Ready, she was not. Tarren swung anyway.

With a crack, the staves collided. Liris had managed to lift hers and block the blow before it could slam into her head. The impact sent shockwaves cascading through the wood, stinging her hands. She let the staff fall and messaged her palms. Pain blossomed in her side.

"Second lesson, though it deserves to be first. Never drop your weapon."

"Do you think I am a child? Of course I know not to drop my weapon. You struck so hard I feared injury."

"So? In a real fight, your opponent will never give you a second chance...let alone a first one. Even if half your fingers have been ripped off...never drop your weapon."

That seemed...extreme. She stooped down and picked it up before her other side was jabbed.

"Good, now a blow from the left."

"Yours or mine?"

It was already well on its way. She squeezed the staff harder and rotated it vertically. Another crack. It still hurt, slightly less but pain was pain. However, she managed to hold on through the sting.

"Better. Now the other side."

So, her left? This time, the blow pushed through her block and landed on her ribs. Some of the force was absorbed, but it still knocked the air from her lungs.

"What...was that...for?"

"Hmm? I assure you, I'm swinging as gently as possible."

"Can't you...react perfectly...to anything?"

"Oh, I'm not using my ability. And you shouldn't either! Ekard will explicitly state when we are doing ability training. All these are just soft swings."

Soft. How was she going to survive? Tarren made it look so easy. His feet were placed a short distance apart, knees and elbows slightly bent. Just how relaxed was he? Liris moved to copy his stance, her knee cried out again. Tarren smiled brightly.

"There you go! You picked that up quick. I'll start doing combinations and patterns now."

Combinations and what? She was practically collapsing. Two swift strikes arced in. Deflecting the first, she couldn't reposition in time to block the follow-up. Great now her calf throbbed as well. And she was lying on the ground.

"Close. Let's do it again!"

This was ridiculous. Ekard might have been correct about one thing, Tarren was dense. Here she was, having never dueled, or spared, or whatever this was, and he thought she was learning? Liris rose again. Both legs were weakened, her arms were already heavy from the few blows, was this all a twisted joke?

"I don't think I'll be able to."

"Sure you can! You just have to keep getting up, that's the key. When I first started, I had a difficult time blocking the strikes, it just takes practice."

A day of practice wouldn't harden her muscles, she knew that much. How much was she even learning, besides how much a staff hurt when swung 'gently'.

"How about you show me instead?"

"Show you what?"

"The moves, how to move, when to attack. You know...training."

"But...that's what we're doing. Is it not?"

Wow...okay then. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Fine. Let's get this over with."

Tarren looked confused. Liris tensed, waiting for the next blow. With a shrug, he obliged.

On and on the blows rained down. She could feel her feet being driven into the ground with each one. Sweat slid down her back in distracting droplets. Tarren appeared more relaxed than the random people sitting on benches nearby. There was no animosity in his countenance, only focus. Every strike was made with perfect precision. Her weak points were exposed constantly, though that wasn't too surprising. She had many.

That painful wooden rod still managed to slip under her guard and multiply the bruises. Liris pushed everything aside and concentrated on survival. How long would the onslaught continue? Once, she glimpsed an opening. Tarren had glanced away, his staff lowered. She couldn't take advantage. Not only were her arms unable to move quickly enough, but she wasn't even sure how to strike with such an unwieldy weapon. She swung anyway.

Nonchalantly, Tarren knocked it aside.

By the time Ekard called a stop, the sun was at its peak. Staggering in exhaustion, Liris grounded her staff for stability. They called this training? Who would willingly choose to participate? Tarren would, she knew it intrinsically.

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"Enough. You're just wasting your time now."

"Sorry sir, I pulled the blows as much as I could."

"Doesn't matter. At this point she'd only be reinforcing her shoddy instincts."

Tarren gave a sharp nod and sprinted off. Where? She couldn't tell. Her eyes were far too blurry.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

Was she? Oh no...the 'course'. Whatever that was. Defeated, Liris leaned heavily on the staff.

"Where do I go?"

"Through there." A careless gesture. "And remember, until you drop!"

Why did he have to be so cheerful about it? She glanced up from the dirt to determine if he was serious. Ekard was already gone. Nothing to do now but get it over with. Now, to find the course. Off to one side was a small path, was that what he had pointed to? Liris began the expedition.

"Leave the staff!"

But she couldn't drop it, the pain would arrive. No wait, Tarren had left as well. At the edge of the packed ground, she let it slip from her fingers. It made walking so much harder. As if in a dream, she floundered on. The path curved between hedges, or was she actually this delirious? Either way, another oval came into view. Smaller in area than the one she had left, it was covered in all manner of strange objects.

Logs were arranged in rows, some raised on posts. Beyond those, barrels scattered randomly across a clear area. Then, a long half-circle marked with string and stakes wrapped around the far end of the oval. Connecting from the end of the stakes to where she stood was the last section. A field of small boulders.

Gronning, Liris made her way to the first log. It was worn to a polish, stripped of all bark. Her leg burned but she lifted it anyway and stepped over. And the next, and the next. The burn only grew.

"Faster!"

It was faint from this far, but that was clearly Ekard. How was that even possible? It didn't matter. Liris sped up...marginally. Now the logs were knee height, the increase in effort was exponential. She fell over each one, adding to the suffering. Several tumbles later, they were now at her shoulders. Liris refused the implication. Ducking underneath was far better.

Now her back burned too.

Past the last of the logs, the barrels looked so kind. Ducking one last time, she soon found they disguised their torture well. If she didn't want to leap over each one, they would have to be avoided. That's when their villainous nature was revealed. With how many were scattered round, it wasn't long before her joints joined the flames.

Then there was the string. This was simple enough, just run along the path. Liris walked instead. After all, there were still the boulders. She took a deep breath upon reaching them. Glancing back down the path, Ekard wasn't in sight. Best to act as if he was, all the same.

The boulders' treacherous angles threatened to snap her ankle with the slightest mistake. Their sharp edges reminded her of those strange triangle- best not to think about that right now. She had enough trouble without dwelling on her cursed ability. Whether by design or simply her fragility, the boulders forced her to crawl.

Her hands were numb by now, so the rough surface wasn't the issue. No, it was the combined screaming of every muscle and joint begging her to lay down and die. The boulders stretched far into the distance. She stopped looking ahead. Managing to fall into a rhythm, she focused on moving...just moving. Still crawling, Liris realized the rock had given way to dirt. How long ago had that occurred? Battered and torn, she had reached the end at last.

Rolling to her back, she stared up at the sun. The deep orange sphere stared back, nearing the edge of the Brume.

"Again!"

Liris wasn't sure what made her listen. Was it the intensity of that distant voice? Perhaps fear of reprisal? All the same, she was standing again, at the logs. Two steps later, she collapsed. She hated this. Not the challenge or the pain, though those were unpleasant, to say the least, rather, her weakness. Small, she felt so small. Splayed out in the dirt, unable to move even if her life depended on it…and it just might.

A shadow crossed her face. She craned her neck, searching. Ekard towered above her with crossed arms.

"Well done."

Liris waited...surely there was a backhanded compliment. Nothing? No scathing critique of her character?

"You're past the point of improvement now. Go eat, rest. This training will be every two days. Miss one, I dare you."

That evil grin again, then he was gone. Rest sounded nice. Right here was as good as any, right? But the sun was setting...it would soon cool. Slamming a feeble fist against the ground, Liris rolled to her stomach. Her bed was waiting. Pushing with everything she had, she managed to sit up. Regaining her feet was even harder.

Back along that path, past the blurry figures still training. Inadvertently trampling a few flowers -was that a gasp of sorrow from the gardener?- the door stood before her again. Practically falling through it, she was met with the familiarity of those endless hallways. Pulling the parchment from a pocket, she tried to find her place. Why were the lines moving?

This wouldn't work. Leaning her head against the cool stone, she tried to recall her path from earlier. She closed her eyes instinctively...how far to the first turn?

"Are you alright miss?"

Somebody was speaking. Liris pushed off the wall and kept moving.

"Fine. How are you?"

Wrong greeting? It didn't matter. Whoever they were, she had to find her room. Three left turns then a right. Staring at a dead end piled with crates, Liris's heart sunk deeper. A quick backtrack...it was two lefts, not three. Almost there...but the stairs. Her face scrunched in distress. So many steps. No recourse but to forge on. She wouldn't stoop to asking someone to carry her, though she desperately wished they would anyway.

Her door. The latch stuck stubbornly. Slamming her palm against it, she staggered through. And continued staggering until she reached the bed. Faceplanting into the pillow, Liris finally allowed herself to relax.

What was she doing? Trying to train and become a warrior? This was so far beyond her ability it was laughable. Did the council really expect her to be of any use? Did she even want to be of use to them? There were many ways even her pitiful actions could be warped to further their control.

It would always be like this. Some underhanded manipulation to coerce her into acting on their behalf. Why was this so complicated? She yelled into the pillow. Even the design of this stupid Spire left everyone in a state of confusion and restlessness. There were good people out there, those particular three, best of all. Good people who had true needs. This was all a waste. She was a waste. How gladly she would trade places with someone with a normal ability.

Again and again, her mind returned to a singular thought. Why did it have to be her?

For hours she lay there, sometimes on her back, others buried in the pillow. A short intermission for third meal, and she returned to that comforting embrace. The sun had set long ago, taking with it warmth and hope. The council were responsible for this mess, true. Fate also carried some blame. But most of all, she could only point the finger at herself. She was not strong enough, in every way imaginable.