Side A – Yasgrid
Yasgrid was defenseless. No weapons in her hands, no plans or contingencies. She hadn’t expected Elshira’s arrival and she didn’t have any allies close enough to call on. It was only with great effort therefor that she was able to contain the smile which struggled to spread across her lips.
“You’re rather late,” Yasgrid said. “Did it really take you this long to find me?”
“You are still not ready,” Elshira said. “This is only a visit of courtesy.”
“Is it now?” Yasgrid asked and rose from her seat to begin stalking around the shadowy wisps of Elshira’s form. “Well then, do tell me what courtesy you think you can extend to me.”
Elshira vanished, the shadows which made up her body melting back down to the forest floor, only to coalesce behind a tree she strolled forth from.
“A reminder,” Elshira said. “I come to offer you a reminder. Of what you can be and where you are.”
“Oh really? And where is it that you think I might be? Can you see me now? Can you see where were are?” Yasgrid sat back down and waited, and just as she knew would happen, Elshira appeared behind her once again.
“I see everything that matters,” Elshira said.
“How many fingers am I holding up?” Yasgrid asked holding up a single digit, tone as innocent as she could make it.
“That’s not something that matters,” Elshira’s shadow said.
“You know, I had really expected better of you,” Yasgrid said. “It’s been weeks and weeks and you haven’t even tried to find me have you?”
“You’re not the most important of things,” Elshira said.
“I am to you though,” Yasgrid said. “Otherwise I can’t imagine that you would have moved your main camp quite so often as you have. Tell me, weren’t you ever tempted to just stay? We could resolve things anytime you want. There’s no need to wait.”
“You aren’t ready,” Elshira said. “And we will meet at a time of my choosing and mine alone.”
“We’ll see. I’ve gotten close a few times now. Are you sure you can keep running away?”
“I’m not running. I never have, and I never will.”
“Then stay. Or come to me as more than shadows wearing evening dew. Or are you afraid to risk more than these scraps of nothingness? Afraid I might find where you are if you give me any trail at all?”
“And what would I have to be afraid of?” Elshira asked, moving away again as Yasgrid stood.
“Nothing at all, as far as you know,” Yasgrid said, advancing on Elshira who ghosted backwards farther and farther with each step Yasgrid took.
“And yet you’re still eager to meet? Surely you don’t think you can kill me?”
“Of course not. We both know that’s not possible.” Yasgrid paused and cocked her head to the side, observing her foe. “But you’re not wrong to worry.”
“I fear nothing you can do.”
“I know,” Yasgrid said. “Just like I know exactly what that will let me do to you.”
Side B – Nia
Nia was ready. She’d learned an incredible amount in the previous weeks to the point where she was, objectively speaking, the best at Shatter Drumming that she’d ever been (not hard given where she’d started) and worthy of the seat she held in the Shatter Band (a notably more significant achievement).
Her daily practice sessions with Margrada, exhausting though they’d been, had been only the smallest portion of her training, which included a surprising variety of non-drumming tasks which Pelegar had graded her on daily. What walking a mile on her hands while balancing an egg on each of her feet had to do with drumming was something she was still unclear on (she suspect it was really just for Pelegar’s amusement but Nia was sufficiently unsure of that to object to the exercise).
Despite all of that though, she could feel every nerve in her body singing as she waited behind the curtain for the band’s next battle to begin.
“Hey, you doing okay there kid?” Horgi asked, carefully placing her drum in front of her for its required pre-battle inspection.
“Absolutely. Not nervous at all,” Nia said. “Just out of curiosity, you wouldn’t have a jug of that stuff we drank the first night with you would you?”
Horgi let out a deep belly laugh at that.
“You know, no one’s ever asked for that before a battle before,” he said.
“Be fair,” Grash said. “No one’s ever asked for a second pull once they’ve recovered from the first one.”
“I take it everyone else is cool as the wind for their first performance?” Nia asked.
“Eh, it ain’t your first performance though, isn’t it?” Horgi said. “You already played in the Calling. If you can fight gods, what makes you think another band’s gonna be a problem?”
Nia searched around for a flippant rebuttal and came up empty.
“That’s a shockingly good point,” she said. “Apart from the bit where the first Battle I was at I wound up melting the stage when some idiots tried to kill my girlfriend.”
“Oh yeah, say, you wouldn’t have an inside line on when you might be doing that again would you? Even just like early in the show or late would be good. Gotta lay our bets in before you go out there.”
“Wait, people are betting…no, why would I be surprised. What I should be surprised at is that you two didn’t give me a chance to get in on the action!”
“Well that would be tainting the well wouldn’t it,” Grash said. “Unsportsmanlike.”
Nia sighed. The more time she spent with the Roadies, the more they felt like family. Of course she’d spent large portions of time wanting to strangle her family as a kid, so that might not be the healthiest relationship to have with the two Roadies, but she was still glad they were backing her up.
“Well, if it helps, I won’t be doing anything like that tonight. Tonight’s going to be nothing but good clean Shatter Drumming,” Nia said, feeling confident and proud of herself.
“Yeah, stuff that idea,” Pelegar said. “They showed up with twice as many drummers as they said they would. There’s going to nothing good or clean about any of this.”