ESKARINA

For the next few days when Nova was unavailable to train us due to the injuries he sustained from his attackers,Elena stood in for him, bringing her own team with her. Once again,I met Pauline and Sven,Pauline,who seemed rather excited to see me,pulled me into a tight embrace.

I smiled awkwardly as I hugged her back. I barely knew the girl,but I felt like I knew her the most in this place. Regardless she and Sven stood beside Amaani,Tyrese and I,whilst Elena stood in front of us. She had her shortsword and shield drawn,both held firmly in each hand.

"Today,we're going to have a mock battle."

My team and I sighed,whilst Elena's group remained silent.

"We always have mock battles! How are we meant to win against you? We barely know how to fight! I mean with proper fighting styles and shit. Best we do is flail our weapons about like idiots." Amaani said,kicking the dust.

Elena rolled her eye's. "Look,I'd rather Nova be training you than me,I have my own team to worry about. Captain Sven and Coporal Pauline are here to assist me so that you guys can get better. My team gets a day off,which really pisses me off since the exams are in a few days time. You wanna learn fighting styles? Ask Nova when he recovers,but for now,mock battles. There's three of us,Myself,Pauline and Sven, and three of you. So pair up, and lets get training."

Pauline grabbed my arm with the widest smile donned on her face. "I'll take the archer girl! Archer girl is mine! Called it!"

I giggled as I watched her make a big fuss over picking me. The girl was a strange one.

Pauline took me aside,then let go of my arm,drew her weapon,which was some sort of mace attached to a chain,dangling low down to her kneecap.

"Whoa...is that some sort of special mace?" I asked.

Pauline looked down at her weapon,raising it slightly. "Oh this old thing? It's not a mace babe,it's called a flail. Like a mace but better. Takes more skill to use though."

Pauline observed me for a second,scanning me from head to toe.

"So you're an archer huh?"

"Yeah,but I'm not that good of a shot,I'm terrible to be honest."

"Do you have a back up weapon?"

I looked at Pauline,who stared back at me with her eyebrow raised. "Backup weapon?"

"Every archer needs one. You're a long range fighter first,but if an enemy gets close up and you don't have a close range weapon to use,you're dead meat love."

Pauline placed her flail back within her holster then stepped back. "Gimme a moment,I'll be back in a sec." She said,before dashing away,leaving me alone to watch the others.

Tyrese and Sven seemed to be getting along quite well,the two were sparring fairly well,with Sven stopping and correcting Tyrese's stance,showing him different techniques and giving him advice.

"With Dual Wielding blades,you give up defense for offense. That doesn't mean you have no defense at all,you can still parry attacks with your blades,however,every strike leaves your body wide open for your opponent to counter strike. So give them no room,constantly pressure them with strikes and if you do need to go on the defensive, stay sharp, and keep your swords closer to your body to quickly block attacks." Sven said.

Tyrese gave him a nod before he dashed forward,slashing at Sven. Sven dodged to the side,spinning right around Tyrese and yanking his tail. Tyrese let out a small cry then curled up into a small ball,hissing at Sven.

Sven laughed,wiping a tear from his eye. "Going for the tail is all it takes to eliminate you Ape Men from the field of play."

"My tail is sensitive you bastard!" Tyrese hissed "I need this for...stuff!"

"Do you shove it up your ass?" Sven asked.

"No! Ewww! Why the fuck would I do that?!"

While Sven and Tyrese argued playfully,my attention shifted onto Amaani and Elena,who seemed to be butting heads.

"Up! Fall in a real fight and you'll die." Elena ordered.

Amaani sprung up to her feet,daggers in both hands as she pounced onto Elena. Elena warded Amaani off with her shield,keeping a good distance between her and the small elf. Amaani,who was much shorter than Elena,had a hard time seeing through her defense or predicting when a strike would come next.

Elena shoved her back,with the she-elf falling backward,rolling across the floor.

"For fuck sake this isn't teaching me anything!"

"It's teaching you to adapt,now up! Again!"

Pauline returned with a short dagger in a pouch. She held it out toward me with a smile. "Here you are! Good backup weapon for an archer. Short dagger,should slice through armour quite easily and could very well save your life. Keep it close to your hip,easy for your dominant hand to reach. Drop your bow and draw the dagger if you ever go close quarters and-"

"FUCK YOU!" Amaani yelled.

Pauline and I both looked toward Amaani,who ran up to Elena before she smashed her forehead against the General's nose.

Elena staggered back for a few seconds then grabbed at Amaani's shirt,twisted her body at blinding speeds and flipped the elf over her hip,forcing her to the ground with a sick thud. She then drew her fist up,bringing it down and connecting cleanly against her jaw.

Immiediatley Pauline vanished from my side and was soon hauling Elena off of Amaani,who lept up to her feet before being stopped and held back by Sven.

"Now now little elf,let's not get your ear's in a twist. Calm down." Sven said as he held Amaani back with little effort whatsoever.

Pauline shoved Elena back,who was being quite persistent in getting past the girl. Elena tried stepping to the side,which led to Pauline stepping right back into her path,blocking her again.

She then went left,with the same outcome.

Elena shoved Pauline back,only pushing her back a few paces before Pauline did the same.

"MOVE" Elena said.

"No. You need to calm down Elena." Pauline said,her voice still as gentle as always.

"I said MOVE Pauline."

"Let me go! I'll tear that bitches eye's out and feed it to her!" Amaani threatened,flailing helplessly in Sven's arm's.

"You can try as much as you want...if you can get out of my grip that is."

Elena stepped forward,with Pauline placing a hand on her chest,keeping her from approaching the raging elf in Sven's arm.

"You need to calm down Elena." Pauline said. Her voice was now sturdy,threatening. Almost as if she were an entirely different person. However,it wasn't long before it went back to its natural,girly state. "Nova wouldn't want this. He'd tell you the same thing. You need to relax."

Elena's fists were clenched tightly. Shivers ran down my spine as I heard the metal screeching together.

Elena said nothing more. Amaani glared at her,staring daggers at the girl across from her.

"What?! You gonna be a bitch and wuss out? Come at me! Come at me bitch! Let's go!"

Elena bit her lip hard,her body trembling. She seemed beyond pissed.
She lept towards Amaani,slipping past Pauline, and for the split second that she was loose,she landed a right cross against Amaani's chin before Pauline caught her once more and pulled her back.

"Is that it?!" Amaani yelled as she spat blood from her mouth. "Is that all you got bitch?! Come on!"

"Let it go. Elena let it go." I heard Pauline say before she began whispering to Elena. I couldn't hear a word from then on.

Whatever it was,it calmed the girl. She turned round and walked away,her fists still clenched as she left the training arena.

Pauline approached Amaani,smiling as always. "Your lip is bleeding...so is your nose."

"The fuck do you care?" Amaani hissed. She attempted to elbow Sven in the side,only hurting herself further when her elbow bashed against his plate armour. Sven giggled for a few seconds.

"Get your fucking hands off of me!" Amaani demanded.

Sven,now content with Elena being gone and the two being away from each other,let go of Amaani, with the elf gently landing on her feet,stumbling a little before she regained her footing.

"Sit down." Pauline said. She approached Amaani,who tried to shove her aside.

"Where is she?!"

Pauline sighed and put a hand on Amaani's shoulder,which she shrugged off not long after. "She went to calm down. You should too. We need to make sure she didn't break your nose or anything. She did just hit you with Dragonion Plate Armour. Thats some of the strongest material in the North."

Amaani's fists clenched together. She let out a small scream before she spoke again. "What the fuck is her problem?! Going so hard on me?! For what?! The bitch is probably a racist prick like all of you assholes here! Don't like me because I'm an elf. So what?! I'm helping you aren't I?!"

Amaani sat down on the floor. Pauline sat beside her,with a handkerchief in hand. She placed it atop Amaani's nose bridge,squeezing gently before she tilted her head back.

"You're wrong Amaani. Not all of us hate you. I like you. You're a feisty little elf. It's cute. But Elena is just worried. Nova is in critical condition after he was attacked last night. She's in love with him,so it's natural for her to be worried. She has a lot on her mind. She didn't mean to get angry I'm sure of it. She just needs some time."

Amaani seemed unconvinced. I hadn't known her for very long,but she was a  stubborn one,that I knew for certain.

The two sat until Amaani's nosebleed stopped.

"On the bright side,it isn't broken. So thank the gods for that at least. No surgery or anything crazy required."

"I think maybe we should all take a little break. How about we all head over to the Mess Hall,get some drinks and food,take a break, and continue practicing when we've all calmed down?" Sven suggested.

"Ohhh that'll be a great idea! We should! Let's go,let's go,let's go!" Pauline said,jumping like a flea.

I felt a bit envious of the others. I barely learned anything while they were given at least some notion of how to defend themselves in a fight or taught how to take advantage of certain situations in battle,whereas I simply waited for a sword which took forever to arrive.

Nevertheless,I had plenty of time to learn. The day had only begun after all.

I followed the rest,with Pauline hooking her arm through mine and smiling the whole way to the mess hall as we all walked together.