The Usurper's Throne

42

"Ow!" I exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Elijah asked.

"You poked me!" I exclaimed.

"We are training with pole weapons. Yes, you are going to be poked."

I smirked and leveled my pole at him. "They're called pole weapons, not poke weapons."

"You are something else," Elijah said. "Remember it was you who begged me to let you train with me."

I pulled the rubber band from my hair and quickly tossed it up into a new bun that had loosened. This is why braids were demonstrably superior. "Elijah, you have been training me for weeks how to control my elemental power. Why is weapon training so different?"

He lowered his weapon. "Because you have to know how to not blow down a building. I will never put you in a situation where you have to fight someone off. You're safe. This war is out of your hands."

I nodded and grabbed my weapon again.

He struck down on the weapon and I leveled mine horizontally over my head. He pulled back and poked inward, aiming for my ribs. This time, I dodged. "Good," he said. "Again."

We repeated the exercise until he added a side swipe to the end. It whacked my arm. "Ow!"

Every time he added a move, I got hit. "You're getting lost in the rhythm. You're not expecting the next move, which is not what I intended with this exercise. Should we move on to a skirmish?" he asked.

I nodded and saw a strand of hair fall onto my nose. I brushed it out of the way and groaned, pulling the rubber band out of my hair again. "Sorry," I muttered with the rubber band in my mouth.

Her hair is going to be the death of me. Everything about her wants to be free...

I smirked. "Sorry," I said with the rubber band still in my mouth. I pulled it out to tie up my hair. "I promise I didn't do this on purpose, but I definitely just heard your thoughts." His face went red, an effect I was thrilled to have on him.

"What did you hear?" he asked casually.

"How you think everything about me wants to be free." I taunted, and I couldn't help but wonder at the relief on his face. "And my hair."

He shook his head. "If...and I intentionally stress the if, you ever choose to be in a fight, your hair is what is going to kill you. You can't exactly call a time-out in the middle of a fight."

I smirked. "That's why I choose sympathetic opponents," I said cheerfully.

A ghost of a smile flitted over his face. "I am not going to go full force, but remember that your wings are for more than flying. Your center of gravity is further back than most, and you can extend them to keep balance. But be careful. When they're extended, they made you a bigger target."

I nodded and my hair started falling again. I lifted a hand. "Sorry, wait. Time out!"

Elijah smiled and leaned on his pole weapon. "You are something else."