"Here, this one should be fine for you," Prick says as he hands me a sword. 

I look at it in awe. It shines brightly as it reflects the Sun's rays. We are standing in the middle of a huge piece of land. I never knew it got sunny in this kingdom, there was only snow here. 

"Now, your grip on the sword must be firm. Make sure it doesn't slip from your hand. Hold it how it is most comfortable for you, like how you hold someone's hand when shaking hands," he says. 

I nod and grip the sword firmly. It feels cool, to hold a real sword. When I was smaller, I used to make swords out of paper or use my plastic cricket bat and pretend it was a sword. Mom used to play with me too, and dad used to come home from work and defeat me with his hands while I tried to defeat him with the bat. 
In the end, he'd pick me up and kiss me on my forehead and say, " But you'll always stay my little warrior."

If I always did stay his little warrior, then why did he abandon me?

"You can't learn anything if you keep on spacing out. *sigh*  We'll start from the basics, okay? I'll first teach you how to defend," Prick says, bringing me back to reality.

"Okay."

"Now, if someone attacks you like this," he gets into a lunge pose and plunges the sword forward, "then you stop the sword by lunging a little and pointing your swords to your left, blocking the attack, okay? Let's try it."

I breathe out some air and get ready. He plunges his sword forward and I miss blocking it. His sword is inches from my stomach.

I gasp, seeing how close it is to me. Just one more inch and I'd be dead. I step back quickly and Prick stands up straight again.

"It's okay, you're just beginning. Let's try again, okay? And this time, at least try to defend."

He doesn't even give me a heads up and plunges the sword forward.

"Hey! I wasn't even ready! You didn't tell me I was supposed to block yet. That's not fair!" I squeal, staring at the sword in Prick's hand, inches near my stomach, again.

"The attacker isn't going to say, 'I'm going to attack now, okay?' or 'Be ready to defend,' or give you a heads up. You need to be ready and cautious, all the time," he says.

"Yeah, but I'm just a beginner!"

"They also won't care if you are a beginner or not," he says as he stares at me with one of his eyebrows up.

I sigh and get ready again.

"Again," I say.

This time, he attacks and I miss, again.

"Another time," he sighs.

And he attacks again, and another attack, and another attack...
And I miss again, and another miss, and another miss...

This goes on until I can see he is frustrated but trying to control it. 

Finally, he attacks and I defend, well, kind of.

So I block the blow, but he is so strong he pushes my sword aside. Finally, I can see he has had enough and I get ready for what's coming next.

"What the hell was that? You're playing like... a girl!" he says. 
"I am a girl, how else should I play? Like a dog then?" I answer.
"I- I don't mean that ugh. You were so strong when there was that attack on the Good Souls castle, now you're playing like you don't care if your opponent even kills you."
"What? You expect me to be awesome at it before I even have proper practice?"
"But I don't expect you to be that bad."

We stay in silence for some time after that, breathing heavily, tired.

"Just please, send me back from here. I don't belong here, I know nothing of here. Please," I say, tears pooling in my eyes.

He doesn't say anything for a long time.

"Eat dinner and get some rest," he says.

And with that, he walks away, leaving me alone, standing in the middle of the bare land.

I fall down to my knees as tears roll down my cheeks. 

I just want to get out of here.

Then, I feel a hand on my shoulder and someone kneels down next to me.

"Are you okay?"

I can't help it and start crying into the shoulders of the person in front of me, while he comforts me by stroking my hair and says, "It's okay."