The time passed much faster.
My plan worked perfectly and with helping Mother with the tavern, taking care of Anna, and most importantly the many, many training methods the Revel brothers showed. I was bone tired and only really thought about my missing half at night..
Although despite that, I did noticed my mental health strained..
Nights were lonely and.. well he was surely missed let's just say that.
The large pillow wearing his shirt made eyes at me at nights ..or it didn't because it was a pillow.
Tonight, latest..tomorrow morning they be back.
Today though..was filled with the usual activities and training.
I took Anna over to mothers joined by both Nifa and Cintia who became close to her since had zero interest in fighting of any kind.
" I'll have my powers..
" I'll have powers and my wife's powers..
So with those lines, Nifa spent time painting anything she could, trees, rocks, our dummies, hairs of women dissatisfied..like mine.
I was a blonde now for well over a day..and the evil smiles from everyone kept on coming.
Was I nervous?..Pfft..yeah, hell yeah.
My family as always did their saddest best...
" Zephyr might run away..
" Sweetheart..now you look like us..
" Sisi..this is pfft..it's perfect.
" Eleanor!..Little one, don't worry..just undo it..
" I love it Lylly..makes you look fun and bubbly..
" I don't know my love, it's odd, I love all your works but it's..like she was dipped into the sun. " - Cintia capped off a ..mixed bag of reactions.
" Yeah, good!..that was..yeah. "
I struggled with it..but stood by it. He promised too love me and me alone. Well this is the new me.
I finally shed my black curls and ..terrified of him seeing me now.
He will hate it..he loves my black hair. Also..
Ilianna took it as ..a personal attack until, I allowed her..a few changes.
First our house.
Black ..was her preferred choice and then her own hair..which ended up blue. Ciren copied mother and with her help, their style was more or less the same now.
I guess, Carlos will have a surprise in store for him as well.
But, what about my husband?
Will he like it?..pfft..no, hell no.
It was morning training, which all done at their own houses where some dummies being built for everyone personal use.
So it was just us three archers, Anna and Ciren who joining us outside bundled up with some tea.
We were stretching then doing the following in order.
- One arm lateral raises. Both arms. 10x10
- Sit ups. 10x10
- Push ups. 10x5
- Resistance band. 20 minutes, 5x through out the day.
Later this afternoon with the group,more exercises like..
- North, South, East, West.
Using the impact point of your last arrow of the previous end as the aiming point for your next end.
- The 7:14.
Count 7 seconds to shoot a shot, in your head and wait 14 seconds before raising your bow for the next. Allows your muscles appropriate rest.
- Blank Bale.
Shooting without aiming at a bale of hay helps you to work on technique. Keeping the target in the background normalises the ability to shoot without aiming.
Training sessions were..
- 2 Hours in the morning - individuals.
- 3 Hours after lunch, before sun down - group.
For me and the other four who were already trained with Zephyr then later Alexander was a breeze.
Not getting kicked, punched or stabbed was a nice change of scenery.
But..
Demelza and my sister were dying.
Their training drained them so much it left little energy for anything else. Mostly theirs arms and back. Complained about their fingers hurt or their palms feeling rigid.
Over time, as long as they can survive the first few weeks, all those problems will naturally go away.
The Revels made ice, mandatory which thanks to the season was easy to acquire and we were often found with our shoulders covered with cloths filled with it.
But to the girls credit they stuck with it for now.
Getting better was far away but just as Zephyr says "" everyday, better. ""
Even though something unexpected, affected my already struggling aim as well..
( SWISH )
Missed again..by a lot.
" It's your hair, isn't it? "
" Shut up Eli.."
She was right.
I was so used to my black curls, I never even paid attention..now, that's all I did.. it distracted me.
" I just need time to get used to it.."
Demelza leaned on me as I twirled my golden locks away from my sight. " Because, that's all you have huh? "
" Ughh..even if, I change it back there's no talking Anna out of it..she can't stop staring at her self. "
She was so cute constantly styling it in different ways. The current one was braided. She and Ciren had a lot of fun with their new hair.
Milo one of the archers who we talked and walked over to ask about Zephyr, a lot.. offered his best.
" Maybe Lady Martell can help..with her ability. "
" Illusions? " I asked.
" Yes.."
Yes..and all we need from her to keep it up for the next 80 years.
" It's fine..I'll cut it..
" He will divorce you.." warned Demelza .
I knew he loved my hair and it's colour but this is about my own insecurities. B-but cutting it might push him over the edge..
" Fine..no cutting, just give my brain some time to get used to it.. it's been only a day. "
We finished morning training and went to mother's who were cooking all day to have something delicious for them.
" She is a women on a mission..
" It looks more demanding than our training..
She was having Ciren reading recipes to her from her books to experiment on the customers and pick out the best ones.
She worked on several of those winning dishes and tastes for tonight.
It will be quite a feast. If, they arrive..
" Talking about women's and missions. "
I smiled at the two. " How the boys doing? "
I barely saw them once or twice a day usually at dinner and half running. Eli started.
" Lucian works on his 'style' as Zephyr suggested but, he seems lost..I have ideas but..
""..But?? ""
She sighed and played with little Arnold who was talking now and everything. " ..he wants it to be his own.. if I tell him what to do..wouldn't it be my style? "
She sounded insane. " What are you talking about?..you never been able to land a kick..on Anna. "
She puffed up her cheeks. " I don't need to practice it to have ideas! And I do..I might talk to my brother in law when he gets home tonight. "
" Hmmm, Hmmm.."
I was lost in my own thoughts..I got the nuns habit ready and I couldn't wait for his reaction with my new hair.
Demelza saw me distracted and took over.
" Alexander is the same.. trying to test and organize..then reorganize,to find the best combination of guards..he is enthusiastic but the men struggle with it. "
I smiled even in my degenerate state.
Alexander took it upon himself to inspect each and everyone lifes inside and out, to build the perfect fighting force.
Needles to say people couldn't wait for Zephyr to come back and hopefully stop him interrupting their family/down time.
" They are just enthusiastic..it's important jobs. But soon they have help.. " - I looked out the window at he frozen landscape.
" Tonight will be dinner then depravity..can't wait. "
We were prepared to stay up the night in case they were running late. 8 to maybe 12 hours to go.