The Rise of Imani Firyali *NOW OFFICIALLY PUBLISHED!!*

THIRTEEN

PART TWO

13.

just the beginning.

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Time seemed to fly by with a blink of an eye.

With all of my focus in training, I spent every day doing vigorous exercises, as I needed to get the most out of my muscles as I could. I learned to new techniques with Soren, I practiced against Willow and Wes, and I became more and more comfortable with a sword. I also kept studying everything I could about Amia. Soren would teach me more about reading, and I made improvement, though it was a struggle to try and understand it while trying to juggle every other rigorous training activity I was doing. Catching up in time had made my days chaotic and strenuous.

The season was shifting as well. The Sun Months were coming to an end, and the trees were beginning to shift in color. The change was amazing to me, as Obari was a tropical island and the only alteration in weather was a temperature drop of barely ten degrees. Seeing the bright, vibrant colors here in Amia was something I could stare at forever, and I wished my family could have seen it with me, as I was experiencing it for the first time.

But I knew they were watching.

My attempts to quell the feelings I had for Soren were slowly settling. I tried to remain certain that they were fading, but sometimes a certain smile or a tone of voice would make me falter. I didn't have any personal talks with him anymore, and all we did together was train as much as possible. When we would fight one another, I would let go of him whenever I could, trying to avoid any moment of close proximity like it was a sickness. And those moments I faltered I ignored passionately.

One day, almost three months after I had first come to Amia, Soren asked me for some help. He was going to visit his aunt and sister after being away for a while, and he normally ended up doing some work around their small home while he was at it. I didn't really know what he needed my help for, but I accepted, admittedly curious to meet his family.

Soren told me his aunt and sister lived near one of the large marketplaces in the city, as they owned a booth selling leftover pieces of cloth that his aunt obtained after she finished her main job as a clothing maker for those who lived in the wealthier prospects of Amia. As we walked there, I indeed noticed a change within the city as we went, as most of Lamorra was a bustling place with large, sturdy buildings with a few extravagant ones thrown in. But this area Soren took me to was more modest, as homes were smaller but still well built―unlike the home I had used to live in―and children ran around freely without a care in the world. Above our heads were shared clotheslines neighbors would use, as colorful clothing hung from them like flags and cast a hue against the sun that fell into the shadows. I was even shocked to see people greet Soren, as they knew him, and Soren would know their names easily. It was a total shift from the center of the city, and I found myself feeling instantly more at ease there.

We walked up a narrow flight of steps and stood on the front deck of a two-story small square home. There were flowers by the door, along with some books left out on the porch as if their reader had suddenly lost interest and gone to do something else.

Soren saw them and shook his head despite the endearing smile on his face. "Emilia," was all he said.

Soren knocked first, but when no one answered, he let himself in. As we walked inside, the instant smell of cooking food hit my nose, and I found my mouth watering despite the fact Soren and I had ate right before we had come here. The room we were in was what I figured to be the living room, as the space was pretty open save for a small table and a few cushions laid out around it. There were tapestries hanging from the walls, ones painted in exquisite colors of red and gold, the colors of Amia's nation. One had a stitched scene of an ocean shore, and I marveled at it as we walked by.