Vhalar 6 722
Continued from here
The next morning Eternity was the one to get woken up by a swift kick to the bed frame. She expected it to be her friend, Melna getting revenge on her and it was. Melna was muttering something but it was too early for Eternity to think straight. She knitted her eyebrows and thought about what she was supposed to be doing today. It was hard to remember anything except the pain from yesterday’s training. Her whole body ached and even sitting up caused her body to hurt. She groaned and rolled over only realizing at the last moment that she wasn’t in her bed at home. She fell right off the bed and onto the floor. That was enough to jolt her awake. Her eyes snapped open and she saw lots of people getting ready for the day ahead.
Eternity saw Melna unfolding a shirt and pulling it on. She put on her socks and shoes and seemed to not know that she was being watched. Eternity thought Melna was cute but she recently found herself attracted to their combat instructor as well. She knew she ought not to have romantic thoughts about either of them but she couldn’t control her hormones. She hoped that the feelings would subside soon.
Mela said, “you’ll miss your meal if you don’t hurry up.” She looked defeated. It was her that didn’t want to get out of bed last time. Her expression was depressing, as if she’d finally accepted that working in the kitchen cooking and serving gruel was going to be her life for the foreseeable future. It was sad to see a woman who normally had so much pep in her step slowly trudge away. Eternity didn’t have time to worry about Melna. She heard a bell ringing in the distance which she’d quickly learned meant that meant hurry up, or else. She pulled on her clothes and ran out of the barracks as fast as her body would allow.
Eternity learned through talking to other recruits that her instructor, Aegor, was someone who followed a strict schedule. He woke up and dined at the exact same time at the exact same table no matter who else sat there. He did tons of training routines right afterwards then taught recruits how to fight. Later he would clean around the training camp and then lastly bathe. Then it was off to bed to do it all again the next day.
Eternity decided that if she was developing feelings for him then she didn’t want to just be another background character in his story. She wanted to inject herself into his day to day life. She’d thought all night about how to actually do this. She managed to get enough courage to sit opposite him during breakfast, not that Aegor paid her any mind. She had to wave at him from across the table to get him to look up from his food.
Eternity asked him how he slept and said good morning and Aegor had to think about the answer. Did he even want to answer Eternity? He decided to out of politeness. “Alright.”
“Alright is better than bad,” Eternity said, hoping that Aegor would say something a little more than one word.
Aegor had lots of confidence when he was fighting or teaching but small talk with a younger female recruit was not in his wheelhouse. He found it awkward and the casualness of the conversation was not what he often experienced. He knew that one did not become part of the elite by spending time with friends. No, he’d only risen to his position because he worked hard and delivered results at the cost of his social life. So he sat there and stared at Eternity for several moments without speaking.
Eternity couldn’t take the silence. She said, “you gave me a bruise by the way.” She pointed to where she’d fallen after he’d pushed her. She pulled up a pant leg and rubbed the spot which made her yelp unexpectedly. It hurt more today than yesterday.
Aegor smiled and said, “you deserved it. If you work hard you won’t make mistakes like that again and you’ll have less bruises.”
“I tried my best,” Eternity whined.
“Do better, you’re bad,” Aegor said between bites.
“O… Okay,” Eternity said with a sigh. It was her defeated look that got Aegor laughing. It was a strange laugh, as if he had forgotten how to laugh if not by a superior. Eternity continued, “I’ll improve I promise. Everyone says you’re the best instructor so I believe in you.”
“That’s what they all say. I can lead the horse to water but I can’t make it drink,” Aegor said as his eyes met hers. Eternity felt a burning desire to disprove him, to show that she could drink the goddamn water.
Aegor’s laughter died down and Eternity already missed the sound. Eternity said, “the officer told me that he wants me to learn from you. He wants me to work on using a sword, not just fists.”
“Yes, I’ve been told,” Aegor said. Eternity felt a silent victory. So he did recognize her. He continued, “I wonder what he sees in you. As far as I can tell, you are… ordinary.”
“To tell you the truth, I have no idea,” Eternity said. She was a nobody outside of the military. The only thing special about her was that she was a woman, and she was hardly the least skilled of the bunch. Eternity asked, “so, can you teach me or not?”
Aegor smiled again and said, “I am.”
Eternity pressed, “not like that, I meant one on one like you did last time. Except you know, just me and nobody else. A private lesson, that’s what I’m after.” Eternity had no idea why he would entertain her request. It would throw his whole schedule for a loop. She thought to sweeten the deal by saying, “I could help you. I heard you have a lot of chores after you’re done teaching so I could… I don’t know, help?”
Aegor thought about it and shrugged, “if you really save me enough time to justify a lesson, then sure. You’ve got yourself a deal.”
The lessons started off simply. Eternity got very detailed instructions to fix her stances and she learned how to move. The lessons were supposed to be basic and Eternity had to practice them on her own in her off time. Doing the stances again and again until she perfected them was the hard part. She never would have thought that the simple act of standing in a certain pose would cause her to tire so quickly. The pain was not for nothing though. The stances were burned into her memory that they eventually became second nature.
Reaching mastery of the stances happened faster than Eternity ever would have thought. She spent so much time training that her constant dedication paid off. Her body ached and she complained incessantly to Aegor who seemed pleased that she was in pain. He drew the lessons out as long as possible until his student was left on the floor, barely able to stand. He’d laugh at how pathetic she was and talk down to her. That ended up being why he kept giving the lessons. He loved humiliating people, and he could only get away with it for so long with regular recruits. But to have someone who was willing to put up with it every day… it was like a drug to him. It was worth it, even if Eternity didn’t help all that much with chores as she’d promised. He made sure she was too tired for that.
Eternity stood up for her instructor at meal times. She said that he wasn’t as bad as everyone said to save herself the social humiliation of admitting that she degraded herself for lessons. She knew that most of the recruits would benefit from private lessons, it’d make them into greater fighters on the battlefield when it eventually came to that. Still, she wouldn’t recommend that anyone go through what she was going through. It was hard work, definitely not for the feint of heart.
One meal, Aegor walked by, putting a hand on her left shoulder. It was unexpected for her to touch her like that and even more so when he dragged his hand across her arm while squeezing lightly. It was a massage, a rough massage but a massage nonetheless. Eternity was frozen with embarrassment because other recruits were watching. She looked at his rough hands and then turned away as to not look at anyone. Aegor slid his hands up to her face and turned it so that she would be looking right into his eyes. He gave her a cocky smile and by the time Aegor removed his hands Eternity’s face was scarlet. He’d officially claimed her as his own and now he didn’t seem to care if everyone knew about their private lessons.
[Template credit to Pyrre]
