A Court of Trust and Enemies

Chapter 5

Luna dragged herself up from the ground, for days she had trained, or well, got beaten by Gina. She had barely been able to sleep, in part due to her own guilt, in part due to the pain in her body, and part to her mind refusing to rest.

"Get up." Gina said and took her hand. "I was under the belief that you were trained."

"Shut up." Luna got up.

"Again." Gina got in position and Luna did the same, lifting the blade to get ready to hit. It was not her blade, not the elegant curved blade she had gotten from Nesta, but a borrowed Illyrian blade from Gina.

"Is this how you worked in the camps?"Luna twisted her neck until it made an uncomfortable popping sound.

"Yes." Gina moved and Luna answered. The two of them continued to spare, but in the end Luna once more was lying on the ground, fighting to catch her breath.

"Give me a moment..."

"The session is over, get some rest." Gina helped her up again. "When did you last sleep?"

"Last night."

"Bullshit." Gina held on to Luna's arm. "Take the rest of the day and tomorrow of."

"No."

"Yes." Gina raised her voice. "Rest Luna."

"I will try..." She left the ring, limping far more than she liked as she did. She entered her tent and fell down onto her bed. Her wings hung out over her bed. She had not removed them since she returned, all to build back her strength, to not hide anymore. But it was starting to hurt a lot more than she planned on. A hiss of pain left her lips as she turned to get into a better position, damn it hurts. She stayed still hoping it would pass over soon. She couldn't sleep, not with this pain. But she could close her eyes and bed for it to stop. Just for a moment.

"You know that I can hear your pained breathing all over the camp." Evalyn said from the tent opening.

"Sorry..." Luna tried to sit up, but Evalyn stopped her.

"Stay down." Evalyn walked up and placed her hand between Luna's wings and she hissed again. "I will be carefull."

"Thanks..." Evalyn started to examine Lunas back, both stayed silent as she did. Her hands made sure to lessen the tension in her muscles, making the pain slowly fade from her body.

"Why do you push yourself like this?" Evalyn asked and removed her hands.

"I need to get back..."

"You need to?" Evalyn helped her up to sitting. "Why?"

"I just... Need to..." Luna massaged her shoulder. "I can't just go here and then not try..."

"Right now all I see is someone who is punishing themself."

"I am fine." Luna tried to smile, tried to get her friend to drop it, and while Evalyn didn't press on. She still looked concerned.

"Just don't hurt yourself."

"I would never."

"I beg to differ." Evalyn had a small smile. "Remember when you almost ripped your arm of in training?"

"That was Gwyn's fault!" Luna said back in her defens. "And you were there to help me get it back in position."

"You had three torn ligaments and a broken bone!" Evalyn started to laugh. "I miss those days. When we could sit around carefree and laugh at things like that..."

"We can still do it." Luna took her friend's hand.

"Cassian's leg is in bad shape... If..." Evalyn drew a shaking breath. "If I had my magic back, if it was as strong as it usually is. I could fix it, but no... And with the time that has been since it happened, I can't heal it. Madja can't, mom can't. Not even dad. We have all tried..."