"Huf, huf, huf." Luna ran down the gravel path, huffing for air, her arms lazily swinging past her waist back and forth.
Nyx ran past her and turned to face her, his voice laced with concern. "Are you okay? You don't look too good." He watched her struggling to breath, her face drenched in sweat, her eyelids drooped as her eyes twitched.
"I'm …okay." She struggled to run as her legs dragged through the gravel. One by one her legs dragged by; her leg caught on a rock and she fell down face first.
THUMP.
Nyx jerked forward to grab her by her arms. "Are you really okay? It wasn't even four rounds…"
As he picked her up, her head hung down. With her full strength, she looked up at him, her whole face dripped in red, sweat dripping down and falling like droplets onto her cloth.
Huffing for air, she barely muttered, "Four…?!" Her mouth corner pushed to the sides as much as it was possible, and her eyes cramped and her tears welded up and began dripping down her cheeks.
"It was torture!"
"Sigh, that's why you have to exercise everyday." He placed her in a sitting position, reaching to dust the gravel and dirt from her face and wipe the tears. A gentle smile meant to soothe her spirit. "Don't worry, from now on, you'll practice everyday and it won't hurt as much as now."
"How is this only four!... I… It felt like hours." Luna gripped her hands, trying to push off the ground, but unsuccessfully due to her leg's refusing to move.
She extended her arms forward to Nyx and gestured with a swift bent of her fingers.
Chuckling, he reached for her and took her into his arms, patting her back. "Don't worry. It won't exhaust you like that the second time."
He walked towards the arbor, the sun in the sky struck perfectly at the top.
His voice echoed from the distance. "Don't worry, you'll rest for a while and go right back to running."
As they walked away, an echo of Luna's voice bounced off the surroundings. "Noooo!"
…
THUMP. With his left arm, Reed stomped the document with the family signature crest, and with the other, he signed it using his full name: Reed 'Lockheart'.
He and Nyx sat across from each other in the conference room. Light spilled onto them from the window at Reed's back, its curtains gliding softly in the wind.
"Nyx, I can see through you easily…" Reed looked up as he signed the last of the document, placing it neatly onto the stack. "Why are you jealous?"
"So you can tell…" Nyx looked down, avoiding his father's gaze. "I'm not as discreet as I thought."
"Can I be honest, father?"
"Of course, you can always be honest with me, son," Reed answered.
Sighing, Nyx looked up at the ceiling. It was a froth of gilt plaster, heavy with scrolling mouldings and paintings of three gods, all dwarfed by an immense, glittering chandelier.
"Isn't it obvious?… Luna has never touched the sword in her life, and yet at the academy her talent was shining—like I never saw before. No light could shine over her back then… Yet today, just a while ago, I asked her to showcase whatever she knew. Her knowledge and the experience somehow doubled."
Nyx relaxed his shoulders with a soft sigh and slowly placed his forehead on the long table that had twenty-two seats.
"It's impossible… I am jealous… really, really jealous of her… I, whenever I first touched the sword, I was terrible at it. But I worked my sweat and bones to death to improve to my current skillset. But… but she, whenever she touched her sword for the first time, she had twice the amount of experience showing through her swings that i have now…"
Reed observed Nyx silently as he vented his jealousy. "Are you envying her?"
Nyx slowly looked up at Reed and, without a shadow of a doubt, said, "No."
"Is that so…" Reed said, the corners of his mouth widening gently. "Then, that's good."
"Now you have a motivation to work much harder and hone your skills, son. Now learn with Luna in mind. Have this 'I want to protect her,' and try to surpass her with your skills just so you can keep her safe."
"Son, bear this in mind: someone might start with a far greater skill level than you, but that doesn't mean they'll always be better. They may have begun from a higher point, but their progress could slow down. Yours, on the other hand, might shoot through the roof. Never forget that."
Nyx chuckled as he straightened his back. "Thank you, father… I had doubts, but now—" He smiled. "Thank you."