Meridia Eris Yezdrov was always a late riser.

But today turned out to be an exception.

Today, as she laid on her back in the bed, staring at the ceiling like it had all the answers that her heart was demanding, the sun rays making their way to her through the minute holes in the window, kissing her freckles, showering her brown locks cascading down her pillow, making her onyx eyes flutter, she was sleepless and thoughtful.

She sighed, getting up from her bed and stretching her body to wash away the sleep that she wasn't even getting ironically in the first place. With a gloomy look on her face, she walked to the door leading straight outside and opened it, but closed it again when the sunlight seemed too blinding.

After completing her morning routine, she eventually opened her door, welcoming the bright sunlight, the swaying light breeze, and the birds' song. She sighed, no longer regretting waking up so early in the morning and took in the scenery in front of her — the enormous yard of theirs surrounded by trees, casting shadows onto the flowers that were barely blooming, the butterflies flying for a home, little birds eating grains from the ground, the sun being guarded by the clouds and just then, amidst all the creations, she caught a glimpse of someone being surrounded by all of them, as if they all wanted to be around him, surrendering to him.

Meridia stood there, her eyes watching Edric's shirtless figure, the refined muscles in his upper abdomen, embodying his body — the very body which could barely move due to starvation seven years ago now built on strong muscles. He was skinnier than me just a few years ago. She thought as she watched sweat buds crinkling down from his bare chest, scars from his training sessions contrasting to his skin tone, evidence of his tries and failures.

Edric swung his sword, his each swing graceful, and calculated even without opponents striking at him, using the very sword that she had gifted him on his twentieth birthday. He blew a final strike, his grip on the hilt in the same way Meridia had taught him, his sword now facing Meridia who was standing a few feet away from him as he finally noticed her noticing him.

They both spoke nothing for a while, Meridia watching him with half-opened eyes, her head tilted as millions of thoughts raced across her mind, all regarding Edric. "Eris," Edric said, his voice quiet, sweeter than the birds singing above him, gentler than the breeze caressing his face and softer than the newborn flowers.

"You never call me by my first name," Meridia voiced out one of her thoughts regarding him, immediately regretting it.

Edric watched her, a questioning look on his face, obvious, he didn't hear her whisper. "Sorry, I didn't really catch—" he reached her, the sword still firm in his hold.

"Nothing," she said, turned around to hide her flushed cheeks and went to her room, grabbed her sword, and came back with it. She pointed her sword at him, the pointy part catching Edric off guard and making him back down. "Let's spar, Resrei," Meridia said firmly.

"You're leaving soon so I may not find a worthy opponent like you again," she said as they reached the middle of the yard, Edric standing opposite to her.

Her eyes reached his chest, before shaking her head and looking away. "Well?" She waited for an answer from him.

Edric pursed his lips and nodded. "We haven't sparred for a long time. It's a good time to see if I can still defeat you or not,"

Meridia smiled briefly before stepping forward and blowing her first strike, which Edric immediately caught up with and clashed his own sword against hers, the clanging of the swords driving away the birds. Edric swung his sword at his opponent and Meridia instantly dodged, the sword brushing away against the tip of her upper ear, a few hairs getting cut off as well.

He's gotten fast. Meridia thought as she stroked the sword at Edric and he attacked back, their swords clashing with one another, iron embracing one another and never once letting each other go, both of them determined to defeat the opposing one, especially Meridia.

She had noticed this long ago, when she had her first spar with Edric, when she realised that sword fighting with Edric was like almost dancing — there was always a rhythm between them as they swung their sword at one another, how they almost knew what to expect next, what the next sway would be, how they would strike back at another, how they would spun to create distance, how the clashing of the swords were like music and how every step was always calculated and rhythmic.

And this was just another dance.

And Edric had gotten better at it.

Meridia lunged towards Edric, striking her sword, only for him to strike back and shove her away using his and her sword. He swung his sword at her, thinking she was still recovering from the previous parry when she placed her own sword at his, twirling away and then getting back at swinging her sword again and again, while he never hesitated to strike back.

Edric continued lunging his sword at her, gripping his sword firmly with both hands, sweat crinkling down from both of their foreheads as they eyed each other, earthly eyes clashing with raven ones, just like their swords and wondering who would be the one to put the blade in their throat — the girl who was never defeated when it came to sword sparring or the boy who had learned from her.

The dance with swords continued — the movement of their feet quick, paced and never once out of the rhythm that they'd made unknowingly. They continued clanging their swords at one another, the clashing of steel making them grimace, parrying their opponent with elegance as they both danced around one another. There were times when Edric feinted to blow a large strike at Meridia, like misleading the dance, but she always made sure to be aware of his pretence and get back to flourishing her sword.

This spar would have ended long ago if Edric and Meridia didn't know each other's fighting style — but they did — all too well. Meridia knew how Edric always preferred to keep a distance and then find a way to attack, she knew how he always preferred thrusting his sword at her, how he always grimaced before lunging towards her, how he always went for the sides — she knew it all. And Edric knew how Meridia never preferred to keep distance between her opponent because of her quick reflexes, how she always stroked for the neck when her opponent was parried, how she would twirl her sword in the air when she would riposte, how she never liked to feint — he knew it all.

And now, as he sparred her, he couldn't help but feel excited — just like he did whenever he clashed his sword with her, for Meridia Eris Yozdrov was the best swordswoman that Edric had ever seen. Sure, Jeril was the one to teach him swordsmanship from scratch, but when Jeril was busy teaching his other pupils, it was Meridia who taught him everything.

Edric lunged forward, clashing his tired sword against her one and let out a laugh when he couldn't feel Meridia asserting any force to her sword, making Edric let his guard down, draw back and bring his sword upward, readying it to bring down her chin and claim victory. It was only a matter of seconds before Meridia smirked, spun with her sword and collided her sword into Edric's, leaving him flabbergasted and then before he even knew it, his opponent had already broken his sword. The half piece of the blade fell to the ground, leaving Edric with the other half, his eyes wide as Meridia placed the sword beneath his chin, smiling.

The dance with swords had come to an end.

"Looks like I will have to gift you another sword, hmm?" She tilted her head to the side, smiling, hair covering her eyes as she put away the sword.

"What did I do wrong this time?" Edric grumbled, looking at the blade in the ground and then back at the sword.

"You let your guard down, that's what," Meridia shrugged.

"That was my gift from you" Edric said, his voice quiet. "My first sword."

"Resrei," Meridia said. "Swords are nothing if you can't bring victory through them."

Edric said nothing and grabbed his loose shirt from the trunk laying nearby, putting it on, and then giving her a look. "You were quite aggressive this time,"

"I had to be. You've gotten ridiculously better at swordsmanship,"

Edric smiled, just a little causing Meridia's stomach to flutter with butterflies. He was smiling often lately, she noticed and she loved it but she loved it more when she caused him to smile. "Don't get so ahead of yourself," she said, rolling her eyes. "You still haven't defeated me."

"Let's spar again," Edric said, looking at her hopefully.

"When?"

"On the day I leave," he confirmed.

And there was it again.

The cruel reminder of his departure that Meridia never wished for.

Meridia looked at him, swallowing, biting her lips, her heart knotting as she knew she'd never be able to tell him how he'd made his way into her heart and there was absolutely nothing to oust him from there.

She finally spoke, her voice low. "On the day you leave."

***

a/n: this one is unedited ( all the chapters are but this one is way too unedited) — so there might be a lot of repetition of words and some errors and some parts may not make sense at all :) this chapter drained all my energy and i just wanna be done with it.

this was my first time describing a sword fight (was having a breakdown over it) so do tell me how was it cause i NEED to know. thanks for reading !! <333