Merletta blinked more rapidly than ever. She had? She remembered the second tester’s condescending tone as he’d told her that she’d made lots of errors, as though she had only just scraped through. For a moment she felt annoyed, but she shook it off, allowing herself an internal smirk. They might not want her here, but they weren’t going to find it easy to get rid of her.
“And from Tilssted, too!” Agner was continuing. “All the more impressive, as I assume you’ve had no formal education?”
Merletta acknowledged it numbly. It seemed he did know her origins, then. She glanced at the other trainees, to see how they were taking Agner’s comments. Emil looked as unresponsive as ever, his face giving no indication that he’d even heard the instructor. Ileana, of course, looked furious. The two second years—Oliver and Sage—were looking at Merletta thoughtfully, although Oliver looked far from happy, while Jacobi simply looked stunned. It must have occurred to them, as it had to Merletta, that if she’d had the highest score “in some years”, she had probably outperformed all five of them.
“Well then,” said Agner. He rubbed his hands together jovially, apparently unaware of the reaction he had created among his trainees. “Let’s begin with some warm ups, shall we?” He scanned the group, his eyes resting for a moment on each face. “Sage. How about you pair up with Merletta, show her how we do things?”
It seemed he wasn’t totally oblivious to everyone’s frame of mind, Merletta thought dryly, as she moved to join Sage. They did a series of warm up exercises, which Merletta found unfamiliar but quite enjoyable. It was good to get the blood pumping, especially in the chill of early morning in the depths of the Center.
“Well, you seem to be in good shape, Merletta.”
The instructor’s voice from close behind her made Merletta start. She hadn’t realized he was watching.
“I’m surprised you found the opportunity to keep so active while living in a charity home,” he added. “From all that I’ve heard, I thought it was quite a restrictive life.”
“Yes,” Merletta responded carefully, studying his face. Did he somehow know about her trips outside the barrier? Was he trying to trap her? But if he was suspicious of her, he hid it well. His expression remained genial. “It is a restrictive life in many ways,” she said. “But they certainly didn’t encourage us to be idle.”
True, if not entirely forthright.
“Well, then,” said Agner, still speaking brightly. “Let’s try you out in combat.” He scanned the group. “Ileana. Would you care to start Merletta off?”
Merletta kept her face as neutral as she could, but inside she groaned. Ileana was the last person in the group she wanted to be matched with on her first attempt at combat. The older mermaid moved forward, her slight smirk confirming all Merletta’s fears. She was certainly not going to take it easy.
Not that I want her to, Merletta thought defiantly, as she propelled herself into the area indicated by Agner. She took the staff he handed her, noting that Ileana took particular care in selecting her own.
Merletta passed her fingers along the surface with interest, never having felt such an instrument before. Driftwood was rare—these were expensive weapons. At least they were blunt, unlike the spears being used by the real guards further across the courtyard. Their weapons seemed to be similar staffs topped with stone spearheads. They looked like more expertly sharpened versions of the weapon Merletta had long ago fashioned for herself.
It’s just like fighting that shark, she thought firmly, gripping the unfamiliar tool as she and Ileana began to circle. Go in with confidence, and you’ll frighten the predator away.
She surged forward, raising the weapon. She barely even saw Ileana move, but she certainly felt the other girl’s staff connect with her midriff. She fell back through the water, grunting with pain. She righted herself quickly, her eyes narrowing at the barely contained glee in Ileana’s eyes.
I can do this, she chanted to herself. Ileana was hanging back, and Merletta was once again the first to move. Gathering her energy, she flicked her tail in a sudden and powerful motion, cutting through the water toward her opponent.
She didn’t have even a moment’s warning before her tail exploded in pain. She could hardly make sense of the other girl’s movements—all she was aware of was a stinging pain in her tail, followed rapidly by a whack to the head so hard it made her vision spin. She blinked, confused for a moment at how she was now facing the opposite direction, but before she could spin back around, Ileana dealt her a solid blow to her back, making her drop her weapon and clutch it.
She scrambled to retrieve the staff, but Agner’s chuckle broke into her anger, as the instructor signaled that the fight was over.
“Well, well, whatever they taught you at the charity home, I guess they didn’t train you in combat.”
Merletta ground her teeth, fighting the feeling of humiliation. She refused to even look at Ileana—she could feel the smugness radiating off her.
“Don’t be discouraged,” said Agner cheerfully, swimming toward her. “We’ll get there. You’re already a fighter here.” He touched the end of his own blunt weapon to her forehead with a grin. “And that’s the bit that’s hard to teach. We can train you to be a skilled fighter. That part’s easy.” He turned to the rest of the group. “Emil. You and Ileana can demonstrate for Merletta what a bout between skilled fighters looks like.”
The older trainee swam forward calmly, a staff gripped between his hands, and Merletta sank back to join the others. She was only too glad to be out of the action for a moment.
It might be easy from where Agner was floating, she thought ruefully, her head still throbbing as she rubbed her stinging back. But she had a feeling she had a lot more of those blows coming before she would be called a skilled fighter.
* * *
By the end of the second day of training with Agner, Merletta’s whole body ached. Each of the other trainees had taken their turn at defeating her with embarrassing ease, but mercifully they had returned to their normal training regimes after that. Merletta had been assigned to join the exercises being undertaken by new recruits to the training program for the standard guards. It seemed their training also took place in the Center. Even they already had enough training in combat to make short work of Merletta, of course.
But she was still in a cheerful mood as she once again made her way out of the Center early in the morning on her second rest day. Bruises aside, there was something satisfying about training. And unlike her other instructors, Agner was not only friendly, but seemed dedicated to actually teaching her something. It was a welcome change.
As she passed through the kelp farms, nodding in a friendly way toward a lone laborer, she turned her thoughts from the Center to the world outside the triple kingdoms. She didn’t meander this time, passing through the barrier and heading straight toward the north east. She crossed the familiar canyon, and wove through the tail-shaped reef. She hung back in the coral, floating silently on the current as a small hammerhead shark passed not far away. It was past their common feeding time now, but better to play it safe.
Her excitement began to mount as she noticed the slope of the ocean floor, slanting gradually upward. She flipped her tail, moving more quickly through the water. When she caught sight of the reef, she directed herself straight upward, breaking the surface and breathing in the fresh air.
She blinked the water away quickly, her eyes eagerly scanning the horizon. There it was.