It was early morning and Arneth excitedly ran to Akaro’s chambers, knocking on the door repeatedly. “AKARO! Hurry! Wake up!” several knocks later and the door was opened with an excited yank. Akaro stood at the foot of the door, dressed in freshly cleaned clothes. It was the usual loose white tunic given to most initiates but it was cleaner than normal. “I’m ready, let's go get Wigyur!”

The two quickly made their way down the male only hall and reached its end where Wigyur shared a chamber with Jacob Crofen. Arneth knocked on the door several times and waited. Wigyur answered the door with tired eyes, it was clear he just woke up only moments ago. “Let's go Wig, we have a long trip ahead of us.”

A voice shouted from behind Wigyur, “you guys going to Finchfur? Can I come?!” excitedly asked Jacob, who was laid in bed reading a book.

“Fock off, no you can’t,” Wigyur shouted from over his shoulder.

“You’re a prick Wigyur,” Jacob proclaimed.

Wigyur stepped forward and shut the door behind him. The three walked out of the hall and made their way down the stairs that led to the front doors of the Citadel. “Before we go, we should invite Iris.” Akaro said, reaching the bottom of the stairs. Both Wigyur and Arneth immediately looked at one another with disdain.

“Absolutely not,” Arneth spat out and crossed his arms.

“Oh come on, she's part of the team.”

“I don’t care if she is or not. She doesn’t like us.”

Wigyur chose to stay out of the discussion, he knew because Arneth was an Ashkelli that he’d likely have an issue with Iris coming along. Regardless of the sour northern politics, Wigyur couldn’t care less if she came or not. He was just excited to get out of the damn Citadel.

“Well how is she gonna like us if we never invite her to anything?” Akaro questioned.

After a long pause of thought, Arneth groaned. “Fine.”

Even with the tension of Ashkelli and Ivorian politics, Iris and Arneth mostly kept to themselves. There was obviously a sort of resentment between the two, with constant glares and refusal to speak to one another, but at least there was no violence involved. Maybe, the space between the two is what really kept any sort of tension from bubbling over?

Because of this, it almost always made it impossible having Iris involved in anything the group wanted to do outside of training.

Regardless of the circumstances, the three walked out of the Citadel and made their way to the mustering field where Iris trained by herself for the entirety of the six weeks. Even knowing Khalia gave them a rest day, Iris woke up at seven in the morning and trained her takedown techniques on straw dummies that were provided at the opposite end of the mustering field.

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Akaro, Wigyur, and Arneth all walked onto the field where Iris was busy doing exactly what they expected. Training. She stood perfectly on a single leg, pivoting her body to spin with such velocity that by the time she made a single spin a precise kick landed on the neck area of a straw dummy.

“Hey Iris!” Akaro called out.

“What.” Iris responded, without shifting her focus from the training.

“We’re all headed to the Finchfur meadery, wanna come?” Akaro asked.

Iris stopped what she was doing and turned to flash a glare at Akaro. “You three could get in huge trouble for going to the meadery, are you insane?”

“Well, we could, but we won’t. We’ll be back home before it gets late.” butted Wigyur.

“I’m not going to jeopardize everything I have worked hard for, and if you three were any wiser, you would all stay here,” Iris warned.

Arneth heard enough of Iris’ blabbering and turned around with a shrug. “Told you she wouldn’t want to come.” Arneth said, walking away.

Wigyur looked a bit disappointed but its not like he was going to sit there and try to convince Iris. He turned around along with Arneth and followed him, “come on, Akaro,” he shouted over his shoulder. “She’s not going to change her mind.”

Akaro however, stayed with Iris. Her words of warning had some merit to them, but Akaro was tired of constantly training. They had all endured ten grueling weeks of training. A little bit of fun didn’t seem to be such a bad thing.

Akaro’s softened eyes stared at Iris, he really wanted her to come, but it seemed changing her mind was going to be impossible. He let out a deep sigh and nodded his head. “I’ll see you later, Iris…” he quietly spoke. Akaro gave a weak wave to Iris and turned to follow the other two who were already on the other side of the field.

Arneth, Akaro, and Wigyur snuck out from the Citadel using a broken rampart on the eastern wall. A crevice between the cobbled wall made for an excellent jumping point to the outside ground below. One by one, with a thud, the three jumped several feet down to the grass. Yet, this wasn’t their gateway to freedom yet. They had to make sure they weren't spotted by the many archers that patrolled the high stone walls that surrounded the castle. The three squeezed themselves against the wall to make themselves unnoticeable, waiting for a brief respite between patrols.

“Ok, now!” Arneth whispered at the two, seeing a perfect opportunity to make a run for the Blackwoods. The three sprinted across the field that parted the castle from the trees, rushing into the treeline, hoping it would cover their escape.

The three couldn’t keep from laughing out loud while they ran through the trees. “I don’t think any of em saw us,” Wigyur proclaimed, looking over his shoulder and stopping for a breath.

“Where do we go from here?” Akaro asked, stopping right next to Wigyur.

“It’s southeast of here, I heard some of the others in the dining hall say it's about an hour walk from here.” Arneth explained, pointing southeast.

“Let's not waste any daylight then,” Akaro said.

The three headed southeast through the forest. To their surprise the woods were not as flat as the rest of the Valen. The terrain was rough, with steep rocky cliffs, mossy overgrowth, and rapid waters. That's not to say there weren’t pockets of overwhelming beauty in the Blackwoods. Some areas of the forest were untouched groves of nature accompanied by the harmonic singing of birds.

The wildly varying terrain slowed them down drastically. An hour trip turned to two hours then three, but eventually the group heard voices in the distance. Filled with a second batch of adrenaline, the three rushed to the sound of voices and crept over a grassy hill overlooking a small clearing. At the center of the clearing was a village of wooden houses and straw roofs. At the edge of the village was a small river with a bridge connecting it to the main road that led through the entirety of the Blackwoods. Finchfur was at a perfect intersection between the Grave Marshes that lay to the east, Farfell to the south, and Kings Way to the Northwest. It was a small lumbering village, perfect for a little vacation.

“We found it boys..” Arneth whispered with a grin.