Chapter 43: The Candles on the Cake, Part 1

In the fields on the outskirts of Shadefall, Valerie gave her shoulders one last roll before assuming a ready stance, a wooden training baton in each hand. Across from her, List gave her batons a brief twirl before assuming her own stance, largely a mimic of Valerie's.

"Ready?" Valerie asked.

List grinned. "Born that way."

There was no signal, but they both moved at the same time.Their batons met with a sharp crack as they both swung for each other, parried, and swung again in a percussive dance. Valerie fought with precision, moving exactly as much as she needed to and no more, and always mindful to set up her next attack in the same movement as her current one.

List's swings were wide and wild, but not without their own flow, and she was constantly adjusting her pace. Valerie never knew if she was in for one strike or three until they were already coming. She'd started to take some lessons from Arden's instruction, but she still had the bad habits from whatever combat muscle memory she'd retained through her amnesia.

There was something almost familiar to the way she fought. Though Valerie couldn't quite place her finger on what it was, she found her own instincts easily suited to matching her.

After only a few seconds of exchanging blows, she overcommitted to an attack, and Valerie was able to clip her across the face with the end of her baton.

List's head snapped to the side from the blow, and she and Valerie both stopped as the hellborn rubbed at her face with her wrist. When she dabbed at her lip, she came away with a spot of blood.

A few months ago, Valerie might have apologized. But she knew List better than that now.

Sure enough, the hellborn's grin only broadened when she saw the blood.

"Round two," she demanded, and sparks of red danced in her eyes.

Valerie returned to her ready stance with a nod. List's tattoos lit up red, and sparks of red chaos began to arc across her training batons. 

Valerie felt the change immediately. List came at her harder and faster, and every time their weapons met, pins and needles raced down Valerie's arms. There was barely a hint of Arden's training in her attacks now. Instead, List's movements were even more sweeping and erratic. 

That should have given Valerie an opening, except sometimes List's attacks came so fast, Valerie didn't even have time to parry, and had to dodge instead.

It was after backstepping one swing and ducking under another that Valerie realized what was so familiar about List's attacks.

Valerie fought as she'd been trained by Arden: quick and precise, predicting and controlling her opponent as she could, and working to get inside their guard to deliver decisive strikes.

List fought like a monster. Her grace was that of a lunging predator. She aimed to overwhelm and punch through defenses, not carefully pierce them. The way she threw caution to the wind when she attacked befit something that could take a punch, or else attack with such force that there was no fear of counter.

Fighting her was almost exactly like fighting Darshan or some other beast. She was faster and stronger, but sloppy, and over-reliant on overwhelming power. She was exactly the kind of opponent Dr. Siren had trained Valerie to overcome.

She had this realization as List swung hard enough to bash aside Valerie's attempt at a block, and then drove her other baton straight into Valerie's chest.

All of the air was driven from Valerie's lungs, and the world flashed red as lightning raced through every nerve in her body. She did manage to keep her footing, though she staggered back several steps and had to throw her arms out for balance.

"Got you," List said with a smirk.

Valerie smiled back at her, even as she sputtered to catch her breath. 

"Best—" She cleared her throat and tried again. 

"Best two out of three," she challenged.

Valerie had never really thought of herself as a competitive person before meeting List, but in hindsight, she supposed that might have been because she'd never had anyone to compete with. She'd never spent much time with others her age, Dr. Siren was her mentor, and most monsters didn't really have a sense of competition. It turned out, she actually liked testing herself against someone who was her match.

Having someone to measure herself against pushed her to improve, and gave every contest a little thrill. And List seemed to agree.

The hellborn's smile couldn't have been bigger. She took up a ready stance with lightning coursing over her body, and Valerie mirrored it. Their hearts pounded, as both of them prepared to find out, for today, who was better.

"Why don't you two table this for now?" a scholarly voice suggested.

The loaded tension in both of their bodies vanished at Arden's voice, and List rolled her eyes. Valerie felt herself stand up straighter without her conscious input.

"Dr. Siren," Valerie greeted. "Is it time already?"

Ever since his conversation with Slaughter, Arden had been making plans for them all to take a trip to the city of Trandore in the Blackthorne province. With the last of the arrangements that could be made in Shadefall being taken care off, they were supposed to be leaving any day now.

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Arden shook his head. "The cart I've purchased for our travels won't be ready until tomorrow, so we'll be leaving first thing in the morning."

"Normal people morning or Arden morning?" List asked. 

She tended to rise with the sun, and considered herself an early riser for it. Until she'd met Arden, who never saw a sunrise without already being fed and fully dressed.

"I expect to be on the road by sunrise," Arden said. "Do try to keep that in mind this evening."

"What's that supposed to mean?" List asked.

Arden raised an eyebrow. "Valerie, have you told her what today is?"

Valerie shrugged. "It hasn't come up."

"What? What's today?"

Embarrassment welled up in Valerie's chest. She felt like a spoiled child demanding attention even explaining this much.

"It's the 15th of Deceth," Valerie said. "My birthday."

List blinked in momentary surprise. "Oh. I mean, oh! Happy birthday! You seem . . . excited?"

Valerie shrugged again. "We don't really do a big celebration for it."

"That's not true," Arden said. "Aurelia and I always got you a present and tarts."

"Of course," Valerie said. She didn't feel the need to correct Arden that it was mostly Aurelia who took the initiative to get her a gift and bake or buy some kind of sweet to celebrate—or that those celebrations had stopped when Aurelia left. "I didn't mean we did nothing, or that I wasn't grateful. Just that it was always more of a quiet thing at the end of the day. We didn't really do parties or anything like that."

"Yes, well," Arden cleared his throat. "Circumstances were slightly different in Corsar compared to now. Seeing as we have some time and you have companions your own age, one of whom you won't be seeing anymore soon, I thought perhaps it might be beneficial to give you the night off, as it were."

Valerie wasn't sure she understood what was happening. "Dr. Siren?"

Arden sighed. "Valerie, I . . . I have done my best to care for you in your parents' absence, I have lacked in certain regards. You have not had many opportunities to simply be a young woman, separate from your role as a hunter and my apprentice. You have one tonight. Take it. Celebrate with your friends."

"Wait," List interrupted. "Are you . . . ordering us to party?"

Valerie felt a twinge of fear at the excitement in List's voice, and Arden picked up on it as well.

"So long as you remember we're leaving early tomorrow morning," he reiterated.

"Sure, whatever," List said, already grabbing Valerie by the wrist. "Come on, birthday girl. Orders are orders."

That was the first time List had ever expressed a desire to follow orders, which doubled Valerie's worries.

"Where are we going?" Valerie asked.

"To go convince Egon to let Kiva off early," List said. "And then, we're going out. I don't know what you did for your last birthdays, but no best friend of mine is having a lame birthday while I'm around."

Valerie knew firsthand that List's idea of fun could be a little much. But something List said caught her attention, drowning out the rest of her worries.

"Best friend?"

"Oh, don't make a big deal out of it. It's not like you had much competition."

"No, I know." That sounded ruder than Valerie meant it to, but she resolved to move on before List could comment on it. "It's just . . . you've never said it before."

List suddenly found a lot of things to look at besides Valerie. "Yes, well, I'm saying it now. Because you are. Breathe it in. Now come on, we're burning daylight!"

Valerie smiled as she followed, still slightly worried about what List had planned, but suddenly feeling a little more willing to give whatever it turned out to be a try.

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