If Stratagor Ziras doesn't kill me, my training program will!
Every day I wake up and go through the motions, but they've figured out that I'm not a Knight. I can't ride, I can't fight, I can't do magic, and worst of all, I can't see whatever it is...
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"Kyrbast showed you the basics of throwing energy, correct? Show me what you know," he orders once we're outside.
"Oh, I left my wand on the table."
I run back to get it and return to see Trelix looking stern. "Where does your wand belong?"
His mood changed so quickly. I can't believe I've messed up already. "On my person," I mumble.
"Correct. Run a lap." He points to the perimeter of the training field.
My eyes follow his finger. "That's like ten blocks!"
"Hmph. I'm not familiar with that measurement. It's just over a half-mile, or eight football fields, or twenty-eight hundred—"
"—But you're the one who put it down!" I whine, upset that he's making me run when he was the one who left it behind.
"Your wand is my responsibility?"
"You should run. You're the one who left it behind." I'm afraid to run around the entire field. I'll never make it. It'll kill me.
"Would you like to make it two laps?"
"No, sir," I say, defeated.
I put my wand in its holster and run to the edge of the field. I'm not good at running and the sword bouncing against my thigh makes it harder. I run farther than I thought I could but only because I'm so angry. I don't even get to the first turn before I'm out of breath. I walk for a few seconds then he yells at me for stopping. It scares me so badly, I start running again out of instinct.
It takes a long time for me to make it all the way around the field. I walk for most of it and Trelix yells at me.
When I finally arrive he says, "That was terrible."
I burst into tears.
He raises an eyebrow. "Are you going to cry every time you run?"
"No!"
"Why are you upset?"
"Because you left the wand behind! And you yelled at me! And I can't run! And I hate this! And I don't like all the things I have to do that I don't want to do, but I do anyway because everybody keeps telling me I have to do it!"
"All that over some running?" he says so calmly it makes me seethe. "No one is forcing you to be here. You chose to do this. I'm trying to help you. We don't know what lies ahead. Do you think it might be beneficial for you to know how to run and to have the stamina to do it? Your life could depend on you being able to run more than forty feet."
"I'm tired! I feel like I offered to help and then everyone turned on me! Everyone is so mean! This is so hard and I'm so sore," I say through my tears. "I'm not a Knight. There's nothing about me that's muscular or strong. I know I can't do what you want. I wish everyone would just give up already."
