Skyrin came stumbling outside into the blinding sunlight and biting chill. She sank down against the frozen bark of an old oak tree and buried her face in her hands. She had made up her mind to make the best of the situation, but that was easier said than done. How exactly was she supposed to do that? She couldn't leave her family to wonder what had happened to her, and she definitely couldn't ask these people to keep her there. She would only be a burden. Perhaps it would be easier for everyone if she were simply to take off running. There were woods behind the house, she could just take off. Maybe the prince would find her, then all of her new friends wouldn't have to take care of her, and she would never find herself under Requiem's strange spell again.
"Don't do it," came a voice from behind her, waking her from her musings. It was ShadowCat.
"How did you know what I was planning?"
"I am the Prince of Dreams, that includes daydreams," he stated.
"Oh. Well why shouldn't I?"
"It wouldn't help anybody. You're stuck here either way, and that would also mean that Prince Tallyn got what he wanted. Not one of us likes him, not even Rubiee and she's part of his mother's court," he paused for a moment, then continued, "You should come inside. Winter in our world is quite unforgiving."
Skyrin lingered behind as ShadowCat left. She didn't know whether or not to heed ShadowCat's advice, but before she could decide, the cold made up her mind for her. She hopped up, brushed herself off, and walked back inside.
When Skyrin walked through the door she was met with concerned looks from the five faeries around the table.
"Are you okay?" asked Nessa.
"Mmhhmm," answered Skyrin with a nod. After one more glance around the room, she turned and went back to her room.
Once back behind her closed door, Skyrin flopped down on her bed. With a sigh, she fell into a sweet sleep where she could be free of her troubles in the real world. While engulfed in yet another dream of when she first arrived in the world of the Fae, Skyrin ran into a familiar face, and suddenly her dream was spiraling away from her until she was in a new one. In this new dream she was in a wedding dress, walking down the aisle towards a smirking Prince Tallyn. From there, the dream jumped to her life beyond that. She was a princess and living in a palace, but she was miserable. She knew this was what her life would be like if she ran off and were found by the prince. She again saw the face flash and she was back in her original dream, only this time she knew how to fight. She turned on her heel and shot the prince dead in the center of the chest. She had her moment of glory, but then the dream was once again spiraling away and she woke up. She was sure that ShadowCat had sent her that dream. He must have sent it to show her the options that she had. She had to say that she much preferred the second one. She would learn to fight.
When Skyrin returned from her room to the Kitchen, she found that everyone had left. Everyone except for Requiem, that is. He stood against the wall, watching her. Now was her opportunity.
"Requiem?" she asked. He cocked his head at her.
"Need something, Sweetheart?"
"Yes actually."
"Now, what could you want from me?" he said in a way that sent shivers down Skyrin's spine.
"Um, could you teach me how to fight?"
"Why would you need to learn how to fight?"
"Well, I figured that just in case the prince somehow finds me, I could do something about it. ShadowCat thought that I should." As she spoke, Requiem took a few steps towards her. He looked her up and down, examining her.
"You'd be good at archery, or maybe a knife. Yes, I can teach you. We can't have anyone around while you train, so we can train while the others are all at their courts." Something about the idea of being alone with Requiem both frightened and excited her. She was both terrified and couldn't wait. While she was too busy working out her feelings, Requiem continued to talk,
"When would you like to start?" He repeated himself twice before she responded.
"Sorry, what was that?" She blushed as her smirked. "Oh, um, we can start now, I guess." He turned without responding and began to walk away. When he realized that she wasn't following, he turned around.
"Are you coming?" This time she followed as he began to walk away. What was wrong with her, why couldn't she do anything when she was around him? He walked over to the middle of three doors on the right side of the hallway leading to her room. He opened the door and went in. She followed.
The room had a simple wooden bed with a red cover and pillows. Along the silver wall was an impressive arsenal of swords, knives, bows, arrows, and a bunch of weapons that she couldn't even identify. She had expected this, but what was on the other side of the room surprised her. Next to a simple dresser was a desk covered in stacks of books, papers, quills, and ink. Upon closer inspection, Skyrin realized that all of the books and papers were full of poetry. The papers were covered in an elegant, loopy handwriting that Skyrin figured was Requiem's. As she began to read some of the poetry, requiem hurried over and arranged the papers so that she could no longer see them.
"Well, let's go start on your lessons," Requiem hurriedly stated. He led Skyrin out of a door to a practice zone of sorts. On top of the frozen field sat a few targets, dummies, and a fighting ring. Requiem led Skyrin to one of the targets and handed her a bow and a few arrows.
"So how exactly do you do this?"
"Give it your best try." Skyrin was confused for a moment, but quickly fumbled around with the bow until she was in what she thought was proper positioning. Requiem stepped up behind her and kicked her back leg. He put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her back in until she was engaging her shoulder and back muscles as well. Finally, he removed the arrow from the bow and turned it around. "Shoot," he said. And so Skyrin closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and released the arrow. It went sailing into the target and stuck with a slight thunk. It was way off from the center, but Skyrin couldn't care less. She had just shot her first arrow and she hadn't somehow killed herself. That was an accomplishment in itself. She whipped her head around to look at Requiem. His usually unreadable mask showed a slight hint of amusement. He handed her another arrow and she tried again. This time she managed to get the arrow to hit with absolutely no help from Requiem. Her aim would definitely need work, but she could not hide her joy at the fact that she could shoot an arrow. Even Requiem seemed pleased by her apparent ability, or maybe he was just amused by her reaction. She didn't care either way. She was so excited by the whole thing that she instantly grabbed another arrow and shot again, but her joy was short lived. The next arrow missed completely.
"You need to focus," Requiem stated from behind her. "You can't ever lose focus on the battlefield." Skyrin nodded. She didn't think that he realized how hard he was making it for her to follow his own advice. She took a deep breath and tried another shot. It was the best one yet. She had no idea how great she could be when she really put in an effort and recognized her own talent. This world was doing some crazy things to her.
"Are these arrows enchanted or something?" Skyrin asked, only half joking.
"Unless one of the others enchanted them while I was not paying attention, then no, and I highly doubt that any of them did. Nessa and Rubiee are the only ones who would do that, but Nessa knows that she would not enjoy the consequences if she were caught in my room, and Rubiee knows that she would get caught. Skyrin don't doubt yourself, you're better than you think," he looked into her eyes for a moment and Skyrin couldn't help but feel something stir within her, but then she remembered Rubiee's warning.
"I think that I've learned enough for today," said Skyrin before running off into the house.
