The characters of Nicodemas and Erad are borrowed while Cixi is mine. I have been playing around with an idea for a story and the relationship between these three characters interested me. So I have playing around with some "what if" scenarios. If I ever write anything seriously, I will most likely be changing some names around. Definitely don't want to be stealing characters.
The door slammed with a loud finality, shaking the frame it hung in. Nicodemas had stayed upstairs, listening to the yelling that had come from below. It was unsettling hearing the two of them go at it, Erad and Cixi. They never screamed, especially at each other. But it was all over now. The only thing left was the angered brooding silence hanging thick in the air.
"You shouldn't be so hard on her," Nicodemas replied, trying to keep his voice as low as possible, making his way down the stairs, "Youth are prone to making mistakes. You know that better than most."
In all the time Nicodemas had known Erad, he had never seen him so visibly enraged. Erad was usually calm and distanced. But not tonight. Tonight, Erad's eyes burned and his white knuckled fists would not unclench themselves. Nicodemas tried to reach out and place a calming hand on his friend's shoulder, but Erad only shrugged it off, pacing to the other side of the room.
"She was given implicit instruction never to use that technique on anyone unless it meant the loss of her life. And she ignored it," Erad growled out through clenched teeth, "Not only ignored it, but used it against a friend."
"Well let's be honest, Cixi and Calendre aren't really friends at this point."
Erad threw a glowering look into Nicodemas' direction. Nicodemas quietly sighed, lowering himself into a chair near the fireplace.
"I know. I know," Nicodemas replied, "That's beside the point. Look, she made a mistake, Erad. One I'm sure that she won't make again. But you can't simply refuse to train her over it. You have to take her back as your student. She was starting to do so well under you. The Commander was just beginning to think something of her. You stop training her now and you take all that away."
"You didn't see her fighting out there, Nic. I did."
Some of the fury was starting to ebb away from Erad's tone, being replaced with something else. Some other emotion that was just as burning.
"She executed that move without so much as flinching. Not a spec of doubt in her eyes. She did it just to see if she could best Calendre."
"But she never actually intended to strike Calendre down with it. Cixi said so herself," Nicodemas pointed out. "She was just showing off, trying to make Calendre back down."
"And that is what makes it worse."
Erad finally slid into the chair across from Nicodemas, leaning his head back and staring at nothing. He ran his fingers through his silver-white hair. Nicodemas didn't say anything. The silence was still heavy, but less charged than before, as if someone had opened a window and traded anger for regret and disappointment.
"Our Cixi would have never tried something like that on anyone," Erad began, his words forming slowly on his lips, "At least not before she started training under me. I had thought perhaps I had changed. That maybe I could pass on my knowledge differently this time. But I suppose that monsters can only make monsters."
"You aren't a monster, Erad," Nicodemas whispered.
"And yet I watched as one of the most gentle people I know decided to practice killing on one of our friends just to see if she had mastered it. So tell me, what else would you call that?"
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