Count On Me (Don't Tear Me Down)

Okay, so from this chapter onward, there’ll be more worldbuilding involved with this story. I’ve added stuff and I’m going to continue to add things as the need crops up.

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Yang rolled over and cracked her eyes when the sun filtered through the windows. Sienna laid next to her, fast asleep. It was odd to share her bed with somebody. She’d never done that before, not even with her mothers or sisters. It was just seen as inappropriate for any woman to share her bed with another person, even another woman. But, oddly…it felt…okay. She wasn’t as upset as she could have been about breaking such an Efranan cardinal rule, but she just didn’t feel like she had done anything wrong. There was nothing sexual going on or anything like that… Her purity was still completely intact. She hadn’t lost anything by sharing her bed with another woman. Though she did see Johnathan sleeping on the couch. It didn’t look very comfortable, but he had refused to take a bedroom even if it was right next to hers. He didn’t want to let her out of his sight no matter what, it seemed. Well, he had allowed her to speak to Sun and Weiss in the hay loft… It was odd. Johnathan had always made sense to her, but now, he didn’t. Was it because they were in a different culture that played by different rules now? She had no idea. She just really knew that she needed to get up and get ready for the day. She saw Sienna’s ear twitch slightly and then her eyes opened. Yang winced. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to wake you up.” Sienna shrugged. “Your soul is surprisingly loud when we’re this close together. But really, it doesn’t matter. We should get ready for the day. I can only imagine what the duke has in store for me.” She rolled her eyes hard, Yang blinking and shaking her head. So unladylike! She had never seen a woman do that, not without major repercussions from the man over her. Yet Sienna did it so easily and like it came naturally. “…It does come naturally to me because I was never punished for doing it.” Yang frowned. “How?” “Well, not every culture is like the one you’re from, Yang… Women aren’t punished for being independent. I mean look at Weiss. She’s not apologetic about pretty much just existing, is she?” Yang shook her head. “No, she isn’t… I can’t believe that she still wears so little clothing… It just seems like an invitation for a woman to get assaulted.” Sienna sighed. “Yang, you have a lot of unlearning to do. I am…was?…next in line to be a sub-chieftain. I’m a powerful woman. I’m not…wasn’t expected to be anything but myself in my tribe. Women were treated equally to men, just like they are here in Noci. Granted, the duke didn’t treat us very well and kept cutting us off but…that’s a tale for a different time. Here in Noci, men and women aren’t that different from each other. I don’t know a lot about the culture outside of my tribe, but in my dealings with Nocian people, I didn’t see any difference in how they treated each other. And my tribe is…was no different. Women are considered just as powerful as men… Plus, aura is the great equaliser.” “Aura?” “You don’t know about soul powers?” Sienna blinked, obviously stunned by that. Yang shook her head. “I’ve never heard of anything like that before.” “Here; give me your hand.” Sienna held hers out and Yang gently placed hers there. “Now close your eyes.” Yang did so.  At first, she didn’t see anything, but a moment later, color burst forth. Everything appeared in her view, having different colors. She could see the walls, the floor, the bed… Herself and Sienna were different though. They burned with color. A big sphere of bright energy sat near Sienna’s heart and Yang could feel and see a similar one, though much, much smaller, near her own.  Everything has soul, Yang. You, me, the trees, even the rocks and the bed. The soul can evolve in tremendous ways that give you a ton of power over people. But it’s power you must use wisely and carefully. My tribe stresses…stressed…that from our youngest years when we began our training. The power of the soul is tremendous, but souls themselves are incredibly delicate and can easily be hurt and torn apart. Some people can heal souls and their damage. I can see great damage in yours, but your aura spark still shines. I believe you can heal from what happened to you, though it will take a lot of time to get there. All people have the same potential, but most will never reach it, for they know not the path to walk, nor how to walk it. That…doesn’t really make sense. She could feel Sienna speaking through her mind and soul, not verbally, so she tried the same. You have extremely limited experience because of how you were raised. I can teach you to walk the path that I walk, though it wouldn’t be easy. You would need to change how you think and behave. That…sounds like a big investment. It is, but it will expand your knowledge of the world immensely. You don’t have to choose right now, though; feel free to watch me and make a decision later. You can open your eyes now. Yang did just that and looked around. It was crazy to think that everything had soul energy like that… She never knew anything like that existed… Sienna’s soul burned so brightly. “Why was my heart so small?” “That’s the aura spark you saw. It’s a good gauge of a person’s life and their outlook on the world. A person that has been through a lot of trauma and not lived a lot of life will have a very small aura spark. It will be highly scarred as yours is. Trauma deeply hurts the mind and soul. It can be healed, but it takes a lot of time and effort. Like I said, I can teach you to walk the path if you want to. It can help you heal and open yourself up to the world. It opens up your heart and mind, but it also opens you up to a lot of hurt.” Yang frowned. “That’s… You’re saying things but I don’t understand it.” It was all flying past Yang’s head. She had no idea what any of this meant. It was all esoteric and she struggled to understand it. She had no idea what Sienna meant. She wanted to understand because it was interesting, but the way Sienna explained it just…didn’t make sense. Sienna nodded. “It is hard to understand especially at high levels. I’m pretty high in the Grades which is how advanced aura is measured. I’m Grade Ten. Though I met a lot of conflict when I said I didn’t want to go higher than that.” “Why?” “Most leaders are Grade Eleven or Twelve. That means they can manipulate people’s souls as well as heal them. It takes a great amount of spiritual knowhow to be a leader in my tribe. It was only through luck that I was able to be a chieftain’s daughter and be enough of a prodigy to be able to reach the high Grades. Some people just can’t get past a certain Grade for whatever reason. It seems like some people are just naturally not able to go past a certain level.” “My head hurts.” “How about some breakfast, my lady?” Yang startled a bit when she heard Johnathan speak. “I can go get some food.” “That…would be nice. I am starting to get hungry.” “I should probably let you start getting ready for the day, then,” Johnathan said. “I’ll be back soon.” “Okay.” Her manservant left the room, leaving the two women alone. “Er… Do you want to get ready for the day in the bathroom or here…?” “Eh? Why not just get ready together?” Sienna asked. Yang’s cheeks burned hotly. “It’s inappropriate to see anybody else naked.” “It’s just skin.” “But the breasts and anything below the waist is highly sexual.” “Nt in my mind.”  Yang felt her cheeks burn even hotter. Did Sienna have no shame? The breasts were so incredibly sexual and, well, Yang was definitely well endowed. She’d caught more than one man staring at her chest despite everything but her hands and face being covered. It was hard to not notice how large her chest was. Sienna seemed modestly endowed, but still… She had never seen another woman naked before. She wasn’t sure if Noci was highly liberated or what… She just… This was all way too much for her. Was it normal for women to get dressed together or something? She really didn’t know. Or was it Sienna’s tribal culture? She had no way of knowing. “I’ll get ready in the bathroom… I’ll go bathe, then do you want to?” “Why would I bathe before the day when I’m nasty at the end of it? I’ll do that before we go to bed. “Okay then. You can get ready however you want here.” Yang stood up and picked a dress and accessories, then went into the bathroom. She filled up the tub with warm water, then slipped in and started cleaning herself up. It was natural in Efrana to bathe in the morning. Plus, it wasn’t like she personally did much of anything… She mostly just sat around and did needlework and manners lessons. She’d never even been on a horse before. All she did was learn to be lady. A lady would not do anything too strenuous and force herself to get dirty. Sienna was of a different breed, so she supposed it made sense that she would have different norms… She just… There was a lot about Noci and Sienna that didn’t make much sense to her at all. She cleaned up entirely and then drained the water, getting dressed, and heading out to the bedroom again. Johnthan hadn’t returned yet but Sienna was already changed into something different. Granted, it was nowhere near as modest as Efranan clothes were. Sienna wore trousers and a short-sleeved shirt. It honestly startled Yang. “You wear trousers?” “Huh? Do you mean pants instead?” Sienna looked down at her legs and picked at them. “Yeah, I wear ‘em. Dresses aren’t exactly super practical when you’re in forests where briers and thorns can tug at long clothes. Even these feel too flowy for my liking, but they were what Anna had on offer. So they were what I picked up. I do have some dresses, but I see no reason to wear them right now. I’m a slave. A slave probably shouldn’t look as good as her mistress.” Yang frowned. “You’re not a slave to me…” “Not to you, maybe, but in the duke’s eyes… I probably need to play the role. Plus, I’d rather not get continuously beat. I have aura, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt to get hit. I didn’t have it on when I arrived…” She rubbed her cheek and Yang frowned. She probably had a point, but she still didn’t like it. “Is slavery legal here?” “Hell if I know. Even if it is, it probably doesn’t stop people from practicing it. People can and will practice whatever they damn well please especially if they have the influence to get past it.” Yang flinched a little at the swear word. “…Do you not like swear words?” She shook her head. “It’s uncouth and only for men.” Sienna let out a snort and shook her head, her ears going back a bit. “Uncouth is my middle name, at least according to these people. I’ll keep my mouth largely shut around the duke, but do you really need me to not say stuff like that? It’s…just normal for me. I can try to curb it, but I can’t make any promises…” She sighed, her ears drooping a bit. “I don’t want to have to censor myself because that’s not how I was taught to live… I was taught to be authentic to myself and that’s how I live and talk. I’ve never had to do that really…” Yang sighed. “I suppose I should get used to it… Noci is a different culture than Efrana…” “And my tribe is even different from Efrana.” “What do you mean by ‘authentic’ though…? I’ve never heard the word used like that… Only really in regard to ‘authentic’ goods and coins.” Noci was already a very confusing place for her. Men and women were equal? And then slavery? She just… She was struggling to really understand what was going on here and why it was so utterly different. She just couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that men and women could be treated equally. She was so used to being locked in her room and not being allowed out unless there was very good reason for it… Even speaking for herself was quite the shock to her system. She was used to only being allowed to speak directly to her father and female relatives. She could only speak to strangers if she used Johnathan as her voice. Even meeting with another Efranan girl meant having to have their manservants be their go-between. It was annoying, but it was what was normal to her. This didn’t make any sense… Sienna’s eyes glazed over a bit and she was quiet for a moment until she shook her head. “It means being true to yourself not letting anybody stop you from being able to stand between you and how you express yourself in a meaningful way. The Amiira, my people, use what’s called advanced aura. One of the big things for advanced aura is being able to express yourself totally and freely, connecting with yourself on such a deep level that almost nothing can shake you from being able to access a calm mindset and kindness that runs so deep you can give it to almost anybody. Almost.” Yang was pretty sure she meant the duke, possibly other people. “I see… I have to be kind to everybody.” “Forced kindness is different from what I was taught. I already showed you how I view the world in a literal way. Would you like to maybe try doing what we did? It won’t change you immediately or anything; I promise.” Sienna chuckled a little, though her ears went back. “If you were worried about that.” “Um, a little…” Sienna shook her head. “I promise it won’t change you immediately, Yang. But, if it’s a path you want to walk, it can change you on a deep level. It’d be in what I consider a positive way, but it’d really be up to you if you want to pursue the path or not. I can’t force it on you. But I can give you a glimpse into how I interact with the world. It won’t be the easiest thing, but it also won’t be scary…unless you’re afraid of your own mind.” Yang shrugged. She wasn’t sure if she was afraid of her own mind or not… It was really the only companion she’d had for the majority of her life. She spent all her time talking to herself mentally… What would be any different than that now? “I guess we can try.” “All right then. Lay down and try to get comfortable. Or, if you want to sit on the couch, you can do that there—” It was right that Johnathan came in with a tray of several plates. Sienna’s ears went back, but they flicked up a moment later. “Okay, food first, then we can try that. Sound good, Yang?” “Okay.” They started to eat and Yang looked at her. “Is something wrong?” Sienna asked. “Why are you eating with your hands?” Sienna looked down. “Why wouldn’t I?” “It’s uncouth.” Sienna snorted. “Uncouth is my middle name. But I guess I should get used to your…utensils.” She wasn’t sure what to call them. One was a pronged thing, another had a dipped curve in it, and the last seemed to be a knife of some sort. It was much too small to be a dagger and it looked somewhat dull. She looked at them, relatively confused. “How do I use these?” “Here…” Yang explained and showed her how to use them. It did make some sort of sense. One was for stabbing, another for dipping, and the last for cutting. She was incredibly clumsy with them since she’d never used them before. How was this ‘civil’ and ‘polite’? She had no idea what was going on. But if she was going to fit in here and hopefully impress the duke at some point, she would need to appear civil and well mannered. Apparently, eating with one’s hands was seen as uncouth and unrefined… She really shouldn’t have cared but she really needed to reflect well on Yang as well. It was going to be hard to strike a balance with her own personal beliefs and methods as well as what would be expected of her as a slave.  “Thank you. Just…give me some time to get used to it.” Yang nodded. “Of course…” She shifted a bit and Sienna could sense curiosity on her mind. “What is it?” “What…was life like for you before this?” “In what sense?” She was more than happy to answer Yang’s questions, but that was just…very general and oblique.  “Just…in general. What were your beliefs, what was daily life like… I’m…curious. I’m not supposed to be but…”  Sienna smiled. “You’re not in Efrana anymore,” she reminded Yang. “You don’t have to stick to what Efrana says is okay for women.” She really did feel bad for the young woman… It was awful that she couldn’t be curious or ask questions about the world or anything like that. Of course, her own tribe had had their restrictions on things, but it wasn’t like she was to be subservient to men. She would’ve been the sub-chieftain had things not turned out the way they had… She really just wanted to be able to wander the lands and go back to her previous way of life, but only Kumatara knew how many of her people had been killed…  “I know… It’s just…hard to let go of it… It’s only been a couple of days.” Yang looked down. Sienna nodded. “I can only imagine how hard it is for you.” She could feel Yang’s soul retracting, guilt washing over her. “You don’t have to feel guilty over asking me questions. I’m happy to answer them. Your world has been so small until the past few days. My world has been wide and expansive. I’ve encountered many different cultures and people over my life…” She was 20 now, but she was still young as far as her people were concerned. They could live quite long lives, likely thanks to the aura and their practices of harmony and non-conflict. They could and definitely were trained in martial ways, but they would only attack if nothing else worked. That did get her thinking. “Do you think you’d like to learn to fight?” Yang looked as if she’d seen a ghost. “W-What? A woman fighting…?” It seemed like an impossible thought, based off Yang’s aura. “There’s no way a woman could do that!” “Well, I stand in stark opposition to that. I was trained in martial ways from a young age. The only reason I wasn’t able to fight back before being brought here was because it was an ambush. We were attacked while we were asleep.” If they hadn’t been attacked at that time, the tribe would’ve put up a valiant defense. But with it being an attack while they were vulnerable, they hadn’t been able to rally and fight like they normally would’ve. “That sounds like… A woman fighting… I don’t think any woman can do that…” “Well, would you like to see?” Sienna asked. “At least once we finish up here. Or would you rather try meditating first?” She had offered to show Yang how she saw the world and how meditation worked. She was open to either option, really. It really depended on what Yang wanted to do. She had no preference for what they did. There was plenty of time in the day and it wasn’t like they had any set schedule. She wondered if Johnathan could fight or not. He was Yang’s servant, but he might also be her protector. There was no real telling. She looked at him. “Hey, can you fight?” “I’m trained in a number of martial ways, yes,” he confirmed. Sienna smiled. “All right then. Maybe you could be my opponent?” He nodded. “Very well.” She looked back at Yang. “So what do you want to do?” Yang’s aura wavered quite a bit. “I-I’m not sure… Fighting sounds scary. I’ve never heard of a woman fighting in my entire life…” She looked at Johnathan. “Do you think a woman can fight?” “I’ve never seen it either, but I don’t think it’s impossible,” he said.  Yang looked back at Sienna, her eyes wide. “I can’t believe he doesn’t think it’s impossible…” Sienna just smiled. “It’s not, I promise you that. I was trained in martial ways from a young age. Plus, Noci is a very martial society. I know the people here worship Yuhra, their one and only god, and see martial prowess as the most important thing in society. I don’t know all the ins and outs; we’d have to as Sun for all of the beliefs he has.” Well, there was no real guarantee that Sun truly believed everything when it came to Yuhra. He didn’t really seem the devout type to her. Weiss on the other hand… She wasn’t certain about that either. She knew nothing of the mermaid culture Weiss had grown up in. Sienna had seen plenty of the ocean, but she had never met a mermaid before… She had seen them off the coast, but had never interacted with them before. Yang nodded, her soul rippling in distress. “I-I guess you can show me after we eat…” Sienna continued to smile. “All right then. That sounds fine.” She fell quiet so she could focus on eating and then handed her plate over to Johnathan after she had finished.  The trio headed out of the room and down to the kitchens where Johnathan handed the dirty dishes over to the servants before leading them outside. They had to wander for a little while until they found what was clearly some sort of practice field. People with plate and chain wandered around. A few were practicing magic far off. There was a large building off to the side where people came out with what looked like wooden weapons. “Wooden weapons?” Sienna asked. She’d never seen anything like that before. It was weird to her. Johnthan nodded. “Yes. Practice weapons so that way people don’t get hurt when struck…or, at least so they don’t get deathly injured. The strikes can still hit if enough force is used.” He looked at her. “What sort of weapons are you used to?” “Daggers, chains, and straps mostly.” She was an up-close fighter. She was aware of swords and spears as the Amiira had used spears as well, but her specialty was definitely being up close and personal. “But I did learn to use spears.” “All right, come with me and choose what you want.” They went to the building, leaving Yang alone while they dug through the building to find something Sienna would like. There were no chains but there were leather straps which she was glad for. They found a wooden spear as well as some wooden daggers. “Are you not used to using practice weapons?” Sienna shook her head. “Not really, no. I’ve never seen anything like it before. We use blunted metal weapons to have the true weight of a weapon.” Granted, the weighting on every weapon would be slightly different, but using real steel was the only way the Amiira knew how to fight. The weighting on these wooden weapons felt off and unfamiliar. She would adapt, of course, but that didn’t mean it was going to be easy by any means. She didn’t have her old weapons that she’d used either… They were likely discarded or taken by the men who had razed her tribe… She hated this entire situation, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. “I see. That does make some level of sense, but even so… It will make using practice weapons more difficult for you.” Sienna nodded. “Definitely. But I’ll adapt and overcome. That’s one of the core tenants of the Amiira. We need to overcome because we live in nature itself and wander.” “That’s a good mindset to have.” Johnthan had a wooden sword. That would definitely be a difficult thing to deal with, but she had fought against swords as well. Blunted swords, but still. She knew how to fight against them. Though she knew his martial style would be extremely different from what she was used to. Efrana would have a much different style of combat than she was used to as that was often just how things went. Efrana would be different from Noci and Noci would be different from the Amiira, only for Efrana to be different as well. The fundamentals would likely be similar, but the styles would be vastly different. They headed back out to Yang who looked around nervously. Nobody seemed to be paying her any mind, really, but Sienna could feel severe anxiety on her soul. She was terrified of the men that were around. Sienna could see women among them, though, so she hoped that would show Yang that women were capable of fighting. This would be the girl’s first exposure to any sort of strong woman, so it would definitely be an interesting experience. “Are you ready to watch?” Sienna asked her. Yang nodded. “I guess.” Sienna and Johnathan squared up with each other and she gave him first attack. The Amiira tribe’s way of fighting was fluid and flowing, using the opponent’s weight and momentum against them. Johnthan seemed to be used to a more forward style of combat of overpowering the opponent. He kept playing right into her hand despite the sword he held. She actually opted to use the pole of the spear rather than the spear head itself. She could trap him in different ways and manipulate his body from a distance in a way that it wouldn’t want to move. He kept stumbling and falling flat on his face as she poked and prodded at him, manipulating his body via his joints and forcing him into positions he didn’t want to be in. She couldn’t help but snicker a little bit because it was funny to see the normally collected man getting incredibly frustrated and flustered. Eventually, though, she saw an opening and moved in, grabbing his wrist, twisting it, and dropping him to the ground. She stepped over him, feet twisted, and his arm laying over her legs. He groaned and looked up at her. “That…was impressive.” Sienna grinned. “My people know a thing or two about fighting.” Yeah, there was no real way around it. Her people were warriors. They absolutely were. But getting ambushed like that in the middle of the night… That would be enough to surprise just about anybody and make it difficult for them to fight back. Had they not been ambushed, then the Amiira would’ve come out on top most likely. But no, the duke had ambushed them in a horrible way and left them completely unable to defend themselves… She let Johnathan go and helped him get up. She glanced over at Yang whose eyes were wide and her soul churning in disbelief. “You…You beat him?” Yang’s voice was quiet, but her Faunus hearing picked it up. Sienna handed the practice weapons back to Johnathan and he headed off toward the building. She went over to Yang and nodded. “I told you it wasn’t impossible for a woman to fight.” “I didn’t think that a woman could beat a man even if she knew how to fight… I can’t believe you won… That’s…” It was clearly unthinkable in Yang’s mind.  “How about we head back to your room and talk about it?” Yang nodded a bit. “All right. I don’t want to leave Johnathan though.” He came back a few minutes later and they headed back to the room. Well, this was certainly going to be an interesting discussion… Yang had no idea how powerful women could be when properly impowered…