The Sixth Line of Defense

by Shiva Winters

  * * *

  It would've been amusing if it wasn't just so annoying and more than a little personally insulting for Vala. Granted it was pretty unusual for a new student to transfer into the Academy a few weeks into the start of the new term, but it was just a little ridiculous to discover just how over-active the rumor mill had become with Shiva's arrival. Vala was hard pressed to name even one other event that had caused such an uproar, save perhaps for the broken trust that had made her into an outcast. Shiva's appearance in between classes the previous day must have started it, because no sooner had she reached her first class that day than she was all but assaulted with a flock of girls who would never have said a kind word to her even 24 hours earlier, all asking questions about the 'new girl'. Vala had to admit there was a certain perverse satisfaction in being to walk past them without saying a word, ignoring everything they were saying as she walked the halls and crossed between buildings. Her silence seemed to be a source of great annoyance for many, and if it weren't for the fact that they seemed to only want to find out any dirty little secrets she might know she might have enjoyed the opportunity to either openly be friendly with some of them. So considering the selfish motivations at work behind the scenes of the sudden surge in her popularity she could and did took great pleasure of ignoring the words and relishing the frustrated anger of so many who would get not a word from her that day and perhaps any other.

  The rumors had started out simple enough, though many of them were still laughable, but they had only seemed to grow disproportionately more ludicrous as the hours of the morning passed and the brief periods of noisy questions were broken up by Vala's schedule. She ignored the notes that were passed her way and refused to acknowledge the girls who tried to confront her outside of all her classrooms, only the fact that Shiva's presence seemed to scare all of them away truly made it possible for her to remain sane through out it all. When the bells rang out the end of the last morning class and at the start of the long lunch break, the numbers of girls trying to drag even one small piece of information out of her shot up considerably. So it was that there was practically an army following her out across the courtyard as she felt even more tempted than usual to escape out into the outer regions of the campus. She was almost instantly aware of Shiva's presence, she knew the second that intense gaze picked her out of the crowd and couldn't help but smile that her own intense and confused feelings were felt in very much the same way by Shiva. She couldn't quite see her through the crowd, but for a presence with as many shadows as Shiva had following her around, it was easy enough to simply head in the direction of the 'darkness' and ignore the squawking flock of girls following close behind her.

  "I heard she beat up Sensei.." One of them muttered.

  "I heard that she was brought here in hand cuffs." Another murmured darkly, while ten others all added to the growing piles of ridiculous speculation that seemed to grow by each passing minute.

  "Jenny said she threatened to kill Georga earlier today."

  "Well I heard she was expelled from her last five schools." Vala was just passing close to the large bronze statue of the school's founder when Shiva dropped in like a diving bird of prey to land right next to her. There was a silence so sudden and profound that it almost seemed to echo as Shiva's dark and dangerous presence seemed to steal away all of their hot air in a heart beat.

  "Twelve, not five, I was expelled from twelve schools. And I don't make threats, I give warnings, since if I were to decide someone must die, there would be no reason for me make the condemned aware of death sentence they have been given." Shiva growled back at them sounding every inch the predator in those moments. Vala was hard pressed not to ruin it by giggling like a mad woman as she glanced back to see a sea of bleach white faces some few of which seemed a heartbeat away from fainting. As the younger girl turned away from them, Shiva took her fingers into her own and drew Vala where none would dare follow them.

  "How do these rumors even get started?" Vala giggled down to her as Shiva's shadowy presence became all at once, one of sunshine and happiness as she shifted in close to Vala's side stirring up Vala's own tender feelings for her.

  "Incomplete truths whispered to immature minds." Shiva murmured back to her with a sigh. "Pretty soon they are going to start saying that you have the ability to tame savage beasts."

  "I certainly tamed you real quick." Vala whispered to her as they slipped underground and to the nearest collection of vending machines.

  "Hence the incomplete truths, theory." Shiva agreed with a giggle.

  "Yeah, you are more feral than savage." Vala teased back much to their combined amusement. A few minutes later and armed with a mostly healthy lunch they were wandering out past the main buildings of the campus and down in the direction of the lake. However affectionate they might have acted in public, it didn't really compare how they acted when alone. Shiva seemed almost as if she had simply given up any pretense of being dark and dangerous and leaned in close to let her eyes drift close trusting Vala completely to lead her across the landscape safely. If only to insure that they would not be discovered casually, Vala lead them right to the outer edge of the school where they could settle on the wooden docks that hung out over the serene surface of the lake. Their conversation was light and contained nothing of real substance as they both seemed to vibrate quietly with pure and simple joy of just being there together and separate from anyone else. Vala marveled at how easy everything seemed to be as already it felt as if they had the kind of relationship that would have taken weeks to build up between any other two people. And little by little Shiva was giving her small insights into all the questions that might normally have kept a shadow over her own thoughts, easing away the last bits of tension and making the truth of her feelings that much clearer as time went along.

  "Vala?" The voice that called across the distance, was familiar to her and unwelcome for Shiva as her body tensed at the sound. Perhaps a little annoyed on her behalf, Vala glanced back over her shoulder at Professor Isine. A gifted linguist, Vala had been in several of the Professor's classes during her years at the Academy. She was also one of the teachers who were in charge of housing at the school.

  "Hello again, Professor Isine." Vala called back as the older woman walked down the dock to stop a comfortable distance away.

  "Just when I was thinking about you, you just seem to appear." She murmured with a pleased smile. "I know this might be rather sudden, but there have been some changes in Titania hall this week. Sienna just got accepted for late admission to Eris design school to fill in a position vacated rather suddenly by someone who couldn't handle the pace of the classes there. Another pair of the our residents have admitted that they have an room they aren't using.." Vala giggled back at her playful look and nodded in complete understanding of her subtle implication. ".. and we discussed a little game of musical rooms. I know we discussed your doctor's request for you to have more seclusion, well your new room mate has a similar request in her file. Kiza says she would be more than willing to give up living by herself if you wanted to take over the claim on the 'territory'. So I just wanted to see if you wanted to move, and hear if you thought your room mate might want to do the same." Vala looked down at Shiva who was pretending to be unaware of any interruption and smiled back at the older woman.

  "I'm sure she would if I explained it to her.. though.. we'd probably end up using just one room ourselves." Vala told her a bit guiltily and with a bright smile. The Professor's bright mischievous expression was hard to ignore and filled with a bone deep amusement.

  "Well that's okay. This is your room mate.." She half asked as she ducked down just a little bit. "Shiva?" Vala patted her side encouragingly, and Shiva turned to smile a touch nervously at the older woman. "You okay, sweety?"

  "I'm fine.. just kind of tired.." She told her softly. "If Vala thinks it would be better than I would have no reason to object.. though..
it might not be a good idea to find a third person to join us, to be honest.."

  "That's fine, there is a lot of competition for the rooms in Titania hall, but the faculty reserves them for students with.. special needs. We were about to move just Vala into that empty bed.. but.." She winked at Shiva. ".. you can come to." Shiva giggled at her tiredly and nodded gratefully. "Tomorrow?"

  "That will be fine we'll get everything packed up, tonight or early tomorrow morning." Vala agreed happily.

  "Than I will have a maintenance crew at your tomorrow early tomorrow afternoon." Professor Isine agreed before she moved off with a smile just for Vala.

  "And what do you think of that?" She asked Shiva as the younger woman resettled in her former position tucked in close.

  "You don't think we are moving just a little too fast?" Shiva asked her, there was just something in her voice that made Vala believe that Shiva didn't feel that way at all, but needed Vala to confirm that this too was a feeling that was shared between them before she could let go of this worrying question.

  "Absolutely not." Vala told her gently and automatically, only too aware that she wouldn't have dared change anything about that morning at least where Shiva was concerned. "How about you?"

  "I think.. I have been waiting for you my whole life and now that you are here nothing else really matters." It was such a sweet thing for her to say, that Vala was almost brought to tears. The rest of lunch was spent in silence, being far too involved in holding Shiva close to ever ruin it by using words that seemed completely unnecessary.