Chapter 59

Nash arrived at the stables near their training grounds.

"This memory will haunt me for the rest of my life," Ren said, depressed.

Nash patted him on the back, "Don't worry. Just bang your head on the wall and you'll forget that HAHAHA."

"Haha... that's a nice advice," Ren forced a smile.

"Thank you for the ride!" Nash waved her hands goodbye and walked limply.

"Need a hand?"

"I've got two!" She raised her hand showing a peace sign.

Ren followed Nash, behind them are the squad 13 members still laughing.

"Hi!" Nash greeted Lady Gwyneth when they passed by each other.

"How are you awake now?" Lady Gwyneth asked, confused.

Nash turned confused, "Huh?"

"I thought you're still unconscious and crippled?"

Nash glared at her and said, "That's offensive."

Gwyneth raised her right brow, "You dare glare on me?"

Nash smirked, "I'm not in the mood to have a cat fight with you. Goodbye."

"Wait!" Gwyneth grabbed Nash's shoulder and before she even pulled Nash to her, Nash shouted 'wait' and raised her palm in front of Gwyneth's face.

"I told you, I'm not in the right condition to have a cat fight with you. I'm sure you're aware of how deep my wound is. Let's have a fight next time."

She slapped Gwyneth's hand on her shoulder and walked away leaving Lady Gwyneth irritated.

...

Thed, with the knights under him, are having training with Squad 15.

From a distance, Jaxael saw Nash limping towards them.

"There she is..." he said loud enough for the others to hear.

Nash was wearing her usual bright smile as she walked towards her squad.

When Nash noticed that everyone was staring at her, she raised her hands and waved, adding more brightness to her aura.

"How did you come here?"

"I rode with him," Nash said, pointing Ren behind him.

"How?" Kane asked.

"We rode a horse."

Squad 15 looked at Ren suspiciously, "I saw her having difficulty riding her horse, and she said she'd become sick if she stayed at home, so I took her."

"You do know she's injured," Yjhan said, sternly.

"I do! But she--"

"It's my fault," Nash said, smiling brightly.

"We know," they answered. "Don't worry. Continue your training, I will just sit there under the tree."

Nash limped towards the tree and sat down gently, feeling the discomfort. Nash smiled once again and motioned for them to continue.

Ren waved her goodbye before departing with his group.

Minutes passed and Nash was just looking at her squad mates, "This is boring, but it's better than being alone."

A shadow wolf suddenly approached Nash and sat alongside her. She looked confused and looked at Jaxael.

"You look pitiful," he mouthed.

Nash had previously spent the entire morning with the wolf, playing fetch, playing dead, and teaching it how to sit, roll over, lay down, paw, and do other animal antics.

"Come here," Nash called the shadow wolf and let it sit on her lap and hug it. "Cool, you feel like a real wolf."

"Nash!"

Nash was surprised and saw Katherine running towards her. Nash removed the wolf in her lap before it got squished and placed it beside her. Katherine gently hugged her.

"I'm sorry I didn't have the chance to visit you, I was so busy."

"It's fine."

"Happy Birthday," Katherine whispered in between her embrace.

The wolf's ear twitched and Jaxael heard it which caused him to get hit by Ken. 'It's her birthday?!'

"Shit," he said.

Ken smacked him in the head.

"Oh sorry," Jaxael apologized.

Nash smiled, "thank you"

"Do they know?" Nash shook her head, "Why?"

"I didn't tell them,"

"Why?"

"You know what? You have too many questions!"

Katherine pouted, "Fine, I won't ask."

"Let me ask you something," Nash let Katherine sit in front of her. They looked at each other, eye to eye.

"Is this some heart to heart talk?" Katherine asked.

Nash throws the ball far for the shadow wolf to fetch.

Nash nodded and continued to ask a question, "How come you're always nowhere to be seen. The Duke managed to come and see me during my rest."

Katherine stayed silent for a second before answering Nash, "I told you, our team are some sort of a special one. We do have a lot of missions."

Nash crossed her arm as she leaned against the tree, "Really?"

Katherine nodded, "I wanted to hang out with you, but they really did give us lots of missions, you know. Enough with the nonsense questions, what happened to your leg?"

Nash stopped asking questions and told her best friend what happened during their last mission.

"If I were you, I would've been crippled now." Katherine made a face as she looked at Nash's bandaged leg.

Nash looked behind Katherine and saw someone hiding from quite a distance, "Do you know who that is? The one behind that tree?"

"Ah... that's Aizzle. She wants to come with me the moment I told my group that I will visit you."

"Aizzle... rings a bell..." Nash tapped on her forehead trying to remember the name.

"She said she met you during the previous ceremony."

"Ah! The one I caught in my arms!"

Katherine laughed "Yes, she did tell me that. She stated that she fell in love with you at first sight."

"I see. Ask her to come here,"

Katherine teleported beside Aizzle, "She wants you to come close,"

"But I'm shy," her face was red as she hid behind the tree.

Katherine didn't answer and teleported back beside Nash along with Aizzle.

"A...ah... This is for you!" She unconsciously held out a tiny box, "It's not that much, but please accept it."

"You should greet her first," Katherine chuckled.

"Ah I'm sorry! Happy birthday!"

Nash reached for the box, "Thank you, I appreciate it"

"Let's go now, we have to leave tonight." Katherine tapped on Aizzle's shoulder.

"You're leaving again?" Nash asked, "I'm so jealous... you always get to have missions."

"Ah huh...?" Aizzle mumbled.

Nash looked at her a bit before looking back at Katherine.

"Yes," Katherine sighed.

"I want to request something,"

"What is it?"

"In case you visit a town, or a village, check if there are metal doors on the ground."

"Metal doors?"

"Yes. They look like plain metals but with handles."

"Why? What is it?"

"I'm thinking that it was a bunker. I saw one near our inn."

"What's a bunker?"

"A door towards the underground," Nash pointed on the ground.

"I don't get it,"

Nash sighed, "Just check if there are metal doors stuck on the ground. Now go."

"Okay okay. Let's celebrate next time."

Katherine and Aizzle left and the wolf arrived, biting the ball Nash felt.

As the time passed, Nash fell asleep hugging the shadow wolf.

...

"I have something to say," Jaxael said as they were done with training for the morning.

"What?" Aidan asked.

"Look, Nash is sleeping," Idris pointed at Nash.

"How adorable," Aeries said smiling.

"What is it that you want to say?" Yjhan asked.

"It's Nash's birthday today"

They all turned into a statue after hearing those words from Jaxael.

"How did you know?" Aeries asked.

"I heard. What my shadow hears, I will hear it too."

"She's 17 now. Should we give her a debutante ball?" Aidan asked, grinning.

"How?" Idris asked.

Aidan just smiled, "Act as if you don't know that it's her birthday."

"What are you guys talking about?" Thed joined squad 15 over their talks.

"Can we leave early today?" Yjhan asked.

"Why?"

"It's Nash's birthday," Aidan said.

"I see... I should greet her later after she wakes up."

"No!" Idris exclaimed. "Sir... we were thinking of making our debutante ball for her."

Thed laughed and nodded, "I understand. You guys are sweet brothers huh? Alright, I'll let you leave early. Wake Nash up, we're going to eat."