Kasemi, the fifth day of the week, started just like the third, much to the dismay of Anika’s well worn muscles. After breakfast she reported dutifully to Vok and a morning of archery practice. She was, at least, pleased that she was making more progress with her archery than she was with her magic. Her consistency (when her muscles weren’t screaming in pain and soreness) improved steadily, and she felt confident that she could hit the broadside of a barn with perfect accuracy. As tomorrow was Weyami, the start of the lesser week, Vok informed her that she would only be required to practice archery on Duromi and Telomi, the seventh and ninth days of the week. His tone, however, suggested that she consider finding time to practice on the other days as well.

  Anika’s arms and shoulders may be tired after multiple days of physical exertion, but that was her main complaint with the daily schedule of practice. She didn’t actually mind the idea of practicing every day, as she was much more comfortable with a solid and predictable routine than she was with frequent changes. With all the new experiences in a magical world, and the lingering trauma of being ripped from her own world, she took comfort in having established a baseline of what was expected of her. The lesser week held the nebulous promise of ‘community’, which sounded exhausting. Maybe Anika could just tell everyone she would rather practice every day. Her muscles needed a break, but she wasn’t sure she was actually ready to handle more new experiences with a large number of people.

  After lunch, Leka whisked Anika and Lily off to the outdoor practice course again. Once they were outside, Lily zoomed off ahead of the group to dive into one of the many pools of water involved in the training courses.

  “Well, I’m glad someone is excited to be out here!” Leka laughed as she watched Lily run off.

  “Lily is excited for everything.” A hint of exasperation entered Anika’s voice at her extremely extroverted cheerleader companion. “But it makes sense that she would be excited about going for a swim. She was created by the water goddess.”

  “Very true!” Leka’s voice continued with a note of amusement, “You don’t share your companion’s excitement for outdoor activities. Why is that?”

  “I’ve never really been an outdoorsy person. I pretty much avoided outdoor activities back home. I grew up as more of a studious, nerdy type. I read a lot of books, I studied a lot, and I spent my time playing strategy games.”

  “It is strange. Here, we spend much of our time outside, especially in youth. The connection to our elements in nature is important and helps to grow our abilities. As children, much of our early learning happens outside in the world.”

  Anika paused, thinking about Leka’s words. The connection to nature helps grow abilities? Was that what she was missing? “In my home, most of our childhood is spent indoors. We got short periods of time to run around at recess, but we spent most of our time indoors at school, and then when we were at home, if we wanted to play outside we often had to be supervised by adults. So it was just easier to stay inside.” Anika shrugged, trying to formulate the question she wanted to ask. “I haven’t really had an easy time with my abilities… is the ‘connection to nature’ that important? Will I always have trouble because of my background?”

  “You can always learn. But perhaps you must open yourself to your element and take the time to understand it. Water is flexible and ever-changing, it adapts to a changing path and finds its way forward. Water can flow like a gentle caress or flood in a raging tide.” Leka enacted water’s personality with fluid motions of her hands, like a master performing tai chi. ”Water can teach you much that will help you adapt to this world, your role, and your magic.”

  A note of forced joviality mixed with self-deprecation entered Anika’s voice. “Going with the flow and adapting haven’t traditionally been my strengths. I’m more of a rules and routine kind of person.”

  “I think in this coming week you should spend time with nature and, specifically, with your element. You must develop your understanding of water. Try out those Mizeta gills of yours and join Lily for a swim and relax in some of our springs.”

  “Springs, like hot springs?” Anika had always envied anime characters for their frequent encounters with hot springs. That sounded much more exciting than running an obstacle course.

  “We have some excellent springs! You and Lily may enjoy traveling to some of the spring-fed swimming holes that feed the river that runs through the training yard and into the valley. And, of course, we have both a natural hot spring in the mountain and a more cultivated hot spring that feeds directly into the temple. It would be appropriate during the lesser week to explore the springs. The hot springs promote healing your body so that you will be more prepared for the greater week. And I think exploring the rivers will help with your magic connection.

  Anika could not keep the longing from her face as she imagined relaxing in a pool of hot water, the ache of her muscles slowly dissipating as the warmth enveloped her tired body, and the feeling of joyous weightlessness that came from floating. “I think that exploring the hot springs will be number one on my to-do list for the coming week. Especially after another day on this obstacle course.”

  Anika and Leka had arrived at the training field and Anika couldn’t help but let out a resigned sigh as she thought of the bruises she was about to collect. From the water at the front of the field, Lily squeaked and chirped happily as she zoomed and rolled through the water. The field held multiple strength, endurance, and agility courses. The wide stream Lily played in stretched across the front of the field, creating a boundary to the training field and splitting off into smaller canals of water to feed the various pools used for safety and training. Narrow footbridges hung over the water of the canals and connected the various obstacle courses. After being used in the training field, the water flowed out the other end of the field into another stream as it continued down the mountains and into the valley. Since the stream originated in the mountains, the water was cool and was a shock to the system the first time Anika fell in two days ago. She hoped that by the time winter came she was thoroughly done with these training courses.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  On Anika’s side of the stream and to her left was a pool fed by the stream. The giant open field that Anika had run circles around repeatedly on her first adventure to this part of the training facility sat on the side of the pool closer to the temple. Leka said that the field itself was used for sporting games, but hadn’t gone into detail. Anika had been too exhausted to ask at the time, and with sporting events firmly at the bottom of her list of desired activities, she didn’t plan to find out anytime soon. She was not even a little curious about the ways in which this world would run after balls for ‘fun’.

  Last time she had been here, Leka had directed her to the course closest to the road they now stood on. The rounded log balance beams and monkey bars suspended from ropes taunted her. She had done acceptably when playing leap frog between the reasonably sized rocks, but her weak arm muscles coupled with the exhaustion of archery practice had caused her to barely manage to get two monkey bars deep before plummeting into the chilling water below. Her balance was abysmal, and trying to walk across floating logs that were only partially prevented from spinning under her with tether ropes had resulted in multiple moments that would have gone viral on the internet.

  “So… do I start running?” Anika asked the question with little hope the answer would be different than expected.

  “Of course! It gets the blood flowing and is important for building endurance!” Leka did not seem to pick up on the lack of enthusiasm in Anika’s voice.

  Lily jumped out of the stream and ran over to Anika. “Running time! I can run too!” Her cheerful exuberance managed to spur some energy in Anika, and she started to jog next to her capybara. Leka chuckled and took up the rear, the perfect position to prevent Anika from slowing down or stopping.

  Lily lost interest after a lap and dove into the pool at the side of the field as they ran past it, leaving Anika with a cheerful, “You can do it!” as she submerged in the water. Anika continued dragging herself around the circle, occasionally stumbling as the combination of her tired body and the uneven footing of the grass caused a misstep. Leka was like a machine, plowing forward at an unwavering pace to tap Anika on the back to let her know it was time to speed up or commenting that she needed to keep going.

  The laps blurred together until Leka finally announced they were done. Anika bent at the waist, left hand on her thigh and right hand on the cramp in her side that had been there for several laps.

  “Walk it off!” Leka cheerfully handed Anika a flask of water, as energetic as if she had just taken a casual stroll in the park.

  Anika painfully straightened enough to gulp down a few swigs of the luke-warm water and then partially resumed her hunched posture, this time remembering to keep her rebellious legs shuffling forward as if she were a school-boy creeping like a snail unwillingly to school. “All the fit people back home always said that if you run it eventually gets easier. I cannot fathom how this ever gets easier.” She panted and continued her pained cool down walk until a familiar, but unexpected voice called her name.

  “Yo, Anika!”

  She looked up and saw the rogueish face of Panu waving at her as he approached.

  “Looks like you’re worn out! You’re not already finished training, are you?” Panu looked her up and down, taking in her posture and pained face.

  “What are you doing here?” Anika managed to get the full sentence out without gasping for air between words.

  “Panu!” Lily had surfaced in the pool and immediately ran over to the fiery hero. “Do you have any more stories about the dungeons and Morigan and the slimes? Your last story was so funny!”

  “The Princess,” Anika could hear the capital ‘P’ in Panu’s voice, “opted not to join us yesterday in the dungeon, much to my dismay.” Anika didn’t need to be a genius to know his dismay was due to Yasima’s absence, not Morigan’s.

  Leka made a clicking sound of disapproval, “That girl is spoiled. We would have never allowed such antics to develop on Etalen. We may need to arrange an alternative program to make any headway with her.”

  Anika was fairly confident that not much would change Morigan’s ways. Spoiled, entitled people rarely found anything wrong with their behavior, and Anika would be much happier if she never had to deal with the princess again. Of course, she doubted the people on this planet felt that way when the gods had expended so much of their power to bring them to the planet and solve their problems. And they intended the five of them to work together, in the long run… would Morigan’s antics cause them to fail if they refused to take part in their efforts? She didn’t want to consider the possibility of a negative outcome when only four of the five heroes were available and willing to take on whatever this dungeon problem would bring them.

  “I’m sure you have smart people who can handle Morigan.” Panu grinned, “I am but a simple man here to try out these obstacle courses I heard about. Now that I see them… they look fun!”

  Anika gave a horrified glare in Panu’s direction, “You call that fun?!”

  “Of course! You get your heart racing and your blood pounding on an obstacle course and next thing you know you’re half naked at the top of a tower with someone grabbing…”

  Anika abruptly cut him off, pressing her hands to her ears like a toddler, “No, no, no, I absolutely do not want to know any more.’

  Panu patted Anika on the head like the child she was embodying, “Suit yourself! But if you need help on the course, just give me a shout! I can make sure you reach the peak.” He winked and headed towards one of the obstacle courses that involved a number of rock climbing walls.

  “I definitely do not need your help.” Anika shuddered, trying not to think about Panu’s… proclivities.

  “Anika, why don’t you take Panu’s help and do the obstacle course with him?” Lily plopped on the ground and looked up at Anika, “You could use help and it would be more fun!”

  Leka muffled a laugh as Anika, face flushing, looked down at her innocent little capybara. “It wasn’t… he meant… ugh… I’ll tell you when you’re older.”

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