Kora awoke in the morning to Nori disentangling himself from her arms. “Good morning,” she says as she loosens her grip on him. 

“Good morning, I was trying not to wake you.” Nori replied. Although Kora wasn’t able to see his face in the darkness, the tremble in his voice betrayed that he was nowhere near as emotionless as he claimed to be. 

Reaching for his face, she pulled him down for a kiss. He immediately responded, turning the kiss into a desperate attempt to strengthen their connection. Pulling her close, he murmurs in her ear, “Please wait for me. I’ll make it home to you as soon as I can.” 

Tears silently streaming down her face, she simply nodded in response. Although the two of them hadn’t even known each other that long, Nori had quickly solidified himself as a pillar of support in this strange world. Without him, she would feel much more alone. Not wanting to make this any harder for him, she decided to remain silent as her voice would definitely betray her the second she allowed it to make a sound. 

Making their way upstairs, she found he had already packed his bag and as the sun came up, Nori along with the numerous others joining him, left their houses and congregated in the town center. 

Joining the mass of women and children following behind to see them off, she traced Nori’s movements until he had disappeared along with the other soldiers, hidden behind the foliage in the forest. 

Acutely feeling the loss, she trudged back to Nori’s house and immediately made her way into his room. Feeling the comfort of his scent, she cocooned herself in his bed before allowing herself to cry. 

As each tear rolled down her cheek, she made a new promise to herself. I will learn to control my essence properly and show him when he returns.
I will be able to navigate the town on my own. I will create a place for myself in this new world. I will make sure that I learn all I can to be helpful to him upon his return. 

Almost two years had passed since the day that Nori and the other soldiers left the village. Aside from the occasional letter giving brief updates on their progress, there was little communication with the village. Although a few of the soldiers have received leave to come visit during this time, Nori had yet to return. The situation only seemed to be getting worse as time passed by. Attacks on the village have once again begun and have only increased in frequency to the point that there are talks of withdrawing the troops from the outskirts of the village. 

As Kora walked through the village , she couldn’t help but reflect on how the last two years have been. She was making progress and was able to control her essence with precision. She was currently on her way to the training ground as she had been training for combat as well. 

Gripping her dagger, she assumes a fighting stance before eyeing the training dummy she was facing. Using her essence to improve her speed and agility, she quickly slashes three times in rapid succession before stepping back. 

“Great job! You beat your record and you did more damage this time as well!” Jolfri said from the sidelines. 

The two of them had gotten much closer during Nori’s absence. He helped her in the early days as she made a place for herself in the village and he has been currently assisting her with her training. 

“What do you think about sparring?” Jolfri asked, reaching for the practice swords. 

Without answering, Kora simply holds her hand out and Jolfri grins as he hands over the wooden sword. Adjusting her grip, she takes a few seconds to observe Jolfri’s movements. She had begun to recognize his attack patterns and was now able to predict his movements with accuracy. 

Noticing the slight shift in his weight, she knew he’d feign an attack on the right and try to catch her unaware as she went to block. Anticipating this, she quickly sidesteps the attack and pulls her sword up just in time to block his next attack. Although she was able to predict his movements, he still had a massive advantage. His movements were fluid and he was able to quickly change attacks without a second of hesitation, due to years of training. 

She had yet to actually beat him, even though they’d been training for the last year and a half. Renewing her determination, she focuses intently on his movements and waits for the perfect time to strike. Using her essence to increase her speed, she quickly strikes his hand, just hard enough to make him drop the sword, before pointing her sword at his neck. 

Breathing heavily, she watches as a massive grin covers his face as he says, “Congratulations.”

As the realization sunk in that she’d actually beat him, she couldn’t help dropping the sword to the ground. Jumping up and down, she screams in excitement before turning back to Jolfri and engulfing him in a hug. 

Jolfri returned the hug and said, “You did really well, you’ve been improving-”

Wondering why he’d cut off his sentence so abruptly, Kora broke the hug. Seeing the expression of horror on his face, she immediately summoned her essence and reached for the dagger on her side as she turned around to find Nori standing there looking furious. 

“WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING?!” He shouts as he stomps over, catching the attention of everyone in the training ground. 

Realizing that he’d gotten the wrong idea, Kora immediately jumps in front of him, “You’re back. It is so good to see you again!”

Looking down at her, his anger visibly lessened as he gently picked her up and moved her to the side, “It is good to see you too, we’ll talk a bit. I’ve got to settle something with Jolfri first.”

Wrapping her arms around one of his, Kora continues, “I just hugged him. We were celebrating because I’d beaten him in a fight for the first time.”

“I know, I saw that. What I’d like to know is why he was teaching you to fight in the first place." Nori adds with a scowl on his face as he looks over at Jolfri.