Mira's Hope by Erin Elliott

pack and began on some
of the blackberries. She savored the way the tiny pieces of fruit
burst into sweet goodness when she pressed the berry to the roof of
her mouth with her tongue. I never realized how much I enjoy
these, she thought to herself.
    Twoit came waddling in her funny little way,
back into the camp carrying what looked suspiciously like a baby
bird in her mouth. Galena decided it would be best not to
investigate too closely in case her suspicions were right and
turned to look at Elenio instead. She was slightly startled when
she found him propped up on his elbow, watching her intently
instead of sleeping as she originally thought he had been.
    “How long have you been up?” she asked,
handing him a handful of berries.
    “Long enough to see you’re in a very good
mood.” He popped several of the berries in his mouth before he sat
up, pulling his legs up, he rested his arms on his knees and
continued to eat while he watched her.
    “No more headaches.” Galena tapped the side
of head and grinned at him.
    He shoved the rest of the berries in his
mouth and then dusted his hands together. He stood up and looked
down at her, grinning wickedly. She had to shield her eyes so she
could see him clearly, as the sun was directly behind him.
    “Yeah, that might change seeing how your
sword was swinging past your head dangerously close. How long do
you think it’ll be until you hit yourself in the head with your own
weapon?”
    The words were barely out of his mouth before
Galena kicked a leg out and hit the back of his knees, causing him
to fall face first on the ground, inches away from their campfire.
Pushing himself up with his hands, he spit out a mouthful of dirt
before looking angrily at Galena. She continued sticking berry
after berry into her mouth, trying to look as innocent as
possible.
    “What’s with you and violence?”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she
replied calmly.
    Elenio stood up once more, dusting the dirt
off his clothing and grumbling the entire time.
    “I want to train against you and Tark once he
has woken up and everyone has eaten.”
    “Are you trying to say that I’m not enough
for you?” Elenio asked with a look of fake indignation on his
face.
    “That and...” she had to swat Elenio away
because he had come over and mussed her hair up in response to this
answer. “I have to concentrate harder when fighting against both of
you and I want to start practicing magic while I fight.”
    Elenio nodded in agreement. “Sounds good to
me.” He grabbed a loaf of bread and chucked it at Tark, which
succeeded in waking him up when it bounced off his head.
    Tark sat up quickly, looking dazed as he
tried to make sense of what was happening around him.
    Galena giggled at the look on his face.
    “Come on, lazy bones, the sun has been up for
over an hour and we need to start a new training program with
Galena that requires your talents as well.”
    Tark mumbled something incoherent under his
breath, but got out from under his blankets and helped himself to
the loaf of bread Elenio had thrown at him.
    * * * *
    Over the next week, Galena worked hard trying
to defend herself both with her sword and magically, from the
onslaught of Tark and Elenio. They tested her far more effectively
than she thought possible, but at the same time, offered
encouragement and forgiveness when she sent them flying into a tree
several yards away. Most the time, she was able to stop them before
they went crashing into the nearest object surrounding their camp,
but when she got really going, she didn’t always remember in
time.
    On one such occasion, she accidently sent
Elenio crashing into a large boulder that they had decided to stay
by, breaking several of his ribs and giving him a concussion.
Galena felt horrible and healed him immediately, but Elenio simply
shook it off and asked her if she was ready to continue. At least
he had once he was conscious and moving again. Galena was hesitant
after