Princess and The Little Ones

Yes, I am the new girl

Part 5

 Yes, I am the new girl

I sneak out into the garden around four thirty in the morning. I thank my lucky star for my own entrance, it makes my morning training a bit easier since I don’t want anyone to know what I’m up to. Everyone in the house is still asleep and unaware of my escape. I am wearing my grey uniform from home, the one that looks more like a jogging suit. It is also the only piece of clothes I bothered to bring with me.

The bed was nice to sleep in, but I didn’t sleep well at all. I was just waiting to get up and out of there. I miss mother’s strict instructions in the morning where she tells me to get up and exercise. She must miss me too. I wonder if she is standing by my bedroom door, if she misses our morning ritual.

I jog out into the foggy forest nearby and I enjoy the silence before everyone wakes up. I can hear the sound of singing birds and the wind seeping through the forest. A mouse runs past me in the grass and the tension in my body disappears. The ground is a little bit wet from the soft rain that fell in the early night.

I find a small field next to a pond and decide that this is far enough from the town to do my training. I sigh when the familiar feeling of calmness takes over me. I don’t have to pretend to be a giggly girl out here. The Ninjan ways of training are very special; an outsider wouldn’t understand a thing.

We start with meditation; I prefer to stand up during this. We start moving very carefully to not lose the balance once we find our inner selves. It’s a practice of strength for both body and mind and it helps us to focus better throughout the whole day. I can feel every piece grass and every flower, the water in the pond, the leaves in the trees and the small bodies of hard working ants. I love the spirit of nature. Every wolf can do this, but only Ninjan wolves can master it fully. It comes to us naturally once we learn it, just like breathing.

This skill is a very powerful weapon. We can sense weaknesses in our opponents with it and we can even slow down the actual time so it seems like everything is moving in slow motion around us. It’s the awareness that makes us the most feared pack in the whole world. I never fought an unaware wolf before, but I think it would feel like hitting a child. I hope I won’t get into that situation while I’m here. I don’t like to be violent outside of practice.

I finish my training within an hour and end it with a forty minute long run. I fly through the woods but slow down my pace when I reach the town. I glance at the different house styles and gardens, a few cars drives past me on their way to their early work and I decide that I like living in a town after being stuck in the village my whole life. There is so much new to take in and it is exciting. Just the smells are overwhelming.

I return to the house, tired and sweaty and I sneak into my room without getting caught. I throw my clothes on the bathroom floor and head for a cold shower. I wash my long hair, a few leaves that got caught in it during my run falls to the floor. The smell of forest is slowly disappearing from my body and I wrap a towel around me and pick up my sweaty clothes from the floor. I wash them in the sink and hang them to dry on the towel holder.

The hard part is to choose what clothes to wear. I settle for a bright yellow dress with green buttons on it. I braid my wet hair carefully from the right to the left side so it hangs over my shoulder and tie a white ribbon around the end. I finish my attire with white flat shoes and a little bit of makeup. I barely recognize myself in the mirror; I look like a girl headed to school. Not a warrior headed for training. At least I’m not ugly.

I realize that it is time for breakfast and I head over to the kitchen where everyone is already settled. The sight of their family pains a little bit. Everyone is sitting by the table eating, except Gretel who is standing by the stove. I think of my dad who must be feeding The Little Ones right now, without me. The table was always a messy war zone and I glance at the table in front of me where they all eat with manners. It’s clean and tidy just like the whole house.