“As the Devourer decrees,” I repeated dully. The illusion of safety the outpost had provided had shattered. Nikolach was coming. And all I could do was prepare as much as I could.
Rising and heading back to my room, I caught a few of Instructor Weavir's words as he started giving the updates.
“The outer perimeter Sentinels are looking for more volunteers to help in restoring some worn down areas. It’s dangerous work, but they are offering fifty gold to all volunteers. There are two missing women, a Prelate's daughters with the following description...”
I tuned out the rest as I stepped back into our room, Sarina nowhere to be found.
She must have finished studying early. Well, all the better for me.
Toweling off the dampness from the rain and picking up her notes, I settled in to read until she returned.
The discipline required to properly study eluded me though, and soon I was ruminating on anything else I could be doing to prepare for Nikloach’s imminent release instead. The shadow of it darkened my mood.
It occurred to me that this might be a good time to check for any mirror messages. Looking for my mirror, I frowned when it wasn’t where I expected it.
Getting down on all fours, I peered under the nightstand and bed. No trace of it there.
I began to search in earnest, wondering if maybe Sarina had borrowed it and forgotten to put it back after she was done using it. No, her own smaller dormant mirror rested on the edge of her desk.
Well there goes that theory.
Sitting on the edge of my bed, I tried to remember the last time I’d seen my mirror. After sending Nessa a response, I left for lunch. Had I put it back into the nightstand? Systematically opening and rummaging through each drawer, I scowled when no mirror materialized.
I’d lost it. My only means of communicating with anyone outside the outpost until graduation, and it was nowhere to be found.
Damn it.
I’d have to ask Sarina to borrow hers. Resigned to the results of my carelessness, I planted myself back at the desk with Sarina’s notes.
But my mind kept wandering, back to the story of Tirion, the missing mirror, and Nikolach.
Chapter 14
Straining While Training
The midterm was in one week, and I was officially panicking.
Three more people had abandoned the outpost after the lesson in the bamboo grove. Whether it was due to homesickness, second thoughts about becoming a Voyager, or nerves around the midterm, the last seemed most likely to me.
Sarina, Orin, Talissa, Rosa, and Henrik had all tried to reason with me about it over lunch earlier today, but no amount of comforting words would convince me that I was ready to face whatever came next. Because I could barely complete the daily training exercises. Zevrial’s scathing words during the dagger training still rang with frosty clarity in my head.
Instructor Garcien and Zevrial had both noticed that I was struggling under the pressure. Instructor Garcien had been gracious enough to answer my followup questions after lessons.
Deep down, most of my concern was about the upcoming physical requirements. It was getting harder to ignore the realitythat if the daily exercises kept ratcheting up, I'd be failing them soon.
I couldn't run fast enough. I couldn't maneuver my limbs precisely enough. I was too short, too small.
Too weak.
Just earlier today, I had collapsed under the strain of the weighted vest and belt while attempting to do two hundred push ups.
Summer showers were a regularity now as the wet season neared. Today was yet another dreary rain-filled day. It suited my emotional state.
To stay dry, I was doing more training with Sarina in the Fitness center. We'd been here for three hours already. At some point, Izaiah had joined us.
I kept myself positioned to face toward the door, where I could keep an eye on Veridiana as she lifted weights. She looked too comfortable lifting twice my current maximum. My gut told me not to trust her, and not because she had enough strength to bend me into half a dozen deformed pieces.
Sarina collapsed into a seat beside me, panting. “On my grave, I want it to say 'She died how she lived. Going hard. Too hard.'”
