Element Restraint

Chapter 37: Acantha

I breathe heavily through my nose as I try to focus. It has been about two months since we came to Lazuli now. I have been fighting to keep my mind busy every second.

I move quickly, taking a step closer to Amora to strike her with my dull sword. She clashes her blade with mine with a loud clank. She whips me around, swiping my back with the tip of the dull blade.

"You need to focus, Acantha." She says.

"I know, I know," I look down at the ground. "It is just hard to focus lately."

A few weeks ago, Amora decided that if I was going to stick around, I needed some combat training. Every day, after I am done with my tasks I have been assigned in the kitchen, we come to the training room.

We have concluded that archery is my strength after the first few days, but something around sword fighting I find harder to get a handle on.

Amora's shoulders drop as she examines my face.

"How about we end for the day?" She reaches to take my sword.

"Okay." I hand it to her.

"You still haven't spoken to your brother, have you?" She says as she walks over to the wall to hang the swords back up.

"Nope," I answer sadly, leaning against the wall. I have been trying to forget my argument with my brother, but it is hard. He still refuses to talk to me and it has been two weeks.

"I am sure all you guys need is some space." She assures me.

"Maybe,"

Rawr and I have fought before, but not like this. We have never gone this long without talking on purpose.

"Good morning ladies!" Gale sings as he comes into the room. Amora smiles from ear to ear when she sees him. "How we feeling today?" He says, his focus completely on Amora.

"From when I saw you an hour ago? Great!" She responds as he pulls her into a hug. "But we have a problem. Acantha is very sad today. I was able to strike her in practice several times."

"Really?" Gale looks at me wide-eyed. "I find that hard to believe."

He leaves Amora's side, lingering his fingers on her wrist for a moment. He crosses the room to where the bows and arrows hang.

"Here," He holds one out to me. I take it and grab an arrow.

After my argument with Rawr and I broke up with Valence, I have hung around Amora. Wherever Amora is, Gale shows up not soon after.

"You probably were just doing the wrong thing with her today, Amora." He shouts over his shoulder before shooting an arrow at the target. It lands perfectly in the middle as always. "She has to want to put her heart into it, and who wants to put their heart into sword fighting?" He says. "Nobody except Erik."

I pull my bow up and aim for the target. When I release it, it hits next to the target.

"Okay, something is actually wrong." Gale gasps. "You never miss that badly." I roll my eyes at him and hang the bow on the wall.

"You are starting to shoot like Raleigh," Gale laughs. Amora immediately slaps him in the arm with the look of death.

"I am sorry Acantha," He says.

"It is fine," I push a strand of hair out of my face. "You were only trying to make me laugh."

He nods awkwardly with a small smile.

"How is he doing?" I ask to break the silence.

"Moody," Gale says. "He snapped at me earlier today over something stupid. I even started avoiding him now."