shakes his head in agreement. "I guess I'm pretty used to being tortured by you. It would be weird to be free."
"Yes it would." And she jumps next to him, wraps her left elbow against his right, and both happily skip down the orange dirt road.
They are headed east on that dusty orange road which is near the top edge of the township. It has now become quite narrow and the homes are fewer and far between. They are close to the east end of town.
It's an overcast morning. Thick clouds and haze are blocking the sun. They're both wearing their double cape jackets. Nayaa's black jacket is shorter than Andee's only reaching to below the braw line, just barely covering her beige cross-weaved linen top. It's made from inch wide ribbons, cross-weaved diagonally, creating a rhomboid shaped checkerboard pattern. Her oval cape flows from over her shoulders down past her lower back. Andee has a similar diagonally cross-weaved beige top under his jacket, split in a V down his chest and also underarm since it's sleeveless. It's also longer ending just above his pants. His light brown jacket is also longer than Nayaa's, but still short, only reaching to above his waist. Off his shoulders, his long cape is triangular with its center point reaching to just above the back of his knees. They are both wearing fingerless leather gloves that extend half way up the forearms under the sleeves of their jackets. The jackets themselves are made from the same cross-weaved technique as their shirts. Long, inch-wide leather ribbons weaved diagonally to form the jacket and sleeves.
Andee's pants are relatively loose and made from mostly brown-orange alcama leather. They are made from large patches, braided together loosely with shoelace thick strings of leather allowing air through. The braided strips run in all directions connecting one patch to the next forming his trousers. The patches are close in color, but they don't all match exactly. Over the front and a bit to the outer side of each thigh, his large satchels are hanging from a wide belt around his waist.
Nayaa's skin tight leather pants are made from very dark brown alcama leather. Like the jackets, they are made of one inch wide cross-weaved ribbons of leather, this time square weaved, but only on the outer and inner sides of the leg. In the front and back, there are only the horizontal ribbons running parallel to each other with the small gaps between them allowing the air to circulate. Hanging loosely around her hips is her broad belt with the two ornate satchels that reach to the knees.
They are both wearing a the standard Carpati footwear. A flat bottom moccasin with a gap between the big toe and the rest. The sole is made from thick leather, bottomed with ridges cut out of alcama hoof, layered like roof tiles overlapping from heel to toe. They are extremely flexible and able to curl round large rocks for good grip, but hard enough to protect the foot from sharp gravel and stones. The top portion of the moccasin is made of a solid chunk of alcama leather, but from the ankle up, it turns into inch wide straps that cross-spiral up the leg to hold the shoe in place. Nayaa's front and back straps spiral up and over her calves to just under her knees, so they look like boots, but Andee's only spiral around his ankles.
These are the standard clothes they always wear, but today one thing is different. To the right of each of their thigh satchel, strapped to the side of their leg, both have something attached. Andee's looks like there segments of thick rope, bundled tougher, and stiff as wood, with metal caps on the ends. Nayaa's bundle is clearly three ornately carved wooden batons. They are attached to the belt at the top extending down to slightly below the side of the knee. Andee's bundle it a little under two feet long. Nayaa, who is about a palm shorter than Andee, has a bundle that is just a couple of inches shorter.
The narrow dirt road is nothing more than a foot path now. Up ahead the trail seems to end at a natural wall of stone, but it actually turns up into a rugged mountain path. The massive wall of grey rock in front of them is a tall cone shaped dome that sticks about 50 to 60 meters in the air. When Andee and Nayaa reach it, instead of turning up the rugged path, they hop up on the side of the greystone cone, and start rounding the huge stone dome on a small naturally protruding ledge in the rock. It's just big enough for their feet to shuffle sideways. They transverse the thin ledge like two expert mountain climbers. The tall dome is round, and after a minute or so of side shuffling on that thin ledge, above the steep drop, they are now on the east side of the dome and also the Township.
From their new vantage point, looking down on the north-east slope of table mountain, the Carpati Township pretty much comes to an end. There are some homes built into the cliffs further below, but they are sparse, and mostly near the Flatlands. Almost all are farms. The east side is very different from the west side. The West End slope is packed with homes, and the Flatlands below are full of markets, warehouses, and factories. It is a busy place with many people and lots of activity. From Andee and Nayaa's view, it is clear that the East End is quiet, sparse, and rural, doted by spread out large farms. There is also a lot more vegetation on this side of the mountain, where the West End is almost pure desert with only a few scattered dry shrubs.
Andee and Nayaa continue their climb, but this time down into an open space on the other side of the grey dome of rock. It's a large cave between several other cone shaped formations of graystone. The large cavernous opening in the mountain is triangular in shape with the far corner looking like an elbow of sorts, so they call it The Elbow. It's well hidden in the mountain with the opening to the elbow facing east, and not visible from the homes and farms below, nor from the city above. In the far end, in the very corner of the elbow, there is what looks like a stick fighting school.
There are 12 young kids, standing face to face in pairs of two, and practicing in unison various blows with their sticks. They are using actual sticks, some straight, some a bit wavy, most just old dried up tree branches. They are being led my a man who is facing them thus with his back to Andee and Nayaa. There are four more older kids, in their early teens, practicing separately further out from the elbow. They are more advanced and are full on sparing with perfectly straight and well made one piece wooden staffs. Sometimes two on two, sometimes all four against each other. Wrapped up in their match they ignore Andee and Nayaa who are about twenty meters away and approaching.
Nayaa looks to Andee and gives him the most subtle of an eye squint. Andee seems to understand her message, and equally imperceptibly gives her a nudge with his head. She leaps into a cartwheel and then starts hand-springing, hands to feet, hands to feet, towards the four practicing teens. They finally notice her quickly approaching and stop, but hesitantly. All four take up half fighting stances, not sure if they're being attacked or if this a friendly tumble run. Nayaa ends her tumbling with a leap and two aerial somersaults. As she spins in the air, her right arm swings out with the three bundled sticks flinging out. As she lands on her feet, facing the four students, the swinging wooden batons separate, opening up with a hard click into one solid staff. It's now full length, but with two metal joints between the three wooden pieces, locked in tight into a single weapon.
The startled kids look at one another but there it no time. Nayaa attacks. She spins the staff in front of her in figure eights so fasts it's a blur, the whole while slowly advancing towards the kids. She then forcefully swings her staff at one of the teen boys who is in a defensive stance. He tries to block Nayaa's blur, but it comes at him with so much speed and power, it knocks his own out of his hands. Nayaa dives onto her staff, using it instead of her arms to cartwheel. She lands with her back to the kids and kicks the boy's staff away towards Andee, who simply stands there and watches.
The man teaching the kids is also watching, as are the young kids. The other three lunge towards Nayaa, all together, but it is fruitless. Nayaa, even though initially with her back to them, easily knocks one staff after the other out of their hands, either with her own or with kicks. In less than thirty seconds she's got all the teens disarmed. She stops and stomps one end of her weapon on the ground, and then leans on it, with her left cheek against, it in a most relaxed po
se and smiles at the four defeated kids. The teens look a bit disappointed but not scared.
The young kids immediately applaud as does their instructor.
"You two can never come through the front door, can you?" The Instructor greets them with a smile and a snip.
"It's our short cut. We have to use it." Nayaa responds with a grin.
The Instructor smiles than looks to Andee. "Are you two so good that I'm no longer worthy enough to be visited?"
"I'm sorry Master Sensei." Andee approaches first with an apologetic tone. "It has been a while, I know, that's our fault." He gives his old teacher the standard greeting, which is back of left forearms against left forearm and left shoulder against left shoulder, in a halfway kind of a hug, ended with a gentle head bow. Nayaa follows and does the same.
"Kids! I know you older ones remember my two best students. This is Nayaa and that's Andee." Master Sensei introduces them and the kids in unison wave and say hello. "They got so good they didn't need me any more."
"Ah come on Master Sensei, we'll always need you." Nayaa interjects.
"You've got lots of students