Discoveries

13

"What the hell?"

Water splashed in my face and kept coming.

"No need to drown me, you know," I spluttered.

"You cannot drown," a voice with a foreign accent said. Probably from the Dry Lands, or maybe even the Sands. Up North. It was thick and spiced.

Two soft hands pulled me out of bed.

"Now I won't be doing this every morning, so pay attention."

The tall woman was slightly coloured, like a really good tan. Two almond eyes with a vanilla flower stared into mine, from below beautifully arched eyebrows, as black as the thick braid that hung to her knees. Small white teeth showed from behind average lips as she spoke.

"These are the clothes you shall wear henceforth." She showed me a suede top, sleeveless and ending above the bellybutton, and matching shorts of the same beige material. I noted that they were soft and really comfortable as I laced a thick cord through the front, although a bit revealing to my taste. Sabrina – who else could it be? – wore the same, but in worn dark brown leather. "Unicorn. When properly used as good as impenetrable.

"Breakfast: fruit. As much as you want, mixed with a good amount of oats. The bowl will be filled by your own pickings. Try not to choose anything poisonous, that would be a drag. Lunch with me, dinner is your choice, keep it healthy and make sure you get all the nutrition you need.

"Now, there's a bowl of water, if you want to wash. Today we start with stamina and strength. After lunch techniques. There will be times when you stand without weapons, and then you should know how to use your body. Done?"

"Yep."

"Try to roll when you land," she said and leapt straight off my balcony.

"Yeah, sure," I muttered. It went surprisingly well.

A good start.

I hoped.

"Hmm, not that bad," was Sabrina's opinion.

We went to a little clearing with passages to several others. This one was empty, but we walked on to a large one with many obstacles; mud, water, jumps, climbing things and much more.

"Follow me." She led me through all of the obstacles. I kept up the best I could, and saw her incredible speed and strength. My arms were tired afterwards and I wanted to sit down for a moment, but she said, "Your turn."

For the next three hours I was made to run and climb around the course, again and again, this way and that. Stumbles and lagging were flicked away with a leather whip, not too painful but still unpleasant.

"Ten minutes break." Sabrina handed me a mixed fruit juice. "But don't sit down, keep walking, that's better for your muscles."

Talking about muscles, mine were sore as can be.

Exhausted.

And there was still two thirds of the day to go. How did I ever keep up in the first place? And how was I supposed to continue?

The juice helped a little. Then I had to lift weights, do push-ups and other exercises for the next hour. After that I was made to run random circles around the field, hopping over the occasional fallen tree and ushered into the bushes now and then.

Finally Sabrina told me that it was time for lunch. How relieved I was.

Lunch was a bowl with mixed grains, beans and greens, and yet more fruit. Mine was gone in five minutes.

"Next time," Sabrina said, "try to eat slower. This'll hurt your stomach. And, the longer you eat, the longer your brake is. You have thirty minutes after you eat. Do whatever you want, except sleeping. Or running away."

I decided to take a quick plunge in my poisonous pool. My sweat was sticky and stuck me to my clothes; ugh. I dove in with them on, only to reappear at the surface. It still felt strange.

A smooth rock lay not so far away, so I decided to lie there, baking in the sun. Strange, the water and sun seemed to refreshen me, feed me almost. As if I was some plant.

The half hour was gone way to quickly. This time we went to the empty field. There Sabrina showed me several ways to hit someone – her in this case, easily dodging them all –, grips to arrest, to break bones, and lots of other stuff. After a bit of practice she challenged me to get her on the ground. I don't know what I was thinking when I thought it'd be easy. Somehow I thought she would make it simple.

Really stupid.

Every attempt I made was skilfully slapped away. Now and then she hit, meaning for me to block. But it only made it clearer that I was clumsy and slow.

The beating went on for about twenty minutes. Sabrina shook my hand and said, "Why don't Silera grow up here? A five year old is better than you."

Yeah.

Right.

"Next subject, perhaps the most important one: dancing."

I raised my eyebrows at her.

She raised hers back.

An awkward silence decided to visit. And stay for a minute. It seemed way longer.

"Eh, well, what about it?" I asked.

"Ah, yes. What do you think?" she replied.

I shrugged. "Do Silera have to learn how to dance for occasions?"

Sabrina banged her head against the tree next to her. "You really are hopeless, aren't you? You're not even kidding." It wasn't a question. "Ok, so, what is the use of being excellent at swordmanship, when the first stone will make you stumble? Nothing, as one seldom stands still in a fight. When your footwork is flawless the chances of winning rise rapidly. Usually it is a single wrong step that proves fatal. So you must know your feet, your balance, and the ground beneath you, or else. And most of all, how to correct yourself when you make a mistake. Automatically, as a second nature. When you can do all that, any location can be used to your advantange, wether it be a forest floor, the edge of a cliff or the swaying branch of a tree. So we dance. There are a few techniques, but in the end it really is up to you and your creativity. We'll practise every day, until you never stumble and fall again. Understood?"

I nodded.

"Let us begin. Take a stick, yes, and try to fend me off."

Dancing was a subject at home too. A different kind, yet in the end it is all the same. The ones back home tended to focus on twisting and stepping without tredding on your parnter's feet, giving me a good base for this. Execpt from the fact that a ballroom's floor is a flat, polished surface, and a field is not. I fell quite often, but started to get the hang of it. When Sabrina noticed that, she ushered me into the forest. Forget the part of getting the hang of things.

After a while she'd had enough, and sent me off. Relief was evident in my body.

I found my friends sitting around a campfire, roasting veggies and other nice-smelling goods. My stomach rumbled as I plonked to the ground.

"How was day one?" Flynn asked.

Whoa.

Since when was he sticking around?

"Can it get any worse?" I sighed.

Hegrinned a wicked grin. "Oh poor, poor you, the fun's only just begun."