Veritas

Chapter 2

Twelve Years Later

"Nice, AJ, nice!" The extremely tall, muscular Jacob Jones said with a proud grin as he narrowly dodged his daughter's lunge.

The sun had yet to rise, so the two sparred in the brisk air of the morning, their feet disrupting the frosty covering left on the blades of grass in the forest. They didn't bother going to the training grounds, and instead usually opted to begin their morning practice in the woods near their home -- the training grounds were for later in the day.

The young Aislinn Jones let out a yell of determination as she once more lunged at her father. She was going to be thirteen the next day; but, she certainly didn't look it. Not only because she was tall for her age, but the tween was covered in lean muscle from years of practicing with her parents, JJ and Daisy Jones, from morning until night.

JJ and Daisy were a happily mated couple, and also the top male and female warriors of the Tranquil Waters pack. It made sense that their daughter would be an adept warrior as well; however, there was another reason for the girl's strict schedule. For as long as Aislinn could remember, she'd been plagued by strange dreams and nightmares. Sometimes they were pleasant, but there were also many that were not. The dreams were often of people she had never seen before, and usually quite boring; but, because they left her tired and cranky, her parents felt the need to address the issue.

After many check-ups, tests, and even psychological evaluations by the pack medical centre, there was no conclusive explanation for Aislinn's dreams. The doctors chalked it up to too much sugar before bed, or a too-active imagination. Unfortunately, without a diagnosis, there was no treatment...And after cutting sugars, even natural ones, from Aislinn's diet, and any source of caffeine, her parents were at a loss.

It was at the age of 5 that JJ had had enough, and decided to try exhausting his daughter until she all but passed out. He ran that poor child through the ringer, although he made it a game for her so she didn't quite realize what was happening at the time. By the end of the day, Aislinn collapsed into her father's arms, no longer able to keep her eyes open from the exhaustion of the day of fun the two had had together. And that night, for the first time that any of them could recall, Aislinn slept through the night.

It was because of this stroke of genius that JJ moved from games that trained his daughter to be more fit, to actively training her to defend herself. At the age of nine, she could successfully defend herself from some of the junior members of the pack's guard. After seeing this, the proud JJ moved to teaching her offensive moves.

Now, nearly four years later, he and his wife took turns sparring with their daughter between their pack responsibilities. Aislinn now understood the reason for her exercises, and actively took part in the schedules her parents laid out for her. As difficult as the training could be, and as exhausted as it made her, she always felt rejuvenated the next morning; which, was not something she could say before.

The most unfortunate downside to this arrangement was that it stopped Aislinn from being able to attend school with the rest of the pack members her age. This kept her mostly isolated from those she would befriend; but, she really didn't know any different, so she didn't mind.

Whenever she wasn't physically training with her parents, she was at home training her mind with books and self-paced studies. At first she needed a tutor; but, given a bit of time her thirst for knowledge was enough for her parents to leave her to her own studies.

And so, the tween pushed through her mental and physical exhaustion each day, going as far as her body could handle with her training before she all but collapsed. Each night, one of her parents would carry her unconscious body home, and tuck her into bed for a sound sleep. Like clockwork, at 6:00am every morning, she would be up and ready for another round.