"Do you know how to bring your energy out?" Tien asked.
Sabriena thought for a moment. "Well, me and the girls did do it once before. But that was a long time ago. I haven't done it since."
"Well, it's a starting point," Tien said, shifting a bit to make himself more comfortable. "Do you need to see it done?"
"Couldn't hurt," Sabriena shrugged.
Tien held his hands up in front of his stomach, his palms facing each other. As Sabriena watched, a small orb of light began to glow between his hands. It grew larger until it was about the size of a baseball. Sabriena leaned closer, laying over her folded legs, to stare at it.
Tien smirked. "See? It's not that hard." And he lowered his hands, the energy dissipating before him. "Your turn."
Sabriena drew a long breath and sat up a little, still leaning her elbows on her knees, and faced her palms towards each other.
"You have to sit up straight," Tien said.
Sabriena sat up a little straighter, taking her elbows off her knees.
"Up straight," Tien insisted.
She dropped her hands to her lap. "I don't like sitting like that!"
"Well this isn't going to work if you don't," he stated, crossing his arms.
She huffed and sat up with her spine straight and raised her hands again.
"Now, let your mind relax," Tien said in a softer voice. "Close your eyes if you have to."
She drew a deep breath and sighed through her nose, but Sabriena lightly closed her eyes, trying to relax. The wooden floor was hard on her hips and the heat from the fire was starting to fill the room. As she tried to let her mind go blank, it began to wander. Images of Tumbler yelling at her and grabbing her wrist filtered through her mind. Vegeta's words about her never being a good fighter and calling her a waste of space echoed in her brain. Sweat was beginning to run down the side of her face and she snapped her eyes open.
"It's too hot," she said.
"Yeah, the fire heats up pretty quick," he said. "Take your coat off. You should be pretty comfortable without it."
She quickly yanked it off and tucked it under her, making her seat on the floor ten times better. She stretched her arms out to free her hands from her sleeves.
"What's that?" Tien asked, nodding at her wrist.
Her sleeve had slid too far up her arm and revealed the nasty dark bruises around her left wrist. She quickly tugged her sleeve down. "It's nothing."
It didn't look like nothing. Tien quickly grabbed her hand to get a better look and she tried to pull back from him as though he'd scorched her.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said calmly, staring into her unnaturally green eyes, still firmly holding her hand in his.
She watched him nervously as he slid the sleeve of her shirt up her arm and turned her hand over gently in his. She was surprised at how gentle his rough hands were. She wasn't used to that. All of the men she was used to being around, big hulking Russians and street fighter-looking Americans, were always rough with everyone, whether they meant to be or not. Yet here he was, a man who would dwarf most of them in size and certainly all of them in strength, handling her wrist with the concern of someone holding a fragile piece of glass.
"How'd this happen?" he asked, frowning. "I didn't see Catie grab you."
"Eh, it doesn't matter," she answered, pulling her hand away and this time he let go. She tugged her sleeve down again and looked down at her lap. Tumbler had never left a bruise on her before.
Tien scowled in concern. "You want me to put him in his place?" he asked as if he could read her mind.
"He's not an issue anymore," she muttered. "Why do you care anyway?"
Tien raised his eyebrows. "Because I don't like people who hurt others. Especially if they can't defend themselves."
She looked up at him fiercely. "Why don't you mind your own goddamn business?" she snapped. "I'm here to train, that's all. Maybe if you'd just teach me like you're supposed to, I'd be able to defend myself a lot easier! I can handle myself! I don't need you or anyone else taking care of me!"
He blinked in confusion at her sudden outburst. "Never mind then," he said.
"Damn right, never mind," she sulked.
He could see she was upset. He'd touched a nerve somehow and he didn't understand what he'd said to make her react like that. All he'd done was offer to help her out if that boyfriend of hers was giving her a hard time.
She sat up straight again and closed her eyes. Tien waited patiently, gauging her mindset by her breathing.
"Breathe deeper," he said. "Slower."
Without opening her eyes, Sabriena did as she was told. There was something about the low easiness of his voice that calmed her. The fire crackled and popped, filling the house with the warm scent of burning hickory. She felt herself drifting off, but not to sleep. A soft fuzziness settled into her brain. Her neck felt heavy, her breathing slowed even more.
"Now," he said, his voice still soft and patient. "Concentrate on the core of your body." He spoke slowly, rhythmically. "Concentrate on the life-force there. Feel it within you."
Sabriena resisted the urge to sigh. She focused again and began to feel a pull right above her navel, like a fullness was there that had nothing to do with food or drink. An excitement shot up her spine and she twitched… The sensations of the room hit her suddenly and her eyes fluttered open.
Tien gave a smile. "Did you feel it?"
She nodded. "Yeah," she said, surprised at herself. "Okay," she said, flapping her hands as if to clear the air. "Okay, okay. Try again." And she closed her eyes and settled back into her meditative posture.
"Don't jump this time," he instructed.
She gave a small nod and focused again.
"Now when you feel it this time, I want you to try to bring it out," he said. "Feel it pull from your body. Concentrate on moving it to your hands."
Sabriena tried to concentrate again, to force the energy she felt to pool between her hands, but to no avail. She tensed, willing the energy to move.
"Stop," Tien said firmly.
She cracked one eye open at him. "What?" she growled.
"You have to relax," he answered.
She huffed and opened both eyes to look at him. "I'm trying," she said through clenched teeth.
"You're trying too hard," he said. "You can't force it. You have to let it come out naturally."
She bit the inside corner of her mouth in exasperation. "Fiiiine," she huffed and slumped over on her knees, closing her eyes again.
"Sit up straight," Tien ordered.
They worked right through lunch without stopping, Tien varying between barking at her to relax and sit up straight to speaking softly, giving her encouragement and guidance. She finally sat back on her palms as the sun began to dip behind the trees, casting long shadows across the interior of the cabin.
"I think I've had enough for one day," she said irritatedly, getting to her feet.
He stood too, looking down at her. He was so tall and she so short that the top of her head hit him mid-chest. "You want me to make you some supper?"
"Nah," she answered without looking at him as she slung her big monogrammed purse over her shoulder. "I'll grab a burger when I get back to the city."
"Okay," he said, "see you tomorrow then?"
"Yup. I'll be here as soon as I get up and around." And without looking back at him, she walked out and banged the door shut behind her.
"You're welcome," he muttered angrily. He shook his head as he went to the cabinet against the wall to get utensils to start his dinner. She was going to be a definite challenge to work with, that was for sure.
Sabriena spent her evening indulging in junk food and action movies in her room until about midnight when she finally decided she'd better go to bed. She was just getting ready to turn off the light in her room when her phone went off. She slid her finger across the screen and read the text message.
Tumbler (12:08 a.m.): I miss you.
She rolled her eyes and tossed the phone on the nightstand and punched the pillow. "Idiot," she muttered. The phone went off again.
Tumbler (12:09 a.m.): Baby, im sorry. Pls call me.
"Oh my god, go away," she groaned, flopping down on the bed.
The phone went off three more times and she pulled the blankets over her head, ignoring them. "Go away, go away, go away." She wanted to go to sleep and ignore him, but she couldn't shake the nagging need to know what he was saying. She rolled over and grabbed the phone.
Tumbler (12:11 a.m.): I no i messed up if u come home i will go 2 rehab n stay clean promise
Tumbler (12:13 a.m.): Yorgi is fukin pissed that u left u need 2 call n tell him y u left
Tumbler (12:13 a.m.): Y wont u talk 2 me? I love u. life isn't worth livin if i aint got u. i dont want 2 live without u
'Oh lord,' she thought. 'The hell is he talking about?' She typed a question back to him, asking him what on earth he was going on about.
Tumbler (12:16 a.m.): I want u here i cant live without u. i dont want 2. u have 2 come home. my life is over without u.
Sabriena (12:17 a.m.): No, it's not. You will be fine without me.
Tumbler (12:21 a.m.): I will end it myself.
Sabriena sat bolt upright in bed, staring at the words on the screen. He couldn't be serious. Although, if he was high or drunk, who knew what he might do? She didn't want to be with him anymore, but she didn't want him to hurt himself either. She rubbed her face with her hands and groaned. She really didn't want to do it, but she couldn't stop herself either. She called him.
"Where are you?" Tumbler breathed into the phone. "I've been so worried about you!"
"Doesn't matter where I've been," she answered flatly. "Why are you sending me stupid messages about ending your life?"
"Because it's the truth," he muttered. "I don't want to live without you."
"Oh my god, Tumbler," she huffed. "Seriously? That's so lame."
He was quiet for a minute. "Always the voice of inspiration, aren't you, Subbie?"
"Well it's the truth," she answered. "I'm not falling for it." She waited for his answer for a couple minutes. "You there?"
"Yeah."
"You need to move on," she said dully. "I'm not coming back this time."
Tumbler gasped. "You went back to fuckin' Japan."
She didn't answer for a minute. Finally she decided there was no use denying it and said, "Yeah. And I'm not coming back."
"Why you gotta be like this?!" he snapped. "Jesus, Subbie, all I was trying to do was give you what you wanted!"
"Really?" she scoffed. "You thought I wanted a crack-head for a boyfriend who buys me jewelry with drug money? The fuck are you thinking?!"
He went silent again. She was about to hang up out of sheer frustration, but a sharp noise on the other end of the line chilled her to the bone. It was the metallic slap of a pistol slide being racked.
"Put the gun down, Tumbler," she said in a calm voice.
"Nah," he sniffed. "You ain't comin' back. It ain't worth the heartache without'cha."
A panic welled up inside her. He wasn't joking and he wasn't trying to manipulate her. He was serious. She was about to listen to him blow his brains out over the phone.
"I'll come back," she breathed. She didn't know what else to do. She couldn't let him go through with this. "Baby, I promise. I'll come home, okay? We'll work this out. Please, just don't do this. I love you. I love you."
Tumbler sniffed again. "You promise?"
She was nodding her head emphatically, even though she knew he couldn't see her. "Yes."
"When?"
"As soon as I can," she said. "I have some things that I have to take care of here first. Give me a couple weeks."
"That's a long time."
"It'll pass by quick, I promise. Just please don't do anything stupid."
"All right," he whispered. "I love you, Subbie."
Tears were burning the corners of her eyes. "I love you, too."
"Call me tonight when you can," he said.
She'd be sleeping then. Did no one remember the damn time zones? "Okay," she agreed and hung up the phone. She zinged the phone across the room where it hit the wall and she fell back against the pillows. She didn't know why she'd lied to him. She wasn't going back. She had already made up her mind about that. She supposed it should have bothered her how easily the lie formed on her lips. But it didn't. He'd done it to her so many times, given her false hope, set her up just to be knocked back down. Let him believe the lies for once. Let him be the one waiting for her return.
But she couldn't erase the sound of the gun from her memory. She'd never feared a gun, hell there wasn't a weapon on earth she wasn't fascinated with, but she was now afraid of what that tool could actually do. Or more to the point, what he would do with it.
She groaned and rolled to her side, curling into a ball. No matter how angry she was with him, she didn't want him to get hurt. She finally fell into a fretful sleep, tossing and turning all night, the sharp racking sound of the gun echoing in her dreams.
Tien shook his head as he raised the axe and swung it down smoothly, the two halves of the log falling to either side of the stump. He should've known better than to take her on. She was too young and careless to be dedicated to training. She was too different from her friends, who spent their every waking moments with Vegeta and Goku, training like animals for the coming war.
He'd woken before six to get dressed and make breakfast and coffee. He'd waited and waited, but she never showed up. His whole morning wasted, Tien finally decided to finish harvesting his firewood. A cold front was moving in and he didn't feel like freezing to death.
It wasn't until nearly two in the afternoon that he finally heard the sound of a car approaching. He knew it was her – he could recognize her energy already. He heard the car door slam and her shoes crunching across the frozen grass as she approached him.
"Hey," she said lightly.
He ignored her and swung his axe down smoothly again, splitting the next log. He didn't know what to think of her. Could she really be serious, showing up this late in the day? She'd said she would be there as soon as she got up. There was no way she'd slept that late.
"I said hello," she tried again, a little more impatient this time.
"Nice of you to finally show up," he said after a minute, never turning to face her.
"Hey, I said I'd be here when I got up," she said.
He embedded the axehead in the stump again and turned to face her. "You seriously just got up?"
She pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head, her long blonde hair falling down to frame her face. "Well, I got up two hours ago, but since you decided to live all the way out here in bum-fuck-nowhere, it took me a minute to get here."
He cocked an eyebrow at her. "You kiss your mother with that mouth?"
She narrowed her eyes at him.
"I thought you were serious about this, Sabriena," he said sternly, crossing his arms. "Either you want to be a valuable asset to the others or you don't. If you're not going to commit to this one hundred percent, then I'm afraid we're done here."
"I'm here!" she protested. "What more do you want?"
"I want you here on time," he barked. "And that means early. I was up before six to make you breakfast."
She blinked at him. "You made me breakfast?" she asked, confusion all over her face. "Why?"
"Because I thought you could use the energy," he answered. "And then you don't even bother showing up until mid-afternoon. Don't waste my time."
He turned his back to her again and wrenched the axe out of the stump. "Go home," he called over his shoulder. "This isn't what you want. Don't bother asking anyone else, either, until you're ready for it. This type of training isn't for the weak."
"I am not weak!" she shouted at his back as she stomped her foot.
He gave a loud laugh. "Sure."
She growled behind him and he could feel her energy raise. "Oh to hell with you," she snarled and marched back to her car.
He waited until he heard the engine roar to life and her energy fading away before he turned around again. Her powerlevel had raised a fair amount when he angered her. It wasn't that she couldn't do it, she just needed better control over her emotions. For a moment, he was tempted to fly after her, but then his good sense got a hold of him. She was more trouble than she was worth and he knew it. Taking her on as a student just to spite Vegeta had not been Tien's brightest moment.
He spent the rest of the afternoon splitting firewood and fishing for his supper, thinking about her. He'd never met someone so… he couldn't even put a word to it. Self-centered? Inconsiderate? Impatient? Demanding?
He snorted as the thought 'All of the above,' ran through his mind.
Ah well, he didn't have to worry about it anymore. She wasn't serious about training and she wasn't coming back. He was relieved and disappointed. Tien valued his alone time. That's why he had made his home in this place, between two mountain ridges, away from cities and traffic. He could live almost completely off the land, only bartering for a few items he couldn't get for himself such as salt, sugar or coffee. Everything he had, he worked for with his own hands. It was rewarding to know, at the end of the day, that he'd put in a hard day's work and that his success was directly affected by the effort he put in.
He constantly challenged himself. He had all the time and space to train as much as he wanted. But there was a very small part of him that was disappointed. He'd found himself excited at the prospect of having someone to teach. It would be nice to share his knowledge, not only of fighting and flying, but of the rewards of hard work and effort. To watch someone progress and help shape them into the person they wanted to become. It was like a new project he could work on and now the whole idea had been scrapped.
He ate his dinner and spent some time outside by the fire pit, wrapped in a heavy black fur cloak, staring up at the endless stars in the clear, cold night sky.
"Hey! There you are!" Trunks greeted Sabriena when she stormed into Capsule Corp.
"Hey," she muttered, pulling off her coat and tossing it at the coat rack but missed and it landed on the floor.
Trunks, Catie, and Jenny were sitting in the living room with pizza boxes on the floor between them.
"Hungry?" Catie asked, holding up a box.
"Sure," Sabriena said and plunked herself down on the floor. "Thanks, Cat."
Jenny was chewing the end of a pencil, staring at a sketchpad in her lap. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she stared at the paper.
"Pork chop!" Trunks cried and playfully slapped Jenny's forehead.
She blinked up at him. "Bitch," she muttered and kicked at his leg as he cringed away from her and snickered.
"Who you callin' bitch?" he laughed.
"You!" she answered through gritted teeth, still aiming a socked foot at him.
He sat up straight and she shoved him over with her foot again. "Quit!" he said, swatting at her.
"You two stop," Catie sighed.
"That's it!" Trunks cried as Jenny shoved him over again. He lunged at her and tackled her, making her scream. She started swatting his back with her sketchpad as Catie and Sabriena scooted away, pulling the pizzas with them.
"Bulma's gonna kill you guys if you tear anything up," Catie warned.
Trunks had Jenny pinned to the floor with his chest, tickling her ribs. She tried to scream and squirm away as she laughed, but she couldn't move. She did the only thing she could think of. She threw her legs around his waist and screamed, "OH! YES! OH GOD, TRUNKS! YES!"
"AGH!" he cried and flung himself backwards away from her as she rolled on the floor, laughing so hard tears streamed from her eyes.
Catie was choking on a slice of pizza, she'd laughed so hard just as she tried to swallow, and Sabriena thumped her hard on the back.
"You're fuckin' weird," Trunks muttered.
"Oooo! I made Trunks say the f-word!" Jenny giggled. "That's a rare thing!"
He blushed. "I'm tellin' Piccolo," he threatened, grabbing another slice of pizza.
"Go ahead," she said, sitting up and wiping her eyes. "I'd love to see his reaction to you laying on top of me in the middle of the floor. With an audience no less. You exhibitionist."
"I'm telling Piccolo on both of you," Catie snickered.
Jenny and Trunks went ten different shades of scarlet. "Oops," Jenny muttered, picking up her sketchpad and pencil once more.
"You still working on that armor?" Sabriena asked.
Jenny nodded and sighed. "I can't concentrate," she groaned and threw her supplies on the floor. "I'm so stressed out. I need to blow off some steam."
"Go train," Catie answered simply.
Jenny considered it for a second. "I think I will," she said and got to her feet.
"Where you going?" Trunks asked.
"I'm gonna go pick a fight with Vegeta," she answered and headed off through the house, calling, "VEGETA! Where yo' bitch-ass at? I'mma beat you like a redheaded stepchild!"
Trunks and Catie snickered.
"She is soooo gonna get it," Catie chuckled.
"He hates it when they try to trash-talk him," Trunks explained to Sabriena. "He goes nuts."
"I would never anger that man intentionally," Sabriena stated. "That's a fucking death-wish."
"So I heard you're training," Trunks said, laying over on his side on the floor. "How's that going?"
Sabriena shrugged. "I don't think I'm going anymore."
"You only went one day," Catie said. "Is it that bad?"
"Nah, I pissed him off," she answered.
Catie and Trunks looked at each other. "I've never known him to get pissed easily," Trunks said.
Sabriena shrugged and ripped a huge bite of pizza with her teeth. "Screw it," she said through her mouthful of food.
"You really do need a teacher," Catie chastised. "We're all working really hard to prepare for the next battle. That last one was intense."
"Worst we've had," Trunks agreed, picking at the carpet.
"And you barely made it through," Catie said to Sabriena. "Both of you," she added, looking at Trunks.
"Hey, I was willing to die to save you," he protested. "Stupid dragon had to smash me between its head and the ground."
"I know baby," she said in a patronizing voice as she leaned over and grabbed his chin. "And I love you for that." She kissed him and he snickered against her lips.
"Ewwww," Sabriena whined. "Ya'll all sappy and lovely and blah." She pretended to gag.
Catie broke the kiss and laughed at her. "You're so immature," she teased.
Trunks seemed hesitant, but he asked Sabriena, "So are you okay? I mean, you and Tumbler?"
She shrugged. "I'm fine. Dunno about him. Don't really care."
"Sorry," Trunks muttered.
She laughed. "Why are you sorry? It's not that big of a deal."
"I thought you guys were pretty serious," he admitted.
She frowned and shook her head. "Pshhhh. Naaaah. He was just a warm body in my bed."
They sat quietly for a moment, listening as Jenny continued through the house. "VEGETA! I know you're in here somewhere! Come out and plaaaaaaaay! Where my money, bitch?!"
Catie blinked. "She's lost her goddamn mind."
"It's that armor," Trunks said. He pulled the tie from his hair and scratched at his scalp. "It's driving her and my mother nuts."
"Good lord, your hair is long," Sabriena said, reaching over and running her fingers through the perfectly straight, silky lavender strands. She gasped. "And it's so soft!"
Trunks blushed.
Sabriena looked to Catie. "I'm kind'a jealous of his hair!"
"I know, right?" Catie answered. "It's down to his waist now. And I'm not letting him cut it."
"It could use a trim," Sabriena said, holding the ends up between her fingers and examining it. "Just, like, a couple inches."
"Nah, it's okay," Trunks said, sweeping a hand through his hair, nonchalantly pulling it from Sabriena's fingers.
"So you going back to train or what?" Catie asked.
"I dunno," Sabriena muttered, resting her chin in her hand.
"You need it," Catie said. "I'm sorry Vegeta wouldn't do it."
Sabriena shrugged. "I don't know if it'll help or not."
"What was he teaching you?" Trunks asked, picking the toppings off his pizza and popping them in his mouth.
"To bring out my energy so I can learn to fly," she answered.
"Yeah, you have to learn to do that," he said. "That's one of the more important things to learn. You can move faster, get away faster…" He looked over at her seriously. "Really. You do need to learn that."
She huffed again. "I guess you're right. He's just so pissed at me right now."
"What for?" Catie asked.
"I guess I got there too late in the day," Sabriena answered.
"He is a morning person," Trunks stated. "I think he gets up at like five or something crazy like that."
"Jesus," Sabriena sighed and pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes. She dropped her hands back to her lap. "I guess I don't have any choice. He's the only one who's going to train me."
"I'd do it," Trunks offered, "but I'm training so much with my father, I don't really have the time to teach you all of that. Maybe if you were a little further along in your training…"
"It's cool," she said and got to her feet. "I guess if I'm going to get up that early, I'd better go to bed now."
"Tell him I said hello!" Trunks called after her.
She waved as she climbed the stairs and disappeared to the next floor.
"You think she's gonna do it?" Trunks asked.
Catie shook her head. "I dunno," she answered. "If it's something she really wants, maybe."
Trunks was about to ask another question, but there was a loud boom, followed by Jenny crying out in shock.
Vegeta's voice was dangerous as he growled, "Who's the bitch now?"
Tien woke with a start as someone banged on the door to his cabin. The early morning sunlight was just beginning to creep through the windows and the fire was low. He sat up and pulled on a pair of dark blue pants, getting to his feet. "Just a minute," he called as he tied his belt. He pulled on a long-sleeved gray shirt and crossed the house to wrench open the door.
He stared in surprise down at Sabriena, who was looking sheepish. She wore the charcoal peacoat again and her silvery sunglasses hid her eyes.
He raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think you were coming back."
"Yeah, well, I didn't either," she admitted. "Can I come in? It's colder than shit out here."
He stepped back and let her in, then shut the door and turned to her. He watched as she sat her big purse and two large paper bags on the table.
"What's that?" he asked, crossing his arms.
She pushed the sunglasses to the top of her head again and held out one of the bags. "Breakfast."
He lowered his arms. "You bought me food?"
"Well, you said we needed energy to learn this stuff," she muttered. She screwed up her face, closing one eye. "Peace offering?" she asked, swinging the bag at him.
He smiled. "Sure."
"Yay!" she giggled.
He blinked at her sudden giddiness. She practically danced around the table, setting out paper-wrapped fast food sandwiches and hashbrowns. "I didn't know how much to get. I wasn't sure how much you could eat."
He sat down at the table as she did the same.
"I've seen the way the other guys eat."
He laughed. "Well, I'm no Saiyan, but I can put it away if I'm hungry enough."
"Well then I hope you're hungry," she said, picking up one of the breakfast sandwiches and unwrapping it. "I got a few different things. Wasn't sure what you'd like."
"I don't usually eat fast food," he admitted. "I'm sure any of it will be fine."
"Help yourself," she said around a mouthful of food.
"You want me to make us some coffee?" he asked, getting up from the table again.
She nodded and continued to chew.
He stoked the fire in the stone fireplace. "It was really nice of you to do that."
She was still chewing as she said, "Well… I figured most guys respond well to food… I thought I could… bribe you into training me some more…"
He stood up straight and turned to her again. "You could've just asked."
She shrugged.
Tien set to fixing them coffee and finally sat back down at the table and slid her a tin cup of steaming black liquid before he grabbed a sandwich for himself.
She watched him over the rim of her cup as she sipped the hot coffee. It warmed her from the inside against the cold air of the cabin. She shivered. "Don't you freeze to death at night?"
He chewed and swallowed. "Nah. I've got a good quilt over there and if it gets too cold, I can throw some furs on the bed. I keep pretty warm."
A light touched her eyes. "Furs?"
He nodded and continued to eat. "I hunt and trap."
"Do you ever make stuff out of the furs?"
"I've made gloves," he answered. "And my cloak. It's made out of bear hide."
"Nuh-uh," she said, looking over at the heavy black cloak on the bed.
"Yeah," he smirked. "But mostly I use them for leather."
She crossed her arms over her chest and threw her left leg over her right. "Well look at you," she said, sitting back in the chair. "All self-sufficient and whatnot."
He tipped his head to the side, opening another sandwich. "I try."
Her eyes roamed over the cabin again, taking in the little details she'd missed the other day, letting him finish his meal in silence. There was a large antler rack over the front door with an arrow lying in the tines.
"You shoot that?" she asked, nodding at the door.
He followed her gaze and nodded. "Yup." He wadded up the wrappers from their meal and the paper bags and tossed them into the fireplace. "Thanks for breakfast. I do appreciate it."
"So you accept my bribe?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and sipping her coffee again.
He looked down his nose at her. "I accept your apology," he answered. "And I will still train you, if you want."
"Fair enough," she answered.
He sat back down at the table and took a big swig of his coffee before carefully setting it back on the table. He met her eyes with an even stare. "But we have to have some rules first."
She pursed her lips. She never did well with rules.
"You must be here on time every day," he said. "I don't have time to sit around wondering if you're going to show up or not. If you're not here by six, we don't train."
"Six?!" she screeched, nearly spilling her coffee in her lap. "I'll have to get up at four in the morning to make it here by then!"
"So go to bed early. What difference does it make?" he asked.
"What time do you go to bed?" she asked.
"Most nights I got to bed shortly after the sun goes down. Unless it's summer and it's really hot," he added. "Then sometimes I rest more during the day and try to work in the evening when it's not blistering hot out."
"Work doing what?" she asked.
"Gardening," he answered. "I grow a pretty decent sized garden every year."
"You ever keep livestock?" she asked.
He shook his head. "That's a lot of extra work. I get by with hunting and trapping."
"You're so weird," she muttered.
He scowled at her.
"Okay, okay," she huffed. "I'll be here at the ass-crack of dawn."
"Rule two: watch the language," he said in an exasperated tone.
"Wha… oh, fiiiiine." She rolled her eyes again.
"And the attitude. You could at least pretend to be interested in being here."
She set her jaw and gave a nod.
"Other than that, you should be fine as long as you listen," he said, picking his coffee cup up again. He finished it off and set it back on the table. "You ready to get started?"
She set her cup down and nodded.
"All right," he said, getting to his feet. "Let's pick up where we left off."