is not ashamed, she wanted to watch and maybe learn a move or two, maybe even convince her father of teaching her an asha-neutral move.

"It's okay child, I understand the distraction; a fight such as this attracts watchers" says Master Parsimona with a smile and amusement dancing all over her face. Maybe Dora should also take acting classes, she had definitely not convinced her Master of her fake shame.

They both turn to watch the training session. Father has helped Artemy up and is talking to him in a low voice, probably giving him tips and even some praise, he pats Artemy's shoulder and from her seat Dora can see her brother smiling at the ground in a shy way at whatever father is telling him. She wonders what they talk about, but she's sitting too far to hear.

It makes her both happy and jealous. Happy to see her father acting more like himself after the Baru, and jealous because, as always, father is paying more attention to his heir than to his spare.

It's not strange, Artemy will be king and he needs to be taught. Dora had been taking lessons for her future as Infans with her uncle, but those, for obvious reasons, were over.

"Shall we continue the lesson, my lady?" Asks Master Parsimona and Dora nods absentmindedly

The silence extends for a while, forcing Dora to stop looking at her father and Artemy and look at Master Parsimona, that continues to watch the two also.

"Do you not also take training lessons, my lady?" She asks, her voice gentle but curious.

"Not with father, our ashas are different, after all" says Dora and pouts "I have an asha master, but I've only learned basic control"

There's no need for the Infans to learn to fight. She will not need to duel anyone for her position, not like Artemy will.

She still thinks it unfair. Artemy doesn't get a soft hand in training like she does, where Dora only knows how to defend, Artemy has mastered his vaayard and is able to do impressive moves. It's not only the training sessions that bother her, it is also the lack of connection she feels with her father. She doesn't mention this to Mater Parsimona, that maybe, if she also trained with her brother and father, she would get praise and pats on her shoulder, smiles and tips to fight better.

Master Parsimona hums and the chuckles.

"Such a resourceful lady as you" she laughs "I'm surprised you haven't looked yourself for a better asha master"

"No one would take me" grumbles Dora "Of that, I'm sure"

The moment they see her they would know who she was, and they would treat her like a delicate flower, they would refuse or be too soft.

"Really? Not even the best fire asha user in Neth?" Inquires Master Parsimona, her tone almost a tease "I've heard he dislikes rules and he is a good friend of your brother"

That makes Dora blink in surprise. That…was true. Vyshe Ardashir had been trained to be the best with his asha—that was the same as Dora's— to be able to protect Neth, one of the tasks of the Vyshe that she had never truly understood. If there was someone in the city that would teach her properly would be Vyshe Ardashir, a man that had never shown care for social rules and she had met before—not for too long, since Artemy had dragged him away that single time she had seen him.

"That's…a great idea, Master Parsimona, I thank you for it" smiles Dora and then nods "Let's continue the lesson"

Master Parsimona nods and starts the lesson from the beginning, making Dora groan out loud.

"The four noble houses of Neth started the Fimbul rebellion after the house Nychta, the royal family at the time, committed a crime so terrible that it was decided decided they could no longer rule the city. Do you remember what crime that was?"

"The King Menos Nychta executed a peasant family, children included, inside the Ogdra" recites Dora from memory "Such a crime was an offense not only to the people of Neth, but also to the gods"

"Very good. What were the names of the leaders of the four noble houses?" Asks Master Parsimona, and Dora notices the lesson as evolved into a test. Clearly it seemed that while Master Parsimona had forgiven the lie Dora had told, she would not completely leave her off the hook for it.

"Zhao Diyu, Hallux Aud, Maxilla Saaga and Alula Drest" with the last one Dora smiled.

"Ah ah! The Saaga was not a noble house until after the rebellion" reminded Master Parsimona with a click of her tongue

"Ah! Gizza Zasya" corrects Dora with a blush. A stupid mistake! How embarrassing.

"Indeed" nods Master Parsimona "The Lady of the house Zasya sided with the house Nychta, and for that they were punished by taking away their noble title after the rebellion, the Saaga family was given their noble title for the help they gave to the rebellion"

Master Parsimona continues, the test-punishment clearly over as no more questions were asked.

"Your ancestor ended the rebellion by doing the impossible; winning the Direvoir against king Menos. What was known as an impossible feat, to be able to defeat the void asha, we are thankful for its extinction after the rebellion"

"Not really an extinction when only the Nychta possessed it" mumbles Dora to herself.

"In a way, but The Og made their choice and made sure no one else possessed it" chuckles Master Parsimona "Not even nomads have developed it"

"How could she win any way?" Asks Dora, bringing the topic back to the lesson "If it was that powerful?"

"Legends say Kek always bets on Direvoirs to the displeasure of the rest of the gods, but that when he bets, he always bets for the losing side, such is the will of the god of chaos, to create as much as possible in whatever he does" says Master Parsimona with a wink towards Dora before continuing "And it is said, that during that Direvoir, Kek bet for Alula Drest, for there was no way for her to win. But the rest of the gods were tired of Kek's schemes, so they brought forth all of their power to Alula, to make sure she won"

"I'm sure Kek was pretty miffed with that" giggles Dora.

"He was, it was said that he got so angry that he made sure that during Alula's coronation the rain wouldn't stop falling" says Master Eddala "Only after Bari interfered, he stopped his grumbling and the sky returned to normal"

Dora adored the stories of Kek, the god of chaos and lightning, even if he wasn't her patron, he was always getting in trouble, with only his wife Bari, the goddess of death and fire, being able to solve whatever problems he ended up in. Her favorite was the reason lightning happened during storms; it's said that lightning appears when Kek is trying to impress his wife, and Bari is a difficult goddess to impress, so he must light up the entire sky with lightning to do so.

"No Nychta remained alive after the rebellion and Neth prospered without its tyrannical king" finished Master Parsimona as she closed the history book "Next-"

"Well" interrupted Dora before Master Parsimona could announce the next lesson's topic "The princess survived, right?"

"Hmm?"

"Yes! Hyla Nychta, the heir to the throne was saved by a palace guard that took her to the Yashma and she crossed into the Outside!" Explained Dora excitedly "The books always said that, Hyla was titled The Gentle, and the palace guard took pity and saved her from execution"

"Tales and history not often coincide" says Master Parsimona with sad eyes "Princess Hyla was executed like the rest of her family and she was possibly as wicked as her father. No palace guard interfered, for they, more than anyone else, knew the true self of the royal family.

Dora frowns. She had liked that tale when she was younger and had not yet studied the Fimbul Rebellion. Her mother used to read it to make her fall asleep.

"Why make up a story with the princess surviving, then?" She asks in confusion.

"Many saw the executions as unnecessary, that the Nychta could have been punished in a different way" explains Master Parsimona "It's a way to keep the memory alive, to make sure we don't forget that a child was killed for her father's crimes, we cannot know if she would have been a good queen or if she would kept things the same. Some, don't want to think about it, and others prefers gentler endings"

They stay quiet, eyes going back to the fight down at the arena, that now Artemy seems to be winning.

"Thank you for the lesson today, Master Parsimona" says Dora with a headbow "I shall follow your advice and contact Vyshe Ardashir"

"Wait better until after moonrise, it's too late to wander outside the walls" advices Master Parsimona as she, slowly and with difficulty, gets up and bows "We will continue our lesson on another night, maybe we can go over nomad contributions to Neth"

Dora nods and waves at her Master goodbye.

Since she is going to visit Vyshe Ardashir soon, she should prepare a speech to convince him to train her.