Expedition of a Lifetime [Levi x OC] [Heavily, Slowly Editing]

4. Perfection

"It is vital that you evenly distribute your weight all around your body. You almost have it, Bláithín," Erwin told her. "It doesn't help that you probably never had to do much physical exercise before given the place you come from."

It was sundown. Shades of yellow and orange bled into the once blue sky, cirrus clouds providing a bit of shelter from the rock-splitting heat. Sweat beaded the twelve year old Bláithín's brows as she struggled to keep her balance with the 3DMG.

She wasn't the only one to struggle with it though, Erwin found it hard but eventually got it, and hence why he was out here trying to help her. He at least knew first hand and got over any issues with balance.

Bláithín shifted her weight from side to side as she tried to find the optimum position. She tensed whatever muscles she had in her abdomen to still herself steady and pulled her legs in from when they had been previously separated as though she was doing a star-jump mid-air. And by the grace of the three goddesses themselves, the wiggling stopped and the belt stopped moving around in circles.

"Ugh, finally," she sighed with relief.

Erwin removed her from suspended gears and they walked back to the dorm they had been staying in until now.

"Uh... thanks for the help back there, I must admit I'm a bit embarrassed I couldn't grasp this concept sooner. I'd be useless out in the open." She said, softly. She averted from her gaze from the log-cabins where the dorms were and looked up into the sky.

She saw a bird flying by itself.

"A wren," she noted. "You can tell by its cry."

The clouds had cleared now and she saw the beautiful sunset, blotches of reds and purples, mixed with blues and oranges. Her eyes lit up at the sight of this masterpiece that nature had created before them. The bird chirped happily once it found its nest in a tree nearby, its beak carrying a few worms for its babies.

"That'd be nice, being that free..."

Erwin looked up with her and sighed.

"You get so distracted by everything around you... I believe it is important to separate yourself from what isn't important and what truly is."

Erwin was a smart guy, maybe six years older than her. He motivated everyone around him and many looked up to him regardless of their age. Bláithín really saw the potential in him to be a commander of one of the regiments. He had not only the mentality but also the skill to be within the top ten. Only the top ten could go on and be a part of the Military Police and join the other soldiers living in Mitras, Wall Sine, humanity's last line of defence.

"It is important to push your own wants and needs aside before you try help those around you in a military-based environment. It's the only way you can push forward." He spoke, coldly.

He was right and he wasn't just talking about some random bird that she noticed in the sky. In actuality, he was referring to the fact at how consumed she was by her parents' death. That was only natural of course. To her, grief was a part of life she had not come to experience just yet and signing up to the Corps meant Death himself would be a life-long companion of hers. One that would hold her hands and pulling her into his clutches, or her loved ones.

Normally, soldiers would channel their grief and turn it into something else, something fierce and use it to avenge their fallen family members or comrades. Bláithín was struggling with this, though. Life just so happened to play out this way and it was changing too fast for her to cope. She never anticipated joining the Training Corps, not at all...

It just so happened that she ended up here one morning.

She remembered that her back was very sore from the cart she and a few others were taken in.