Knights of Anathaeum Two Sisters.

[Orsolya Embermoss]

“And I parry here,” Orsolya gasped, drawing her blade up to block both of Nasrin’s, first the below and then the above, stuttering-stepping backward in the snow before drawing her blade along her chin into a guard. “I am well?” She squinted, waiting for the squire’s next move. “And I swing overhead,” she swiped downward, albeit awkwardly, almost as though she wished to miss the squire, as though she did not want to hurt her.

She drew her sword back to her chest immediately into guard. “And you,” she offered. The woman was kind to practice with her, taking her own techniques slowly. Lest the witch draw upon the power that was uniquely her own.

Night fell upon the courtyard as they dueled, the windows of the fortress warmed in candle’s light. As their blades clanged again in stalemate she wiped a ribbon of sweat from her brow. “Shall we go inside? It would seem that dinner is ready, and I grow tired.” The witch looked to Nasrin, and then behind her. “Curious.”

A mirror.

It stood in the snow, it bore no frame, it bore no provenance, it stood as though placed in haste. This was not lost on the witch. “Go, friend Nasrin. Enjoy some ale.” Frost bit at her lips, the scent of pine filled her nose. She stepped slowly forward. This mirror was hers, she felt it so in her heart.

She touched the mirror and looked upon her own reflection. And it smiled when she did not.

 

[Nasrin Fyldirae]

Rin moved slowly with Orsolya giving her tips and suggestions as they moved about the field. For the younger, it felt like she'd grown up with a sword in hand and it had taken a while for her to come to grasp the different magics that the knights taught in the monastery. Orsolya was the opposite. For her, magic seemed to come to her as naturally as breathing, but the sword, with the sword she was on level with many pages among the knights.

The young squire didn't begrudge Orsolya her skills, or lack of, instead she felt respect for the woman because she was working to better herself and improve her fighting abilities. Perhaps even to the point where she might best Rin.

Eventually the sky grew dark and the sun was setting behind them. "A rest will give your body time to develop strength that you might not have had before." She replied in response to Orsolya mentioning that she'd grown tired. After all, Rin was sure the older woman was using muscles that she'd had yet to build.

She was just about to head back, picking up the gear that she'd set aside when they'd began their training when she looked behind her to notice her friend staring into a strange mirror that had certainly not been there before.

"I... do not think that would be wise." Rin said as she watched the other knight touching the mirror. She could feel the hair standing up on her arms as she moved closer to the mirror one hand closed tightly on the hilt of her sword. "Should you really be touching that?" She asked as she came to stand next to the woman.

 

[Orsolya Embermoss]

Orsolya heard Rin’s words from behind her, and yet they sounded so very far away as she stared into her own reflection. Rin’s own form would be a haze nearly a shadow. “Friend,” she whispered to the woman behind her, her eyes still locked on her own reflection. “When your mirror finds you there is no choice to be made. It will not leave you until you answer it.” The witch’s voice in those last words trembled. And Orsolya’s reflection grinned toothily, as though she found her words, her fear, satisfactory as she walked out frame in the glass that showed another world.

The witch reached up at first with a finger, placing her hand forward as it disappeared. There was no sound, no fantastical display of magic. Her hand was simply there and then it was not. She stepped forward just a bit before turning her head back to Rin. “Have an ale for me too, please. Yes?”

Another cautious step, and then a last, and then Orsolya was gone and only the mirror remained.