Akilah awoke with the feeling of someone nudging her shoulder, she should hear that they were saying thing but could not understand the words. She tried to get up but as soon as she moved her entire body screamed in pain. Using all of that magic at ones had really taken a toll on her body, in a way she had not expected. Nonetheless she mustered up energy to get herself into a sitting position, looking at where she was lying, the cold hard ground, she guessed that that was also partly responsible for her aching body. Once she had fully awoken, she looked back at her person that was had nudged her awake, it was Leo Armegani.

Leo looked at her with a mixture of confusion and annoyance “Captain this is the twerp that’s going to challenge sir Era? Look at him, he’s so exhausted from walking he knocked out on the ground” Leo said and looked towards his right

Akilah followed his gaze and saw captain Navin backing up his tent, ‘He’s backing up, is it already this late? How long was I asleep for?’ Akilah thought.

“Captain you shouldn’t be the one packing up the equipment” Leo said and grabbed the back of Akilahs shirt, dragging her up to her feet “That’s what these people are for”

Akilah felt a little lightheaded standing on her legs, looking around she noticed that was already day and everyone had already left, the only one’s here were herself, Captain Navin and Leo. She realized she was unconscious for longer than expected.

“I really need to work up my stamina” Akilah mumbled to herself

“What did u say twerp?” Leo asked

“Oh” Akilah realizing that she had in fact said her thoughts out loud “No nothing”

“Really nothing?” Leo said amusingly “Because it sounded like you said that you need to build up your stamina”

“Oh I-” Akilah couldn’t finish her sentence before Leo interrupted

Leo bent to meet her eyes with a smug look of his face “What is it, are you getting cold feet about the duel”

“That’s not it” Akilah answered annoyed.

The fact that Leo knew about the duel even though he wasn’t a part of the excursion means that word about the duel had traveled fast, ‘Good’ Akilah thought, she wanted everyone to know, that way Era would be even more humiliated by the defeat.

Before Leo could continue his teasing captain Navin interrupted “Leo that’s enough”

Leo huffed as he got up from his hunched position and went to pack up the remaining equipment

“Captain what happened” she asked

“Well when I awoke, I saw you laying there collapsed on the ground, we tried to wake you up but failed. For a moment we were all scared that you were dead”

“Dead?!” Akilah asked confused.

Captain Navin sighed “Yes, you were barely breathing. Some of the men” captain Navin stopped before continuing again “Some of the men thought that you might have tried to commit suicide”

“Suicide why would I?” Akilah sputtered

“Because we thought you were scared” Leo said as he walked up behind her “We thought you had gotten cold feet and regretted your challenge” He said mockingly

Before Akilah could respond Leo spoke up again “But I guess you were up training” he said in a series tone “I guess you’re not as much of a coward as I thought” he said and walk away with carrying the equipment he had gathered”

Captain Navin came towards Akilah with the last two bags.

“The duel is set a week from now in Dula” Captain Navin said with a directness in his tone.

The Dula township is one of the biggest towns in the kingdom and it’s where Era is from, so assumably it is also where he want the duel to take place. The fact that he chose this place for the duel means he’s confident in his skills, he thinks he can win.

“The duel will be set in his families property, but it will be open to the public”

Captain Navin waited to see Akilah reaction. She assumed he wanted to see if this information would change anything for her but it did not, and she made sure her confidence show through in her face.

Captain Navin acknowledge this and continued “The trip there will take about two days and Sir Era had already left. That mean he’s already ahead of the schedule.” He scratched the side of his head; Akilah already knew what he was going to ask her.

“One last time Akilah, are you sure you want to go through with this duel” Captain Navin asked.

Akilah nodded “I’m sure Captain”.

He then threw one towards Akilah to carry nodding towards the headquarters, signaling that they’re going back.

“Do I need to arrange a carriage for you?” he asked.

“No it’s fine I’ll take care of it myself” Akilah had already planned on using a teleportation portal

“Then how about a place to stay in” he asked.

“No I’ll be fine” she replied.

Akilah knew that captain Navin was worried about her and was just looking out for her. However his worry just made things more difficult for her, yet she didn’t want to be rude towards since he had good intentions.

“Trust me captain I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me”

The captain sighed again and just nodded his head before starting his walk back to their headquarters. The walk in silence until the reached the gates, there Akilah handed the bag back to the captain, and began walking away. Captain Navin asked grabbed the back of Akilah’s collar

“Where are you going?” He asked

Akilah replied “Home” she simply stated “I never got accepted as a soldier captain, remember”

Akilah had originally no intentions of becoming a soldier, this was all just a way for her to meet Era, and that mission was now completed, therefore she no longer had a reason to play pretend soldiers anymore.

Captain Navin tried to say something but Akilah interjected, removing his hand from her collar she stated “I’m not a soldier and I just came here for a mission” she said and walked away, leaving the captain bewildered by her words.