The next day at training, Pheros informed the recruits that they would be trying something different.

“Your poor performance yesterday shows you definitely need to work on your endurance and speed,” he said, then added, “except for you, Ava.”

Ava looked up in surprise. It was the first time Pheros had addressed any of them by name.

“However, I'll give you a day to recover; we'll do more sprinting tomorrow. Today, you will practice javelin throwing. Don your battle-gear, take up your javelins, and meet me at the end of the grounds.”

The five recruits lined up, javelins at the ready.

“For now, we will just be working on distance,” said Pheros, “throw your javelin as far as you can, and preferably farther.”

The five recruits hurled their first round of javelins. Ava's javelin landed several feet ahead of the others. As the five of them continued throwing, Ava watched in wonder as her javelins continued to land farther ahead of any of the others’.

“How do you do that?” asked Narsus in amazement, standing beside her.

“Uh... maybe I've got magic javelins,” Ava suggested.

Pheros walked along behind the recruits, looking with interest at the distance Ava was getting. He stopped and picked up one of Ava's javelins.

“I can assure you, they're not magic,” he said with a smile, putting the javelin down and walking on.

Ava turned to find herself face-to-face with an angry Errylis.

“Alright, I want the magic javelins, okay,” Errylis held out her remaining javelins, “swap?”

They exchanged sets and Errylis walked back to her position at the end of the line. Ava's distance did not decrease, but she heard Errylis scream in frustration, “Stupid magic javelins!”

“Alright,” Pheros said when the recruits had thrown their last javelin, “go collect your javelins and continue.”

Errylis walked up to the captain and asked him, “What's the secret?”

“The secret with what?”

“The magic javelins!”

“What are you talking about? They're not magic!”

“Then how does Ava get such good distance with them?”

Pheros drew in a breath and exhaled slowly, fixing Errylis with a dark stare.

“It is important for an Athenian soldier, particularly  a mere recruit, to speak respectfully to superior officers!” growled Pheros angrily. “Now get on and pick up your javelins.”

Errylis saluted quickly and hurried to obey.

The five recruits continued practicing until their arms ached from hurling javelins. Pheros gave them ten minutes to rest their muscles, before ordering them to continue for another half an hour. At the end of training the five recruits were exhausted.

“That's all for today,” Pheros said. “You still have a long way to go before you're fit for battle, but I'll make soldiers out of you yet.”

Pheros turned and walked away. Ava took off her helmet and knelt to remove her greaves. She looked up to see Errylis glaring down at her.

“What's the secret?” asked Errylis flatly.

“Yeah, what is it?” added Aelynda, moving up beside Errylis.

Ava looked helplessly from face to face.

“That's what I'd like to know,” she insisted.

“Okay, just because Ava turns out to be exceptional, doesn't mean you all have to hassle her,” said Narsus sternly as he walked up beside Ava, “okay?”

“Way to play the hero, bread-maker's son,” sneered Alydectes, stepping up to confront him, “it's three against two. You really want to take us on?”

Before any of them could say another word, Pheros strode into their midst and shoved them apart.

“Is this how you plan to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in battle?” he snapped angrily, “or are you more interested in fighting each other than the enemy?”

“No, captain!” said Errylis, hanging her head shamefully, “I'm so sorry, captain.”

“And you should be,” said Pheros, glancing darkly around at the recruits. “Now can I rely on you all not to murder each other before tomorrow?”

“I swear, captain, I will not draw a weapon against my fellows, even in self-defense!” promised Errylis solemnly, drawing smirks from the others.

“For once I am grateful for your excessiveness, soldier,” said Pheros, “and I hope the rest of you are similarly minded.”

*   *   *

As they began their seventh day of training, Ava threw her first javelin of the day. Alydectes, standing to her right, casually lifted his next javelin from the ground and hurled it with all his strength. His face remained stoic even as his javelin fell almost ten feet short of Ava's. Ava tried not to make eye contact with any of her fellows, hoping to avoid any more 'magic javelin' stuff.

“You've all learned quickly,” Pheros said, watching from nearby, “you're not the most top-notch band of recruits I've ever trained, but you've shown that you have what it takes.”

“Thanks, captain,” Narsus said gratefully.

Ava had grown to like Narsus, mainly because he wasn't a prat like all the other recruits. He didn't antagonize or hassle her, he was modest but not in an annoying way, he was kind but honest as well. And, Ava noted, he was rather handsome.

As she picked up another javelin, Narsus, standing to her left, asked, “Is this going to be a record setter or just your usual?”

Ava smiled at him out of the corner of her eye before throwing the javelin. To her surprise, it landed a few inches farther than her previous best throw.

“Now that's just showing off,” laughed Narsus good-naturedly.

“Alright,” said Pheros, clapping his hands for attention, “now that you’ve warmed up, we'll move on to target practice.”

They'd begun target practice a few days ago and it was now a daily part of their training routine, alongside running, general exercise and hand-to-hand combat. Ava and the other recruits set up five wooden targets, walked back to their positions and began throwing javelins at the targets. Out of the corner of her eye, Ava saw Errylis hurling javelins at a frenzied pace and screaming in frustration whenever she missed.

“Relax and concentrate... if you can,” advised Pheros with a sigh.

“When I invade Sparta, I'm definitely not going to use javelins!” Errylis muttered loudly.

“Can you just shut up?” said Aelynda irritably.

Ava glanced at Narsus's target and saw that he was doing well.

“Nice work,” she said with an encouraging smile.

Narsus smiled back, seeing that every one of Ava’s javelins had found their mark.

“Yeah,” he said wryly, “nice work to you too.”

Alydectes lowered his javelin and looked coldly at Ava's target, then at her.

“Why, servant girl,” he asked icily, “are you so unexpectedly good?”

“Ask the gods,” retorted Ava.

“Also,” put in Narsus, “why don't you call her by her name rather than just ‘servant girl’. You said to start with that it doesn't matter what we are outside of our military duty.”

Alydectes gave Narsus a cold glare. “I wasn’t talking to you, bread-maker...”

“Soldier!” shouted Pheros from nearby, “how many times do I have to remind you that you two are not enemies?”

Alydectes looked back at his target and hurled his javelin. It flew past the target and landed on the ground.

“I'll beat you by the end, servant girl...” he muttered as he picked up another javelin.