After the Tournament volume 1 chapter 2
After Myrves had gone to sleep, Raven began writing a letter to his newest champion's parents. He knew they would be as proud of her as he was. The letter itself wound up saying the following: "Dear Timves and Dotves, it is with great joy that I am informing you that your daughter Myrves has won my eleventh tournament and become an Ultimate Warrior. She may be the second oldest child in your household but she is also the first warrior bearing the cloud emblem to win, something I am sure many did not expect to happen. Nonetheless, she will soon be fighting in battle alongside her predecessors against Nevar's demons and I have hope that she will be able to handle the trials that lie ahead of her. She will be allowed to visit home every six months unless things are too dangerous for her to make such a journey. You may explain her absence by saying that she is living with another relative and continuing her education elsewhere to get away from those who have bullied her in the past. Ultimately, Myrves' fate is in her own hands regardless of what happens to her next. May the luck of the Raven's Eye be with you and your family. Sincerely, Raven."
Raven sent the letter via magic; it would reach Myrves' family in the morning. He continued to keep watch as he wrote a log entry regarding his thoughts on her. To think that she had at first assumed it was a joke when she had been called to the quest and yet had been convinced when realising Raven was not the type to make that kind of joke. The only reason people from Myrves' homeland had not been called prior to this quest was simply because the warlord had not thought to travel that far before. That said, he had made the decision to call Myrves and Verko after the Raven's Eye had shown them as possible candidates as warriors and it had been worth the extra time used to do that.
Raven looked over towards the space where Myrves was sleeping; she seemed to be having a good dream judging by her content look. He knew Nevar would not try to do anything yet but it was better to be safe than sorry. He continued to keep watch throughout the night. It helped that he didn't have to get as much sleep as a mortal did.
The next morning, Raven had been taking flight in his avian form as a way of ensuring that the path ahead of him and his young champion was safe to travel on. Thankfully, it was and now it was time for him to return and wake her up if she wasn't awake yet.
In the meanwhile, Myrves was already awake and had put away her things after getting dressed and rolling up her bedding. She had started the fire and had to jump back a little when she had put too much fuel in it. She wasn't burned but that was still too close for comfort. She saw Raven landing before transforming into his human form.
"I'm okay. I didn't get burned." Myrves said as her mentor looked her over.
"You are very lucky then, young warrior. Considering the fact that you couldn't handle Dragon's Blood any better, you may need a few more lessons in dealing with dangerous things carefully." He joked as he began cooking breakfast.
"Hey, I'm just eager to get going since I want to get there as soon as possible! And I only spilled the Dragon's Blood because my hands were shaking way too much and that wasn't the case here!" Myrves argued.
"There are some things that should not be rushed, Myrves. You may be used to a fast paced world but you are no longer living in one." Raven reminded her.
Myrves sliced some apples carefully and then thought about his words. It was true that the world she grew up in was fast paced and not many people there took time to appreciate the little things around them. She would have to change her thought process to adjust to not having to rush all the time.
When breakfast was over and everything was packed up and the campsite clean, they were on their way once more. 3 more days until they could finally meet up with the other champions. Myrves was excited about that and she knew said 3 days could pass by very quickly. She wondered what Raven was like as a teenager although it was admittedly hard to picture him at that point in life.
Raven had to interrupt her thoughts. "Do you wish to share any stories you have heard from your homeland, young warrior?"
"Well, it's hard to pick just one." Myrves admitted, trying to think of a story that would be easy to tell and explain as she held her staff under her right arm. "It would be a good way to pass the time though. I've heard a lot of stories, both fiction and nonfiction over the years; I like most of the ones I heard and that's why I always did more reading than physical activities. Maybe I could just tell you about something that happened to me even if it is hard to explain a little bit because of cultural differences."
Raven had no objection to that. "You are a smart warrior, my friend. I am sure you will be able to explain anything that confuses me to the best of your abilities."
"Okay. I think the easiest one to tell would probably be the one about the time my friend Carnam beat up someone who had stolen my glasses." Myrves began to tell the story. "I was twelve years old at the time and in the secondary school, or middle school and several bullies were basically being pains in the rear. One of them swiped my glasses out of my hands while I was cleaning them and I wasn't fast enough to go after them. Carnam was so she ran up and shoved Anvet, the girl who had taken them, against the wall. Anvet didn't want to give my glasses back though but Carnam snatched them back and handed them to me so I could put them back on. Then the two got into a fight and I had to leave and get to my next class so I didn't see what happened afterwards. I did hear my dear friend swearing like a sailor though before leaving the scene. I felt bad about the fact that I couldn't stand up for myself at that point though all because I was scared of those stupid zero tolerance rules." She sighed sadly.
"I do not understand what that means, young warrior." Raven was indeed a little bit confused at the phrase "zero tolerance".
"Zero tolerance? Simply put, in my school and in many other schools in my homeland, the harshest punishments necessary would be given for any rule breaking regardless of whether it was a major rule violation or not including for any fights regardless of whether one could claim they were fighting in self-defense or defending another person which Carnam always did since she didn't want me to ruin my reputation. She did the same thing to anyone who bothered Gelmak." Myrves answered. "I know it doesn't make any logical sense, you don't have to tell me. I did stand up to Anvet a few days later when she was bothering me and said 'I'm not scared of you and I don't care about what you have to say to insult me'. I was surprised I was able to do that without fighting and she never bothered me again. I think she was just jealous because I was one of the smartest students that year."
"Jealousy can make many individuals do horrible things they otherwise would not do. That is not to say that there are not healthy ways to handle it." Raven assured her.
"Yeah; I was jealous of the fact that so many of the warriors I was up against in the first week of the quest were better at physical challenges but I decided to use that as inspiration to get better at them myself. I still have a long way to go before my physical skills are as good as my mental skills but I am getting there. I know I can never be 100 percent perfect." The blonde haired teenager commented. "Funny how I didn't think I would wind up going on a quest that most citizens of my homeland would think of as only being in a fantasy novel. Maybe I could write my own story down as I write more in my journal and have it published after I die so that everyone will know it whether they believe it or not."
"Are you sure you would want others to know about some of your thoughts besides myself?" Raven asked.
"Well, maybe not." Myrves quickly changed her mind. "Maybe I could just write a regular autobiography like everyone else. Yeah, that sounds like a better idea. Speaking of that, how is my not returning to my school next year going to be explained?"
Of course, her mentor had a good answer for that one. "I did say in my letter to your parents that they could just say you went to live with another relative and are attending school where they live."
"How is my homeland's government not going to find out the truth though? Because someone probably would get suspicious and realize something isn't right." The young warrior pointed out.
"That will be explained when you are old enough to learn about the type of magic used to prevent that kind of suspicion from happening." Raven answered.
"Well, I suppose I can try my best to wait on that one even if it is hard." Myrves decided. She trusted the warlord she was going to be the student to so whatever it was he had done to keep her from being considered a missing person would work really well. "And I guess there's other questions I can't get the answers to until I'm older."
Raven barely kept himself from smiling. "You are a very perceptive young warrior Myrves, and correct in that assumption."
"What? I can't help it being curious." She argued. "And the whole 'I'll tell you when your older' phrase has often been used by my parents and in the stories I read. I guess that's one thing that's the same across two very different lifestyles." We are capable of understanding each other, Myrves concluded in her thoughts. Maybe they never would understand each other completely but this was a good start at doing it as best as they could.
"I will answer whatever questions I can honestly, young warrior. I do not believe in what you might call 'sugarcoating' anything." Her mentor explained.
"I know and now that you mention sugar, I'm starting to get hungry again." Myrves dug an apple out of her bag and began eating it. Sure, it wasn't the same as munching on something unhealthy but tasty but still, that was not a bad thing. "I'm sorry if I'm weird to you; I don't want my whole homeland judged based just on how I act."
"I will reserve my judgment until I meet other warriors from there, my friend." Raven replied. Culture clashes would most likely be a regular occurrence for a while and he realized that; it would just be a part of the learning process Myrves would go through along with having to learn to remain focused, knowing the difference between things she could handle on her own and things she would need others' help with, and handling her emotions well. Of course, it was hard to say how long that might take but Raven knew that he would need a lot of patience in reserves. For the moment, the warlord walked with his champion and they continued on their way, not knowing what was to happen in the future any more than they had yesterday.