Good day, everyone! How are you all doing?
Creativity: Well, I know you're on exam fatigue, so I know you're completely out of it.
Author: Yeah, it has been pretty exhausting. But, not the worst.
So, before we get into the chapter, I figured I'd do a little bit of… Well, I guess it's technically self-promotion, but not really? I'll let you all judge on that. Anyway, I added a section on my personal page called "Review Etiquette" which is basically a breakdown of what I look for in reviews, and also a place where I shamelessly vent about trends in reviews I see that just irk me. Give it a read if you wish, and let me know your thoughts on it, perhaps share additions or revisions if it strikes your fancy.
Creativity: Well, that's enough of that. We should probably get to the chapter proper.
Author: You're right. Now then, allow us to proudly present chapter 6 of Fist of the Sky!
"I can't believe mom agreed to let stay in Brightmoon!"
"Yeah… Awesome…"
Ferah unconsciously hugged her arms as she trailed a little behind Adora and princess Glimmer, the tip of her tail curling and uncurling as it was wound around her waist. Glimmer had been talking non-stop throughout the whole tour of the castle, mostly (practically entirely) to Adora. It was sort of understandable. From what she understood, Adora, or at least her eight-foot alter-ego was practically a myth come to life, so it was understandable that Adora would be the center of attention. Ferah didn't want to be the center of attention either. She'd grown up in the mountains and had only had human interaction a couple times a month, and it was usually only a small handful of people at a time, at most. Brightmoon was so populated that Ferah wished she could shrink down or turn invisible to avoid all the eyes on her. It also didn't help that many glances her way immediately turned to her tail, to the point where she'd unconsciously wound it up around her waist to avoid people staring at it. Of course, there was something else for them to stare at. And smell, for that matter. Which brought Ferah to a question.
"Not to sound impatient, but where are the baths? I'm kind of starting to get really uncomfortable with all the looks." Ferah quietly asked Glimmer, who suddenly had a moment of realization that made Ferah's stomach drop a bit. Had she forgotten that Ferah was even there?!
"Right! Sorry about that. When we get to your room it'll have a bath you can use." Glimmer assured her before she went back to 'tour' mode.
"So, you've both seen the Dining Hall, the Throne Room, the Portrait Hall, so the last stop for now on the grand tour is…" Glimmer stated before pausing for dramatic effect. She then threw open the doors with the proud announcement of "Your new room! Tada!"
Both Ferah and Adora had very similar reactions, those being for their mouths to having open a bit while they looked around at the massive, domed chamber. Ferah was gobsmacked. This was a bedroom?! It looked like a palace in and of itself!
"It's like… three times the size of the cabin I grew up in…" Ferah murmured through her daze, though only Adora seemed to hear her, as Glimmer was now giving a rundown of the entire room while teleporting around. Ferah had been spooked by that the first time she'd seen Glimmer vanish in a flash of purple sparkles, then reappear not too far away, but she'd done so numerous times during the tour since then, so Ferah was more desensitized to it, at least for now.
"It's pretty standard. You've got your vanity, the bathroom, crystals, bell pull, tea nook, more crystals, bed, desk, and of course, the waterfall." She proudly explained. True to her word, there was indeed, a small waterfall and pond connected to it. Ferah wasn't exactly sure how she'd missed that in her initial once-over.
"Is the waterfall for showering?" Adora asked with uncertainty, to which Glimmer responded with laughter.
"Good one, Adora! Waterfall for showering, haha!" Glimmer laughed. Ferah looked ponderous for a second.
"It wouldn't be the same, but ma and I did used to occasionally have meditation sessions under waterfalls in the mountains." She thought aloud, which immediately got strange looks from both Adora and Glimmer.
"You meditated under waterfalls?" Adora clarified slowly. Ferah just blinked at her.
"Yeah. Why?" She asked.
"I think the better question is, why were you meditating under waterfalls?" Glimmer asked.
"It's good training, being able to maintain meditation while you have literal tons of water constantly crashing down on you prepares you to better maintain focus in a fight. Also, as a side benefit, you'll find yourself leaving the waterfall about as clean as you can get." Ferah replied simply. Adora and Glimmer exchanged looks before shrugging.
"I can't exactly argue with the latter. Well, I better show Ferah to her room. Have a good night! My room's down the hall if you need anything!" Glimmer said before she grabbed Ferah's arm to leave. Ferah could hear the beginnings of protest from Adora, but the door shut before they could be heard.
"I think Adora wanted to say something." Ferah stated a bit meekly as Glimmer walked her a few doors down.
"Oh, I'm sure she'll be fine. If it's important, I'm sure she'll just come ask me." Glimmer replied confidently before opening the door to Ferah's accommodations. Ferah almost wanted to fall to her knees with relief that they weren't as extravagant as Adora's, but she managed to refrain herself. Ma had repeatedly made it clear that such an action (among others) could be seen as rude and/or ungrateful. The bed wasn't as extravagant, there wasn't a tea nook or a waterfall and there weren't crystals everywhere. There was a balcony though, which Ferah did appreciate. Also, there was a curtain that could be drawn to separate the bathroom area from the rest of the room.
"So, vanity and bathroom are over there, there's a desk and dresser over there, and I'll have a few people come up to take measurements for your new clothes. Oh, and bathroom has all the toiletries you could ask for. I'll be in the room at the far end of the hall if you need anything!" Glimmer explained before she left, the door shutting behind her. Ferah took a deep breath as she looked around. First thing's first, bath. Oh Etheria, how she desperately needed a bath.
She made her way over to the bathroom section of the room and began routing through it until she found the soap. There were a couple of other things there though that she didn't recognize, such as 'shampoo', 'conditioner' and 'bubble bath'. In the rare instances where ma had insisted they put something in their hair, it was usually just soap, though one time ma had attempted to use something else in a futile attempt to tame Ferah's spiky mane. It hadn't gone very well.
And then there was the tub. It was massive and rounded and stood on four legs, which was strange in and of itself to Ferah. And it had a faucet with taps! She knew what they were since the old cabin had that in its sink, but she'd never seen one, or even heard of one on a tub before. She was still examining the tub when she heard a knocking at the door before it cracked open a bit.
"Excuse me, miss. Princess Glimmer informed us that you were in need of a new wardrobe." A voice from outside the room called in.
"Oh, right! Come in!" Ferah called back as she stepped away from the tub and walked over to the door. Immediately, four women dressed in white, blue and purple robes bustled into the room and hurried over to Ferah. They were carrying an assortment of items, including (but not limited to) a sturdy purple box, tape measures, a clipboard and some sort of weird-looking quill, as well as a few simple garments made of a sky-blue material.
Before Ferah knew what was happening, she was standing on the box with her arms held out to the sides and her feet shoulder-width apart while the women poked and prodded, taking measurements, jotting stuff down on the clipboard and occasionally making a face, likely do to the fact that Ferah still hadn't taken a bath. Soon enough, they all left and Ferah drew the curtain around the bathroom area before she turned the taps and began testing the water. At first, she'd been surprised as to why there were two taps and was surprised to learn that one the two different taps allowed one to control the temperature of the water. After finding the perfect temperature of water, she waited until the tub was reasonably full and slipped into it with a long sigh of relief. She could already feel the clean feeling seeping into her bones.
After about ten minutes of just basking in the hot water, Ferah decided that it'd probably be a good idea to finish up and grabbed the soap. She got to work with scrubbing off the accumulated dirt and grime from a few weeks without a proper bath, paying special attention to her tail. She hated it when she had dirt in the appendage. She could feel it constantly and it drove her insane until she could get it out.
Once she'd finished cleaning up, she drained the tub and grabbed a fluffy pink robe (She wasn't sure about the cover, but beggars can't be choosers) and wrapped herself up on it while she waited for her clothes to arrive. It was about another hour before there was a knocking at the door and behind it was one of the castle servants, carrying three large boxes in their arms.
"Your clothes, miss. Let us know if there are any alterations you wish for as soon as possible." The servant said before quickly hurrying off. Ferah wasn't quite sure why they were in such a hurry, but she just shrugged and closed the door, locking it so that she could go through her new clothes in peace. When she opened up the first one box, the contents had her feeling a bit…mixed. Inside was a midnight blue long-sleeve shirt, a sky-blue short-sleeve tunic that was tight at the torso but loose around the arms, midnight-blue pants and black boots, with an ocean-blue sash to complete it. After trying them on, they fit reasonably well, but a few experimental motions made it clear that these weren't exactly a good fit for a martial artist, even though they looked the part. Plus, she had to admit that they didn't look that bad.
The next set was much more to her liking. It was obviously inspired by what she had arrived in, extensive wear and tear aside. It consisted of a midnight-blue sleeveless shirt cut to show her midriff with a sleeveless light-blue tunic that was open at the front, with two long strips of midnight-blue cloth to wrap around her arms. Her pants were baggier and also light-blue, with the same black boots as before. To tie it all together was a familiar ocean-blue sash.
After trying on this outfit, Ferah knew exactly what her go-to outfit was going to be. This one was much easier to move in and throw punches and kicks without worrying about the material restraining her. Or worse, ripping.
Then came the last one, which Ferah had absolutely no idea what to make of when she saw it. It was just a basic shirt long-sleeve shirt and pants, made of some material that, while comfortable in hand, did not feel structurally sound. Nor did it look like it was made to be worn out… anywhere. After trying them on, she still couldn't see what the purpose behind them was. Sure, they were comfy, incredibly so, but she still couldn't really imagine a scenario where she would where these anywhere, no matter how comfy they were. It was as if they were just meant to be comfy and… wow, they really were comfy, weren't they?
In fact, they were so comfy that Ferah could feel her eyes drooping a bit. She slowly wandered over to the bed and flopped down on it, her brain slowly processing how soft the blankets and mattress. It wasn't much longer before Ferah had dozed off, softly snoring into a pillow. She was so out of it that she didn't even hear a tapping at the door or the locked knob shaking a bit before whoever was on the other side of it gave up and left.
The next day…
Ferah's eyes cracked open slowly as she blearily blinked. She couldn't remember when she'd fallen asleep, but now that she was comfortable. It didn't matter that she could see the morning light streaming through the balcony door… THE MORNING LIGHT WAS WHERE!?
Immediately Ferah leapt out of the immensely comfortable bed and onto the floor, frantically looking around and trying to remember what had happened before it hit her. She was in Brightmoon as a guest of the royal family. She'd met an apparent legend made flesh the previous day, and somehow got roped into helping with the rebellion. And she'd slept in perhaps one of the most comfortable beds she'd ever slept in. It was certainly a far cry from the cold dirt she'd been sleeping in for the last year and a half. However, she realized that she'd slept in. She should have been going through morning training half an hour ago by her estimate!
Quickly (and reluctantly) shedding the clothes she'd slept in, she quickly threw on the second set of clothes she'd received the previous night and hurried out the door, just in time to see one of the castle guard passing by. She had dark skin and what appeared to be a horizontal scar just above her nose.
"Excuse me, I was wondering if there were any training grounds I could use." Ferah asked the guard, who gestured down the hallway to a balcony.
"You'll see it if you look off that balcony. There's a staircase nearby, pretty hard to miss." She said before continuing on her way.
"Thank you!" She called to the guard before hurrying off to the training field. Sure enough, it wasn't very hard to find. It was a wide open area with a dirt ground and a few target dummies laid out around the outside. There was even a marked off area for spars. Ferah wasn't sure how much use she'd get out of that, but it was there.
After doing some push-ups, sit-ups and stretches to warm up, Ferah got to work on a few simple katas to get back into the swing of things. While she'd done her best to stay on top of daily training while she was on the road, she needed to conserve energy for travelling. Thus, she hadn't been able to do as much training as she would have liked. Now however, she could make up for lost time. Her speed began to pick up and she transitioned into more complex motions, incorporating leaping and flipping strikes, transitioning from springs to kicks and back into springs, then into a series of punches and into another spring. She lost herself in the motion and forms, one into the other until she was suddenly in front of one of the target dummies, almost completely transparent energy gathered around her arms as she unleashed a two handed palm-heel strike, causing the target dummy to not just break, but explode! Ferah leaned back, covering her face as her face suddenly flushed, looking around hesitantly to see if anyone had been watching. She didn't see anyone on her first pass, but her second had her noticing that the queen herself had been watching, and had her hand covering her mouth, eyes wide in surprise.
Immediately, Ferah's face turned red as she quickly began walking off the practice field as fast as she could, completely silent and tail held low until she exited the field, at which point the ranting began.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why would you do that?! Literally the first thing you do on your first day is BREAK their training equipment?! Oh, and now they're REALLY going to start pestering you about fighting the Horde since you just couldn't help it and HAD to broadcast as loud as you could that could BLOW UP their training equipment with a single punch! Why?! Why would you do that?! Way to make a first impression!" She ranted to herself as she fast-walked down the corridor, though she quieted down quite a bit when she saw a few people walking towards her. However, she couldn't quite beat down the furious red flush across her face, nor the way her tail was constantly coiling and uncoiling, flicking about with obvious agitation.
Eventually she realized she was completely lost in the castle and eventually found herself on a balcony, whereupon she leaned back on the stone railing slapped both hands over her face and let out a loud "UUUUURGH!" of embarrassment and frustration.
"What's got you all worked up?"
Ferah looked up to see Adora, Glimmer and that boy she had seen with them yesterday passing by, looking understandably confused as to why Ferah was currently making noises that sounded like incredibly strained screaming while pressing her hands really hard into her own face. It had been the latter who had asked the question.
"I don't wanna talk about it." Ferah replied glumly.
"Rough first day?" Adora asked sympathetically.
"Something like that, and it's barely even started…" Ferah muttered as she crossed her arms and glanced off to the side, her tail coiling slowly around her waist.
"Do you, maybe wanna talk about it?" Glimmer asked. Ferah groaned and rubbed her forehead.
"I wanted to get some training in this morning, so I went down to the practice field and did my usual warmup, albeit a bit reduced and quick, since I'd slept in. So, it was all going well, then I got a little to into it and might have broken a training dummy." Ferah ground out. Glimmer looked at her with a weird look on her face.
"Wait, that's it? You slept in and broke a training dummy? Seriously, those things are meant to be broken. I've broken a few while training this!" Glimmer said before she held her right fist aloft, glowing pink sparkles clustering around the appendage. As surprising as this display was, Ferah was feeling too down to question further.
"I, ah… might have… blown it up… with one… hit…" Ferah mumbled a bit, which had Glimmer and Adora pause for a second. Glimmer began chuckling at an awkwardly high pitch as she began digging around in her ear.
"ah, hahaha, sorry. Could you say that again, because for a moment I thought you said you blew up a training dummy with just one hit." Glimmer replied. The flush across Ferah's face as she looked away again was all the answer they needed.
"Blew it up…" Adora clarified with her jaw agape.
"…Yep…" Ferah said.
"With one hit…" the boy continued.
"One straight punch…" Ferah answered. The trio's mouths were all opening and closing like fish.
"Did I mention that this happened right when the queen was walking by?" Ferah added as she slumped over as her tail uncoiled from her waist and hung limp behind her. The news regarding her mother got a cringe from Glimmer but confused looks from Adora and the boy.
"Well, it was definitely the right call to suggest you come with us on the relief mission!" The boy announced, which immediately banished all of Ferah's previous fixation on her embarrassment from her mind.
"Say what?" Ferah asked.
"Oh, right. Queen Angella approved me, Adora and Glimmer to go on a relief mission to Plumeria. Their food supply took a hit due to Horde activity in the area and they requested aid, so we're sending aid. Just relief, no fighting." The boy told Ferah, who had been frowning a bit before he mentioned that it was just a relief mission.
"Alright, I'll tag along." Ferah agreed, a decision that was met with cheers by the three other teens. Then Ferah remembered something.
"I don't think we were ever introduced." Ferah said to the boy, who paused for a moment and began considering for a moment.
"Hey, you're right! Wow, how did we forget to do that? Well, the name's Bow. I'm into archery and inventing." Bow introduced himself. Ferah smiled a bit and offered her hand to shake.
"I'm Ferah. I like fighting." Ferah introduced herself in turn as Bow shook her hand.
"Yeah, I imagine someone who can blow up a training dummy with one punch would like fighting." Bow replied with a light laugh. Ferah had to admit, he was very easy to talk to.
"Well, if you like fighting so much, why not fight the Horde? Can't exactly go wrong there?" Glimmer pointed out, though the looks she was getting from Adora and Bow indicated they wanted her to be quiet. Ferah signed and looked away a bit.
"I don't expect you to get why yet. I didn't get it until a year and a half ago, and it still took me half a year to process what it meant. I'm still not sure I understand it all." Ferah answered glumly. She could tell that Glimmer wasn't exactly satisfied with that answer, but Ferah couldn't hold it against her. She didn't have the perspective yet, and Ferah prayed that Glimmer wouldn't have to share it with her soon.
"Besides, there's more than one way to win a battle. Ma always drilled that one into my head." Ferah added.
"That's a lesson you could do with, Glimmer."
Everyone jumped as a new voice entered the conversation before turning to see queen Angella approaching them.
"Your majesty!" Ferah exclaimed before bowing.
"Please, enough of that for now. It gets tiresome day in and day out." Angella said in a ever so slightly exasperated tone before she stopped in front of the group of four.
"What is it, mom? Something about the mission?" Glimmer asked, but Angella shook her head.
"Actually, I wish to have a quick word with young Ferah, in private." The queen informed them, to which Ferah felt her stomach drop and her face flush once again. Glimmer winced towards Ferah in sympathy before leading Bow and Adora off while the queen walked over to the railing and looked out towards the Whispering Woods.
"Queen Angella, if this is about damaging the training equipment, I promise I'll be more careful in the future…" Ferah started apologizing before Angella quickly put an end to that.
"Oh, I'm hardly bothered by that. We have plenty of them. I merely wished to inquire about where you learned the Sora no Ken school of combat." The queen informed her, making Ferah's breath catch for a moment before she responded. Her tail was flicking a bit, showing her feeling of being unsure.
"You… You know my fighting style?" Ferah asked, her tone one of mild shellshock.
"It's hard to forget a strike such as the one you used to destroy that training dummy. I feared the art had been lost so long ago to the Horde's rampage." Angella said with a brief smile before mention of the Horde came up.
"My ma taught me the Sora no Ken for as long as I can remember. She never really talked too much about where or who she learned it from, but she did occasionally let one or two things slip." Ferah said as she turned to look at the sky. There was a brief moment of silence before the queen spoke again.
"I remember when I first met the final master of the Sora no Ken school. It was during the early days of our war with the Horde and we were looking for as many allies as we could we could gather. We had sent word a few days ahead of us and they'd been sent back saying that we were expected. The master greeted us at the entrance. He had a commanding, almost intimidating presence at first, but he was courteous and welcoming to us." Angella reminisced. Ferah was listening with rapturous attention.
"I don't think ma ever mentioned her master by name. I always wondered what he was like. What did he say when you met?" Ferah asked. The queen sighed.
"He told us that he couldn't pledge his school to the Rebellion's cause, even if he believed in it. He said his students had to find their own path once they left his school. He also warned us that if we tried to recruit his students within the borders of his school, we would be leaving with missing teeth and broken bones, regardless of our status." Angella shared with a small chuckle at the end. Ferah couldn't help but giggle a bit too.
"That sounds like something he would say, based on what ma told me about him." Ferah replied.
"However, what I remember most was one of the advanced classes I saw when we were leaving. It was one of the spars, between a male and female student. I remember seeing those same strange energies that you channeled during your training, and when their strikes met, you could feel the wind rush past you from the sheer force of their strikes." The queen told her. Ferah blushed a bit and looked away, her tail curling around her waist.
"You can imagine my horror when we heard news of the Horde's assault on the school and the apparent death of its master. I'd held out what hope I could that some remnants of the martial art had survived, if only to preserve as much of Etheria's culture as possible. And now, here you are, perhaps the last living practitioner of the art." Angella continued. Now Ferah was feeling a bit nervous. Not out of a sense of danger, though.
"From what I learned after meeting them, the Fist of the Sky and those who master it have been closely interwoven with Etheria's culture and myths, with some claiming that legendary masters could outstrip the rulers of the kingdoms. Part of me didn't believe it, but at the same time, I couldn't help but wonder." Angella said before turning to Ferah.
"Believe it or not, there is a point to all my ramblings, young Ferah. Despite how easily it has faded in and out of the memory of Etheria, the Sora no Ken is interwoven in tales of good and evil across all of Etheria, and now you stand as possibly the last of that line of proud warriors. When word gets out, you will become a symbol to Etheria, not unlike She Ra. I don't tell you this out of a desire to keep you within the Rebellion, or to frighten you. I merely wish to prepare you for what will come when word of the forgotten art resurfaces. It has been nearly a century since the last great story of the Sora no Ken, and with the war dragging on like this I suspect that people will begin looking to both you and She Ra as cornerstones of the Rebellion, whether you wish it or not." The queen informed her, a look of sympathy on her face. After all, Adora had asked for this when she publicly appeared before Brightmoon as She Ran and pledged herself to the Rebellion, whereas Ferah had specifically made a point of distancing herself from the publicity of it since she was obviously still dealing with stuff and didn't want to expose herself to the cause of multiple…issues that she was having. Unfortunately, it might not be possible if Ferah was forced to fight and word got out afterwards.
"Thanks for the heads up, queen Angella. And… thank you for telling me about the school." Ferah replied to the queen, who could only give another expression of sympathy before turning to leave. However, Ferah had one more question.
"Your majesty, you mentioned records about the Sora no Ken. Would I be able to read those records myself?" She asked. The queen turned back and gave a brief smile.
"Of course. The records are in the library. Just ask the librarian and he'll find you what you're looking for." She replied before leaving. Ferah turned and hurried off in the direction that Adora, Glimmer and Bow had gone when Angella had asked for a word alone. Luckily, they hadn't gone very far, and it appeared they hadn't been eavesdropping either! Ferah had been certain they'd have tried to. It's what she would have done (damn her teenage curiosity).
"So, what did my mom wanna talk about with you?" Glimmer immediately asked upon Ferah greeting them. Well, that explained the lack of eavesdropping.
"She mainly wanted to talk to me about my fighting style. Apparently they went to the school it was originally taught in at the beginning of the war to try and recruit the martial artists into the Rebellion. The master said that, while his sympathies lay with the Rebellion, he wasn't going to send his students to fight in a war, and that they'd have to choose for themselves what action they'd take in it. He also apparently threatened intense bodily harm if they tried to recruit students on school grounds." Ferah informed them, which got a jaw-drop from Glimmer.
"He said that to my MOM?!" Glimmer gasped. Her reaction was hard to peg down. On the one hand, her reaction was to be horrified, which was understandable. On the other hand, it also looked like Glimmer was trying to tamp down quite a few rounds of laughter.
"Well, we're gonna be leaving on a mission tomorrow, right? What should I do to prepare?" Ferah asked.
"Well, I don't think we'll be out too long, so just some basic supplies should work. Plumeria's pretty close by, so we won't be spending more than a few days on this mission cumulatively." Bow replied.
"Alright. So, just some basics for on the road. What time do we leave?" Ferah continued.
"My mom says we leave at dawn, so in a few hours. Glimmer answered promptly. Ferah nodded.
"Alright. I'll be sure I'm ready. Anything else I should…" Ferah started before she was interrupted by a loud rumbling noise. There was a few moments of searching for the source of the noise, before they noticed Ferah's embarrassed face and her hand on the back of her head. Her tail was coiling and uncoiling as she averted her eyes.
"Wait… Have you not eaten yet?" Glimmer asked, slightly aghast.
"It ah… kind of slipped my mind. It was always training before breakfast back home." Ferah explained. Without warning, Glimmer had seized Ferah's hand and was dragging her through the castle with Bow and Adora following behind.
"This will not do! Not do, I say!" Glimmer announced loudly as she continued to drag Ferah through the castle, mainly able to do so because Ferah was too dumbfounded to protest or try to attempt to free herself from Glimmer's astonishingly strong grip. Eventually they reached their mysterious destination, which Ferah realized was the dining hall. After making sure that Ferah was seated, Glimmer marched down towards the kitchen doors and dipped out of sight for a few seconds before coming back out with a smile on her face.
"Give it ten minutes or so. Fifteen tops." She told Ferah, who looked very confused. Well, up until several people emerged from the kitchens holding trays that were covered with a wide assortment of food that Ferah had never even seen before! The aroma alone was making her drool. As it turned out, she wasn't the only one hungry, as there was now a chorus of growling stomachs. Ferah turned around to look at Adora and Bow, who were now averting their gazes and rubbing the back of their heads.
"I might have eaten a bit light before coming to the castle this morning…" Bow said embarrassedly.
"And my nerves might have spoiled my appetite earlier…" Adora added. Glimmer simply shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Well, it's a good thing I said this was a meal for four." Glimmer revealed with a wide grin as everyone seated themselves and they began attacking the food. At least, at the beginning. Everyone had finished one plate by the time they realized, much to their horror, that Ferah was already going back for thirds.
"Umm… Ferah? How much do you intend to eat?" Bow asked slowly as his eyes were glued to the rapidly dwindling pile of food in front of the martial artist. Ferah swallowed her mouthful and shrugged.
"Probably a plate after this. I don't wanna overdo it after all." Ferah replied before continuing to wreak untold havoc upon second breakfast. The three other teens were suddenly very thankful that they'd finished their first plates already, as witnessing the unholy amounts of food that Ferah was able to consume in one sitting had ruined their appetites. Once Ferah had finished eating, she let out a contented sigh.
"I don't remember the last time I was able to eat like that. And the food… That's easily the best meal I've ever had!" Ferah praised as everyone just let out an internal sigh, grateful that the horrible spectacle was over.
"Well, I should probably get packed for the trip. Bedroll, water, rations… Honestly, I don't really think I'll need to do much beyond refill my canteen." Ferah said, though it quickly turned to just talking to herself.
"Where does it all go?" Adora wondered in a dazed voice.
"There's not enough physical room in the human body to accommodate that much food." Bow stuttered as his brain tried to process what he was seeing.
"Mom is gonna freak when she sees this." Glimmer moaned as she envisioned the look of horror on Angella's face that would arise from bearing witness to the appetite of Ferah.
"Well, I'll see you all at the gates!" Ferah told them before she navigated back to her room and retrieved her still-packed rucksack and refilled the canteen from the sink in the bathroom area of her room. After all that was done, she made her way through the castle, occasionally stopping to ask someone directions before she made it to the front gate of the castle. Soon enough, Bow, Glimmer and Adora as She Ra arrived. She Ra was currently pulling a large cart of humanitarian supplies behind her with incredible ease.
"I am definitely going to have to ask to spar with you when we get home." Thought Ferah as the they approached.
"Well, shall we?" Glimmer asked. Ferah, Bow and She Ra nodded, and they all crossed the castle bridge and into began their march towards Plumeria.
"So, have you ever been to Plumeria, Ferah? I mean, travelling for a year and half, you must have been to some pretty interesting places." Glimmer asked. Ferah shook her head.
"I travelled pretty slowly, and I never really visited any towns. I might have passed through their borders or the borders of another kingdom for all I know." Ferah replied.
"Sounds like a pretty lonely trip." Bow commented. Ferah sighed.
"It was, but I was mostly focused on getting away from the mountains I grew up in. I didn't really have a destination in mind." She replied.
"Well, chin up. Now you get to see the world properly this time!" Bow encouraged, getting a smile from Ferah.
"Yeah. I think I'd like that." Ferah agreed as they stepped into continued down the path. It was a long road ahead, but now Ferah didn't have to walk it alone.
And that's where we're ending it for today! Man, this one ran WAY long than I initially anticipated.
Creativity: No kidding! Plus, there were a couple of revisions here and there, adjusting the order of events a few times, stuff like that.
Author: But, it's still done! Much like my exams are too! Oh, MAN does it feel good to be FREE!
So yeah, the Best Friend Squad is off to Plumeria! Not much else to say, other than it's gonna be a while between updates again. We've got a couple other projects to attend to, plus other holiday things to attend to.
Well, I think that's it from me for now! Thank you all for reading, please review and we'll see you next time!