The dark shadows under Graynin's eyes were so apparent that Ryder could see them from across the arena. Graynin had been watching her for five nights now, sleeping upright in a high back armchair he brought from his own room. He had contained at least one 'outburst' that she knew of. Caused by the same dream about.... Him. Which of course she did not share with him.

Then she had to face Tairin, whom it seemed she wasn't permitted to have a moment alone with any more. The guilt she felt when around him mounted every night she slept better. She wasn't sure why the dreams had softened the only practical answer was Graynin. And that made her feel utterly despicable.

Ryder was pulled back to the warm, bright, day in the sparring arena by a tap on her shoulder. She looked to see Eva beaming at her. Eva was an Earth Nymph that had arrived four days ago to join Ryder's team of tutors. Eva seemed to be the exact opposite of Jade, she was a bubbly creature, with big brown eyes and her brown hair was cut in a flirty way so it barely brushed her shoulders. Ryder guessed Eva was just over five feet tall if she stretched her neck.

It was hard to believe that the young face that stared at her was almost two-hundred years old. To Ryder she looked like she couldn't be much older than herself.

Eva's lessons had a hidden edge to them, just like her. The earth is more about concealment and setting traps rather than attacking the enemy directly, the way it is done with the other elements. Eva explained that the earth is patient, it's timeless, all the other elements come and go, but the earth is constant. She is a patient hunter, and has no need to chase her pray, all pray falls to her in time.

The ruthlessness of the reality of which Eva described, coming from such a bubbly girl, seemed to make it that much more intense. Both creatures seeming unsuspecting, the best disguise of all.

"Feel like running through some sparring?" Eva asked eagerly. She was practically bouncing with excitement.

"You hungry for some more of my blood, you little sprite." Ryder asked with narrowed eyes and a suspicious smile.

"I don't know what that is." Eva shrugged, her innocent brown eyes twinkling.

"Well it's you." Ryder smirked. "That's all you really need to know."

"Shall we?" Eva asked, slipping through the split rail fence.

Graynin and Pierce were taking a break standing in the shade by the entrance of the barracks, talking quietly. Tairin was on the other side of the barracks with Jade, learning to throw knives. Ryder's jealousy stirred. She hated how much of an interest Jade had taken in him. Ryder could swear that on multiple occasions, Jade would let her hand linger on Tairin's arm a bit too long. Ryder was beginning to despise the tall, thin, redheaded goddess.

"Let's do this." Ryder said too calmly as she jumped the fence, to join Eva.

Facing off, Ryder was not about to make the same mistake she did two days ago, when she underestimated Eva, and got her ass kicked. Eva's size was not her weakness as Ryder had foolishly assumed. She had been trained very similarly to Ryder, to fight in the style that fits you, not the way you think others fight. In a situation where you're fighting for your life it doesn't matter how pretty your technique is, or if you're following the rules. All that matters is that you destroy your opponent before they have the chance to destroy you.

Both unsuspecting women bowed their respects and then the niceties ended. Ryder quickly closed the gap between striking first, but Eva deflected it with ease.

Eva fluidly turned her defense into an attack, striking Ryders ribs, but Eva left an opening. Ryder grabbed tight to Eva's forearm spinning her around causing Eva to leave her neck exposed. Ryder was so close to having the choke, but Eva was too fast and tucked her chin just in time.

Eva shot her hips back into Ryder, and yanked her off the ground. It was the same throw Ryder had used on the bear of a man, who had attacked her in the apricot orchard all those weeks ago. Ryder landed hard on her back, with Eva landing on top of her.

Despite the swirling stars in her eyes, Ryder never let go of Eva's neck. In their struggles Eva made a mistake, she lifted her chin. In that split-second Ryder's arm slid into home and squeezed like a boa constrictor. Her legs coming up to wrap around Eva's tiny waist to complete the serpent technique in its entirety.

Eva thrashed like the trapped mongoose she was, but it was no use. She was forced to tap her submission or face the embarrassment of being woken by smelling salts.

With the tap Ryder instantly released Eva, who rolled off Ryder onto the sand where she hacked trying to catch her breath. Ryder remanded lying on the sand, her now free hands instantly messaging the pain thumping in her sternum.

"How was that?" Ryder panted.

Eva looked up from the sand, an annoyed but respectful look on her face, "That was pretty great."

A solitary slow clap disrupted their reprieve. Ryder pushed herself up to a sitting position, to see Pierce clapping as he and Graynin walked towards them.

"Quite impressive Ryder. I haven't seen many people beat Eva." Pierce said admiringly, while bestowing a dazzling smile.

"It was just luck, I bet I couldn't do it again." Ryder said, unable to hold back a twitch of pride.

"Don't belittle yourself. Pierce is right, it's rare that I get beat." Eva said, also sitting up, dusting the sand from her chest. "You're a quick learner, I can already see your improvement within the last few days. I wouldn't be surprised if in a month you were taking Graynin down on a regular basis." Eva gave Graynin a coy smile.

"Yeah and while I'm at it, I'll be schooling all of you in the elements." Ryder laughed. Both Pierce and Eva stiffly forced a laugh, exchanging sidelong looks. Graynin simply gave a half smile, but Ryder could see he was less uncomfortable with her comment than the other two, his grey blue eyes seeming to flash with curiosity.

Pierce, who was standing closer to Eva, reached out and offered her his hand, his long black hair falling forward over his shoulder. With one effortless move he pulled Eva up, who landed on one foot with the grace of a ballerina.

Graynin's hand came into Ryder's view, she stared at it confused for a moment. Then she realized he was actually offering to help her up. This was certainly out of character. Her eyes wandered up the strong arm to the handsome face, with his striking features emphasizing the intensity of his grey blue eyes. She wondered when he found time to actually style his perfect hair. She never noticed him even looking in the mirror, and they had been sharing a bathroom for the better part of a week.

Without realizing it her hand found his, and his exposed forearm muscle flexed as he hoisted her up.

She quickly pulled her hand from his. "Thanks." She said flustered, she didn't like the way she was reacting to his touch. "Well I've got sand everywhere. Do you think we can call it a day?" She looked between her two tutors and Graynin, who had yet to officially teach her anything.

"Yes, I think we can be done for the day." Pierce said looking to his colleagues for confirmation.

Eva nodded vigorously in approval, "You truly did excellent today"

Graynin gave a single nod.

"How about we take her into town? She hasn't seen it yet and I think it's about time she saw what Esera is like outside of Athos' stuffy estate." Eva's enthusiasm was palpable.

Graynin and Pierce exchanged looks.

"Why not." Was Graynin's shocking answer.

Eva jumped with excitement, "Perfect! Let's all go get cleaned up and meet in the foyer."

She grabbed Ryder's hand and began dragging her in the direction of the house. Ryder dug her heals in, pulling back against Eva's surprisingly strong hold. "Wait. We need to tell Tairin."

"Don't worry, they're coming too. Pierce will tell them when Jade is done with his lesson." She gave Ryder a reassuring smile, "I wouldn't try and keep you away from Tairin, I promise. Don't worry I'm on your side, I don't like Jade, or Graynin very much for that matter."

"What do you mean? Why would anyone want to keep Tairin and I apart?"

Eva's smiling face went flat. "Oh, it's nothing. They're both just solitary creatures and hate to see other people happy. That's all." Eva quickly turned from Ryder towards the house, "Come on, let's go get ready!" She called back from what was practically a sprint.

Ryder stole a glance at Tairin and Jade practicing. Tairin threw a knife quick and straight, into the canvas target. Tairin seemed to be practically thriving in their odd situation. She turned and began to run after Eva, not sure what emotions she was feeling.

***

Ryder emerged from the bathroom, her scalp still gritty with sand despite her desperate efforts, to find Eva sitting on her bed. Her short hair was braided in an intricate way, and somehow made her doe eyes look that much more doe-ish.

"You want to hear something a bit more real?" Eva asked eyeing Ryder as if deciding if she's old enough to hear the story.

"My god, yes please." Ryder said with exasperation, as she buttoned up the fancy blouse Eva had laid out for her.

"Alright, I guess I can tell you one of my stories then." Eva said, her eyes beginning to twinkle with mischief. "So, as you already know the political power has fallen to the Mids who have embraced it whole heartedly. It's no surprise then, that they love to show it off with expensive parties, and by the level of power of both elemental and political guest who attend. For Mids to get high ranking Nymphs, Daemons, and Souladeux to attend is the highest form of showing off. It suggests that the Mid has gained enough respect to get stubborn, aggressive Long-Liveds to make the effort of attending an event that is basically the antithesis of what they are." Eva leaned in as if about to divulge a secret, "Some Mids have even grown arrogant enough to think they can control high power Long-Liveds." A dark expression claimed her face, saying more than words.

For the first time Ryder saw the depth of power and wildness contained in Eva. She might be bubbly, but now there was no doubt that she was capable of anything.

"Over the last few hundred years these parties have actually grown in popularity amongst the Long-Liveds because it's a good way to make connections and keep tabs on each other. Last summer I attended a particularly large one at an estate near the Capitol. The host family, the Niavoli's, had committed quite the scandal by excluding the Reedon's. The two families have always been at odds because their territories share a border, and they competed for a valuable water source. Well, the Reedon's were not too happy with the slight, so they sent some of their contracted Daemons, and Nymphs to the Niavoli's house to ruin the party. The team created a compact thunderstorm that they pushed into the main hall. As the rain came pouring down, and the thunder shook the entire house, most of the party goers started to panic and run like scared sheep. I tried forcing my way through the jumbled crowd, but the party had become so wild with frantic guests, that it was turning dangerous. I was afraid people would start trampling each other just because of a little rain. I was tempted to split a path in the floor so I could actually get through, but I'm pretty sure it would have made things worse. I lost a bit more respect for them that day." She said with disappointment." So, when I finally made it to the patio, I was nearly too late. I was only able to pull the earth around one of the attacking Daemons, who had been cocky and hung around longer than he should have. With one of the contracted Daemons caught, the Niavoli's were able to press charges against the Reedon's. The Council found the Reedon's guilty of using elemental power against non-threatening Mids and Prosaics, granting the Niavoli family primary control of the water source."

"They actually gave them custody over water, for a silly prank? That seems a bit of an overreaction." Ryder said, shocked.

Eva shook her head, "It's a serious violation to trespass on another Mid's land, and the Council takes the use of elemental power very seriously. They are always trying to place new regulations on Daemons, Nymphs and Souladeux, saying that our abilities are too extreme, and that if left unchecked we pose a serious threat to Mids, Healers, and Prosaics, who can't defend themselves against us. That's not even the juice part of the story." Eva glanced to the door and leaned in. Ryder practically flopped on the bed to get closer. "The true scandal is that the Daemon got off scott-free, and I have heard from reliable sources that it was Pierce who got him out of it."

"Really? Why would he do that?"

Eva shrugged, "I'm not entirely sure, but there have always been rumors around Pierce being tangled up in scandalous events."

"Ooh juicy!" Ryder said lapping up the first entertaining story she'd heard in weeks. God, she missed Mikaila.

"It really is. But that's enough about silly politics. Why don't we head down stairs and start our own scandalous story in town?" Eva said pushing Ryder off the bed.

"Lead the way!"