Next morning I still felt my butt, but it didn’t hurt much anymore. It would be good to let off some steam today. I should ask Miss Tessa for a slate an chalk to practice in the evening.

Another good idea would be to practice draconic runes a bit, but they normally needed to be engraved as the depth of the lines would change the meaning. Then it came to my mind that this was the reason the runes in the books were odd somehow. They had not enough depth. This would be a bit difficult to practice without raising suspicions.

Improving writing down the Imperial runes was more important though.

Milly began to stir after a while. I patted her head a bit.

“Morning.” Milly opened her eyes a bit.

“Slept well?” I nudged her nose.

“Not well but no nightmares either.” She yawned.

“I’m better this morning. At least we have progress on long term goals.” I propped my head on my elbow.

“This world is nasty!” Milly frowned.

“They have no nuclear weapons as far as we know. Even magic seems to be a lot less destructive. Knowing no shithead could trigger a nuclear way is kind of relaxing, but there is room for improvement here.” Carefully I tried to sit up.

“How is your bum?” Milly stretched herself groaning a bit.

“Much better than yesterday.” I patted on my butt.

“Hi.” Tilly yawned.

“Why are you all awake early?” Caroline squinted down from her bed.

A few moments later came the wake up call. We had a quick breakfast. Milly got up to leave for the library.

“Good luck!” I hugged her a last time before we went back to our rooms to get ready for the training.

The day started with an hour stamina and strength training. Then we learned some stances and moves with sticks. Most of the basic moves with weapons could be made with a stick, especially in the case you don’t want to hurt someone badly. After that Miss Tessa gave us simple leather armors and we started to spar for a while. I got myself plenty of bruises.

After all were exhausted we has a small break, drinking some water, while Miss Tessa vanished for a while.

As she came back we started to empty a significant part of the storage room and built an exercise course on the solid part of the room. Then Miss Tessa showed us how to climb, jump, crawl and slide trough the course. After a few rounds where she simply observerd us she clapped her hands to get our attention.

“Now let’s have some fun for the rest of the morning!” Miss Tessa waved us over.

“Now that you are a bit acquainted with the course we can make it more challenging.” She patted Tilly’s head.

“We do the course in rounds. After the last one finishes the round, the next round starts. Everyone winning three rounds get a round to rest. Tackling the obstacles in the wrong way will be punished. And no cheating!” Miss Tessa pulled a whip out the pocket of her apron.

After a while I lost my sense of time. Even winning a round now and then was no real help. No one was really slacking and the resting time I got without the free round wasn’t really helpful.

Failing to get over an obstacle in the correct way was punished with a lash or two from the whip. Miss Tessa didn’t hit really hard, but it added up. No one gave up, even if it was sometimes hard to get over an obstacle. We slowed down, but there was no penalty for doing so.

Miss Tessa had an eye for simulating weakness. We had our experiences with that. Thus we gave all we had. I got more concussions from colliding with the obstacles or slipping towards the end.

“Last round. Then you have time to wash and relax until lunch.” Miss Tessa walked to the entrance.

I was completely exhausted after I finished my last round. Tilly was first this time and Caroline last.

“The course will stay until I am satisfied with your performance. We can still do other exercises on the sand.” Miss Tessa left with a smile.

We dragged ourselves to the tubs and after a good soaking we got ready for lunch.

“The morning is done.” Tilly groaned as she fumbled with her garter belt.

“My legs feel like jelly.” Caroline was fighting with her stockings.

“Yesterday was worse.” I put on my shoes, my muscles aching like hell

On our way to the refectory I stopped at the door of Miss Tessa’s office.

“Don’t wait, I have something I want to ask Miss Tessa.” I knocked at the door.

Caroline and Tilly nodded and left for the refectory.

“Come in!” I openened the door.

“Ah Lilly! Speak!” Miss Tessa gave me a smile.

“I would like to have a slate and some chalk to practice writing in the evenings.” I smiled back at Miss Tessa. As long as she was in good mood there was hope to get what I want.

“I see. Since it’s a sign of dedication I see you get what you want.” Miss Tessa got up from her chair

“Come back after dinner.” She went to the door.

“Thank you, Miss Tessa!” I followed her suit.

After lunch we went to Miss Iralalith for cleaning duty. It was mere routine now and there wasn’t anything worth noting in the afternoon. My aching muscles got better over the afternoon. After finishing our duties we went for dinner.

“We have to cheer up Milly tonight.” I sat down at a table in the refectory.

“I’m still exhausted from this morning and yesterday. Don’t be angry when I fall asleep soon.” Caroline drooped.

“We won’t”

“There’s Milly!” Tilly looked over to the stairs.

“She is fuming.” I looked over my shoulder.

Milly carefully sat down beside me and stared at her plate.

I hugged her a bit from the side.

“Eat something. We talk later.” I whispered in her ear.

She nodded and slowly started to eat. After a while she relaxed a bit.

We ate our dinner in silence. After dinner we went to our room.

“I’ve an appointment with Miss Tessa.” I stopped at the door of her office and knocked as she had left the refectory in the direction of her office.

“Here you are!” Miss Tessa handed me a package wrapped in cloth.

“Thank you, Miss Tessa.” As she already looked down on some papers on her desk again I left the office quietly.

Back at our room there was an awkward silence. I put the package in my locker and sat down next to Milly.

“Calmer?” I hugged her.

“I thought you exaggerated because of your situation. I have to apologize.” Milly looked at her feet.

“I don’t mind. At least you’re able to sit.” I took her chin and nudged her to look in my eyes.

“I should have...” She tensed up.

“It wouldn’t have helped in any way.” I interjected.

“But..”

“I don’t know if I had believed someone telling me such a story. He’s sick.”

“Having spent time with calligraphy was really helpful.” Milly patted my butt.

“Let’s get comfortable.” I started to disrobe and put on the nightgown she made.

Milly gave me a slight smile.

“I’m really tired. I don’t know from where you get all the energy.” Caroline climbed up in her bed.

After a while Milly told us about her her day. There was nothing really new for me. She had been better with the writing stuff. She had been less punished than me. The rest was similar.

“I’ve asked Miss Tessa for a slate and chalk.” I nodded at the locker.

“I’m curious about your versions of the runes.” Milly looked at my hands.

“I appreciate your help, but I understand if you want to do something different.” I fetched the package from the locker.

“Some cuddling would be nice.” She tried a smile.

“Cuddle as you want.” I unwrapped package and found a slate and a few pieces of chalk.

Then I sat down on the bed with my back against the wall, crossed my legs and started to write down runes.

“I’ll try to sleep as well Tomorrow will be nasty.” Tilly yawned.

“Night!”

Milly sat down beside me and leaned her head against my shoulder. She gave me some advise regarding technique. My handwriting was bad at school and after I got my computer there wasn’t much need to write, at least not something for other people to read. Her leaning against my shoulder didn’t help either, but I decided that she needed it. Maybe I would be better to write at a table. For today I didn’t care.

“I hope we find something useful in the library.” Milly’s hand crawled behind my bum.

“Finding something useful early on isn’t probable. I have to be patient.” I tried to draw another rune.

After a while Milly started to spend some time with sewing on another nightgown. We didn’t talk much for the next hour, but Milly definitely calmed down.

“I’ve enough for today.” I put the slate and the chalk back in the locker.

“It’s already late.” Milly stowed her sewing stuff away as well.

We tucked ourselves in. Tilly and Caroline were already sleeping for a while.

“Good night Milly.” I gave her a peck on her cheek.

“Good night Lilly.” She pulled in a hug for a while.

After cuddling a bit I finally felt asleep.