Sword Training

Azrael is standing before me again inside the veil of the willow leaves; his presence always feels warm and timeless. "It's been awhile," he greets with a gentle smile. I agreed, my nearly two weeks of memory lock down prevented me from traveling down this trail with Azrael.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yes." He steps backwards passing through the waterfall of leaves and I follow.

I'm slammed back hard into a slab of rock with a cry. Pain in my left shoulder flares up instantly on impact, and I grit my teeth to prevent anymore sounds from escaping. I lifted my head and stared up at Tieve still standing unscathe from my onslaught.

Tieve's thick accent rung out. "Sword really isn't your strong point. You might want to stick with archery." Her smirk irked me, but she had a point. Sword work was not really working with me and I have been working with a bow for much longer.

Wincing, I lifted myself up from the ground feeling my shoulder throb underneath the leather armor. I sheathed the sword and flicked my single braid back over my shoulder. I knew I had to stop today, the injury would only become worse if I continued and I had lost all drive to continue with these sword exercises that Tieve nagged me about.

Tieve was a lean brute and considered to be a bad influence to certain individuals. Blessed with dark beauty she was still one not to mess with, after all, she made several attempts to assassinate her current husband simply because she didn't want an arranged marriage. At least she finally fell in love with him and quite all the assassinations. 

"I'm done for today," I announced returning the sheathed sword to Tieve. 

Tieve gave a questioning glance shifting between the sword and myself. "Are you all right?" I gave a nod and gave a small smile. Slowly Tieve took the sword from my grip still giving me questioning looks. With a flick of her wrist, Tieve flipped the sword around and caught the hilt. "If you say so..."

Giving one more nod of my head, I walked past her, ignoring the glances.

*

Despite the hot water, the pain still sunk its claws into my shoulder. The armor must have not been fastened properly and when I got injured I must have sustained more damage then needed. I winced, hissing, feeling a rag being pressed on the injury. I dug my nails into my shins, trying not cry out when she pressed harder on the injured spot. "I'm sorry my lady," my hand maiden apologized.

"It's all right... you're helping."

There was a gentle knock giving a moment relief when she took the rag off. I peered up to see another one of the girls that stayed with me. "My lady, Taran's here."

I closed my eyes with a soft sigh. Not that I didn't enjoy seeing him, he was away to often with the Wild Hunt, but tonight was a night I just wished for myself. To relax and recover. However, he wouldn't leave even if I told him to go away. "Tell him I'll be there soon."