"Alright, Kosa. You heard the weird mysterious glowing tree. We need to prepare. You're the brains here, what should we do?" Helios asked, turning to his mate after the face disappears from the tree.
Kosa looked around frantically, searching for a way out. All around her, cats of all different sizes and backgrounds were suddenly active. They were yowling with frustration, chattering amidst themselves, and generally being incredibly loud. All the new scents certainly didn't help out either, and soon the world began to close in on her. Everything seemed too loud, too vibrant, and like she couldn't get enough air. She needed to get out.
Helios quickly noticed what was happening, and immediately sat her down. "Kosa, love, focus on me." He instructed, breathing slowly, "Just focus on me, let everything else fall away. Yes, you're in a strange environment, yes, we don't have long to train before a fight, but listen to me. Everything is gonna be fine. We're gonna win this battle. And-" He said.
"Helios," She interrupted, "Could-could you please.. sing for me?" She asked quietly, ice beginning to form around her paws.
Helios looked at her and nodded, "Any requests, love?"
"Umm.. not really? Maybe like a nursery rhyme? Or you could just hum a song that doesn't have any lyrics."
"Of course, just let me think about which one I should sing," He said, pausing slightly to consider his options. Well, how about.. this song? He started singing the song she always hummed to herself whenever she was anxious. Unfortunately, this happened often enough around him to where he knew pretty much everything about the song. When the dynamics changed, how she always includes the little grace notes and trills. Honestly, he was slightly surprised with how well he remembered it.
As the song went on, Kosa lost herself in his voice. It was incredibly soothing, and she slowly lowered herself into his fur. She closed her eyes, and just listened. By the time it was over, she had fallen asleep.
Amused, and also feeling tired himself, Helios decided to join her in her slumber. He wrapped himself around her, and soon fell into a deep sleep
---
Kosa awoke first, nestled into Helios' mane. Yawning, she untangled herself from him as gently as she could. Looking around, she was slightly surprised to find that there appeared to be a large group gathered around something. Curious, she walked over to see what all the commotion was about. When she managed to reach the front, she saw that there was a sparring match going on. A large, dark red lion against an equally large bluish gray lion with a braided mane. She briefly wondered how he was able to do that, before focusing her attention back to the fight. She zoned out not too long after, though, and started feeling quite homesick. She couldn't imagine that Amoka was taking her leave too well. Now that she thinks about it, she hadn't seen them since the day before she left.
She was drawn out of her thoughts when the crowd around her started cheering, and she glanced back at the clearing, seeing that the red lion had successfully pinned the blue one. The two lions broke away from each other as the ref brought the match to a close. Kosa began to settle down and just watch the rest of the matches, when the ref pointed at her.
"Sorry, what? I didn't catch that," She called as she walked over to the center of the clearing.
"I said, you've been chosen for our next match!" They said enthusiastically.
Kosa shrugged, waiting for them to choose an opponent. They landed on a fairly small red and white lion. Once the two of them stood across from each other in the center of the clearing, Kosa focused her magic around her head and back, successfully creating ice armor. The crowd gasped in surprise, and she could tell that her opponent was nervous. Kosa smirked slightly, and pounced. The two of them scuffled in the dirt for a while. Kosa's opponent wasn't able to land a hit. Kosa quickly made an ice trail leading from her paw, covering the ground underneath them in ice. Her claws quickly sunk into the ice to keep her balance, and she chuckled slightly as she saw her opponent flailing around on the ground. She sent another ice trail down, and captured them in a large chunk of ice. She was declared the winner, and she soon unfreezed the lion, and apologized for what she could only assume was torture. Not many lions could deal with the cold as well as she can.
Kosa left the arena, and headed back to where Helios was supposed to be sleeping. Instead, she found an empty patch of grass. She started freaking out as she walked back over to the crowd, assuming that he woke up and decided to come watch. Luckily, she was right, and she soon found her mate within the crowd.
"Wow, Kosa I had no idea you could do that!" Helios exclaimed.
"Honestly, I didn't either," She chuckled, "I just sort of.. figured it would work. I mean, I get those ice crystals on my neck when I'm flustered, it only makes sense that I'd be able to make some armor for myself."
"Yeah, I suppose you do have a point. Come on, you wanna spar against me? It'd be good practice for the both of us," He offered, leading her to a secluded clearing.
"Sure, just gimme a second to catch my breath. You go ahead and warm up, love," She said, sitting down.
"But dear," He began, "I'm always warm."
Kosa groaned slightly at his awful joke, "Helios, you know what I mean."
"Yeah, but I love annoying you," He said, walking over to his own side of the clearing.
Kosa rolled her eyes, and watched her mate warm up. Once she felt as though she could actually hold her own in a battle, she called him over to the center. Once again summoning her armor, she got into a fighting stance.
This time, it was Helios' turn to smirk. He had a secret weapon.
Knowing that she would be at a disadvantage against the Fire Mage, Kosa created a large ice wall in between them, hoping that the water made from melting it would put a damper on her mates' powers. Of course, she was wrong, and he managed to melt through her wall as if it was nothing. Assessing her options, she iced the ground under them, creating an ice rink. She sunk her claws in, and the ice under Helios simply melted away.
Helios smirked, and charged at her. She barely managed to dodge him, and she raked her claws down his side. Caught off guard at that, Helios stumbled as he landed. He raised a paw to his wound, and cauterized it. While his attention was drawn to that, she struck again, this time freezing his mane.
This fighting went on for ages. Both parties seemed to be equally matched. Neither of them noticed the small crowd that was beginning to form between the trees. Eventually, Kosa collapsed from exhaustion. Helios pinned her.
Shouting immediately started from the trees, startling both of them. The crowd emerged into the clearing. Kosa got incredibly embarrassed, and the pink ice crystals formed on her neck, almost covering it completely. She and Helios turned away, and stalked deeper into the forest, finding a secure place to curl up and fall asleep.
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