Throughout the rest of the day, training resumed. When she felt hungry and asked for a break to eat, Tavras left her to her own devices.

Fishing for breakfast went over easier today than it had yesterday, primarily because she had already crafted the spear. The rudimentary practice that she had gotten in yesterday also allowed her to avoid the most novice of mistakes. Five small fish had been speared and tossed up on the beach in less time than she had caught any, yesterday.

From there, she actually managed to build a fire and cook her fish. While she did not cook them like the finest cuisine ever, she appreciated the warm meal and did not have to worry about getting sick from anything that could be in the fish.

Foofy still got sushi, since he seemed to enjoy the cuts of raw fish that she flipped to him. At every piece, he made a little jump with his jaws wide open. He snapped up the fish like a dolphin or penguin, swallowing the pieces whole in much the same spirit.

Outside of mealtimes, Val practiced with Tavras in hand-to-hand combat on the beach.

“Coming from the mortal realm, you must have become used to being much stronger than everybody else,” Tavras said. “When you are among others with divine blood, you will find yourself on an even playing field. Never hold yourself back like you were used to. Being the willowy, little girl that you are, you will almost always be at a physical disadvantage in a fight. It would be best for you to learn a fighting style that accounts for that.”

This made sense enough, though she preferred to think of herself as a young woman over a little girl. “I need to use my opponent’s weight against them, right?”

“Exactly. Why don’t we do a little demonstration? Try to come at me.”

With a deep breath, Val put in the conscious effort to center herself. Her fullest concentration would be required if she wanted the slightest chance at impressing Tavras. Her fists stuck up while she assumed a readied stance with her feet.

In contrast, Tavras did not even bother to assume a fighting stance. Sure, he bounced on the balls of his feet a little bit, but his arms stayed more or less at his sides. Despite his casual appearance, Val knew that he would be more than ready to handle anything that she threw at him.

She had to be quick, so she darted in and threw a punch as fast as her enhanced body would allow. The world around her became a blur in her vision for the seconds of her movement. Just as well, her fist blew past air where Tavras had previously stood.

Somehow faster than her, Tavras had sidestepped her with ease.

Val followed up with a second punch, rocketing herself forward with even greater force.

“That’s too much,” Tavras said and dodged her again. This time, his foot stepped out in front of her leg while his elbow stabbed her in the spine.

What with the way that she had already been careening forward, that shove sent her over the edge. Val toppled to the ground, onto her hands and knees. “Dang it,” she hissed between her teeth. While she ought not to waste time in cursing like that, Val could not help it.

In a real fight, landing on the ground would put her in a horribly vulnerable position. Likely, Tavras would take advantage of this situation and try turning it into a memorable learning experience.

Before she could flip over, Tavras had already set on top of her and had her pinned against the ground.

“Ugh.” Val tried to lift her chest from the ground, throwing all of her strength up against Tavras. Despite her effort, she gained little space against him at all.

He shoved her back to the ground and took away the bit of progress that she had gained. Then, she realized just how awful of a position that he had put her in, and not just from the tactical perspective of a fight.

The way that his body laid over her, his entire torso could be felt against her back. The front of his legs also pressed against the hindmost parts of her. This position was so very wrong that it made Val burn up.

“Tavras!” she cried out. Trying to lift herself up, she found that between his weight and his strength, she could not get him to budge any further than he already had.

His right hand moved away from where he had one of her wrists pinned. Before she could take advantage of this smidgen of freedom, a stone knife leveled against her throat.

“If you land yourself on the ground during a fight, you are going to be in for a world-full of hurt. You might not even be able to recover from a mistake like this. Some momentum behind your punch is good, but you should always be in control of yourself.” While Tavras spoke, his lips moved so close to her ear. “You need to be the one who sends your opponent to the ground and gains this kind of upper hand first. Got it?”

“Got it,” Val said between clenched teeth. As much as her heart pounded away with her body’s vulgar enjoyment of this position, it felt inexpressibly wrong to her more rational mind. “Could you get off of me now?”

“Sure thing.” Tavras jumped away from her and helped her up as he always did.

As they continued to spar, Val discovered a tension between herself and Tavras. Whether or not he experienced this too, she could only hope that he did. Just like during her run, her heart beat too fast for her level of exertion. With each close dodge, Val and Tavras drew near to each other. As sensual as this could have been, the mounting pain detracted from the experience. Their bodies made contact in the form of punches and kicks, trips and grapples.

A particularly hard punch rammed her lip between his fist and her own teeth. The taste of blood filled her mouth as the warm sensation also flooded down her chin. Since Tavras wanted to train her for a real fight, he did not let up and neither did she.

Val recovered from her moment of recoil and ducked his next punch, following up with one in his gut. Apparently, she had not hit him hard enough to so much as faze him.

In return, he delivered a hard kick into her side that made her reel back. It took all of her willpower not to double over and throw up.

By the time that they had finished, Val’s lip still gushed with golden blood. “Wow,” she said, touching a finger to the bloody crevice on her face. Her hand pulled away to see that an exorbitant amount of blood had spilled across her fingers. “I don’t know if I have ever bled this much before.” Lips bled a lot, whether mortal or divine. Her words came out clumsy and slurred thanks to the condition of her lip.

“I really split your lip in two,” Tavras said. “Sorry about that. It would need stitches, but lucky for you, I can heal that up like new.”

Whenever they went for a healing session, Tavras led her over to the tide pools. There, she sat beside him on the rocks.

“Is there any particular reason why we always use the water from the tide pools to heal?” It was an odd time for Val to try to make conversation, given how dumb her voice sounded at the moment.

“The tide pools are full of life.” Tavras traced his fingers over the surface of the pool. “That connection to the living makes it easier for me to manipulate the cells of the body and restore them.”

“That’s very interesting.” Val stared down to the tranquil surface, watching Tavras continually run his fingers through the tide pool and gather some glowing water around his hand.

He moved closer to her, close enough that his breath felt warm on her cheek.

Sensuality returned between them despite the pain that still dominated her face. More notable than any such pain was the way that Tavras’s finger trailed over her bottom lip. The glowing, soothing water coated his hand as he caressed her lip over a few times, mending it back together with every pass. The pad of his fingertip almost tickled her bottom lip.

“How does that feel?” Tavras asked. His voice sounded in a low, sweet whisper.

“Mm.” Val could not exactly talk what with the way that she needed to hold still for him to heal her. Hopefully that would excuse her for making that light and dreamy sound, almost a moan.

Once her lip had healed over completely, Tavras kept his one finger placed over her face. “Your lips have never been this soft before.”

Her cheeks flushed from a combination of embarrassment, having had rough, cracked lips beforehand, but also from excitement, the fact that Tavras observed her lips now softened by his magic. “T-Thank you. Thanks for healing me, I mean.”

“You’re welcome,” Tavras said with a wink. His hand fell away from her face, and likewise, his face pulled away from hers. His attention returned to the matter of her training in which they resumed for the rest of the day.

Her eyes fell shut, allowing herself the moment to wish that she could have a make out session instead of a training session. Seriously, they had just met yesterday yet they seemed to have a spark between them. Nothing this exhilarating had ever happened to Val before in regards to the opposite sex. She supposed that this must be what chemistry and mutual attraction felt like.

Tavras had leaned his handsome face so close to hers. His fingers had traced over her bottom lip again and again in the process of healing her. Everything that he had said to her and the way in which he had said it made her heart flutter away. Maybe he did not see her that way, maybe he only teased her for the fun of it, but Val really hoped that Tavras could see something in her. Against all logic, she had the desire to kiss Tavras, the Sea Itself.

Training had to continue nonetheless.

At the end of every day, Val slept with Foofy curled up in her arms to sleep through the night together. The nights and days continued like this, each one nearly identical to the last. The only difference came in Val’s increasing strength and independence, but also the consistent ache of soreness that mounted throughout her body.

Character Update

* New information is marked in cyan.

* All entries are based on what Val knows.

Tavras Title: The Sea Itself Rank: God, Fifth Seat Attributes: Water Abilities Name Class Description Aquatic Rejuvenation medical

- heals injuries with water

- different sources of water heal more effectively

Aspect of the Depths combat - recreate a watery mirage of an aquatic animal Bend Water combat, practical

- move water at will

- can pull water from humidity in the air

Marine Ally combat, practical - controls aquatic animals Read Blood cognitive - sense a person's heritage Unknown n/a - probably has a lot more abilities