Edited
Aelin didn't care how hard the back triple twist was, she was going to stick it before she could move on to fighting.
This was her fourth attempt. The past three had ended with her on the floor, one of them wincing in pain. It wasn't an easy move, throwing a backflip and then going straight into a triple twist: in fact, it was one of the harder moves she had attempted. Taking a deep breath, Aelin began to run. Pushing herself, she whipped into the backflip, punched once and then twisted.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then with a thump, she landed on her feet at the corner of the floor mat. With grim satisfaction, Aelin stalked off the floor.
A low whistle sounded, "Nice job shortie."
Aelin grinned at Lysandra, who was a scant inch taller than her. "Thanks."
"Off to your next class?" Lysandra asked.
"Of course," Aelin tossed over her shoulder as she collected her bag "Where else would I be going?" She didn't wait for a reply before walking out of the gymnastics area and into the change room. Aelin slipped into a spandex shirt and sweatpants, despite the heat in the gym or the fact that most female MMA fighters wore a sports bra and tight shorts, but Aelin didn't want any questions. Opening the door into the fighting arena, Aelin dropped her bag with a thump on the nearest bench.
"Good, you're here," Manon called. "Who are you going to take today?"
"How should I know? You know Brullo pairs us up accordingly."
"How about one of the new boys?" Manon said with a thrust of her chin to the opposite corner.
Aelin looked at the new trainees. One was tall, with a nasty tattoo going from his left temple all the way down his arm, silver hair and pine green eyes. That one she knew, but didn't dare approach, even though her heart clenched. The other was an inch shorter than him with golden hair and blue eyes, ringed with gold much like her own.
Ringed with gold?
Like her own?
Shit.
Shit shit shit.
"Rowan and Aedion. Aedion's from an academy in Terrasen and Rowans from Wendlyn. Both look like they'll give you a good fight." Manon continued.
Rowan turned slightly at the sound of his name, glancing back over his shoulder. He locked eyes with Aelin, a look of marginal surprise flitting over his features.
Fireheart? He asked silently.
With an almost imperceptible shake of her head, she replied "Not in front of my cousin. He doesn't know that I'm alive."
When are you going to tell him, or show him, not to mention explain this?
Soon.
Her heart ached because they had been separated for months now: she wanted to run into his arms and never let go, but couldn't without talking to her cousin first. When Brullo entered the room, Aelin quickly came up with a plan. Aedion still hadn't seen her, that was good, but they were in the same room. A very small room. Maybe, just maybe, she could get away with singular training today if she talked to Brullo right now.
"Alright, looks like we're all here. Group up by experience," Brullo called out.
Well, this day was going to hell.
Aelin stepped towards Brullo. "Do you think that I could get some solo time in today? I don't feel in the right mindset to fight."
"That's fine, take the back right corner," Brullo told her. The only reason he agreed so readily was because of her past and her unparalleled experience. She was one of his star pupils, after all.
With a nod and a sigh of relief, Aelin stalked over to the dark corner as Brullo began to call match pairings and introduce the new people. There was a quiet murmur from the group when Brullo told them that Aedion and Rowan would be staying in Ardalan for an unknown period of time and would be joining the class.
"Rowan and Aedion, take the ring," Brullo instructed.
They both did as they were told as if they were now used to it. Now this was a fight that Aelin would like to see, so she stopped hitting the punching bag. Sizing up the competition, well more so her cousin, to whom she wasn't alive, was a good idea.
In the dark corner, Aelin watched as Rowan and Aedion began to spar. Just like she remembered, Aedion smirked at Rowan before striking.
Holy burning hell.
Both of them moved with the ferocious agility that fighters dreamed of achieving and knew exactly where to strike. Each of the blows from both of them missed their intended target, due to the fact that they knew how to avoid them. When it was finally clear that Rowan would win, Aelin turned to the punching bag. Her muscles were sore from early morning Gymnastics, but she was used to that: you can't get to the top without some pain. Training was almost over when Manon called out to her, in a voice that begged trouble.
"Hey, golden girl! Fancy a fight? Just you and me, shoulders five seconds to the mat. Winner buys the other a bag of chocolates."
Damn. Manon always knew how to get Aelin in the ring. "You're on!" She called back, stalking to the ring.
Most of the trainees had gathered around. A Manon-Aelin fight was not something to miss. While cash bets were not allowed in training, you could still bet favors. The low murmur of betting surrounded the ring as Aelin and Manon climbed up. Both girls pulled their hair up and checked the wrappings on their hands. Aelin glanced over into the crowd to see if Aedion was watching. To her relief, and slight disappointment, he wasn't.
"You ready?" Brullo asked each of them. The fact that they were fighting over chocolates didn't shock him in the least.
Both nodded in agreement as Brullo backed out before yelling "FIGHT!" to start the match.
Manon went on the offensive as Aelin went on the defensive. They danced back and forth, punching, ducking and twisting to deflect and dodge blows. When Manon botched her kick and had to re-adjust her footing, Aelin switched to offensive.
Punch after punch Aelin threw, each one aiming for Manon's weak spots. They traded blows for several minutes, neither gaining an advantage, but the fight ended when Aelin whipped her left hand into Manon's stomach, grabbed her arms to force them to her shoulders and pressed a knee in the small of her back once the other girl hit the canvas.
"One," Brullo began.
Manon was thrashing, trying to get out of the hold that Aelin had her in. Aelin's only response was to push Manon's arms farther up. Gasping in pain and exhaustion, Manon went limp in her arms. Suddenly, she reared up in another desperate attempt to get out of the hold but fell back down when the pain became too much to bear.
"Five. You win, Ae-" Brullo began.
"Thanks. I expect hazelnut truffles in that bag of chocolates, Manon," Aelin stated, cutting Brullo off. She didn't need her name announced for everyone to hear, particularly not her cousin.
"That's it for the day. Scat, everyone," Brullo said.
Aelin vaulted out of the ring and made her way to her bag. Grabbing her half-full water bottle, Aelin drained the remaining liquid in two gulps and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand.
"Where'd you learn to fight like that?" A voice asked.
Aelin glanced over her shoulder. It wasn't Aedion: that was a small blessing in itself, but Rowan. Aelin looked back at her bag and rustled around for her second water bottle, "You know where, buzzard."
"Multiple years of training in Ardalan and surrounding countries," he said with a slight smile in his voice.
Every fiber of her being was begging and pleading for her to clutch onto him, but she held back. "You can be such a raging pain in my ass," she muttered.
Rowan snorted, "Likewise. So when do you plan on telling your cousin that you still exist?"
Aelin turned, a frown on her face. "And you care about this because?"
"Because you deserve to have some family with you and he deserves to know that his beloved cousin is still alive."
Aelin took a breath to tell Rowan exactly what he could do with his opinion, even though she knew he was right when another voice cut her off. "ROWAN! Are you coming or not?" Aedion interrupted. He now stood beside Rowan, which meant that he was right in front of Aelin.
Oh, Shit.
Aelin turned around, hoping that Aedion hadn't gotten too good a look at her face and wasn't putting two and two together.
"We're heading to an MMA match at Castle University," Rowan explained. Quickly sizing up the situation, he added, "I never did get your name, by the way."
"Celaena. Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass. I have another class to get to."
It was just her luck, her rotten luck, that Manon called to her from the other side of the gym. "Aelin! Let's go!"
Automatically, Aelin turned to the sound of her name. Realizing her mistake, she hissed slightly and brushed passed the hulking men in front of her. She could see Aedion putting the pieces together. Now was not the time to spring on him that his long-dead cousin was actually right here, in front of him. Her mind quickly clamped on to a plan of action to hide from Aedion. Running into the gym in the massive complex of the Rec center, Aelin dropped her bag behind one of the nearby trashcans. She raced into an empty dance studio and shut the door. Calculating the height of the roof, Aelin pushing her tired body into a full sprint and vaulted off the wall. Her hands in the fighting wraps slipped on the pipes in the roof but she found a purchase. Hauling herself up with years of practice and training, she shimmied into a gap in the piping. She had just managed to fully conceal herself in the roof of the studio when the door burst open. There was Aedion, looking frantically around the studio and Rowan, telling him that they would find her again. Aedion stalked around the room and looked everywhere. When he looked up Aelin held her breath praying that he wouldn't notice her. Aedion looked as if he had seen a ghost, and turned towards Rowan. He reassured him that they would find her, before letting Aedion pass out the door. Rowan looked up.
You had best tell him soon. I don't want to be covering your ass anymore.
Aelin bit her lip, holding back the retort to the last comment. I will, I just need to figure out how.
Well, do it fast. I'll see you tomorrow Fireheart. Then he turned and walked out the door.
As soon as Rowan had left, Aelin breathed a sigh of relief and dropped onto the floor with a thump. She pushed open the door cautiously and looked around the hallway, making sure nobody saw her. Grabbing her bag from behind the trashcans, Aelin walked through the rest of the Rec complex and pushed open the door, heading back to the bench where she had dropped her stuff before class. She had lied to Rowan and Aedion that she had another class, thank the gods. She was far too tired. Sighing quietly, Aelin went to the bench where she had forgotten her phone. She had noticed the person behind her in the shadows and had a fair idea who it was, but prayed she was wrong.
"I'd thought I'd find you here," A familiar voice said from behind.
Nope, not wrong.
This day just kept on getting worse.