Work went by rather quickly, as everything is seeming to do. It was hard to believe it had only been a week since I left home, and yet an entire week had almost passed. It was a strange feeling. I have so much to learn, so many things to experience. I hope that every day can be just as fun, and if not fun then at least be as fulfilling.
The next few days go similarly. I am learning how to know what things are important to document in my notes, and what things are okay to just listen to without writing anything down. I am also improving in leaps and bounds in my physical classes.
I am getting faster at running the obstacle course, the first week was just running it every day. Next week it seems we will be doing team building exercises. When asked why we were running the same course the entire week we were told that it was so that the instructor and the helpers can really strongly pin point the areas that we are weak in. As they tell us, it is okay to have weakness, but it is not okay to ignore it. We should acknowledge that weakness and work on it until it is less of a hindrance.
I was thrilled at how much faster I was getting and some of my other classmates seem to notice this and congratulate me. I started staying behind after finishing so that I too may congratulate my classmates in return. There is, however, one classmate that is never happy with anyone else's progress. This classmates name is Rex.
Throughout the week we had been pitted against other classmates. Today however was Lochniday, the last day of classes before the weekend and we were being pitted against the same person that we had been on Dwarsday. I look over at Rex and my mouth suddenly feels dry.
I have been on edge, waiting to see what Rex, Jestin and Fowley would do to us. However, nothing had happened since classes started. For some this would put a mind at ease, however my mind is much too knowledgeable to be put at ease. There are a few times during this course where it is difficult for the instructor and helpers to see us, let alone intervene if something were to happen.
"Rex, Amaya you're up. I want to see a good, clean competition, but not against one another. This should be a competition of self. Try to do better than you did on Dwarsday. Ready. Set. Go!" the instructor says and I take off.
It is imperative that I stay ahead of Rex the entire time.
"I'm not losing to you this time you hooded freak."
Yes Rex, please do keep talking. Waste your breath on calling me a freak and making threats as it simply gives me more time and space to prove that I am better than you.
'I shall not allow him to murder me. Dear me, I do believe I will not even allow him the chance to win.' I say. And truly I shall not. I will give this my all. Climb, crawl, jump, whatever I have to do. The entire time we are going through the course Rex does not pull ahead.
'At least Rocketta has my back.’ Ha okay, I have made it to the tall thin platforms. Rex is not good at these, but I do rather well up here.
I begin making my way across when I hear a voice snarling at me.
"I don't think they can see you up here." Rex says, and pulls something out from the back of his clothing. It was a long, thick stick.
"What do you plan on doing with that?" I query him.
"This." he says, and he swings the stick at me with all of his might.
It hits me across the stomach, winding me and causing me to lose my balance. I feel myself falling, weightless in the air.
'I need to remedy this!' I say and reach out. Somehow my tail catches onto the walkway. I know it is not strong enough to hold my weight so I quickly swing my feet up, hooking one of them onto the walkway. So far so good.
Once I feel that my feet are steady I swing myself back up onto the walkway. I swing a bit too hard and end up soaring through the air. I land on the platform in a crouched position, I bet that looked amazing, if only I had done it intentionally. As soon as my hands and feet touch down I push off with my feet. No time to be cautious or try to maintain balance. I am going for speed.
I almost feel like trying to command the winds to part so I have no air resistance against my small frame, but feel silly at such a thought. I am not mage. Can mages even do such things? I cannot profess to know.
‘Focusing!’
I regain my lead as Rex really isn't good at running these high, narrow walk ways. Also, he feels as though he had knocked out his competition so he can take his time being careful. I glance over at him for only a second as I race past him and I see a mixture of confusion and fury in his eyes. He had genuinely wanted to hurt me. I fear what he will do since this did not work.
I drop down from the platform and into the water. This part never gets any more pleasant. The cold seeps into me but I do not allow myself a single moment to even catch my breath. Crawl through the mud, then up the wall. The mud really made it hard to climb, it tended to coat my cloak in heavy muck. I have my hands on a firm grip when I hear a splash behind me. He was only now getting down into the water? Had I truly been moving so fast or is he truly just that slow?
I maneuver my way up and over the wall and race myself to the end. I did not plan on sticking around for even an extra moment today. I had to get away from Rex, I was familiar with that look, and sad to say but that type of personality in general. I had to tell Kay that were in danger. Not small bullying that leaves marks, but danger as in trying to cause us a severe injury or even worse.
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What are the rules of violence against adventurers here? Adventurers are this towns life blood. Without them I cannot profess to knowing what would happen. Perhaps the monsters would stream forth from the mouth of the dungeon and penetrate all places upon this world. But no one truly knows.
‘Zayne, I’m scared.’
"Well done Amaya! I don't know how you did it, but you cut seven minutes off of your time from Dwarsday! That is truly remarkable. Now then, I recommend getting cleaned up before your next course."
"Thank you. I shall do so." I tell him and look around for Cat. I catch a movement out of the corner of my eye and the next thing I know Cat has leapt up onto my shoulder.
"You stink my tiny swamp creature. To the shower with you."
I nod to him and decide that we were going to make to the showers in record time today. I race my way to the bath house and dart inside.
"Rex hit me in the stomach with a thick branch of some sort."
"I'm sorry, some of the mud that was on you must have gotten into my ears. What did you say?" he asks me, wishing to clarify.
I don't blame him. That does not seem like the kind of thing a "noble" elf would do. Rex, however, is nothing of the sort.
"Show me." Cat demands and I comply.
I walk us both further into the bath house and open my cloak enough for Cat to see my exposed stomach. There was a sharp line of red that was puffy and already starting to bruise.
"Is there anything that we can do about this?” I ask Cat, hoping that he might have some sort of solution.
"There really isn't anything. Either no one saw, or the people who did have been paid off, or do not wish to do anything to upset Rex or his father."
"Even to the detriment of those around him?" I ask, stunned.
"I forget sometimes that you are still young. It is the way of the world, particularly in a dungeon town. I am afraid the old adage of might makes right is more often true than not." Cat clicks his tongue in distaste.
I step under the powerful shower and let the mud and muck wash off of me whilst I try to string together a comprehensive sentence. This should not be happening. This wasn't supposed to happen in a dungeon town.
"How can he hold so much power? I thought that he is only powerful outside of the town?"
"Though his noble title comes from land ownership, he also comes from quite the adventuring lineage. And careful with that water!" Cat says and gets out of the shower area.
We would be able to hear one another if we shouted, but I didn't even have words to shout. I just had fear and fury burning within my breast. And against my stomach. It HURT where he hit me, I’m pretty sure that was a dungeon weapon of some sort.
I scrub off with the soap and hot water until I feel clean then stand under the warm wind spell. Feeling clean I call out to Cat.
"Alright I'm washed off let's get to our next class."
Cat meets me at the door and hops up onto my shoulder.
"Try to be careful, okay? I will be around as often as I can, but there might be moments that I am called away and as I’ve said adventurers do have to be able take care of themselves. Be on your guard.“
I start heading toward to the lecture hall when I feel a tap on my cheek.
“Oh, and Ami? I know you are different. I don't know why, and I don’t intend to tell you how I know, but I know you are. Kay and I will be ready to listen when you are ready to talk."
I don't say anything in response. I know that Kay and Cat are good people, but I need to be sure that I can trust them. Mother told me all about the fox catchers. She told me that there is an order that goes around and looks for anything different, anyone that stands out more than they should. However, since they serve the gods that won the war, they turn a blind eye to the races created by them. To the victor goes the spoils? Stupid.
Rex was one of the races created by the gods that won. It was those that were given a spark of their creator’s divinity that had to be careful. Foxes, unicorns, dragons and their kin, phoenixes and their kin. The world has been led to believe that these were evil races, and people killed any they find. Some still do, though most have forgotten what foxes were. Most, but not all, the inquisition was a small but deadly force still in the world.
We finally reach the lecture area, and I let the though of classes distract my worried thoughts. Only to see that we are too early to take our seats. I am not sure what to do with myself while we wait.
I decide to take out my daggers and go through some of the forms that I had been taught, many of which were just different ways to hold your daggers. They were a nice weight in my hands, but something felt wrong. I think Alice might have the right idea about having a fan in one hand and a dagger in the other. Perhaps before or after my tutoring tomorrow I can use some of my money to purchase war fans.
"Hi Ami, hi Cat! Did you get here early, or wait am I late?" Kay says, running up to us. "What are you doing? Oh are you doing dagger exercises? That's neat! but, umm, weren't you just in Obstacle Courses Galore!? Didn't that wear you out at least for a little while? I just got out of swimming and let me tell you. My arms feel like jelly. Did I become a slime and not notice it?" he asks, jokingly.
"Hmm..." I say and look him over, lifting one arm and then the other. "Nope, still Kay." I say and give him a smile. Being around Kay and his brilliant enthusiasm gives me energy. I hope he always stays so lighthearted. Well, with everything he has told me about his life so far it is a miracle he is still as happy as he is.
"Hey Ami, are you okay? You seem a little less cheerful than you usually are."
"Cheerful? I usually seem cheerful? Well, that is rather lovely. Having a good attitude helps those around you also have a good attitude. However, I do have reasons for my mood to have slipped a bit." I tell him.
"Oh no. What happened? Are you okay? Did you break something? Did they convince you so stop working towards being an adventurer and instead steal you as a full time staff member at the Paws and Claws Inn and Tavern? I hope not. Say it's not so. Oh no, you don't suddenly have to go back home do you? Did you get a letter saying that you, as the dessert princess, have to return and marry as your family has found a kind and wealthy prince for you to marry, who will spirit you away back to his kingdom for all eternity?" Kay asks, speaking all of those words so quickly it almost sounds as though the words themselves are overlapping.
“If that is so then I will have to understand, for such a prince will bring your family great prosperity. Do not let me stand in your way of familial bliss, but I will miss you so. Do tell me you will write, you will write won’t you?”
"Kay, how could I choose some strange foreign prince I have never met over you? Such a thing would be unthinkable!” We both start laughing and I can feel my tensions loosen by a measurable amount, however I knew I still had reason to be concerned.
“Oh no, it is nothing like that. I still have every intention of becoming an adventurer. I might have even more of a drive to do so now actually. Kay, I have the feeling that Rex is going to do what he can to keep us from becoming adventurers."
"Why do you say that. I know that my cousin is a mean, evil, cousin beating up, orphan hating, slime licking, waste of flesh but he still follows the adventurer's code. Adventurers have the right to settle disputes against one another one on one as long as it does not lead to the death or permanent injury of the other party."
"What if he does something to hurt me that would not normally lead to permanent injury, but in a location or situation where the outcome of his actions may ‘accidentally’ lead to permanent injury?"
"Well then that matter gets taken up by the Guardian Owl guild, the guild that resides over this dungeon town, setting down laws and settling disputes. I like to imagine that the offending party is fed to a giant owl that swoops down out of the sky, and chomp! Offense gone. Dungeon towns do not have rulers, so they are what we have instead.”
"I see. Thank you."
"But uhh, why do you ask?"
"Because Rex attacked me." I say.
"Alright, those of you that are here for class may come and take your seats now." The voice of the instructor disrupts our conversation.
We all move to do so, me and Kay taking our seats at the front of the class again.
"Now then, if you had another lecture class before this then what I am about to say is not new information, but for those of you that have this as their first lecture class listen up. At the end of the week, every week, you will get an update of your stats at the end of your last course. Announcement over. Now then, who can tell me what type of slimes dissolve armor?"