Aeonia

Chapter Five

"Wakey wakey, sunshine," A voice whispered in Aelia's ear.

Bolting upright and shivering from the feeling of someone breathing in her ear just as Tynon had done earlier, Aelia turned around, and shot a sharp glare towards Jaspa. She couldn't hold it long, for the look on his face was priceless.

"How are you doing?" He asked, concern spread across his face.

Aelia reassured him that she was alright, unwilling to delve back into the memories of earlier in the day.

"Leilani's coming. We'd better get a move on to be on time for dinner, or she'll have our heads."

Rolling her eyes, she accepted Jaspa's offered hand, pulling herself to her feet, swaying slightly.

"When will you learn to not interrupt my patients?" Finian asked, shaking his head with false anger, as he entered the room through an office door.

With a cheeky smirk, Jaspa shrugged and waved goodbye, wiggling his fingers at the only semi-frustrated doctor. Aelia protected her bad wrist, which was beginning to throb lightly again, by wrapping it in front of her stomach. She was starting to regret not asking for more pain-relief medicine, and about to ask to head back to the Clinic when Leilani skipped up to the pair, grinning widely.

"You're back! I was so worried when Nerissa told us that you were injured!" She gushed, wrapping her arms around Aelia and hugging her tightly.

Smiling into her friend's embrace, she gently pulled back to say, "You can't get rid of me too quickly."

Leilani shook her head and led her towards a table at the back of the Dining Hall. It was by a window, overlooking the vast grounds that led into the forest.

"Nerissa told you, you say?" Aelia wondered, raising her eyebrow with disbelief.

"Look, I know she's not too warm with you at the moment, but I've seen that she's been through a lot. It's not my place to tell, but I think you two will be friends with a little effort on either end," Leilani answered considerately.

With the way Nerissa was acting towards Aelia, she believed they would never be friends, let alone actually talk. All week she had been ignoring Aelia, making Malcom have to carry any conversations that were held in the dorm room. Whenever Aelia and Nerissa were alone together, the latter would give her the cold shoulder and exit the premises immediately. The thought of it made Aelia feel lonely, but she hoped that even just a small part of Nerissa would realise that she wasn't bad.

Lumbering up to the ordering counter, Aelia examined the ambience of the Dining Hall. As she reached the line, she turned to prepare to order for herself and friends. However, she met the ice-blue eyes reflecting her own. Sighing out of frustration, she looked back over her shoulder for a way to escape, but the line had already built up behind her, trapping Aelia in.

"Anyone would think you weren't glad to see me," Asher smirked, winking at Aelia.

Her heart jumped.

"Anyone with decency isn't glad to see you," She replied, rolling her eyes.

Unable to hold the act any longer, Aelia burst out laughing, clutching her stomach. Her hair fell out of the messy bun she had put it in moments earlier as she wiped her eyes. Asher had a smile on his face, and he bit his soft pink lip gently, as though he was thinking.

"We both know you like me a bit, you'd have to, at least after I let you beat my ass in combat on Friday," He pointed out, raising his left eyebrow.

"Fair point, although after all my effort I believe I deserved that win," Aelia agreed, her ears gaining colour as she remembered how after a surprising burst of energy, Aelia had managed to tackle Asher to the ground, leaving her straddling him in the middle of the field.

Asher turned away from Aelia as he neared the counter to place his order. Aelia followed suit and took the food tray back to her friends. Placing the silver tray on the plastic table, she handed a plate piled with roasted vegetables and meats to Jaspa, astounded at how one boy could eat so much. Shaking her head disbelievingly, Aelia dug into her warm pasta, enjoying the blissful taste and heat in her stomach after such a long and emotionally exhausting day.

After replenishing her hunger and laughing with her friends, Aelia left the dining hall to get ready for sleep. As she passed the fields, she had an urge to practise her combat skills. Something willing her to hone her strengths, so on Monday she could prove herself. So instead of heading straight to her dorm and seeing the always-grumpy Nerissa, she diverted her course and followed the path leading to the hidden area she had fought with Asher in on Monday.

Aelia adjusted the bushes, stretching out the branches to cover the entryway enough so any prying eyes would only see plants in the evening light. Pulling off her shirt so she was only in a grey sports bra and her stretchy black shorts, she redid her hair in a high ponytail. Once she had stretched her legs, Aelia stretched her arms and neck, loosening her muscles.

She decided to work on her muscle strength. Aelia did endless repetitions of exercises she had seen her Combat and PE classmates do, including weightlifting. Using some creativity, she found a heavy log, one which had clearly not been attached to a tree for years - it was easy to tell, really, the wood rotting and the infestation of bugs on the inside that Aelia had to shake out. Eventually she worked her way up to lifting it above her head. Too soon, the sun set, putting a pause to her training. Aelia sat down, stretching her aching legs out, and spread her arms wide. She exhaled lightly, a sense of calm washing over her.

She was going to train. She was going to prove herself.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Aelia trained for three weeks, when a new opportunity came around.

"Annual Combat Competition? In two weeks time?" Aelia read aloud from the poster Callan was dangling tauntingly in front of her face.

"Yes," He responded; face serious. "We do it every year, see it's annual," He repeated slowly, pausing between each word, acting as if Aelia were a child.

"Can I compete?"

"Maybe, maybe not."

"Well, why not?" She whined, throwing her head back in annoyance.

Her hair shook out behind her, a shimmering bundle of light, glowing with her frustration.

"Because even though you've got muscle, I have only seen you fight against one opponent. Myself. You've been training, I've seen it myself, and somehow in such a peculiar way, you've got buff now. Even after only three weeks. But you still need more time. We need to keep your skill a secret until the day of." Callan explained.

"So, I am fighting," Aelia concluded, biting back a laugh and smiling playfully.

After three weeks of putting all her effort into training, Aelia was seeing great results. Her upper body strength had improved so much that she could walk on her hands around the entire field. One lesson she'd shocked her classmates, even Callan, with that as she demonstrated. After deciding Aelia's newfound strength and skill was worth his time and effort, Callan gave her the advice to train against him. So, for three weeks, not only had Aelia been training in the evenings by herself, she was also accompanied by Callan at dawn. Every morning.

Her training sessions with Callan consisted of countless laps of the field and weightlifting, along with stretches to assist with her flexibility. After those, Callan would teach Aelia fighting techniques. These included sets of tricks to confuse her opponent. Along with that, yesterday morning, she had even been given a sword to fight with.

An actual sword.

Aelia had been so nervous she might accidentally impale herself when Callan instructed her to do a somersault to dodge his attack, that she didn't move. She had frozen in place, until her survival instinct kicked in, saving her just in time to not be struck by Callan's sword.

After that, however, she had readjusted her hands and changed into a more natural fighting stance, embracing the feeling of the sword in her hand, a newfound glory in it. The first time she had been nervous to use it, but afterwards Aelia quickly found herself at ease wielding the weapon.

Dragging herself out of her memories, Aelia reminded herself; she had two weeks until the competition. Two weeks to harness her combat skills and compete. And in that moment, Aelia knew she wasn't going down without a fight.