Master Of None

”Su? What are you doing here? I thought you would be training with the dragonkin or Midnight?” Since Remey had been working hard with the old master alchemist to the point that they literally couldn’t walk home the day before, Remey thought that she wouldn’t see anyone. Especially since she knew that the others had heard she was working hard to produce certain potions in the alchemy guild for their trip.

”I need someone to fight me without a shield. The dragonkin would but they won’t tell me the specifics of what I do wrong. They are still stuck on the fact that I am a draconic guardian. Someone much higher status than they are.” To Remey, this sounded like it made a lot of sense. Even she had trouble around a few people in Genesis because she had a hero title and was known for the potions she sent out to help people. Her fame made them nervous.

”You know what? I have a lot more energy today to burn off before I get back to another attempt at the potion I started making yesterday.” Remey saw that Su would be at a loss if she didn’t go with her. Therefore, she broke and followed Su.

”I was thinking we could head out of the city where we won’t be cramped with buildings and walls.” Since this seemed very important to Su, Remey didn’t argue. However, she was starting to notice that Su seemed less energetic and more downtrodden than unusual. It was very odd.

Normally, Su would respond brightly to every single guard or Genesis citizen they passed on the street. Instead, Su just nodded or started to walk faster. It was incredibly unusual for Su. ”Hey Su, what’s gotten in to you today? Did you eat your breakfast?”

Su just nodded her head softly making Remey even more confused. It was a little odd that Su was feeling stressed by being in the city. It was even more worrisome that she wasn’t explaining why. However, Remey could think of a few reasons.

Out of everything, Remey knew that Midnight and Walker had trained outside the city to get better used to some of their more dangerous skills. Elemental skills could cause a lot of issues in a busier area. However, Remey and Su somewhat had those as well. Especially if Su was intending to train with the grand earth elemental spirit since it could cause damage to the ground. The same way that the grand elemental fire spirit could cause damage to everything else.

”Here we are.” Su dropped her shield and most of her armor in a pile before stretching slightly. As Remey looked at her she saw that Su was a little red faced and had a bit of water in the corner of her eyes.

”Su, what’s wrong?” Remey didn’t even have a chance to ask again. In a second, Su was pushing toward her with fists raised.

”If you want to learn to fight without your shield you just needed to ask!” Remey’s response was to dodge the first slow attack that Su threw out at her. Su was not an expert or even used to basic hand to hand combat. If she had told Remey that she wanted to learn to handle things without a shield, this would make more sense. But for some reason, Su was on the verge of tears.

”I thought you were training and making progress, what’s wrong.” Remey saw that her words weren’t getting through to her friend in the least. The only thing she could do was push back and get an answer through force.

”Fine, let’s do this! Whatever your problem is can’t be fixed with fighting so we can talk when you can’t walk!” With this, Remey wound up and threw the first punch. When it landed, if someone were to say that Su was made of stone, Remey would shake her head and tell them it was steel. The toughest kind anyone could ever forge.

The strong defensive skills that Su had were only being bolstered by the fact that she was getting more and more comfortable with her dragon half. She was adapting much faster after the training with Ignus who pushed her to accept the emotions and pride she felt. These were not her emotions normally but she had grown in to them due to the dragon blood in her veins.

”That’s all!?” Su’s taunt made Remey hyper focused on the next attack but the normal taunt which would cause an opponent to fall in to anger and jump at Su just wasn’t there. Her heart was not in it. She wasn’t able to fully unleash the same kind of energy as usual. Instead it sounded too sad. Too lost.

In response, Remey dodged the two punches that seemed to be moving half the speed that she was used to and spun up with a kick. It landed on Su’s thigh which would have slowed anyone normal down. Anyone with less defenses. However, it only caused a half second of pause before Su was back again with a counter attack.

”Shouldn’t you have fire? I have fire!” Su took a deep breath and blew out a small flame at Remey surprising her. It was enough for Remey to get just a little more angry. Just a little more fired up as she caught some of the flames and allowed them to spread around her body with the skills she gained through her bond with her grand elemental spirit.

There was anger in the punches that were coming from Su. Remey’s normally fiery attitude felt like it was being doused with water. She never felt this way fighting Su in training. But every single attack that Su used or attempted taunt felt empty. Only her frustration and disappointment coming through.

”That’s enough!” Remey stomped her foot and used one of the moves she had been training in her time outside the alchemy guild. Her hands wrapped around Su and her leg pushed behind her. This was a simple hand to hand combat move that Remey had never truly used because it was not useful against monsters.

Skills like grappling and back trips were only able to be used against humanoid beings because of the way the moves worked. But when they were used, they were effective. Because with a solid thud, Su hit the ground, her own body weight acting as her enemy as Gravity helped Remey take her down.

”Now tell me what happened and don’t you dare hold anything back. You are never this emotional and never the type to blow off steam training. That is my job. You are caring and calm all the time. We need you to be our shield. Tell. Me. What. Happened.” The demanding tone finally broke through to Su and the tears started to flow.

”He said he didn’t want to see me because there is too much pressure. That he is better off away where he isn’t in the shadow of some hero. That it would have never worked anyways!” It dawned on Remey instantly.

Su was a private person when it came to her feelings. She was sure that the others knew she had developed a close relationship with a strings player who could play the harp and now violin, not to mention the fiddle. The boy who could help heal others with music and was known within the cathedral. However, Su had not talked about it openly and the group respected this.

”He just left to go to Diamond and didn’t want to stay here. It’s all my fault. If I wasn-”

”If you weren’t what? A hero? An inspiration to every single child and even the professional healers? Or what, the strong young woman who can beat any man in a fight because you are just that tough and prefer to sacrifice yourself for another person’s safety? Tell me, Su, tell me exactly what is bad about you. If some boy can’t understand that you are becoming a literal saint because of your good deeds, then they do not deserve you.”

Remey’s harsh words made Su hesitate in her rant. She never looked down on herself like this but she couldn’t contain her emotions. ”Su, you are family, just like the rest of our party is my family. I know you have even more potential than you think. You deal with too much pressure all the time. You stand strong even in the greatest of dangers. If someone can’t find the strength to walk beside you and carry some of that burden that is on them. You deserve the best.”

The pair sat for a while so that Su could calm down and Remey could hold her. Remey perfectly understood why Su wanted to get away from the city. A place where she could be open and free with her emotions. A place where no one would see her being vulnerable without her defenses. But Remey was who she had gone to. Remey was her sister in all forms, even if it wasn’t by blood.

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