The next few days, Zion and Abraham would talk each night for a while, working out some way to help Zion fight and get stronger. During this time, though, Sarah couldn't forget the fear of being surrounded by the beasts.
She sat in her room, looking out the window towards the sandpit. She refused to go there since the attack. Sarah might have been only 5 years old, but she was an intelligent girl.
She knew that her fox pet had helped her and almost died doing so. She knew it wouldn't be such a bad thing as pets are replaceable, but she loved her little white foxy too much to let it die.
She stood up and ran out of her room, "Daddy!" She yelled out as she peeked into the office. Seeing he wasn't there, she then went to the kitchen, where her mother would occasionally spend a little time cooking.
Seeing her little girl approach, Lauren smiled lovingly at her, "Afternoon, sweetie. You haven't left your room much the past few days. I was getting worried." She turned to face her daughter, gently wiping her hands on the apron she wore.
Sarah looked up at her mother, "Mummy, where's Daddy? I wanna ask him something." She said.
"Your father is outside in his training field with your fox pet. He's been spending a lot of time with it. If I didn't know better, I would think the fox is his pet." She giggled as Sarah gave a cute, angry face and placed her hands on her hips, "He's my pet! How dare Daddy steal him!" She ran out of the kitchen.
Lauren laughed softly, "She's got my temper."
Sarah ran out to the training area, which just had a few dummies, some targets, and an open field for combat training.
Abraham was hitting a dummy with his sword while her fox sat and watched from the sideline. Occasionally Abraham would pause, turn to the fox and speak about something, then go back to the dummy.
He would look insane to others when he did that, but Sarah didn't care. She ran over to where Zion was sitting and suddenly grabbed him, "Daddy, why have you stolen my foxy? Get your own!" She spoke angrily, but her face was just too adorable.
Abraham looked at her silently for a few seconds, then laughed, "Honey, I'm not stealing your fox. He's following me around." Abraham gave Zion a smirk.
Sarah looked at Zion, and her eyes watered, "Foxy... are you bored of me? Is that why you're following Daddy?" She looked like she was about to burst into tears.
'"You evil bastard... you knew she was going to react this way, didn't you?"' Zion cursed at Abraham while letting out a slight whine and rubbing his nose against her cheek to make her happy.
As expected, she immediately cheered up and hugged him again before turning to look at Abraham, who was trying not to laugh, seeing the predicament he just put Zion into.
"Daddy, I want to learn to fight!" Sarah suddenly shouted, causing Abraham to cough in surprise.
Zion tilted his head with amusement, seeing his reaction to her words. Once Abraham had stopped coughing, he looked at Sarah firmly, "Sarah, honey. Why do you want to learn to fight?"
Sarah placed Zion down and faced her father with determined eyes, "I don't wanna let others get hurt for me! I don't want to be so useless because I go to sleep again... I wanna help Foxy fight so we can protect each other and so I can protect Daddy and Mummy when they are old!" She clenched her little fists as she spoke.
Zion smiled internally, 'I guess facing off with the mole-rats woke something in her. Well, the earlier she starts, the stronger she can get.' He glanced at Abraham, who was staring at Sarah with his arms crossed, his eye twitching at the thought of being old.
Abraham said nothing for at least 10 seconds before he spoke up, "Training is arduous, Sarah. You'll push your body to the limits over and over again. You'll end up with injuries and will have to keep training even through them. No matter the weather or the state of yourself, you'll have to fight through it all. Are you sure about this? It's okay to wait a few more years."
Sarah shook her head so fast her hair whipped her face, but she didn't even flinch, "I can do it, Daddy!"
Abraham sighed softly, then nodded, "Very well. The first step is to train your body. Now let's start with..."
Zion watched and listened as Abraham began going through a training routine, with Sarah nodding along, keeping that determined look on her face.
He smiled, 'I didn't think she'd start training until she was probably 8, which is when the academy starts. All students learn to fight. And then there are 5 years to train to the point that they can get a good final score, hoping to get into the best academy of the 5 kingdoms. Lotoria Academy of the Agleigh Kingdom.'
Each of the 5 kingdoms had its own Academies; however they gave students 5 years because, in total, students spent 10 years learning. However, at the halfway point, the top 30 of each academy could transfer to the central kingdoms academy, where they would much better resources and teachings but were also more vicious to be taught for the final 5 years. Those trained at that Academy are guaranteed to reach a minimum of B rank, with the highest coming from the academy being an S rank 20 years ago.
So, every parent hoped their kids could get sent there as their progress would be guaranteed to be excellent.