When I returned to the real world, I sighed and stretched my limbs. I made sure to eat some breakfast and use the bathroom while I was up. It was early in the morning on Sunday. I wanted to dive back into the game right away. The game was so fun, I was hooked. I had the option of what profile to use. I wanted to see how the tribe was doing on the plains. I logged into my Althine profile and opened my eyes after a moment to see the inside of the hut we lived in. Adius was not sleeping next to me. I watched the entrance for a few minutes until he came back. He blinked and smiled at me. "You were sleeping so heavily I couldn't wake you" he said. I said "Sorry. I was having a nice dream". He frowned and said "That's not good Althine. What if something were to happen and we needed to flee?" I smirked and said "You would protect me until I woke up. Then I'd save the tribe again from all the raiders or monsters". He did not look amused at all. Adius shook his head and said "Let me tell you what had happened while you were sleeping".
I stood up and motioned for him to start. Adius looked confused for a moment and said "Shouldn't you be more concerned? A filly is only safe in her tribe after all". I gave him a look before he looked down and kicked the dirt under his hoof absentmindedly. "I keep forgetting you did not live with a tribe before you arrived in the plains. I wish you would try to be more sensible though" before he sighed and began his story. "We followed the hunters to make sure they were safe. Luckily for the Cold Hoof Tribe, they were nowhere to be found. Everything was doing well until a few gnolls threw spears at our hunters and caused a nuisance. We had to kill them some until they back down and retreated". I nodded and listened to his story. 'Those gnolls are still pissed at me. I'm going to enjoy coming back and killing them' I thought to myself. He continued his story. After the gnolls interfered, the hunt was spoiled and they brought the little game they had and came back. I nodded and Adius invited me to eat with the rest of the tribe.
Cooking and preparing meals were for the fillies without any partners and mares without children who lost their stallions. I had Adius so I didn't have to do that. As I got my food, the filly I had been talking to approached me. It was clear that she admired me. "I hope you remembered your promise to train me" she said. I smiled nervously at her. I honestly had forgotten her request and her name, but I wanted to make sure I had at least one friend in the tribe. I told her to wait until I finished eating. When we finished with our food, we went to the training grounds. I asked which hand was her dominant hand. She was right-handed. I gave her one of the axes. "We're going to do multiple slashes. Four sets of fifteen should be a good start. We'll do vertical slashes first". We did them together. After every set we took a ten second break. After the vertical slashes, we did horizontal strikes. She looked like she was enjoying herself. After we were done, she handed me the axe back. "That was so fun. I feel like I could kill an enemy already" she said.
Shaking my head, I said "Not even close. We have much more work to do. You need to do this every day. If I'm not around, you need to take a practice pike and practice your strikes with them". She smiled with sparkling eyes and said "I will. Thank you so much, Althine!" I asked for her name and she chuckled. "My name is Polea" I nodded and said "Thank you. I can't wait until You get strong enough to fight others". "She won't. Not if I have a say in the matter" a mare said as she approached. Polea paled and said "Mother!?" She glared at her daughter and said "I won't stand for this. A filly using weapons is shameful. You will disgrace the tribe. Come here and don't even think about doing this again". I simply looked at Polea and crossed my arms. I said "I'll respect your decision Polea. What do you want to do?". she looked between me and her mother. Eventually, she went to her mother. I just sighed and watched them leave. That was a failed attempt at friendship. I wondered what I would be doing while I waited for Suzie as well as what we would do at that time.
