The tradition was that all nightbloods would be sent to Polis to train and eventually fight in Conclave; the winner would be crowned Commander.
Your parents had another idea which included hiding you in your village so you could live a life that di...
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"You're Titus' star student. Why are you so upset lately?" I teased Lexa playfully as I stood before her with my sword raised.
We were training by ourselves, sword fighting, but Lexa had been off all morning. In fact, she'd been off all week, as if something had pissed her off. She wouldn't share what it was though, despite it clearly affecting her greatly, both in training and generally.
"You done?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, unimpressed, and getting into position.
I gave her a knowing look. "Look, all I'm saying is you have nothing to be sad about. He praises the ground you walk on. So does Clara."
I moved in for the first strike, which she evaded with ease.
"I'm not in the mood for this," she mumbled between manoeuvres.
I slashed at her leg, which she jumped back at, half-distracted.
"You could always tell me what's wrong," I offered, dodging her attack. "I can only play the guessing game for so long."
She rolled her eyes as she slammed her sword against mine with frustration.
"We don't have to train if you don't want to," I told her, noticing the anger in her swings.
"There's nothing else we can do, is there?" she snapped, nostrils flaring as she kept coming at me.
Luckily, I was able to keep up with her swings as I answered between defending her strikes, "What does that mean? Lexa, let's talk."
"No talking," she insisted, going in solely for the attack.
I had known her long enough to know when she was bottling something up – her forehead would crease with annoyance and her lower lip would jut out with frustration. I grew concerned, realising it was clearly something serious that was eating away at her.
"Lexa–"
"Leave it," she said adamantly, taking a big swing at me.
I was able to parry it with ease since she was still partially distracted, and thanks to all the improvements I had made in training these past six months, I was able to easily knock her onto her backside.
I tried to lighten the mood as I smiled down at her, holding out a hand. "Gotta do better than that if you're to win Conclave, Lexa."
She ignored my hand and stood up, not the slightest bit amused. Her eyes avoided mine as she dusted herself off.
"Don't say that," she muttered, voice soft and void of anger like before.
