"Again." Pharos' voice was hard, unforgiving and implacable, as he settled back into his stance, wings spread wide, watching her climb back to her feet from the last of countless times he had managed to disarm her and bring her to the ground.

Verana was frustrated, she was sore and she was beginning to think that she would never get accustomed to the movement of wings, blades and body, letting out a growl. "I fight better without them."

She was a better Feysha than she was a Vayan, of that he had made certain to show her. But he also refused to let her fight with her wings pinned to her back.

"Not any more, you don't." He shook his head and watched her fall back into the stance he had taught her, raising a brow until she had opened her wings just so and had her weight balanced exactly how he had required. In fact, the only part of her fighting style that she had really been allowed to keep was her own blades. Pharos was teaching her how to fight all over again. "You have wings. You will be more likely to fight someone with wings. If you leave them as dead weights on your back, or only use fight or flight as two separate options, you will never have any advantage, you'll actually be hobbled."

Verana nodded and fell into the slow movements he was using to teach her, focusing on her form and each separate position more than the speed. She fell into a pattern with him that allowed her to force her body to learn to work together, as she seemed to master each speed, Pharos would increase it, not unlike how Sencha had taught her as a child.

They had flown all morning, more of the lessons that he had started on the flight over here, but focusing on more than just long distance movement. He ran her through turns and accelerations, changes of directions, rapid responses to changing winds and obstacles. Pharos had taught her every little thing she had never thought of needing to do then pushed her to her limits and beyond, until she had barely been able to fly back to the practice fields in view of the palace.

He had allowed her enough time to stop sweating and eat, before they had begun the fighting drills for hours. Verana was exhausted, had not even had the time to think since she had woken up earlier. Pharos had found her that morning in the small garden attached to her room, staring out over the mountains that stretched into the distance beyond the low wall that topped the cliff. Just below the garden, on another tier, there was a path that guards patrolled every so often, though they didn't stop to speak with her.

Her mind drifted as she began to think about the night before, only to find her instructor taking advantage of her distraction and taking her to the ground. As Verana climbed to her feet, she realized he had sheathed his blades and was waiting for her, "Oh, we're done?"

"Yes. It is nearly dark, but we will make it in time for supper." Pharos said simply, offering a shrug. Not that he had explained to her his plan for the day before. "You may not see it, but you're learning. You are a good student and everything you know will come in handy, once you figure out everything you don't know. It just needs time to fall into place."

She glanced out over the mountain range, letting the cool, thin air chill her skin, offering a shrug. "I feel as if everything I know is completely useless now."

He stepped up beside her, nodding and following her gaze, his presence oddly calming. "It is, for now. But give it time. If you give up, you'll never know how great it'll all work together."

"Why am I here?" Verana asked softly, glancing to him, feeling the frustration pull the words out bitterly. "I can't help feeling that it would have been a lot easier for all of you, if I had stayed gone. I can't understand why you all came to get me in the first place."

"Depends what's easier." He shrugged, his expression pained for a moment as he glanced down to her. Did she sense worry in him? "Your brother never knew he had a sister. But still, he knew his obligation was to Kin, from the moment he saw you in those mountains. Your mother has never forgiven the Oracles for the choice she had to make, and I haven't seen her smile so much as when she was able to watch you because of Vasha's scrying stone."

"And you?" Verana asked softly, side glancing to him, because he was a mystery to her. This man who had stepped into a role she had never needed before. The Feysha never cared much for individual parents, yet just as she was losing Sencha, here Pharos was.

He grinned. "I never forgave her for taking you away. We may have grown to love each other, perhaps, if things had worked out differently. I gave her her heir, but I would not move beyond friendship. My anger at her has lessened over the years, but it had never allowed me to be more than her friend and advisor. That pain and anger came right back when I knew exactly who you had become without me there at your side, that you had already been fighting and risking your life. My life is easier now, having you here, being able to teach you, as I should have done when you were a child."

Verana fell silent, mulling over those thoughts, nodding slowly. "So though my presence scared you, and them. Though it throws everything you've ever known, out of whack, you wanted me here."

"You are a wild card, Verana. I fear you will always scare the wits out of me... but yes, to all the rest, we had faith that we could figure it out. Come on, it's time to eat dinner." And with that, he took off flying towards the palace.

She waited for a long moment, realizing that she was looking east, toward home. She closed her eyes for a moment as a wave of melancholy washed over her, before she leapt into the air and followed him.

As they landed, she could see Pharos tense, though she quickly realized that he had unknowingly led her into an area of the keep where a great many strangers still gathered. Verana only had to glance around, seeing their formal dress and rich clothing, to realize this was at least part of the Vayan Court. It was similar to the Clairvalan one, on first appearance, at least enough that she could vaguely understand what was going on.

Pharos let out a sigh, resigned and tense, his word a low murmur. "I thought they would be done by now. Usually a day in Court ends before the dinner meal is served. I would have taken you around back if I had known."

Verana shook her head as she glanced around, letting her wings fall a bit more open, giving him a side glance, her words only loud enough for him to hear, "No. It's alright. What do I need to know?"

"Without Queen and Prince in attendance, you are the highest ranking Vayan here, if someone does not provide enough deference to that, I'll do my best to warn you." Pharos glanced around, though he didn't explain how he knew Vasha and their mother wasn't there." You just hold your ground, the wider your wings spread, the more dominant you are, until they back down." Pharos tensed with violence about the same time her nose caught an unfamiliar scent and she snapped her attention in the same direction he was looking.

Verana had not seen Pharos get so primally ready for battle before and she frowned as she saw an outsider. Where the Vayans were taller and well built compared to most humans, this man was taller than most Vayans sitting down and he rippled with muscular bulk that didn't look unwieldy on his frame. The man appeared young, though she didn't know enough to judge, younger than Pharos at least. His hair was jet black, his skin a reddish brown colour and his wings had hooked claws where they were able to join on his chest, the skin of them more reddish than the dark grey of the Vayans.

"Who is that." She murmured softly, noticing that though he was alone, he was discretely surrounded by a dozen Vayan guards, though the man was attempting to appear unaffected by it. She could smell the violence on him, but even more, the curiosity as he took in the crowd with a feigned casualness.

He would be ready to fight if someone attacked.

Pharos let out a slow breath, shaking his head ever so slightly. "That is the envoy from Rulin. There's never been one in court and he claims that Rulin wishes to speak of setting up talks of peace. The Queen has not seen him yet. We're still trying to figure out why he's really here."

She could smell the restrained violence in Pharos, just as surely as she picked it up from the man who was now watching her from across the court. She looked up to Pharos, raising a curious brow. "Would it violate protocol if I spoke to him before the Queen?"

"Protocol? No." And as she nodded and started walking across the court, she smelled the sharp jolt of fear followed by resignation and finally a renewed scent of violence from Pharos.

She didn't need to look behind her to know that Pharos was glaring death at the man as they approached him, she could even hear the creak of leather under Pharos' hands as he gripped his sword hilts tightly.

Whether he was cowed, or understanding of his precarious situation, the Rulin man did not move until she stopped before him. He offered her a deep bow before lifting his head to meet her eyes, a little defiantly. He expected scorn, or derision, she could almost taste it palpable in the air between them. "Princess."

He spoke nearly the same language but with an accent that made it seem more of a growl than spoken word. And she noticed that he lifted his nose ever so slightly, as if trying to catch her scent, his eyes were a deep bronze colour, shining metallically as they caught the torchlight. Verana smelled smoke, sea breeze and dark forests on his scent, but also cold air and stone as mountains. Though he did not have a weapon on him, she could also smell the scent of leather and metal that made her recognize him as a warrior before he was a politician.

"I apologize, but I do not know your name." She said softly, offering him her hand to shake, followed by a firm smile as he clasped her wrist and gave her arm a firm squeeze.

"I am General Byzan, of Rulin." He offered, letting go of her arm, looking slightly off balance, as if unprepared for such direct greeting.

She supposed that what little she knew from the reluctant answers of Pharos throughout the day, the man had probably expected to be killed upon landing in Vayana. She didn't know a lot of their history, but she had pieced together that they had never gotten along.

Verana smiled once more, allowing him to see the sharp points of her teeth. "I am Nama Veranandein Neeria. I understand you are here as an envoy, not an easy job when it's never happened before in recent memory."

He chuckled, glancing at the guard, then back at her his expression growing in curiosity, even as he relaxed a bit more. "It hasn't happened before at all. We're all learning a new set of rules here, I believe."

"Sometimes when the world needs us to change, we have no choice. We meet the challenge or we are lost." She shrugged carefully, letting out a soft breath. "I hope your stay here is as pleasant as it can be, away from home and familiar faces. That this long trip and the distance from your people are worthwhile sacrifices with the meaning you hope for."

He was still, weighing her words for a long moment, before glancing her up and down as if she were the strangest thing in the world. "Aye.. I'm quite certain it will."

She pressed her palms together, bowing her head over them and murmured. "Earth's blessing to you, General Byzan. Swift wings and strong waters until you are able to return home."

"And... you as well Princess... " He blushed looking a little off-put, confused by the Feyshan greeting, and even more unsteady because he didn't recognize it. She had him off balanced and it was something he was not used to.

But she wanted him to be unsettled, could smell his guard shifting, less violent and more uncertain, thoughtful.

Whatever hatred was in his heart, he also had the ability to be more than a killer, she could sense honesty in him as he spoke. After a simple nod she turned, following the direction Pharos motioned, grinning to herself. Verana ignored the rest of the court as she walked out of the room and towards where food was supposed to be, at least she believed that's where she was going, where Pharos was directing her. Her escort was still bristling with tension as they moved, but she glanced at him and flashed him a smile.

Pharos rolled his eyes and chuckled, shaking his head. "Never a dull, predictable day with you, is there?"

Verana laughed and shook her head, drawing a smile from the man.