OK, so yes - it seems I've finished On The Verge. I'll write an epilogue, but now I have a few other things in mind I'd like to pursue along with it.

For starters, I'd love to find someplace where I can put it all together into a book and get it published for me, without it being too expensive. Before that, I need to somehow get myself a bit of cover art...

I'd love to have the cover art just be the charm bracelet draped over a book, three charms dangling from it. Perhaps behind the book, Nameless is sitting there looking at the viewer. Now to just figure out how to draw such a thing... *flails*

Final part is already written, halfway through cleaning up this last part to post to DeviantArt. Then it's just a matter of the epilogue, and then cleaning up the entire story as a whole.

In other news...

My legs hate me.

I jog halfway around the block, to the far corner, then turn and walk the next length to the corner, by which time my legs are begging me, "No, no, please, no..."

I turn the corner and I see it... at the far side of the block, only shortly before my apartment. On the street side... a fire hydrant. Right across the sidewalk from it - a short canister of the same size bearing a 'high voltage' warning. In my mind's eye, a ribbon stretches between them.

With a final silent scream of "Noooooo!" my legs start pumping and I sprint for the finish line... Legs protesting, feet slapping the concrete. A truck turns the corner behind me and starts towards the finish line, too. I duck under the tree branch, I push myself harder! Almost... almost... there... As I reach it, I throw my arms and my head back, and the tape breaks over my chest! The crowd goes wild! And my legs silently growl, "That's it, bitch, you're paying for this."

OK, this is weird.

After this past tidbit, I suddenly feel like I just finished it. Or at least, like I finished 'book one'. Perhaps adding an epilogue...

I have *so many more* ideas for On The Verge, and I always try to end stories on happy notes, but it just feels like a major ending, here. I don't even really understand *why* it feels like I just ended On The Verge. (sans perhaps an epilogue)

After they both got cleaned up, and Tracy used her water charm to get the soot out of Tyra's clothes, Tracy was feeling a lot better. Perhaps it was the soothing shower, perhaps it was just that her mind was carefully skittering away from letting her remember.

Nick and his constant entourage was standing out in the hall, talking quietly with a man Tracy hadn't met yet. The man's eyes lit up as he saw Tracy, and he started towards her. "Wow, you were-"

He cut off as Nick grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around a little more roughly. "Wait in the lobby," Nick told him in a low, dangerous voice that brooked no disagreement. The man swallowed hard and nodded, practically running up the hall to get away from that gaze. Nick sighed regretfully.

Tyra murmured quietly to Tracy, "He's been keepin' folks from swarmin' you with congratulations."

Tracy felt her stomach church a little, and tried to figure out how to respond to finding out she was being safeguarded by this group. She didn't want to join some exclusive club, but they had been terribly helpful, and she was so glad that she hadn't been mobbed while she was throwing up in the bathroom.

"Hey there, Rose," Nick said warmly, with a sympathetic smile. "I'm so sorry it ended up that way." Tracy nodded mutely, giving him a wan smile. "Do you feel like showing us your new metal form? Or would you rather just get out of here and not think about it?"

Tracy laughed softly. They wanted to see her metal form? They hated metal forms. And really, after what it ended up doing to Anthony, she wasn't eager to don it, either. She plucked the charm of earth and fire from her wrist, looking at it thoughtfully, then a small smirk popping up across her face. They hate metal forms.

She focused on the earth half of the rune, drawing upon its power and focusing it inwards, feeling the now-familiar brief stiffness as the stone encased her and suffused her. She looked at her hand, made of cool marble and traced with veins of rosy pink. This is what they wanted to see - that even with metal, she'd rather use earth body.

Nick held out his hand, palm up, and one of the men next to him sighed and slapped a hundred-dollar bill into Nick's hand. "Dammit," the man muttered.

"Nice effect," Tyra said approvingly. Tracy looked over at Tyra, a little confused, and Nick laughed.

"She hasn't been doing this long enough to know," he chuckled, "Here." His hands curved before him, and the air shimmered with heat till a mirror with squirming and uncertain edges floated between his fingers. Tracy looked and saw that despite being in the form of rose marble, her eyes were now alight with flame. She wasn't sure if it looked really awesome or really scary, and let the magic go so she was looking at her own scared and confused face, instead of the burning-eyed marble stranger. "Hey, look," Nick said. "I made sure all your well-wishers would be waiting up in the lobby if they wanted to talk to you. So do you want to go meet them? Or would you rather sneak around them and get out of here?"

Tracy started to respond, but then she felt everyone around them go stiff. She turned her head to look at Joseph, who'd just emerged from the men's changing room.

"Hey," he said, lamely, looking uncomfortable. "Um. Tracy, I'll just wait for you up at the bike..."

Tracy looked at Nick, then at Joseph, a little torn... "All right," she murmured. "I'll see you up there." She'd been feeling kind of mad at Joseph for being excited while someone was horribly maimed, but she couldn't maintain that anger with him so obviously hurt. She sighed as he walked away.

Joseph stopped at her sigh, and his back stiffened. He stood still for a few long moments, breathing very carefully, and Tracy looked at him, confused.

"Nick," Joseph said, finally. "I know what I did was a betrayal of trust. I don't expect to be forgiven ... but ... I can at least apologize. I should have come to you honestly."

Tracy looked quickly back to Nick, who had a surprised expression on his face. He looked back at Tracy with a curious expression, and seemed to find an answer to his unspoken question in her face. His face grew amused, and he nodded to her, then turned towards Joseph, walking up behind him to clasp him on the shoulder.

"You can be such a girl sometimes, Joseph. Why don't we just head out and you can buy me a beer in celebration of your victory?"

Joseph looked at Nick, confused. "Um... yeah! Sure!" he said quickly, then grinned at Tracy, a look of stunned perplexity on his face. "That'd be great!" He straightened up a little and cleared his throat. "I mean, cool, man, let's go."

Nick couldn't help but let out a roar of laughter as he slapped Joseph hard on the back. Joseph stumbled forward a couple steps, then gave a little half-hearted laugh of his own, caught up in Nick's enthusiasm. He turned to look at Tracy. "You coming?"

Tracy took a deep breath, then nodded. "Don't want to disappoint my adoring fans," she said regretfully. "Besides, you're my ride."

The crowd in the lobby was thankfully smaller than Tracy had expected, from how Nick had been talking - but still, over a dozen people wanted to congratulate her. Her stomach churned from all the attention for something she really didn't want to think about, and the words "I just got lucky," kept tumbling from her lips, which they promptly dismissed.

Finally, they were through - it probably had been only a few minutes, but it felt like ages to Tracy. The sun outside was still high - it'd only been a couple hours since she'd gone in. Half the day was still left to her. "Hey, Joseph?" she asked softly, "I'm not in the mood to go drinking... could you just shadow-step me to my apartment?"

Joseph nodded, his hand clasping her shoulder lightly. "Hey, Tracy," he quietly murmured, "You did well today. And I'm not talking about you winning."

She nodded silently to him, and smiled softly to Tyra and Nick. "Seeya, Slate. Seeya, Obsidian." They smiled and murmured back, "Later, Rose."

The shadows lifted up around her, coiling and encasing her. It wasn't cold, but it felt like it should be cold, like a cloud passing in front of the sun. She closed her eyes and stepped forward, and felt that smooth rushing sensation, the faint twisting sensation of the world turning around her, and opened her eyes to find herself in her apartment, with Nameless calmly sitting on her dinner table and staring at her.

She smiled and paid some attention to Nameless, but didn't stay long. Instead, she picked up her purse and transferred her wallet to it from the sports bag, got her keys, and headed down to the garage to get her truck. She felt like she was in limbo as she drove through the streets, watching over her own shoulder with a surreal sensation, not even aware any longer of the pressure of other magic-users around her. It was forever and a few minutes when she was knocking on a door, and Sing was opening it to smile at her.

She fell into his arms, sobbing, and startled though he was, he held her close and made soothing noises, drawing her into his apartment and closing the door behind him.

Tracy stood there, half-hidden behind the corner, uncertain how to react to the buzzer. The fight was over, true, but her heart was still racing, her breath quick. Her body didn't know that the fight was over yet.

She worked to calm herself, leaning back against the wall, her head bumping into the surface. She worked to slow her breathing, focused on her heartbeat. Reluctantly, her mind eased up its grip on her charms, so that her stone skin finally retreated. A sharp sting ran across much of her skin, like really bad sunburn, and the pain in her lower back got sharper.

Her eyes squeezed shut as she groaned, but they flew open again right away as her mind's eye showed her Anthony's ruined flesh, his shoulder at its unnatural angle, his body twisted in agony. Tracy's stomach twisted sickly, and her knees felt weak.

"All right!" Joseph exclaimed, picking her up in a tight hug. "We won! I can't believe it!"

Tracy's stomach churned harder and she pushed at Joseph to get him off of her, dropping back to the ground and stumbling backwards with a look of horror on her face. "You're excited?!" she gasped at him. "You think this is good? Didn't you see what I did to him?" she gestured in Anthony's general direction.

Joseph looked confused. "He did that to himself," he tried to say, "While trying to do that to you..."

Tracy shook her head in denial. "and then I tried to do the same thing to Pax over there, who you happily nigh-disemboweled! Just like you did to Craig!"

Joseph looked even more confused. "You saw what he was trying to do ... he challenged us. It's just a fight..."

She couldn't take it any more. She shoved Joseph in the chest and rushed away towards the changing room, her eyes burning with tears and her stomach roiling like it was going to throw up. A woman was standing in her way, holding up a hand. Her hair was blond and long but tied up in a tight bun, and she somehow managed to wear a t-shirt and jeans while making them look expensive, as well as a white vest with a red cross on it to mark her as a medic. The medical kit helped confirm that, too. "Do you need medical attention?" she asked primly.

Tracy stared at her blankly. Was everyone here insane? "Help him!" she cried, gesturing in Anthony's general direction. "I won, I'm fine!"

"I'm required to offer -" She started to say, but Tracy was pushing past her to rush for the locker room again. She was through the door, and ran right past the lockers into the bathroom. She'd meant to make one of the toilets, but ended up bending over a sink as the contents of her stomach emptied themselves. Her eyes burned as tears ran down her face, her nose and throat burned from the acid pouring out of them, but she couldn't move from the sink, barely able to breath as another acidic rush of vomit spewed into the sink.

Gentle hands were at her temples, pulling her hair back, patting lightly over her head. "There there, darlin'... let it out..." Tyra was saying quietly, only a dark blur in the mirror through Tracy's tear-filled eyes.

Tracy bent over the sink, feeling miserable and spent, the adrenaline rush finally crashing on her and leaving her feeling weak and trembling. Her chest seized under a series of deep sobs, and she started bawling like a child. Tyra made quiet, soothing noises as she drew Tracy close with one arm, her other hand busy getting some paper towels and wetting them, then cleaning at Tracy's face a little to get the splatter off. "That's it, darlin'," she said softly. "Go ahead an' cry."

Tracy lost track of time as she cried pitifully in Tyra's arms, blowing her nose in toilet paper. At some point, Tyra walked her back out into the locker room proper, sitting her down on one of the benches and settling next to her, all without letting go. Finally, though, the sobs slowed and ceased, and she was left sitting there leaning against her, sniffling and feeling exhausted.

"Most of the time it's not that bad," Tyra said gently. "But least it had one good thing,"

"What's that?" asked Tracy, hearing the faint humor in Tyra's voice, not sure whehter to appreciate it or find it inappropriate.

"Well, y'all were so sick, y'all fergot t' feel upset that y'all were paradin' yer goods to th' TV."

Tracy looked down at herself and gasped. Her shirt had been mostly reduced to ashes, which had then turned into a thick black paste covering her thanks to the drenching humidity she had created, and baked by the fire. There were sweat lines of clear skin, and cracked flakes gone from the baked spots, and despite a few clinging rags, she was still mainly nude from the waist up. Her only respite was that her black belt seemed completely unharmed. One pant-leg was still there to the knee, and the other hand been burned up the side so it hung free in some sort of semi-loincloth style, held on by the black-belt so she was at least covered down there.

Tracy lifted the dangling end of the black belt, unbelievably glad she hadn't destroyed it in the foolishness out there. "Thank goodness," she murmured.

"Y'all turned it to stone. Y'all need t'learn t'make yer clothes stone, too." Tyra giggled, then pulled Tracy to her feet. "Comon, let's go get that muck offa yerself and me."

Tracy realized now that Trya's clothes were completely ruined with smears of black soot, and her hands come up to her mouth. "Oh, Tyra!" she gasped through her fingers, "I'm so sorry!"

Tracy stared in horror down at the red and black burns completely covering Anthony's body, her stomach roiling with disgust, her brain flailing in horror. What had she done to him?! The shoulder was bad enough! Thank God he'd passed out from the pain, which would worry her except that she could see his chest move as he breathed, hear it rasping painfully in his throat. How deep did the burns go? How could she have done that to him? She could have just stayed out of it. She could have just surrendered instead of hurting someone like that.

"Tracy!" came Joseph's grunted, pained voice, and Tracy was broken from her horrified self-loathing by the strained panic in that single word. She turned to see another fight happening just a few feet from her, that she hadn't even heard happening in her focus on her fight with Anthony. Joseph was pinned to the ground, his knife between the jaws of Anthony's wolf, barely keeping those jaws from his own throat. His new armored vest was half-shredded, the fabric torn away from the ceramic plates underneath, some of which had deep gouges in them, others of which were almost completely shattered. One of Joseph's thighs had gotten caught by the wolf's scrabbling claws, rent open and bright red blood spilling out. The silvery metal was just leaving the tips of the wolf's fur as Anthony lost consciousness and with it, his control over the magic, but the wolf was still dangerous.

Tracy took two quick running steps and snapped out an earth-powered side-kick that caught the wolf in the ribs, sending it flying some fifteen feet. The wolf rolled to its feet, stumbled a single step before letting out a pained whimper, then collapsed into a heap on the ground. God, she'd done it again...

The water that had been the mist was settling down over everything, soaking the remains of her clothes, turning the ashes on her marble flesh into a black paste. She offered Joseph a hand, pulling him to his feet as he sent the shadow into his leg to temporarily get rid of the horrible gash. She could see the blackness flow across his skin and pool into the open wounds, then shimmer and disappear, leaving dark, purpling scars on the skin where there had been torn flesh and muscle.

The world was suddenly spinning around her, and she became aware of a sharp pain in her lower back. She hit the ground and rolled, everything seeming to happen in slow motion as she pushed off from the ground and managed to kippup to her feet, spinning till she saw Lord Pax standing there, a furious look on his face. Floating near him was a crystal ball with a sawblade spinning around its center, bisecting it and making the most horrible whining noise.

As she watched, Pax gestured at the crystal ball and it flew at Joseph, who raised his knife to block it. A horrible screech of metal against metal hurt her ears as the sawblade met the knife again and again over the burnt corpse of Anthony. Joseph somehow managed to follow the swift orb's path and block it time and time again - Tracy was impressed. She hadn't known he was that good.

Pax. He could have just tried to bargain with them, trade with them, but no. His first reaction was to intimidate them and fight with them. If he'd been more civilized, she wouldn't have had to do that to Anthony. She trembled with the sudden fury coursing through her system. "This is all YOUR FAULT!" she screamed, lifting her hands and not even thinking about the magic as a spear of ice leapt from her palm towards Lord Pax. Before it had even landed, she'd flung her other hand forward to make a second spear, then a third from her first hand. The arrows of ice became smaller as her initial burst of rage spent itself, and the first couple spears hit Pax's form and speared right through him.

She didn't notice at first, her insane anger blinding her to the obvious, but eventually it sunk in. Pax didn't fall to the ground in pain, didn't even respond to the ice sliding through him, the image of Pax rippling as the attacks pierced through the illusion. Of course, fire and air. Joseph had told her that was a Mirage charm, but it hadn't really sunk in.

That was how Joseph was keeping up with the attacks. He had internalized the mind charm, letting him see the attacks as they formed in Pax's mind. Tracy's rage cooled down as she realized the danger they were still in. Pax was a skilled charm wielder, and he could make them see things other as they were, project his image somewhere else. But if his image was standing still, then so was he - it was just a moved image. His tech charm had been infused into his crystal ball, turning it into a weapon right out of a horror movie.

"Tracy!" grunted Joseph as he blocked another series of attacks, "Corner of that block there!" he nodded with his head.

She couldn't throw ice from her hands anymore, not with that brief rage gone, but she didn't need to. She had a new weapon now. She lifted her palms and let fire ripple up from them, as if her hands had been coated in oil, and then blew across them, pulling on the air of her weather charm and the fire of her new metal charm. The air picked up the fire and flung it across the intervening distance like a flamethrower, to bathe the whole area in fire. The image of Pax flickered and disappeared as he dove behind cover to avoid the flame, and Tracy wasn't sure if she'd gotten him.

What was she doing?! Did she really want to hurt him that badly? How could she have tried to burn him? Hadn't she learned her lesson from Anthony? The crystal ball left Joseph alone briefly as Pax ducked around behind cover, losing his sight of the battle, and Joseph pointed his dagger to indicate to Tracy which direction Pax was in. How could she stop him without hurting him, she wondered?

The crystal saw-ball that flew at them was bathed in flame, now, whipped along with a fierce wind that let it move even faster than before. It struck at Joseph, who just barely managed to get his knife up in time even with the mind token helping him along, then dove at Tracy, who lifted both arms up before her face and felt the fierce sting as it gouged into the stone flesh with a horrible grinding noise. Before she could react, it was striking at Joseph again, who had barely recovered from the first attack and stumbled backwards as he blocked this one, too.

"Get away!" Joseph grunted, Tracy barely able to hear him. "Divide his attention!"

Tracy turn and fled, stumbling lightly as she ducked behind cover herself, getting out of Pax's line of sight. The shrill whine of metal against metal sounded through the arena as Joseph kept Pax's attention, the sound testament that his desperate defense hadn't failed yet. Then the whine became muted, muffled, as the tone of the battle shifted.

As Tracy came out from behind the obstruction, she saw that Joseph had collapsed to the ground, his thigh rent and bleeding once more. He'd dropped the shadow bandage in order to send that dark power into his blade, which was now floating in the air like a spectre. It flashed almost faster than Tracy could follow with the insanely fast blazing sphere, two battling entities of light and dark. She had no idea how the two could match each other with such focus.

Joseph took his eyes from the fight for a moment to look past Pax's shoulder, and she saw his eyes light up in victory. She glanced past Pax to see what Joseph saw, but nothing was there. Pax jumped behind cover and turned, hidden from Joseph, but not from Tracy's view. His flaming sphere left the battle with the shadow blade and flung to his defense from ... nothing.

Tracy could see the vista with perfect clarity as Joseph's blade followed the sphere's retreat, slipping around the corner of that great plastic block and burying itself in Pax's side. It was only then that she realized then what Joseph had done. He'd sent her away so that Pax wouldn't know where she was, had gotten him so caught up in the fight that he was acting off of instinct... then, with a single expression on his face, had completely bluffed Lord Pax into moving his guard elsewhere.

The crystal ball nearly fell from the air, but Pax's face was set in a fierce fury. His eyes locked on hers and he snarled, pointing towards her. She set herself to be ready to guard against an attack, but then the shadow blade twisted in his side and Pax screamed in agony, the flame and saw blade both disappearing from the crystal sphere as it dropped lifelessly to the earth.

"UNCLE!" The word ripped from Pax's throat, desperately. "I yield!"

The shadow blade flickered and disappeared, and Tracy knew it was reforming in Joseph's hand like liquid darkness. From above, the loudspeakers sounded a piercing horn to mark the end of the match.

So I was writing this recent tidbit of On The Verge, and we go to the part where she's fighting Anthony, and my original plan had been for her to step out of his shadow and pin him, he tries to force his way out of the pin and dislocates his shoulder.

Then I realized it was way too easy for her, and that Anthony and Pax weren't being written as very intelligent or dangerous, which is a big mistake. So I thought, "Well, they're going to expect someone to be stepping out of their shadows - how will they counter that?"

Suddenly Anthony had red-hot metal skin.

There were two side-effects to this.

First, Tracy's clothes get almost completely destroyed, and she's looking up at me whimpering, "Why?! Why would you destroy my clothes when this match is being recorded? WHY?" And I look down at her and make a helpless noise, because I have no idea how to keep it from happening.

Second, that heat is not 'activated' heat. It's created by standing in an intense flame and heating up the metal body. It's a way to 'cheat' and have intense fire damage without still needing to use the token, because it stays around after you start using the token for other things.

The drawback of this is that if your metal skin fizzles out because you suddenly took such damage that it bypasses your pain defenses and you're not used to feeling pain because you're used to level 4 metal body instead of level 1 metal body ... that heat's still there. So it's like suddenly standing in a fire.

And so I went, "EWWwwww!" and Tracy looks up at me with a quivering lip and says, "Why would you do that to me? I'm going to have nightmares! I'm going to have issues! Heck, I'm going to have subscriptions! Look what I did to him!"

I dunno. Did I go too far in this fight? Does this ruin the feel of the story? I know that in some ways, the thought of 'ooo, magical duels!' is kind of 'fun and nifty', but seriously, fighting with powers like that is brutal. Not just cause 'someone could die', but because people get maimed. And I can't figure out a way around that, not when people are acting 'real' about things.

Anthony's other hand, glowing as much as the first, moved for her neck. She automatically brought up her own hand to knock his to the side, then struck against the inside of his wrist to break his hold on her shoulder with surprising ease. While she stepped back cautiously, not having expected him to be waiting for her, he followed after and moving to grapple, obviously wanting to use his red-hot glowing form to force her into submission.

His movements were quick, though still slower than Grandmaster Lee's as he grabbed at her here and there, and she moved quickly to knock his hands away. Her hands stung at the intense heat she had to touch every time she blocked his attacks, and she had to appreciate the strategy he was employing. He never got a grip on her, but his hands still brushed over her sides, shoulders, and wrists, often searing new black scorches into her already ruined clothes, and stinging the stone flesh underneath. Even a perfect defense would eventually lose to this assault without metal's own invulnerability. He really was playing to his strength.

Or was he? Her mind raced quickly. You heated metal to make it more malleable - is it possible that in giving himself this flaming weapon, Anthony had removed some of the invulnerability which was the metal body's greatest strength? Tracy balled her fist and threw a quick strike towards his stomach, landing it heavily. He fell back, his breath rushing out of him, and Tracy followed up quickly, her strikes going high towards his face. He smirked, and Tracy knew the trap even as she entered it.

Anthony's hand lightly flicked to block her attack to the side, showing a little more skill than she had expected. It wasn't a familiar hold he tried to guide her into, but she recognized it coming all the same, and twisted away from it, bumping him away from her with her hip. She realized his pants were metal, and wished that *her* pants were immune to flame too, her hip pained and visible through the long strip of ash where she'd pressed up against him.

Of course, this would be the normal strategy for earth-bodies to try to attack him. Using their strength to its fullest - and he was turning greater strength into a weakness, a mental trap that he could exploit. Tracy fell back at a new volley of grapple attempts, noting that even as he tried to set the trap, his movements were basic compared to the complex holds of Aikido. His sequence of attacks slowed, and Tracy managed to get some space between them, falling back and panting heavily as she assessed the situation.

His holds were so easy to break, his attempts to grab her didn't have that edge from Aikido classes, and he moved under her blocks so easily. At first, she thought he might still be playing with her, even with that trap, and was trying to assess her abilities. Then a sudden burst of insight hit her. This was his best - the difference was that she was stronger than he was.

She had known, technically, that she'd be stronger, but it hadn't really sunk in. All her life, she'd been no stronger than the women around her, and weaker than a lot of the other men and women. She'd had to train all the harder, become all the more skilled, to be able to compensate for that. As much as the kung fu movies would have you believe otherwise, it's really hard for a smaller person to beat a larger, stronger person. She always had to be careful to wait for the opening, to guide them into a position of weakness, because she couldn't force that weakness by muscling them into it.

With realization came motion. With his next attempt to grab her, she grabbed his wrist, pulled him towards her to bring him off-balance, set her shoulder against him, and threw up over her to the ground. She hadn't really fully realized the extent of her strength till this simple throw almost sent him flying, only snapping back towards her by her grip on his wrist. She winced as she slammed him to the ground, knowing most people would be screaming in pain after their shoulder was wrenched like that, but his metal body kept him from feeling the pain as his shoulder was strained under the impact.

She pulled his arm back and fell over him, twisting his arm to its limit, ignoring the sharp sting as she planted herself solidly against his glowing form. She had to end this quick before Lord Pax got in on it. "Yield!" she yelled at him, knowing that most people would be immobilized with pain by this hold, but not Anthony. As he said he'd do, he ignored her, forcing his way out of the hold. She felt the bulge under her thumb as his shoulder popped from its joint, and then Anthony froze.

The scream of pain that came from him chilled Tracy to the bone, the intense pain as he ruined his own shoulder joint managing to get past his metal body's defenses. His skin rippled and flashed, then reverted to normal flesh. The scent was horrific as the heat that had suffused his metal skin didn't leave along with the metal, and Tracy felt her stomach churn as she watched his flesh bubble and crackle. Swiftly she took her weather charm away from holding the fog, directing it towards Anthony instead, and his skin frosted over as she stole the heat from his body, dropping his body temperature as quickly as she could. he might get a little frostbite, but it looked like he already had second degree burns.

"All right, Joseph," Tracy said seriously. "Where are they?"

Joseph pulled the mind charm from the base of his knife where it hung from its chain, lifting it to his forehead and closing his eyes. "They split up," he said, focusing. "Anothony's over there," he said, pointing one direction, then slightly altered the angle. "Pax is over there."

"Splitting up?" Tracy asked. "Why?"

"So we can't sneak up on them and jump them at the same time. They can watch each other's backs." Joseph's head jerked up. "Move!" he cried.

Tracy didn't hesitate, leaping to the side. She felt a warm wash of heat across her feet, nearly stumbling at the rush of flame where they'd been standing. She kept running as two more explosions detonated behind her, barely keeping ahead of it. Swiftly she beat at her ankles where her pants were on fire, noting how easily the rose marble form of her stone body had come to her when she was in danger.

Tracy looked towards the ceiling and saw another ball of flame arcing past the obstacles. This was no small, focused attack like Craig's - this one was a huge, roiling ball, ready to detonate on impact. Two other balls arced out from another location, falling in behind the first and following it towards them. "keep moving!" she cried as she fit action to word, but Joseph was moving before the first syllable was out of her mouth.

They scrambled just ahead of the explosions, Joseph slightly faster than her. Fireball after fireball followed after them, exploding on their heels. "How are they finding us?" Tracy cried in frustration.

"Body heat!" Joseph replied. "Pax is using the fire run to track us and sending heat-seeking fireballs after us!"

"And Anothony just follows it in," Tracy affirmed. Her pants were more like shorts, ending just slightly above her knees, and she'd lost one sleeve to the elbow. "Heat seeking, huh?" she grumbled, grabbing the weather charm from her bracelet. She'd played with weather manipulation a little, and had proceeded well in raising a mist or dropping the temperature. Changing temperature was a rather a bit harder. If they were providing the heat, though ...

Tracy reached out mentally to the small pool at one side of the arena. A jet of water shot up from the unseen surface to impact with the next incoming fireball, causing it to detonate in an explosion of mist. The mist struck them like a wall of boiling humidity. Tracy only felt slightly warmer, her charm protecting her from the worst of environmental conditions, but Joseph looked instantly heavier, his hair plastering to his forehead. "Nice idea," he complimented her.

Tracy grinned proudly back, "Today's forecast," she said, "A balmy 98.6 degrees."

Joseph frowned suddenly. "No, wait," he said, confused. "He thinks it's funny. Look out!"

Tracy leapt forward as an intense heat swept across her back. That was starting to feel a little uncomfortable, even through the stone body, and it hadn't even been a direct hit. She worried about her clothes - she didn't want to end up fighting naked.

Spinning, she saw the other fireballs incoming and directed that stream of water to impact with them, too, sending the zone of sweltering humidity spreading further across the arena from the heat released.

"Lucky us," Joseph panted. "We get to tumble around like fools in front of a whole audience."

Tracy blinked and her eyes brightened. "Of course!" she said. She raised her hand towards the pool, focusing a little harder. Joseph's eyes opened wide as he saw a wall of intensely thick fog rushing towards them, blanketing the entire arena. The temperature would normally have burned off the fog in moments, but Tracy kept it in place with the strength of her weather token, giving the room an intensely warm humidity that was almost unbearable.

"Oh good lord," Joseph moaned, "They always say it's not the heat, it's the humidity, but I never realized... What'd you do?"

Tracy, luckily, only felt strongly uncomfortable, not outright miserable, as she grabbed his wrist and dragged him away from where they had been standing. More fireballs crashed down there, but they no longer tracked them as surely. "Well," she replied, "I realized he was using the tech charm to watch us through the cameras."

Joseph slapped his forehead. "Of course, why didn't I think of that?" He grabbed his shadow token and gestured - as hard as it had been to see through the pea-soup thick fog, it became even harder as he laid a light shadow over the both of them.

"Because you're not an expert in divination like he is?" Tracy pointed out. "What did you just do?"

"Took care of his third element - air." Joseph told her. "He won't be able to detect us breathing now."

Tracy felt a bit confused. "I thought you could only cloak one person at a time?" she asked.

Joseph shook his head. "I can only cloak one person from most perceptions," he explains. "From only a single perception, I can cloak a small group of people."

With a smile of appreciation, Tracy asked, "Why didn't you do that for the heat?"

A laugh was her answer. "I was doing so!" he responded, "But then you tossed up the heat all around us, and I didn't need to anymore."

Off to one side, the fog was brightly lit by a diffuse light. "What's that?" Tracy asked in surprise.

"He's trying to burn off the fog with his fire token," Joseph explained, then a light shone in his eyes. "Which will give him a huge shadow."

Tracy looked up excitedly. "Send me!" she said, excitement in her voice. "I can take him!"

Joseph nodded, gesturing towards her. The vague shadow that had surrounded them to protect them from Pax's perceptions condensed into his own shadow, which swelled out to surround her. Taking a deep breath to prepare herself, she took a step forward and felt the world twist around her, a brief nauseous feeling striking her stomach. She turned quickly, knowing she'd be stepping out of Anthony's back, but found she was wrong. Anthony was read and waiting for her, his hands reaching for her while glowing bright red. He had been practically standing in the fire while it was burning off the fog, heating his metal body into a weapon.

His hand seized her wrist and her shoulder, pressing her back, and she made a soft gasp of pain as she felt the intense heat around her wrist, heard the sizzling crackle of her clothing blackening and turning to ash at her shoulder under his intense touch.

"Now what?" asked Tracy, standing there nervously.

"Now," replied Joseph, "Now we wait for the signal to start. Just stay in the starting zone."

Tracy looked down. They were, indeed, standing inside a chalked-out half-circle in the dirt, so she nodded and sat down cross-legged. She knew if she thought too much, or went over the plan too much, she'd start going nuts second-guessing herself, so instead she went through the exercises to clear her mind and empty it of thought. She sat there with her eyes closed, focusing on her breathing - slowly in through the nose, slowly out through the mouth.

She wasn't sure how long she was focusing like that, but it seemed quite a long time before the speakers crackled to life. "Today," said a voice that might have been Lord Brin's, "We have a challenge match." She tried not to focus on the words as the speaker went through the conditions of the match, each of their names and what elements they were using. She got to her feet, though, and brushed at the seat of her pants to get rid of the dust and dirt.

"All combatants are in the arena. Let no one interfere in the fight. Begin."

Joseph grabbed Tracy's hand and sprinted into the maze of geometric shapes, hiding them behind a large block. Tracy smiled to him, then murmured, "I'm sorry. We'll need to move again soon, I'm about to do something that might give our location." Joseph looked a little confused, but nodded.

Tracy cupped her fingers to her mouth and called up some air, the charm disappearing from her bracelet as she used it. "Anthony," she said calmly into her cupped hands, while shaping the air into something similar to Hans' whisperwind, but magnifying her voice instead of just carrying it to someone. Her voice reverberated around the arena, as if it was coming from many places at the same time. "I know you feel your metal body is a strength, that your inability to feel pain is a strength, but against me it is a weakness. For your own sake, if I get you in a hold, please surrender the fight. Against me, the pain protects you from serious injury."

Then she dropped her hands and grabbed Joseph's hand. They both sprinted across a clear space before diving into cover somewhere else. They waited a few moments, watching the sky. Then Tracy grinned to Joseph. "No fireballs."

Joseph sighed. "Why'd you do that?" he asked, but before Tracy could respond, Anthony's voice was sounding across the arena in the same way. He must still be with Lord Pax, to be able to use Pax's fire/air charm that way.

"Tracy," said Anthony's voice, "Your warning is noted, but needless. I don't know what Nicholas told you, but you're outmatched. For your own safety, I'd suggest you give up now."

Tracy frowned and fought down the surge of annoyance at that. A week ago, someone threatening her might have made her feel scared, nervous, and uncertain. But between Joseph's training and Grandmaster Lee's help and advice, now she couldn't help but feel just a little insulted. She'd tried to give him advice, and he'd turned it into trash-talking.

"I had to warn him," she told Joseph, answering his question. "Now whatever happens to him is on his own head."

"Hey there!" drawled Tyra's voice as Tracy walked into the locker room.

Tracy smiled happily, her face brightening. "Tyra!" she exclaimed. "I wondered why you weren't out there!"

Tyra grinned and grabbed Tracy for a strong embrace. "Just wanted t'give y'all some last minute tips. Nick tends t'be a bit wordy." She grinned and giggled. "Ah mean, Slate."

With a shy laugh, Tracy shook her head. "I'm never gonna live that down, am I?"

"He's already havin' folks call him that who don't even know where it started," Tyra replied with a big grin. "He thinks it sounds pretty bad-ass."

Tracy had been warring with herself back and forth as to whether to wear her Aikido outfit, or just jeans and a t-shirt, in today's fight. Finally, she decided that the mental boost it would give her - wearing the right clothes for what she was doing - was too important. Some folks might think she was showing off, but she didn't care about them, she just cared about getting through today. "So what do have for me?" she asked Tyra as she set down her sports bag and started to change.

Tyra sat back, her eyes flicking with interest to the clothes Tracy was putting on. "Basically, darlin', just wanted to assure you Anthony ain't no thing. Metal likes to think it's all big and bad, like it's better than earth, but it's just tougher. We're stronger. It cancels out, and it just comes down to who hits harder. Anthony isn't smart, he's just tough, an' he relies a lot on his wolf. Whatcha wanna watch out for is Pax. He's sneaky."

Tracy nodded. "That sums it up in a nutshell," she agreed, cinching her new black belt around her waist. A thrill went through her as she did so, a confidence. She passed her black belt test. She wasn't Kyu Tracy anymore. She was Dan Tracy. She took in a deep breath, and as she exhaled fiercely, she pictured all her worries and fear rushing out along with the breath.

"That all real?" Tyra asked, gesturing to Tracy and her clothes.

With a nod, Tracy grinned at her. "Right down to the black belt," she replied. "Thanks for the help." Tyra gave her another hug and a wish of luck, then Tracy was by herself again, walking out the far side of the locker room and down the empty hall to the arena proper.

The arena seemed a lot larger down here than it did up there. Tracy's eyes roved upwards, looking over the windows she couldn't see through from this side, the small cameras everywhere, the giant monitors facing four directions in the center of the ceiling. Her eyes came downwards to the various geometric shapes scattered around. She felt like she was stepping into a really fancy light-tag arena.

Joseph was already there, waiting for her. He was wearing his jeans and a leather jacket, as usual, but his normal sloppy shirt had been replaced by something that looked rather like a SWAT vest, and he had his bike helmet on again.

"Where'd you get that?" she asked in surprise, tapping the hard, armored chest of the vest.

He looked a little surprised, himself. "Lord Brin," he said, a bit of hesitant confusion in his voice. "It's really light. Not as bulky or clumsy as it looks."

Tracy considered a little bit... "I think," she said, softly, then paused. At Joseph's curious expression, she continued, "I think he wants someone to like him. Not just kiss up to him, not fear him, but like him."

Joseph let out a soft snort, but looked thoughtful as well.

Tracy followed after Joseph. She was getting used to the layout, but there was still plenty of the building she hadn't been to yet. He led her up the stairs, forgoing the elevators, to the very top. They walked along the fifth floor and he gestured to a row of double-doors stretching along the top. "That's the auditorium," he said lightly. "It looks out over the arena, protected from the fight by three-inch-thick transparent aluminum."

"Transparent what?" Tracy asked, perplexed. "They have such stuff?"

Joseph grinned. "It's something one of our own geeks whipped up... takes a little 'oomph' from a tech trinket to make it work. You'll see a lot of stuff like that, actually. Of the non-elemental trinkets, tech's the most common by far. Almost as common as the elementals, actually, and more common than a lot of the dual runes. We get some of the best toys, stuff most people would think of as only sci-fi."

Tracy laughed in return. "Heck, even without tech charms, we're getting a lot of sci-fi stuff out there." Joseph nodded in return. They slipped into the auditorium, where people were already starting to gather, and walked down to the front to look down through the windows.

Tracy touched over the window in wonder - it was clear, like glass, though with just a slightly different gleam to it, but the cool touch under her finger was unmistakably metallic, as was the slight metallic tang to its smell. She noticed some black marks here and there along it, and realized it was scratches that hadn't been buffed out yet - it scratched very darkly. Or perhaps it was oxidization? She'd have to find out.

She looked past the transparent metal, then, into the arena itself. From how they'd been talking, she'd been half expecting fake grass and trees - or possibly real ones, grown quickly through some charm or another. Instead, it was a lot of geometric shapes, all varying shades of dull gray. There was a pool of water to one side, a few open-topped barrels scattered around, and the ground was hard-packed earth. "Where's the traps?" Tracy asked.

"Concealed," Joseph laughed. "otherwise they wouldn't much be traps. A few of them will have accidental triggers, some of them have activation triggers hidden around down there, and still others just happen on a regular or random basis, whether or not there's someone there to be caught. Of course, someone with a tech token can trigger any of them at will."

Tracy nodded, trying to fix the layout in her mind. "Lots of cover down there," she said quietly. "But I guess some of that cover is trapped." Joseph nodded. "Well, we'll manage," she continued confidently.

After a few more minutes in silence, looking down over the arena, Joseph nodded and Tracy followed him back out. They slipped through the corridors down to the more familiar halls leading to the locker rooms. Three men were there, waiting for them. Slate was one, the other two were the two that had been with him in the locker room, and then again when she'd met with him on Thursday afternoon. She wondered if they went everywhere with him. She suppressed a giggle as she pictured them calmly holding the soap and shampoo for him in the shower.

"Slate," she greeted him, and met each of his companion's eyes for a couple moments.

"Rose," he replied, his easy grin on his face. "I just wanted to wish you good fortune in today's match." She remembered his words on the phone, when she'd asked him for help. "Earth body against Metal body?" he'd asked, "There's no way I could miss that fight. Of course I'll help." It seemed that a lot of the community thought of metal body as an 'upgrade' of earth body, as being superior to it, and Slate and his friends were rather insulted by the attitude.

Tracy smiled in return. "I'll do my best," she assured him.

"You won't let me down," he replied. His eyes briefly flicked to Joseph, and then he walked past, and away, and Tracy could almost feel the chill between them.

"What did you do to him?" she asked, surprised at the depth of the animosity.

Joseph sighed, and walked again towards the locker rooms. "Pretended to join his group," he sighed, "To learn how to use earth better. When I left a month later, it ... didn't go over well. He feels very strongly about betrayal."

Tracy gave her own sigh. "He probably would have taught you just as well if you'd come to him and straight-out asked him for training," she pointed out. Joseph nodded with a glum look, his expression telling her that he'd already figured that out in hindsight. "And he wouldn't accept your apology?"

Joseph shrugged noncommittally.

Tracy looked at him with a furrowed brow. "You did apologize, right?" she pushed a little harder.

Joseph let out a soft noise. "Well, I tried to explain," he said. "He wouldn't listen. It wouldn't matter, I've already pissed him off. Everyone hates me, one more doesn't matter."

Tracy sighed. "Joseph, don't give yourself a martyr complex. If you want to start being a little less hated, the first thing you'll want to do is learn to say you're sorry. You've already learned everything else about these charms."

Joseph shrugged again, and Tracy let it ride. They had to focus on the fight now, anyway, as they split up to each go into their separate locker rooms.

Joseph held the door for Tracy as the entered the arena, and she was struck by how busy the place seemed. All week long, the place had been practically deserted, but now there were hundreds of people here. At first, the pressure of all of them on her mind seemed like it would give her a migraine, but instead there was a feeling as if a brief overwhelming panic, and then it all faded away from her impression. Oddly enough, it left her feeling calmer than she had been - she couldn't even feel Joseph right next to her, and that final release of pressure let her feel as if her mind was finally her own for the first time in over a week.

Ilsa looked up and gave Tracy a wan smile that didn't translate over to Joseph. The receptionist looked a little harried, and was wearing a low-cut off white shirt with some sort of interesting double-fold over the breasts and a loose maroon jacket, today, looking more professional than usual. Tracy signed in and gave her an apologetic grin. "Sorry about all this fuss," she said softly.

Ilsa shook her head. "Not your fault," she responded calmly, "This happens, sometimes. Just part of the job."

Tracy realized, suddenly, that yes - Ilsa had been there every day she'd come by, weekday or weekend. "Don't you get any days off?" she asked suddenly, a worried crease in her forehead.

With a laugh, Ilsa nodded. "I've been working more lately cause one of the girls is on vacation, we're covering for her."

Tracy nodded and smiled, and handed the sign-in sheet back to Ilsa. She hadn't seen Lord Pax's name on there, yet. "What next?" she asked Joseph.

"I always like to get a look over the arena, first," he replied. "Get an impression of how it's laid out today."

The reporter quietly stated the date and time into the dictaphone as she wrote them at the top of the page, then took on a louder, 'show' tone as if she was speaking to a camera. "Today is an unusual day - we've never had a High Lord challenge a newbie before," Tina started off. "It's an unexpected occurrence which has surprised the community and inflamed their imaginations. Lord Pax has refused comment, so we're here, Tracy, hoping that you can give us a little more information."

Tracy noted that Tina was using the 'royal we' of the press. She smiled back and laughed, deciding to put on just as much of a show. "I'm sure I wouldn't know, Tina, it's the first formal challenge I've really ever seen." She gave a soft little laugh again, then continued, "But I'd love to give you a bit of the story! What would you like to know?"

"Well," Tina brightly replied, "Just for starters, do you have any idea why Lord Pax is so interested in you that he'd put aside tradition and push the boundaries of the law just to challenge you?"

Tracy shook her head. "I'm sure he didn't give two thoughts to me, Tina. He just went through me to get to Joseph. That's his real target."

Tina's eyes, already excited, sparkled brilliantly. Tracy suspected she'd just won a wager or something. "And why would he want to get to Joseph?"

"Quite simply, Joseph has his first charm, his heart stone, his core rune, whatever you want to call it. Joseph's mind charm is Lord Pax's, and Lord Pax decided to roundabout challenge Joseph to win it back rather than try to trade for it."

"Because he's your mentor," Tina stated, and Tracy confirmed. "Which brings us to our next question - Joseph hasn't acted normally to you, either. There are dozens of us that Joseph turned in for a year of service to Lord Brin's ersatz little shadow government. Why did he let you become one of our few free newbies? What makes you so different?"

Tracy shook her head. "Merely timing, nothing special about me," she assured Tina. "I was the first newbie he encountered after leaving Lord Brin's required year of service. This may seem to all center around me, but I assure you I'm pretty much just caught up in politics between other people and am mainly an observer."

"That's not true," Joseph interrupted. "Well, the part about timing was, but I assure you, Tina, Tracy is an incredible person with a quick mind, genuinely qualified to join our community by more than just her possession of a trinket. She's got a real flair for how we do things."

Tracy laughed. "Aw, thank you, Joseph! But no, I'm just a book nerd," she assured Tina. "If any of this stuff seems normal to me, it's because I'm still half-convinced it's a dream made from falling asleep reading one of my fantasy novels."

From there, Tina went on to more community-interest questions, looking over Tracy's charm bracelet, asking after the first time she used her powers. Tracy found herself recounting the entire story of Craig's attack on them, including the revelation that Craig had been blackmailing Lord Pax, though she left out Lord Brin's comments on what that blackmail was. She really didn't need Lord Pax hating her all the more. Tina looked like it was Christmas for her, as she asked a series of questions about Craig's exile and tried to get more information about what the blackmail might be. As Tracy refused to comment, Tina started suggesting a couple mild conspiracy theories.

"I really don't have anything more for you," Tracy assured Tina. "You're really asking me to get into guessing, and my guesses wouldn't make for a good story."

Tina laughed and nodded, pulling out her dictaphone to turn it off. "Thank you so much for your time," she happily chirped, "And I really do hope you kick Pax's butt. He's a jerk."

Tracy laughed and nodded, and she and Joseph headed into the arena as Tina stood there taking a few final notes in her notebook, obviously trying to catch some inspired phrases before she forgot them.

Tracy felt a niggling worry hit her stomach as they pulled into the parking lot of the arena, even through the exhilaration of the bike ride. "Um ... Joseph?" she asked, nervously, "Why are there so many more cars here than last week?" Last week the parking lot had been nearly empty. Today, if they hadn't been riding a bike, she'd have been worried about where they were going to park.

"Well ... " Joseph said, a little hesitantly, "We did come after the busiest time, last week, but ... also, word got out that Lord Pax challenged a newbie."

Tracy's niggling worry detonated into a hollow pit in her stomach. "We're going to have an audience?" she gasped, stressing that last word. "I'm nervous enough as it is!"

"Don't worry!" Joseph reassured her, "This is actually win / win for you. If you win, you come out looking awesome, and if you lose, it just looks like Pax is being a bully. Both of which are true."

It took a moment for that to sink in to Tracy, and she squeezed Joseph in a warm hug. "Awwww... thank you!" she chirped, the hollow feeling less scary, but not disappearing entirely. The compliment meant more than the reassurance, really.

As Joseph was settling the bike into its place by the doors, Tracy noticed a woman hurrying towards them. She was wearing black slacks and a trim charcoal woman's suitcoat over a burgandy blouse, and her long black hair was tied up in a professional bun with enough brass decorations to escape the librarian look. She was carrying a notepad, and looked very excited.

"Joseph?" she asked, as she slipped off the bike.

Joseph looked around and gave a resigned sigh as he took her helmet and shoved it into a shadow up to his wrist, depositing it in that far-away storage shed. "I should have expected that," he sighed. "Our resident Reporter-"

"Tina Krowski, Midshadow Times!" Tina interrupted as she came up before them. "Tracy, right? Do you have time for a quick interview?"

Tracy took a glance at Joseph, and he nodded and gestured encouragingly. "Best to let them get your story," he reassured her.

Tracy nodded back to Tina, nervously, and Tina pulled out a dictaphone and clipped it to the front of her suitcoat, then took a pen from an inside pocket and looked up with a professional expression just barely repressing the excitement bubbling inside her.

On The Verge:

Gaaaahhhh, why on earth did I start writing a story that is inherently full of fighting? I hope it reads well enough to show what I choreographed in my mind. I write these fights out, but I have no idea whether or not they're actually being descriptive. I already know the scene, I can see it in my mind, as if it's an anime, so obviously the words create images for me - but I don't know if they create images for anyone else. Other stuff I feel more confident in, but fighting, I just don't know. There's this balance you need for fighting that's unlike anything else - a balance between description and keeping up the pace. Perhaps I should read some RA Salvatore before doing the next chapter - he's got awesome fight scenes. I could pay attention to what he does.

Well, On the Verge part 11 is posted to DA now. Next up: The big fight.

Over the last several months, I haven't really mentioned it, but I got some 2kinds fanfics done, calling them 2fangs, and I also have started writing a background for my OC Sonic character: Mairi McBaan. Mairi has garnered /such/ a nice reaction from people, it's a little overwhelming! *^_^* Here's some links!

Mairi McBaan: Sheep in Wolf's Clothing
Background story: BIO 1 2
Art: by me by Nikkicub Christmas by WingedHippocampus Comic by WingedHippocampus

2fangs: 1 2 3 4

February was Black History Month.

Black History is often looked down upon as some sort of Politically Correct Nonsense, but Black History is important not just in terms of race, but as an understanding for anybody wanting to work for or fight for equality and against discrimination of any sort.

Black History isn't the history of a people, it isn't the history of a race, it isn't the history of a special interest group, it's a history of slavery and freedom. It's a history of oppression and liberation. It's a history of a people fighting for recognition. It's a history of tyranny, of religion, of art and culture, of tribalism and of developing civilization.

Black History is a history of a people being brought into a more advanced world, instead of developing it themselves. As we seek to bring more people into a more advanced world - a world of equality, human rights, information, ease and luxury, we need to look at the history to see how people have reacted to it in the past.

One cannot talk about Black History without starting with the most famous person in Black History. I'm talking about, of course, Martin Luther King Jr. - one of the great men of American History. He was a man who stood up for quality and human rights during an era where speaking for such things carried very real, very lethal risk. The black community didn't just have one or two examples of violence against their kind, whether for speaking up for black rights, or for just the crime of being black. The black community had a systemic pattern of violence and death perpetrated against their people. The black community had a whole nation full of people who did not view them as equals, simply because they were black. They had a whole history of hundreds and thousands of people who were wounded, maimed, or killed for speaking up for what was right. The black community of the time had more violence and persecution than any natural-born American today, including the modern-day black community, can realize in its entirety.

In Black History, if you laid out the graves of all the people who suffered or were killed for simply being, but especially for speaking up for the right to simply be, you would have such a graveyard that it would boggle the mind. Into this era of widespread violence, dismissal, systemized brutality. Into a world where the KKK wasn't some small, outdated, ridiculed group but instead was frequently the local government and its police, Martin Luther King Jr raised up his voice.

Against the knowledge of very real violence, he advocated peace and understanding. He spoke against demonization of whites or blacks. He encouraged people to work together to simply ignore skin color. He spoke of a dream of peace and harmony - a peace and harmony that would be brought from both sides, from all sides, the aggressors and the victims both.

Martin Luther King Jr was someone who knew that if equality was not brought in the right way, then it would not last, and his dream would not come true. It could not be gotten through violence, anger, hatred of perceived oppressors, revenge, or pain. He knew it could only be gotten through standing firm and standing strong, with your fist raised not in anger, but in fervent belief. A fist not raised towards any man, but towards the sky itself.

I don't have any particular insights in Black History itself... there are plenty who have said things far better than I ever could, but I didn't think I could leave February too far behind me without taking the time to say - if you want to make the world a better place, don't do it by discriminating against groups you see as 'oppressors', don't do it by seeking revenge, don't do it by letting your pain from being hurt get the better of you, don't let politics angrily divide you. There is plenty to be done yet in this world to bring equality to all people, and we could do worse than following Martin Luther King Jr's example that showed us that peace, togetherness, and honest-to-goodness cooperation really can make the world a better place.

Congratulations were many, as she found herself in the middle of her old circle of students, all of them delighted for her. It was good to be back with them, she realized, and she had missed them a lot. it was something of a blur - it seemed a crowd, even though it was only a few people, from all the attention being focused on her. She laughed, but sadly had to decline hanging out for a bit, or be able to go to a celebratory lunch.

"I'm sorry," she said, backing towards the changing room, "But I really do have something already scheduled that I just don't have the option of missing... Next weekend, though!" she promised, "After practice!"

She rushed through the shower - no more than a quick rinse, really, as it wasn't going to matter soon enough - and got dressed. Loose jeans, t-shirt, a tough denim jacket, and leather gloves. She'd been starting to get into the tougher fabrics as she rode more on Joseph's bike, because there always lived the possibility of a tumble, and she preferred leaving her skin intact.

Her friends were first surprised, then laughed, at seeing her wearing something other than skirts as she came out. They followed her out to see Joseph waiting for her on his bike, and a few snide comments were made that Tracy laughed at and shook her head, but didn't bother dignifying with a formal rejection. She strapped her sports back snug against her back, accepted the helmet from Joseph, slipped onto the bike behind him, and they were off.

"How'd you do?" he asked, cheerfully, as they drove down the street.

"I passed!" she said, giddy joy leaping up in her chest.

"Congratulations!" he replied merrily. "Let's hope that's a good omen for our fight!"

The giddy joy settled itself into a wary nervousness, as she remembered that the black belt test was the easiest thing she had to look forward to, today. She took a deep breath and nodded solemnly, gathering her mind together for the match ahead.

Once they had gotten into the flow of attack and defense, Tracy was much more comfortable. These spars were her favorite part of Aikido, like dancing with a partner. She only really enjoyed it with Grandmaster Lee, because she knew he was so good she didn't have to worry about hurting him. Heck, till a few months ago she never had gotten him in a hold even once, but that was when she had started practicing turning one attack into another mid-stance.

She hadn't gotten him the first time, but he had been surprised and given her a rare compliment. She hadn't gotten him the second time, or the third time, either. She had started out not catching him more than one time in a thousand, and now she could catch him perhaps one time out of a hundred. Today, she was in the zone - she couldn't say what it was, but everything just fell into place, everything was balanced, and it wasn't long before she found herself sitting on top of him, his leg twisted painfully, and his hand slapping a surrender against the mat. She only had to suffer a dozen pins, herself, before she had gotten him.

It was a shock when the voice intruded on their match, because she had long since forgotten that she was being tested. When they fought, it wasn't focus that turned off the rest of the world - it was just fun, and the challenge, of putting everything you had into that one goal. She leapt to her feet, as did Grandmaster Lee, and they turned to the other five Grandmasters.

"What is this?" snapped Grandmaster Yoshida. "You've been teaching her dan techniques before she has taken the test?"

Grandmaster Lee straightened up stiffly. "I have not!" he retorted, his teeth gritted. "I have taught her no more than any other kyu ready for the dan."

With a snort of derision and a look of contempt at Tracy, Grandmaster Yoshida replied, "I suppose you teach all your kyu how to attack in combination, then?" The sarcasm lay heavy on his voice.

The broad white smile from Grandmaster Lee startled her, his stance shifting, his face, his very being radiating a fierce pride. "No," he replied, his voice intent. "She figured it out herself."

The hot retort by Grandmaster Yoshida was instantly cut off by the bark of laughter from Grandmaster Ito, who looked over at his fellow Grandmasters. "Well," he exclaimed, "Our choice is obvious, isn't it? We'd best grant this young lady the dan before she decides we're just useless old men that she doesn't need anymore!"

Grandmaster Yoshida was not so easily mollified. "I suppose that's inevitable, when she's taken as long as she has to get to the test," he grumbled. He turned to Tracy. "Why haven't you taken it before?"

Tracy stood up straight. "Sir!" she started, and her brain flailed for a half a second before she settled on her conversation with Grandmaster Lee last week. "I was afraid of the power that would come with advanced techniques. As a kyu, if I make a mistake, I break someone's arm. In the dan, if I make a mistake, I could very well kill someone."

He snorted again. "So you no longer care if you kill someone?" he said caustically.

Tracy felt that angry bubbling in her chest, and closed her eyes as she controlled it. "That's not it at all, Sir," she replied, feeling something very close to the same gritting tone that Grandmaster Lee used every time he talked to Yoshida coming out of her own mouth. "It's just that I have come to realize I should more fear lacking the control that the dan will teach me."

Grandmaster Yoshida made a noise as if he was spitting. "Ridiculous," he said to his fellow grandmasters. "I will not approve of granting the dan to a little girl who's being ruled by her fears. My vote is decided - I say no."

Tracy was crushed, but stood there, eyes closed, feeling the fierce emotion welling up, tears sparking in the corner of her eyes.

Grandmaster Ito immediately responded. "Well, I say she's the finest kyu I've seen before me in twenty years - while that may be because she had an extra two years to learn, I'd say that nonetheless, she's earned the right to move on to dan. It makes no sense, after all, to deny someone the dan just because they should have had it a long time ago."

The other three grandmasters agreed, though the one sitting next to Grandmaster Yoshida sounded a little reluctant. Her heart swelled with joy just as much as she had felt the fierce pain welling not moments before, the tears in her eye now tears of pride that slipped down her cheeks as she stood there stock-straight while Grandmaster Lee removed her white belt and replaced it with a brand new, crisp, stiff black belt. She bowed to the grandmasters, and to the watching dan around her, and then she was surrounded by friends who were clapping her on the back and loudly congratulating her, and she didn't care that she wept as she hugged them and laughed happily.

Grandmaster Ito then turned back to Tracy and Grandmaster Lee. "Tracy," he said gently, "The purpose of the spar is not actually to spar. In that, I approve - the perfect Aikido match is one without an attack. However, we need you to show us that you understand more than theory and form, we need to know that you can react to attacks as they come."

Tracy nodded. "Thank you," she said softly, and meant it for more than just the explanation. Most of the Grandmasters didn't like Grandmaster Lee, she knew - thought he should not have been given the title Grandmaster. She didn't know the details. She banished the thought quickly from her mind, however, as she and Grandmaster Lee faced each other once more, giving each other the ritual bow, then striking ready poses.

This time, When Grandmaster Lee left an opening, she took it. He shifted his weight lightly, and she automatically twitched to draw back, then pushed herself forward, changing her attack into an advancing block. He tried to grab her wrist, and she pushed his hand away, rolling to his side and trying to trip him up with a hooked ankle. He hopped lightly over her foot, spinning to a defensive posture quickly, as did she, the two of them grinning broadly at each other.

She attacked him a second time, then a third, each time turning her attack into a block and trying to find a grapple with him, and failing. The fourth time, she double-feinted, the block disappearing as soon as he started reacting to the grapple, and the halted punch suddenly struck forward into a weaker but still stinging attack against his breastbone, knocking him back a step. Tracy immediately followed up with a quick series of blows, but Grandmaster Lee had already recovered his balance enough to guide them away with the backs of his hands. Before he could recover any further, Tracy fell back and took up her ready stance again.

Suddenly, Grandmaster Lee was on top of her, his fists and feet coming in a quick series of attacks. Tracy had all she could do just turning them away, her limbs often reacting before she had even realized the attack was coming. She barely had time to concoct a plan before one foot hooked behind the other, and she tripped over herself, falling backwards. Grandmaster Lee pressed his advantage, which she had hoped he would, and her legs untangled themselves instantly to hook around his ankle as she rolled to the side, one hand finding his elbow as he fell. She almost had him, but then he twisted just before she set the hold and was away, both of them rolling to their feet in a ready stance once again.

They stood lightly on their toes, each step careful and balanced. In this, Tracy was satisfied with herself - she felt balanced, her movements felt like smooth dancing. And this, too, was familiar - the rest of the room faded out of her awareness, there was only the mats and her opponent. He was good, she knew that, but he seemed a little clumsier than usual today. His steps were as smooth and balanced, but he kept stepping a little too far, leaving just the smallest of openings. She watched him carefully, making certain, and on the third opening she started forward.

He shifted lightly in reaction to her movement, and she dropped back, as did he. Small movements, small shifting motions. For several minutes, they moved on like this without making a single attack, circling and shifting their weight to look for a sure advantage. It was the longest they'd ever gone like this, and Tracy was starting to be a little surprised that Grandmaster Lee hadn't attacked her yet. She knew her defense wasn't that unbreakable, he always found an opening to exploit or was just too fast for he. Today he seemed to be holding back.

"Hold!" came a voice, and the grandmasters, then the rest of the room, snapped back into Tracy's awareness. She bowed to Grandmaster Lee, as he did to her, then they turned to face the others.

The grandmaster second from the left - Tracy couldn't remember his name - had a slightly condescending air to him. "Does the kyu understand what a spar is? One generally does something during a spar other than walk around each other."

Tracy flushed and pulled in on herself, looking at the floor. "Yes, sir," she replied, embarassedly. She wouldn't explain herself - she knew better than to say too much.

"Well," said another voice, sounding slightly amused. "Would the kyu like to share with us why she has not done anything yet?"

Tracy nodded, smiling, and brought her gaze back up. She thought that would be Grandmaster Ito, the only one of the five grandmasters that actually liked Grandmaster Lee. "Thank you, Sir," she said respectfully. "There are two reasons. First, Grandmaster Lee and I have sparred many times. I am familiar with him, and I know that if I had attacked him at any of those times, he would be able to defeat me easily." She paused slightly after this, trying to think of the best way to express the second reason.

"And the second?" asked the one on the far left - she thought that was Grandmaster Yoshida, and the tone of his voice left unsaid what she was sure he wanted to say - can the kyu count to two?

"I'm not good at attacking," Tracy said flat out, not trying to cushion it. "I'm only good at reacting to attackers. The attacks just don't feel comfortable to me."

Grandmaster Yoshida make a rude noise. "Not that old complaint," he snapped. "There's nothing wrong with Aikido attacks, and this kyu will tell us differently?" Tracy cringed inwardly, trying to keep a calm exterior.

"That's not fair," said Grandmaster Ito, reproachfully. "She was telling us her strengths and weaknesses, honestly and openly, and you took it as a challenge against Aikido. Can none of us say that there is something we were not struggling with when we took the Dan? It is not the end of lessons, after all."

Two of the grandmasters looked a little sour at that, but the other two nodded in agreement.