After the group of Athamanas left the forge of the blacksmith of Floating Barracks and Rahul announced that he was going to sleep, the rest of the group decided to split up for the evening. First Suk and Teveli left the group, then Razvan, and finally Achilleus and Benkó. This left Wandi and Citar alone. The two boys were walking the streets talking, when they became aware of strange sounds that seemed to be coming closer and closer to them.
"Citar! Citar! Citar!" The Bolacsuk boy turned around, blinking widely, to find himself facing the figure who had called him.
"The future preacher?" He grimaced, then glanced at his friend. "What do you think he might want?" He asked the question, but Wandi just shrugged, as he also watched the young man approaching with rapid steps.
"We will only know if he tells us." The danovus finally said.
"Please tell me you're not looking for the priests again." The Bolacsuk boy rolled his eyes, making Wandi almost laugh.
"Citar! Wandi! Have a nice evening." The future preacher finally reached them and began to take deep breaths to clear his throat.
"Good evening, Santi." The danovus nodded.
"Good evening. How can we help you?" Citar asked, conjuring a helpful smile on his face, behind which only the Athamanas could probably see the truth. This is how Wandi knew exactly that his friend would like to strangle the future preacher.
"I need your help. And your soul creature's. The church would be grateful." Santi folded his hands and looked pleadingly at Citar, who could no longer contain himself and grimaced before closing his eyes and running his fingers through his hair.
"Let me guess again in a place where no one is allowed to enter." He sighed.
"The sanctuaries are unfortunately off limits to the average person. I hope it's okay if I steal him." The future preacher turned to Wandi.
"If he wants to." The danovus said seriously.
"I'll get away faster if I do what you ask. I'll see you later Wandi." Citar smiled at the boy and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Come on Santi, show the way! It's better if we get through this as soon as possible. Lynx doesn't like me making him work unnecessarily." The Bolacsuk boy growled as he walked alongside the future preacher and left Wandi alone on one of the main streets of the Floating Barracks.
"Now I need figure out what to do." The future leader of the danovus clan of Karrabata sighed, but he had barely finished exhaling when he jumped to the side, avoiding the fist that would have met his head, but instead he just crashed into the road. "Hello Alkekengi." The boy rolled his eyes and folded his arms in front of him.
"Hello, little danovus." The woman grinned at him and stood up, then dusted off her clothes.
"We didn't plan training today, if I'm not mistaken." Wandi noted, but this only made the danovus woman to roll her eyes.
"I know, but Teveli got on my nerves and I needed something to relieve the tension." She explained as she played with a thread that had come loose from her clothes before tearing it off and dropping it to the ground.
"And you thought a fight would be a good way to do this." Wandi finished her train of thought.
"Exactly." The lady grinned. "So?" She asked and took a defensive stance.
"This might not be the smartest thing to do in a populated area." The boy glanced around, as if he had just surveyed the terrain around him.
"You're missing the point." Alkekengi grimaced, but finally just blew a whistle and straightened up. "Okay, let's fight on the school field then." She threw back the braid of hair that had fallen over her shoulder. "If you're not up in a minute, I'll be back for you." She threatened the boy, then ran away, with a speed that ordinary people wouldn't have noticed.
"What could be wrong with her again?" The danovus boy asked himself, but in the end he just shook his head. "After all, I have nothing better to do." He shook himself, then started running so that he himself could get up to the Floating Air Barracks.
"Well, finally you're here, little danovus. I was just thinking about going back to get you." The woman giggled when Wandi reached the school's training ground. "I'm glad I didn't have to walk the path again." She flashed her teeth.
"I had nothing better to do." The Athamana noted with a shrug.
"Okay, enough of the chatter!" The woman became serious and the next moment her fist was approaching Wandi's face.
The boy immediately moved and pushed the attacking hand to the right by the wrist, then launched his own blow with his free hand towards the danovus lady's side. However, the woman wasn't born this day either, it only took a quick movement for her to dodge the blow and launch her own attack in the form of a kick. Wandi as usual blocked the attack in such cases and continued with his own blow.
But now he threw himself to the ground and with the same movement kicked Alkekengi's leg that she was standing on. Thus the woman almost fall on her ass and the only thing that saved her from the shame was that she was so magically flexible that her fall turned into a backflip.
"Not a bad little danovus, not bad at all." She chuckled. "But not good enough!" She remarked before jumping back at the boy, who parried her blows again. They fought like that for a long time, until they were both panting from exhaustion. By then the two danovuses were sitting side by side on the ground, leaning on their arms, silently looking up at the night sky.
The danovus race had always been very interested in the stars. The stars were things that changed as slowly as they did. Some thought that the danovuses themselves had come from stars, although Wandi thought this was a rather foolish idea. However, this did not stop him from admiring their sight and from thinking about the parallels that could be drawn between his race and the celestial wonders.
"So what happened?" The Athamana asked in a long voice, without even looking at the danovus sitting next to him.
"What do you mean?" Alkekengi asked back in a flat voice.
"Something big must have happened between you and Uncle Tete for you to appear so suddenly and want to fight." The boy explained, causing the woman to sigh.
"I don't know why it bothers me. We never got along well, we hated each other at first sight. When that ghost cut our bond, I was relieved. I was finally free from him." The woman began and rested her chin on her palm. "But..." Here her voice faltered and she closed her eyes. "I miss him." She whispered finally.
"It's natural that we danovuses still crave relationships. I've been waiting for him for a long time too." Wandi muttered the last sentence to himself.
"The green-clothed boy suits you." The woman giggled. "With us, however, the situation is different, we've gotten used to each other as much as possible, but I have a feeling that he'll avoid me as far as he can as soon as he can." She sighed again.
"If you let him." Wandi shrugged as he slowly stood up. "A little honesty helps a lot in every relationship. We danovuses often forget this." The boy explained as he dusted himself off. "Go talk to him. I'll take a bath, you've worked me out well." He laughed. "See you later, Alkekengi." He waved and ran away.
"Later, little danovus." The woman smiled after him. "Maybe you're right. I can't expect him to understand me if I don't talk to him." She chuckled and stood up, then closed her eyes. "So where are you, you grumpy old man?" She asked, straining her ears to hear Tele Tete. A few minutes later a smile spread across her lips and she didn't even open her eyes, but she was already running off into the night.