Pieces of Time

Ch 9: Friendly Sparring

She wasn't sure how she ended up in the garden.  But she couldn't say she was angry about being lost in such a lovely place.

She'd made her way out to the courtyard, blinded by the anger she felt towards Link, towards the cold manner of the princess, towards being left in the dark of what's going on. Maybe she was being unfair to Link.  Maybe she should give him more time to be comfortable with talking to her.

But damn it all, how could she just sit by and watch him suffer? Her emotions clashed with indecision of how she should address it when she saw him again. She felt guilt for being pushy about it, but rage towards him for just not opening up to her. She felt betrayed for perhaps not being trustworthy to him, even if they'd been through quite a bit in the short amount of time they've known each other.

Kali ran her fingers through her hair, pausing to gaze at a wall of dark green hedges.  They were taller than she was, dotted with pink and white roses.

Hadn't she trusted both him and Impa with her own life since coming here? Wasn't that enough to be able to warrant some amount of trust in return?

She roughly plucked a white rose from the hedge and stepped over to a bench carved into the stone path of the courtyard. She spun the rose in her fingers anxiously as her knees collapsed and she plopped onto the bench.

The setting sun cast a deep orange glow across the grass while she let her mind wander - trying to find something that would cheer her up. Something that would take her mind away from whether or not she was right or wrong for pushing him.

After some time her left arm prickled, the hairs standing on end. Her head snapped in that direction, her muscles jumping to stand or run.  She spotted the glint of red eyes watching her from the shadows.

Kali released a breath and leaned her head back on the bench, closing her eyes.

"You startled me, Impa." she sighed.

Impa approached her slowly, one silvery brow raised, "I'm surprised you guessed where I was."

Kali opened her eyes a little, watching a lonely cloud drift lazily in the orange sky and didn't respond.

"How did you guess?" Impa pushed, sitting carefully next to her.

Impa was making her think about something else, she realized. She let her teacher distract her as she considered an answer to the question.

"I'm not sure. I guess my body knew before my mind really did. It was like getting goosebumps in the direction where you were watching." Kali explained.

Impa looked thoughtful about that, but if it was anything significant, her stony expression didn't give anything away.

"What do you want? To yell at me?" Kali asked, sounding petulant even to her own ears.

She heard Impa sigh and then answer, "I came to see if you'd like to do some training while there are still hours in the day. But I see you've contented yourself to destroying flowers."

Kali's brows pinched with confusion and she raised her head, her neck stiff. When she looked down at her hand that held the rose, there was only a withered stem between her fingers. She had twisted the flower until the head of it popped off and now lay, slowly wilting on the stones at her feet.

"Sorry." she said blandly and tossed the ruined stem over her shoulder and into the grass. Then she considered Impa's offer.

"What kind of training?" Kali asked warily.

"Something new, and is best practiced within the walls of the castle." Impa said, standing again, "Sword training."

She didn't take much time to consider the offer, deciding that anything was better than just sitting there being miserable.  At least she was doing something that would better herself. She stood up and began to separate her hair to start braiding it.