Remora decided to take the scenic route home from work on her one day she would be released early. Summer was just around the corner and the salty scent of the shore was fresh in the flowering air and she could finally be released from her borous prison before the sun had set.

  The palms were greening as she walked beneath them, inhaling deeply as she followed the stone path down that weaved next to the beach. A rexed smile crossed her face as she witnessed the sun upon the waves, and decided to indulge herself by stepping onto the warm soft ground of the seaside. She noticed the small shuffling of sand from the little crabs making homes in the earth, and then the washed up shells poking out of the ground. She hummed as she imagined bringing some home to Ci and Babcia, and began idly searching for the perfect ones.

  She shuffled through her collection that grew, feeling the smoothed to the rough and spiky textures of each shell. She nded on a tiny conch, feeling its hardened shell and its gentle spines. It was soft like Ci, but its spines represented the girl's stubbornness, which made Remora giggle at the thought. She brushed her fingertips over the pink chasm of the conch, feeling its porcein touch and imagining its soft interior. She suddenly flustered, and ultimately tucked it in her pocket. She didn't know why such an action felt so... odd and immature, but she decided it was a good fit for Ci and shook her weird thoughts off.

  She was startled from her mind when she heard a sharp metal cng down the shore. She turned to see some men in uniforms, although it seemed their attire was that of a more casual state. They were sparring with one another with rapiers, and running through some repetitions. She rolled her eyes as she realized it were some likely-royal-douche-canooes and she returned to her search. The cnging and grunting continued, followed by a thud and a ugh. Remora drew her gaze back to find one guard on the sand and one standing over him, expining something intelligible from where Remora was.

  She groaned, feeling her mood sour. As much as she disliked royals, she hated the male ones the most. Though she knew it was out of jealousy... she couldn't escape that reality... because they had the chance to do things she never could. She couldn't comfortably wear masculine shirts and pants, she couldn't start a handywork business, and she couldn't spar with friends on the beach.

  But then again... she did have a friend. One waiting at home for her who had a terrible knack at wallowing in her boredom. Remora watched for a longer moment as the men began to spar again. She looked to her left, seeing a rge branch of driftwood that had washed up on shore, and an idea crept in.

  She snapped off a branch and snuck closer to where she could hear the man's instructions in earshot, hiding behind some shrubbery. She heard them mumble some words about "stances" and "footwork", nothing she could truly make out clearly. She watched them as they swung, took a deep breath and tried it herself, attempting to copy their stances and movements as she poked and sshed at a shrub, even indulging in making her own action sounds.

  "Ah yes, the fearsome shrub. A worthy enemy." A voice startled Remora enough for her to whip her driftwood around. The figure quickly ducked, avoiding the blow and holding onto his military cap. Remora gasped as she realized who it was.

  The lieutenant.

  And she almost just annihited him with a stick. She dropped it to the ground immediately.

  "Oh my Gods, I'm so sorry, you startled me!" Remora straightened up with horror in her eyes. He ughed.

  "No need, I shouldn't have snuck up on you. I just couldn't help being curious about your um..." He gnced at the beaten bush. "...sparring." He grinned. Remora felt her face flush and her pride infte. She huffed and turned away, grabbing her makeshift sword.

  "Well, if you're here to ridicule me by showing off your big fancy badge and your big fancy sword, I won't have any of it. Good day to you, sir." She attempted to march away before he quickly followed after her.

  "Oh, no! No, no, no, not at all, miss. I just find it odd that a dy finds interest in swordpy." He reassured as he trailed after her. Remora could feel her irritation mixing into a horrible concoction with her pride (it's honestly a wonder how she hasn't been arrested for it yet), and she whipped back around.

  "Why? Why is it so odd? You expect me to be some sweet, doting, docile little mb who all she knows how to do is sew and cook and clean and prance around to attract a husband who can get his ego stroked by his innocent little wife? Well think again! My hands are covered in splinters and you couldn't HANDLE these biceps and I'm proud of it! So... there!" She nodded in finality, turning on her heel once more. The lieutenant was stunned, but his lips curled into an awe-struck smile.

  "Would you like to learn how to really spar then?" He offered after a moment. Remora halted. Was he being condescending? She turned with a hesitant look on her face, and he simply offered a curious smile in return. Her lips parted as she decided how to answer.

  ...

  Ci was busy folding undry in Babcia's living room when Remora breathlessly burst through the door, causing Ci to nearly fall over from the startle.

  "Ci! You, me, backyard. Now!" Remora raced up to her. Ci blinked at her at the sudden beaming energy that she saw rarely come out of Remora.

  "Wh-what?" Ci begged for crification before she was swiftly yanked to her feet and hustled outside.

  "There's a lot to expin, but to put it shortly, I'm learning how to swordfight." Remora's eyes were wide with glee. Ci blinked at her once more.

  "What? What do you mean?"

  "I'm being taught by the lieutenant. I thought him arrogant and rather a pompous fool, but he was very sweet and showed me some things." Remora expined as she dug through the shed in the backyard.

  Ci suddenly felt a pang of something bitter impnt itself in her stomach. It was small, but she could feel its poison spreading throughout her center.

  "Oh." Ci replied shortly, still mildly confused. She never saw Remora so... bubbly before... and a man caused it... nonetheless a royal guard? She tried her best to shake it away to find out more.

  "Yes! Oh, it was so exciting, I wish you could've been there." Remora excimed, which only made Ci wilt in her dark feelings further. She crossed her arms, both out of annoyance and to try and hold herself steady.

  "So then... what are you doing...?" Ci inquired quietly, only to be answered by an "AHA!" from Remora as she pulled out two wooden sticks that were the handles of old discarded brooms, tossing one to Ci.

  "What does it look like? I'm now gonna teach you!" Remora swung her stick proudly over her shoulder.

  And suddenly the bitterness shrunk away as she looked down at her stick.

  "Wait... really...???" Ci's pitch heightened. Remora nodded vigorously and grabbed her, pulling her to the center of the yard.

  Remora imitated the lesson from the lieutenant, starting with the basics: stances, bance, footwork, how to hold the weapon, and some Arnis techniques (striking and blocking), as well as some parries and thrusts. Ci was... clumsy and certainly off bance, but Remora continued to correct her, just how the lieutenant did.

  "Can I touch you?" Remora remembered the lieutenant asking her kindly. She felt her heart pump an extra number of times and nodded. He stepped behind her, pcing his fingertips on her forearm to lower it, on her shoulders to coax her to rex them, and stly on her hips to turn them in more.

  "Here, let me help you." Remora said to Ci, following the same pattern, touching her arms, shoulders, and hips, not having any idea of it's effect on Ci, who's breath was trapped in her chest. Remora's hands lingered a while on Ci's hips as she studied her stance, before releasing her.

  "How does that feel?" Remora stepped back. Ci released her breath.

  "Oh... yeah, I do feel more grounded this way..." Ci admitted as her eyes filled with excitment. Remora beamed and they returned to their Arnis techniques, striking and blocking back and forth at a slow pace. They then picked up the speed, starting to improvise between moves, Remora blocking and striking, and Ci doing the same. Their breaths became bored and sweat began to bead on their foreheads under the early summer sun.

  Until, in one swift move, Remora cooly and swiftly disarmed Ci, causing her stick to be flung helplessly across the yard.

  "What was THAT!?" Ci excimed in awe. Remora chuckled proudly.

  "It's called a disarm. It's where you get rid of your opponent's weapon. And now I have the upper hand!" She boasted. Ci chuckled and took to her knees with her hands up in surrender.

  "Well then, I've been beaten!" She dipped her head. Remora's lips curved up and she tossed her stick away, offering a hand to her. Ci's eyes met her hand then her eyes, and gdly took it to be helped up.

  "I'll show you how it's done. And Lieutenant Brayburn pns to teach me more... so I'll go and take lessons and then come home and tell you all about it. We can be sparring buddies." Remora pnted a hand on her shoulder, giving her a friendly shake. Ci looked at her as her lips parted in excitement, and her cheeks flushed a light pink color.

  "Really?" Her eyes twinkled.

  "Yeah! I figured who cares if we're women? The lieutenant doesn't care, neither do I, and neither should you. We have a right to want to learn more, even if it's not dylike or whatever." Remora asserted. "And I'd want you with me in this experience."

  Ci's heart fluttered wildly at that st statement and it took all her strength to not react strangely. She smiled widely and took a small step closer to her.

  "I'd like that..." Ci smiled.

  There was an intensity in Ci's eyes that made Remora stagger almost. Not necessarily excitement or anticipation that she was reading from her eyes, but a kind of intense softness... a softness that mimicked the lieutenant's kind of look that he gave her. She mindlessly shoved her hands in her pockets and nodded, feeling her face starting to burn against her better judgement. Then she felt something poke her palm, and her face suddenly lit up with a realization.

  "Oh yeah, I also got you something..." She pulled out her hand, concealing the item inside of it. Ci tilted her head as she noticed the hidden object and it did no good for the pace of her speeding heartrate. Ci sheepishly held out her hand and Remora pced the object atop, revealing the conch she found earlier.

  "I know you don't get to go out much with how busy the streets and the beaches are becoming... so I figured I could start bringing you little trinkets from the outside world... Cause I know it's hard having to hide so much... I felt like... maybe I could make it better by bringing the world to you instead." Remora pyed with her own hair as she expined. She was never really good at the mushy stuff, so her demeanour became much more nervous. She tore her sheepish aversion away to look at Ci, only to find the girl's eyes welling up with water. "Wha-! Hey!? What's wrong, do you not like it???" Remora's voice shook.

  Ci shook her head and colpsed into Remora, embracing her tightly as she sniffled.

  "Nooo...! it's beautifuuul...!!!" She whined. Remora let out a sigh of relief.

  "Don't scare me like that...!!! By the Lords, Eggshells..." Remora rubbed her back reassuringly. "Big baby..." She teased affectionately.

  When Ci got her groundings, she stepped back, now taking her time to admire the shell.

  "I love it, it's so pretty..." Ci noted, running her thumb over the spined back, before running it over the pink, porcein opening. As Remora watched her thumb's ministrations, a sting of heat rushed to her face and into her lower stomach, and her hands clenched around the sides of her dress until her knuckles whitened. Again, something odd and immature she couldn't understand.

  "I'm gd you like it..." Remora horked up her words, her voice coming out somewhat shakily. She cleared her throat. She needed to change the subject. "Wanna keep going?" She motioned to the stick Ci lost grip of earlier. Ci pced the shell delicately by the windowsill next to the door and nodded as Remora tossed her her weapon.

  As the days and weeks passed, taking them into mid-summer, they both improved. It became routine for them to spar the second Remora walked through the door, and Ci would sometimes even hide to try and sneak attack her. They ughed, and panted, and huffed as their makeshift wooden weapons cshed day in and day out, Remora often getting the better of Ci in proud triumph.

  Ci didn't care. Especially not when her collection of seaside trinkets also grew with her admiration for her sparring buddy.