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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The next few weeks are business as usual. Up with a pegasus nose, then Levise, Trelix, Kyrbast, and Master Sarpedon. To be fair, Sarpedon just wants to check on me. We do some reading and he shows me weird things. He's become the highlight of my day because the only thing I'm expected to do is stay awake. Well, he expects me to remember what he's teaching...and sometimes I do, but most times I fall asleep.
Trelix is trying to kill me. I lost my motivation ten minutes in on the first day.
I like riding Stryder, but it's the other four—soon to be five—unicorns that are the issue. The only thing I can do is do what they ask of me and hope it'll get better. I'm tired of being in pain. My muscle soreness is so deep I feel as if my bones have fused together. Not to mention the bruises, cuts, jammed fingers, and sprains that I have to learn to live with.
Jonah's doing a better job at staying in touch. In all honesty, he's a little overbearing about it. I'm adjusting, though. I like having someone make time for me, even if I have very little time to spare.
As part of our new arrangement I get one afternoon off a week. Today I've ridden six unicorns and trained with Trelix. I have a couple of hours to eat dinner, do what I want, and then have an evening lesson with Kyrbast.
Now that at long last I have my precious free time, I find that I have no idea what to do with myself. I should sleep. Or at least read that book Sarpedon gave me on the flora and fauna of the western hemisphere. It's so boring. A picture and a description. This bird eats these bugs. That eight-legged dog eats that two-headed zebra. On and on. I can't remember any of it and don't understand why I'd need to know that anyway.
I've cleaned up and had my massage, so now I'm free. But I have nothing to do and no one to do it with. I only know my instructors: Levise, Trelix, Kyrbast, and Sarpedon. Albína would do something with me if I asked; she's like the grandmother I never had. But I know she has stuff to do, so I don't want to interfere with her plans. Maybe I could go to the Temple and bother Gurador. My presence just annoys him.
When I step from the bathroom Albína blocks my path with her arms folded over her chest and her brows furrowed in anger. "Why are you limping?"
Whoops, I was hiding it from her but forgot to keep up the charade. She always makes a big deal of it when I'm injured and I don't want to deal with this now. "I took a bad fall off Poberd. He's unicorn number three. Went over his head and landed on my back."
Her demeanor changes instantly as she grabs my shoulders and tries to forcibly move me to a chair. "Oh no! Are you alright? What happened?"
I gently remove her hands and hold my place; sitting is the last thing I want to do. "I did a somersault and fell like six feet. It hurts." The real reason I was hiding it is because it makes me mad when I think about what happened after that. "I had to get back on and keep going through three more unicorns. And then sword fight with Trelix."
