A game of power (book 1 of the Game series)

5. Farryn

A.N - i may or may not have lost the website that i was using for banners so, uh yeah- sorry guys!

Her back ached and her hands were raw, but Farryn didn't care, as she walked from the courtyard of the arena with a grin upon her face and sweat upon her brow. She'd done it, she'd convinced someone to teach her to fight and now she was ready to be a guard. She walked out of the place, her sword strapped to her side. It was a miracle that they had allowed a girl to learn how to fight, but, of course, they didn't know she was a girl, after all, she was in the form of her 'brother', Farrik- unoriginal, she knew, but what was a girl supposed to do?

She always had wanted to try and join the royal guard at somepoint in her life, prove that women weren't as weak as her kingdom appeared to think, but first, she needed to learn to fight, so she had used her once-hated abilities to get her way.

She always used to hate her shapeshifting abilities, thought of them as a curse which caused her to uncontrollably change forms, sometimes even accidentally mixing animals, but overtime, she had learnt to control it- something that she was thankful for.

She made her way through the streets of Terran, careful to avoid the too-dark alleys and too-quiet shops, physical proof of the place not being as perfectly innocent as people outside of it appeared to think it was, more of a shithole than a city, but the royals did not seem to care. Well, they did care, just not about the right things- they were more concerned about whether they smelt nice enough to create trade deals, or how they could breed the strongest animals than they were about the crime-riddled streets of the place they swore to protect.

If it were up to her, she would have taken her parents and fled from the cities and towns of the decaying kingdom long ago. Unfortunately, stubborn minds ran in the family, as her mother and papa simply refused to leave, claiming that if their ancestors lived there, then so would they.

She adored her parents- but gods were they infuriating- and for all their faults, she couldn't find it in her to leave them behind them in the forsaken farmlands, instead choosing to remain and protect them as well as she could, encouraging their plants to grow a little taller, or their animals to grow a little fatter to ensure as much profit as possible. She didn't know why she did it- risking her life like that- but she continued to do it with very little regard for those who may see her using her other 'abilities'.

No-one knew where these abilities came from, including the crone in the hut, but they all knew not to speak of them to anyone outside of the tight-knit group, for fear of her being stolen away during the night to be used- although Farryn thought that they were only trying to protect their crops, due to her ensuring they all survived.

Speaking of crops, Farryn started to approach her parents' field and noticed that she was still in her male form, and so slipped behind a tree and began to change back, remembering her high cheekbones and dolce coloured skin alongside her dark, black hair that fell down her back in soft waves. A few short moments of pain later, she was a woman again and so slipped back onto the dirt road, only managing to make it to the outskirts of her parent's fields before she was knocked to the ground by a certain ginger ball of energy.

"Farryn! I've been looking all over for you! Where were you?" The small person spoke, slightly muffled by farryn's shoulder as the taller of the two lifted the pair off of the dirt track, smiling as she did so.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out, isn't it?" Farryn spoke softly to the slightly younger teen, tapping the edge of her nose with a sly smile and amber eyes trained on her best friend. Rayelle looked up with a slight pout on her face- gods did Farryn love that pout.

It was no new thing that Farryn adored her best friend in a little more intimate way than most and it shattered her heart to not be able to express these feelings to the girl, due to them living in a very traditionally narrow-minded society. Maybe one day, she would be able to leave with the girl who she loved, but until then, she would have to be satisfied with being nothing more than good friends with the girl that she was painfully in love with.

Shaking herself clear of those thoughts, she looked into the bright blue eyes of Rayelle and pushed her away gently, heading towards a horrible excuse of a house that sat not far away, held together by only a few plants.

She pushed open the door at the front, careful to not knock it off the hinges and gestured for Rayelle to follow her as she greeted her mother with a kiss on the cheek and her papa with a smile and a hug, before asking the three others to sit down.

Once all four were sat at the slightly decayed table, Farryn spoke,

"Mother, papa, Ray, I have something to admit to you"

Her papa's aged forehead wrinkled as he arched a single, silver brow, gesturing for her to continue with her speech.

"I, well" she sighed, " I have been training with a sword and tomorrow, I am going to become a guard"

Her lungs burnt with lack of oxygen after rushing her confession. She looked back up to her parents, her eyes wide with anticipation. Her mother looked mildly scared and her papa looked proud- she was too scared to see what Rayelle thought of it, she thought she might cry if the freckly girl were to be displeased.

It turned out, however, that Rayelle was the first to speak, shocking Farryn's parents out of their silent stupor.

" Okay, then, is that it?"

Farryn turned her head sharply towards her best friend, assesing her reaction and copying her papa's previous arch of the eyebrow, tilting her head, while her lips quirked upwards.

Rayelle cleared her throat as the whole family turned to her and spoke again, the lilting Terra accent gliding around the room as she did so,

" Well, I was expecting something more drastic, and to be honest with you, im happy for you"

She slid her hand on top of Farryn's, sending tingles of happiness up her arm.

" I know it has always been your dream and I am happy for you to see that it is coming true."

Farryn beamed and turned toward her parents, waiting for them to speak also,

" well, i suppose if you think you are ready, who am i to stop you?"

Her papa's gravely voice bounded back off of the walls of the empty house and Farryn found herself grinning widely, unable to believe her most dearest loved ones' unfazed reactions- perhaps she had been a little too dramatic about it.

Later that night, as she fell asleep, all Farryn could think of was the day to come, the day that hopefully, she could break a large social barrier. Either that or she'd be killed for the mere suggestion of her idea. Her eyes drifted shut and as the darkness embraced her, she dreamt of glory and battle.