Summer, age 5.

A ray of light hit my closed eyes, and I lazily turn in discomfort.

Which subsequently send a sharp dagger-like pain down my arm.

``Ow!'' [Nathan]

The wound is still fresh, even if my father treated it with magic. It was a pretty deep cut, and both muscles and ligaments were pretty damaged, which made it rather complicated to treat. At the same time, I had a bruised rib, which he also had to treat.

There were no anesthetic. My father has some at home, but he had to treat it fast to save the full usage of my hand.

I have never known pain like that. It was absolutely excruciating. It took about half an hour, but luckily the pain subsided under the duration.

There's still a wound though. My father ran out of mana before he could finish, as he had used a lot of mana already during the course of the day. Instead of running out completely, in case of emergency, he had to bandage me up and let the last bit of the wound, about a half an inch deep, heal by itself. Apparently, once it's been bandaged it's a lot more complicated to treat without causing infections.

I understand that he had no choice, but it still hurts like all hell. It's been a about a week, and the pain has subsided quite a bit, luckily.

Knock knock

``Are you awake?'' [Shale]

``Yes, the shooting pain in my arm when I move is a great alarm clock'' [Nathan]

``Hmph.'' [Shale]

My father snickers.

``You are cracking jokes. It cannot hurt too badly then. Your mother wants to talk to you.'' [Shale]

``What does she want with me?'' [Nathan]

``You will see.'' [Shale]

I get up from the bed and follow him out to the lawn in front of our house.

My mother is waiting for us, looking out across the sea.

``Hey mother, you wanted to see me?'' [Nathan]

``I will leave you to it then.'' [Shale]

Huh?

``What is this about?'' [Nathan]

``Nathan..'' [Jessica]

``... Yes?'' [Nathan]

``Why did you run from the boar?'' [Jessica]

What?

``Uhm, because it was chasing me?'' [Nathan]

``Did it ever occur to you to fight it?'' [Jessica]

``Not really, no.'' [Nathan]

``I figured as much. Nathan, do you remember the man who meet that velnak?'' [Jessica]

Boy do I. That severed forearm gave me nightmares.

``Yes.'' [Nathan]

``That is what happens to those that run.'' [Jessica]

``.. I see..'' [Nathan]

``That is why, every single day, starting today, I am going to teach you how to fight.'' [Jessica]

``Today? But my arms still hasn't healed.'' [Nathan]

My mother takes a few steps closer to me.

``That's true. Can you show me?'' [Jessica]

I slowly pull up my sleeve.

She grabs my forearm, clenching it tightly.

``AAAAHHHHH!!!'' [Nathan]

I fall to my knees as my wound opens up again. She lets go of my arm, a little blood spreading across my bandages.

``Get up.'' [Jessica]

What's with this fucking devil woman?!

My mother kicks me in the side.

``I said, get up.

I slowly get on my feet, holding my arm with the other.

And get slapped across the face.

``Ouch! Stop hitting me!'' [Nathan]

``Then stop cradling your arm. You need it for defense, and if you cannot use it, you need the other even more.'' [Jessica]

``Why did you not just tell me that instead of hitting me!'' [Nathan]

``Your head has ears, your body does not. You need to get accustomed to pain, sooner rather than later. `` [Jessica]

``And do you not think this is a little excessive?!'' [Nathan]

``No.'' [Jessica]

She strikes my other arm. Hard.

``Ouch!'' [Nathan]

``Stop complaining, it helps no one, least of all yourself.'' [Jessica]

``Is this how you treat your only son?!'' [Nathan]

``THIS IS HOW I TREAT ANYONE THAT I CARE ABOUT ENOUGH THAT I DO NOT WANT TO FIND THEIR MANGLED CORPSE IN THE FOREST!'' [Jessica]

``...'' [Nathan]

``Who's fault do you think it is that you got that gash on your arm?'' [Jessica]

``..Andrews?'' [Nathan]

``No. It is my fault. I should have begun your training a year ago, but I wanted to spare you the pain. That ends today.'' [Jessica]

She says, a bitter look of anger painted on every crevice of her face.

Seriously? You were gonna do THIS to a four year old kid?

``We start with getting you in shape.'' [Jessica]

She points out across the water.

``Swim that way.'' [Jessica]

I don't want to get hit again, so I go straight to the waters edge.

``What about my clothes?'' [Nathan]

``What about them?'' [Jessica]

``They will get wet.'' [Nathan]

``And?'' [Jessica]

``... Alright then..'' [Nathan]

I slowly start walking into the sea, and start swimming in the direction she wanted me to. She follows silently behind me.

``Swim faster.'' [Jessica]

My mother is swimming next to me with incredible speed and ease.

``I'm swimming as fast as I can.'' [Nathan]

``No you are not. If you were, you would be panting.'' [Jessica]

Ugh, this god damn woman, my arm is fucking killing me, and she expect me to swim faster than this with my wet clothes on?!

``What are you going to do if I drown? I can not swim with my arm like this.'' [Nathan]

``You will not drown.'' [Jessica]

``How can you be so sure? We are getting further and further away from home.'' [Nathan]

``Because I will not let you. Do not worry, I will be right next to you all the time, even when you do not see me. Just keep swimming for as long as you can, as fast as you can.'' [Jessica]

She says, looking at me with a gentle blend of sorrow and care on her face, before disappearing under the waves.

I'm all alone now. Swimming despite my pain and exhaustion. I have not seen my mother for several minutes, having gills sure makes swimming easy huh..

This sucks. I want to give up, but I'm afraid my mother is going to drag me under as a punishment. Damn devilwoman.

Eventually, I simply can't keep going. instead of swimming forwards, i simply try to stay afloat. After a few minutes, I can't even manage that.

As I start sinking, panic sets in, and for a brief second, I start wailing my arms around trying to stay afloat before my mother comes from below and pushes me to the surface.

``Good job Nathan, I'm proud of you.'' [Jessica]

``You're not gonna pull me down under the water?'' [Nathan]

``Not today. Now just relax and I will get us back home.'' [Jessica]

She puts her arms around me and start swimming back, cradling me from behind.

Once we reach home, she lets me go when it's shallow enough for me to reach the bottom. I pull myself to shore, and fall flat on my ass.

My mother taps me lightly with her foot.

``Do not sit on your butt. If you are tired then take a knee.'' [Jessica]

I pull myself to my feet and get down on one knee.

``Relax, you did great.'' [Jessica]

She says with a proud grin.

A few minutes pass, during which I try to catch my breath. After I finally get my breath back in full, she asks me:

``Caught your breath?'' [Jessica]

``Yeah, I think I finally did..'' [Nathan]

``Great.'' [Jessica]

She has a big caring smile on her face. Really suits her. Maybe this isn't so bad, I can take a swim like this once a day, that shouldn't be too har-

``Now do it again.'' [Jessica]