THE next few weeks sped quick enough until the ball—Asmeen had managed to finish all three gowns, plus an extra for Nara, who she was bringing as her guest. She was pleased with all of them, especially her own.

Training, on the other hand, was getting harder and harder. After that one break, Dara and Osoric hadn't spared them. Every day they reached home a little later, more tired. Wylla was definitely losing energy, and even Elyn was more tired than usual.

On the bright side, there surely wasn't much time left until training ended.

Suri's ankle was finally healed, so the day before the ball, they were finally having the much-postponed strength activity.

There had been a few partner activities, and, yes, she and Aven had squabbled, but nothing too bad. They were both making an effort. So when the leaders announced that this, also, was a partner activity, Asmeen was hopeful.

Their training area was extended to the entire forest. And they'd start age-wise. Which meant the youngest pairs would get to start first, and Asmeen would be one of the last. So they waited, and waited, and waited until Dara announced that it was time for their age group.

Asmeen stood next to Aven. Apparently, this test was timed. Somehow. So they'd have to go as fast as possible.

Dara clapped. They set off, into the trees. The path was clearly marked. Asmeen didn't run too fast in the interest of conserving energy, a strategy that Aven hadn't liked—he had thought getting a head start was better—but had eventually agreed to.

So most of the other pairs were ahead of them. It was a bit of a long way to the first station. But, finally, they reached the first challenge. Only two other pairs were there with them.

They had to run and fill four pots of water from a nearby well, which, while tiring, because the well was rather deep and drawing up water was rather difficult, especially since most of the other teams had already done it—but they made it.

Asmeen was tired, but not too much, as they moved on, which she was rather proud of. In one of the previous rounds, when she was younger, she'd failed because she wasn't strong enough. Now she was.

The next round—seeing it, Asmeen stopped dead in her tracks.

Aven glanced back at her, slowing down. "What's wrong?"

Asmeen swallowed. They'd managed to fasten long branches sideways and diagonally between the trees, and it looked like they'd have to crawl through the obstacle course without hitting any of them.

That was what it seemed like, judging by the groups still stuck there. Asmeen even saw one from a younger age group trying and failing to get across.

The problem was that Asmeen was notoriously bad at this. Her body just didn't bend the right way. She'd almost failed this in the previous training round this year, just because of this one event. And it hadn't been half as hard as this one seemed to be.

"Come on!" Aven called, already standing at the entrance.

Asmeen let out a sharp breath and ran towards him. At the entrance, there stood a tall woman watching them all with sharp eyes—probably a Flower Child, or a Child of the Night. Asmeen hadn't thought anyone would even try to cheat, but perhaps the leaders had wanted to be careful.

"Let's go," Aven said, already lifting a leg to cross the first branch.

Asmeen followed him, terribly slowly. Aven was already halfway through it, and she had barely started. She could tell he was beginning to get irritated.

Then she tripped.

Aven groaned.

"Both partners have to start again," the woman said, her face completely straight.

Aven bit his lip, but took in a deep breath. "It's alright," he said, "It happens. Let's just get through."

Asmeen nodded, grateful for his patience, and they started.

This time, she hadn't even realized there was a branch right above her. As soon as her hand hit, she shouted. She'd hit it hard enough that she could see a red mark already forming on her skin.

Aven turned back at the sound, and his lips pursed tightly. "Again?" He swallowed, and Asmeen looked at the ground as they trudged back to the beginning. "This is the last time," he said, his face set.

Asmeen nodded. "I'll take my time."

"Do that," Aven said, looking around. There was hardly anyone else left.

Asmeen didn't want to show up last. She really didn't.

Only it didn't seem to matter much. She'd made it halfway through, and at this part, they were supposed to crawl under the branches. Asmeen didn't mind getting dirty—honestly, she just wanted to get this over with.

But her leg—her ankle, really—went up involuntarily, and she hit a branch.

"Asmeen!" Aven snapped, once he saw. He was nearly done.

"I'm trying!" She shouted back, even though she knew that it was her fault. Aven didn't bother hiding his anger this time.

In the end, it took them two more tries to finally cross.

They made it through the next few tasks in relative silence—heavy, heavy silence. Aven was clearly irritated, which made partner activities harder. Both of them had started snapping at each other whenever the other made a small mistake.

Asmeen couldn't help it. Tension was high, and there were only two other pairs going at about the same time as them. She didn't want to walk into the field last was all she knew.

Then they reached the next station.

Asmeen let out a breath of relief on seeing it. Archery. She wasn't bad. In fact, she almost always hitting near the centre on the target.

"You have to hit the target a total of six times. Each partner must hit thrice," the man on standby explained.

"The target, or the board?" Aven asked with narrowed eyes.

The man gave him an unimpressed look. "The painted part."

Asmeen winced. The colored circle was rather small. It would be difficult for those who weren't particularly good archers. Still, she walked forward and grabbed a bow lying on the table. Then she looked at Aven. "What? Aren't you coming?"

Aven bristled and charge forward, grabbing his own bow.

Asmeen let out a breath to focus herself and stretched the string backwards, looking at the target and the target only. She let the arrow fly.

It hit near the centre. She grinned and took a step back. Only three? That would be easy, then.

Then she looked at Aven.

One of his arrows had hit the board, a significant distance from the painted circle, and one arrow—when had he found the time to shoot another?—had landed on the grass.

He glanced at her, his face reddening.

"Focus," Asmeen said, mocking his expression during the branch obstacles that she'd messed up on.

Asmeen glared at her. "I am."

The next arrow Asmeen shot hit dead center.

Aven's had hit just outside of the circle. His face was still getting redder and redder. Asmeen thought he looked even sicker than he had in the infirmary.

Aven had hit an arrow—barely—by the time she finished.

Asmeen looked at the man who was watching. "Does each partner have to hit three?"

The man nodded.

Asmeen let out a sigh and looked at Aven, getting irritated herself. She was sure this was how he'd felt when she'd kept failing before.

"I'm trying," Aven muttered lowly, probably thinking back to when she'd said that very thing.

Asmeen pursed her lips tightly, watching him. At this rate, they were really going to end up last.

When he missed again, she walked up to him and stood directly behind him, grabbing each of his hands with her own. Aven was warm, and sweating, and to be honest smelling a bit. His back muscles were all tense.

She glanced at the man who was still watching, blank-faced. "Is this allowed?"

The man shrugged. "Nothing against it."

"Good." Asmeen exhaled, keeping her hands clasped around Aven's arms tightly. "What are you doing with all these muscles?" She muttered, squeezing his arms, letting her nails slightly dig in.

Aven let out an offended noise.

Asmeen took a step closer and pulled his arms back. She could barely see over his shoulder. She had to lean to the side a bit.

Essentially, she was the one shooting the arrow. Just behind him. She gripped his wrists tighter, her fingers curling around his, holding the string tightly. "Let go," she muttered.

The arrow flew, and this time it hit.

Asmeen took a step back, throwing him a dirty look. "You smell like sweat. Sweaty."

Aven scowled at her, his face all red. Why was he red? She'd been the one doing all the work. "So do you." He retrieved another arrow and took his position.

Asmeen stood right behind him again, close enough to feel the heat from his body. She pulled the arrow back again. Aven was holding on even less tight this time, letting her do all the work. Wise.

She shot again, and the arrow hit. Asmeen stepped away as fast as she could and put the bow back. "Let's go. We have to make for all that time."

"It would have been faster if it hadn't been for you," Aven shot back, his face even redder, before he began running.

Asmeen did the same, panting and tired but running as fast as she possibly could. She didn't see anyone else, so she knew for sure that they were last. At least they could run and shorten their total time.

The entire course had been in a circle around the main field, and Asmeen saw the beginning of the course approaching.

Aven waited at the entrance for her, and they walked into the field together.

Asmeen knew her cheeks were burning, but hopefully that could be passed off as exhaustion. The entire field, all the trainees, were staring at them. Not in disdain, but it was still humiliating to be dead last.

They crept back to their place, not looking at each other, and sat down. Asmeen caught Wylla's eye, and Wylla grimaced at her.

"Now," Dara said, not paying them any attention, "Since you're all done, we're sure you are tired. But we must make sure you're all aware about the ball tomorrow."

"You all know the time?" Osoric asked.

The field chorused with a dry, tired, "Yes."

"Good," Osoric said, apparently not caring about their lack of energy. "There will be no training tomorrow, and we expect you to be on time. You may all leave."

As soon as the leaders went, Aven was on his feet and charging out. Asmeen watched him go with a scowl and made her way to her sisters.

"Oh, dear," Wylla said, her eyebrows raised. "I see the truce didn't last."

"I don't want to talk about it," Asmeen grumbled.

Elyn arched an eyebrow, but thankfully, she didn't comment. They made their way home in silence. Asmeen was soaked in sweat, and all she wanted to do really was get changed and go to bed.

They did just that, eating a rapid dinner and collapsing into bed.

At least there wouldn't be training the next day, since it was the blood moon.

How long did that no-fighting resolution last exactly? We're getting to the ball and I'm so excited to write it.

See you next chapter!