"One! Two! Three! Step!" Papa's voice rang out against the stones of the courtyard, as Calypso moved through the routine. Her blade in perfect balance with her form, she flowed through the steps as if she were dancing. "Defend!" it was not a warning, but a battle cry. Papa's staff smacked against her ribs, knocking the air from her lungs as she spun to respond. His blows came fast now, but she knew his patterns. Dodge to the left, now he would fake her out before striking. She turned in anticipation of the bluff, instead taking the full brunt of the oak staff against her side. Gasping, she doubled up in pain as she fell to her knees.
"You tricked me!" tears welled up in her eyes, burning as she tried to blink them away. "Will your enemies give you the chance to learn their moves? No. You must always be aware of the shift in your opponent's stance." his words were firm but kind, Caly nodded her understanding. Extending a muscled arm covered in grey tattoos, Hali pulled his youngest daughter to her feet. "Come my little Spaz, it is time we headed home".
Inside their cottage, mother was busy bottling potions by the hearth. Her formulas would provide care to the people of the village, healing and helping in turn. She looked up from her funneling and fury crossed her beautiful face. "Hali! what have you done to my daughter?!" the rising pitch of her voice shrunk the giant man, sheepishly he looked at her through thick eyelashes. "You know she must learn Nimue, it is not for us to dispute the calling." Nimue quickly turned away, her shoulders shaking. With great haste Hali walked around the large table that held the elixirs, and pulled his wife into his arms. "Shhh now love, the girl is strong." he spoke with his face pressed into her golden blonde hair, hiding his own tears. Shifting her feet awkwardly, Calypso cleared her throat "You know, it is my choice too!" Angrily, she stormed off, crossing the families land marker in a breath, she continued sprinting full speed straight into the woods.
From her pearch high in the oak trees branches, Caly could hear her father coming from several hundred yards out. Her hearing had always been great, but the training had heightened it beyond normal human bounds. She wished with all her might that he would just leave her be, she needed some time to think. Yet relentlessly, the steps got closer and closer.
He paused below her tree, taking a moment to scan the surroundings. Without looking up at her, he sat against the trunk and began to load his corn cob pipe. It was a long time before he spoke, but when he did it was measured and devoid of the kitchen's earlier drama.
Calypso had been two when the sage had appeared on their doorstep, so naturally she had no recollection of what transpired. As the story goes, Nimue had clutched Caly to her breast, demanding to take her place. When it was apparent that the sage would accept no one but little Calypso, Nimue had taken the girl and fled their homestead. Here is where the telling often splits. Hali is known to say that his wife left without his blessing, but the strength of family brought her back within a fortnight. Nimue's tale quite differs... but that is a story for another time. It is sufficient to say the girl began her training, with some exceptions made on the structure of it.
The storms of spring ushered in humid summers that filled Calypso with knowledge. Hali walked through the woods with her every afternoon in fair weather, quizzing her on the uses of the underbrush plants. She learned which mushrooms would leave you for dead, which would fill your tummy, and which would change your perception. The leaves of medicines that hid from the common eye, began to stand out and beckon to the girl as the leaves changed color. Frigid weather highlighted the need for an additional skill, and so the cold survival education began.
At first Nimue resisted this with everything she had. She yelled, she ignored, she cried... but nothing changed her husband's insistence that this is how things had to be. Resigned to allowing her child to camp alone outdoors, she instead slipped out into the night to sneak the girl supplies. That is, until Hali caught her- instigating the biggest fight Calypso had ever seen. Her 4 siblings blamed her for the disconnect in the house, but Caly was too tired to care much. One week in the woods with nothing but a satchel of tools and the howling wind, one day home, repeat. All the while combat training was king, defining the purpose of her days.
On the morning of her eighth birthday, she came into the family's common space to find a batch of disappointment instead of the usual cake baking. Her mother sat staring out of the window, as if she didn't hear Calypso approach. Her father was busy packing a knapsack, and only nodded to her as she sat beside her forlorn mother. "Today is my birthday, how could you forget that?" Caly huffed, indignant. A long silence followed; Calypso considered interrupting it to apologize or perhaps make things worse, but the look of her mother stopped her. Fidgeting, she waited. After the silence had stretched to the point of discomfort, Nimue finally spoke "The sage is here for you my sweet one, today is the day you leave us". Her eyes filled with tears held back by denial. Now that they were spoken, the words suddenly became true.
This story follows Spaz, a character featured in my developing Novel. You can also find her in my short story Blight of the Renala, which lives here! Thank you for reading along :)