Eriyenna had actually managed to wake up early two days in a row. It was, for her, an amazingly shocking exercise in willpower. She even scraped together some breakfast to eat with her second mug of coffee, and while she was no longer sleepy, it was only with reluctance that she pulled away from the fire and conversation with Winslow and Balder.

She's gotten some help setting up a practice arrangement for the trapeze and the high wire, if only because they hadn't bothered to set up the tent here on Surwood. Three poles stuck out of the ground with a dizzying collection of nets and two suspended trapeze swings. A short wire also ran between two of the poles. Everything was much lower to the ground than it would normally be during a real performance; it was obviously safer for practicing.

She wore a simple, older leotard and a short, linen skirt. Her hair was pulled back in a wrap to keep it from ending up in her face and she'd taken some time to wrap her wrists and ankles. Eriyenna was convinced a few more hours of sleep would have been just as beneficial, but, here she was, ready to prove her theory wrong. She'd also arranged a collection of instruments off to one side with a few of her most recent composition notes, just in case.

The purple-haired musician leaned against one of the poles, nursing her warm drink and humming while waiting for Xanadu. If Calli was around and not too distracted, Eri was sure she could convince the younger witch to practice with them.

Calli had enjoyed her morning. She'd gotten up at dawn, watched the sun rise, fed her kenser and played with her hingle. Then she'd stretched and warmed up, put some breakfast together... Gotten incredibly bored.

She decided to visit the circus, in the vain hope that she might see someone, anyone, that she could have fun with. If it was Her Boyfriend, all the better. She liked the courting thing, it was fun. She caught sight of Eri's trapeze apparatus and decided that was a bloody good consolation prize.

"Hesta, Eri, cor', what's this about?" She asked, waving a greeting and wanting to get involved in anything that involved both trapeze and wire work.

Eriyenna smiled and waved happily back, "Mornin', Calli. I met a chip who wanted to give the trapeze a try. She's quite benny at dancin' and acrobatics and ... swords. So I had the boys help me come up with this little practice set up."

She beamed, proud of the smaller scale design.

"You wanna join us?" The purple-haired witch knew the answer, but asked anyway, "It'll be fun."

There was a bounce to Xanadu's step as she walked toward the circus grounds. Not too much of a bounce, as she was eating a spicy bowl of stew she'd bought from a stall she had passed on the way. There was nothing like a good fiery breakfast to wake you up in the morning. A large container of water hung from a leather strap over one shoulder. She drank from it sparingly, knowing she would probably need it during her practice with Eriyenna.

She was dressed in one of the scoop-necked, sleeveless bodysuits that she wore when she was did gymnastics with swords. This one was a deep red color. She'd wrapped a long, brightly colored skirt around her waist to hide her legs until she got there. She wasn't a modest person; she just felt more comfortable in public wearing a skirt, unless, of course, she was dancing. Depending on the kind of dancing she did, sometimes very little was left to the imagination.

Her hair was braided at the nape of her neck, the end of it tucked into the top of the braid, forming a long, thick loop. A few ringlets had escaped their bonds and curled gently around her face and down her back.

Her knife belt, as usual, sat low on her hips, and the same three swords she had used yesterday morning were strapped to her back. Hopefully, she could show Eriyenna her new choreography and have some music written before she left the festival in about two days time.

Most of all, though, she was looking forward to trying the trapeze, and perhaps testing her balance on the tightrope as well, assuming one had been set up. Although she could balance on the toes of one foot while the other leg was up in a splits position and her body bent backwards nearly to the floor, she doubted she would be able to even stand up straight on a wire. She was eager to give it a try though. There was nothing Xanadu enjoyed more than learning new things ... except perhaps for thinning the galdori population.

She saw the trapeze as she entered the circus grounds. It was not all that high, but that was fine with her ... less of a chance she would break her neck when she fell. Striding towards it, she spotted Eriyenna conversing with a blonde girl she didn't know. Xanadu walked up to them in her usual direct way. She smiled at the purple-haired witch and waved with the hand that held her spoon. Not wanting to interrupt the conversation, she spooned more stew into her mouth and waited.

The answer was obvious, Calli almost hadn't needed to hear the question.

"I'd love to!" She said, full of a morning person's enthusiasm. "I'd really like to meet her, I still have that sword I got in Old Rose and I dunno how to use it properly."

Calli caught sight of the new comer but did not know if she was the person Eriyenna was waiting for.

"Junta! How're you?" Calli said in greeting, thinking it covered all that needed to be said either way.

Eriyenna smiled as Xanadu arrived, "Good mornin'." She waved a hand towards Calli as a means of introduction, "Xanadu, this is Calli. Calli, this is Xanadu." The purple-haired witch chuckled, sweeping her same outstretched hand toward the set-up behind her, "And that's the trapeze."

She stretched her arms out in front of her, lacing her fingers together lazily, and yawned, "I also set up the wire in case you're interested." Eri grinned expectantly, as if she figured the dark-skinned woman would be, "I might have some extra slippers that'll fit you. It's hard to walk on the wire barefoot."

((SFSR. I figured I'd give y'all a chance to say hello before we get down to business. ))

“Hi, Calli,” Xanadu said. So this was the girl Hal had mentioned a couple of nights ago. She wondered if he had asked her to teach him any acrobatics yet. “And yes, I can teach you how to use your sword, whether you want to use it while dancing, incorporate it into an acrobatic routine, or to fight. I usually fight with a double-bladed sword, but I can use almost any type. I taught Eriyenna a few sword-dancing moves yesterday. She'll be able to show you those.”

Calli didn't look any older than Xanadu had been when Glorie was born, but she was already taller than the dark-skinned dancer. That was nothing really new, though. Most everyone over the age of sixteen was taller than Xanadu. Except for galdori, and they didn't count ... usually they were lying on the ground dead soon after she met them anyway.

She turned to peruse the equipment Eriyenna indicated. The trapeze looked a bit scary up close, but she still could hardly wait to try it. It was probably the closest she would get to actually being able to fly. Those dreams of flying haunted her. Maybe if she tried it, they would stop.

She slurped up the last of her stew, and set the bowl on the ground. If I enjoy this and have any talent, perhaps I'll be able to practice with the circus when it comes to Vienda. I'm pretty sure a large donation would get me in. She unbuckled her knife belt and laid it beside the bowl, following it with her water bottle.



“Oh yes, Eriyenna, I would love to try.” She unwrapped her skirt and tossed it on top of her belt. “It will help me with my balancing if nothing else.” Looking down at her bare and quite sandy feet, she added: “and I will definitely need those slippers.”

Her three swords joined the pile of items on the ground. Finally ready, she glanced from one witch to the other. A bit of excitement crept into her generally neutral voice. “So ... lead on, girls. I'm eager to learn.”

"Wow! Neato!" Calli said, pleased at this eventuation.

She loved that sword but it was beginning to gather dust.



Calli watched the wire with a silently deepening hunger. She hadn't done wire work for a while, especially not since the festival started. She enjoyed it, liked the way it tested her balance.



Calli's fingers were itching now.

"Hey, Eri? Do you mind if I start?" She said, gaining a certain look that Eri was becoming more familiar with.

It usually meant Calli was about to try something interesting, though the quality of interest varied between "wow" and "oh good gods". Calli was already eyeing a balancing rod with intent. She'd already stretched that morning, so in her own terms she was good to go.

Eriyenna grinned at Calli, "Ne, not at all. Go on, rosh. Give Xanadu an idea of what we can be doin' today."

She turned and wandered toward her pile of random things, digging out her spare pair of slippers and walking back toward the barefoot, dark-haired woman. They were smooth leather slip-ons, simple but well-padded on the bottom to prevent both discomfort and too much slipping. They had straps over the top to secure them, "You might still end up with blisters, but at least you won't be cuttin' up your feet. They're a bit of extra grip, too ... which is always benny."

The purple-haired witch smiled and handed them over, turning to wave a hand at Calli, giving her further permission to climb up so the two of them could watch.

"Calli's one of those chips who ent afraid of anythin'. It makes for some crazy acts up on the wire and on the trapeze, I tell you what." She giggled musically, resting her hands on her hips with amusement.

Xanadu smiled at Calli's enthusiasm. She did not miss the look in the girl's eyes. Xanadu didn't miss much. Keen observation was important in her other, more lucrative career. She was looking forward to the performance. It was certain to be quite interesting. She just hoped Calli wouldn't do anything dangerous in order to show off. When she had been around that age, she'd sometimes taken stupid risks trying to add some shock value to her sword-dancing act. She had the scars to prove it, although they were no longer visible unless you looked really close. She had even tried to juggle her snakes once ... the poisonous ones. Despite her immunity, their bites had left her sick for days.



The pretty dancer took the slippers and tried them on. A bit too big but they would do. For her size, Xanadu had large feet. They weren't so large as to be easily noticed, but she had hated them as a child. Now, however, she felt that they helped with her ability to balance.

“Mujo ma,” she said. “These will be fine. And I'm not worried about a few blisters.”



“Then she's a woman after my own heart,” Xanadu grinned. Smiling was getting easier and easier for her, now that she had set Glorie's spirit free. “I'm not afraid of much either.” When you had looked death in the face as many times as she had, a trapeze and a high wire seemed tame.

"I do hope she doesn't try anything dangerous, though."

Calli walked across to the ladder that lead up to the tight rope. Her fingers glanced across the balance pole but she thought better of it. She wanted to try something. She climbed up the ladder fairly slowly, thinking about how the tightrope threw out normal balance and changed the way her center of mass behaved.

Calli took a deep breath and extended her arms, wanting to see if she could get all the way across without the pole. From the first step she found that the urge to tip from side to side was greater. She clenched her abdominal muscles, trying to work the movement of her arms into the walk.

The length of the wire ceased to matter. Calli wobbled as she walked, coming close to falling more than once. It had been a while since she'd practiced wire work. After a while though, that elusive switch in her brain flicked and it began to make more sense again. She wasn't good at explaining what she was doing, how to manage the sway and stride. It was like being told what to do. It would take some practice and likely some falls to correct.

Her foot touched the secondary platform and she almost fell then, startled out of her reverie. She was covered in sweat and shaking a little. Her stomach hurt.

"I think... I think I shouldn't do that again for a while, hey chips?" She said, smiling and breathing hard. "I think I need a rest already."

Eriyenna chuckled, knowing a few were unavoidable.


The purple-haired witch cast a side-long glance at Calli, but offered no return comment to Xanadu. She wasn't sure how to reply to that; dangerous things seemed to find Calli even when she wasn't looking. It seemed to be a secret talent ... on occasion.

Looking up, she watched the younger witch carefully from below, hand eventually straying to her mouth in cautious surprise. She might have gasped once, somewhere in the middle, before Calli seemed to get the hang of things mysteriously. Then, the chip was across to the other side and safe.


Eriyenna smiled warmly, comfortingly, "Been a little while, eh? Come on down and take a rest, rosh. That was benny."

Turning to Xanadu with a wry smile, the purple-haired witch waved a hand at the wire, "I can climb up with you, but you should probably walk across the first time alone. There's a pole for balance if you want. And ... I promise the net is sound." She grinned.

Xanadu did not realize she had been holding her breath until Calli reached the other side of the wire. Several times she had been certain the girl would fall. Eriyenna had been right about her. She was certainly a fearless one. She would probably make a great mercenary. Xanadu was now more eager than ever to help her learn to use her sword, no matter whether she wanted to learn how to dance or fight with it.



Xanadu clapped her hands in approval. “That was wonderful ... certainly much better than I am likely to do.”



“Oh, I will definitely be needing the pole,” she said with a chuckle. “And that net is probably going to get a lot of use.” She looked up at the wire and took a deep breath. She felt the same little thrill of excitement she got when she was getting close to the fugitive she was tracking. She loved that feeling, and this was a less dangerous way of getting it. As long as she used a net, she wasn't likely to be killed. The same thing couldn't be said when you were hunting criminals.

“So ... here I go.”

She climbed the ladder and stood on the platform. Taking the balancing pole, she tested its weight in her hands, tipping it right and then left as far as it would go. Finally ready, she looked across to the other platform. It looked so far away. She knew she would never make it to the other side, but that really wasn't really the point. The point was to try something new, test her balance, and see if she could learn something from the experience.

She closed her eyes and took a few more deep breaths to calm herself. As she did this, she thought about snakes.

You could learn a lot about balance from watching a snake. Seferu had once slithered up one of the posts of her bed and over to another one by sliding along the horizontal pole that joined the posts together. The back part of his body had wrapped itself around the pole, but he still had to balance to keep himself upright. She could see the way he adjusted and readjusted his mass as he slowly slid across the pole. It was truly an amazing sight, and one that she could definitely learn from now.

With the pole held lightly in both hands, the dancer tested the wire with one foot, putting more weight on it very slowly. Her foot curved a bit around the wire and she could feel it cutting a bit into the sole, despite the protection of Eriyenna's slippers. At last her mass was centered directly above the wire and all of her weight was supported on one leg. She moved the other leg in front of the first, with very slow and controlled movements. She was now balanced on the wire, all of her muscles straining to keep that balance.

Now came the tricky part ... taking a step. The secret was to not to panic, to remain in control of both body and mind. She knew from watching Calli that she was going to wobble and, since this was her fist time, probably fall. As long as she was mentally prepared for all possibilities she would do fine.

Very carefully, she shifted her weight to her front leg while slowly moving her back one beside it. The urge to tip was great, but she controlled it with the pole, dipping it to one side and then the other. Although she kept her eyes straight ahead, her vision wobbled along with her body, disrupting her concentration. She closed her eyes. She didn't need to see. All she needed to do was feel.

When her back leg was hovering in the air beside the right one, she paused for a moment, concentrating on her center of balance, thoughts of Seferu traversing that rod going through her mind. As she moved the leg forward, she tipped dangerously to the left, but was able to correct herself before she toppled into the net.

Her muscles strained with the effort. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead. This wasn't easy at all, but she relished the control she had over her body.

First step completed, she mentally congratulated herself, then took another. After a few more steps, she was no longer tilting from side to side ... not much anyway. The next time, before stepping on the wire with her front foot, she lifted her leg, bending it at the knees. Well, that wasn't so hard,she thought. Let's try something a bit more difficult. After stepping, she transferred her weight to her front leg and lifted her back leg into the air while bending forward. Unfortunately, she transferred more weight into her upper body than she should have and overbalanced herself. No amount of flailing about with the pole could stop her fall. The pole flew from her hands and clattered to the ground as she tumbled into the net.

She lay there for a moment, a bit disoriented, thinking about what she had done wrong and how to correct it next time.

Eriyenna had followed Xanadu up the ladder to stand on the platform, lending her added weight to the practice set-up in order to keep it steady for the other woman. She stood with her hand over her mouth the whole time, both in surprise and in warning to keep herself from speaking up and ruining the dark-haired human's concentration. There'd be plenty of time for tips and tricks after her first attempt, not during. She might have been holding her breath, too.

Exhaling and restraining herself from clapping happily at Xanadu's first step on the wire, the purple-haired musician all-but-hummed with excitement.

Then, a few steps later, the poor human fell.

"Oh!" Eri gasped in surprise, though a fall or two was probably inevitable. Peering over the platform and looking down at the disoriented woman, she smiled apologetically, "Epameo. I hope the net was springy enough. You didn't hurt yourself, did you, rosh?"

Xanadu laughed as she disentangled herself from the net. “I'm fine, Eri. I've taken a lot more dangerous falls than that one.” On the hard ground. From the roof of a building. Off of a cliff and into the water. With an endless variety of ruthless, smelly men all trying their damnedest to end her life. Definitely worse than tumbling into a net after attempting to walk on a tightrope.

She looked up at Eri, squinting just a little in the morning sunlight. “I probably should have kept on walking instead of trying to balance on one leg. Now ..." she grinned. "How about showing me how it's really done?”

She walked over to stand beside Calli, a bit disoriented. Walking on solid ground seemed a bit surreal after balancing on the wire. Her feet ached. Luckily, she wouldn't be using them much on the trapeze. “Now that,” she told the girl, wiping a bit of sweat from her face, “was fun. Tough ... but definitely fun. I can see why you love to do it.”

She looked up to the wire again, eager to see what Eriyenna would do.

Calli smiled, having moved from the platform back to the ground, while the other two women had been talking.

"You did very well! You just have to be careful about keeping yourself centred over the rope." Calli didn't know what centre of mass was but that was what she was referring to. "It's a strange skill, it took me ages to get it, I was used to dancing when I started."

Calli's abdominal muscles were smarting now. She didn't often work the wire, having mainly performed as an acrobat since she'd joined the circus. She decided she wanted to get back into it again, just for a change of space.

"Would you like to try the trapeze later?" Calli asked, watching Eri carefully. "It's a lot of fun!"

Eriyenna decided to forgo the balancing pole, mostly considering it was now on the ground far below. She hovered on the edge of the platform for a moment, eyes closed, feeling a bit of the sway, breathing quietly. With a grin she opened her eyes and stepped out carefully, finding the familiar spots on her feet that were already calloused underneath her slippers. One step, then another, and a few more, stomach tight, arms and shoulders relaxed, head held high.

As the purple-haired witch neared the center, she slowed and began to squat down, stretching out her arms loosely as she bent at the knees. She wobbled briefly, bringing muscles under control. With a sharp inhale, Eri launched herself upwards, off the rope and into the air, backwards in a swift arch, and back on both feet again in a quick backflip.

The wire moved side-to-side in protest to her swift motion and it took her a moment to regain her balance. Straightening again, she grinned through the stinging the wire always caused her feet when she landed on them that hard.

"It's been too long," she giggled to Calli and Xanadu below without looking down, "I gotta get back into practicing."

She took a few steps forward and slowed again, sticking her right leg outward slowly, once again out-stretching her arms. Then, she eased herself downward on one leg into a low squat, right leg hanging slightly below the wire. She held herself there for a few moments, body protesting the balance and the strain, before standing again and finishing her walk across the wire at a swift pace.

Reaching the other platform, Eriyenna laughed and finally looked down, wiping sweat from her forehead, "It ent much, but there's a little bit of what can be done after a few years of practice." She grinned sheepishly, hands on her knees and breathing, "I'm a bit rusty."

The musician winked, laughing before climbing back down to solid ground, "Music's still my real love, but bein' up there is benny."

“That's definitely what my problem is,” Xanadu said. “If I practice more, I hope I'll figure it out eventually. It is totally different from the balancing you do in acrobatics.” She smiled at the younger girl. “I think I'm already addicted.”

.

“That's the main reason I came.” She picked up her water bottle and took a long swig. “That, and to have Eri write some music for my sword dancing routines. I often dream of flying and I hope the trapeze will give me a taste of what it's really like.”

Her attention turned upward as Eriyenna stepped out on the wire. Once again, the young Mugrobi held her breath. She gasped in surprise as the purple-haired witch turned a backflip, certain she was going to fall. She didn't. Xanadu was stunned. She doubted she would ever be able to do such a thing.

An idea formed in her mind as she watched Eri move across to the other side. A trapeze was probably out of the question, but she saw no reason she wouldn't be able to find someone who could rig up a tightrope and net in her back yard. She could practice any time she wanted, although it was probably not a good idea to practice alone. It wasn't a good idea to chase after armed and dangerous men either, and that was all in a day's work for the young bounty hunter. She could handle a wire. Maybe she would even find someone who shared her interest when she went back to Vienda. Then she wouldn't have to practice alone.



“I'm impressed ... especially with that back flip! It didn't look rusty to me at all. I doubt I will ever be able to do that well.”

Her eyes strayed longingly to the trapeze, and a little thrill of excitement fluttered through her. “So ... one down and one to go. I'm really looking forward to this one, although I will probably do worse than I did on the wire.”

"Well, I s'pose." The purple-haired witch blushed at the compliments, "Growin' up with a bunch of performin' wicks has it's advantages." Eriyenna followed Xanadu's gaze with a chuckle, "The trapeze, eh? I think we'll try an' get you to at least make a transfer from one swing to the next. That'll probably be plenty of excitement for a day."

She rolled her shoulders in a casual shrug, "It ent gonna happen without a fall or two, but I think you'll catch on."

Tilting her head toward Calli, she grinned, "You want me to show her how it's done or would you like to be up there for a bit of an example?"

"I'm up for it, I miss the trapeze. You're much better at explaining it that I am..." Calli meant that honestly. She wasn't going to be able to explain to Xanadu just what was happening, so Eri would be a far better teacher. "I'll just cover some basics maybe, then some pair work?"

Calli walked over to the trapeze, getting ready to practice by chalking her hands. She did a stretch to help loosen her abdominals and then she was ready to go.

"What should I show first?" She called.

"I think for Xanadu's sake, a simple transfer between swings should be enough." Eriyenna grinned, moving to climb the opposite pole and take hold of the swing so that she could pass it across as Calli swung over the gap. Once at the top and steady on the platform, the purple-haired witch smiled, "I'll send it over when you're ready."

It was usually easier to transfer when there was a person on the swing weighing it down, but it was still not too great of a feat to snatch the moving swing as you leapt from the next if you timed it right.

"You ent gotta do anythin' flashy unless the mood strikes you." Eri winked with a giggle.

"No problems, Eri." Calli said, rubbing her hands together before grabbing the swing on her own side.

Calli swung back and forth for a while, getting a feel for the rhythm and the peak of the swing. She slipped her knees over the bar and swung a little more. After a moment she wondered if she was being self indulgent.

"I'll fly on three." Calli called out. "One... Two... Three!"

Calli waited until she was at the peak again, weightless and unimpinged by gravity for a split second. She jumped, trusting that the bar would be there when she did.

Eriyenna watched the younger witch carefully, catching on to the timing of her movements. She gave the opposite swing a shove and sent it across the gap toward Calli at the right moment, ready for her waiting hands as she was in the air.

((OSR: obviously short reply))

Calli caught the bar and swung backwards and forwards a few times. She could have used her momentum to get back onto the platform but it was small and she didn't want to risk knocking Eri. She decided to let herself drop instead, bouncing on the net.

"It's all about timing." She called out to Xana. "You have to wait until the top of the swing or you'll miss it."