Adriana
Emily plays with my fingers as I sit, stunned at what I just witnessed.
He didn't even answer. He just walked out.
Eros has, since I've met him at least, always seemed to know exactly what to do and when. Leadership is in his blood. I could tell that he was trying to hide the fact that this whole thing is bothering him, but I don't think anyone here was fooled.
Sometimes I wish I knew what was running through the guys head.
Without even thinking, I start getting out of my seat, Emily secured on my hip, but Kata reaches across the table, grabbing my wrist.
"Leave him," she sighs. "He needs to think."
I don't particularly want to follow her advice, but for now I will. Who knows, maybe she's right and all he needs is to clear his head and everything will be ok.
If you ask me though, he looked a little too overwhelmed. He shouldn't have to come up with a solution on his own, but I also don't think he'll come and ask for help.
Mahlia breaks the silence, hands clasped on the table in front of her. "Might as well make the most of this time girls. Training is a must now regardless of whatever the Prince decides."
Kata nods in agreeance. "I'll help you fight, girl. You need some strength in you," she stares at my upper body critically.
"Will you be coming with us when we leave?" I ask the elf. She's the first person to offer me any real fight-training, other than Becca of course with the chakrams, albeit that was hardly training, neither did it end particularly well considering what I later learned about her. Not to mention with the way she's acted lately, I don't feel particularly comfortable picking up where I left off with her. My trust in her has died.
"Well I can't stay here, can I?," she raises her brow at me.
I hold off explaining that that's not exactly what I meant, nodding. I knew she'd have to leave, but I didn't expect her to want to come with us, all things considered. Nothing I've seen so far indicates that she likes any of us much. I certainly haven't won her over. She mustn't hate me too much yet though, the offer of training playing on my mind.
"So, training then. When do we start?"
*****
Kata leads me outside, choosing a spot near to the fruit trees I had seen upon entering. The space is small and sheltered but not too cluttered, lending itself well to our task without leaving us exposed to prying eyes. Well, save for Eros, who sits leaning against one of the trees tossing a pebble between his hands. He doesn't seem to interested in watching us though.
I set Emily down by some tall grass, much to her chagrin, as she writhes against me and clings to my torso. Kneeling down besides her, I wrap my arms around her again. "I'm not going anywhere, monkey. I promise."
She still protests, squealing "No," intermittently.
"I'll be right here. You can watch us for a bit, maybe later Kata might let you have a go?" Curiosity claims her innocent blue eyes, not quite understanding what exactly she might have a go of, but the idea just intriguing enough to slow her hug-attack. She still doesn't seem keen on letting me go though, and I look behind me at Kata, not sure what else to do. I want to train, but if it is at the expense of Emily's peace, it may have to wait.
Next to us, a body plops down, almost going unnoticed. Emily moves ever closer towards me, if that was even possible, away from the strange man holding a pile of pebbles.
"Have you ever made pebble pals before, Emily?"
She makes no move to answer, looking up at me with uncertainty. My chest tightens. She was always a confident, self assured kid. Now she's just terrified. It's not fair. "It's ok, Em. He's my friend."
She looks at the Prince sceptically. "What's pebble pals?"
"You find some nice looking pebbles and draw faces on them, make a little family, pets, whatever you want," she raises her eyebrows, peering over to see the pile in his lap. "Want to come have a go?"
Nodding her head, she hesitantly gets to her feet, making small steps towards him.
"Once we've done that, we can go get some cookies, how's that sound?" Eros's voice is soft, comforting her. She smiles and nods, so he stands, holding out a hand for her to hold and leading her away to pick out some rocks in the bushes. She is still hesitant, but a little grin begins to form on her face as Eros praises her choices of pebbles, so I know she is in good hands. I never knew he was so good with kids.
Kata chuckles behind me, catching my attention. "He's always been like that. Always says he prefers young-uns to adults. But then I s'pose they're not as affected by his status as the rest of us."
I smile lightly. "I didn't honestly get the impression that you were very affected yourself."
"Oh I am, believe me. Mahlia taught me how to make it less overwhelming. You might have noticed she speaks more freely around him than some others?" I nod, prompting her to continue. "She's taught Eros and I bits that we can benefit from. I can't block out the compulsion completely, but it's weak enough that I can call him a cock if I want to."
All this talk of supernatural compulsions constantly confuses me. How is this elf unable to completely block it out, and I am stood here, completely unaffected 100% of the time, without even having to try? It's not like I'm anything special. Like everyone keeps pointing out, I'm just a human.
"Don't overthink it; I can practically hear your cogs turning from here," she comments, lips pursed. "Come on. We better get started. Show me what you've got."
I don't know what I was expecting particularly, maybe at least for her to take on a more defensive stance? But no, Kata stands, arms beckoning me to do something, her posture completely relaxed. I hesitate. How do I even go about this? What does she want me to do?
"Girl, what did I just say about the overthinking? Come on. Hit me."
Sighing, I nod, taking a slow step forward. I've never had to fight before other than when we were attacked by Roma and his goblins, but even then I wasn't really thinking about what I was doing most of the time. I try to tap into the instincts that drove me that day.
Before I have even lifted my fist halfway, Kata has me turned around, arms pinned behind me and a dagger to my neck.
"You need to be less hesitant. Come at me as if you know I'm about to kill you," she mutters into my ear before letting me go.
Trying to take her advice, I take another swing, this time not hesitating, however she catches my fist before it makes contact.
"Don't aim for the chest. You wont get anywhere like that. Aim for the throat," She lets go and I immediately try again, but it fails to catch her off-guard and she evades me with ease.
We keep going like this for a couple of minutes, her easily evading my hits and giving me stern tips while I get steadily more frustrated at my inability to land a solid punch. My attempts get faster the more frustrated I become, until she kicks out, the heal of her foot jabbing my left knee. I stumble, falling flat on my arse and scowling.
"Bend your knees. You'll be faster and more stable. Locked knees is how you get a broken leg," she holds out a hand, tugging me up to my feet. "Again."
The next few moments of practice are remarkably like before, though a little less reserved on my part, having still not landed a hit. Occasionally she taunts me. If she's trying to piss me off, it's working. How am I supposed to land a hit when the person I'm up against is much faster and more experienced than me? Hardly seems like she's playing fair.
"It's not supposed to be fair Ria, that's the point. She's already going easy on you," aaaand there it is, the only thing that could make my struggles worse. The Prince and my sister have situated themselves on the grass, painting pebbles, at some point during my failed attempt at an attack. No doubt he'll take pleasure out of mocking my incompetence.
"How about we try a different approach. You're focusing too much on your fists. Try using the rest of your body," nodding, I brace myself, considering my next move. If I try to kick out, chances are Kata will only either dodge it or use it against me, just like she has been so far when I throw a punch.
I lunge at her, this time actually making contact. For a moment it's almost like I caught her off guard, and I put all of my body strength into knocking her down. Despite her momentary falter, she quickly recovers, using my clumsy footing to her advantage and twisting around. She wraps an arm around me, using any momentum I managed to build up against me, and throws me to the ground.
"Better. Let's go again."
My arse now incredibly sore, I contemplate giving up, but Eros had a point and I know that I wont be able to do that in a real fight. I know she wont let me out of this that easily.
I also do want to know how she did that. If someone had lunged at me in that way I'd have been toast, whether they were as clumsy with their footwork or not. So, as she helps me off the grass, I make it my mission to figure it out.
"How could someone like me fight off an attack like that?" I ask as I dust myself off.
"You're not very strong so forget about trying to use brute force, it wont work. There's no real technique I can give you other than you need to learn to use your opponent's moves against them," I nod, hoping that she'll elaborate a little. "Get them in a vulnerable position. Speed is your friend; dodge everything, wear them out. If they come at you, try to use their own strength to your advantage. Unfortunately for you the only thing that can teach you to do that is practice."
"OK... what if you attack first now? Then I can figure it out, right?" She nods, satisfied that she's seen enough of what I can (or should I say, can't) do.
I brace myself for her attack, becoming confused when she doesn't appear to be making any moves. She's just standing in front of me, not even bracing for attack, wearing a vacant expression. I glance quickly towards Eros, whose mouth is turned up in a slight smirk.
Before I even have chance to comprehend what's going on, I'm on the floor once again, my legs having been swept from under me. I scowl, hearing a loud snort from Eros.
"You need to pay attention, girl. Your opponents will try to catch you off guard if they have any wits about them," she chuckles as I stand, rubbing my battered behind. The infuriating Prince can't contain his amusement as he watches. No doubt he probably knew what she was planning.
"I'd like to see you get your arse kicked, dickhead," I grumble. He gasps dramatically, covering Emily's ears gently as she paints, oblivious to what's going on. I roll my eyes. She's heard worse.
"Sorry to disappoint sweetheart but I'm busy doing important work right now, as you can see," he holds up a pebble that has what am assuming is a poor imitation of a duck painted on it. Kata and I both snicker. His face contorts in mock offense. "How dare you, this is a masterpiece! Am I right, Emily?"
Emily looks up from her own pebble, leaning over to see and whispering a small "whoa".
"See. At least someone respects true artistry here," he ruffles my sister's hair, making her giggle.
"OK, so you're busy right now. Still want to see Kata beat you."
"Please. That would hardly be a fair fight."
Kata scoffs. "Yeah, because I'd kick your flat princely behind, tough guy."
"My butt is NOT flat."
Kata puts a hand on her chin contemplatively. "You sure? You haven't trained in a while..."
Standing abruptly, he turns, pointing at his butt. "Does this look flat to you?"
I shrug. "Nowt wrong with a flat butt." He glares at me, so I raise my brow. "Since you're so intent on proving you have a nice butt rather than proving you can fight, I take it Kata really could beat you?"
Crossing his arms, he clicks his tongue. "No."
"Liar," the elf chuckles.
Sitting down, he picks up another pebble, a scowl on his face. "Shut up."
"No wonder he's good with kids. He's just an overgrown child," I comment, earning a chuckle from Kata.
"Is now a good time to point out you just told me I have a nice butt or what? You been enjoying the view Ria?"
And with that, my epic training montage ends with me walking back into the house, failing miserably at hiding my raging blush.