"Kirin..." Freyja whispered as she crawled to the edge of her bed.
"Hm?" He replied, without even opening his eyes.
"Are you okay over there?" She is worried about him sleeping on the cold floor with only one pillow, while she's on a comfortable bed. She was exhausted after the ship's trouble and she figured that Kirin is too. After all, they just arrived at a port city of Runch, a country in the Cewon continent. As expected of a port town, it's full of travelers and traders, they were lucky to have found an inn with one spare room.
"Why are you making a fuss over such a small thing?" He asked, still with his eyes closed.
"Unless..." Kirin opened one eye and crawled towards the edge of her bed. "You want to sleep with me?" He whispered sensationally in her ear, with a seductively husky voice.
"JERK!" All flustered and red, Freyja instinctively slammed Kirin with a pillow. "That's what I get for being concerned! Fine! I'm sorry I even asked!" She shouted, immediately covering herself with a blanket.
Kirin crawled back to his sleeping mat. "Concerned?" He asked.
"Well, when I am with my brother, he's always the one to sleep on a bed while I sleep on the floor or something like that... I was just wondering why you are sleeping there. I mean, we can exchange places if you like. You paid for the room too. I am more comfortable with sleeping on the fl—" Kirin stood up and pinched her nose, cutting her sentence. "Listen, I am NOT your brother. So, don't worry about me. Go to sleep or else I'll have a hard time waking you up tomorrow." He returned to his place. Freyja nodded and closed her eyes, hiding a smile under the blanket.
"Good night Kirin..." She whispered before falling into a deep sleep.
~o0o~
'tick'
Freyja heard Kirin's timer tick. "WHEW! I didn't know sitting and concentrating for hours IS tiring!" She complained, finally completing his first condition. Kirin sighed, a bit impressed someone with a complete lack of talent for aura manipulation managed to do his task. He's actually expecting her to give up.
Right now, the two of them are heading to the next city, Runerich. The biggest problem however, is that Runerich is an isolated city. There are no transportation to and from that city except for walking, or traveling by-rune. This is to ensure that only runemasters and those fairly skilled in strength or aura manipulation can visit the city. It is not a problem at all to Kirin, but definitely a big one to Freyja. This hurdle however, gave Kirin a very good idea about her training demands.
"This is as far as we can go sir..." The carriage driver said. "You will have to walk to the city's gates from here." Kirin pulled a few silver coins from his pocket and handed it to the driver.
Freyja looked around. Indeed, there's nothing but trees and grass and rocks. But, looking further, she spotted a tower-like building on top of one of the mountains. "WOW! Is that the Rune masters' tower somewhere over there!?" "Yes." Kirin plainly stated. "Now, we continue with your training."
Freyja is unsure whether she'll be happy or not. After all, looking at the distance, and the mountains and hills they will have to cross just to reach Runerich, she's starting to regret her training request. "We'll walk, right?" She asked in a shaky voice.
"Of course. It's near." He replied, as if it wasn't a big deal.
"Oh, I forgot, Kirin is NOT human." She thought, feeling tired just at the mere thought.
Kirin then, pulled out something from his pockets. He took four thick, metal bracelets of slightly different sizes. He handed them to Freyja. "Here, wear this on both your feet... and your hands too." Without a single clue, Freyja wore them just as he instructed. "Now what?"
"Alright. Let's get going." Kirin turned his back and started walking while Freyja followed quietly. In a few seconds however,
"OUCH!!!" She cried, tripping over a stone. "I..." Freyja started sweating buckets while standing. "Why are my hands and feet so heavy!? It's like I'm chained to four sacks of rice!!!" She can't even maintain a stable standing position.
"It's a rune-infused ring. A rune master casted a spell on each ring to make it heavy. You can buy those things everywhere..." He explained, continuing to walk as if it was no big deal.
"WHAT!?" She screamed. "This is far worse than my 'hardcore' martial arts training!"
"That is the basic of the basics! I was given the same training when I was eight!" Kirin scolded her. "Now, if you're serious about this, just do what I said." He continued walking, purposely slowing down for Freyja to catch up. But, despite that, Freyja could only move an inch closer to him. She's sweating heavily, and her body can't take the strain. It was insane of him to make her do such thing, and Kirin knows that very well. "See, you can't do it. It's not yet time so you better---"
"NO!"
Kirin was rendered speechless as he saw the unusual expression on her face. It was a mix of anger, pain, determination and sadness. It's the first time she has ever made such a face in front of him. He expected her to be stubborn, but looking at her now feels different from the usual.
"Go on ahead..." Freyja murmured. "I will catch up... so go ahead."
"If I..." Freyja used all of her strength to move her left foot forward. "If I couldn't..."
"..."
"If I couldn't even... g... get this damned thing over th... there..." Now, she started walking in an extremely slow pace. "Then how can I...."
"How.. can I..." Tears started forming at the corner of her eyes. She's not sure if it's the stress, if it's her body, but suddenly her vision started getting dimmer. Even Kirin seemed to have disappeared from her sight. "How can I be..." She felt her heart ache, for some reason. It's so frustrating that she can't do the 'basic of the basics.' So frustrating, she felt like something has just gotten further away from her. "HOW CAN I BE STRONG!?" Her emotions were pumping her strength up. She forcefully dragged herself up, as the astonished Kirin watched her unbelievable determination.
"Why would you want to be strong?"
A mysterious question flashed in her mind.
Step by step, Freyja dragged herself along with the heavy bracelets on her limbs up the slopes. She was especially quiet, concentrating, saving her energy the best she can. Kirin too, walked in front of her, as slowly as he could.
"Why do I want to be strong?"
Freyja struggled for about three hours. She started losing the feeling of her limbs, her face became paler and paler. And, she's started hallucinating too—seeing the silhouette of a young man, with long, straight hair, in front of her. She's desperately trying to reach him, but he's getting ahead so fast she could only watch him go further and further and then disappear.
Freyja tried chasing after him, but her hands and feet won't move. But she has to! He can't leave! "No! Don't go!" She shouted, before completely losing her consciousness. After three hours, Freyja's body gave up. She fell straight down to the ground.
"Freyja!" Kirin panicked, taking her in his arms at once. Her limbs are red, she's pale as a ghost. Kirin is starting to regret his plan. He never thought she'd actually do the training. Pulling a jug of water out of his bag, Kirin sipped the water into his mouth and fed it to the unconscious girl mouth-to-mouth.
They weren't even halfway there yet, but Kirin sure is surprised she made it this far. She doesn't have a single strand of fighting talents in her, but she sure made him ashamed of himself when it comes to fighting spirit. Though of course, fighting spirit alone is still not enough. Kirin has finally decided—the training officially ends here. She's not cut out for it, she shouldn't do something that isn't right for her.
It's already gotten fairly dark, and Freyja still hasn't regained consciousness. He rested her head on his lap, staring at her ever since. "Why?" He uttered. "Why are you fighting so hard? What are you trying to do? Just... who are you?" He wanted to know so badly. She had absolutely no talent for aura manipulation, she's physically weak and more than that, she's a complete stranger to this world. Though fascinated him, it also frustrated Kirin for some reason. "Why won't you give up already, dammit."
Just then, Freyja moved. Her eyes twitched, and tears rolled down her eyes. "Kirin..." She murmured, in her sleep. "...don't leave me."
Kirin stayed up all night, gently brushing her hair with his fingers.
~o 0 o~