--->Essence of Lydia<---

Essence of Lydia---> Chapter 23: Embryae's POV

I groaned in frustration as I fell into the water once more. Kam was becoming more irritated by the minute, and it didn’t really help that Atticus was still doing flawlessly. I huffed, once more hauling myself out of the water and onto the log. I calmed down my senses, trying to reach out towards the meditation world. Finally, after about 5 tries, I was able to enter into it and peace began to fill me in an instant. I breathed out a sigh of relief and then I heard Kam calling my name.

I returned my gaze to her, still allowing the calmness of meditation to rule over my body. She motioned what was about to happen once more and I closed my eyes in concentration, before opening them again and allowing my body to move of its own accord. It began to dodge the knives just as flawlessly as Atticus had. I smiled proudly at this, even though I noticed Atticus had already moved off the log and was now speaking with Dev in a hushed tone. I tuned him out, dodging yet another knife.

When the knives finally stopped coming, I was breathing heavily from the exercise it gave me. I smiled, proud that I was able to get through without falling off again. I turned towards Kam as she smiled in relief and I rolled my eyes at her, too relieved myself that I hadn’t bothered glaring at her for her exasperation with me. How could she teach me patience when she hadn’t been patient with me to begin with?!  We made our way over to Dev and Atticus then.

“So, what are we doing next?” I asked as we drew closer. Dev’s gaze slid towards me then and rolled his eyes in annoyance. I held back an outburst that was threatening to erupt from me. I hated to be looked down upon. I knew I could be irritating sometimes, but I had never been treated like an incompetent fool before. “And hey, lose the attitude before I kick your…” Before I could finish the sentence though, Atticus interrupted.

“What Embry meant to say was… what’s the next training exercise, Dev?” He chuckled, trying to lighten the mood, but I was beyond caring at this point because my good mood had been swiped away the moment I saw Dev’s reaction towards me. Dev turned his attention back on Atticus then and smiled shortly before turning to look at Kam, telling me that she was the one who had come up with the next exercise for us.

“You will be learning how to use your senses in a more complex way. I know you’re pretty good at this Embry, but you will be blindfolded and will be put into forest scenery with Atticus as a companion. Dev and I will be your opponents and the both of you will have to work together in sensing out where the danger is and when to dodge an attack.” I nodded in understanding; Kam had put me in a similar training before when I was younger. She had told me it was just a fun game and I had always loved games like that when I was younger; as well as now. Though, back then she had been with me in the forest scenery and guided me while I was blindfolded. I smiled at her as memories came rushing back.

I looked over at Dev to see that he was sharing a look with Atticus. I allowed my gaze to follow his towards said person. Atticus’ eyes were wide in surprise, as if he wanted anything but to be blindfolded and put into a dangerous scene with me. His eyes said it all and I felt a pang in my chest when I noticed that he didn’t trust me to keep him safe. The image of our kiss came rushing towards me then and I cursed myself, noticing that I had opened up to him just a little bit in that stupid world. I felt my chest tighten and the walls began to lift, blocking out the pain once more. I just gave him a blank look when he noticed that I had been staring at him. He seemed to be beating himself up when he noticed that I had seen his expression.

Kam and Dev hadn’t seemed to notice the change in my mood though, as they began to usher us towards where they kept the blindfolds. I walked numbly towards them and then waited to be blindfolded. I knew that it would be a bad thing for me to go into this danger zone feeling numb and not concentrated, but I didn’t want Atticus to know just how much that one look had hurt me.

Before the blindfold was placed on me though, I heard Atticus murmur something to the two of them and then I felt him tugging me away. I couldn’t really fight his hold because I was still a little lost in thought, but when he repeatedly called out to me, I snapped my attention towards him, staring at him blankly. He sighed in frustration.

“I hadn’t meant for you to see that look. It’s not that I don’t trust you; it’s just that I’ve never done this kind of thing before and you make me a little nervous. You just seem to be crazy sometimes and sometimes I feel as if maybe you wouldn’t care if you just left me there.” He seemed to be babbling now, and I decided to end his misery.

“It’s fine.” I said, but my tone didn’t seem to help what I was saying, for it was monotone. He sighed once more, seeming to think of what to say to bring me out of my numbness. I was curious as to what he would do, because he always seemed to surprise me in the end. He looked behind him to see if Kam and Dev were looking at us. He seemed to be satisfied when he noticed that they were in their own heated argument.

“Look, I’m not sure how to prove to you that it’s not entirely you that I am afraid of, but I will give you a little something that could possibly pull you out of the world you call your own personal hell.” I stared at him blankly, confused by his words. He bit his lip and flicked his gaze back towards Kam and Dev, before stepping closer to me. Unconsciously I moved back a step, not wanting him too close to me. Some part of the numbness seemed to slip away the closer he got to me. I was finally cornered and was forced to face whatever he was planning to do. He seemed to be nervous, which told me that I probably would get mad at him for it.

I thought of all the things he could possibly do that would piss me off, but I couldn’t exactly think straight when I noticed the proximity between the two of us. He took a deep breath before meeting my gaze. When our gaze locked, I knew immediately what he was planning and before I could stop him, he closed the distance and allowed his lips to connect with mine. I was shocked at the impact, but then I remembered that I was mad at him and so I pushed him away. I stalked away then, not even wanting to talk about it. I heard him softly curse when I stalked away from him.

I was flustered by what just happened. Refusing to let him see me this way, I walked away. I was ashamed to notice that the numbness had completely disappeared because of his decision to kiss me. When I returned towards the pair who had finally finished their argument, Kam gave me a questioning look, but I ignored it and waited for her to blindfold me. She narrowed her eyes at me, silently telling me that we would talk about it later on. I curtly nodded, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to keep it from her anyway.

That was when an also flustered Atticus appeared and her eyes widened in realization. I rolled my eyes at her expression and motioned for her to blindfold me. And then I felt a shift in scenery and a familiar smell of pine filled my senses. This was a place I knew well as a child, and had thought that I would never be able to revisit again. I smiled faintly at the memory, but then focused my sense when I heard a whooshing noise.

I crouched down immediately and then I realized that Atticus had just entered the forest and he had fallen when he had entered. I refused to smile at how cute he sounded in that moment, focusing on the sounds to see if Kam and Dev had started yet. I grabbed hold of Atticus and wandered off to where I would assume was a hiding place for the moment to explain things to him.

This was going to be a long training session, and I had to make do with the fact that I was stuck here with Atticus as my companion.

“Come, I have some things to discuss with you before we actually get into some battles.” I murmured, pulling him along until I felt that there was one of those trees that had an opening for people to stay in. I crawled in after I had forced Atticus to do so and then we sat down in silence; I was trying to think of how to word my sentences while he was probably just trying to figure out how good he was with his senses. Yep, a long training session indeed.