No matter how much Abeni wanted to say ‘yes!’ right then and there, she had work to do the next day and finding a location where they could spar in to the best of their abilities while staying out of sight was not easy. They couldn’t put themselves at any unnecessary risk, especially when they could easily get kicked out the village like that Nigerian pair did a week ago and left to fend for themselves.

That’s why that Friday and the days subsequent to it, Abeni finished her last two slashes – ninety-nine, one hundred! – before spending the rest of her time searching for big areas of space, like nearby tunnels, to spar in. Then took a much-needed multi-day break from the rest of her exercises. In turn, the female ẹda, who promised to help if needed, went on her own search while Abeni was at work. As a ball the size of the white-haired girl’s head, of course.

It took them up until Sunday to find a decent place that wasn’t too populated or too small.

“Abeni! Abeni! You’re not going to believe this, I actually found something this time!” The female ẹda called out as the white-haired girl walked in and closed the door behind her.

She watched as the female ẹda – who Abeni really hadn’t known what to say to before their big confrontation the other day – slithered around on the smooth front room-kitchen stone floor as if trying to she was trying to rid herself of excess excitement so she didn’t crush Abeni. When suddenly, the female ẹda changed course and gripped her shoulders a second later.

“There’s a farm nearby! It’s as big and polished as the village plaza! Can you believe it? I can’t believe you eniyans. I mean I knew that you all used your abilities in diverse ways, but talk about creative. Now if we can just get the guy to leave the area, we could use it! All you have to do is tell him that the chief is expecting him or something, I don’t know! Argh! This has to work!” The female ẹda looked like she’d tug out her petals in desperation.

“Wait a moment.”

“Yeah? What is it? Come on, we need to go tomorrow! Since you’re not working then.”

This sounded too good to be true. “No, I mean, what’s this place like? Please describe it to me. And who was there?”

So, the female ẹda released her grip and told Abeni about the large farm on the outskirts of the village away near to where Abeni lived. About how the man there seemed to have a matter ability that allowed him to generate light energy for the various plant life. He also had loads of soil and water, judging from when the female ẹda rolled on the crops when he was gone.

In fact, from the looks of it, he might be one of the ten junior manipulators like her parents had been.

“Alright,” Abeni hummed, this was good. A big open space. “Is there anyone else who lives there? Does he have a partner or children?”

The female ẹda shook her head. “Nope! That would be impossible. The hut by the farm is really small. And I didn’t see anyone else there even though I was rolling there and back the entire day.”

“Alright,” Abeni hummed again.

“Are you scared? I mean, I get it if you are. Just because there’s only one of him, doesn’t mean he won’t see us,” the female ẹda assessed Abeni’s thinking face for a short time before coming to her own conclusion, “Wait...don’t tell me. Is that what you mean by training? Do you want to…kill—?”

“No! Of course not!” Abeni jolted to look at her, confused. That wasn’t necessary. Life was too precious to get rid of like that. Why would she even suspect that? It was like the tables have completely turned. She crossed her arms, “I’ll just use my ability to tell him to leave the farm until the next morning so we can use it at night. Hopefully, I can convince him that he himself wants to leave too if I act like a worried child or a child who needs help, but if worst came to worse...” She’d use what she’s been so hesitant to all this time.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Her mind manipulation ability.

“…Oh yeah, that made much more sense,” the female ẹda admitted before snorting with a boastful expression on her face. “But are you sure you should be using your ability right before we spar? If you waste your outer spirit energy, you might lose before you can even say ‘go’…”

But instead of offended, Abeni felt stirred on by it, arms dropping as she pointed the other being’s way with a smirk. “Oh, you’re on!”

The next day, Abeni visited the field to ‘greet’ to her neighbour down a small rock hill west from her stone hut where guards didn’t patrol. The field was incredibly vast and private just like her stone hut. There were rows and rows of fresh produce, pots of flower buds and even mushrooms like they saw in the maze. The light here was more yellow than the orange of the village torches and the soil smelled rich in the air as a man poured water to hydrate it without breaking a sweat.

After some pleasantries, Abeni could tell that the farmer was nice and really friendly as he patiently listened to her fibs about living alone. But after everything, he said that he was busy that night and had work to do in the hut, so Abeni went home saying it would be safest to ask if she could borrow it tomorrow when he wouldn’t protest it. Of course, the female ẹda agreed.

Luckily there was no problem the next day, as she, with false teary eyes, commanded him. “The real reason I came here yesterday...is because it’s dangerous around here. There have been rumours about the villagers affected by the curse coming to this part of the village and I don’t want anyone else to die...Please leave your farm for tonight.”

“...You know what, I think I’ll listen to you...Don’t tell anyone, but…I have been getting this weird feeling like someone is watching me recently. It’s probably them,” Oops. She guessed the female ẹda’s stalking worked to their advantage.

“…Until the sun comes up,” Abeni added for good measure as he nodded and walked back inside to pack his things. That easy, huh?

And now, three weeks after she arrived back at Aajiz Village, Abeni was facing an ẹda with a butter knife in her hand so she didn’t actually hurt her, ready to fight. But this time she wasn’t scared.

Abeni had mentioned it before, but she thought the rules of Oware would work very well in a fight. Not that she’d been in many fights as of yet. But that would change tonight. In Oware, you had to slowly capture as many beads as you could by controlling how many beads were in the pots on both sides and timing things correctly. It was about making the right moves from the beginning and knowing how to distribute your forces.

In the case of this spar, Abeni thought about her mind manipulation ability. Judging from the time she stupidly forced the female ẹda to fight her on their trip here, Abeni knew that she didn’t have that much outer spirit energy to work with when making commands.

So, Abeni had to learn how to make a good first move. She had to learn how to distribute her commands and what little damage she could do physically to deal with her opponent's blows. Because unlike in Oware, there were countless occasions where she could both instantly win and instantly lose if she was not careful.

But it was OK, because that was the point of today.

To learn in a healthy way.

Or...

In a healthier way at least.

“You ready?” The quiet of the space, the almost invisible edging made of stones and the dimmer night light...boxes that slightly illuminated the farm were eerie. She took note of his ability for later. Especially since all Abeni could focus on right now was an eniyan-sized female ẹda smiling at her. Dangerous, powerful, stronger than her.

But she wasn’t scared anymore. She just... wasn’t. Not after that hug.

“Yes, I am,” Abeni responded.

“To win the spar— What did we say again…?”

Abeni couldn’t help but huff at that, amused. The female ẹda really could be so forgetful sometimes. “The way to win is to make it so that the other being can’t get up.”

The female ẹda hummed to herself. “OK, seems easy enough.”

No one spoke as they eyed each other down from only a few stepped apart one last time. “You ready, or?” The female ẹda asked, back to sounding smug again.

“Yes,” a good first move, a good first move, a good—

“Then, let’s begin!”

[Current Total Beings In ‘Abeni’s Army’ – 1]