“Oh! We finished weeks ago and it worked perfectly!” Jahrra answered breathlessly as she got down from Phrym, returning Denaeh’s sunny smile.
She went on to describe the events, in great detail, as they tended to the Mystic’s precious mushroom garden. The two of them spent the rest of the day in the peaceful woods, chatting and drinking tea in the pleasant weather.
Jahrra amused herself by watching Milihn fly in and out of the Belloughs. He would hop around Denaeh’s garden before stopping in front of a bare patch of earth. After examining the soil for several moments, the unusual bird would us his sharp beak as a tool to quickly plant a seed, or sometimes a seedling. Once done with his job, he would grumble contentedly to himself before flying off again in search for more.
Jahrra sighed as the light became slowly lost to the encroaching dusk. It had been a lovely day and she hated to see it end. She bade farewell to her Mystic friend, knowing that tomorrow she would be starting the summer off with a grueling day-long session of defense lessons.
Yaraa and Viornen planned to give her a preliminary test in order to see where she stood first thing tomorrow morning. Jahrra had been meeting them on the weekends for lessons, but she was supposed to be practicing every day on her own. She had performed the required stretches and practiced her swordplay and archery in the fields with Phrym watching, but she still felt a little nervous about her testing tomorrow. The last thing Jahrra wanted to do was let down her elvin trainers.
The next day came and went, and to her great relief, both Yaraa and Viornen complimented her on her progress. The two elves had employed their three children to help in the assessment of Jahrra’s skills, and they had done an excellent job in distracting her. Regardless of the disruption that Strohm, Srithe and Samibi presented, Jahrra still managed to fend off Viornen while simultaneously detecting Yaraa as she crept up silently behind her. Hroombra was all smiles when Jahrra returned home that afternoon with the good news.
“Now, if only you could do the same in your Kruelt lessons,” he teased.
Jahrra had been struggling with the ancient language ever since she first started studying it. She sighed deeply, wishing she didn’t have to continue learning Draggish.
Now that summer was in full swing, Jahrra found herself struggling to make time for her friends. She had started a more rigorous training program with the elves, since she’d been progressing so well, but that also meant a new schedule, one that consisted of early mornings and nighttime meditating under the stars. She hardly ever had time for Gieaun and Scede, and they were often left spending the long summer days with some of their new friends from school.
Jahrra missed her best friends and her lessons with the elves of Dhonoara were proving to be harder than ever. If only she could visit Denaeh once more before the start of school, that might help ease her mind a little. She hadn’t seen the Mystic since the beginning of the summer and she dearly needed the cool, soothing calm only the Black Swamp could offer. Jahrra sighed inwardly knowing that the Belloughs would have to wait. Right now, she needed to focus on her training. She still had half the summer left and perhaps she would get a day or two free to spend however she wished before it was all over.
“Now, we are very proud of the progress you’ve made over the past few years Jahrra, and we believe you are ready to start the next step in your training, but we want you to remember that we don’t expect you to learn this overnight,” Yaraa told her seriously a few weeks after her assessment. “This is the longest and most challenging step in becoming an expert fighter, so you must practice patience.”
Jahrra took a deep breath and focused all of her attention on what Yaraa was telling her. This new stage in her training required every scrap of concentration she could muster, and she wasn’t about to let her daydreams get the better of her. Focus, she told herself as she narrowed her eyes in scrutiny, focus . . .
By the end of the day, Viornen was sporting a bruise on his forearm, Yaraa was sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath, and Strom, Samibi and Srithe were hiding somewhere where their parents couldn’t find them and drag them out to act as potential enemies.
Once Yaraa finally caught her breath, she glanced up at Jahrra and smiled broadly. “Well done!” she breathed.
She stood and dusted off her leather pants and stretched out her arms and back. “You have been working very hard all summer and today we see the evidence of your hard work paying off.”
Jahrra was covered in dirt and displayed a few scrapes and bruises herself, but she had managed to stay on her feet.
Yaraa went and stood by her husband, stretching to murmur something in his ear. Viornen nodded once and Yaraa turned her bright eyes on Jahrra, smiling enormously. She approached the bedraggled girl and held out her hand. Jahrra blinked in surprise, for the elf was holding a blue leather bag, drawn tight with a string.
“We have been saving this for you, but both Viornen and I agree that you are ready to have it. It may not seem like much, but we suspect it will aid you in your progress of our arts of defense.”
Jahrra gave her trainer a puzzled look, but smiled lightly and took the bag.
“Open it,” Viornen urged, a small grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
Jahrra drew a forearm across her brow and sat down on the fence that surrounded the cabin. She carefully tugged at the strings and upturned the pouch into her hand. A bracelet made of string and beads, coiled delicately like a languid snake, fell into her palm. The string was rather fibrous, tough and the color of hay. The beads that were woven within it were made of polished wood, all a slightly different texture, color and grain than the next. Each bead, Jahrra noted, had a rune branded onto its smooth side, and on the opposite, a tiny symbol, each looking like some sort of tree.
“Thank you,” Jahrra said quietly as she uncoiled the unique gift.
“It is a bracelet made of beads from each of the Sacred Trees of Ethoes,” Yaraa said softly. “It was crafted by the elvin clans of Dhonoara many years ago. We have been holding on to it, hoping one day we could find someone worthy of wearing it.”
Jahrra blinked up in surprise. This was a grand gift indeed, for her trainers to be holding on to it for such a long time.
Viornen grinned, the smile reaching his eyes. “It will bring you luck and protection.”
“I, I can’t accept this!” Jahrra whispered. “Surely you want to save it for your own children.”
“Oh no, they are not yet old enough to understand. We want you to have it Jahrra,” Yaraa insisted.
Jahrra gulped. “Thank you,” she said again as she wrapped the bracelet several times around her wrist.
Yaraa bent to help her secure it, then stood with a happy sigh. “Yes, that is exactly where it belongs.”
Jahrra gazed at her rare gift. The wooden beads felt cool and almost alive against her skin. She looked closely at the runes, noticing that they resembled some of the Krueltish characters she had memorized, but there was something different, something severely ancient about them.
“What do the runes say?” she asked.
“They represent a symbol for each tree,” Viornen answered. Then he pointed to a few. “The Pine, the Alder, the Beech.”
Jahrra nodded with contentment. There were over thirty beads and the bracelet wrapped around her wrist three times. She wondered what the other runes said, but thought it best not to ask.
“Guard it well Jahrra, for it will aid you in the future,” Yaraa continued. “We have one other gift to offer, since you seem to be in the proper mood for receiving them. Both Viornen and I feel that you have earned some time off from your lessons.”