I was really confused by you not writing a post yesterday. It was your idea to write every day, after all, and you never said you wouldn't be able to write. I've spent the whole day trying to come up with a solution to this problem, and this is what I finally came up with:
Even though you didn't write a post yesterday, I will write part 15. You should (and will) write part 14 once you realize you failed to write it on the correct day. So have fun with filling in the gap I left for you, and writing the next part. Please write them tomorrow, I don't know what I can do if you still don't write anything, I should be writing my bits too and it's pretty hard to write a story without having any idea what has happened just before that. And, if you could, make them two separate posts, if for nothing else then at least so that they can be found separately and the story can be read in order later (as if anyone would ever come back to read it...)
I know it's hard to find time to write two bits a day, but I believe you can do it. So. Just... ok?
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The next day we marched again. Azer said we had to move the camp, so we wouldn't be found. And we had no business to do with the merfolk any more, at least not right now, so we didn't have to stay. I was sore everywhere. All the training was too much for my body. I was in a pretty good shape considering I didn't really work out very much, but this was a lot (a lot) more than I was used to. I think more than anyone was used to. Narada was a very good teacher, but tough and demanding, so I rarely caught a proper break. And now I had to walk again. At least the muscles of my upper body could rest.
Or so I thought. Narada showed up soon after we had left, and told me that it was a great day for practising moving targets. So I sighed, took my bow (I thought of it already as my bow, and I had actually named it already: Eleri, after my mother) and, after she had convinced Azer I was safe with her, followed her to the edge of the slowly moving line. There we shot at trees as we walked, running to get the arrows we had shot. I guess it was some kind of fitness training too, since we could never stop, and we had to run back and forth to keep up with the rest of the group to not lose any of the arrows.
I was grateful when the midday meal break came along. Narada walked me back to Azer and Em.
"I think we're done training for today", she said before she left and I sighed with relief, "I know that this is hard on you and you humans need to rest. You've done good. Very good, actually. So take the rest of the day off."
"She is pushing you hard?" Em asked after Narada had left.
"Mm-hmm", I nodded. I was starving and had already stuffed my mouth full of something delicious the house elf (whose name I had finally found out to be Lu) had given me when I arrived.
"Good", Em nodded and Azer looked approving too, "You need to learn as much as you can as fast as you can."
"I might learn better", I swallowed, "If everything didn't hurt and I could actually move properly."
"The pain is good", Em said, "It means you're developing."
I supposed she was right.
Hizi came along to get some food too. I hadn't seen him since yesterday night.
"Hizi", I began. He shot me a sharp, surprisingly hurtful glance.
"Hizi, I'm sorry for what happened last night. I never meant to..."
"Save it", he snapped, took his bowl and left me staring after him. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to make everything right, but I didn't know how. How would I know how to make peace with a goblin, I didn't know how their minds worked. Or very much of them at all. I wanted to run after him, but I couldn't get up. Having Hizi mad at me hurt, even though I had only known him for a very short time. But at the moment getting up would've hurt even more.
Em saw the hurt in my eyes.
"I'm sorry", she said, "But goblins are known for their hate, and for their skill to forgive. He can't be like that for a very long time. Give it a day, or two. He will be back."
I nodded and stuffed more food in my mouth.
"It's not just that, actually", I said, "I was thinking of going after him, but it's really hard to get up. I wouldn't want anything more than just to lie down and actually rest for the rest of the day."
"I might be able to help", Celer the centaur had showed up out of nowhere. I looked up at him questioningly, "I can give you a ride."
"You...?" I didn't quite know if I had heard correctly. In all stories I had ever heard, centaurs hated people riding them.
"I usually wouldn't, it's horrible having someone on your back", he said, "But for you. If rest is what you need to help us, then rest is what we should help you get."
"Well, thank you", I said, still not believing what I heard, "But I've understood that riding is actually really hard work too. I'm not sure I'd get any more rest than walking myself."
"You have apparently never ridden a centaur", Celer smiled, "I will make sure you don't drop. All you have to do is sit, like you would sit anywhere else. I promise you, it will be as smooth as any ride you have ever taken."
So when we started to move again, I climbed (with some help) to the back of a centaur. It was absurd. And every bit as comfortable as Celer had promised.
~x~
We walked for long hours. I chatted with Celer and started to maybe begin to be friends with him a little. I listened to war plans Azer was making with the group highest in charge. I sang songs I knew from my childhood. The others laughed. It was surprising. They were always so serious. They were trying to make a rebellion, after all. But my songs made them relax, if even just for a while.
Suddenly, there came a sharp sound from somewhere. In a fraction of a second everyone fell completely silent and still.
Shwing.
A small troll some three, four meters behind me fell, with an arrow sticking from his eye. I saw Azer and Celer exchange a look. A very fast, fleeing look full of meaning.
And then everyone was moving again. Including Celer. I had to grab his human torso around the stomach in order to not to be thrown off his back. Everything was a blur. And then, suddenly, all I could see was green and white. Trees. Nothing else. We were racing through the forest with a speed I couldn't even start to guess, and we had left everyone else behind.
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So, yeah. I really hope you'll write parts 14 and 16 tomorrow. Your part 14 -topic is still Gingerbread, and your part 16 (a in tomorrow's) -topic is Candle(s, your choice).
I don't know what I'm gonna do on Tuesday if you don't write these now. They don't have to be very long (though hopefully longer than the Lemon one), but I do need know where to continue the story. It would be stupid if i just wrote bits of a story by myself, always missing a chunk in between.
I've had some bad days too, while we've been writing this. But then somehow when I've started writing, it has turned out not to be so horrible and difficult as it felt before.
~matu
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