"But it's not likely to be today."
She couldn't help the brief smile that crossed her lips at that rejoinder.
As angry as she'd been that he'd smuggled himself onto the planet, she was glad for his presence. Even in the darkest of times, he managed to create light. She didn't know if she'd have survived everything with her sanity mostly intact, if not for him.
Lost in her thoughts, Kira almost didn’t notice as a tree root sprang up out of nowhere. She twisted in midair, only her quick reflexes saving her. She managed a semi-graceful landing on the other side of the root. She stopped and scowled at the root.
There was no way that had been there before. She was sure of it.
"Finn, can the forest move itself?" Kira asked.
The oshota was barely breathing hard, acting more like they were out for a lazy stroll than a challenging run. His only response was a silent stare. He arched an eyebrow at her. Kira took that as a yes.
She glanced around with new eyes, taking note of the way the trees seemed to have pressed closer to the trail, leaning ominously over it. Some of their roots had burrowed over the path she’d taken moments before, fully obscuring it.
Kira's lips curved up. "That's pretty cool."
"What? What is?" Jin demanded.
"I've never heard of trees that moved. I wonder if they would attack those they consider an enemy," she said.
Finn was predictably silent.
"Are you sure they're moving and it's not your imagination?" Jin asked skeptically.
Kira rolled her eyes before setting out again. Of course, she was sure. That wasn’t the sort of thing she was likely to make a mistake on.
Jin grumbled, unhappy about Kira's silence.
"If I had known it was going to be like this, I would have stayed with Jace," Jin complained.
Kira didn't respond, picking up her speed while keeping an eye on the ground and trees around her. This time when one swung a branch into her path, she bounded lightly onto it, using it as a springboard to launch herself into the canopy.
A laugh escaped her as she hopped from branch to branch, executing random flips before landing lightly and finding her next foothold. She never broke speed, Finn shadowing her below.
Sweat gleamed on her skin, her breathing ragged by the time she dropped to the dirt path.
"Having fun?" Finn asked.
Her grin this time was unreserved. "A little; yeah."
NINE
Kira's days quickly settled into a pattern after that first day. Early morning was spent in the med bay, letting Quillon use his invisible needles to scramble Kira's insides. Afterward, Finn always shoved a quick snack into her hand before they reported to the Warrior's Hall.
Kira never did any real training with the initiates. Wren was nothing if not consistent in his assertion she needed to increase her overall stamina and strength before she embarked on learning to master herki.
By the end of the first week, she’d stopped approaching him in the mornings, setting off for her run even before he opened his mouth.
Finn was her constant companion, accompanying her as her morning runs got progressively longer. If he resented being forced to tag along with someone not even deemed worthy of usingki, he never mentioned it.
Since Wren had never specified that all she could do was run, Kira used the opportunity to throw in circuit training, pushing herself as hard as her body would allow.
When she got tired of training, she'd use the forest as her opponent, learning to read its movements before it actually moved.
Her fellow initiates weren't much better off.
Wren had been true to his word, not allowing anyone to progress until they'd reached the top of the stone monolith, a challenge much harder than it seemed at first glance.
