Darin had stopped crying by the time Ridahne had come over. Her face was still red and blotchy, but the human didn’t care. She just let her attention be grabbed as the Elf came over. Darin returned to starting off into to space as the warrior praised her for her actions. The human wasn’t sure she was surprised by the fact that Ridahne was apparently impressed by her. That was rapidly becoming predicable as well. The Azurein seemed to lover it when Darin lost her temper; as long as it wasn’t directed at her. That was an entirely different story.

Darin sighed as she spoke slowly, “You know there’s something in my village called, “wandering blood.’ The elders would look at a person and say, “Oh. They have wandering blood in them.’ That person would almost always leave. They were never pushed away. The village was just too small of them and Lively was just to constraining. They wanted to see the world. They wanted to go on adventures. They never came back. The elders almost always got it right. They even pegged my father as having wandering blood when he was my age. Before my mother committed to my father, he had to promise that he would prove them wrong. In the end he didn’t.” She sighed before forcing herself back to the original thought, “I never did. They never said I did. In fact, it was the one good thing about me. ‘That Darin’s stubborn, but at least she doesn’t have wandering blood.’ I never wanted to leave home. Even going to Lively was only done when I absolutely had to. Yet, here I am; farther from home then I have ever been or ever wanted to be.” She uncurled from over her knees to sit up straight, “And I don’t get to go home. Oh, I may go back to that little village, but I will never get to stay. It will never be home again and that breaks my heart.” She slowly stood and brushed off the back of her pants, “Anyways, enough depressing thoughts. Let’s let you kick my butt.”

Talbot nodded as he stood and went off somewhere. He would back. Darin knew that. He probably just thought that Darin needed something for training. He had gone to collect it. Darin watched him go with a soft smile on her face. If she was being honest, which she did try to do, out of all the people she had met so far on this journey Talbot was her favorite. He didn’t ask for anything from her except her best. He didn’t tell her what she ought to do. He just made sure that once she made a decision, she did her best at it. The rest of the animals scattered. Scattered was the wrong word. Slowly dispersed was a better word.

Darin slowly bent down to touch her hands to the ground, “Is a here a good place or should we move?” She held the stretch for a moment before moving into a new pose, “I would like to do what is best.”

That was true, but it wasn’t the whole truth. The whole truth was that Darin wanted to keep this exercise as far away as possible from the Workers’ attention. The way things were going Ravi would be out here before to long. Who knew what the Overseer would think of this training? Darin didn’t really care. Ridahne wouldn’t always be nearby to save her. She could already think of scenarios where the Elf wouldn’t be with her. Darin needed to know how to defend herself. That was non-negotiable.