7. Lessons From the Captain
Leyva's POV
I walked into the dining hall for breakfast. No one else was there yet, except for the captain.
'Leyva! Come here! I need to talk to you in my cabin.'
'Okay. Why?'
Banhr's eye's flickered to my hair, and he looked a little surprised.
My hand flew to it. It was a bit softer than normal, and I looked at it. It was black.
'Wh-what's going on??'
'I think it's because He'Anlae seems to have a special reaction to you. There are�some people whose hair turns a certain color once they come here. �Has anyone else seen it?'
'No. Ruby and Lena were asleep when I left my room. No one saw me come up.'
'Okay. I need you to come over to my cabin, and I'll change it. Later, you'll be able to get it back, but for now, it'll be too much of a surprise to the crew. They haven't seen one in a while'
'Okay.' I followed Banhr into his cabin, and he sat me down in a chair, taking one by me himself. He placed his hands on top of my head, and a strange feeling spread throughout me, starting at the top of my head, running through my whole body.
I looked at my hair again, and it was the color it had been the day before.
'What did you do?'
'It's just a simple thing every elf can do. Don't worry. It's just something in the air. It isn't natural.'
'But why black?'
'No, not black. Green, though you can only tell that in sunlight. But now�do you like to fight?'
'Yes! Why�?'
'I want to teach you some good skills. Not that you'll need them, it's just nice to know sometimes.'
'Okay.'
'What do you want to start with? Arliant? Archery or sword fighting?'
'Arliant? What the hell is that?'
'No knives, no any type of weapons, just fists, feet and teeth. Only using our natural skills.'
'Ah. Let's start with that. I can be pretty violent, so�I think I'd like it.'
Banhr's POV
I started out teaching Leyva just the basic techniques of punching and dodging. She was pretty good.
'You're doing really well! Let's try a real fight now. You don't need to know much for that. Just how to throw your weight around so you can block effectively and hurt someone. I'm not going to go easy on you, because the best way for you to learn is to fight against someone better than you, until you can beat them. Okay?'
Leyva nodded. I swung at her, she dodged. My left fist went sailing towards her face, and she moved away from it, to be hit by my right hand coming the other way.
'Ow!' she exclaimed, holding her face. A dark fire smoldered in her eyes. 'Revenge!' She came after me in a flurry of punches. I blocked most with my arms or moved away, but she got me once really well across the face.
'Nice! I'll probably have a black eye soon. Thanks to you!' I growled, but then laughed at her startled face. 'I'm just kidding. Just kidding.' We both laughed. 'Okay,' I said, 'I don't think there's anything else I can teach you. Where did you learn to fight like that?'
'I feel like I've always known how. It just comes naturally, I think.' My mind took some time to register this.
Could it be�? No. It can't. I'll wait until I get home to check it. She's so�strange. Like she knows much more than she knows herself. She's mysterious. Just like�. No!! I won't remember her! I'm not going to make assumptions. None at all! But I hope I'm right. I hate to be wrong. I hate it very much.
'Since there isn't anything else to teach you, should I start teaching you something else? Another form of fighting?'
'Archery?'
'Can do.' I took out two bows and two quivers full of arrows from a wooden closet. I gave one to Leyva, and kept the other one.
'See? You string it like this, and hold the arrow to the bow�' I fitted the arrow to the string, '�like so.' She followed my example, and held the bow that was over half her height. Swiftly I adjusted her hands and stance so that she was holding the bow and standing the right way. 'Okay. Now sight down the shaft, and find the target. Aim, and fire!' Leyva let loose the arrow, and it sailed through the air with a whistling sound, to land four inches to the right of the center of the target.
'Nice! That was pretty close! Now, watch me, to see what you can do to improve.' I drew back the arrow, and put my feet in the right position, and fired. The arrow gave a soft thunk, and landed in the exact center of the bull's eye. 'Okay. Now you try.' Leyva took the arrow from the target, and put it on the bow. I came behind her, and put my hands over hers. She drew back the string, but before she shot, I noticed that if all went right, the arrow should land dead on target.
It didn't. It landed four inches to the right of the bulls eye, just as before.
Something was wrong.
And something was all too familiar.
It has to be�! She always�just like�no. I won't think like that again. I don't want to get my hopes up. I've already told myself I'll check when I get home. But it was just like�her�she always missed the target by four inches. Always. No matter how hard I tried to make it different. I shook my head violently.
A voice interrupted my thoughts. 'How old are you? I think you've told me before, but I don't seem to remember.'
'I'm eighteen.'
'Eighteen. Wow. That's young! and a year older than me.' Another freakish coincidence. What is with this girl? Why does she seem so familiar? She and�Lanah�look alike, except this Leyva person has red hair, not dark green!! But�earlier�it was. Is it? No. It was just a reaction to the air. Nothing else!
Does she have something planned for her in this life, in this world? Is it the girl destined to be�no! I will not think like that!
Leyva's POV
Banhr's face had gone all strange, as if he was fighting inside himself. Against himself, maybe.
What's wrong with him?
'Banhr, are you all right?' He snapped out of the strange mood and looked at me.
'Yeah. I'm fine. Don't worry'
'Okay, whatever.' I paused. 'For some reason, you look strangely familiar. I don't know where I could've seen you. Do you know?'
'�no. This was the first time I've been to your planet.'
'Why did you go there, any ways?'
'Ah�I'll tell you once we get to Rinlantaerlanta.'
'Why not now?'
'Because the queen will be a much better person to explain things to you.'
'I get to meet the queen?'
'Yeah. She'll probably want to meet all the new people here. But you're the one I've told the most, because you're the one that's been able to get into that room and find the prophecy. You've also said some pretty strange stuff.'
'Oh. Will I get to meet anyone else? Like the king�or prince?'
'Yeah. But�there isn't a king. He's�away. Permanently. �But�I think the prince'll like you. Your personalities are pretty much the same.'
I laughed. 'Why do you think that?'
'Well, I know you a little bit, and I know Helent really well, after all, I am his uncle, though he doesn't know that, and�I think�you'd get along.'
I shrugged. 'Okay. Whatever.
'Can we try again? The archery?'
Banhr nodded. 'Sure.'
'But this time I want to try it myself.'
I held the bow in what I thought was the correct position, and this time, aimed four inches to the left of the target, hoping it would go the right again, and land dead center.
I released the arrow.
And it landed four inches to the right of the center.
Something was wrong.
Does this feel familiar?
Yes. It does. But I know I hardly ever do archery.
So why does it feel like I've done this before?