Chapter 8:
Musa's POV:
Finally we were all relaxing. Though it was in the space ship, it's still better than nothing. A week and a half of bone breaking and vigorous training, and as though physical training was not enough we had classes about pointless and useless topics. I mean who cares whether light can bend in the air or not and the angle at which it bends at.
Stella seemed weary once she had woken up, but that did not stop her from talking animatedly with Bloom and Sky. Brandon just stared at her like he was a love struck puppy. It was quite a cute sight. She spoke about everything except for what happened during her training. We had asked her a lot about it and all she told us was that we should not look forward to it as it was killer hard and I thought we were having it bad as it was, I was definitely not looking forward for my turn.
Layla and Nabu were talking to each other about their wedding, while Tecna and Timmy were either trying to fix or dismantle something, I have no idea what it is. I was resting my head against a snoring Riven while Helia glanced at Flora every few seconds.
Flora on the other hand was near the control panel talking to Alex while Anna was on the phone hurriedly whispering something. I felt bad for Helia, it seems like Flora was avoiding him every moment she could, given she was hell bend on avoiding us all.
Anna finally got off the phone and walked over to us. I nudged Riven awake and it took him a few seconds to realise were he is. Everybody else stopped talking and waited for her to speak. We looked like little chicks eagerly awaiting their mother to feed them, except for in our case it was not food but information we were hungry for.
"Okay so here is the plan." Anna begins. "I was planning on finishing off the boys training on the next planet but something has come up. So change of plans."
It's not like this is the first time she has changed her plans, she changes it far too often. How is she in such a position of power to plan our training course when she can never make up her mind is truly a dumbfounding thought.
"Okay so here is the new plan, we are changing our course to head over to the wind planet. That is where you shall train, Musa. So yeah that is pretty much it, we shall reach in a few minutes."
I close my eyes and lean back against Riven, but I can still feel everyone's eyes on me. I hear the conversations carry on, though it is hushed now. My mind is racing by just thinking of the many ways this could end up bad for me. I feel Riven's arms wrap around me and that without a doubt comforted me. Riven is obviously not the most romantic type but he knows how to pull through for me in the end.
15 minutes of humming to calm myself down went out the window the second we landed. Riven nudged me while the doors slowly opened up. Alex, Anna and Flora walked out while the rest of them waited for me to go first. Anticipation was not something I am fond off, but I let my skin crawl as I walked out slowly. The ships colour was hard to miss, it had changed from black to grey. I tore my eyes from the grey colour and noticed we landed in a vast, green grassland, the gentle breeze blew by us, and the sky was bright blue filled with puffy white clouds. This world was soothing, unlike the blinding, white world we were on.
"Took you long enough!" A deep and mind relaxing voice spoke out from near the ship.
A man wearing a grey cloak stood nearby us and he was the only thing one could see for miles. We were all amid a sea of grass. The grey cloaked man came closer to us and I could see him more clearly. He was hot to say the least, his face was chiselled into sharp features and he grey eyes were small but suited him well. Though he was covered by a cloak, which I knew greatly annoyed Stella, one could see he was still well built. His hair is light brown with blonde streaks and he had a wide grin plastered on his face. He was quite tall and seemed to walk with a mild skip to his step.
Anna hugged him tight and gave him a kiss on his forehead. He is turn patted her head and chuckled lightly at her pout, he turned to Alex who gave him a slight customary bow.
"Xan! How many times have I told you not to bow down!" He scolds.
"Nice to see you again too" Alex replies with a grin and stands up.
The man pouts like Anna and finally notices Flora who was trying to hide behind Xan. His eyes widen and he quickly picks her up in a hug, again not surprising whatsoever.
"Flora! I am so happy I get to see you again!" He exclaims.
"It's so nice to see you to" Flora replies and I can see the grin on her face as well.
They pull apart but his arm rests around her shoulder. He looked absolutely comfortable and she didn't make any attempt to remove his arm, I look over at Helia and I can see that his face was blank. I did not know whether this was good news or not. But this strange hot man could just be married to Flora's sibling, but that is highly not possible.
"Nee-chan! How could you not tell me that she was coming too!" He looks towards Anna accusingly.
She just shrugs casually and looks over to us.
"Well I suppose introductions are in order. This is my younger brother, well half younger brother, whatever it doesn't matter. His nam-"Anna started to explain but she got cut off.
"My name is Uhira Yamamato, you can address me as Uhira-sama, I am the crowned prince to the wind planet and I shall be training someone named Musa personally" He tells us with the grin that never left his face.
Ohh my personal trainer, well I am quite happy. He is royalty too. If I remember correctly his thrown has been passed down through the royal family because no one has been able to beat them for it. But I didn't know how strong he could he was because I couldn't feel the strange dark pressure like that of the slayers or the gentle intoxicating pressure that came of Lady Aria.
"I don't sense any power" Tecna whispers, so quietly that I would not have heard her if my hearing abilities were normal.
"We are trained to hide our power, no good will come if I walk around having people feeling crushed because they are week." Uhira-sama told us in reply to Tecna's whisper. I was astounded he could hear her.
Wow. Never has anyone been so self-centred about how strong they were before. His words somehow irritated me.
"Otouto, these are Stella, Brandon, Bloom, Sky, Layla, Nabu, Tecna, Timmy, Riven, Helia and your student Musa." Anna tells him pointing to each of us during our introduction.
"And it seems like you already know Flora." Stella finishes staring at Flora, at least she is trying to cover up her glares.
"Yes she is my childhood friend." Uhira says. "Anyways it is pretty windy outside, I shall lead you to where you shall be staying, and you all must probably be tired right now so we shall start training tomorrow. Actually Musa and I shall start tomorrow, I don't know about you people."
I can feel Riven grip around my shoulder tighten. He can get jealous really quickly and I really don't think that is a good thing right now. Sometimes I wonder why he can't trust me enough to leave me alone with a guy without worrying so much. I mean the guy hasn't even let Flora go and Helia doesn't seem to be mind at all. Though, I can't really say anything about him because he has suddenly become quite during this trip. I look over to him and his expression hasn't changed.
"Can I watch her training?" Riven asks loudly.
Shit this cannot be good, if he gets out of hand, I can only imagine how badly this can turn out.
"I am sorry Riven, but no you can't. The only ones allowed are Anna, Mato-sama, Flora and I as of now, Musa shall soon be allowed as well as its her training." Alex tells him apologetically.
"How is it fair that Flora can go and I can't?" Riven contradicts. He really needs to trust me at times like this. This is why I always get so pissed at him. Uhira looks at Riven in a soul sucking gaze and then turned to me, how I wanted to cover my face and hide from that gaze.
"Because, dear kids, she has already been there before." Uhira states laughing.
Anna giggles while Alex looks at him with a quite annoyed expression, Flora looks down blushing hard. It might just be me but it looks like Flora and Uhira may have more of a history than I thought. I wanted to look around and see Helia's expression but I didn't want to risk it.
"I still don't get it" Riven grumbles.
"Of course you wouldn't, you poor idiot." Anna whispers, again so soft I could only hear thanks to my skilled ears. Uhira just smiles and shakes his head.
"Enough, enough, calm down. Alright instant teleportation it is. Let's go" Uhira tells us and claps his hands.
This was completely different from how Lady Aria did it, hers was a bright light that stung your eyes even after you closed them and the bam you were at your destination. This felt like we were flying for a few seconds, everything was disembodied and even if I tried to look as clearly as I could everything is hazy, it was only for a few seconds but we landed up in a house of sorts. We stood in the hall which was pretty much empty save a long table with sixteen chairs. There were two doors and a kitchen attached to it. I found it hard to pull myself together after that hazy transaction, and I could see everyone but or three tutors in my condition.
Alex walked over to one of the doors and opened it.
"This is the bedroom, sixteen beds and cupboards. The bathrooms are inside, men's on the right, women's on the left" He explained. "All of us will be staying here, unlike Aria's training Musa and Mato-sama shall return every night to sleep here and then they shall go back to training in the morning."
Riven was now gripping me so hard I think that the circulation in my shoulder has completely stopped. I look up to him and his face was not happy. He looked down at me and I could see the turmoil in his eyes, so I looked away. I didn't want to get dragged into his confusing feeling only for us to start fighting, and I did not want to start my training on a sour note. I looked around to see what everyone else was doing. Almost everyone was sitting down on the chairs still trying to calm down the hazy feeling, Stella, Bloom and Timmy rested their heads on the table, Tecna, Layla and Flora where the only ones who looked fine, the rest had a glassy look in their eyes, Riven and I were the only ones standing apart from the three.
Flora got up to walk towards the kitchen cupboards, she opened a few of them and finally took out a few bars of chocolate. Helia stood up trying to pull himself together and took a step towards her. I did not have anything against Flora like Stella did because I knew Flora well enough to know she would never hurt us intentionally or hide anything from us unless she deemed it very important to. Flora took the chocolates and turned around only to have Uhira standing in front of her. He spoke to her quickly and animatedly, and the look on Helia's face was unmistakably jealousy but he quickly concealed it.
Maybe this trip was going to be more exciting than I thought.
"Alright all of you rest up for now, we shall eat dinner early and remember training starts from tomorrow for everyone." Anna tells us with a mischievous grin.
Damn sadist, my body was already dead tired and she wanted us to train more! I don't know whether I shall be able to handle it and I'm quite worried about what Riven might do. I went into the room shrugging Riven's hand from my shoulder and walked over to the first available bed I could find vaguely aware that Stella would make a big deal about having to sleep in such a small bed.
The thought of the next day and the possibilities it contains kept eating at me. I was filled with doubt and fear of whether I would be good enough to accomplish what is set. I felt a hand stroke my hair but I refused to open my eyes. Riven kissed me slightly on my cheek and whispered into my ear.
"You shall do well, I know you shall." And with that I could hear him walk away.
The joy of what Riven just told me surged through me. Though he was very jealous at least I knew he was still very supportive. With him and the thought of the next day on my mind I fell into a dreamless sleep.
