Hard Light (NaNoWriMo15)

Chapter 14 - Death by Exercise

Somewhere between the time she fell asleep to the point where she woke up, Leah made a decision that she felt strangely optimistic about.

She wanted to stay on Kieran's expedition team. 

She got dressed into her usual clothes and left her notebooks and journals on the desk as she left for breakfast. For the first time, there was spring in her step, a certainty to her direction. She could do something no one else could on the expedition team--she could read the symbols, uncover the secrets they hid. She could do her own study, her own research, forge her own path--and that, more than anything, was something she was realising she craved. The research lab had been the dream of the girl in Teridia, but it didn't mean she couldn't change her path to the answer she craved.

Maybe she could even convince Shade to work with the League in the open. She'd have to ask about that the next time she saw him.

The breakfast hall was full when she arrived and took her place in the line, quickly selecting her learned favourites as she scanned the room. Illiya caught her eye, but as usual, their table was in their own little bubble in the centre of the room, oblivious to the world around them.

Instead, Leah walked over to where Sef was waving at her.

"Morning, Sef," she said, touching her palm to his as she walked past him and headed to the other end of the table where Kieran sat.

Kieran glanced up at her from his mug. "Decided yet?"

Leah nodded. "I want you to train me."

"Good," said Kieran, pulling out the chair beside him. "We can start right after breakfast, so don't bloat yourself too much."

Feeling strangely honoured, Leah accepted the seat and went about eating her food despite her stomach being twisted into knots. The girl opposite Kieran, Mira, even went so far as to make smalltalk with Leah across the table, asking her how her muscles had been after training the previous day.

"I almost died," said Leah. "I was pretty sure I was never going to be able to move again when I woke up."

Mira smirked. "Just imagine what it was like for the rest of us who didn't use their heads and made it across the unstable floor obstacle the hard way. Pretty sure I had more bruises from that one day than my entire life put together. I think we forget about our Light most of the time."

Leah's smile was genuine by the time Kieran stood up and glanced at her. "Ready?"

"Nope, but let's go!" said Leah, taking his plate and mug back to the return for him.

On the way to the training grounds, Leah had a thought. "Should I grab my Hilt from my room?"

"You won't need it," said Kieran. "Any combat practice we do with weapons is going to be with sticks so the worst you'll get is a bruise."

Leah raised an eyebrow. "Surely you'd have enough control to stop your weapon from hitting me?"

Kieran's smirk was more than a little obnoxious. "I meant the injuries you'd give yourself from the way you flail around."

Leah huffed and folded her arms. She didn't exactly have an argument for that.

Kieran put his bag down as they reached the training arena. "I put in the expedition report yesterday, and I made sure to include a note to Emrys about your potential value to the cure's research team."

Leah hesitated at that. She'd forgotten. "I... I'm not sure I want to join the research team anymore. I've been thinking about it, and I don't think I gave the expedition team enough of a chance so--well, if you'll still have me..."