Traveler's Blessing

Chapter 3: A New Dawn

The ceiling has an uneven texture. If Costia concentrates, she can trace a pattern that starts to emerge above her. She couldn't sleep. Laying in the darkness, waiting for the promise of dawn.

I will be with her soon.

Numbing sensation hums and courses through her body. Indra has stepped up her training from painful to excruciating; she can barely feel any of her extremities.

What should I say to her when I see her. Maybe, hi, I am your soulmate, then step in and kiss her. She can't possibly resist me.

Stupid hormones.

In truth, Costia doesn't really know what she wants. As she grows older, she had contemplated the idea of saving Lexa from falling in love with her and losing her again. However, Indra says Costia cannot stay away because Indra now believes she plays a crucial role in bringing the Coalition together. Somehow even with the wisdom of a traveling soul, her physical teenage brain cannot think logically.

Han is coming with her tomorrow to the capital. Being Anya's Second means a guaranteed spot as a guard-in-training for the new Heda. But the boy deserves the placement; he has earned it. He has excel in everything Anya has taught him, especially in archery. What's her excuse. People are looking at her like Indra is playing favorites, which explains the hell-like training regime that Costia is subjected to. This would not have been a problem if Indra had just let her be a Fisa like the original timeline. But Indra refuses, convinced that Costia's violent death has something to do with her becoming a court's Fisa. At least, they have agreed that they will not change anything else in the original timeline. Not until the Ark crashes down and unites them with their soul-traveling friends.

Also, being a guard-in-training means she gets to see Lexa a year and a few months earlier. In the original timeline, Costia became the court's youngest healer at the age of 14. After the conclave, Lexa still needs to train with people her age. So the guards-in-training are called to travel to Polis as Indra predicted. But Costia is not confident she will be a good sparring partner. Perhaps Han can fill the role. The boy has been throwing googly eyes at Costia for as long as she can remember. He always goes easy on her during their practice and would help Costia pranked the other goufas if they messed with her. While Costia has an old soul, she feels immature. Perhaps it is because she is stuck in a younger body, or maybe she is recapturing her innocence during this short period of peace.

Costia admits Han can be charming, cute even, with his boyish grin. She would have liked him and possibly even loved him without the foresight of what's to come. Costia had asked Indra about Han, but her faux Seda doesn't remember much about him. Then there is Lincoln. Costia remembers wrapping her arms around him, silently crying when she first met him. The connection was instant; they were old friends after all. But since then, Han had disliked Lincoln. That boy can be so jealous and overprotective.

Sighing, Costia sits up. There really is no reason to try to sleep. Dawn is near. She can smell it. The earth always smells grassy after a night soaked in dew. She gets up and rummages through her things. She can pack more medicine into her bag, even though she has already packed a stupendous amount of ointment for her accident-prone self. Costia opens her dresser drawer and picks up a few more powders encased in small envelopes and a few vials of poison along with antidotes. She carefully wraps them in a piece of cloth and slides the content into her small leather carrier bag that she carries around at all times. She can probably lace one of her blades with poison if necessary. She will be guarding Lexa, and she wants to be effective, even though it is technically just training. What she lacks in muscles, she can at least make it up with her knowledge of potions.