Blood Supermoon

23. Lessons

Lue's first session for Josandra was to behold all of the fighting that was already going on around them. So Josandra would sit in while she instructed the men down at the open clearing. Overtime she began conversing with the men and learned they were fighting for different reasons. Like Jackson, many fought because the military provided food and housing. Or they fought to take care of their families. Others had wives or girlfriends that they wanted to get stronger for. It was fascinating stuff to Josandra and she realized not one man fought to defend this country.

It made sense. Everyone here, but Zaria, came from scraps. Perhaps if there were more royals or aristocrats, there'd be more patriotism, but men like that would never pick up a sword.

Eventually, like that other day, Josandra was able to train her eyes and keep up with the fighting. She was able to guess moves and how to counter them or even predict how a person might fight based on how they carried themselves. But just cause she could guess moves or defend herself against them, didn't mean she had the strength to do so.

After a few weeks of watching, bright and early one Saturday morning, Lue knocked on her bedroom door.

"What are you doing here?" Josandra asked.

"It's time to train you," Lue said.

"It is?"

So they took Buffalo out past the clearing and into the mountains. It was hilly everywhere and the ground was uneven.

"It's steep, isn't it?" Lue said.

"Yes..." Josandra said.

"From this day forward, hike up this hill," Lue said.

She didn't question her though she didn't like the idea of this. Every day, she'd just hike up. There were several times throughout where she had to stop and catch her breath. When she knew Lue wasn't around, she'd cheat and take a half hour break, drinking water and relaxing, but soon she felt guilty. She wouldn't get anywhere if she didn't push herself. So she'd hike until she saw twos of everything, nearly passing out. Then she'd collapse onto the ground and gasp for air laying on her back.

As time passed, it became easy to climb up the hill. She didn't pant or stop for breaks anymore. So Lue tasked her to run up the hilly trail. Josandra would run up, panting, and meet Lue waiting for at the top every day. She wouldn't stop for a break until she got to the top. Then she'd grip her knees and catch her breath.

She felt her muscles working when she ran up the hill, but Lue made it worse when she saw Josandra had excelled at this too. The next stage was for Josandra to carry two buckets of water as she ran up the hill. Her entire body ached during this type of exercise.

The last cardio/strength training that she went through was sprinting and leaping over various-sized rocks. In the beginning, she kept tripping over the rocks, but then she trained her eyes to observe the world around her so that nothing went under her radar.

As she was sitting one day, Lue handed her a bottle of water and sat down.

"How are you feeling?" Lue asked.

"Like I can do a fourth round if you asked me too," Josandra said.

"If you still have energy, that means that this is no longer a challenge for you," Lue said.

Josandra smiled and nodded.

They didn't break for that day. They went down to the clearing where Josandra stood upright. Lue circled her with her hands behind her back.

"I want to stress that you're a gifted shooter, before I teach you anything," she started. "It's not everyday someone picks up a gun and is able to successfully aim and fire at their target on their first try, but you managed to do that months ago. I do think your shooting needs to be a little sharper in some moments though. You do well alone when practicing, but like in Emerald, your hesitation and nervousness may cost us. I don't want you to scared and second guess yourself. There are ways to overcome that by training your mind and body."