My days went on like this. The two sisters had gotten somewhat used to my presence and would allow me to move or scratch myself without causing too much of a fuss. They would also not stare at me so much, letting me blink and focus on something else. I was banned from meditating or moving the magic within myself as that might've disrupted their examinations or spells. But, when they weren't in direct contact with me I could do as I pleased.

 This didn't mean I didn't get much exercise. When the Móráns got tired of examining me, or got frustrated when their theories didn't work, they would send me out and I would either have to wait for Ard's arrival, or go to find her myself. She had begun to teach me how to move a spear, how to hold it and what sort mindset I should hold when attacking or defending myself with it. Her movement always took for granted that the opponent she was facing would be stronger than her, and she faster, and that she would have much less reach than him. But, I knew from her build that she held a bit more strength than she thinks.

 She would almost use the spear like a close range weapon, spinning it like a dance and hitting objects with both ends. Her feet would constantly be moving, circling around the opponent as to expose a blind spot or weakness. If you got too close, then she would hit you before you knew it. If you weren't close enough, she'd even out the distance within a moment and attack. There was a sweet spot where she would neither go forward or backward, instead attack ruthlessly while trying to cut your knees off.

 Of course, she never used her real spear. Only a long pole made of ash, a smaller version of one I had been given as a welcome gift by the Móráns.

  The spars were pitiful. Honestly I had thought her movements were more dance than fight, something impractical and showy. But I'd never win, only come out with bruises and occasionally with a broken bone when Ard got too aggressive. By the way she'd pamper me afterwords, I believed her when she told me she didn't mean to hurt me in that way. Of course, she'd still give me bruises, but she would heal those immediately after. I've lost myself in recollection, perhaps trying to figure out what past secret I could reveal to show to me a path towards victory. Alas, like always, it never came.

 Collecting my breath, and positioning the pole into the correct hand position, I faced my sparring partner. The last activity of the day, what she'd subject me to after hours of drilling of the basic movements she'd mastered. She had been taught by faeries of a different tribe, as she'd tell me, and that faery had been taught by another, older one. From that I could guess this style of movement was an ancient one, given how long her kind lives for.

 "Begin." The words she'd say before every match. She began a slight spinning of her staff between her fingers, she'd been frank when she told me that move was to intimidate large animals, but it would definitely hurt when it flowed into a hit. But it's her habit to begin with it, and it was almost the basis for the majority of her movements.

 I needed to keep my distance. Keep the staff's point forward, to not let her come in close. But to keep my grip light enough to easily transition when she got in, and she would always get in. She gave no show of even acting intimidated by my point, instead she attempted to whack it away with her own staff, although hopelessly diminutive in size it transferred such an immense amount of energy that I couldn't do anything but relent to it, instead I gave way to her strike and walked back.

 She was faster. She was both stronger, despite her size, agile and fast, and most importantly much more skilled. She positioned her staff still in both of her hands, the point almost held by her right hand and being driven by her left, and with sudden strength she jumped forward. I had enough time to position my staff to intercept her, but just barely. Dragging the point of the staff up my right hand as to make the weapon into one I could use for close range, and then I attempted to hit her off course while she was midair. I hit her staff, which she had positioned for a block, and sent her off course enough to walk away, into a safer distance.

 The name of the game was distance. I couldn't let her get close. I was too slow and she too fast. But neither should I have been too far, as my spear would be too easily hit away by her. I needed to be close enough to have a strong enough hold on my staff, but not close enough where she could give me too many bruises.

 "Hit the person, not the weapon." I didn't have time to do that. Breath, Attie, think and then breath. I began to spin the staff, a movement Ard had been instilling me from the moment I had been given this gift. Even despite training for days I wasn't very good at it, but it certainly did provide me momentum and I could more easily hit away Ard with it when she got too close.

 The entire thought process lasted a moment, Ard had gotten enough traction on her feet to explode once again, threatening to get as close to me as she possibly could. I knew she was holding back, but even despite that the speed she could unleash was frightening. It took everything to fend her off. I attempted to swing at her from the lower left, an upward strike, but her own staff met mine with a deafening crack and sent my staff safely away. I guess she was too far, and now the only weapon I had was the butt end of the staff.

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 I repositioned myself as fast as I could, letting go of the staff with my left hand and twisting it with my right, changing my position from a right handed one to a left handed one. But it was too slow. Ard stabbed at my abdomen and for a moment, made me lose my ability to stand. I fell to my knees and clutched at the part she had hit, forehead on the dirt. I breathed for a while, unable to let out a whimper.

  "Why do you always make distance? You should've taken advantage of that first strike against me and tried to land a kill. It might feel more risky, but playing it safe only gives me more opportunities to take advantage of your weaknesses."

 I couldn't respond, focusing on breathing and trying to ignore the terrible throb in my abdomen. Did she have to hit me so hard everytime? No wonder my bones broke. The damage probably reached my organs, I wouldn't be surprised at that at all. Ard touched my neck and I waited for the eventual relief, she'd always heal me almost immediately after she struck me.

 These are how most spars go. I'd make a dumb mistake and she'd immediately take advantage of it, hit me and let me be in pain for a couple of moments, and then heal me. Despite all of that I knew she could be faster. I knew that the full utilization of her style requires her to cast deadly spells while attacking. I knew that even despite the handicap she was giving me that I was pathetically weak compared to her.

 But I've gotten somewhat better. The spar matches would've ended within the first exchange two days ago, I've finally managed to gather enough wit to figure out how prolong the fight for one exchange. Sometimes. This one was one of those spars.

 I got up with weak knees, the pain had went away but that didn't mean the memory of it was gone, too. I stared at Ard and walked to my original position, placing the spear into the correct position in my hand and waiting for her to return to hers. She did, almost as if she was purposely being slow as to give me time to rest. But her word eventually came.

 "Begin."

 This time I tried to make her enter my reach before she could start any of her own movements. I tried to stab at her using the traditional stabbing method, a thrust. But instead of blocking with her staff, she shifted herself sideways, grabbed the pole and pulled me closer, and with her other hand whacked me on the head with her staff. That didn't hurt as much as I thought it would've, but nonetheless I dropped the spear and held onto my forehead. There was no blood, but a throbbing headache was starting to develop.

 "I won't heal that one. That was stupid. Never do that again." I nodded.

 The spars would go on for one more bout afterword. I lost it, of course. I hadn't managed to prolong the fight for longer than a single exchange. Perhaps the first one was a fluke. But enough of that, it was time to trudge my way to the river and clean myself. Ard had made it a habit to bathe with me, perhaps she's gotten the impression that I wouldn't bathe without either being told to, or without someone else to do it with. I hadn't given much attention to cleaning myself beyond the absolute basics back in the wilderness, so that idea wasn't groundless.

 It was wrong, however. But I had gotten used to her presence, and she wouldn't stare so much after what is getting close to ten days since my arrival. I guess humans can get used to a lot of minor things quickly if there's enough more interesting or painful things going on.

  It was after finishing scrubbing ourselves and putting our clothes back on that Ard had begun to speak again.

 "The Móráns have figured out a time estimate for when they'd be able to remove the spell placed on your throat. Three months, tops. Possibly faster if they invested all their time in figuring it out. It's a very complicated spell, but my initial theory of it originally being a simple one turned out to be true. The interactions you've had with it, although you've never been conscious of it most likely, had made it more complex than it was originally. This happens occasionally, and to an extent this is what the most complicated of spells come from."

 I continued to walk beside Ard. But the sensation of walking was lost to me. So was the sounds that usually came from within the forest. The only thing that repeated in my head was the end of this curse. I turned to Ard, her ears slowly moving up and down. I'd figured that was her being somewhat pleased. If I had ears like hers I could only imagine they'd be moving fast enough to grant me flight. Instead, I had a near painful smile on my face that I couldn't stop from growing.

 Covering my mouth with my left hand I considered everything. My entire life. What I could've been able to say in the future, what I could tell my parents, to my siblings.

  To master.

 In the next moment my high was shattered. The dread of having to meet her again enveloped me in its embrace. I didn't have to control the smile anymore, it vanished as quickly as it came. There are a lot of things I could do with this, many of those great, and others heart wrenching. But all of it was ultimately good. I nodded at Ard's words, and continued my walk.

 Still, even with that life played out as it always did. I needed to go to sleep and I needed to wake up, go to the Móráns and have them inspect me for a couple of hours, then I needed to train, to run around and to stand in a low position for as long as my legs could hold me. Occasionally I would be allowed to meditate, when Ard needed to do something outside. This was my life now, no longer searching for acorns or for herbs, but instead doing nothing and then being brutally trained in order to guard this place. It wasn't so bad, although I am starting to miss everyone.