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Oh, it was just like the coy-wolf to take such advantage of her when she was in this precarious position, unable to stop what she was doing for fear of messing up their collaborative co-ordination and causing damage to one or both. She had insisted they use only wooden sticks for practice until they had the hang of it, but you never knew when something could go wrong. So she could not stop, nor even raise her voice to answer Terra's teasing words. God only knew what she was doing with the knives: Caspa could hear soft thuds as they hit the ground. Storing the notion that Terra could not fight for another day - that would have to be rectified - Caspa concentrated on keeping her expression filled with the unwitting bafflement that she would have to wear during the genuine performance, as she frowned upwards as if wondering where her knives were disappearing to. As the last one was snatched away, her body jolted, released from its bonds of deep concentration and she whirled round to confront the thief.
What she confronted couldn't have made her jump more if Terra had shape-shifted into a gaping-jawed grizzly. The woman's teeth snapping for the knife, missing and falling with the hilt protruding and then disappearing, her body meeting the ground with sickening emphasis, a fleck of blood flying to add another smudge to Caspa's muzzle. The scent of it was real and she was utterly convinced, if only for a second. How could Terra have been so stupid? She should know better than to try something new with the real deal, something not even attempted with the wooden dummies. Her heart solidified into a chunk of steel, the only sign of her fear the tautening of her dark lips, before she lifted her head and matched Skoll's howls with a single penetrating bark of her own, in the direction of the hotel, although she doubted anybody would hear from this distance. Still, they would need help. She could take bodies apart with skill: she had no idea how to mend them. Caspa flung herself down next to Terra, huge dark eyes raking the coy-wolf's mouth and throat, not seeing the damage she would have expected if the knife had truly disappeared right down the gullet. Perhaps it was this or something in her expression, or just her ever-present hopefulness, but she had a strong sense that the damage had not really been done here. Choking on a knife? It should have torn the back of her windpipe out. Caspa touched the other woman's throat with a hand quick as a wing, tracing the length of it with a spindly finger but the pulse was steady and she felt no sharp edges. She snatched her hand away as Terra erupted in another bout of coughing and sat back on her heels, watching observantly. One ear twitched in the howling boy's direction. His shock might prove even more devastating than whatever wound Terra had sustained. Most wouldn't have expected much more from a child, but Caspa was exacting in her standards. His older brother had shown a great talent for keeping a cool head in a desperate situation, becoming the court's unofficial medic without much experience after the war, and although he was much older than Skoll, she guessed he could learn to do the same given time. He had to learn, at least, that panicking was no way to face a moment of horror. A lesson that could save his or another's life some day. "Skoll," she called softly, "Terra may need our help, so come, watch closely as I check her over." Caspa was almost certain Terra was not badly damaged, but she still seemed to be choking. She didn't know much first aid, but she knew enough to give her a couple of soft thumps on the back, hoping it would help a little while she glanced her over to find where the blood was coming from.
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