Chapter 25: Training Arc
The rest of the day was exhausting, and Christena didn’t just focus on developing Addie’s magic. Apparently, training one’s body was just as important as training her soul, or so Christena said.
“Alright, Addie, you love playing in the forest, right?” Christena asked.
Addie nodded her head with enthusiasm.
“Then, I’m sure you’ll be a big fan of a recharging run in the forest with me!” Christena smiled.
Addie wasn’t sure she liked her smile, but this all sounded good to Addie so far. She did love playing in the forest, and she did love running around when she was full of energy.
“Follow me!” Christena commanded.
Addie ran behind Christena, allowing her to lead them. At first Addie whooped and jumped as she released her energy. That was a mistake, and it only made her more tired later on. Somehow, Christena was sucking all of the fun out of running. She wasn’t playing, or stopping to admire the bugs and play around with the trees. Christena was just running in a circle around the mansion! She didn’t speed up, or slow down. She just constantly, without a word, ran and ran.
The third lap around the mansion was harder than the first two. Addie's legs felt heavy, her breath came in short, sharp gasps, and a stitch jabbed at her side with every step.
“When are we going to be done?” she panted more than whined, each word punctuated by her breathing.
Her feet pounded against the earth, and a dull ache spread up from her soles to her calves. The initial fun of running had evaporated after just the first loop around the mansion.
“After another twenty-five loops,” Christena deadpanned.
“You’re lying! This isn’t fun. Why are we running?” Addie demanded an answer.
Christena just stayed silent, allowing the run to fall back into silence.
“Christena,” Addie started, “Why are we running?” she asked between breaths, “I have a tummy ache.”
Instead of responding, Christena started to sing, “The ants go marching one by one hurrah, hurrah.”
Addie knew that song! She started to join in. The singing made it a bit better, but Addie still didn’t understand what they were doing, or why they needed to run around the mansion again and again.
What Addie did know, was that she didn’t want to give up. Maybe, if she was better at running, she could have escaped the wolf from the forest better. Maybe Squishy wouldn’t have gotten hurt.
After another twenty-two loops around the mansion, when Christena finally let Addie take a break, she immediately ran inside to get a glass of water. Next time, Addie was going to make one of the other maids wait in the front yard with water so she wouldn’t have to go get it herself.
Christena found Addie in the kitchen and immediately started ushering Addie back out into the courtyard, “Alright, I didn’t say we were done, just that you could take a break. There’s more to do.”
Addie complained the whole way back out into the yard, but something kept her from running off. She decided to stick it out and continue the exercise.
They did pushups and jumping jacks. They stretched their muscles in between ‘sets’ of exercises, as Christena called it. Christena even introduced Addie to some horrible torture routine called ‘burpees’. Christena taught Addie some ‘forms’— movements involving blocking, punching, and kicking, for if she ever needed to fight someone after she exhausted her magic. They started with the most basic beginner form, mostly consisting of what Christena described as a ‘middle punch’ and a ‘low block’. It was tedious, and many of the moves repeated themselves, but Christena assured Addie the higher-level forms would be much more exciting. Fun, even.
Meanwhile, Squishy did his best to participate, too. Addie would have laughed, watching his quadrupedal form attempting a pushup, or trying to use his paw to ‘punch’, but she didn’t have the breath to spare. Mostly, she just passively observed her surroundings and wiped the stinging sweat from her eyes as she followed each successive set of instructions from her teacher.
Christena somehow did everything without any difficulty. She wasn’t even sweating in this summer heat. Addie suspected she might be pretending to look perfect by hiding behind some kind of illusion. There was no way Christena wasn’t sweaty.
“Christena! I’m sweaty! Are we going to be done soon?” Addie asked during one of their stretch breaks.
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“Addie,” Christena sighed as she tried not to lose her composure, “I’ve been pretty patient with you, but this is important. Can you keep up, or not? Do you want to be strong? Or do you want to quit and go inside? I could be easier on you if that’s really what you want. But if you want to be strong, then let’s get to work and stop complaining. You’re really driving me up the wall.”
The frustration in Christena’s tone made Addie gulp, and really think. At that moment, Addie decided what she wanted to be.
They kept at it, all the way until lunchtime. Since they had gotten up pretty early, Addie guessed they continued exercising like that for almost three hours. Apparently, Addie’s body was ‘malleable’ and ‘heals easily because you’re young’. Addie still didn’t appreciate how sore everything was, even if she could recover quickly.
Lunchtime came and went, and then it was right back into her lessons. She practically slept through the dreaded math and politics courses. She really hated that last one, especially.
Finally, it was time again for more magic lessons. Christena was going to try and teach Addie how she could develop some of her powers to be ‘sideways’.
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“The biggest breakthrough I had with my illusions was when I realized I could use them to affect the real world in a tangible way. With an illusion of water,” Christena summoned a floating ball of water, “I can make something wet,” She dropped the water on the floor, causing it to splash into the dirt, darkening it.
“Of course, the illusion is still just that, an illusion.” Right after she finished speaking, the water from the dirt immediately began to fade away. In moments, the water was gone, never having truly existed at all.
“Its temporary nature doesn’t stop me from using it to my advantage, though. But, enough with my demonstrations, I’m here to help you develop a new technique.”
Addie was in awe, watching Christena’s magic never got boring. But, Addie was stumped. She didn’t know how she wanted to improve her magic. She idly kicked at dirt in thought.
“How do you think I should improve my magic, Christena?” Addie looked at Christena with hopeful eyes.
“That is something you have to discover, Addie. I’m just here to facilitate.”
Addie didn’t know what facilitate meant, but she understood that she needed to figure things out on her own. She closed her eyes in thought.
“Let’s brainstorm together,” Christena suggested, “Remember, what is it that your magic can do right now?”
“I can go into Realmspace and I can see with my spatial sense,” Addie looked up at Christena’s face as she summarized.
“When I practice with my magic, I combine my light and sound illusions to create more advanced illusions. What ways can you think of to combine your two powers?” Christena prompted.
Addie thought and thought some more. She thought so much, that she sat down.
In the yard where the green grass did grow, sat Addie, in thought, her head bent low. Chin perched on her hand, still as a stone, Thinking deep thoughts, all on her own.
The grass was really pretty. The morning dew still shined on a few of the blades, and the trees in the distance swayed in the wind.
“Addie?” Christena prompted, “Did you think of anything?”
Addie frowned, as she realized she had gotten distracted. She just couldn’t keep her mind on the task, and each time she tried, she got distracted by the environment or started coming up with silly rhymes and other methods to entertain herself.
But, she wasn’t alone. She had an advantage that apparently, most bonded did not. She looked over to Squishy.
Silently, across the bond, Addie prodded Squishy with her thoughts, “What do you think, Squishy? How should we come up with new magic?” Addie asked. But, he didn’t know either. So the two of them sat in thought.
After a while, Christena decided it might be best to let Addie think on it some more and revisit the topic another time.
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While Addie had worked hard during the day, especially for the morning exercises, she could tell that Christena was a little bit disappointed. It showed in her kind, encouraging smile.
The disappointment bled into the rest of the week, as each time Addie tried to think of ways to help improve her magic, she was stumped, distracted, or otherwise unable to come up with any ideas. She tried hard though, every day, Addie tried to think of something.
Every day, Christena’s sad, encouraging smile appeared, and each day Addie watched Christena’s patience grow weary. ‘Another day’ she would say. But another day turned into three, and then seven.
At the beginning of the new week, Addie caught Christena in a conversation with her father just before bed. She had been coming to find her dad to try and convince him to read her a story, as he sometimes would before bed.
She found the two talking in his office. Even with the doors closed Addie could easily see through the door and into the office with her spatial sense. Though, that didn’t help her hear them. Instead, she tip-toed up to the door, with Squishy at her side, and put her ear up against the door. Addie couldn’t help herself, she was curious.
“I know Addie... But I’m worried that...” Addie couldn’t quite make out what Christena was saying. She closed her eyes, and quieted her breathing, then focused as much as she could beyond the door.
“A trip? Now? You’re right that we’ve hit a roadblock in her training, but I’m worried about sending her off so soon after her bonding initialization.” Christena said. “You know how hard that was on her. How hard it was on me. Just, give me some time with her.”
“Christena, I don’t think this roadblock is because of the bonding initialization, or at least, not the same reasons as you think. Addie is still only ten years old. She received her first bond two years early. Honestly, the fact that she’s done all that she has in such a short amount of time is astounding. She’s a prodigy.”
Addie wasn’t sure what prodigy meant, but based on her father’s tone it sounded like a good thing. She focused back on the conversation.
“Despite that, it’s a lot to ask her to come up with new magic ideas. I’m not sure she has the mental capability to do so, yet. I think we should put her in an environment that will help facilitate her learning new ways to exploit her magic. Give her a push in the right direction.”
“And how is visiting your sister’s swamp going to help with that? We are not making another fake ‘bad guy’.” Addie recognized Christena’s serious tone when she heard it.
“No, nothing so dramatic. I think we learned our lesson the first time.” Her dad paused for a second, “No, I think putting her in the same place as her cousin will act as the catalyst we need. Give her a friend, another girl her age to compete with. Aggan knows that I always thrived when I had friendly competition.”
“I see your point, I suppose. Though, I’ll have to insist on joining. I don’t want Addie to start slacking just because your Aunt is a more lenient teacher.” Christena decided.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Addie could see her father’s smile through the door.
That night, lying awake in bed, Addie kept thinking about the talk between Christena and her dad. They called her a prodigy, which sounded good, but they also sounded worried. Why couldn't she come up with new magic just because she was ten? It stung to be judged like that.
She knew what 'prodigy' meant now - it meant she was really good at something. But it also seemed to mean that a lot was expected of her. She was too young for some things, but she still wanted to show everyone what she could do with her magic. It wasn't fair to think she couldn't do it just because of her age.
Pulling her blanket up to her chin, she tried to find a comfy spot. She thought about magic and what she could do with it.
“I can do this,” she whispered to herself.
Even though it was hard, Addie didn't want to give up. She closed her eyes and made a promise that she would keep trying, no matter what. She was going to figure it out. She knew she could, in her heart. It just wasn’t easy.