Mia's POV
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A girl is smiling at me with a perfect set of shining white teeth. She has bright blue eyes, full light pink lips, her skin flawless. Her brown hair goes down to her hips, with the front portion pulled into braids so intricate I couldn't imagine how she even thought of it. She's wearing a dark red dress, which is definitely her color. It's pretty plain, but has gold detailing on the front and on the hem of the skirt. Her skin is tan and glowing, and so are her eyes as she turns to me with a mug of tea in her hands.
"Hi, do you mind if I sit here?" Her voice is sweet and soft, and she automatically strikes me as a kind soul. "The other seats are full."
Scanning the shop, I realize she's right. All the seats are full, yet it doesn't feel crowded. I look over and smile.
"Sure." I take a sip of my smoothie, trying not to feel awkward about this, because she clearly isn't feeling awkward. Luckily, she starts the conversation.
"I'm Elanil. I haven't seen you around, are you.." But, as I tuck my hair behind my ear because it's being annoying, like my hair usually is, her eyes widen. "Are you Mia? Mia Glenn?"
"I-uh, yes. Do- How do you know my name?" It then strikes me that she must have seen my ears.
"Well, not to make you feel weird, but a lot of people know your name. Since your father was the best king we've had in a long time."
"Oh," I reply, smiling a little at that bit more of information about him. "Well, even though you know my name, I'm Mia, it's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too! Wow, I've never met a halfblood before. So you grew up on Earth?" Mia asks, looking intrigued. I can tell she is talking about Earth, because, as I have picked up in the past 24 hours, when elves say Earthe it has an accent completely different than when they say 'Earth.'
"Yep, I didn't even know this Earthe was here, or that elves existed, until yesterday."
"Really? This must be crazy for you, then."
"Yeah, it is."
"So how did you get here?"
I then tell Elanil what happened, from the men in the black clothes to just a few hours ago. She listens with fascination the whole time, nodding and sipping her tea. Once I finish telling the events she sits there for a second, absorbing it all.
"Wow. That's insane. What an adventure! Well, it'll be fun for you to start training tomorrow, I- hey, I was told I'd be training a girl tomorrow by the Queen. That must be you!"
Joy spreads through me at the possibility that my trainer won't be a complete stranger, and this girl seems super nice, like I could just talk to her for hours. But she also seems young to be teaching.
"Just curious, how old are you? And how do you have time to train, shouldn't you be in school?"
"No, I- Ohhhh, I forgot that Humans spend so long in school. What a waste. Well, elves are more intelligent than humans, so we only go to school for 10 years, starting at age 5. We also only learn stuff we need, mostly fighting skills, along with language, science of Magic, some math, that kind of stuff. Also, to answer your first question, I'm 18."
"Cool, I'm 17." I let out a short laugh. "For a second I thought you were gonna say you were 100 or something."
Elanil laughs, shaking her head. "No, not yet. 100 would still be young, though, lots of people are friends with people who are thousands of years older than them. But time, age, is different here. Just because one elf is 100 and one is 1,000 doesn't necessarily mean their minds are that much different, or their appearances, except the knowledge that comes with living longer. Usually we stop aging at around 30 years, then some age catches up with us thousands of years later."
"I could tell. I met the Queen." I think back to Rose's perfect complexion. I wonder what it would be like, to live so long. Supposedly I will, but it just seems weird. Will I have to watch my mom die, or my friends? I shudder at the thought. Before I can think on it anymore, though, Elanil stands in a graceful motion.
"I have to go. See you tomorrow though!"
I wave to her as she leaves.
-
The next day I dress in a fitted tank top and flowy pants, pulling my hair into a braid. I had breakfast in the main dining area, of which I am brought to by a guard because... Well, the place is massive. The dining room is probably the size of the cafeteria in our school, but this one has large windows and shiny wooden tables and food that doesn't taste like plastic and stale air. There was virtually nobody in there eating except a few guards, who must be on a break. After breakfast I head to the throne room, which is where Rose told me to meet her.
As I walk in, Knox is nowhere to be seen again. Rose greets me brightly, walking up to me with a man behind her.
"Good morning Mia! Now, I won't waste time, I have things to do. But my second in command, Andor, will show you to the training center. Andor is the head of our army, and helps me with everything."
My lips pull in a tight smile, turning to the man. He looks nice enough. His long black hair- one of the few people here with that color- is pulled into intricate braids, and he is tall and broad, with a strong build that somehow manages to also look as graceful as a cat.
"Nice to meet you," I say, nodding. He nods in return, giving me a warm smile.
"You as well. Now, I will be using a teleporting stone, since that seems easiest. The training arena is about a mile from here, but I doubt you want to walk all that way."
I shake my head, joining in his subtle laughter that echos through the now empty throne room. I hadn't even seen the Queen leave.
"So can elves do magic, or is it only objects?" I ask as Andor pulls out a gleaming stone from his tunic pocket, a similar one to the one Knox used to bring me from Earth to Earthe.
"No, we can't do magic." He looks amused, but answers me seriously. "We mainly use objects that harness magic produced by the land. For example, this rock. It specially absorbs a kind of magic that we can use to teleport, if you will. Really it's more of a fading into space and reappearing wherever you want. Anyway, let's get you going. I won't be joining you, but good luck on your first day!"
With that, Andor drops the stone and closes his eyes, concentrating. A second later, a green vortex swirled out from the stone, shining and glittering, seemly drawing me towards it.
"I've already thought of the training arena. Next time you use one of these, just think of where you want to go."
"Alright, thanks!" I reply. The vortex could look scary, but it also looked beautiful. I step in before I lose the courage.
This trip is different than the one I'd taken with Knox. For a second, I feel like everything in me is getting stretched, being pulled and twisted. But just before it starts to hurt it's gone, replaced by a split second of a burning hot feeling before I'm there, in the training arena, with a green stone in my hand as the vortex closes, swirling back into the stone like a reverse time-lapse of a tornado forming.
The training center is warm, warm enough that the chill seeps right out of me when I enter. It appears to be a ground-level building, with a dome ceiling made entirely of glass. It's huge, with enough room for a track, some odd looking weights, a rack of every weapon imaginable and not imaginable lined up next to a target range, and, in the middle of the track, a large obstacle course. And not your typical obstacle course.
This one has simple, smooth wooden monkey bars to start, that- okay, they aren't simple, because they go up in a steep incline. Next there is a platform that, as I watch elves jump around on, you have to swing yourself onto from the monkey bars. They make it looks so easy. Next is a tightrope that looks barely wide enough to be more than a string. I gasp at how high it is, so high the elf's head who is walking smoothly across it right now is almost brushing the glass ceiling of the dome. I breathe a sigh of relief when I see a net hanging a few feet below the tightrope. At least if I have to do that I won't die. After the tightrope it appears you have to jump down a good ten feet, which is easy for the elf I'm watching right now, who hits the ground with an effortless somersault, coming quickly back to his feet. Next are some tiny round steps, seemingly only big enough for one foot, that lead across a small glass lined pool dug into the earth, with heavy looking balls, attached to the frame of the course by ropes, swinging around like crazy.
The elf currently on the course hops gracefully from one circular platform to the next, avoiding the swinging pendulum-like balls as he goes. One of the spheres barely brushes his back, and he hesitates, allowing another one to hit him square in the chest, sending him flying into the water, his friends hollering and laughing with him.
How fun.
A voice calls my name and I look over to the opposite side of the arena as the target range to see Elanil, in an area I'd neglected to thoroughly look at. This area is clearly meant for hand-to-hand combat. There are three separate fighting areas, which appear to just be a large square mat. Elanil, her hair in the same style as yesterday and wearing a simple grey dress, is standing on one of the mats. I walk over, still taking in everything about this place. Now that I've been here a day, my body feels like it's finally adjusting. Somewhat. I also feel something about this place, something different than Earthe. It's almost like I can feel a buzzing in the air if I really focus on it, something making every color brighter. It's an odd, mysterious, yet uplifting feeling. Like there is something invisible in the air that I can feel, but if I try to reach out and grab it, it moves just out of my reach.
Elanil must somehow see the wonder floating in my eyes, because she nods as though she knows what I'm feeling.
"Do you feel something?" She asks, her face bright and enthusiastic.
"Yeah, it's like..." I can't quite find the words for it. I've never experienced anything like it.
"Like an energy?"
"Yes!" I exclaim, glad someone else feels it. Elanil looks away for a second, then back at me with a look that is happy, but also curious.
"It's the magic," she smiles, "it's strong here, like an energy in the air. It's everywhere in Earthe, really, but... Usually halfbloods don't feel it- Well, supposedly."
I give her a funny look. "Supposedly? As in you've never met one?"
Elanil shakes her head, her hair shining as is waves around. "Nope. There hasn't been a halfblood since... Geez, I don't know. A long time. It's rare for an Elf to fall in love with a human."
We stand in silence for a beat, then Elanil starts jogging to the track. "C'mon, let's warm up first."
-
Turns out training is a lot harder than I anticipated. Sure, my elfness (is that even a word?) is growing- i.e. I'm more agile than I was a week ago I think, and surprisingly our two mile warmup run didn't tire me out that much. Elanil, who told me I could just call her El, said that my elf traits were kicking in fast, endurance being one of them.
The next hour I spent learning basic fighting stances and the correct form for punches, kicks, and the like. Since apparently elves can't wield magic like I'd always imagined when I was younger, they have to do a lot of hand-to-hand combat. Which, by the way, really hurts when there are no boxing gloves.
I was tired by the end of our basic fighting lesson, but I wouldn't tell El that. If she can fight- very easily might I add- in a dress, without even being out of breath after an hour and a half of working out, I can tough it out. I also wouldn't tell her how I already felt like the old me was gone. Not gone, necessarily, but changed. The Mia two days ago was a boring girl who spent her days doing the same thing she did every day, plus some reading to escape reality. A girl who was happy with her life but deep down, she was angry. Angry at her dad, mostly. Now that those thoughts of anger are gone from the vault of my brain I had locked them in years ago, I felt surprisingly clean. Like coming home and taking a nice shower after a day of mind-numbing school or work. My mind felt sharper, and despite missing home, I felt like I had a purpose here. I felt like I belonged.
"Again," Elanil says, with force but not in a mean way. Since training started she got into the trainer groove, and it makes sense why she is training me. She's pushing me, but not being mean about it, like my bitchy track coach that I definitely don't miss. I swing at Elanil, who pushes my arm to the side as if I was moving slow motion. I've figured out by now that fully developed elf abilities allow you to move so fast that if you're not focused it can look like a blur. But Elanil is slowing down for me. It's only been a few minutes of sparring, but this plus the warmup and basics earlier has me tired. El has to keep reminding me to keep my tired arms up by my face, and I'm huffing and puffing. While Elanil hasn't even broken a sweat. I try to let my energy fill me up even though I'm pretty sure I don't have much.
"Come on..." she mutters as we spar- our second round of full on sparring with the basics I was taught. I go for a roundhouse kick, but Elanil ducks, catches my leg, and pushes harder than she should have the strength for- but hey, elves are super strong- and sends me flying backwards, hitting the mat with a thump. I'm very glad I have a mat under me right now. I hop to my feet quickly, trying to ignore the pounding ache in my butt. I know she could have broken my leg there if she wanted to. But she also could easily kill if she wanted to, so.... Yeah, I don't even really know my point there. Just that I'm not good yet.
Elanil sends a lightning fast punch to my side, which I feebly try to block, then she jumps in the air, spins, and lands in front of me, her foot resting on my shoulder. It's clear she would've knocked me unconscious if we were in a real fight.
Sighing, I push her foot off me and drop to the ground to stretch. Elanil stretches next to me, eyeing my expression and reading it like a book.
"Hey, it was your first day! Try not to be too hard on yourself. I think you progressed nicely. So, every day except Saturday meet me here, from nine to noon."
"Ok," I reply slowly, thinking more about this whole training thing. "Hey, why am I even training? I mean, I don't even really know what I'm doing here."
"Yeah... I don't really know, but you can't go home. The Cin would take you. I guess we're training you so you can have some way to defend yourself. Plus, the Queen seems to think you came her for a reason. She hasn't told me why yet, though."
I nod, taking in deep breaths through my side, which is a little painful from the punch I just received there. Elanil smiles and her trainer/ teacher demeanour fades, her sweet one coming back. We talk as we stretch, just about what the next few days of training will be. She also apologizes for the punch, to which I wave off. It's training, after all. I need a little something to remind me what's at stake if I don't try.
I end up having to walk back to the castle alone- Andor seems to have forgotten me.
As I do, I can't help but let my thoughts wander.
I can't help but wonder what they are training me for.
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Oh to be able to fight. I lowkey wish I took karate or smth when I was young LMAO
- A