Never ownED myself

Going forward

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Keep your ears open,
Your eyes open,
Gran everything you can,
React, and learn.
BrainyQuote
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»•» 🌸 «•« Annie »•» 🌸 «•«

Days bled into weeks. Christmas drew near, though it meant little in this corner of the world. Annie was far from ready to pass the combat test, her progress stalled despite her persistence.

The season only sharpened her loneliness : she was away from home, away from her siblings, and each reminder of what she'd lost deepened the ache she hid behind her smile.
She had grown skilled at pretending. The others saw determination; only she felt the quiet desperation beneath it.

Even Leah, who once read her like an open book, had become distant. Leah's absence in training was more than a setback. It was an emotional wound Annie couldn't afford to acknowledge, because she had played a role in it.

Exhaustion clawed at her bones. The ground beneath her felt like a cruel mockery, solid where she was faltering. She slapped her cheeks in frustration.

"I should have seen this coming," she muttered, collapsing once more.

She knew every step of the sequence: the rhythm of attack and defense, the graceful precision that combat demanded and yet ut wasn't enough. Knowledge alone wasn't enough. Her limbs lagged behind, her muscles dull and slow. The elf instructor had seen it all before; she felt his silent judgment, his patience sharpened by centuries of discipline.

She rose again, her thoughts were with Leah. Of times when things were easier. Bach then, they trained together. The thought brought a sting of tears, she quickly bit back, tasting iron on her tongue. "Happy thoughts," she whispered. "I can do this. It can't get any worse."

Her opponent waited in stillness, unreadable. Annie circled him warily, scanning for an opening. He lunged, she stepped aside by instinct with magic flaring briefly in her legs, she was quick enough. Her breath hitched, her control slipping already, but she steadied it. The crowd watching expected failure; she felt it in their silence.

Then came the gust with his counterstrike. It was faster than she could track. Her defenses faltered, his fist slammed into her stomach, and pain radiated outward like fire.

"Protection," he said evenly, lowering his weapon. "Never leave an opening. One hand up, the other down. That was your mistake."

He offered no scorn, no comfort. Elves rarely did. But unlike her human peers, he extended his hand to help her up. It was a gesture of respect.

The others never treated her that way. They saw her as the fragile one, the outsider. But the elf, he fought her as an equal. And that equality was its own kind of kindness.

When he dismissed her to rest, Annie stumbled toward the bank. Lina's protein bars waited there, along with a flask of potion-laced water that burned its way down her throat. She thought briefly of Tom, who was still out there covering their trail. The tracers had come too close last time; their scent, their magic, their mistakes. They had been too careless. The camp's evacuation plans were ready, but Annie couldn't leave until she passed this test.
The elf watched her quietly. He did not tire, did not sweat.

"Darn elf! I will get him one day!" She mouthed. If only. Just once. Just to prove that I can.

Fueled by potions and pride, she took her stance again. The next exchange was fierce. She managed a strike, it came true. her wooden weapon grazed his shoulder before he pivoted, slipping past the blow with inhuman grace.

Missed again, she smirked.

They moved like echoes of the same motion. His sword flashed toward her ribs. She deflected, but her body betrayed her. She was too slow, too heavy. Pain flared as the strike landed. She gasped, forcing a smile that fooled no one.