35. Chapter 35

Chapter thirty-five

H avens whole body burned. She barely made it half a lap before she was out of breath and panting. On the second lap, she collapsed about a third of the way in. Tasha had forced her off the ground and all but dragged her for the rest of their run. After they finished, Tasha shared the news that after a week at their current pace, she would be upping it to three laps each day instead of two. The thought had Haven about ready to cry.

"Watch your feet!" Tasha scolded. Haven immediately attempted to fix her footing.

Tasha was teaching her hand to hand combat with a dagger, or at least she was trying to. The only thing Haven had been relatively good at so far was shooting the bow and arrows. She tried an ax, a sword so heavy she could barely lift it, multiple tiny throwing knives, a crossbow and regular bow. Currently, she held a dagger in her hand. It was longer than the knives but shorter than the sword and had a small emerald inlaid in the hilt. It fit perfectly in Havens hand and while she hadn't had much luck defending herself with it yet, it was her favorite weapon.

Tasha thrusted her sword forward, striking out at Haven. Jumping left, out of the swords path, Haven attempted to close in on Tashas side and knock the sword out of her hand. She had yet to complete this basic move but she was determined to make some sort of progress.

Time seemed to move in slow motion as Haven's wrist closed in on Tasha outstretched arm, the one holding the sword. Just as she managed to make contact, Tasha twisted sideways and used her elbow to shove Haven back.

"Dammit" Haven cursed, earning a laugh from Tasha. The woman seemed to take pleasure in Havens frustrations.

"You'll get there. When you started, you couldn't get anywhere near me. Now look, you were almost close enough to knock the sword out of my hand."

Haven supposed Tasha was right but it still didn't feel great that she hadn't been able to fully complete a single weapons task Tasha had given her.

"I think that is enough of weapons for today" Tasha exclaimed, tossing her sword on the ground near the other discarded weapons. Haven was hesitant to give up her dagger. She really did like it, plus she was pretty sure it was about the same size as the dagger Binah had given her. The green emerald would probably even match the original daggers gold hilt .

"You can keep the dagger when you're able to knock the sword out of my hand" Tasha told Haven, noticing her apprehension to put the dagger away.

"Since I'm to be Queen doesn't that mean it's technically my dagger that I could do whatever I want with" Haven remarked with a smirk, growing a little cocky.

Tasha snorted, "You are not Queen yet, little fae. Which means, until then, technically the dagger belongs to me and the crown regent. Plus, wouldn't it feel better to earn it?"

Of course Tasha was right. Haven nodded, she hadn't been close to disarming Tasha today but she hoped one day she'd be able to. Preferably before her coronation. After that, she'd take the dagger and never let anyone else wield it.

Haven frowned at the strange possessiveness she was feeling.

"It's normal" Tasha told her

Looking up to meet Tasha's eyes, Haven must have worn her confusion because her trainer began to explain,

"What you are feeling, the possessiveness, it's normal. With your body going through so many things while it transforms into its true state, your emotions can go a little crazy. It can lead to small outbursts, feeling things stronger than you normally would. It's almost like a coping mechanism. Your body has never dealt with things like this before, the heightened speed, hearing, sense of smell. You're adjusting to so many new things, it might be a few weeks before things settle down."

Haven nodded. She'd have to keep an eye on herself, she already dealt with wacky emotions thanks to her anxiety and depression. Adding what her body was going through, Haven imagined things could get a little crazy.

Pulling Haven from her thoughts, Tasha stepped towards her and slid the dagger out of her hand. Haven immediately missed the feeling of it.

"Alright, now it's time for magic. There hasn't been another recorded shadow wielder since your mother. We don't know much about your specific type of magic but you should be able to learn the same way others do." Tasha sat down on the grass and motioned for Haven to join her, sitting cross legged facing each other.

"What about the fire?" Haven asked

"Your fire comes from your father. Usually, but not always, the child inherits whatever magic the more powerful parent wielded. Because both your parents were incredibly powerful, you ended up with both their magics. It is important to understand that while each fae tends to hold a main power they have influence over, they can also perform spells, similar to witches. For now, we are going to focus on gaining control over the elements you have influence over" Haven nodded, taking in every word out of Tashas mouth and committing them to memory.

"Hold your hands out in front of you, palms up" Tasha demonstrated what she was asking. Haven quickly copied her.

"Now you need to internally reach inside yourself. Since your powers have been dormant for nineteen years, your fire or shadows won't be right there on the surface. You need to dig deep and when you find that thread, give it a tug. Try to pull something to the surface, it can be either fire or a shadow."

Haven closed her eyes, attempting to ignore the curious stares from the fae loitering in the courtyard around them. It didn't take long for Haven to find what Tasha was talking about. Haven expected to have to dig deep, as Tasha said, but she didn't. Her power was right there, waiting right below the surface. She could feel the fire and shadows coursing through her veins. It was like they wanted to escape, like they had been waiting for Haven all this time.

Haven tugged slightly, instinctively imagining a small ball of flames in her outstretched hands. The warm feeling gathering in her fingertips caused Haven to open her eyes, a wide smile growing on her face.

Cupped between her two palms was a ball of flames roughly the size of a baseball. Haven watched as a few flames took on a life of their own, twining around her fingers and dancing up her arms. When they tried to crawl across the ground towards Tasha, Haven panicked slightly and pulled them back inside her. The flames hadn't hurt Haven but she didn't know if they could hurt someone else. Her powers seemed to whine like a toddler when she pulled them back.

"Good," Tasha smiled, "Now the shadows"

Haven nodded, closing her eyes again. She easily reached the thread tying her to her powers. Giving it a little tug, she found that the shadows fought back more than the fire had. She tugged harder, trying to imagine a small ball of shadows in her hand like she had done with the flames.

Shadows erupted from her, shooting every which way. People ducked and gasped but none were hit with them. Haven immediately tried to contain them by pulling them back towards her. Haven grimaced as they slowly inched back towards her before dissipating completely.

"Well at least we know your shadows can be a bit stubborn" Tasha remarked. Haven could tell she was entertained and not even slightly fazed by the small outburst.

"Another important thing to remember is that the more power you have, the harder it can be to get under control. When you cast, some of your fire or shadows will respond to you, some will not, as you saw with the shadows. The easiest way to explain it is that there are two types of magic that rise when you cast, magic that is purely yours and will always listen to you and the second kind, this kind of magic is tricky. You may have seen fae walking around with snow or flames flitting around them,"

Haven nodded, her mind drifting back to the fae she saw when they stopped to eat on the journey to the castle, the one that had snowflakes buzzing around him,

"That is the second kind of magic. At times, it can seem to take on a mind of its own, kind of like a pet. You can tell it what to do but there isn't a guarantee it'll always listen. Over time you will learn to cast a certain type of magic so that there's no chance it won't listen to you but for now, I wouldn't worry much about discerning the two"

Tasha stood off the ground, offering a hand to Haven to help her up.

"Some fae find that if you let a little magic out all the time, the magic that doesn't always listen will be more cooperative. It is up to you to find what you feel comfortable with. We can work on more tomorrow, for now go inside and find some lunch. Someone will come for you in a little while to begin the second half of your training "

Haven thanked Tasha, promised she'd be back tomorrow to continue their lessons and headed for the castle door, passing a crow she swore was following her and a few whispering fae. This was only day one and her head already seemed to be stuffed full.

Haven hoped the rest of her day would go by easily. Knowing her luck, just because she wanted an easy day, the universe would make it a mission to make the rest of her day hell.

As she walked through the halls, Havens attention turned to some of the fae she passed. Most of them were whispering, some offering her kind smile, others outright sizing her up. If she tried hard enough she could probably hear whatever they were saying but in that moment, Haven was too tired and hungry to care.