Their Guardian

Chapter 13

Edited.

*Noella's POV*

She looked down at Booker, and a genuine smile spread across her face. He glared up at her, still groaning in pain. She laughed a real laugh and held her hand out to help him up for the sixth time. She had pretty much beaten all of the boys at least once. Joe seemed to be the best fighter out of the boys while Nicky was a closer second than Booker. He smacked her hand away and closed his eyes, groaning some more. Probably cursing her out in multiple languages in his head. Noella laughed out loud again, still looking down at him.

"Come on old man, I want round seven." She smirked. He was a great fighter, just way too cocky. Every time he's on the verge of winning. He shows his tells and gets sloppy. Booker just rolled over and pretended not to hear her.

Honestly, Noella felt that; She has had her fair share of beatings today, most coming from the skilled hands of Andy, she's terrifying. All of their fights have lasted less than two minutes, her skill and speed are unlike any opponent Noella's ever faced. That woman is scary.

Joe has gotten her more than she has him, giving her a real challenge, he was her favorite opponent. 

Nicky had the upper hand on her, but just barely, he's very creative with his style. He was a good opponent, and Noella was certain if she hadn't caught him by surprise that day, the fight would not have been as easily won. 

Noella did finally get to see her healing in action. Andy broke her arm and watching the bone line itself up was... weird to say the least, and not something she planned on repeating any time soon. It distracted her enough to gain looks from the others, they still could not believe that it was the first time. It's like they expect her to run into danger, and while yes, that does happen frequently. She was quite sensible when she needed to be, and Noella took little comfort in knowing the Impending sword lesson would likely need that above average healing.

Thinking back, she probably should have been kinder to Booker, he's not going to go easy on her anymore. I may have misjudged this whole situation. Curse being competitive and not planing ahead in the face of a challenge.

"Let's get lunch, then we can start with the swords." Andy said, already walking back inside with Joe and Nicky on her heals. Noella paled at her words, and then even more when Booker shot her a smile from the ground. I was a dead man. 

"Book, you know I love you right?" She said unsurely, giving him a shy smile. 

"Do I?" He grunted, pulling himself off the ground. "I don't think I got that impression." 

Noella took off after that, racing back to the kitchen. She slid into the kitchen and her chair and gave the three an innocent look. Booker followed not long after, giving everyone a smile. Yeah, like she said, she was a dead man. The three gave them puzzled looks before finding their food more interesting. As they were scarfing down the food Andy went back into instructor mode.

"Have you ever worked with a sword before?"

"No. I do have some training with daggers and staffs. But I assume actually fighting with swords is different." 

"Very. You may have had the upper hand on us earlier, but now it's our turn." Booker said in a perkier than usual tone. 

Noella paled at his words, already imagining the number of cuts soon to be in these new clothes. She briefly wondered how long an arm would take to grow back. Actually... If she were to be beheaded, how would she heal? Head down? Or body up? I need answers.

Noella stared off into the distance trying to determine which was more likely, and whether or not she should risk asking that question and Booker getting and idea. Luckily Andy pulled her out of that rabbit hole before she ended up in wonderland.