Mohsen entered the tent with annoyance in his face, Yilas and Mame both looked at him but not surprised, his mood had always been bad like this. Moreover, Yilas thought she had upset him the night before so she kept her mouth shut when she saw him.
"You're up bright and early?" Mame sarcastically asked.
"If it wasn't thank you I would have had a day off." Mohsen murmured, though showed his attitude, he didn't dare to disrespect his employer. Instead, he picked on Yilas, who was curling up in a ball, trying to go unnoticed.
"Hurry up and finished, the earlier we start the sooner I get to rest!"
Yilas had barely touched her breakfast, but she was afraid that Mohsen might leave without her so she dropped the bowl, stood up immediately.
"I'm ready, we can start immediately."
Seeing Yilas jumped like a rabbit, Mame couldn't halt the giggle, she covered her mouth and chucked.
Mohsen didn't mean to force her to stop eating, he was just embarrassed. Still, he couldn't just say 'finish your breakfast, I will wait'. His face turned bright red unconsciously just thinking about saying those embarrassing words.
All of a sudden, Mohsen turned around and left the tent. Yilas looked at his back and then looked at Mame and then looked at Mohsen's shadow going further and further away.
"Go! I will look for you later."
With a word of encouragement from Mame, Yilas grabbed her coat and ran quickly after her teacher.
After 30 minutes of walking, Yilas was huffing and puffing, she was barely catching up to Mohsen. But after that 30 minutes, she couldn't do it anymore, her legs gave out so she bent down and had her hands on her knees, breathing extremely fast.
They had passed past a few small crowds but luckily they didn't seem to notice Yilas, all they did was bowing down respectfully to greet Mohsen, who was like a shadow, glazing through the surface.
"I...I...Te-Teacher... I really can't... can't" The few words could barely audible to Mohsen's sharp ears, though not looking back, his keen sense of smell could detect the distance between the two of them.
"If you do not hurry, I will leave you behind." Although Mohsen's words were as cold as usual, he had stopped walking, waiting for Yilas to pick back up, he even made a mental note to slow down a bit.
"Okay... Okay... I'm coming, don't leave."
The pair kept walking for another 20 minutes to a secluded area nearby, unknowingly about the beast that had been tailing them since the tent.
Mohsen stopped at the bottom of a rock mountain, it was as golden as the sand color beneath them. Yilas who was already exhausted from the walk became seemingly unhappy with the terrain in front of her.
"A-Are we climbing that?"
"YOU are climbing that." Mohsen looked at Yilas and then the top of the short mountain thinking even a cub could accomplish such an easy task.
"B-But... But why? I thought we are going to learn how to cultivate." Yilas looked shocked and confused, she was definitely not prepared for this. Moreover, she had never climbed anything before in her life so how could she conquer this mountain that looked like a straight wall all the way up.
"Yes we will, but first, your body is too out of tune, you need to learn to coordinate limbs with your thinking." Mohsen crossed his arms over his chest, he talked as he nodded like an old wise man, lecturing his student. While he was barely 20 and still had his bunny ears out.
"Do you mean body and mind correlation?"
"Whatever that is... Ehem... This should be a good exercise for your frail body anyway. Start climbing, now... Now!!!"
Mohsen clapped his hands, rushing Yilas into action. With a mix of reluctant and terror on her face, Yilas started to climb the wall-like mountain, luckily she found a short walkway that resembled distorted stairs so Yilas had a good headstart.
After over two hours of struggling and dirtying her whole cloak, Yilas found her way up to the top of the short mountain and shouted at Mohsen from above. Only then he gave her permission to return to the ground.
"You're already sleeping again." Yilas came back to the bottom where she started just to see Mohsen, laying on top of a big flat-top rock, sunbathing. His eyelashes fluttered lazily as Yilas approached him.
"Took you long enough... Alright, let's take a break, I will fetch some lunch so you stay here and DON'T be running around."
Mohsen specifically grunted at the word 'don't', scaring Yilas to the point she broke out a sweat.
"O-Of course, teacher, when you come back you will see me right here, not moving an inch." Yilas sat firmly on the flat-top rock, showing a thumb up to Mohsen.
"You better." Mohsen murmured as he turned around and slowly walked away, Yilas watched him descending further and further into a tiny white dot until she couldn't see anymore.
Yilas checked around carefully before taking off her sand and sweat coated cover, the breath of fresh air really made her feel good after a hard workout. Never in her life would Yilas thought she could be this athletic. Additionally, this body was blessed with great genetics and had more strength than her old bedridden body could have had in a million years, Yilas secretly thanked the gods that at least they had the decency to give her a healthy life the second time around.
After sitting still for what felt like an eternity, Yilas got bored and started to run around the rocks, messing with some dried out plants on the ground when she heard faint footsteps getting closer. At first, it was only 1-2 footsteps at a time so Yilas thought she was just imagining things. However, as more footsteps coming closer, the more steps that person took. First, it was 1 to 2 steps at a time, but then 3 steps and then 5 steps.
Not knowing how far that person was away, Yilas went and hid behind the big flat-top rock, it was more than enough to cover her entire body. She was also quickly covered herself with the brown dusty cloak, curling up like a pile of dirt next to the rock.
Soon, Yilas could hear the person closing up the distance between the two of them. She was even afraid to let out her breath, she couldn't imagine how angry Mohsen would be if he found out she got caught by someone. The closer the person approached, the faster Yilas's heart was beating, she closed her eyes and hold her breath, hoping this person was only passing by.
"Come out, Little one..." It was a deep husky voice.
Yilas heart instantly jumped out of her chest, this person knew she was here! And what had frightened her, even more, was that the voice did not belong to Mohsen, the only male beast that knew she was here. Soon, Yilas broke out of sweat out of anxiousness, both her hands sealed her mouth shut, she was shaking like a leaf.