Fɪɢʜᴛ Fᴏʀ Aʟʟ || Tʜᴇ Cʜᴏsᴇɴ Eɪɢʜᴛ Bᴏᴏᴋ Oɴᴇ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴇʟᴇᴠᴇɴ || ᴛʀᴀɪɴɪɴɢ

Lucia

The peal of the training bell made me fall out of my chair.

Elle snorted as I clambered rather ungracefully back to my feet.

"Be quiet, you." I snapped back, grateful no one had been around to see that.

The mare merely blinked at me and snagged another mouthful of hay.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" I frowned at her. "We have training to get to."

She blew at me, as if to say, lead the way, then!

I huffed. "Fine. Come on." I spun on my heel, braid flying out dramatically as I did so. We made our way out of the barn, where Olvan and Tyler had offered to let Elle stay while I worked on passive state.

I'd never really been in a barn before that. Well, of course I've been in a barn, but not one like this. This one has a packed dirt path, and rusty iron hinges that squeak on all the doors. But I don't really mind. Elle likes it. And that's saying something.

The horse's hooves sounded behind me as we headed out onto the courtyard's cobblestones. She nosed my shoulder and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see about that ride after training, okay? I don't know what we're doing today."

She snorted again.

I shook my head, but stifled a laugh. "This way, you goof."

We rounded the corner and nearly collided with another Greencloak who was leaving the gymnasium through the outer exit. I narrowly avoided them, mumbling a quick apology before we ducked inside.

The others were standing on the opposite wall. Well, I say standing, but that's a generalization. Zay was leaning against the wall, scowling– I swear she looked even angrier when we made eye contact! Niko was leaning against it too, but he was actually relaxed. Tazi stood next to him, giggling and glancing around expectantly. Navia was kneeling on the ground with her wolverine, whilst Sabien and Sasha both stood off to the side in silence. I was quick to join them.

I crossed the room and stood against the wall with the others, returning the quick grin that Niko flashed my way.

I'd barely been there a minute before the doors opened, revealing Ryan and Tyler. They wore matching cloaks, but where Ryan was smiling, Tyler just surveyed us with an unreadable look.

"Welcome to our first ever group training!" Ryan stopped in the middle of the room.

We'd all snapped to attention when they entered, nervous excitement buzzing through the air.

"Most of you have already been working with some senior Greencloaks, on combat and on your bonds." Tyler took over. Although he didn't speak as loudly as Ryan did, his authoritative tone seemed to ring more deafeningly in the quiet room. "Today's first exercise is merely a test of what you've learned."

That seems unfair. I thought to myself, sure, I wouldn't have that big of an issue since I wasn't the last one who'd arrived, but Zay had been there for almost half a year already. If I was to believe Tazi and Niko's gossip.

Ryan clapped her hands, drawing back our attention. "So! For the exercise." She proceeded to point out the large canvas bags that hung from the ceiling.

My eyes followed her finger as it indicated the wall across the room as well. I couldn't help but smirk, just a little bit. I was good at running exercises. I always used to win races back home.

"We'll go in two groups." Tyler called as they stepped back, out of the way of the runners. "Navia, Sasha, Tazi, Niko! You're up."