Focusing on every breath, every thought, and part of her body; was necessary to find her powers within.
It was not easy at first, the anxiety Alya felt in every minute of the rigorous meditation was as if her whole body and mind were being compressed.
"Now reach your hand in front of you" Priestess Adi would say to her.
Every time Alya opened her hand, nothing would happen. This was frustrating.
"I can't…"
"Don't say that. You doubt deep inside of your heart. You must command those desires to disappear."
It was useless. The heat of the sun that burned her skin, the sand made her legs and bottom itch, and her salty sweat would reach her eyes and mouth. Alya stood up, scratched her butt cheeks, and cleaned her face with a piece of cloth she ripped from the skirt she wore.
"Aaaah!" Alya pressed her fists and shouted to the open sky, "This is too annoying!"
A blow slapped the back of her head, another blow went directly to her stomach and after that, Alya fell to the rough sand after another blow hit her ankles.
Alya was without breath.
"Wha… what was that?"
"Just a little motivation."
"But you didn't have to hit me with that bamboo stick!" Alya stood up coughing.
"I see, young girl you have been very impatient with yourself."
"You say 'impatient'!? My butt burns and everything down there is itching!"
"That's not a valid excuse. You must concentrate your mind and body to at least, invoke the Sacred Water Sword."
"It would've been so much easier if we trained in the castle."
"Again, with that?"
"Aaah I know…! if I go back, I will be in danger… I know, I just… miss my parents, I miss my friends and my normal life…"
"Sweety, all that is gone in the past. You must accept your present."
"It's easy for you to say it. You don't even know how it feels…"
Alya's throat started swelling, one more word, and a tear or two would fall out of her red eyes.
The life she now had, was as a never-ending nightmare; one that felt very real.
"Are you thirsty?" the Priestess walked close to her.
Alya nodded.
"Let's go to the shelter and have some tea. Then we can come back to the training."
She nodded again.
The desert seemed to be infinite. Massive dunes that could be the size of hills surrounded a small wooden house. It was the only thing in the middle of nothingness.
Inside, they kept all their belongings. When they got to this place, there was some furniture as if it had been prepared before they arrived.
Alya sat down on the floor made of wood and laid her head on the small and round table in which they would eat on.
"Here." The Priestess served Alya a cup of tea.
With both hands, Alya took the cup of tea and drank a small sip.
"Did I ever tell you how I trained your father?" the Priestess sat down on the other end.
"My… father?"
"Yes… ha, ha, ha! Your father was a crazy young boy. I wondered sometimes if your grandparents were so tired of raising him that they would just bring him to me, so I could deal with that boy."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah. I tried so many methods to train him, but he wouldn't learn anything!"
"Ha, ha, ha! My father never told us anything like that! He would say…" Alya cleared her throat and said with a deeper voice, "… 'Daughter, you must behave in all times like the princess you are… I am giving you the example so you… you blah, blah, blah… and I would say 'father is so perfect!' and mother would… mother would…"
Tears came down her cheeks, but Alya kept smiling.
"…mother would say… 'see your father? He was always an example to everyone… you must follow his footsteps,' that's what she said… I guess I'm kind of following… I guess."
"It sounds like something your mother would say. Let me tell you another story. Before you were born, I would say to your mother 'what did you see in this man?' then she responded 'he has his good side' and I would tease her with a 'don't say I never warned you!' she kept insisting that he was a good man until she made him the good man he ended up being… I was impressed with what love could do to someone like your father, being able to change that much."
"Ha, ha… that's so funny. I never imagined my parents would be like that. Now that I think of it, I never saw my mother fight with my father…"
"And if they did, they didn't want their daughter to see their weak side."
Alya squeezed her hands while holding the cup.
"You see young Alya. We think of weakness as something we must get rid of, but it is something we must control. Strength doesn't mean you are perfect, it means you can control your emotions, thoughts, and desires. It means that you could give up, even your life, for those you love."
"...Like they did… like everyone did… with me?"
"Your parents gained the love of their people by being a light to them. A light that cannot be borrowed from anyone."
"They were so strong… will I ever be as strong as them?"
"Oh darling, you will be stronger. I can see it in your eyes. You will accomplish great things, things that you would have never imagined."
"I… I hope so…"
Everyone always treated her with great kindness, ignoring the fact of how weak she was. It was like if she took all the friendships, all the service, and all the love she received for granted and acted as a spoiled girl. It was making her chest ache. She wanted to be strong, but what could she do if she couldn't even bear the heat of the sun in a training session?
The Priestess stood up and walked to a table where the jar of tea and other utensils were placed.
"Do you want some more tea?"
"Let's go back," Alya stood up.
"Huh?"
"Let's go back to the dunes."
"Don't you want the sun to ease a little bit?"
"I'm okay. Thank you, Adi," Alya seemed to shine with a smile on her face.
"Hm… you are welcome."
The wind was strong as if a storm of sand were about to hit the dunes. Alya walked fast, even ahead of the priestess, but this time, she would not look back.
She saw her father invoke the sword, he even used that sword to defend her when she was escaping. Would she be able to use it as her father did? Alya had to try until she could invoke it as well.
"Alya! Be careful with the wind! There is a storm ahead!"
"I'm fine!"
Alya stood on the top of the dune. An immense brown cloud was right in front of her. She gulped.
"I can do this."
"Alya! The clouds are ahead of you!" the Priestess was far behind her shouting.
But she did not care, she had to perfect this technique. Taking a deep breath, Alya closed her eyes and leaving her mind totally blank, she pictured bits of the details she could remember from the sword.
She had seen the sword twice. Both times in her father's hands.
"Alya!"
She had to concentrate. Inside her mind, she could see as if this sword were emerging from the water.
"Alya!!"
The sand was entering her nostrils.
"Alya!!!"
"Just one second, okay!?"
"Look at your hand!"
"Huh?"
A sword, made from a strange blue stone, was wrapped around her fingers.
"I did it. I did it! I did…"
The storm hit the front of her body and her feet stopped touching the sand, but she kept holding tight to the sword.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
Alya fell from the dune and rolled down until reaching the feet of the Priestess. Grabbing her hand, both ran towards the shelter that was on the bottom surrounded by many dunes, a place where this type of storms did not have much effect.
"I did it! I did it!" she kept shouting as they were approaching the shelter, "I did it!"