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Eri woke slowly to the feeling of sunshine on her face.
She despised it.
Rolling over and away from the offending light source, she let out a soft groan and kicked the sun-warmed sheets away from her body. She blinked her eyes open to the empty bedroom and took a deep breath in, stretching languorously, before sighing the air back out of her lungs. Eri turned back towards the window, pushing the stray locks of hair away from her face she looked out the window and determined it was a couple of hours until midday. She groaned once more, just for good measure, and sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Eri tugged at her long black hair, finger-combing the snarls out of it before braiding it and securing the end with a small black ribbon.
Eri pulled down her thin sleeping shirt, padded out of her small bedroom and into the bathing room down the hall. After she finished she dressed in a simple dark skirt, leggings, and tunic. She pulled on her leather boots and headed towards the door, stopping at the mirror to check her appearance.
Satisfied, she headed towards the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast. Today was the seventh day so there was no official, obligatory training like there was the rest of the week. It was a day for the gods; honing one’s combat skills would have to wait, apparently.
That's not to say Eri herself didn't honor the gods - she was the daughter of one, after all - but she needed all the training she could get. Her hand to hand skills were not the best, as she had mostly stuck to ranged dagger attacks. She much preferred sticking to the shadows (or the shadows sticking to her) and making stealth attacks when needed. However, after a previous job in which her partner Theo had had to save her, rather embarrassingly so, he insisted she learn how to at least defend herself when a fight got up close and personal.
Luckily for her, Theo didn't much believe in the sanctioned ‘godly days off’ either. They had agreed to meet outside the Thieves Guild headquarters to train, and Eri quietly exited the thieves’ housing to make her way there. Normally, Eri would be dreading the thought of so much alone time with her annoying-at-best partner, but as of late he'd rather been growing on her. They've been partners for years and she'd have barely called them friends until recently. Sure, they trusted each other’s skills with their lives, literally, but that didn't mean they were always cordial with the other.
But in the last few months, things had begun to shift, it seemed. Their usual bickering had started to house a fondness it hadn't before, their gazes now held the beginnings of what felt a lot like warm affection. Perhaps essentially sharing a life with each other was starting to affect them after all, despite the initial animosity-turned-grudging-deference. Erianthe had never thought of her relationship with Theo in any capacity other than simply a compulsory necessity, but if she thought on it, she could see herself as friends with him in a way she could not have a few months ago. Somehow in that space of time, Theo had gone from abhorrent acquaintance to blossoming - dare she say it - friendship.
It wasn't such as stretch, she supposed - both orphaned at a young age with nowhere to go, forced to stay as part of the Thieves Guild not out of loyalty, but out of a need to belong somewhere, of wanting to feel independent but still a part of something, though a something Eri was beginning to realize wasn't anything she necessarily wanted to be affiliated with. She longed for more freedom, and she knew Theo did too, something she’d learned from their brief, if not stilted, conversations over the years. Unfortunately, Eri had never heard of anyone leaving the Thieves Guild, not alive anyway.
Reaching the small Hippodrome just outside Pharae they usually used for extra training, Erianthe emptied her mind of trivial thoughts. She climbed the small set of stairs and strolled through the column archway. Already reaching to pull her tunic over her head to stave off the oppressive Grecian heat, Eri spotted Theo in one of the shaded bullpens lining the Coliseum. In just her leggings and chest bindings, she'd be lucky not to get burned by the sun that was now completing the top of its daily arc, but the cool breeze she could feel on her already sweat-damp skin was worth it.
Boots scraping up the loose dirt floor, Eri reached the ledge Theo was lounging on and dropped her tunic and sheathed daggers beside him. He'd dressed accordingly for the intense heat, a sleeveless light colored tunic and loose pants that won't hinder all of the movement their sparring entails.
“What took you so long?” Eri could hear the teasing smirk in Theo’s voice even though she had already turned back to face the Coliseum, where she could see the heat rising from the ground.
Setting her hands on her hips, she turned her head and replied, “You know I'm not a morning person.”
“That’s for certain,” was his easy retort before he stood and signaled Eri to start stretching. Loosening their limbs and muscles in the warm weather was quick work, and after a few minutes they straighten and face each other in the center of the arena.
“Do you want to go over what we did last time? Disarming someone holding a knife,” he reminded her.
“Sure,” Eri answers, confident in her knowledge of the tactic. Theo draws a small dagger from his belt and holds it firmly, sinking into a ready stance, Erianthe mirroring his movement. Theo locked eyes with her before darting forward, brandishing the knife at her. She watched his hand thrust forward; anticipating this, Eri feinted right, dodging the sharp blade. Using the force of her body's momentum, she swept the heel of her palm up into his forearm, striking his pulse point and causing his grip to loosen. Seeing as it hadn’t completely disarmed him, as that move sometimes did, she swung up with her left arm, delivering a blow strong enough to knock the knife completely from his weakened grip. She watched the dagger fly away into the dirt before looking back up at Theo. He had a smile on his face, an expression just short of his usual smirk.
“See, you can do anything if you have a good enough teacher,” Theo proclaimed.
Eri moved from the position she still held, the rush of the encounter leaving her unable to hold in the quiet huff of laughter that escaped her. She reached up to tuck an errant strand of hair behind her ear before protesting, “I like to think it's a winning combination of my natural talents and ability to learn quickly.”
Theo chuckled, “Keep telling yourself that, Eri.”
Eri decided to save herself the effort of a solely snarky retort and instead asked, not without snark “So what’s next, oh great and wise instructor?”
She received a toothy Cheshire grin in reward for that question. “I’m glad you asked, most favored pupil.” Erianthe crossed her arms and gave him an exaggerated eye roll. He continued, “We’re finally going to put your bony knees and elbows to good use.”
Eri let out an indignant “Hey!” but it was ignored in favor of Theo fetching the wrappings on the bench and grabbing one of Eri’s arms. He began to wrap the strips of cloth around her elbows, their hot skin brushing together as he tied the end with a knot. Eri frowned at the heat the cloth housed and the way it restricted her movement as she gave her elbows an experimental flex.
She glanced at Theo, waiting for an explanation. Sensing her confusion,Theo clarified, “To protect said bony elbows. The first few times we do this they'll be delicate; we can't have you getting bruises all over that flawless skin of yours.”
Eri rolled her eyes again, something she did almost constantly in her partner’s presence, but she could admit to herself now she was touched by his concern, however unnecessary it was.
“I think my elbows can take it,” she quips, “but thank you.”
What looked like surprise crossed his face for just a second, probably because of the unusual softness in Eri’s voice before flickering away, replaced easily by a focused concentration.
“Okay,” he began, “we're going to work on elbow and knee strikes. It's a good way to render an attacker immobile quickly. Your elbows and knees are some of your most lethal weapons and you have to learn to utilize them effectively.”
Eri threw him an amused smile at his suddenly very authoritarian tone, then rolled her shoulders. “Ready to start, sir.”
Theo returned her grin with one of his own and reached up to push a few curls of chestnut colored hair out of his eyes.
“Alright then soldier, show me what you've got.”
Erianthe settled into a standard southpaw stance and breathed in deeply before pushing off with her left leg and lunging towards Theo, arms still held in close. She went to elbow Theo in the chest, but he reached up and blocked her easily, deflecting her elbow with his forearm and grabbing her wrist with his other hand. He twisted her arm up behind her back, forcing her to spin away from him. She grunted as he delivered a swift but restrained kick to the back of her knee which caused her leg to buckle, sending her into the dirt.
Theo clucked his tongue as he helped Eri get back to her feet. She brushed the worst of the dirt off of her leggings - she hoped they weren’t torn under all of that dust - and stretched her arms above her head. Theo still had his commander’s face on when he instructed her on how to better attack with her joints. They went through a series of slowed down stances to help Eri get the feel for how to strike efficiently.
After a short break to rest from the heat and get water from their canteens, Theo told her “I think you’re ready to try again.”
Eri nodded, focusing her mind as they walked back towards the center of the arena. Theo stopped just in front of her - she could see the separately colored lines of blue in his eyes - and she waited.
Suddenly, Theo’s arm rocketed up, aiming towards Eri’s collarbone, but she was ready this time. She took a small step forward and used her momentum to drive her knee into the inside of Theo’s thigh, hitting the peroneal nerve whilst blocking his arm with her right hand. Theo dropped to the ground, and Eri used the rest of her power to lightly strike the side of his head with her left elbow, demonstrating her mastery of the skill without actually hurting Theo.
Eri held her position there until Theo looked up at her, beaming. “That was incredible,” he marveled, and Eri allowed him to move, reaching out a hand to pull him to his feet. “You really are a quick learner, you know. Best student I’ve ever had.”
“I’m the only student you’ve ever had,” Eri countered, though she was brimming with pride. And also sweat.
“See, so you are the best,” he stated, “and therefore I am also the best instructor.” His teasing grin reached his eyes, sparkling with mischief, and that was all the warning Eri had before Theo struck out at her, once again wielding the small dagger Eri had already noticed hidden in the folds of Theo’s tunic earlier. Instinctively, Eri’s hand shot out to protect herself, and she used the heel of her hand to hit Theo’s arm. But he was expecting this, and Theo’s grip remained firmly around the knife. He took a step back, Eri mimicking his movement. She kept an eye on the dagger, a crucial part of not getting sliced open by an opponent, and waited for Theo to attack again, preferring to be on the defensive in a match like this.
Theo hesitated a moment before darting out of his crouched position, this time aiming for Eri’s legs - a cut through the femoral artery located there could prove fatal if made deep enough. But before Theo could get the dagger there, Eri kicked upward, using all of her weight to twist and drive her knee into his arm - this time hard enough to dislodge the knife from Theo’s strong grip. It slid through the dirt, though it was still within Theo’s reach, and Eri saw his eyes dart to the fallen weapon, leaning down to grab it.
Before he could touch the knife Eri spun, gathering momentum to once again force her knee into Theo’s vulnerably open side. He managed to keep his balance, but Eri was quick - she crouched and used her remaining energy to roll in a sideways somersault over to the dagger and snatched it from the ground, the weight of her favored weapon familiar in her hand.
Theo had come closer to her as she’d rolled, and he moved to heel strike her in the solar plexus. His blow glanced off her torso as she pivoted to the side, and raised the hilt of the dagger to attack his skull. He dodged, managing to land a hit on her forearm, nearly knocking the knife from her hand. She kept her grasp though, and spun the blade with a flick of her wrist, readjusting her grip, dagger now facing outward to slash. Theo tried to topple her with a leg sweep, but countered with a swipe to his chest, narrowly missing the soft flesh there. Theo glided to the side, swinging his elbow back with the force of the turn, but Eri caught the hit in her right hand, and moved to cut at his throat with the dagger, stopping just short to avoid wounding him.
“Gotcha,” Eri declared, knife pressed to Theo’s throat and breathing heavily, satisfaction etched in her features, loose, sweaty strands of hair sticking to her temple.
Equally winded, Theo beamed openly at his captor, careful not to jostle the blade at his throat. “So you did,” he conceded. “That was incredible, truly. Not even just for a beginner, for anyone.”
Eri removed the weapon from Theo’s neck, but his elbow remained in her hand. They were both still grinning at each other, the adrenaline of their sparring match shooting spikes of pleasure, accomplishment, and excitement through their bloodstreams.
Theo was proud of Eri, in awe of how quickly she learned and her prowess and natural talent for… well, just about anything. She was intelligent, cunning, ambitious, brave, and reliable - everything you could want in a partner in crime. But Eri was also kind, beautiful, strong, and just, yet still vulnerable, flawed, and real in a way Theo wouldn’t have expected a demigod to be.
Erianthe seemed to realize she still held Theo’s arm, and let go, backing away to catch her breath and push her hair out of her eyes. “I think I did pretty well,” Eri murmured, attempting to break the tension suddenly inhabiting the air around them.
Theo, breaking out of his introspection, agreed “You did fantastically.”
The two thieves walked back over to the bullpen to collect their things, keeping closely side by side despite the eternally brutal temperature, arms brushing lightly.
“Maybe I could teach you to use your daggers better,” Eri offered, as she finished pulling her tunic back on. “You could always use more practice instead of just relying on me for all dagger-related activities.”
Theo snickered, before conceding, “I suppose I could always use some work on my knife skills. This time next week sound good?”
Eri looked back at Theo and smirked, “It’s a date, then.” They continued walking back toward the Thieves Guild, back to their lives there, back to the cell-like bedrooms and false facade of independence. All they could do until they found true freedom was continue to build their skills and their relationship, waiting for an opportunistic moment to escape the metaphoric hell of the Guild, which may very well never happen.
Eri believed in the Fates, she had to, how could she not? What Eri didn’t believe was that everyone’s destiny is set in stone. She believed in the power to change your own life, choose your own way, and while the Fates may guide you, you ultimately have the last say in the matter. She would be free, even if it killed her. She wasn’t afraid of death, and rightly so, her father being who he was. What she was truly afraid of was an entire lifetime of cages, chains, loss of free will.
Erianthe, daughter of Hades, would have her freedom, no matter what the cost.