A/N: Hello! I'm sorry it has taken so long to update. I've had this chapter done for a while, I was just waiting for my BETA to look it over. I hope you enjoy it!
Over the course of the next month, Mina was pushed to her limits. Given the fact that she could not train in any hand-to-hand combat until her hands had healed from the burns, Nikomi had pushed her in every other method of training. She would have her run until her lungs felt as they would give out, practice at the firing range until her ears rang, and had her memorize so many uses of simple weapons in combat that her head spun. On top of Nikomi's training, Corric had been constantly drilling new things into her mind every chance he got, giving her new books to read every night. Mina barely got through an entire chapter before falling asleep in her chair by the fire.
Acastus had questioned her constant exhaustion, but she blamed it on extensive training from Corric alone. She wasn't ready to share her secret with her husband until she was able to see some success from it. He had stopped moping around the house, so she assumed Cowen had let off on the criticism. At least that part of her plan seemed to be fruitful. She hoped that other things would improve to the point that she could prove that her actions had made a change. Until she saw those results, Acastus would be kept in the dark as long as possible.
Once Corric was satisfied that her hands had healed, he gave her the go ahead to begin her other training. Mina had been dreading this part. She hadn't practiced her hand-to-hand combat since her father's death. That was over a decade ago, and she was left feeling unprepared. When she walked into the training room that Nikomi had directed her to, she was surprised by who she found there.
"Caleb? What are you doing here?"
Her brother gave her a smile in greeting and gestured to the corner where Nikomi was standing.
"Commander Lunn thought that it would be best if your training was overseen by a small group, since it seems to be something of a secret."
Mina's face contorted in a guilty expression. She hadn't told her siblings the full extent of her plan. Only that she had joined the military to fill a special position, leaving out the secretive nature of the training. She knew her brother could be trusted, but the smaller amount of people that knew the truth, the better.
Caleb gestured for her to move to the center of the room. He walked over to the edge of the room and grabbed two wooden staffs from the rack on the wall, tossing one to Mina as he walked back in her direction. Mina reached out her hand and caught the staff, looking at her brother with confusion.
"I thought we would be beginning by hand-to-hand training," she said pointing at the staff in her hand, "this is not part of that."
Nikomi moved out from her place in the corner to stand between the siblings.
"Your brother told me that it has been quite a while since you have had any training. The staffs allow a sort of barrier between two opponents so they are not immediately forced to deal with the strength of the one they are fighting. Unlike you, Caleb has continued training and is one of the best fighters I have seen other than Sora Tyrus, your father, and your husband. I don't want you to get severely injured on your first day because you were outmatched by such a superior fighter."
Mina glanced around Nikomi at her brother to see a smug grin on his face. She knew that he was thinking of all the times she had made fun of him for his lack of grace as a child. She was about to be on the other end of the mocking spectrum. The only advantage that she had against him was the fact that she was smaller than him.
"I want you guys to take it slow. At the same time, I want to see what there is to work with, so there will be no formality to this match," Nikomi said as she backed away from her position between the two of them, "Mina I want you to be on the offensive until I blow my whistle, then I want you to switch to defensive while Caleb attacks you. You are free to do any moves you feel like, just don't play dirty."
Mina nodded in response and grasped her staff with both hands. Caleb stood with his staff directly in front of him, his eyes focusing on Mina. Taking a deep breath, Mina prepared herself, thinking of what she would do to launch an offensive strike against her brother. Nikomi's whistle shrieked, the sound echoing in the small room. Mina moved forward towards her brother, raising her staff to strike him. Before she could get anywhere close to him, he raised his and blocked her blow. Mina grunted as the staff vibrated in her hands from the impact. Caleb's smug expression returned and Mina could feel the rivalry of their teen years burning inside her.
Mina quickly spun around, swinging her staff as she spun. Out of the corner of her vision, she could she Caleb moving his staff up to block her blow, so she changed her mind mid-spin and lowered hers, landing a blow to Caleb's leg. He let out a sound akin to a yelp, causing the corner of Mina's mouth to rise in a smirk. It was a small victory, but it felt good to wipe the smug grin from her brother's face. Mina's victory was short lived and was interrupted by the shrieking sound of Nikomi's whistle. Her eyes widened as Caleb recovered from the blow to his leg with wild swing of his staff. Mina fell forward as he hit her between the shoulders, landing on her stomach with a whoomp as the air was knocked from her lungs.
Nikomi's whistle blew again and she walked over to where Mina was lying on the floor.
"First lesson: don't let little victories distract you. You never know what's coming."
Mina nodded and pushed herself off the floor, getting to her feet. She bent over and picked up her staff from the floor before turning to face Caleb again. She glared at him for his actions, but got a shrug in response.
"Sorry little sister, but you left yourself wide open."
Mina narrowed her eyes and got back into position, waiting for the whistle again. When she heard it, she didn't hesitate before quickly closing the distance between them, swinging her staff high in the air. Caleb raised his above his head, blocking her blow. Growling in frustration, Mina swung wide and low, hitting Caleb's legs with her staff. She was surprised when he cried out in pain. She must have swung harder than she thought. He bent down to grasp his shin where she had hit him.
Mina began to lower her staff, but she heard the sound of the whistle, leading her to focus her attention on her brother's movements, not letting herself get distracted like she had before. It was a good thing she was paying attention, because as soon as the whistle sounded, Caleb seemed to recover from his pain and swung his staff at Mina's feet. Mina jumped to avoid the blow, not wanting to get knocked off her feet again. He quickly clambered to his feet and raised his staff to swing several times. Mina managed to block each blow, but she stumbled backwards a little each time his staff collided with hers. When the whistle blew again, Mina almost didn't hear it over the sound of the clashing staffs.
"That's enough!" Nikomi yelled as the two of them stopped their movements.
Caleb stepped away, leaning on his staff as he caught his breath. Mina braced herself against the wall, letting her staff fall to the floor. She glanced over at her brother, surprised to see a look of admiration on his face. Nikomi made a shooing motion with her hand in Caleb's direction.
"You are dismissed Caleb. I would like to focus on some individual things with your sister."
Caleb nodded and gave a small bow of respect before returning his staff to the rack and leaving the training room. Mina watched him leave before focusing her attention on the woman in front of her.
"How did I do?" she asked curiously.
NIkomi reached down and picked up Mina's staff from the floor.
"Not bad for your first day. You are very easily distracted. You focused yourself in the second round, but would you have done that if I had not said anything?"
Mina shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "I guess I don't know."
"We will have to see in time if it will continue to be a problem. I know you were probably expecting more today, but that is all I want from you in this department today. I've noticed that my training has been hard on you."
Mina raised her eyebrows in confusion. She had purposefully avoided complaining about how exhausted she was and the constant burn in her legs from the running Nikomi had made her do. She didn't want to appear weak when she had so much to prove.
Nikomi's expression softened. "It must be my mother's intuition. Every day you seem less eager to preform and I can see the circles under your eyes. Just because you need to train twice as hard, does not mean you stop taking care of yourself. I know tomorrow is your day off, so I want you to rest as much as you can. Take some time and take care of yourself. All of this training will do you no good if you run yourself into the ground."
Mina knew Nikomi was right. She would get nowhere if she overdid it.
"I will make sure that I take some time to myself."
Nikomi smiled and placed her hand on Mina's shoulder, giving it an encouraging squeeze. She made a shooing motion at Mina, indicating that she was free to leave. Mina copied her brother's action of bowing in respect before leaving the training room. She made her way to the locker room to change back into her regular clothes before returning home. As she walked down the hallway, Mina could hear voices approaching. Her eyes widened in a panic when she recognized one of the voices as belonging to her husband. Mina looked around frantically, searching for a place to hide. Her training attire would definitely raise Acastus' suspicions, so she needed to make herself scarce.
Keeping her head down, Mina stuck close to the wall, hoping that she could pass without being noticed. She didn't have high hopes, knowing that her red hair made her stand out, especially since Sora was still gone so the amount of redheads was decreased. She moved quickly along the wall, pausing when she reached the corner. She peered around the corner and let of a sigh of relief when she saw that her husband was walking away from her. Mina quickly walked in the opposite direction, darting around the next corner. Once she had reached the locker room and changed her clothes, she felt more at ease. Mina wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to hide this secret from her husband. Every day she spent training, she risked him finding out. She would have to tell him soon, before he found out some other way and it exploded in her face.
A/N: A big thank you to my BETA Nika Dixon for their feedback! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review and let me know what you think!