Ashe peeked excitedly out of the carriage window and down at the small forest town of Embury. There weren't many buildings or structures to look at, but just outside the town was a massive clearing where tiny shapes milled around.

The Embury soldier camp is so much bigger than I thought it was! Ashe marvelled as she pressed her face against the glass, trying to see if she spot any Panteras wandering around.

"Ashe, did you hear anything I just said?" Commander Diaz asked, her hard voice breaking through Ashes thoughts.

"Umm..."

The Commander sighed and rolled her eyes before repeating herself. "When we land in camp there will be a couple of soldiers waiting for us. I have some very important business I have to attend to, so I'm going to leave you with my Lieutenant. He will start showing you the ropes. King Rowan and General Cromwell have already told me a bit about your... attitude, and I will only tell you this once, that kind of behaviour will not be tolerated in my squadron, so drop that act quickly and treat all of my soldiers with respect. They are all more experienced working around these creatures than you are, and their advice can save your life. Don't expect to be treated like a princess, you are not training with palace guards anymore, and you will be treated equally to every soldier in this camp. Are we clear?"

"Yes ma'am. I won't let you down." Ashes responded, biting her tongue to keep herself from making a sharp retort about her, quote unquote attitude.

"Good." Was all the Commander replied as the carriage hit the ground with a jolt, before slowly rolling to a stop. The door swung open and Commander Diaz stepped out of it, Ashe quickly following behind her, looking excitedly at the entrance of the camp, where four soldiers stood, waiting for Commander Diaz.

Ashe curiously scanned the soldiers, watching as they all briefly exchanged words with the Commander. The biggest of them was even more scarred than the Commander. His arms were crossed and even from where Ashe stood, she could see countless scars all over his arms, and other ones peeking out of the top of his leather tunic.

Ashe couldn't hear what Commander Diaz was saying, but she must have said something regarding Ashe, because all four soldiers turned their heads to glance her way, including the scarred one.

They all looked like your average high ranking soldiers, except for the one she had been looking at a moment ago. As he turned his face towards Ashe, she had to stop herself from gasping in shock. He had three long and brutal claw mark scars going from the top of the forehead, across his eye and curving down his cheek. The whole right side of his face was affected by them and his eye was a cloudy-opaque colour. He looked young, not a whole lot older than Ashe.

What has he done and seen to be that brutally scarred? If his face and arms look like that, I cant imagine what other terrible scars he has. Oh shit, he saw me looking at him. Ashe thought, quickly glancing away from him.

After another minute or two, Commander Diaz and three of the soldiers broke off, walking away, leaving Ashe with the scarred guy.

Ashe gulped nervously as he slowly started walking over to her. She didn't let herself get intimidated easily, but this man was definitely intimidating, and not just because of the scars. The way he was walking shouldn't even be considered walking, it was more of a prowl. Either way it was kind of scary, and authority eminated off of him.

Ashe stood up a little taller and clasped her hands behind her back, trying to look the part of a soldier, but she quickly relaxed when he gave her a warm, lopsided smile.

"You must be Ashe Guthrie." He said, extending a gloved hand, still smiling.

Ashe nodded and firmly grasped it, her eyes once again straying to his scarred face. But despite the scar, he was incredibly handsome, and now that he was smiling, he didn't seem so scary.

"I'm Lieutenant Erik Lanstov, and Commander Diaz has tasked me to oversee most of your training."

Ashe nodded absentmindedly, still looking at the scar, now noticing that it sliced through his eyebrow, leaving a spot where no hair grew, and it also cut through the corner of his lips. That could be why his smile was lopsided...

"Soldier, my good eye is over here." He said, turning his head slightly, snapping Ashe back to her thoughts.

"Sorry Lieutenant..." Ashe trailed off, trying to recall what he had just said. I just got here and I've already messed up.

To her relief, the Lieutenant just chuckled and smiled again. "You can just call me Erik. Don't worry, everyone gets taken aback by these and no one is good at hiding the staring." He said, gesturing to his face.

"What happened?" Ashe blurted, before clapping her hands over her mouth.

"To my face? I got too close to a new Pantera and didn't move away quick enough. She raked her claws across my face, just about taking my eye out." He said as he swiped his hand slowly over the scars, imitating what the Pantera had done.

"Can you still see out of that eye?"

"Barely, but it's just one of the many scars that I gained working with Edareks animal legions. It's just the most noticeable one, cause all of my other ones are usually covered up by my training leathers.

"How many scars do you have?" Ashe asked in awe, looking him up and down, expecting to suddenly see them.

"Hmm... Too many to count. You'll see most of them and hear about all their stories at some point" He said smiling as he ran his gloved hand through his brown hair, ruffling his quiff slightly, revealing another scar that Ashe just thought was the part in his hair.

"But enough about me, what about you?"

"I don't have any real scars if that's what you mean. How are you a Lieutenant though? I thought you couldn't usually be a Lieutenant in Edarek until you were at least thirty, and you aren't thirty are you?"

Erik chuckled again, beckoning for Ashe to follow him as he explained. "Im one of the youngest Lieutenants in Edarek, but I actually worked my way up to it, unlike the prissy palace Lieutenat, Cody Bishop. I've been working with Edareks critters since I was a kid. Both of my dads were animal trainers. My Pa was a Nightmare trainer and my Dad trained the wolves, so I was around the creatures from a pretty young age. I worked in the Nightmare camp my Pa trained at for a couple of years, and then I transferred to my Dads camp and worked with the wolves until I was fifteen. I then got bored of them and started working with the Manticores. Once I was sixteen, I was actually allowed to train as a soldier, rather than doing the boring 'safe' work I had been doing before. I gained my first Manticore scar the day I first started officially training with them." Erik explained, peeling off one of his gloves. He showed Ashe his hand and she grimaced slightly at the scar. Right in the center of his palm was a small pale 'stab scar', but spiraling away from it was black tendrils that covered the whole center of his palm.

"A Manticore got me right in the hand with its venomous tail, I was lucky that I didn't lose my hand to the venom. Instead I've got this trophy." He said smirking, as he slid his glove back on.

"Wow! That's incredible!"

"Psh, is Lieutenant Lanstov showing off his scars, boasting about how he's the best animal trainer in Edarek?" A soldier said as she walked past.

Ashe nodded and the soldier laughed. "If he was truly 'the best' animal trainer, he woulndt be so covered in scars!" She snorted.

"Get back to work Cortez!" He shouted teasingly at her, before turning back to Ashe. "Ignore her, she's just jealous that all of her scar stories are super lame and embarrassing. Now, lets get on with the tour-"

"How did you end up here though? And as a Lieutenant?" Ashe interrupted, wanting to hear the rest of his 'story'.

Erik let out an exasperated sigh but nodded. "I worked in the Manticore camp for around a year and a half, quickly moving my way up in the ranks. In my time there, I broke and trained a record amount of Manticores and news of my skill spread to the other camps. Commander Diaz herself reached out to me, saying they could use my skill here, as Panteras are a lot trickier to break than Manticores, so I accepted and transferred here. After a year and a bit, she offered me a position as her second in command, which I've held for two years now. So, I did move up in the ranks quicker than most should have and I definitely feel that other people deserved my position more than myself, but when an opportunity like this presents itself, you take it. Which is why you're here I'm assuming?"

Ashe nodded enthusiastically. "General Cromwell decided that I would be better here helping train the Pantera Legion than be at the palace."

"Well he was half right, you won't be helping train the Legion, we are training you. You have no previous experience working with animals and according to the General and my Commander, you don't work well in a team setting and you could use some more discipline."

Ashe stopped in her tracks and raised her eyebrow. "Excuse me? Rowan and General Cromwell aid that he-"

"His Majesty may have said that, but both Commander Diaz and I agree, that just like every soldier here, you have to work your way up. You are lucky you even got sent to this Legion. Most of these soldiers have dedicated their whole lives to getting to the point where they can fight with Edareks strongest Legion. It is unfair to all of our hard working soldiers to suddenly have a princess lead them into battle, when she has no experience working with these animals."

"I'm just as strong, if not stronger of a fighter than half of these soldiers." Ashe snapped.

"Watch your tone please. I'm usually a happy, chill guy, but I am still the Lieutenant of this camp and I would appreciate it if you showed me some respect please. Now, follow me to the barracks. There are always things that need to be done in this camp, so we work twenty four seven. At some point every day, you get a designated seven hour period for sleep. When it's your turn, take it, because that's all you get in a twenty four hour period, other than a couple of short meal breaks. You will also have one to two 'social' breaks a day. High camp morale means that our soldiers work even harder, so we try to have lots of social time and fun events to keep that morale up. Most camps dont do this, which makes ours one of the strongest. We have eachothers backs more, because of the relationships we form with each other. We aren't just a legion, we are a family. Anyways, through these doors is where you will sleep, we won't go in there right now because there are soldiers sleeping as we speak. Men, women and anyone else all share the same sleeping quarters, there are bunks in there, no designated beds though. Like I said, you sleep when you can and those quarters are only for sleeping, no 'extracurriculars' allowed."

We don't even get our own tents? I have to share a massive room with that many people? Amd designated sleep times? This is ridiculous!

"Here is our mess hall. Again, you will have designated times you can eat, so eat your fill then because we do hard work every day and we don't want anyone passing out due to exhaustion." Erik explained, briefly showing her the building, before leading her to a much smaller building that smelt of leather.

"Here is the armoury, later today we will get you fit for new leathers. The ones you brought will be useless against Pantera claws and we very rarely wear full metal armour. We quickly learned that the Panteras don't like it and try extra hard to kill people that wear it."

Ashe nodded and gulped nervously, the playful demeanor Erik had been showing a couple of minutes ago was now gone, replaced by the stoic and hard face of a Lieutenant, who had seen and done more than most his age.

"Last on our tour is here, the Pantera enclosures. We don't generally let them roam around the camp. Even when they've been broken and fully trained, they can be unpredictable, so it's best to keep them in here unless we are actively training." Erik said, stopping in front of a massive gated section that led deeper into the forest.

"You keep mentioning that the creatures need to be broken, or have been broken. What exactly does that mean? I learned and read about different straiges and how it's done, depending on the animal, but I don't actually know the purpose or what it truly means."

"You seriously don't know much about animals, do you?"

Ashe shook her head, her cheeks warming with embarrassment. "Not much no, just the books the Commander assigned me to study."

Erik let out a long sigh, running his hands over his scarred face. "When we refer to 'breaking an animal', it's more like we are breaking a part of its wild side, or breaking a part of its spirit, so it's safe for us to officially start training them. They respond to humans better once they've been broken and they are more manageable and safer to be around."

Ashe nodded, soaking in as much information as possible. The faster she learned everything, the faster she could get to the more intense training. She listened intently as Erik started explaining how they care for the Panteras, but they were interrupted by a loud roar, followed by the sounds of soldiers shouting.

"What's going on? Did one get loose?" Ashe asked, feeling both excited and nervous at the prospect.

"I hope not. Come on, I need you to stay close, just in case one is loose." Erik instructed, snapping into Lieutenant mode.

Ashe gave him a firm nod and jogged behind them, towards the center of camp, just about running into Erik when he came to a screeching halt.

"Is this the new batch?" He asked a soldier that was running to where multiple cages were sitting at the entrance of the camp.

"Yessir, I just sent someone to grab you, since Commander Diaz isn't in camp right now." She responded, saluting stiffly to Erik.

"Thank you very much, but I'm here now. Let's go take a look at them and I'll choose one to do the breaking demo with. We will put the rest in the observation enclosures once I am done. I might let our new soldier try breaking one, if there is one that seems calm enough."

"Yes Sir. Is it wise to let a new recruit do any breaking, I wouldn't want her to get hurt."

"Normally I wouldn't let it, but I have rushed orders from General Cromwell and His Majesty himself. She's done all the reading and research necessary, plus we are all here if something goes wrong." Erik responded, and Ashe couldn't help but blush at the praise.

"Yessir, right this way please. There are seven new Panteras that need to be broken, all wild Panteras that continuously stray too close to towns and villages across Edarek. All of their wings have been bound and we did medical checks on them." The soldier said, as she led Erik and Ashe to the cages, stopping at each one so Erik could get a good look at the Panteras.

Most of them just eyed him and Ashe coolly, but one large coal black male, lunged at the bars, trying to get to them.

"Is this the most aggressive one?"

"As of right now, yes. Most of them are still groggy from the sedatives, but they wore off of this one quicker. There is also a Ghost Pantera, but she has been acting very unpredictable. One moment she is fine and happy, the next she is lunging at someone, trying to kill them. I would recommend leaving her in the observation enclosure for a few days while we try and figure her out. It could just be stress, but it's not safe to have her near anyone at the moment. I woulndt even try and break her until she has settled a bit."

Ashe glanced towards the Pantera the soldiers spoke about, eyeing the beautiful cat's spots, and dappled wings. "She looks like a Snow Leopard."

"Ghost Panteras are definitely rare, based on her markings she isn't just an albino Pantera, she is a cross between a Ghost Leopard and a Pantera. She is gorgeous." Erik said softly, getting a bit closer to the cage.

The Pantera watched him with little interest, not showing even the slightest sign of aggression. Maybe this soldier is wrong? Ashe started to think, seconds before the Pantera lunged for Erik, reaching its paws through the barred cage to swipe at him, hissing angrily as it attacked the cage, trying to get out.

"You're right, she is incredibly unpredictable. She didn't show a single warning sign that she would attack. She could seriously hurt someone. I agree with your recommendation, lets put her in the observation enclosure for now. We will gather some information on her and then decide what to do from there."

"Of course, Lieutenant. We will take her and the others there now and I'll have someone get the male ready for you."

"Thank you very much. Come on Ashe, let's head to the ring."

Ashe nodded excitedly, following him over to a large ring nearby, where soldiers were gathering. Erik hopped over the fence and held up a hand, stopping Ashe, quickly explaining what was going on. "This is one of our training rings, stay on that side of the fence please, they are going to be bringing in that male for me to break."

"Is it really a good idea to break the aggressive one first? Why not one of the more chill ones?" Ashe asked nervously.

"I want to save the more calm ones for the less experienced soldiers. Don't worry about me, I've done this a hundred times. Just enjoy the show." He said winking at Ashe, before stepping away from the fence, walking towards where some leather armour sat in the dirt.

"Is this your first time watching a breaking?" A voice asked from beside Ashe, causing her to jump slightly in surprise.

"Ya it is. What about you?"

"I've seen quite a few, Lieutenant Lanstov is definitely the best at it, maybe even better than Commander Diaz! Don't tell anyone I said that though... Plus, he's not to hard on the eyes either." She giggled, extending out her hand towards Ashe, introducing herself. "The names Aria Benson."

"Ashe Guthrie." Ashe responded, giving Arias calloused hand a firm shake, before turning her head back to Erik, watching as he strapped up his armour. Ashe coulndt help but look at his scarred arms and her gaze may or may not have flitted to his biceps, or how strong they looked as he buckled a thick leather tunic over his chest.

"Isn't he so hawt?" Aria swooned from beside Ashe.

Ashe smirked and nodded, watching as a few other soldiers helped the Lieutenant fasten thick leather sleeves around his arms and then finally he pulled his gloves on.

"Why are the sleeves separate? The leathers I ordered up were all one piece, and all of the other soldiers I've seen have been wearing one piece suits." Ashe asked curiously, assuming that Aria would have an answer.

"Those are the standard leathers, they aren't as protective as the ones he's putting on. The one downside of the more protective ones, is that there is less mobility, so there is a small gap at each joint so the wearer can still move freely. It's a little less safe in those spots, but overall it gives more protection against the Panteras claws."

"What's that guy doing?" Ashe asked, pointing towards another soldier in a massive suit that made him look like a giant fluff ball.

"Jeez, you have a lot of questions. He's the 'emergency bait'. That suit is completely Pantera proof, so if the person breaking the Pantera gets hurt or has to quickly get out of the ring, that guy throws himself at the Pantera and lets himself get attacked until we can tranq the Pantera. It's kind of hilarious to watch actually."

Ashe grimaced and muttered thanks that she wasn't assigned that job. That must be terrifying just having to lay still while a Pantera tries to maul you. It also must be super hot in that suit.

"Shut up, he's starting!" Ariar suddenly whispered, even though Ashe wasn't saying anything.

"Thank you all for putting a halt to your busy schedules to be here. We don't get new Panteras often, so we all know how real of a treat it is when we do. If you have seen a Pantera breaking demonstration before, please move back so all of the newbies can have a good view. Experienced soldiers, stay on standby in case something goes wrong. Commander Diaz normally would be doing our demo, but she is busy doing other things so I get to do it. Let's begin." Erik said formally, sounding like a seasoned Lieutenant, but the small lopsided smile on his face once again slightly contradicted the way he sounded.

He turned his head towards the cage and waved his hand signaling for it to be opened. The door slowly lifted up and the massive coal black Pantera came stalking out of it, hackles lifted and wings flared menacingly. It loud out a terrifying snarl as it stalked towards Erik, who widened his stance and stared down the Pantera, not an ounce of fear showing in his brown eye.

Ashe watched as he cocked and turned his head slightly, watching the cat intensely as it prowled towards him.

"What is he doing with his head?" Ashe whispered to Aria.

"He only has one good eye, so he has to turn his head more so he can see the Pantera. It is trying to get in his blind spot, but he keeps moving his head like that so it can't."

Oh, that makes sense. That's actually really smart. Ashe thought as she continued watching the Pantera prowl around the ring, snarling at Erik.

At one point it went to lunge for the fence that the spectating soldiers were standing by, but Erik quickly made a weird stomping and growling sound, shifting the Panteras' attention back to him.

Ashe watched nervously as the Panteras ears flattened and it crouched, its muscles bunching to spring. "Look o- MMPH!" Ashes warning was cut short as Aria clapped a hand over her mouth.

"SHH! We can't distract him, just watch!" Aria hissed in Ashes ear as the Pantera did a small lunge towards Erik, but he didn't even flinch or take a step back. The smart cat had been trying to psych him out! It wasn't actually pouncing!

Erik smirked and took a lunging step towards the Pantera, yelling as he did so, and to Ashes surprise, the Pantera actually took a couple of pawsteps back, its wings drooping slightly.

"He's getting close to breaking it!" Aria whisper squealed as Erik advanced on the cat, which was now shrinking back even more. How could a creature so big and so dangerous be so scared of an unarmed human? It was incredible!

The Pantera hissed angrily and flattened its ears, crouching down again. At first Ashe thought it was crouching in submission, but then she saw the tip of its tail twitching and its muscles tighten, and then it leapt, claws outstretched, jaw open in a roar as it flew towards Eriks face.

I can't watch this. Ashe went to cover her eyes, but Aria whispered in her ear, "just watch."

And then the craziest thing happened. Erik reached behind his back pulling out a long baton that had been strapped there. He shifted his weight and put one hand on either side of the baton, holding it above his head as the Pantera came sailing towards him. It felt like Ashe was seeing it in slow motion. She watched the Panteras jaws clamp around the baton and then, still holding the ends of it, Erik spun his body around, turning nimbly on the balls of his feet, shoulders straining as he spun in a full circle, using the Panteras momentum to help flip it onto its back and hit the ground hard.

"Holy shit!" Ashe gasped as Erik jumped into action, hitting the Panteras exposed belly with the baton, quickly jumping back as the Pantera jumped to its feet, roaring in fury.

"Keep watching!" Aria squealed in excitement, jumping up and down.

Could this get any cooler? Yes it can! Ashe watched in wonder as Erik jumped onto the Panteras back, wrestling it to the ground as it writhed and hissed and spat at him, tring to throw him off. It opened its mouth to snarl again, and Erik shoved the baton back in its mouth , twisting his hands as he did so.

Ashe watched in surprise as a purple mist hissed from the baton, wafting around the Panteras head as it slowly stopped struggling and laid down, Erik still on its back. Its wings splayed to the side and it let out a long breath and then Erik let go of the baton and got off the Panteras back, crouching beside it.

Then he just started petting the Pantera, cooing softly to it, until it started to purr and rub its head against Eriks hand. Erik smiled and stood up, patting the Pantera on its head.

"Anyone who wants to let the Pantera learn their scent, do it now while he's still calm. I advise all of you to do it now, so it will be easier for you to train with him."

That must be the sedative mist I read about! It helps calm them down so they are easier to break! I wonder what's in them, and why it doesn't affect us? I'll have to ask Erik or Aria, or someone else later.

"Come on Ashe, let's go give the Pantera our scent!

"Alright, I'm coming!" She replied, even though she had no idea what Aria meant. There was already a line forming to 'share scents' with the Pantera, all the soldiers talked excitedly amongst themselves congratulating a very dirt covered Erik.

When Ashe finally got to the front of the line, she looked down at the Pantera that was lying on its back rolling around in the dirt, belly exposed and getting scratched by Erik.

"That was incredible! How did you do that?" Ashe asked him as she tentatively crouched down beside the Pantera, who rolled back onto its belly and reached its nose forward to sniff at Ashe.

"A lot of practice. Now that he's been misted, he's calmed down so he can accept all of the other soldiers' scents without having to worry about him attacking. So just sit still and let him smell you and rub up against you. It's kind of like he's marking his scent on you, and getting your scent on him so he remembers that he can trust you. It makes him more trainable and he will listen to more people than just me."

"Wow!" Ashe gasped as she gently stroked the Pantera, giggling as it nuzzled its head against her hand, licking her wrist with its rough tongue.

"Can I stay and watch more?" She asked hopefully, frowning when Erik shook his head.

"Not right now, I want you to head to the lecture room and do some studying and then you can have your meal and sleep break."

Ashe opened her mouth to protest, but Erik gave her a hard glare, his scars crinkling as he did so. And the look on his face was enough to scare Ashe into submission. "Yes Lieutenant Lantsov. Aria, wanna join-"

"Soldier Benson, you are going to stay here, and observe more breakings while I scope out which Pantera will be best suited for you to break." Erik said, interrupting Ashe.

"Thank you Lieutenant. I'll catch up with you later Ashe!"

Ashe sighed and nodded, trudging away to the building that Erik had pointed out to her. She walked inside and groaned as she saw desks and a large chalkboard, a few soldiers already sat staring at yet another battle scarred man standing at the front of the room.

"Take a seat please. I hope all of you paid attention to Lieutenant Lanstovs demonstration, because we will be talking about every technique he used in depth. Take out your notebooks and pens."

---------

Ashe let out a long groan of relief as she trudged out of the lecture room, finally done studying for the day. She had to admit, it had been educational, but so long and so boring. The weirdest part was that by the time she was back outside, it was dark and the moon shone brightly above.

Ashe had expected the camp to be quieter at night, but it seemed much busier than it had been before. There were more soldiers milling around and the sounds of swords clashing echoed through the camp.

"Hey, it's sausage night so we are going to eat around the fire, do you want to join us?" One of the soldiers that had been in the class with her asked.

"Ya sure, I don't really know where it is though."

"I'll show you. All of the food will be there, so we don't have to go to the mess hall."

Ashe nodded and followed the soldier to a roaring bonfire where a bunch of people alright sat, talking and eating.

"Ashe, over here!" A voice shouted excitedly.

Ashe saw Aria and waved, saying goodbye to the other soldier, before jogging over to greet Aria. "How was breaking your Pantera?"

"Ugh, not good. It was so embarrassing, both the bait and Lieutenant Lanstov had to jump in and help me. It was going fine and then the Pantera just snapped and lunged at me out of nowhere! Lieutenant Lanstov literally had to beat it back with a stick to get it from ripping my throat out. And when I say literally, I mean literally."

"Hey, it wasn't that bad Aria, I've seen much worse."

Holy shit! Where did he come from! Ashe jumped in surprise, whipping her head around to see Erik holding a guitar in one hand and a sausage on a roasting stick in the other.

"You play the guitar?" Ashe asked, trying to stop herself from laughing.

"You bet he does! He has the best campfire songs." Aria laughed, scooching over so Erik could sit down beside them.

He smiled and sat down with a grunt, popping the sausage into his mouth, picking up his guitar with his now free hand. "I like pulling out the guitar when I have a break, it's relaxing." He said, responding to the confused look on Ashes face.

Ashe watched intently as he started softly strumming a random tune, bobbing his head to the beat. She waited expectantly for him to start singing some weird campfire song, but no words came, he just kept strumming, tapping his foot along with the beat.

"I don't always sing when I play, I sometimes play just to play. How did your learning go?" He asked, somehow still strumming even though he was looking directly at Ashe.

"It was really good." Ashe lied.

"You say that, but your face looks like you ate a sour apple." He said, smirking slightly.

"It was very informative, but it was hard for me to stay focused. We learned a lot about how to observe Panteras and gain valuable information that way, it was just super boring." Ashe admitted, hanging her head slightly in shame.

"We will do more hands-on work tomorrow. I just wanted you to go to at least one class before we started doing more training. I did some thinking and I might assign you to observe the Ghost Pantera and maybe if we can get her behavior figured out, you can have an opportunity to break her, with Commander Diaz's permission of course.

"Wait, really?"

"Mhmm. I was being a bit hard on you earlier, I apologize for that. I just want to give all of my soldiers an equal opportunity, but I should have remembered that his Majesty sent you here for a reason. Palace Guards are some of Edareks best fighters, and I always let myself forget that." He said, shrugging his wide shoulders, somehow still strumming a coherent tune on the guitar.

I'm not just a guard though. Is that what everyone thinks? Do they know about my powers? If they don't, then I guess that's fine. At least this way they won't think of me as the Fire Guardian, just as one of Rowans 'favourite guards.' "Thank you very much Lieutenant, I really appreciate it. I promise I won't let you down. In fact, I think I'll head to bed for the night so I can get an earlier start tomorrow." Ashe decided, giving Erik a small salute.

He nodded in response, still playing his guitar, as Ashe turned away and headed for the barracks to get ready for bed.

Seven hours of sleep, that's all I get. It doesn't seem like enough, and yet it also seems like too much? What if I barely sleep during those seven hours? Ugh, calm down Ashe, you are overthinking this. Ashe sighed as she changed out of her smelly campfire clothes and stepped into one of the showers. It was surprising they even had showers at this camp, but also not super fancy ones, because every minute Ashe had to pump the lever to get more water pulled up from the underground springs. Thankfully, there were separate shower areas for the men and women, along with an area to get changed, but it was weird to think that she would be sleeping in the same room as a bunch of people.

Grow up Ashe, stop being so weird. This is normal life in soldier camps. You're lucky you even have showers, let alone seperate ones. Now hurry up and go to bed so you can wow Erik tomorrow and start breaking your very own Pantera! Ashe lectured herself internally as she quietly opened the door to the sleeping area, eyeing the rows of bunk beds that were surprisingly empty.

Choosing a bed near the back of the room, Ashe dumped her scratchy blankets and pillow onto the mattress, getting everything tucked in nicely. The downside of not having a designated bed, meant that she had her own sheets, pillow and blankets that she had to haul around to a new bed every day. She had her storage locker that they were kept in when she wasn't sleeping, but it was so much extra work having to make and unmake a bed every day.

Ashe flopped onto the thin, springy mattress with a groan, reaching for the alarm clock beside her bed. She held it up to the light of one of the lanterns, setting it to go off in seven hours. She put it down and winced, it already sounded like a tiking time bomb, along with all of the other alarm clocks in the room.

Ashe let out a sigh and burrowed deeper into her blankets, closing her eyes. She was just starting to drift off to sleep when the sound of an alarm clock went off, scaring her half to death.

Don't tell me it's been seven hours already!

Ashe reached for her clock and sighed with relief. She still had six hours and fifty nine minutes. That must have been someone else's clock.

Once again Ashe closed her eyes, quickly falling asleep, only to be woken up an hour later by another clock going off. Uuuugghhh. It's going to be a long night.