"Today is the day."
Lucas took a deep breath and nudged Eva awake. Eva sleepily rubbed her eyes and blinked several times.
"It is still dark," she muttered.
"We are starting combat training today," Lucas replied.
Excitement bubbled up in Eva's stomach. She quickly rolled out from under her blankets and stood up quickly. The world spun slightly at the sudden activity, but she managed to stay on her feet.
"What kind of combat training are we going to do?" she asked.
She was unable to hide her excitement. Combat training was the best part of her day back before the incident. It helped her relieve the stress of her day.
"I will teach the basics of hand to hand combat first, because you will not always have a weapon."
Lucas led Eva to an open spot far away from their current campsite. The ground felt squishier under Eva's boots. It was different then the hard training grounds she used with the knights.
Eva wanted to feel confident because the knights had taught her hand to hand combat, but she had learned not to trust her past lessons.
Everything, from how to walk, hunt, and the basics of wandering through a forest, had to be retaught from the beginning.
Eva wondered if she was just bad by elven standards, or if the knights truly did not teach her well. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.
It did not matter, Lucas would teach her everything she needed to know. A part of her mind objected to blindly trusting Lucas.
Sure she had lost track of the number of days that had passed, but deep down she felt this trust she could not explain.
Even if his training was not sufficient, she could always relearn everything in the adventurer's school.
She would rise to the top as an adventurer to earn the merits she needed. Even if it took her one, two, even ten years of time to make it to the top.
Eva had never been more serious about achieving something in her life. She raised her hands and took the stance the knights taught her.
"Lower." Lucas instructed. She lowered her body and immediately felt the strain in her legs. Lucas put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her farther down. Eva gritted her teeth. "Move your feet further apart."
'Would it hurt you to use more than the bare minimum of words?'
The thought made her grin at her joke, but the look Lucas gave her wiped it from her face. The serious look in Lucas' eyes made her nervous, but she did as he said. Lucas walked around her with his penetrating eyes.
"Hold."
Lucas pushed her from behind.
Eva immediately fell to the ground.
"Get back into position."
Eva thought she heard his voice waver slightly. She tried to look into his face, but he pulled his hood over his head. Grumbling under her breath she stood up once more. All the excitement that had given her the energy to get out of bed was gone.
"How long do I need to stand here?" Eva asked after several minutes passed.
Lucas pushed her from behind again.
Eva fell to her knees. Wincing from the pain she whipped her head back to look at him. The anger in her eyes didn't seem to influence any reaction from him.
"Stand up," Lucas said simply.
Eva huffed and took the stance. It couldn't have been more than five minutes in total, but her knees were already shaking. Her legs were aching and her knees felt like they may have started bleeding. It took all of her energy just to stand there.
Several moments passed in silence.
"I can't hold it any longer." Eva said through gritted teeth.
Silence.
"Are you still there?" she asked.
With the continued silence she realized she was alone. Turning her head to see if he was still there confirmed that he was no longer there.
"What?" she asked the air, confused.
A light tap on her left shoulder made her lose her balance.
"You need to be more aware of your surroundings," Lucas said in her ear.
This time he had caught her waist before she fell. She pushed lightly at his chest. Lucas immediately released her.
"Go clean up, I will make breakfast," he said in a low voice.
Eva bit her lip. She didn't mean to push him away, it was just an unconscious response. Saying sorry would make it seem worse.
"Right," she managed to squeeze out before turning and walking towards the pond they were using for water.
Everywhere they camped seemed to always be near a water source. It was convenient and Eva seemed to think it had something to do with the signs the elves left in the forest that Lucas had been talking about before.
Each step was shaky and she worried that she would not be able to keep up with this new training exercise.
'No, I need to be ok with it,' she told herself.
Her fingernails dug into her palms as she forced herself to walk upright until she made it to the pond.
************
He knew this new stage of training was going to be difficult. However, he could not forget the sense of hurt he felt when she pushed him away. His hand had reached out without him realizing what he was doing. Before he knew it, he had caught her and she then pushed him away.
The part of him that was firmly influenced by the imprint wanted to fall to his knees and beg forgiveness, but he managed to stay standing with great difficulty.
'Am I pushing her too hard?'
This was the logical next step in training after young elf children became somewhat proficient with the bow.
"No, I need to go at least this far," he said aloud.
Humans were adaptive. She would get used to the pace given some time. Still, he was worried about the hard fall to her knees.
'I will have to collect some more herbs after she falls asleep.'
He grabbed the pouch that kept the always dwindling supply of herbs. His hands became busy grinding up the herbs into a poultice to use when Eva came back. It was the least he could do to make up for the rough training.
******
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