"Kyrbast showed you the basics of throwing energy, correct? Show me what you know," he orders once we're outside.

"Oh, I left my wand on the table."

I run back to get it and return to see Trelix looking stern. "Where does your wand belong?"

His mood changed so quickly. I can't believe I've messed up already. "On my person," I mumble.

"Correct. Run a lap." He points to the perimeter of the training field.

My eyes follow his finger. "That's like ten blocks!"

"Hmph. I'm not familiar with that measurement. It's just over a half-mile, or eight football fields, or twenty-eight hundred—"

"—But you're the one who put it down!" I whine, upset that he's making me run when he was the one who left it behind.

"Your wand is my responsibility?"

"You should run. You're the one who left it behind." I'm afraid to run around the entire field. I'll never make it. It'll kill me.

"Would you like to make it two laps?"

"No, sir," I say, defeated.

I put my wand in its holster and run to the edge of the field. I'm not good at running and the sword bouncing against my thigh makes it harder. I run farther than I thought I could but only because I'm so angry. I don't even get to the first turn before I'm out of breath. I walk for a few seconds then he yells at me for stopping. It scares me so badly, I start running again out of instinct.

It takes a long time for me to make it all the way around the field. I walk for most of it and Trelix yells at me.

When I finally arrive he says, "That was terrible."

I burst into tears.

He raises an eyebrow. "Are you going to cry every time you run?"

"No!"

"Why are you upset?"

"Because you left the wand behind! And you yelled at me! And I can't run! And I hate this! And I don't like all the things I have to do that I don't want to do, but I do anyway because everybody keeps telling me I have to do it!"

"All that over some running?" he says so calmly it makes me seethe. "No one is forcing you to be here. You chose to do this. I'm trying to help you. We don't know what lies ahead. Do you think it might be beneficial for you to know how to run and to have the stamina to do it? Your life could depend on you being able to run more than forty feet."

"I'm tired! I feel like I offered to help and then everyone turned on me! Everyone is so mean! This is so hard and I'm so sore," I say through my tears. "I'm not a Knight. There's nothing about me that's muscular or strong. I know I can't do what you want. I wish everyone would just give up already."

Trelix shrugs. "Did you think being a Knight would be easy? Who promised you easy? Tell me now and I'll go rip their head off and return you to Earth myself. This is hard and it's only going to get worse. I understand you're young. I understand it's difficult. It's hard for everyone. You need to stop being so selfish and think about all the sacrifices everyone has made for this cause."

His statement makes my tears stop. I'd never considered the sacrifices others have made. Trelix himself dedicated his life to learning my language and culture. Who knows how many other trainers are out there who learned the wrong language? The people I met—Levise, Albína, Trelix—studied in the hopes that I'd be from an English-speaking country. When they found me, those people dropped everything in their lives and came here. I never considered that before.

I take an unsteady breath. "I'm just saying it's hard. I'm in a strange world, meeting strange people and being asked to do many things I've never, ever wanted to do. I've never been this exhausted or in this much pain in my entire life."

I wipe my face and steady my breathing. In as calm a tone as I can muster I say, "If I want to have a meltdown, I feel I'm entitled. I'm sorry. I'm done now, so you may continue."

He smiles. I might have impressed him with how quickly I pulled it together. "Okay, wand out. Now, every time we're on this field, unless we're doing something specific with your wand, you're to have a light overhead. I know this part of Ashra is always sunny, but there are many places that are dark and many creatures that live in that dark. You may have to fight one and you don't want to be so distracted that you can't keep the light lit. If the light goes out, you run. You can cry the whole time if you like, but you run."

I bite my lip to keep the tears at bay. I won't cry again. Trelix tricked me with his fun and family last night. Everyone on Ashra is so mean. I want Jonah to come back. I really need a friend. I don't want Trelix to yell at me anymore, so I make the light and throw it a few feet ahead of us.

"Nice," he says. "You just learned that?"

"Yeah, Kyrbast taught me a few days ago."

"Hmm," he says with a furrowed brow. How could that have made him mad? "Okay now, I'll teach you how to use the shortbow." He holds out the bow and quiver. "Put your wand away."

I panic and the light flickers. "But if I put the wand away, won't the light go out?"

"No, the wand helps you focus the energy. Now that you have the light, you don't need the wand."

I know I can't leave the light lit without the wand. That doesn't make sense, you need the wand, everyone knows that. I don't want him upset so I slowly move the wand into its holster. I stare so hard at the light that my eyes burn, but it works. The wand is in the holster and the light is shining. I exhale all the air in my lungs. I'm so happy I don't have to run again.

"Good. Next time maybe a little faster. And don't forget to breathe."

He throws an arrow on the ground and points to it. "Stand at the line. This foot on the arrow and this foot just over it." He grabs me by the shoulders, roughly positions me, kicks my feet apart and hands me the bow. This is exciting. The bow gives me some control.

He moves my fingers into position. "Now, ready for the hard part?" He doesn't wait for the answer. "Lift the bow like this and then pull back on the string."

Searing pain rips through my fingers as soon as I pull on the string. It barely moves. I pull harder, but my fingers will be severed at the knuckle if I continue. I quit trying. Obviously archery isn't for me.

I look down at the deep red line traveling across my throbbing hand. Holding the reins in my riding classes has chewed up my palms and the area between my ring finger and pinky. I don't know if it's better or worse that the red line missed those areas.

Trelix grasps my upturned palm and brings it closer to his face. He grunts and shows me my hand. "Your hands are injured. Have you shown this to Albína?"

"I don't understand, how could I have not injured my hands? I've injured everything. I'm not a Knight, or an athlete, or anything special. I'm just me and this is the best I can do." I drop the bow and stare at it on the ground. My vision blurs as tears blind me, but I will not let them fall. How am I in trouble for getting hurt?

"Sharp pain, broken skin and bruising are injuries. You need to report any and all injuries to Albína, no matter how small. You also need to make myself and Levise aware, so we don't injure you further. Do you have any other injuries?"

I'm afraid of making him angrier by saying the wrong thing. However, he's just staring at me. I find the courage from somewhere to whisper, "It's both my hands and I have a rub on the inside of my leg, below my knee."

Trelix nods and grunts. "Make both Albína and Levise aware of those injuries. You need to toughen up your hands." He releases me but I'm too scared to step away from him. "Your skin is too soft. My suggestion would be to endure the pain. You'll suffer for a much shorter period of time. However, if you want, I can give you a glove to protect your fingers. Just for a while, because when the time comes that you need to use this bow, you won't have time to put the glove on."

I nod vigorously. "I'll take the glove," I say before he finishes speaking.

He walks back into his office. I can hear him shuffling things around before he reappears a few minutes later. "You're lucky you're the same size as the elves. I have a lot of equipment you can use."

He helps me get the glove on and shoves me back into position. He puts the bow in my hand and shows me how to get the arrow in place. "Now, try again."

It's easier without the searing pain in my fingers, but I still can't get the string to move more than the slightest bit. I struggle for a moment and give up again.

Trelix removes the arrow. "Do whatever you have to do to get that string back. Don't worry about the position, just move that string any way you can."

I wrestle with the bow, then drop it and put my foot on it. I grab the string with both hands and pull up. The string moves back and the bow flexes.

"Good. Now we know we can kill anything in the ground."

I release the string and pick up the bow. He hands me the arrow and I get into position.

"Now that you know for sure that the string moves, let's try again." He steps behind me, puts his gigantic hands over mine, and easily pulls the string. "There now, let's stay here for a moment and when you're ready, I'll let go."

Anyone watching us from the rear wouldn't even know I was here. They would just see Trelix, holding a bow that's way too small for him. Having him this close to me makes my heart beat erratically. Jonah held my hand sometimes, but this is different. Jonah is warm and comforting. Trelix is tough and cold, doing what he has to do to get me into shape.

"How tall are you?" I blurt out before I can stop myself. I try to never draw attention to myself, but asking a stupid question like that certainly got his attention. So embarrassing.

"To the base of my horns, I'm six feet, five and a half inches. Do you want to know why I know that?"

"Yeah." His follow-up question is weird, but he seems to want to tell me, so I automatically agree.

"I was told you would ask me that."

"Who told you? And why would they know I'd ask that? Did you not know how tall you are? Or did you make that number up?"

He chuckles, getting smugger by the minute. "No, that's a real number. My trainer told me that humans are obsessed with height. They need to know the height of everything because the importance of a being is measured by how tall it is."

My arms are shaking and the pain in my biceps is distracting. Trelix has been slowly releasing his grip, and without warning, he lets go. The string snaps out of my hand and the arrow flops pathetically to the ground.

"Okay, switch sides. We won't be shooting with this hand, but we need to build up some of the muscle on this side. This is more about pulling the string than any posture or stance."

Just as before, he stands behind me and helps me draw the string back. I resume our conversation to alleviate some of my awkwardness with the contact.

"So before, you didn't know how tall you were?"

"Nope."

I have to think on that. I can't comprehend how you could go through life and not know how tall you are.

When I don't follow up with more questions, he follows up with one of his own. "Why is it so important to know the exact height, weight, and age of everything?"

"How else would you describe things?" I'm proud of myself for answering a question with a question.

"Well, up until a few minutes ago, you didn't know my height. How would you have described me to someone?"

"I would've said you're the big red guy with the horns and the wings."

He laughs. "So, why'd you need to know my height?"

I try to shrug but can't with the bow in my hands. "I don't know. I was just making conversation."

"That's where you're wrong. You have been trained to believe you could measure threats to yourself by assessing an opponent's height, weight, and age."

"That's not true!" I would've continued with what would've been a great defense, but he releases the string and the bow flies out of my hands. I scramble to pick it up. Once I have it, I turn to him. "Up until a few days ago, I didn't have any threats."

"Really? You always felt safe wherever you went?"

I pause. He has a point, but I won't admit he's right. "No, of course not. I live in the city. I go to school. But you say it like assessing someone's size is a bad thing."

"It is. The things that kill most humans can barely be measured because they're so tiny."

"Okay, I get it. But I can assess your size and know that I couldn't beat you."

"Because I'm larger or because I'm more skilled?"

I'm losing the debate, but I'm not ready to concede. "Both."

He smiles and walks toward the targets. "I like your fight. Come over here and let's shoot some stuff."

When I catch up with him, he continues our debate. "I want you to be aware of your previous training. Size is a terrible way to measure talent. I don't want you to lose a battle before it starts, or worse, overlook an enemy because it's too small to notice."

"Noted," I say flatly. I'm tired of all the human-bashing that goes on over here.

When we reach the target area, I take up my stance and he stands behind me again. I nock the arrow and he helps me pull the string. When he lets go, I'm able to hold it for a second and then let the arrow fly. It hits the ground well before the target.

"That was awesome!" I shout as I jump around, proud of myself for doing it.

He lets me have my victory dance and when I settle down, he says, "Good. Now let's try to hit the target."

I try at least a hundred more times, but I get increasingly frustrated. I can't hit anywhere close to the target. Even though he's helping me with the string, my arms are so sore they're numb.

I'm about to quit when he says, "If you hit the target, we can be done for today."

I hope my face is expressing how excited I am. I doubt it, though; I'm too exhausted to care. He helps pull the string and when he lets go, I hold on and take my time trying to aim. I release the string and the arrow flies farther than it has all day. It hits the target at the very bottom left-hand corner. The arrow doesn't enter in far enough to stay straight, so it's dangling at an odd angle, but it stays in and gives me the proof I need.

I do another little dance, releasing the surge of energy at my victory. "I did it! I did it! I can stop now."

"Very good. You did excellent work today. That last shot was nice. However," he says and my stomach drops. "Where's your light?"

I look at where it's supposed to be. I can't remember the last time I saw it. The tears start.

"Your light went out as soon as you picked up the bow the first time. You worked hard, so I let it pass. Otherwise, we would've spent the entire lesson running. Tomorrow the light stays on, or you run and cry the whole time."

He picks up the quiver and starts back to his office. "Now, get your light lit and give me a lap."

I throw the light and slowly jog to the edge of the field.

"You forgot your bow!" he yells.

I'm furious that I have to go back and get it. I'm mad that I have to carry it while I'm running. I hate the way the heavy sword bangs against my leg with every step. I despise running and I loathe Trelix.

I'm not able to go as far as I did the first time. I walk most of the way around but I'm still winded when I reach him.

When I finally finish, he frowns and says, "Tomorrow, let's try harder to run the whole way."

Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think about the new artwork. I drew it myself and am a little unsure about it