HighlanderQueen (ChelseyPudge) (Hafwen):
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Anyway, we have had a blast with this story. Can't wait to see where it goes!

Imadaywalker (Mrs. Peacock) (Rhoslyn):
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Chapter 2

Hafwen's POV

"Alright Ladies! Lunchtime and Playtime is over! Form up!" I shout as I returned from lunch. The ladies scramble to form a line and to look like soldiers. I groan at their appearance. We have a long way to go.

"I have news, Ladies. General Oreius is going to join us this afternoon. He has decided that it is time that you learn what's what."

I hear a groan.

"Do you have something to say, Talli?" I glare at the young centaur that I fought with earlier on the subject of the necessity of fighting skills.

"Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"For now. But I will decide if it is necessary later."
"I still do not see the purpose of fighting." she said, snidely.

I stride up to her and glare at her.

"Very well, Talli. You will learn the purpose of fighting by being the first volunteer."

As I finish giving off instructions on how they are to respect the General, he strides up.

"Good afternoon, Lieutenant. Good afternoon Ladies."

"Good afternoon, General" the girls chorus. I could swear they were swooning.

"Greetings, General. I don't know how to thank you for giving up your precious time to be here today."
He nods and gives me a discreet grin as he passes by me to get a look at my recruits. His brow furrows and he glares at some of the girls.

"How long have they been soldiers?"

"One month and a week, General."

He grunts and continues to pace in front of them. After a couple minutes of this he turns to me.

"I think it would be best if we started now. I don't want to be here all night. However, by the looks of it, I will be here that long."

I nod and order Talli to grab her striking stick. She replies by rolling her eyes. This, in turn, earns her a smack in the head with a stick by the General.

Rhoslyn's POV

I skip down to the sea feeling the grainy sand beneath my feet. No one is here. I plop down where I was standing and call out to the sea.

"Hello?"

No answer.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" I inch closer to the cold water and splash my toes in it. After a couple minutes of sitting in silence I screech. In an instant I see three heads poking out from the water staring at me.

"Were you calling us?" The head on the left asked me.

"Well, I was screaming." I murmur.

"That scream was you calling us."

"Sorry." I picked myself up and turn to leave when I felt something tugging at my arm.

"Where are you going?" A tall water nymph with silvery hair and pale blue skin asks me.

"Back up to my tree…" He looked back at his two friends that were still in the water and then glances back at me. He raises one of his eyebrows and smiles mischievously.

"Your tree?" I try to take my arm back but his grip was strong.

"Y-yes, my tree." I say forcefully.

"A dryad, are we?"

"No, I'm a garden nymph!" I regain my arm and march back up the beach, my face bright red.

"Don't leave so soon!" I stop in my tracks and sigh. Hafwen would kill me if I didn't at least give this whole "friend" thing a shot.

"Fine."

Hafwen's POV

I smile as I watch the girls trudge home. They did well today. They are slowly getting better. And it only took until 10 pm for General Oreius to be pleased enough to send them home.

"Excuse me, sir?"

I turn to see the young centauress that I tried to train earlier.

"Yes, Eavan?"

"I'm sorry that I failed before. I did try to stay on my feet."

I give her a sympathetic smile. "I know. And I was a little too harsh. However, I can't always be nice. After all, you will never meet a nice Minotaur."

She grins at me. I also feel General Oreius' gaze.

"You will get better. Just keep working at it."

"Will I be as good as you?"

I think about it, and look at her seriously.

"I have trained my whole life. Since I was old enough to hold a bow. I did not have the opportunity you have. If you work hard, and if you never give up, you should be able to fight anyone, or anything."

She beams at me, "Oh, I will work hard sir! I promise you!"

I pat her shoulder and send her home.

"Very well handled, Lieutenant. Even I would consider you a role model."

I bow my head to hide my blushing face.

"Thank you, General."

"I also found you did well in our demonstration today." He stated, with a cheeky grin.

I cringe as I remember the event.

"Alright Ladies," General Oreius announced, " Lieutenant Hafwen and I shall demonstrate a move that will be immensely useful to you."

He turned to me and grinned almost maniacally.

"Are you ready for this, Lieutenant?"

"The question is, dear General, are you ready?"

We began. I wish I could describe what it was like. Picture masculine power against graceful power.

We twisted and contorted. Dove and ducked. Leapt and weaved. This lasted for what seemed hours. And we were armed only with sticks and our hands.

I had my arm wrapped around his neck and he was tugging at it, "Well, Oreius, do you give?"

He chuckles and grunts "No," and I ended up on the ground, my arms pinned above my head and his face not far from mine.

"What makes you think I would give up?" he whispers.

I snickered and grabbed his entire chin, hair and all, in my teeth and pulled. This, in turn, loosened his grip on my arms and I flipped him onto the ground and pinned him with my body. I put my elbows on his chest and rested my chin on my fists.

"I just thought you would have found that easier."

I stood up and hauled him up, to the best of my ability anyway. We were both panting and grinning at each other. Our moment was broken by applause.

I forgot that the recruits were there.

Rhoslyn's POV

"So, what's your name?" The nymph asks snaking an arm around my

shoulders, but I shrug it off.

"Rhoslyn. What's your name?" I question. He fakes and expression

of hurt and looks me directly in the eyes.

"You don't know who I am?"

"No, I'm sorry but I can't say that I do."

"Well, I'm Nen." He says simply. 'Oh no, the Nen?' I think

panicking.

"Oh, very nice to meet you Nen." I blush. He takes notice of this

and smirks.

"So you do know who I am…"

"The other girls had mentioned you before." This seemed to peak his

interest.

"Really?"

"Yes. But it wasn't that big of a deal."

"What did they say?" He asks me, his smirk growing even bigger.

"To stay away from you." Immediately his smile drops and he looks

almost crestfallen. I regret telling him this and sigh, "But I never

listen to what they say. I like to see things for myself." I put my

hand on his shoulder and smile. He turns to face me. His smile

reappearing fast, Nen grabs me by the wrist and drags me into the

water with him.

"What are you doing?" I shriek.

"Calm down Rhoslyn, I want to show you something."

"But you don't understand! I can't swim!" I try to reason with Nen

but he isn't listening.

"Just hold onto me." He says reassuringly. I look over to where his

friends were watching and noticed that they were gone.

I wonder where they went?' I thought. I start shaking as the water reaches my

torso.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine." Nen smiles, his blue eyes

glittering. He places both his hands on either side of my neck and I

feel something tickling underneath his fingers, something was growing.

"W-WHAT ARE YOU—"

"I told you that you would be fine. Try to relax."

"Well, Nen it's hard to relax when things are growing out of your

NECK!" I scream. He laughs at me and slowly removes his hands.

"It's alright. I'm surprised your garden friends hadn't told you about

this." He says.

"What's this?"

"This…well these, actually, are gills."

"Gills?" I repeat in amazement. I find my hands traveling up towards

my neck. He wasn't lying. Little flaps of skin were really

protruding from the sides of my neck. "Gills for what?" I question

suspiciously. He throws his head back in laughter.

"Rhoslyn, you must spend too much time in your tree. Gills are for

breathing underwater!"

"I know that, but we aren't going underwater…" I laugh nervously. He

just stares at me, looking very serious.

"Yes, we are." Before I could protest this, he grabs me by the waist

and dives deep into the water. I keep my eyes shut and grab a hold of

him even tighter, cursing myself for never learning to swim.

'This Nen character is pretty sneaky.' I think as we cut through the deep

ocean.

I finally feel brave enough to open my eyes and notice that

the ocean walls are getting smaller and I realize that we are in a

canal. I steal a glance at Nen and see his eyes fixed on a

destination I can't make out. Finally, he looks down at me and

motions towards what appears to be a stonewall. Nen starts to speak

but a very high and very loud shriek that I cannot understand comes

out. I try to act out that I can't understand him. He laughs and in

one swift movement propels me out of the water and on top of the

stonewall; after a few seconds Nen joins me.

"Well, what did you think?"

"I'm a little wet…" I laugh.

"Hmm, I think it's quite suiting." He grins.

"Where are we?" I ask ignoring his comment.

"We are in a cave." I just stare at him and he sighs. "We are in

the cave. Many of the water nymphs, like myself, reside here." He

pulls me up to join him where he's standing and we continue deeper in.

"So…do you bring all of the girls you meet here?" I ask

conversationally.

"No…just the ones I like..." Nen reply's cheekily. He winks at me and

I feel my face heat up.

"Wow, it's so beautiful here!" I say changing the subject.

"It is." He scopes out the enormous cave. "Something must be going

on." Nen murmurs absentmindedly.

"Why is that?"

"We have the cave to ourselves."

"Oh, ok…"

"Here, let me show you something!" He grabs me by the hand and pulls

me through twisting paths and over makeshift bridges. Suddenly, he

stops short, causing me to crash into him. After I steady myself, I

look up at what he is pointing to. I'm awestruck. "Great isn't it?"

Nen whispers.

"Yes, it is! Nen, thank you for bringing me here." I say joyously.

He tears his eyes away from the spectacle and looks down at me.

"Well, your welcome." We sat there for a while in silence. Just

staring up at the wondrous sight before us. Hours must have passed

before either one of us spoke. "Rhoslyn?"

"Hmm?"

"I think it's time I take you home…" I reluctantly get up and follow

him.

"Wait, didn't we come in that way?"

"I'm taking you a different way out, so you can always come back and

visit…that is if you want to." Nen smiles sheepishly.

"I'm sure I will." I take his hand, surprising him, and he leads me

out of the cave.

"Why didn't you take me this way before, there was no need for the

gills…" I remember them and touch my neck. No gills.

"I thought it would be more fun the other way. Oh, and the gills

disappear after an hour or so."

I giggle, "Well, it was more fun the other way…thanks again. It was very nice

meeting you."

"The pleasure is all mine, Rhoslyn." I couldn't help but blush, yet

again, when he lightly kisses my hand.

"I'll see you soon, hopefully."

"I will make sure of it." I grin and take off into the forest. 'I

made an actual friend! I have to tell Hafwen.' I think as I bolt to

my favorite centaurs house.

Hafwen's POV

I loudly curse myself as I walk home. 'WHY! Why did I feel comfortable enough to refer to him as just "Oreius!"'

I slam my front door open and shut, breaking it. Oh well. I will fix it later. I am still angry, but Rhoslyn's coming over for dinner. Not even rage with curb my appetite. Nor hers, for that matter.

As I'm chopping furiously at the vegetables, Rhoslyn shows up.

"Hafie? What happened? The door is split in two."

I just grumble. She looks around the room and sees my destruction, and how I'm handling my knife.

"Um, Hafie? Are you…ok?"

"NO! I'm NOT ok! I was out of line today! GAH!" I scream as I chuck the knife at the wall.

"Wow! You were disciplined for the first time in years then, hmm?"

"No, I wasn't disciplined."

"Then…what happened?"

"I…referred to the General by his first name."

She laughs loudly, causing me to jump.

"Is that all? Seriously, Hafie. I see nothing wrong with it!"

"You don't understand, Rhos! You can't refer to them by their first name! It implies you are too comfortable around them!"

"So, you like him?"

I glare at her and pull the knife out of the wall. "Can we talk about something other than my stupidity, please?"

"Sure."

"Good."

Rhoslyn plops herself in the chair and grins at me.

"What? What did you do?"

"Guess what I did today, Hafie!"

"What did you do today?"

"I made a friend!"

I drop my knife in shock.

"You…did what?" I stutter, eyes wide.

"I made a friend. What? It's not that big of a deal."

"Rhos! That is a big deal! Oh, I'm so proud of you!" I gather her up in my arms and hug her.

"Um, Hafie…" Rhos chokes out.

"Yes?"

"I can't breathe…"

"Oh. Sorry." I drop her back in her chair and quietly go back to fixing dinner.

"Are you going to ask me about my new friend?"

"Ok, what is she like?"

"Who said it was a she?"

My eyes grow wide again, "Don't tell me it was a 'he!'"

She gives me the biggest, cheekiest grin the world has ever known.

"By the Mane, Rhos! You are made leaps and bounds today!"

She hides her face as she blushes, "I suppose so."

"Tell me about him! What was he like?"

"I won't tell unless you explain this whole 'Oreius' business."

I groan and inhale deeply, "Fine. He decided to help me with my recruits today."

"Ok, keep going." She said as she brought her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs.

"Well, he also decided that in order to show them hand to hand combat training is necessary he and I would do a mock fight."

"Alright."
"Well, halfway through it, I became to caught up in it and too comfortable. I called him 'Oreius.'"

She just sits there, taking it all in. Then she spoke, "Did he seem to notice?"
"No. Well, he didn't say anything…"

"Then why are you worrying about it? He probably didn't notice or he didn't care. You two did grow up together, after all."

I nod, not looking at her. She continues.

"And furthermore, you shouldn't overreact about things you aren't sure of! If he didn't make a big to do about it, then neither should you!"

I give a sheepish grin, "I did overreact a little, didn't I?"

She glances at the front door and then the hole in the wall, "Um, yes…just a little."

"Now, I've told you about the 'Oreius' situation. Tell me about your new friend."

"Well, his name is Nen…"
"Wait! THE Nen? You are friends with Nen of all people?"

"How is it that everyone knows who he is and I didn't?"

"You don't go out enough. And you didn't ask."

She growls and gives a little pout.

"Ok," I giggle, "keep telling me about Nen."

"Why? You know who he is!"

"I've never met him. I've only heard stories."
"Ok. Well, He has silver hair. Blue skin…"

"Is he handsome?"

"Well…"
"Rhos! You think he's handsome!"

"It's hard not to!"
"Do you like him?"

"NO! Only as a friend."

I grin at her and stir the soup.

"Do you like Oreius?"