"I can't believe I let myself be convinced by a peasant like you."

"I just wanted to get you out of there. Oh, and keep the jacket, I'm already used to this weather."

We were walking towards the usual place where I trained. She stayed behind me, with the coat draped over her shoulders, and as we moved away from the village center, she clutched it tighter and tighter. It was already dark and even though summer had just ended, at the village's outskirts, hands and noses were getting cold, an atmosphere to which the lungs had to adapt; air increasingly difficult to breathe.

"Besides being a stalker, are you also a maniac who takes me to dark and remote places?" she asked coldly, already imagining the answer.

Alright, I accept it, I was the one who told her she could insult me in a place where no one would hear us, but I didn't think she would actually do it. I don't know why, but I thought she liked me a little, maybe because she left the field just to scold me, giving me attention. Anyway, the fact remained that, even though I had been cool with her, I was walking next to a damn chosen one, and I didn't know if she could kill me. I reconsidered the idea of taking her to an isolated place...

"So, aren't you going to answer?"

"Are all you chosen ones like this?" I replied with another question, but without losing my temper and insulting her back.

"So awesome? Yes, we are."

All the admiration I had for her and the chosen ones was slowly crumbling. I couldn't convince myself how much the chosen ones were similar to ordinary people, and perhaps they were a bit too full of themselves.

"Anyway, even if you don't mean what you say, you hurt me a bit." I stated sincerely.

"You're the one who told me I could insult you in a quiet place."

"Yes, it's true, but I didn't mean literally." I turned to her and continued with my eyes fixed on the dirt under her feet, "The real reason I wanted to bring you here is that I wanted you to see with your own eyes why I was spying on your training."

"It's not news that someone wants to become a chosen one."

I approached the rock I usually sat on, not far from the trees I punched.

"It's not just that. It's too late for me now, I'm not deluded. I know I will no longer awaken the power of the Great Star. Yet I kept training."

She seemed not to understand my intentions, my effort, and everything I had given for the good of the village and against traditions. But after all, I didn't expect her to understand me. I just wanted to prove that I was worth something too.

"Why did you continue?" she asked, without any malicious tone, "Why did you keep training even though you knew you would never become a chosen one?"

This is what I meant when I said she seemed interested in me. Something sparkled in her eyes when she asked me that question, as if she were looking at an unknown creature. But even though the unknown is frightening, she kept asking questions, perhaps curious about my unusual behavior. Perhaps she saw me as a fish trying to climb a tree, unsuitable for that role, an impossible role. Yet something told me there was a sincere curiosity in her.

I stood up and headed towards the woods.

"Hey, you didn't answer me. Where are you going?"

"Come!" I told her, already distant, "I need to show you something!"

"In answer to your question, I always continued to believe that, somehow, I could become the village chief even without powers. That's why I kept training."

Then pointing to the fallen tree I said, "I kept hitting this tree until it broke and fell."

She remained silent. She looked at the trunk, with its rings, then looked at me.

"But if you don't have powers... does that mean it took you forever? How long did you hit that poor tree?"

"First of all," I corrected her, "it's called a damn tree. Anyway, it took me about two years. Every day I came here, trained, and then punched this tree. Yes, it sounds pretty stupid when I put it that way, yet I believe that in doing so, I became stronger."

She seemed to listen attentively. She didn't seem to have any intention of mocking me; she truly believed what she had said earlier.

"The worn hands." She said softly.

"Are they that noticeable?" I asked, a bit embarrassed.

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She looked at the stump once more, nodded as if thinking about something, and then handed me the jacket back.

"I don't need this anymore."

Had I perhaps made her mad? I thought I knew how to deal with girls, but maybe I didn't understand anything at all. I put on the jacket, and the warm feeling I liked so much returned instantly. But what was no longer there was Malia and her presence.

"Wait!" It was me shouting now, "I didn't mean to make you angry! I just wanted to-"

She turned abruptly and said as if she had read my mind, "Even if you don't understand anything about girls, I want to help you."

I couldn't believe it. It couldn't have been that simple. There had to be a trap or a hidden pit beneath my feet ready to send me into oblivion. Seeing my desire to express myself, she immediately silenced me.

"Even though we don't know each other, you don't seem like a bad guy, and even though maybe you're a bit dumber than I thought, hitting trees as training, I truly admire your perseverance."

Maybe my moment had finally arrived. After years of efforts punching that tree, the fruits were impressively growing. I made the impossible be possible.

"Surely," she said, observing the starry night sky, "if you had a master, you would have become stronger. Tell me, how did you train yourself?"

I sat on the usual rock. Malia had a serious expression, one I had never seen before. I thought she was a girl who simply loved to insult others and feel important, but there was something else in her that I hadn't seen yet. I told her about my routine, with the running, the jumps off the rock, and... she already knew about the tree. After listening carefully, she responded, "I see. Basically, you've focused on purely physical training for these years." Then she added, "Completely useless against the chosen ones."

What?! After all those years spent dying in the winter cold and breaking my hands punching the stumps... but after all, it was my fault. I tried to do everything alone, and that was the result. A useless training, insignificant like me. Perhaps the village saying was truer than I thought: to achieve one's goal, it's impossible to do it alone, one should seek help and take the most suitable advice and information from everyone.

"Nonono, wait! I'm not saying you did all this for nothing! Sure... maybe you could have asked someone for advice, but honestly, I don't know if anyone would have helped you."

"Your way of comforting me isn't working."

"What I mean is that you're already well on your way to achieving your dream, only you're not using your time and energy in the best way. I believe you've realized that too, actually. That's why you were watching our training, am I wrong? You were trying to learn to fight, but in the end, I don't think just watching helped you."

Everything she said was so precise and real it almost scared me. She had understood the situation only from the few pieces of information I had given her, and somehow she had also managed to grasp the kind of person I was, my character, and my weaknesses. I was visibly surprised by her abilities.

"But is this also part of your power?" I asked. I knew she had an immense adaptability, so much so that the few minutes spent in the cold allowed her body to get used to it, but I didn't think she could do it based on a person's character.

"So, it's true that you don't know anything about women." She said with a smile. But I didn't understand what she meant.

"I won't tell you anything else about me," she said, "but if you want me to teach you how to fight, know that the days you were beating that tree will seem like the least painful of your life."

No, I wasn't a masochist, I swear.

"I don't care. If you say it will give me even a single chance to participate in the fight for the throne, then I trust you."

"You shouldn't trust people so easily, just because they offer to help you achieve your dream," she said with a hint of irony.

"It's not like I have many alternatives, after all." I replied in a devastated tone.

"Should I be your savior and you treat me like the last wheel of the cart?!"

"No, I thank you, Malia. Until now, I have been the one to close myself off, even with this training thing. It's just that I knew I had no hope against a guy who lifts stones or who can throw me across the village with a single toss. So I was waiting for the best opportunity to find a chosen one and challenge him."

"I understand. So I disrupted your whole plan." She said with a smug smile.

"Let's put it that way."

The wind had stopped some time ago, and our voices mingled with the sounds of the forest, and the rustling of the leaves.

"But you have to admit my plan is better than yours."

“What plan?"

“From tomorrow, I will be your teacher, and that is how you will address me.”

With those few precise words, she turned on her heels and headed towards the village center. Her hair waved in front of the stars of that night, in the forest silence that wasn’t so silent. I was definitely shocked by her last words. I had become the student of a chosen one for no reason. By spying on the chosen ones' lessons, I had gained a chosen teacher. Well, as a punishment, it's not too bad.

I began to think of an increasingly possible future where I shone as the new village chief. My dream was closer than ever, yet my ideals were no longer the same. If I became the village chief helped by a chosen one, maybe my battle wouldn’t have the same meaning as before. However, my dream hadn’t changed. My goal was to become the village chief and end that system of antiquated traditions that had labeled me as a citizen not to be taken as an example. Her voice, however, clouded my thoughts.

“You haven’t told me your name,” she said.

“Oh, that’s right,” I replied. “I am Falco Anderson.”

“Falco, know that you are still my rival. I won’t let you sit on that throne easily. But I will do everything to make you fight on equal footing against us. I can’t wait for you to call me teacher.”

“Weren’t you leaving?!”