I slipped out of his mind as I heard a gentle knock at the door. I walked across the wooden floor of my bed chambers and opened the door to Hank holding a decent sized book.

“Captain told me to drop these off?” Hank questioned as he handed me the box.

Thankfully the box wasn’t heavy as I took it from him. “Thanks Hank. I appreciate it.”

“Anytime.” He said. He turned and quickly left my room.

I closed my bedroom door and moved with the box to my wooden desk. I sat the box on my desk and opened it to an overwhelming sensation of baked goods. Hell, I had no idea where to start with these delicious looking treats.

Thank you again, love. I told Théoden.

You’re welcome Mia Amor. Théoden told me.

I pulled out one of the treats from the top of the box. The treat was in a croissant shape but seemed to be stuffed with something gooey.

I pulled the croissant apart and watched as a white cream filling began to drip from the treat. I quickly stuffed my mouth with it as I didn’t want to make a mess on the floor.

I heard Théoden chuckle softly through the bond. They are fresh. He told me.

I see that. I responded as I chewed the treat. I ain’t going to be able to eat all of these.

You can save them for a few days, you know. He told me.

Very true. I responded as I finished the cream filled treat.

Training tonight?

Indeed. Magic training. He responded.

I couldn’t help but groan but I understood why he chose magic training. From the events of the last two days filled my gem for sadness, red for anger, pink for love and hell even green for jealousy was filled a bit. Both shades of blue were mostly filled as blue mainly was a sign for sadness.

It won’t be that bad. Théoden told me. You’ve gotten the basics down pretty well now. Even killing my wolves with one attack instead of multiple.

Yeah, yeah.. I responded. I knew my powers were growing. I knew my strength had grown and my overall abilities had grown in power. That still didn’t mean I had to like our training sessions even if it meant more time alone with him.

It will be fine. He told me. Probably just a few more training sessions and you’ll be able to do some serious damage to myself.

Sure… I grumbled.

Believe in yourself. As I believe in you. Théoden told me with confidence.

I couldn’t help but feel my cheeks flush. Thanks dear.

Mhm.

I let the conversation drop as I had a few hours to kill prior to our training lesson. So I decided to walk to my office and go over those papers one more time and make the revisions that I could in that time frame.

The one I was most eager to tackle was the one that talked about the healers and military. I had given the document the name Military Healers Law.

I worked on the revision and managed to get three pages of it revised as the sun dipped below the grassy fields. I placed the papers in my desk drawer, locked it and walked out of my office. Turning off the lights and locking the door.

I walked along the corridor with ease as I wasn’t into too big of a hurry to get back to my room. Heck Théoden was still making his way back to his bedroom. So I took my time making my way to mine.

It took all but eight minutes to get to my room from my office as I took my time. This walk typically took five minutes but like I said, I was in no hurry.

Once I got back to my bed chambers I locked my bedroom door. Slipped off my dress, and slipped on a nightgown and rested against my pillow.

My mind raced as per usual however, Theo was always on time with our nightly routine and within minutes of him starting it I was out like a magical light.

Our dream escape tonight was an open field that was nestled outside of the kingdom. A gentle breeze wrestled in the air and the terrain a bit rough. As there were rock inclusions scattered throughout the field. Amongst the rocks was beautiful flowers in reds, blues, and yellows in a variety of flower types. The field was rather beautiful and perhaps that was one of Théoden's lessons tonight.

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“Even in the sight of beauty, there can be disaster.” Théoden told me as I took in the sight of the field. “This is a real place on the Northern side of the kingdom. It’s before you get to the Mountains.”

“And I've never been here because?” I questioned him as I knelt down and smelt a few of the flowers. Sweet and a bit spicy of a smell. Vibrant in color.

“It can be tricky to get to even for me. Flying here, well… there is an intense updraft which makes it difficult to fly through. Walking here takes a few hours and can be challenging in itself. Perhaps, in time I will take you here.” Théoden spoke as he watched me sniff the flowers.

“You better. It’s beautiful.” I told him as I stood up from sniffing the flowers and looked at him with a glare.

“We shall see.” Théoden told me with a smile. “Now do you want to just sniff the flowers or utilize some magic?” He asked as I saw him begin to bring up his draconic shield.

I sighed, “I know the correct answer is magic, however, i’d rather sniff flowers…” I said with a smile.

He just stared at me, “The sooner you practice, the sooner you can sniff the flowers.”

“Fine.” I grumbled. I looked down at my ring and selected the red one. The red ruby gem was often correlated to a fireball and I hated to burn the magical field down, however he insisted on training here.

A roaring blaze of liquid hot magma like substance shot from my palm after I uttered the word ild. The blaze itself was rather large as I had chosen to over channel the spell. Over channel was a way to achieve maximum power in the spell. However, it did mean that any spell utilized of the same colored gem was less than this one.

The blaze encompassed Théoden and his magical shield, depleting the shield's strength completely. Théoden on the other hand was untouched. “Good. Now let's focus on some target practice and call out the wolves.”

I couldn’t help but make a face as the wolves were deadly forces. However, they did make good target practice. So I overcame my fear of his wolves to learn a few basic spells.

Once he utilized the spell and uttered the word ulv, his two magically summoned companions sprinted forward, teeth baring and all. Alpha and Sephora, a beautiful pair and a rather deadly pair at the same time. Deadly to the point that I began to feel my body tense but I quickly shook it off. Utilizing a trick Théoden taught me of blocking out how scary an enemy may look.

I was quick to utilize four spells. Two for each wolf to eliminate them. I utilized a yellowish gem and caused acidic bursts on both of them. Burning their flesh and causing a disturbing smell in the air. I followed that up by an electric shock. Utilizing one of the blue gems and shooting both of them with the sheer force of lightning.

“Good!” Théoden shouted as he nodded in approval as both the wolves had fallen prior to even laying a paw on me.

I took a few deep breaths and looked at the ring on my finger. Three gems down. “Break?”

He smiled at me, “Let's do one more. Then we can take a break.”

I nodded and watched as he over channeled his shield for the first time tonight. I took note and utilized the dark blue gem and used one of his favorite spells. It was a spell that created acidic rain followed by multiple strikes of lighting. Once this shot out of my palm his eyes widened a bit as he embraced for impact as this spell usually took out his over channeled shield.

The acid ate away at the shield first. Followed by not just one strike of lightning but three of them. This was a lesser version as the gem wasn’t exactly fully charged when I used it. And to my surprise the shield remained as the last lightning strike hit.

“Hmm…” Théoden said, “I know my power has grown a bit, but this was not expected.”

“Let me try something else then.” I said as I gave him an eye roll. I utilized some of the green gem and let it eat away at his shield. This produced a necrosis like affect and proved that it was just as deadly as some of the others as it quickly ate away at the rest of his shield. Even damaging him a bit.

“Are you alright?” I asked him as he brushed his armor.

“Yeah..” He breathed.

“Let me practice healing.” I told him as I utilized my pink gem and produced a radiant burst of healing energy. Healing any damage I had done to him.

“Thanks love.” Théoden told me as he walked over to me. “I think you deserve a break now.”

I looked up at him with a smile, “Good.”

“You have improved quite a lot since we first started.” Théoden said as he bent down and kissed my lips softly.

“Only because I have you as a teacher.” I said with a sheepish grin.

He rolled his eyes, “A lot of it was you.” He kissed me once more.

“Are we utilizing more magic tonight?” I asked him as I walked over and took a seat on a rock that was big enough for the both of us to sit.

Théoden followed me over to the stone and sat next to me. “No, I think we can wait until tomorrow.” He told me. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into him. He nestled my hair and kissed my cheek softly.

“Good.” Once he quit messing with my hair I laid my head against his shoulder and took in my surroundings.

“A beautiful place can even have disaster.” I murmured his words.

“Just like a beautiful kingdom.” Théoden told me.

I glanced up at him, “What are you getting at?” The kingdom had faced tragedy before so I was lost as to what he was referencing here.

“I kept you from seeing the destruction with the last brutal attack.” I knew he meant with my parents, “Now, you will be facing it head on in three weeks. I just wanted to try to prepare you for the disaster that is to follow.”

I looked back to where he was standing. At the moment I didn’t notice. But looking back now, the ground where he stood was charred, decayed, and destroyed. As the rest of the area out of the target zone remained in tack. It hurt my heart to see the devastation but now I understood the lesson he was teaching me.

“I’m sorry.” I told Théoden. “You had to face all of that and shield me from seeing any of it. You kept it to yourself and kept me out of it. Even when I tried to peer through your mind through the bond.”

“And I do it again if it means you are safe.” Théoden told me. “But now, we are both going to be facing it. And I want you to be able to keep composure, at least the best you can. As when the battle is said and done, our people will turn to you.”

I nodded. This part of it wasn’t ready for. The pressure and darkness of what is to follow our upcoming battle.

“I know it will take a lot out of you. Out of me. But I know and I believe that you are capable. That I am capable.” Théoden said as he gave me a gentle kiss on the cheek. I felt a warmth pulsing through the bond as he produced a wave of confidence by utilizing a simple spell.

“Thanks Theo.” I said as I turned and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. I knew the devastation was going to be hard to deal with but I also knew with Théoden at my side, it would go smoothly. I hope so.

The rest of the dream was calm. I remained nestled in Théoden's arms as we sat and enjoyed the field of pure beauty and bliss. A field I hoped to visit in person one day.