Chapter 2
Sweat covered my forehead, and thick beads of perspiration dripped down my temples. I ducked under the strike path of Vann’s energy baton, spattering droplets onto the mat beneath us, then I launched off my quads to send a rising thrust straight into my brother’s jaw.
He took the hit from my training staff on the chin, literally and figuratively, then he jumped back, creating safe distance between us again.
With precision and agility, he twirled his staff over his head, drawing my attention high. It took a fraction of a second too long before I realized what he was doing, and I was off guard and too late to react when he swiftly redirected and swept the rod across my legs.
Vann knocked my shins clean out from under me. I fell back on my ass, then he shoved the tip of his staff into my chest and gave me a push, forcing my back to the mat.
My big brother looked down at me with a grin on his face. I drew in a frustrated breath through my nose, then I exhaled slowly through my mouth, until I returned my breathing to a steady equilibrium.
“Is that all you’ve got?” He asked through that teasing smile. He made a show of twirling his baton again, before settling it over his shoulders. He had always been light on his feet, but he never used to be this strong.
It wasn’t fair how effortlessly good he was.
But then again, while I’d spent the last decade wasting time getting wrapped up in ribbons, he was attending mandatory martial arts training, weight lifting, and battle strategy classes.
The irony was I had been the athletic one while he had been the nerdy one when we were little.
“Only because I have my next appointment with the matchmaker in twenty minutes.” I huffed a sigh. This was a going to be a long week between my first etiquette lesson today and the Shinka Demos tomorrow. “I surrender. You win.”
“Good. Because that last hit hurt,” Vann finally dropped his fa?ade, leaning forward and supporting himself on the metal cap of his long, glowing purple rod as he took a moment to reset his jaw.
“If we weren’t using soft-energy mode, you might have broken something.
” His slightly-too-long-for-regulation silver hair hid his face while he massaged the sides of his mouth with his thumb and forefinger.
It was so rare that I connected a hit on him.
I took a little pride in knowing I’d actually done some damage this time.
“I’m just happy I actually caught you for once.” I waved it off like it was no big deal, but by the stars, that was satisfying.
“You really are getting faster, Fi.” Vann stood up straight and beamed down at me.
The platinum rings of his eyes, matching mine in both their shape and complete absence of color, shone with amusement that made his missing pigmentation seem vibrant.
“I’m going to need an A2 to hide this bruise if I want to avoid getting arrested for illegal street fighting. ”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” I teased with a laugh. In soft energy mode, our batons regulated impact strength so as not to leave bruises, but I appreciated the exaggerated compliment
“It would be the first time I was taking the rap for me instead of you though.” Vann shook his head, before retracting the energy staff back into a compact battle orb that fit neatly in the palm of his hand. He clicked it onto his belt, then he offered to help me to my feet.
“That was one time, and it’s been like five years. You can’t hold that against me forever.” I gripped his palm firmly, pulling myself up, then I fixed my gym clothes and wiped the thick moisture from my brow using the cloth wraps on my hands.
“Twice. And it’s been three years. You’re lucky I love you.” He was a touch less amused by that. “But I wouldn’t have had to step in at all last time if you were moving like that. Have you been training without me?”
“Every chance I get—” I started excitedly, before I cut myself off and cleared my throat.
“I’ve been discreet about it, I promise.
I snuck a training droid into my dorm and have been doing nightly strike routines.
It’s been a huge boost to my reaction times.
” I reassured him before this could turn into a lecture on expectations and rules.
Getting a compliment like that from my big brother was enough to gorge my ego for the week, and I didn’t want him to ruin it with another reminder of my place in society.
Even if he’d surpassed me in who could lift the most weight or run the fastest, I was still a master of hard work.
I wouldn’t let him leave me completely in the dust if I could help it.
“Well, it’s definitely working. I wish I had a fraction of your flexibility. That duck and strike was brilliant.”
My whole soul fluttered with those words.
“Maybe you should work on touching your toes from time to time.” I stood on one leg and lifted my other straight up to my shoulder, showing off under the guise of stretching out my hamstrings. “You taught me a long time ago that if I want to keep up, I have to keep showing up.”
“Look at you actually listening to me for once.” The eye roll that punctuated that statement was only playful-ish.
“Just because I don’t trust your dating advice, doesn’t mean I don’t listen to you.” I stuck my tongue out at him, not caring that it only gave him extra ammo to call me childish.
“You don’t listen to my mending advice either.” He side-eyed me as he stretched his arms over his head. “You might actually be passing if you did.”
Low blow.
“W-well…” I stammered, pausing entirely too long as I tried to think up a good comeback. “Seventy percent is still passing.”
“No one wants to be mended by someone who gets it right seventy percent of the time.” His expression flattened.
I laughed awkwardly in lieu of a defense.
There wasn’t much else I could say for myself in that regard.
Though after three years at the most prestigious medical school in all the universe, across both Mictlan and Gehenna, I wasn’t as terrible a medic as my grades implied.
I had been missing test questions and screwing up simple tasks on purpose in a misguided attempt at fighting against fate by delaying graduation.
Conversely, Vann, who was in his fourth and final year, was at the top of his class.
He was guaranteed to graduate directly into the Saturn Medical Program and get to live in Mictlan’s capital on our only remaining planetary base.
Neither of us had ever been outside of the station, and it would be a whole new adventure for him.
I wasn’t likely to get the same honor. Even if I stopped sandbagging and qualified for top honors, I wouldn’t be allowed to transfer outside the station until I safely brought a pregnancy to term.
Radiation and gravity fluctuated between different stations and planets, and it wasn’t safe to shock the body before it had performed, they said.
Funny how no one worried if it affected sperm, but limiting travel for men was unreasonable, so it was worth the gamble or something.
As much as I knew I had to start taking my studies more seriously, it all felt pointless knowing I could graduate with the highest honors, and yet I still couldn’t even be hired to clean a hospital’s toilets until I paid the womb tax.
“I’ve got another year to figure it out. I’m sure it’ll click eventually.” I said as I forced a half-hearted smile. Now that I knew holding myself back wouldn’t earn me any extra grace, there was no point in trying to delay graduation anymore.
“I hope so.” Vann frowned, and that made my own heart drop.
He let me sit with his disappointment just long enough for it to fully sink in, before he added, “I really want us to stay together after graduation. Even once you get married, you should still be able to work at the hospital with me. I plan to settle down in Zircon as soon as I finish my stint at the Saturn Base, and if you have your first kid before then, we can be in residency together.”
The corners of my lips shook as I held them in their waning smile.
Right. On top of everything, he’d be leaving for that program in the capital at the end of this semester for at least two years. He wouldn’t even be here for my future wedding. I’d be alone, living out my biggest nightmare with no one to turn to, while he was out seeing a whole new world.
The resolve to try harder and the desire to give up were pulling on me with equal force.
“I’ve got it handled. Don’t worry so much.” I insisted again, wanting this conversation to end before he sent me right back into the depressed spiral I’d been tumbling down since my first matchmaker evaluation.
That forced expression on my face dipped for only a fraction of a second, but it was enough.
My big brother shook his head.
“How about we trade our next training session for a tutoring session?” Vann suggested in a way that told me he wouldn’t be taking no for an answer. “I’ll get you up to speed on everything you’re struggling with, and I can give you some hints on some of your upcoming tests.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but thought better of it. Technically, these training sessions weren’t legal to begin with, so I couldn’t exactly make demands. Not when my brother was the only man on Protectorate 005 willing to train me.
Vann was ordinarily obnoxiously stringent of the rules, but he justified a little insubordination to spar with me on the basis that it was important I could defend myself in my ordinary, day-to-day life.
We’d both grown up rough enough to know it was a necessary skill far beyond live combat, and while we’d found some stability since we both earned scholarships into Medella U, it served neither of us to let those skills lapse.
A draft was always possible for him, and if I was going to end up on my own here, he wanted to make sure I could fend for myself when he wasn’t around to protect me.