I spent two days in the Northern Province Complex, most of which time I had nothing to do but stare at the walls and look out the window. They'd assigned me a guard to make sure I didn't leave before the tryouts and he was a real lout who seriously tempted me to run just to get him in trouble, but I didn't want trouble. At that point, I just wanted to get this tryout thing over with.
That morning, Freda gave me a white tunic to wear and I was escorted down to the training grounds where a few dozen young men in white loin cloths, including Pongo, were loitering, waiting for instructions, and watching various soldiers, and officials take seats on the far side.
Finally, one man stood up and the examinations began. The first test was running, and as you might expect, my longer legs allowed me to basically jog and still outpace the rest of the pack, including Pongo, although, to be fair, he wasn't really part of the pack either.
Next up was an obstacle course. Once again, did the thing faster than my short legged mates, but I'll confess, I wasn't perfect in foot placement and had to make my own way when the net I was supposed to climb fell down under my weight. It slowed me down quite a bit, having to back up and jump the twenty feet to the top of that wall, but I still finished with the second best time. Pongo was first, naturally.
Then came weight lifting, which was a tad pathetic. Both Pongo and I lifted the heaviest things they had, although we did it very differently. Pongo made a great show of squatting with the huge iron bar with rings on the end, huffing and puffing and, well, basically moving the weight really slowly to make his big muscles bulge. After he'd finished, I just walked over to the bar where he'd left it, leaned over and picked it up with one hand. I didn't expect cheers, but I got some, along with a few boos, which made me think, maybe I'd done something wrong.
Finally, they broke us up into pairs for wrestling, and since they did it based on size, poor Pongo got me. He was really quick for his size, probably outweighed me and eventually would become good enough to give me a workout, but he had no clue how strong my slender limbs were, and he expected me to be just a big woman, I guess. At first, he tried to grapple with me, which is never a good idea. Once I got ahold of him, I threw him down easily and pressed his shoulders down before he even realized what had happened.
Then he tried some leg sweep thing, which I ignored and pinned him again. The third time he tackled me at the waist and I wrapped my arm around him and it was all over. Later I learned I'd broken his ribs and that he'd broken a toe with that leg sweepy thing, but he didn't complain about either that day.
After that, they handed us wooden swords and I got my comeuppance from Alfredo, the fencing master, who tapped me a half dozen times while I never landed a blow on him in the ten or so minutes I tried. I was sure I'd flunked that test and my only solace was the fact that, after all that dancing, Alfredo was sweating like a pig and out of breath, while I wasn't even a little sticky.
The day went on forever, though, as some of the boys were pretty good with swords, and Pongo and I mostly just sat around watching. He'd never held a sword and while I had, there was a lot to learn about the art of swordplay, even though Alfredo sat on the sidelines with us, first recovering, and then, telling us what to watch for.
Listening to him talk about techniques I must certainly had not demonstrated, I even started to hope that I wouldn't pass the test and might be able to go home, but he kind of went on to dash those feeble hopes.
"Of course, most of these techniques really just give an edge to evenly matched opponents, or, as we saw when you and I sparred, allow a slower and weaker man to stand a chance against someone totally untrained. I can teach skills to anyone," Alfredo said as he smiled at me, "but not gifts such as yours."
There was something a little strange about the way Alfredo looked at me and my eyes went back to the seating area, where I finally spotted Jona, standing at attention behind Lord Kriven. I know he saw me, but he didn't crack a smile and we sort of just looked at each other for a moment before we got interrupted.
The last of the matches finally ended, and they announced the results would be posted in the morning and that everyone, including the visitors were invited to dinner.
As soon as everyone broke up, I naturally started looking for Jona, and to my relief, he found Pongo and I standing near stack of sandwiches.
Jona just nodded at Pongo before smiling at me.
" Great work, Fiona. I mean that, even the very fencing was impressive. Alfredo doesn't spar with just anyone."
I shrugged.
"Thank you. I was thinking though, given how terrible I was at sword play..."
"If you think they don't want you, you're out of luck. Every instructor and officer here was drooling over you, and, uh, you too" Jona said, looking at Pongo again for a second.
"Kriven's already got the word they're moving your stuff to the barracks. It's not official until tomorrow morning, but you're a cadet now, for all that means."
Alfredo popped up just then and took a sandwich off the table.
"It means you'll be under paid and worked hard actually" he said before taking a bite of his sandwich.
Jona shook his head.
"The pays not that bad, and Alfredo doesn't work everyone that hard."
Alfredo snorted at Jona and looked at me.
"He's right. I let him slide because he wasn't bad to begin with and didn't have all that much potential to get better. You two, on the other hand, have incredible potential and no skill, to speak of. I'll see you both right after breakfast."
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