1 - Daughter Of The Storm

Azena - A True Friend

27th day of the season of the river - Year 2447

A season passed under Azena's nose without her realizing it. Her training stimulated her despite the great fatigue that weakened her body. She and Tyrath gave their maximum to each new challenge that the twins gave them and they returned to bed tense and stressed. Usually, Tyrath carried Azena to her window, but not tonight. She entered through the door and directly crashed into her bed that creaked under the impact. She grunted as her aching muscles made her suffer momentarily. She didn't even notice that her roommate was studying quietly on her bed.

- Are you okay? Fayne asked anxiously.

The brunette observed her friend attentively and frowned. Azena's body was shouting for help; it trembled under the pressure of fatigue.

- Yes, I'm all right, she lied.

She dared to take a quick look in Fayne's direction. The herbalist still had her eyes fixed on her. The harsh truth she could not hide from her good friend weighed on Azena's conscience. The latter buried her face in her pillow, ignoring the fact that Fayne could probably read through her facade.

- What happened? Fayne asked.

Azena raised her head and tried to smile idiotically to sway away the real issue. Fayne was not convinced.

- That silly smile won't convince me that everything is fine, she said while returning her attention to her book. They were too hard on you again.

- I tried, Azena grumbled.

She turned her head against her pillow so that she could see Fayne without getting tired.

- So, what's going on? Fayne insisted, reading a passage from her anatomy course notes.

- Can you at least look at me when I talk to you? Azena asked angrily.

Fayne closed her book and gave her full attention to her friend.

- Excuse me. Exams, you know... Anyway, talk away.

- Erhh. It's nothing. They just pushed me farther than usual.

- It's more than that. I know it because I know you like the back of my hand. It's not normally for an intensive training that you become like that. It's even the opposite.

- Like what?

- Oh, please. Your current attitude is strange for you. Negative, weary, irritable...

Azena rolled her eyes impatiently.

- ...and lack of self-confidence, Fayne finished.

Azena stiffened and stared at Fayne with astonishment.

- How? I'm not... I trust in myself!

- Perhaps, but not right now, said Fayne. Something is pushing you to the opposite.

She began to search her brown leather backpack.

- What are you looking for? Asked Azena, raising a suspicious eyebrow.

- Something I brought back from home, Fayne explained.

She got up abruptly. In her hands laid a transparent flask filled with a blue liquid. Azena examined it with curiosity. She jumped as Fayne walked over to her.

- No way! She exclaimed.

She began to get up from the bed, but she was crushed under the weight of a sharp pain that trickled through her back that paralyzed momentarily. Grimacing, she fell and groaned.

- Stop worrying, said Fayne. It's an elixir of restoration. It will make you sleep like a baby and the next day, you'll feel like you have a new body.