After sparring with Lana, Fiza wanted to spend the rest of the day in bed. Mandy and Dawn looked at her with sympathy.
"I don't know why you're giving her that look. You think you got spared?" Lana wore a stern expression. "The Cursed Ship was attacked while Quinn and his strongest were away. What would happen here if that were to happen?"
The girls looked at each other terrified.
"Exactly. You all need to be strong enough to defend yourselves and fight off whatever may come. It's the reason I wanted everyone trained in martial arts and Qi to begin with. Your performance is proof you have not taken your training seriously."
Lana looked to Shalt, "Can you go get Almin for me?"
Shalt nodded and immediately left to go find him.
"I have a task for us to complete. It will be part of your training. All the areas that used to have dumping bait beasts will need to be filled in by local plant life. It has come to my attention our shelter is very obvious because everything around us is gone. I will add some more willows to make it look more random, as well."
"We will also be working more on your combat. During our combat sessions, I will be working with you. I will have to ask Steve to work with me individually." Steve nodded at her with this mention as if agreeing.
"That being said, we need to get the blank spaces filled in sooner than later so we will focus on that over the next few days then switch our focus to training both combat and ability. You three will also still need to study my notebooks. It's a lot but the dangers are too great."
Fiza responded, "can you explain all the dangers? Or even some of them?"
"The only one I'm willing to share is we want the dalki to think the other shelter is the only one on this planet."
The girls wore solemn expressions with that explanation.
Soon, Almin walked it with Shalt at his side. "You needed to see me?"
Lana nodded. "I was wondering if you could take over the martial arts classes on a permanent basis. The girls need me to focus on their training for now. I need someone who can do everything I can do. That will take time."
Almin smiled broadly, "I was hoping you'd ask that. Can Kattie have the Qi class as well? We both think you're stretched too thin. You always have been. Adding babies makes it that much harder."
Lana nodded, "I was thinking about that. With me taking people out hunting, my schedule is too unpredictable. We also need people trained to do these things on a permanent basis so the two of you can go out hunting as well."
"We are happy where we are right now but you're right. Skills can get rusty. I do have another question. If someone were to ask another person to be their wife, what is the procedure for making a positive response a reality?" He looked quite nervous and shifty when asking the question ad his voice got quiet.
Lana laughed, "one could argue the family head or the faction head can perform such a ceremony."
Almin cocked his head, "would the family head even be interested in such a thing?"
Lana laughed again, "the family head would consider it an honor."
"When would you like the new schedules to start?"
"Tomorrow. For the next three days, I will be with the girls doing things outside the shelter."
Almin nodded and left to update Kattie.
"If you have nothing going on right now, we can do some sword training," Steven said.
Lana nodded and told the girls to go study her notes. She fed the babies and changed them then laid them on a blanket. With Caser and Shalt as the babysitter, Lana spent the next two hours training with her mother's sword. She was doing well with it but it felt different then other swords, as was told. It's not like she had a lot of experience in such matters. Part of her wished she had Leo as her swordmaster.
Steven was taught swordsmanship from an expert so Lana knew he was good. She was missing the familiarity she had with Leo after their time in the vampire world. Here, everyone viewed her as the boss. It felt lonely. She knew part of that was her busy schedule. She also had to be honest with herself and accept that if she had more time she'd either be in the lab or looking for her mother's lab.
Her session done, she scooped up her babies and went to the Traveler's Center for dinner. She missed her friends. Shalt picked up the blanket, put it in her bag and followed her. Neither needed to request food when at the center. Just appearing would invite the cooks to prepare something they both would greatly enjoy, whether they were hungry or not.
Lana enjoyed dinner with her friends, old and new. It made her feel like part of the family again. She resolved to try to do this more often, however, the work still needed to get done and sleep was a must. Sometimes she envied Shalt and Quinn. How did Logan do it?
Lana took the rest of the evening off to spend with her friends and family. Tomorrow was going to be busy and rest now was required.
After breakfast, Lana gathered the girls together. She handed Olivia off to Shalt to carry and the five of them plus Caser stepped outside the shelter. The first thing she did was ask the trees to show the girls their life cycle. Lana then had the girls practice creating the trees that neighbored them. Once the girls perfected it, Lana allowed them to place trees where they sought fit, like painting a living canvas.
She did this in patches of ¼ mile at a time. Trees then plants then grasses. The girls tired out quickly. Lana filled in while they rested, adding willows to the mix near the exterior of the shelter. The girls got back up and got back to it.
While the girls worked, halfway through the day, the trees told Lana the man she wanted to know about, Arthur, and gone into the underground cavern he had emerged from. Lana asked them to let her know when he emerged.
After the end of the third day, when the work was all complete, the trees had not reported Arthur emerging. Had he discovered they were there? With his ability, there was no way to know. If he went below, he had to have noticed the changes they made. She had not talked to him about settling here. He didn't know they were there in secret, if he had even discovered them. But he had to know there was something amiss if he looked around the area.
On the way back to their shelter, "girls, I want you to spend the day tomorrow studying. Shalt, Dobin and I have something important to do."
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