Blue

Trials

Tallulah regretted everything. Holy shit.

Oh, my head, last night was not a wise decision. The voice, who she had determined to be Atlas, although she'd have to make sure of it with Mykel or Ander, agreed with her. Could she also feel his aches and pains? It would be fascinating if so, but potentially detrimental.

Her own head ached and body were sluggish. Now she understood Atlas' words from last night, how could their commanding officers allow them to party before the trials today.

The rest of the evening had gone well. She was almost certain her tongue would have gotten away from her had she had anymore to drink, but she was able to keep herself in check.

Thankfully no one recognized Atlas without his formal dress and lack of guard surrounding him. Ander and Mykel joined them once they saw him there. They had a good time getting all caught up. It felt good to be a part of a group, to have friends, now officially labeled. This was a new experience for Tallulah.

It was also worth this awful morning, but she needed to eat something before the trials otherwise she'd do poorly. She realized this could be a lesson, that no matter the state of your being you had to be ready at any moment. Curse that mentality.

She splashed water on her face for some relief before heading to grab some food. A lot of the men looked about the same as her, exhausted, hungover, and overall not ready for the day.

Ander found her first, Mykel following close behind. They too looked worse for wear. She almost laughed.

"We were all idiots last night, you were almost out of the loop of misery, Tallulah, but you caved," she nodded in agreement, consciously looking about to make sure no one heard her name being spoken out loud.

She ate a decent meal to help her body get ready for the day, it also calmed the echoes in her head. She was not without her fatigue though and knew that she wasn't going to be able to perform her best today. There was no feasible way to do so. And she thought most of her new comrades would be in the same predicament.

They made their way to the ropes area. A knot had formed in her stomach. This test would show who had what it takes to become part of the guard and who went to the front lines.

From her understanding, there were three other training camps, but this was the only one that chose new guard members, the other two camps prepared you for war, you had no other choice. She hadn't seen the real Talon yet, so possibly he got sent to another camp.

Good gracious, these men look like they've been put through hell. I knew last night wasn't a good idea.

His voice had returned to her head.

"The prince is here!" Someone shouted. Shit

She should have realized he'd be here to witness the trials. This was going to be an interesting day. Sure enough, he entered the camp, surrounded by guards. He was still as handsome as the day she first saw him. She was absolutely hopeless here.

They all took a knee.

"Please, rise, today is about you and your achievements, your instructors have chosen who will be a part of the trials and from there I will choose who will join my guard," she didn't know that their instructors chose people for the trials. That was new information, but she suspected that if they had known from the get go there would be more competition instead of building comraderie between everyone. Maybe she was wrong in her thinking.

Five archers were chosen, one she remembered from her first day, he had stood behind her while singing in and had made an underhanded remark to her volunteer status. He was of the dragon kin too, she had noticed his muddled brown scales beneath his collar that day too.