In those first few weeks of summer, Jahrra got to know the elves a little better. Both Viornen and Yaraa had a way of informing her of her mistakes without making her feel ridiculous, and for once in her life Jahrra didn’t feel like she needed to prove something right away. Her typical week composed of rising early and spending anywhere from four to six hours a day working on archery, horsemanship, and fencing. Yaraa taught her meditation to help focus her mind and calm her nerves and Viornen taught her how to escape from several enemies without a weapon.
“Maybe they’re training you to become an assassin!” Scede offered energetically one day as they stretched out in the field beside the Ruin, watching clouds sail by.
“Oh, don’t be silly!” Gieaun scoffed. “I’m sure Master Hroombra has a good reason, but I can’t think of any right now. That is, unless he thinks Eydeth and Ellysian are truly dangerous.”
“Too bad you can’t come with me,” Jahrra sighed, brushing a ladybug off her arm.
“I wish we could too, but mother and father need us to help out on the ranch during the summer,” Scede complained.
Jahrra was grateful she didn’t have to make up excuses as to why they couldn’t come with her. Yaraa and Viornen did, however, encourage Jahrra to pass on what she learned to her friends. When Jahrra mentioned this to Gieaun and Scede, however, she got mixed reactions.
Scede, of course, was ecstatic with the idea.
“You’re going to teach us fencing and self defense! Really?”
Gieaun, on the other hand, had no interest in participating.
“Learn to fight? I don’t know, I think I’d rather just watch you two beat each other up.”
She smiled wryly at her friend and brother and all three laughed as they imagined Jahrra and Scede sword fighting with branches and reeds.
When Jahrra was with her friends she almost forgot about all those questions she’d been asking herself lately, but a few important ones still refused to escape her mind. The most important concern being why Hroombra, and sometimes Jaax, two dragons, would be the ones responsible for raising her. Now that she was getting a little older, she found herself wondering why Hroombra had never placed her with another Nesnan family after her parents died. Before, when she was a child, she took everything for granted, but not anymore.
As her fierce anger for Jaax dulled, just as it always did after his brief visits, Jahrra began to wonder with a clearer mind what his role was in all of this. She knew that he’d brought her to Oescienne, but why? Why not leave her where she was? Why not find a family in the place where she was born? Why not let another Nesnan bring her here if it was so important that she be in Oescienne?
Hroombra would be the best one to put an answer to these questions of course, but she never worked up the gumption to ask. She would just write them down in her journal to save for a later time, whenever that time might be. Luckily, Jahrra had plenty to distract her restless mind with now that summer had begun.
The first month of practice was torture. The elves had her running long distances every day to get into shape, and then after that, myriad drills and exercises to help strengthen her arms and legs. By the end of her first week, Jahrra was so exhausted that she fell asleep atop Phrym several times on the ride home. When this happened, she would grumble to herself in embarrassment, praying that no one had seen her slumped in the saddle as she made her way up the Great Sloping Hill.
As tough as those first weeks were, Jahrra’s hard work was soon paying off. By the end of the third week, she was able to run to the waterfall below Lake Aldehr and back to the elves’ cabin without even feeling fatigued. Her speed and balance were improving as well, and her reflexes were much quicker and more accurate than they had ever been. Jahrra was so pleased with her progress and her trainers’ praise that she completely forgot about her lingering irritation at Jaax.
The summer progressed in this fashion and as her days of freedom ticked by, Jahrra felt a familiar dread growing in the pit of her stomach. The end of summer meant the beginning of school, and that meant another year of enduring the twins’ wrath once again. Viornen and Yaraa gave Jahrra the last week of summer off, and she gratefully took advantage of her time by spending every day of it with Gieaun and Scede, going to Lake Ossar or visiting the ocean shore.
The three of them would race their horses down the beach and then lay out on one of the great sand dunes and listen to the waves and shifting shore grasses as they soaked up the blazing sun. They would breathe in the cool, salty breeze and think up new ways to avoid Eydeth and Ellysian this year at school.
“It’d be nice if they just stood there like dead fish,” Jahrra said as she dug her toes into the warm, soft sand.
Her boots were off and she’d rolled up her pants to her knees, after shoving her short sleeves up over her shoulders. Her long golden hair, usually kept bound in a loose braid, was gathered together with a leather band and now resembled a horse’s tail. It was a hot day, hotter than usual. Jahrra shot an envious look at Gieaun, who was sprawled out beside her with a wide-brim hat shading her face. She’d had enough sense to wear a short-sleeved sun dress and sandals. Scede had on short pants and a short-sleeved tunic and sandals as well.
“But you know they’ll have something to say back, and they always have friends with them,” Scede said knowledgeably as he pushed aside a clump of needle-sharp dune grass so he could sit down.
“I just wish I could say something brave to them, without a nasty retort from Ellysian,” Gieaun sighed, sliding down the sandy slope and causing an avalanche of powdery sand.
Jahrra and Scede went sliding down after her, laughing and squealing as they tumbled down the steep incline. Phrym, Bhun and Aimhe, who were nibbling on some willow leaves at the base of the dune, looked down at the pile of children below them, their ears perked forward in curiosity.
“I don’t know about you, but I could sure use a swim to Reed Island,” Scede said, standing up and brushing off the sand that stuck to his skin like sugar.
“Me too!” Gieaun breathed. “Let’s enjoy a few more days of freedom from the twins while it lasts!”
The three friends climbed atop their horses and pointed them eastward. As they approached Lake Ossar, they heard the cheerful voices of other adults and children enjoying the warm summer day. Jahrra smiled as Phrym’s hooves thudded against the boardwalk spanning the glittering lake. She smiled because she knew that not one of those voices belonged to any of her unfriendly classmates. They walked the length of the boardwalk and tied their horses up under the grove of willows just off shore.
“C’mon you two!” Scede called hurriedly as the girls dawdled behind him. “Let’s see if our boat is still where we hid it last!”
He began digging around in a particularly large clump of reeds and let out a bark of triumph once he found the tiny vessel still intact. Once all three of them were inside the crude water craft, they began paddling out to the middle of the lake where their island of reeds sat waiting.
“We haven’t been here in months!” Gieaun breathed. “I hope no one has taken over our island.”
Jahrra agreed, but as they approached, they found their island just as they had left it: a small patch of dark, damp earth covered in moss and surrounded by a thicket of tall, shady reeds. Scede pushed the boat through a tiny gap in the rushes on the far side of the little islet and Jahrra jumped out into the knee-deep water to pull the boat closer. Scede and Gieaun helped her, quickly pulling it up over the reeds. The girls laid out some of the blankets they’d brought with them as Scede spied on all of the other people that were enjoying the lake. He saw families walking along the boardwalk, but no one he recognized. Many people were fishing, swimming or simply relaxing.