Love, Tea & Scones

Cold Morning

Terra woke up sometime around noon, to no one laying beside her. Terra knew she couldn't expect him to stay, not with the place full of guards that would arrest him for being there unannounced, but he could have at least woken her up to say goodbye before he left. Terra got out of her bed and put on the robe she had worn earlier the night before. Terra picked up the underwear that was on the floor and threw them into the laundry basket inside the bathroom.

Maria was cleaning up Terra's room just as Terra exited the bathroom after taking a bath. "Morning Terra" Maria chirped as she tidy the arrangement of pillows on the sofa. "Morning!" Terra replied with a yawn. Maria hurried to Terra's closet and rummaged around in it for a particular outfit. A plain green t-shirt and a pair of emerald green semi-loose trousers that many people would normally wear to exercise in. "That seems different from what you normally have me wear!" Terra commented in a playful tone. Maria smiled at Terra and laughed "Well we can't have you running about the training yard in a dress now can we!". Terra laughed in return "Why would I be running about tbe training yard?!?". Maria sighed as if she was a mother to a very forgetful child. "Because there is a challenge today" She told Terra "And in that challenge you have to be able to move very quickly so a dress just wouldn't work in your favour!".

For once it didn't take ages for Maria to get Terra ready. Terra wasn't wearing any makeup or accessories when she walked out of her bedroom. Sir Darryl was waiting for Terra and escorted her to the training yard. Terra and the other girls hadn't been allowed in the section of the castle that was used mainly for the guards and some high ranking military officers so this was her first time being able to see this part of the castle. The military side of the castle had long banners of dark forest green with the kingdom emblem in the middle of it, two deers and a wolf in-between them. A couple of new recruits ran past Terra and Sir Darryl as they made their way to the training yard.

Most of the girls had already arrived to the training yard. Terra could see a few walls and barriers made from wood placed in the training yard as well as a few random wheels scattered around the place. Out of all of them Lady Aylin looked the most comfortable there, she was in the Dorcha Military before she came to the castle. However Terra couldn't help but think about the injury that Lady Aylin had sustained before she came here that was bad enough that she could no longer go into combat. Terra worried if the injury would hinder Lady Aylin during the challenge. Terra also wondered what was injured as Lady Aylin never said where she was injured but Terra presumed it must have been either a knee or a shoulder injury since she heard of people coming back from years of being in the military because they had torn something in their shoulder or damage something in their knee.

King Gael and a few of his advisors strolled onto the training yard. "Good Morning ladies" The king greeted them "As I am sure you can guess what today's challenge will be I will not be explaining it, now you will each be paired up in teams of two and the team who took the longest to finish the course will then have to fight each other in a duel and the loser will be the one leaving the competition!" He explained as he looked at each of them. The women were soon paired up. Terra was paired up with Lady Aylin and she wasn't sure if she should be happy with her partner. Terra didn't know what Lady Aylin's injury was and how it would hinder her so she just had to hope that Lady Aylin would be able to complete the course and not make the injury worse. Terra was sure Lady Aylin wasn't sure about having Terra as a partner as well since Terra didn't have any formal military training like Lady Aylin or Lady Eileen had. Terra decided to stop worrying about if Lady Aylin would be able to complete the course and worry about herself. The last time Terra had done anything like this was during physical education when she was still in school and that was a couple of years ago at this point. Terra wasn't out of shape but she was definitely out of practiced with climbing up a rope or doing a hundred meter sprint.