I am also childish and hate to lose. --L, Death Note
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I stood outside, smiling up at the blue sky. It had been a week since I was last "allowed" outdoors, and the feeling of freedom to me was overwhelming. I felt the sun against my face, the small breeze whip around me, the cool autumn--

A sharp twack sounded out as something hit behind my knee, yanking me unpleasantly from my happiness.

I yelped. "Ow! Watch it!"

Kvir walked past me, swinging his cane around like a baton. "Come on. You're the one who wanted to be out here in the first place."

I opened my mouth to say something back--trust me, it wasn't going to be nice-- and thought better of it.

Nope. Let's just be aggravating instead.

"So why do you even have that cane?" I asked, jogging up to catch him. "It's not like you need it or anything."

That was true. Whenever he walked around, he normally just swung his cane around in the air. There was only once I had actually seen him use it, and that was after he had taught me how to move a rock.

He sighed and stopped moving. "You're right, I don't need it. I just enjoy have an extension of my arm." He leaned down over me and whispered in my ear, "Makes it easier to hit inquisitive people."

I narrowed my eyes and backed away, mentally making a face at him. I had barely even seen the guy since a few weeks ago. The day I almost drowned.

The first day we had actually spoken to each other like normal people, not just screamed at each other.

Of course, the next few days made up for that. For three days straight, I would go and change the bandages around his hand--and clean the wound in the process. He had Raul by his side watching me work constantly, enough so that it got on my nerves.

At the last of the three days that I helped, our patience with each other had worn very, very thin. I wanted to talk to someone, and the one person I had to talk to wouldn't speak. I'd ask a question, and a low mumble would be my answer. Unless, of course, Kvir was complaining about "how badly I hurt his hand." when I bandaged it up. Then, and only then did he actually speak audibly.

Needless to say, it didn't go very well.

"Hurry up, girl," he called. I had slowed my walking to a snail's pace, and I was just strolling through the grass. Kvir had gone up further, toward a line of trees.

He stopped and turned around, waiting for me to get my "slow" self over there.

I took my time. Although I wasn't very far away, I somehow managed to make it drag out for five minutes.

"So, what are we doing over here?" I asked when I reached him. Excitement--or nervousness--was bubbling up inside me.

"You are going to learn--" slowly, he pulled a metal object from the pocket of his coat. "--how to use a knife."

I looked at him disbelievingly. "You take it and you go 'stabby stab' with it. Person or thing whom you 'stabby stabbed' goes 'Bleaagh! Blood, blood! And...death.' " With my final word, I moved the top half of my body to the side, then stuck out my tongue and closed my eyes.

When I straightened again, I saw what may have been a smile reach his eyes, but it vanished quickly. He held out the long, silver blade to me, handle first.

"Take it."

I sighed and took the knife. Kvir pulled out another one from his coat.

"Now, when you hold it, you want to have it like this." He quickly rearranged his fingers around the hilt of the knife so that they were almost in a fist. His thumb was pressing against the top part of the hilt where an arch was.

I quickly examined how he held it, then did the same. The knife itself was actually a bit big for me, so I awkwardly handled it in my small(ish) hand.

Beast beckoned at me, waving his arms toward himself. "Now charge at me."

All tension I had in my stance went away. "Say what?"

He rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Charge at me. Attack me. Do the whole 'stabby' thing you mentioned a little while ago"

He wants me to stab him?

I shrugged my shoulders. "Wouldn't that hurt you?"

"You stabbed me through the heart the first time we actually met face to face. I'm still here. Now, charge."

He has a point.

So I charged at him, doing all I could do to keep from screaming like a jungle person. When I reached him, I thrust the knife towards his chest, digging slightly into his clothes.

And dropped the knife.

Both of our heads went down at the same time to look at the thing on the grass.

"And that," he began. "that is when you are dead."

He bent down to pick up the knife from the ground. The only problem with that was the fact that I did too. At the exact same time. Which resulted in our heads banging together in a very painful and unpleasant manner.

I sucked in my breath and rubbed the spot he had hit.

"Here." Kvir handed me the knife again. "Try again, but this time hold it tighter."

I scowled at him and took it, then walked back to my starting point.

I ran at him again.

And again.

And again.

Have I mentioned that I ran at him again? Really? I thought so.

The last time I charged, it worked. I didn't drop the stupid knife and actually dug into his skin with the blade.

Only to be magicked backward into a tree.

Pain shot up my back from where I had hit the bark. My chest heaved as I tried to catch my breath back.

"What are you doing?" I shouted as soon as I caught my breath. "I did what you said to do right this time!"

He shook his head. A glimmer of a smile etched itself in his eyes. "You told me that you wanted to learn to fight. Your enemy will not play fair."

I screamed. Just... screamed in frustration.

He laughed.

Which made me even madder.

I still held the knife in my fist tightly. My breaths came out in gasps; the rage inside of me felt like fire licking my cheeks. My hands shook as I slowly got up from the soft grass I had landed in.

Let's see how good my aim is.

Back at the bar, there were times where I had to dodge glasses being thrown. My reflexes were always on pointe, seeing as I was able to leave the bar every time unscathed. There had been once or twice when to stop the flying glasses, I had to throw one back to the person who started the fight.

Now, in instances like those, I couldn't actually hit the person who threw one. That would hurt them. So, I had to manage to throw the glass against the wall behind them--while barely missing their face.

To practice my aim, I would go to the river. There would be pinecones scattered on the ground, or tree branches that I would take and use as the "glass", then throw it at the "person", or the tree. My aim really, really stank at first, but the more I threw, the better I got.

How can knives be any different that beer glasses?

They can be a lot different, Zara. For one, you drink out of glasses. You don't dri---

Ok, hush you.

I glared at the Kvir angrily, still seeing the smile twinkling in his eyes.

"Come on. You're not even trying," he taunted.

That was enough for me.

I swung my arm and threw the knife directly at his chest. The look of surprise on his face was priceless, even with the limited view of his facial expressions.

The knife stopped at the distance of what looked to be less than an inch away from his breastbone. He held one hand out to the side, keeping the knife still.

That was what I wanted. With his attention on something else, I pushed at the air with all my might. The same thing that happened to me, happened to him. Kvir went flying backward, skimming the ground lightly as he flew. The knife was cradled in the grass where he had been standing mere seconds before. I ran forward and felt the smooth surface of the hilt touch my hand as I scooped it up.

'Charge' he said. I'll show him charging.

"Págoma!"

Then, suddenly, I couldn't move. It was like I was trapped in a box fitted to my size. All my weight was on one leg, the other directly behind me. My right arm was in the air, still holding the knife.

With care, Kvir pushed himself up from the ground. "Good job," he huffed. "Show your enemy that you don't play fair either."

I struggled against the unseen bonds that held me in place as he started to walk away.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

He waved his hand in the air carelessly. "Don't worry! It'll wear off in a few hours. You won't get tired standing like that! I think."

"You're kidding!" I shouted back. "You can't just leave me here!"

"Watch me."

***

The next few hours were painful. He lied his face off when he said that my legs wouldn't get tired. My whole body got tired. My nose itched, I had hair in my eyes, it had started to rain within the first hour, and I was fairly sure that a line of ants was dancing up one of my legs.

The only good part was the fact that I heard him yell the spell that froze me. So, I practiced it. I practiced it on the birds that pecked at my feet, on the butterfly that landed on my nose. Eventually, I got the spell to work.

The release happened suddenly. Thank goodness that the knife had slipped from my hands earlier, otherwise I would've unwillingly stabbed myself with it. I fell forward to the ground, my bones aching horribly from standing on one foot for hours on end.

I stomped my way back up to the castle and flung open the door with a bang. The sight that greeted me was the Beast, shoulders shaking slightly and eyes closed. He stood in front of me, laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" I snarled. Water from my hair dripped down my back. My dress looked to be painted on my skin it was so stuck to me.

"No-nothing;" he choked out.

I narrowed my eyes. "You try standing on one foot for hours. I'm sure you'd love it."

Saying that was part of a plan I had thought of while stuck on one foot.

Please fall for it. Please?

Raul came up to me with a towel. He draped it lightly around my shoulders and started to rub, trying to stop the small pond that had appeared underneath my feet from growing any larger.

Kvir raised his eyebrows. "Standing on one foot's not so hard. See?" He picked up one foot.

"Págoma."

He stiffened like a board, unable to move. "Lizaveta, let me go," he warned.

I smiled and tapped my chin thoughtfully. "Okay. Vrochí."

Instead of him being free from his one-four trap, a small rain cloud appeared over his head.

And started to rain.

I burst into laughter. "See, here's the thing. I know the spell to freeze you, but not the one to release you. You didn't say that one to me, so I couldn't practice it. Now, I'm sure you know it, so you could tell me, but by the time that I get the wording right and whatnot, you would probably be free already. Or, you know, burnt to a crisp seeing as sometimes I accidentally set things on fire. And if I remember the rules correctly, you can't free yourself."

I waved at him as I turned to walk away. "So have fun with that."

As I left, I heard Raul start to chuckle.

His voice came out in gasps. "She really fooled you on that one, Sir."

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Hello all!

I'm happy. This actually does contribute something to the story line, although it seemed a lot like a filler chapter.

Didja catch my Zootopia reference? Sorry, I just couldn't help it. It was begging for me to put it in there. (And no. This is supposed to be in a make-believe word, so they don't have television or movies or anything like that. They haven't seen the movie.)

Although, that's an image and a half right there...

*Shush, Noa. Let those poor people who you have bombarded with your writing leave. They don't what to hear you talk to yourself*

Someone needs to stop me...

Noa