Experience

Luna

The part of listening to the environment passed without any more drama which was a relief because my heart could not take much more of that torture.

Next was the testing of instinct which I found to be pretty comical though I don't think my master shared my views. I led him to the tree and made him stand underneath it.

"Now, you are going to have to dodge projectiles." I informed him as I peeled off his outer robe.

"What?" He stuttered, his eyes widening.

"Blind." I added as I made the biggest blindfold of all time.

"This is ridi...owww!" He cried, placing a hand against a bump on his head that grew from my throwing a pebble at him.

"You are not trying." I taunted as I picked up another pebble. "You like injuries now that you heal fast?" I threw the pebble which hit him square in the nose, extracting another cry from him.

"They still hurt as much." He grumbled as he began to move round in circles in an attempt to escape. I simply threw another which hit him in the chin.

"That is not how you avoid attacks, student. Forget fast healing, if you were on the battlefield, you would be long dead by now. A sharp claw to your head, nose and neck can kill you pretty fast, you know?" I aimed another pebble. "Don't listen to your mind. It will only confuse you. Listen to your heart instead. Become one with your surroundings and you will find that it is not so hard." I threw my weapon which hit his chest with a thump.

"It is just that hard. Aren't you supposed to let me get used to this training first? Probably using light things like branches and robes?" He was still rubbing his chest and his voice was heavy with pain but he had planted his feet now and seemed to be paying more attention.

"Will Leon give you that kind of consideration?" I asked simply.

A blood stained frown bloomed on his face as he thought about his oh so sweet brother. "Let's do this then." His voice was hard and more steely this time.

I made a mental note to always use his brother as catalyst whenever he began to get out of hand.

We became so engrossed in the training that I didn't realize how much time had passed till...

"What is going on here?" I froze as I slowly turned toward the speaker. The sun was still a long while away but the day was starting to brighten which enabled me to see the figure who was framed at the doorway several feet away, a scowl on her face which seemed pretty like always. I couldn't help wondering how she always managed to look so good. Blaire was the kind of woman who was so beautiful that even without trying, she made all other women around her feel insecure and run to close the eyes of their lovers. Except, that wasn't the point right now. The point was that I had been dancing around Indrik, making calls to distract him while rearing my arm to throw a pebble. He had quickly mastered the art of listening, getting out of the way before my rocks could hit him so I had decided to up the stakes forgetting that we were only a few miles away from the others. Now, it would appear that our noise had carried over to Blaire.

"I'm waiting." Indrik called. I gritted my teeth, holding back the urge to tell him to shut up.

"Master?" I took on my most subservient tone which sounded rather shrill to my own ears. "You can take off your blindfold. The critter is gone now." I called, hoping he would take the hint.

"What?" He asked in confusion but I couldn't spare any more words. Not when Blaire was glaring at me like she wanted to burn me to a crisp with those eyes of hers. She started to approach and I wiped my hands on my gown trying to think of the appropriate response to give her. Thankfully, Indrik started to untie his mega sized blindfold.

"What are you doing out here with Indrik in the early hours of the morning?" Blaire had reached me now. I noticed that she didn't look like she wanted to kill me now. Which meant she would probably make do with ripping out one of my eyes.

"Blaire." Indrik stuttered when he finally saw her. I exhaled in relief. If anyone could convince his friend, it was him.

Blaire looked from one to the other, her eyes stormy like she couldn't decide what to make of us.

"What are you doing out here, Blaire? It's early." Indrik decided to take the bull by the horns.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Blaire fired back.

"Oh! You wouldn't believe what happened." I started, flashing Indrik a look to play along. "My master could not sleep so he came to wake me up saying we should hunt for deers."

Blaire stared at me like I had grown deer antlers. "Deers? In here?" She waved her arm around the yard.

I slapped my hand against my forehead in mock frustration. "He said he saw one here so he dragged me over here and since then, we have been looking for it."

"And the blindfold?"

"Oh, that. My master said he was scared of the way deer eyes glow in the night so he made me blindfold him while I hunted for the deer which was what I was doing before you arrived."

Blaire stared at Indrik like she was expecting him to wave me off as crazy but he merely shrugged and flashed one of his trademark smiles. For a moment, I thought she was surely going to turn us in to the doctor for treatment but instead she sighed heavily. "You both are crazy."

I turned toward Indrik as she hurried off and shrugged at his quizzical look. I had experience.