Edalia was exhausted. She'd not envisioned so much training and sheer hard work when she'd joined up with the Children of Light. All of the Children that she'd seen before she'd enrolled made everything seem effortless, but she was now being quickly appraised of exactly how much training and motivation it took to get to that level of "effortlessness". She knew she was still a long way off that target, but she drove herself hard, determined to make it. However she also allowed herself to take the occasional time off whenever the instructors allowed, she reasoned that she was more likely to succeed if she gave herself a break from training every now and again. She'd heard of trainees working and training day in and day out, pushing  themselves ever harder only to collapse in exhaustion and break down. She was determined not to be one of them.

 

Today was one of those rare mornings free, so she decided to walk around the camp to mingle a bit, no-one had time or energy to talk much when training was in progress and people were usually too tired and hungry to talk during meals. Hopefully, she mused, she'd now be able find someone to talk to for more than a few snatched, breathless sentences. She passed the stable block and walked towards the training fields, seeing a few people still hard at training despite the rest period that had been announced. Shaking her head at them as she passed she almost walked into two Children. Startled she stepped back hurriedly, recognising the garb of a Questioner. Then she realised he was pulling a trainee by the ear! Edalia recognised her from classes they'd taken together, though Zoe was a level higher than herself if she recalled correctly. Despite herself, as she bowed in respect to the Questioner, she wondered curiously what in the Light Zoe had done to bring herself to the attention of a Questioner. 

Zoe cursed under her breath. She was in trouble. Once again. And the funny thing was, she never went looking for it, really. She did silly things that most recruits did. She just had the bad luck of getting caught. At times she managed to get away with it with a coy smile at an officer, but no such luck that particular day. She wasn't facing just anyone. But one of the more severe instructors and a questioner on top of that. And if that wasn't enough, the man was pulling her by the ear as if she was a little child. All Zoe could do was be dragged off by him, praying no one she knew was watching the spectacle.

 

After leaving the training ground premises, Ezekiel finally let go of her ear. Zoe rubbed it annoyingly, trying to maintain a docile expression that did not reflect her irritation at the questioner. She could see Edalia from the corner of her eye, bowing to Ezekiel, and she winced. She really had hoped no one would see her being treated like an infant. Ezekiel only spared one glance at Edalia before fixing his eyes on Zoe.

 

"Do I even need to remind you where you are, private?". Zoe smiled. "The Fortress... of Light?". Ezekiel's eyes narrowed dangerously. Zoe swallowed hard. She knew better then to be a smartass with a questioner, but the answer seemed to have escaped her lips. "If I catch you training again with such a revealing ensemble, I'll have a really unpleasant week planned for you. And I'm known to be very creative in my punishments. Understood?". Zoe wallowed again and nodded. His reputation in dealing out punishments was well known. It's trouble she did not want to know.

 

Ezekiel turned on his heels and walked away. Zoe waited a few moments before letting out a long sigh of relief. Grinning, she turned to Edalia. "Splendid day, isn't it.?"

 

 

 

Zoe

CotL

 

"Splendid day, isn't it.?"

 

Edalia was a bit taken aback at the smile and upbeat attitude of Zoe. If she, herself, had been caught like that by a questioner and told off in no uncertain terms as Zoe had been, Edalia would have been mortified. However, she responded to the question with a answering smile and an agreement, though she couldn't help but keep a wary eye out just in case the Questioner decided to return.

 

Turning to walk with Zoe, Edalia enquired curiously as to what that spectacle was all about. She'd not been in trouble with the questioners so far, and she aimed to keep it that way.

Zoe walked with Edalia, rubbing her ear. As scrawny as he seemed, Ezekiel had quite a grip. Pompous bastard. With his harsh blue eyes and his silly sheperd crook! Walking around like he's the Creator's gift to the world. pfft. If he was, Zoe wanted to find out where the return certificate was.

 

Inviting Edalia to her room to hang out, Zoe was relived to find that Selindra was no where to be seen. She hated the woman and knew that her presence would have ruined the possibly good conversation that could sprout between her and Edalia. Gesturing Edalia to sit down, Zoe followed suit.

 

"I've seen you in other classes we share and all. But why don't you tell me a bit about yourself? What drove you to enlist with the Children of the Light? Where do you come from. I'm all ears!".

 

 

 

Nyn

CotL

 

Sitting on the spare bed, Edalia blinked at the sudden onslaught of questions from her new companion. She'd gladly accepted the invite, after all she'd gone for a walk with the intent of meeting up with and befriending her fellow trainees.

 

"Well, there's not much to tell" Edalia smiled at Zoe "I was born and raised in Saldaea. I accompanied my parents on their trade routes and I've travelled almost everywhere. I never had much to do on those trips though so I used to pester the guards. Got them to teach me some of their fighting techniques." She grinned "My parents would have freaked if they'd have known!"

 

Edalia paused and stared at her feet. "Then my parents caught a fever and died on one of our trading trips," She shrugged "That left me here, with no skills other than what the guards had taught me and no where to go to. My parents were the only family I had." Edalia looked up at Zoe and forced a smile. "So here I am, I saw a woman dressed in the cloak of the Children and how confident she looked. I needed something to do and not having anything else better in mind..I enlisted."

 

Edalia forced the memory of her parents death firmly out of her mind and concentrated on her new found friend. "So that's me...now what about you? What made you enlist?"