[for @calliope ]

It was by chance that Kester and Walnut stumbled upon the training ground near the outskirts of the city. As the days dragged on, their meandering explorations of Elyusian had found them wandering further and further in search of new areas to investigate. The river otter, in particular, had decided that he wanted to swim in every single fountain or water source he possibly could, and his human, driven by an idle curiosity to familiarize herself with the city as much as possible, merely sighed and indulged him. By the time they had made it this far, the sun had started to dip low on the horizon, and the open space in what had otherwise thus far been a labyrinth of unending streets and buildings caught her attention.

“Aw no, Kes, I wanna go swimming.”

So far, you’ve swam every day we’ve been here. You’re not a fish.

“But I just saw a fountain back that way a couple streets.”

We can find it again after. Come on.

Kester didn’t know much about how Arynnites trained and fought. As far as she could tell, the Peacekeepers spent much more of their time in and around Elyusian than anywhere else, let alone in the southern reaches of their kingdom, so it was likely that this training ground belonged to them. But the space was empty, and if there were any indications that trespassing was not welcome, they weren’t clear to her. Walking onto the packed earth, she glanced around and spied a target in the distance before looking down at her sulking dyr with a raised eyebrow

Hey Walnut. He looked up at her. Bet you can’t hit that target all the way over there.

The river otter turned and squinted into the distance. “That’s easy.”

Kester took the waterskin at her hip and poured out some of its contents, which froze into little shards of ice suspended in the air. Prove it.