KYMALIN IARO cannot give up. With her brother running out of time and their mother powerless, Kymalin embarks on a journey to find a cure. So when a powerful organization becomes her only hope, she has to prove she belongs to it, even if it means ge...
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2407 Diori 11, Kindreth
Kymalin sat on her haunches on a low, three-legged stool in the armory tent. All around her sat different sizes of blades serving as a reminder of what happened yesterday. Dread twisted her intestines in ribbons. What she had done in that mission was unsatisfactory. She should have listened to Raena more and trained harder. She almost died and it would be perfect reasoning if her comrades left her there.
She was glad to be alive but it drove a painful sting into her gut to think that she just endangered her comrades by giving them another tough choice to make in the battlefield.
A wince twisted her features when her fingers failed to tie the bandage around her arm for the tenth time. It had been at least an hour since she started her attempt and she was getting nowhere. For Pidmena's sake, she needed to be ready before Raena catches her here and accuses her of lazing away.
She tried to tighten the bandage again, looping the ends to form a knot. Her fingers fumbled with the cloth until the end of the bandage slipped free and fell in a limp dangle from her arm. A groan rumbled deep in her throat, rising into a frustrated squeal as she shook her arm to get it to cooperate. As if that would solve anything.
"There you are," Raena's voice bled from the tent's entrance. Kymalin's head swiveled up just as the Magistrate walked towards her and stopped in front of her. Raena had never looked so tall, looming over Kymalin with her hands on her hips. "I've been looking all over for you."
Kymalin averted her gaze, back to the mud caking the tips of her boots. Raena's words were lost to her. Looking all over for her...
In an alternate reality, it would have been music in Kymalin's ears. Now...now, it sounded like wood being subjected to the grating machines.
"Aren't we training today?" Kymalin said, letting the sucky feeling in her gut flare further.
Raena didn't move. Kymalin didn't see it but the Magistrate probably had her eyebrows raised. Then, Raena's face whizzed past Kymalin's periphery when she dropped to the ground next to Kymalin's stool. "You shouldn't be up and about," Raena said with a flat voice. "You're in a pretty bad shape yesterday."
Heat rose to Kymalin's cheeks at the reminder. Before she could say anything, however, Raena's hands clasped around her wounded arm. She felt her muscles being pulled closer to the Magistrate's personal space. The points where their skin made contact burned. Was it the wound's fault?
"Rudik's jaw, what's with this bandage?" Raena clicked her tongue and flashed Kymalin a stern look. "Did you do this?"
Kymalin rolled her eyes. "Obviously."
Raena raised Kymalin's arm and made it shake. "Look at it. It's loose," she yanked at Kymalin's arm again as her fingers unfurled the strip of cloth away from the gaping wound coloring her pale skin pink and red. "You won't stop the blood flow like that. It has to be..." she paused, winding the bandage around the wound in a speed Kymalin wouldn't match. "...tight."
