After a bit of walking and dodging many tiny humans, Zayn and Jeremiah stand in front of a dessert shop. Surprised, Zayn points to the shop, to which Jeremiah nods his head and lifts his hand.
"I'll be back." Jeremiah said, then he's gone.
Zayn awkwardly stands in front of the shop, waiting for Jeremiah to come back until he does, this time with a box of round-shaped pastries.
"Is that for the business which you speak of?" Zayn said, eyeing the round desserts, "business procedures sure are strange."
Jeremiah opens his mouth, close it, and opens it again.
"Is there anything you'd like to see before we go?" Jeremiah said, looking down at Zayn, "we have a few minutes before we go."
Zayn does--she wants to play around and try many yummy foods and watch the children play and join in on the random dancing the citizens seem to like to indulge in, but Zayn shakes her head, smiling through her words.
"Maybe next time," Zayn said, "I do know you must be back soon Captain, and I sure know you're probably just as beat as me."
Jeremiah opens his mouth, but let's out a sigh, signaling for Zayn to follow him back to the carriage.
It isn't until after they slip into the fancy carriage and start their journey back to Black Fawne does Jeremiah sit up straight, open his mouth, and hands Zayn the round treats.
"They call them maroons." Jeremiah said, nodding towards the treats, "I don't love sweets, but there quite good and--think of it as a thank you for coming with me today, especially with no complaints. I do appreciate it, very much so."
Zayn eyes the pink box, admire the various of flavors reflected on the plastic cover, like a window to the box.
"Next time, I will give you a full tour of the capitol," Jeremiah said, "think of it as a big thank you after everything has settled down."
Zayn nods, holding the box of macaroons tight, bowing her head and softly letting out words of gratitude, realizing that her cheeks under her armor are flushed with red.
...
"Guess what?" Zayn said, eyeing her friends as Amur and Chase jog with her around the training grounds. Stamina training is heavily emphasized apparently, which means after every task, the new knights have to do a few laps around the large training around. Gods, the one time Zayn wishes she could not wear armor would be now--it's fairly warm outside for the fall season, yet Zayn feels more hotter under her armor--and it's definitely because all of the workouts she's doing in mountains of metal.
"What, oh-miss-I-met-the-prince-without-my-best-friends?" Amour said, a large pout to her voice. "What could it ever be?"
"I have no qualms about that." Chase said, wiping sweat from his forehead, his muscled arms contracting with his wide swings, "but was the food good? I heard the royal family has that really fancy tea?"
"You and your food man." Amur said, rolling her eyes, "but yeah, spill."
"I didn't break anything," Zayn said, huffing out, "not a single thing!"
Amur skids to a stop, staring at Zayn.
"Nothing-?"
"Nope!" Zayn said, holding her head high.
"Notta-?"
"Nope!" Zayn nods her head again, folding her arms and huffing in excitement.
"Wow." Amur said, "for that, you get whatever extra meat Chase sneaks on his plate to scarf down."
"Hey!" Chase said, flipping Amur off; she just laughs.
"He was nice--and very handsome." Zayn said, jogging faster to keep up with her friend's pace, "and he has a pet lion--I wish I asked for it's name, it was so cute! And he was sitting on a flying cushion! Oh! And he mentioned something about the God of Chaos and her potentially planning something and also the Veras seem to be more active then usually and-."
"What?" Amur asked, skidding to another stop. Chase follows her closely behind.
"Oh yeah! Seems like there trying to hopefully prevent a war," Zayn said, rubbing the back of her helmet, "and that's why they need me for the expedition?"
Amur and Chase stare at Zayn before sharing a nervous look.
...
Jeremiah told Zayn they'll be starting their one-on-one training tomorrow, so after dining with her friends Zayn and Amur head to their dorms; Chase heads off to sleep in his own room, Amur wanders off to sleep early, hugging her pillow and lightly snoring during the bellows of the night.
Zayn barely sleeps a wink, too absorbed in her head to really fall asleep, which explains her decision at the dusk of dawn--before the knights get up for breakfast and then readies themselves for their daily training— Zayn gets up and slowly shuts her and Amur's bedroom door behind her and silently creeps out of her bedroom room, outside into the cool morning, and walks to the training field, the dusk behind dawn a yellowish, pinkish hue, creating a colorful canvas that Zayn is stilled, absorbed in the sky's beauty.
"You're up early," it's a deep, silky voice behind her that makes her turn around, "Knight Zayn."
"Ah, Captain," Zayn said, bowing low in greeting. "Good morning, I didn't think anyone would be up."
"I usually get up fairly early to work out." Jeremiah said, and Zayn roams her eyes to the training sword attached to Jeremiah's hips and he's wearing black training armor--both things Zayn's never seen Jeremiah adorn before. "I guess I'm not the only one."
"Yeah-uh-yesterday had me thinking a lot," Zayn said fidgeting in her spot, "so I thought it'd be good to let off some steam or something? Like go for a run--I don't know--I don't know how one acts when there "in their head,' or at least that's what Amur calls it."
Jeremiah silently stares at Zayn, eyeing her up and down before he quietly sighs.
"I am aware that our training together is later," Jeremiah said, motioning his hand to the vast space around them, "but we're both here. Why not we get an early start?"
Zayn stills, her eyes sparkling at the thought.
"Y-yes C-Captian!" She said, saluting to him, "um, okay maybe I shouldn't be as excited as I am?"
Jeremiah shrugs, yet there's a small smile on his lips, and wow--Jeremiah looks super handsome when he smiles, "would you like to use your fist or a sword? I don't mind you using Excalibur either."
"Oh, um-." Zayn said, shrugging, "I honestly don't know how to use a sword and--I'm not sure why--but using Excalibur feels pretty natural and--I don't know?"
Jeremiah snorts, dropping his training sword and motioning to Zayn's fist.
"We should see how strong that strength of yours is," Jeremiah said, motioning to his chains, "I can be pretty strong too, which is why I have these."
Zayn stares at the heavy black shackles, clearly they look like they weigh many pounds, yet Jeremiah wears them on his wrist with ease.
"It restrains your strength?" Zayn asked, motioning to Jeremiah's chains.
"Something like that." Jeremiah said, "many people are afraid of what Dragonian's can do, so it helps to prevent any chaos."
Zayn stares at Jeremiah--the gears slowly turn in her head until she gasps, eyeing his chains again, realizing now that the chains make sense--well kind of--mainly because a normal human couldn't ever carry so much weight with them 24/7--unless there Zayn, of course, but Zayn's the only one she knows to be strong enough to destroy things as easily as she does, so it's debatable.
"You're a dragon?" Zayn said, and she hears the slight giddy in her voice.
"I am only half, but yes," Jeremiah said, watching Zayn fiddle with her feet, "does this make you uncomfortable?"
"No! Oh Gods if anything, that's super cool!" Zayn said, wailing her arms in the arm, "and it explains why you're so handsome too-you know, I will be shutting my mouth now!"
A few awkward coughs, red cheeks (courtesy of Jeremiah), and awkward silences later, Jeremiah signals Zayn over to the corners of the field, where their backs are turned towards the Black Fawn's corridor and their face to face with a large mountain side.
"The thing about strength isn't how much you use," Jeremiah said, clenching his large hand into fist, twisting his body, and throwing a punch at the air--the turbulence from the punch itself causing rifts in the air waves, maneuvering through the sky to cause a slight crack on top of the mountain-top's crown.
Shocked, yet impress, Zayn claps, nodding her head in excitement.
"In fact," Jeremiah said, nodding his head in thanks to the applause, "it's how much you can control. Now, try the same thing, but try to hold back as best as you can."
Zayn excitedly nods, moving her fist back, twisting her body, and aiming for the same mountain top.
"Leave it to me, Captain!" Zayn exclaims, a smile in her voice as she clenches her fist and throws a punch in the air--yet the same punch causes a massive turbulence in the air, pushing Jeremiah's jet black hair back until it because a mess, leaving large craters where Zayn stands, but the mountain top seemed to be in alright shape, so she was kind of successful.
"I did it?" Zayn said, pointing to the mountain top--which it must have been a delayed reaction because the mountain top explodes, crumbling from its head downwards to cause a massive avalanche. "Or not, I did not do it."
Jeremiah stares at the mountain--or was once was a mountain--before he turns away to look at Zayn.
"We have a lot more work to do than I thought." Jeremiah said, letting out soft sigh.
Zayn offers a sheepish smile in response.