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Tarafau pulled the elastic bandage tight around her ribs and Jenny gritted her teeth. She would not complain. She was determined not to give in to the pain.
"I've crossed that log 50 times and there was never a turtle on it before. I wasn't looking at my feet. I was looking ahead, thinking about LizzieAI's last lesson and wondering what surprises Miriha has for me today."
Tarafau merely nodded. She expected him to chide her for not paying attention. His silence irritated her.
"Quit being so inscrutable, you..." she groped for words and they failed her. "You, CAT, you!"
She thought she saw one corner of his mouth almost twitch into a hidden smile.
"Do you think this is funny?"
"No, Jenny," he finally said. "Not funny at all. I'll get some ice for that."
As he left from the dining area into the kitchen, his hand over his mouth, she ground her teeth. She had stopped counting bruises over the last few weeks. Between her daily runs, her quarterstaff workouts with Tarafau, gleefully overseen by Arvid, and the increase in complexity of her balance and limbering exercises, she never felt anything but challenged and even though she was in better shape than she had ever been, she still felt clumsy and slow compared to Tarafau, Arvid and even Lova.
Lova often came into the workout area during her exercises and even joined in more often than not. She was lithe, quick and incredibly skilled at everything from tumbling to battling with the staff. From time to time the four of them would pair up two on two and the rhythmic "clack, clack, clack" was starting to invade Jenny's dreams at night.
On the one hand, she felt like she was making progress, albeit slower than she would have liked. On the other hand, she felt like she would never measure up to the tasks ahead of her. She had really skated through her years in school, never really feeling challenged, even in her physics and advance math courses. She just seemed to "get it" when a new concept was presented to her. She had watched her classmates struggle and she had a hard time understanding why.
She had undertaken to do some tutoring at the urging of some of her professors, but found she wasn't very good at it. Evidently there was an art to simplifying complex concepts at the level at which most of her fellow students navigated. She felt sympathy and she didn't judge them, not really, but relating to them was a struggle.
But this! For the first time in her life she began to empathize with her fellow students. Every day brought a new concept and there was so much to learn.
Lova strode into the dining room, a small leather satchel under her arm. "Working hard, I see," she commented, one eyebrow raised slightly. Well, it's about time for your break, anyway."
"Break? It's study time."
"Ah, yes, well, actually, after Tarafau gets you iced up, he'll be packing whatever you need to take back with you."
Jenny's face fell. Had she failed? Were they giving up on her? Had her clumsiness finally made them decide she wasn't up to the task?
Lova seemed to notice Jenny's confusion. "Oh dear, Jenny. I see I'm not communicating clearly. You need to go home and spend some time there, to keep up your cover story. Your training isn't finished, and you will be returning here from time to time, but you have made enough progress that we'll start sending you through some gateways now to start meeting your fellow Guardians.
While you're home, you can take some time to heal..." She looked pointedly at Jenny's bandaged ribs. "And it will also give you time to absorb what you've learned so far. Please continue your physical conditioning and your training with Lizzie. Tarafau will also continue to help you. You can stop in here at any point to use the facilities by going through the Lanatrix gateway. Or at any time, if you need help, you are always welcome here. After all, it isn't like it is a long commute..." She grinned, and Jenny grinned back with a sigh of relief.
Tarafau returned with the ice pack and headed up the stairs.
Lova, handed Jenny the satchel. "This is your traveling kit. Of course, you could keep the individual items loose in your MDP, but for organizational purposes, this little kit will make it much easier to get out your emergency supplies. In here you will find first aid supplies, which Tarafau will teach you to use."
Jenny interrupted. "I am first aid certified," she said.
"Ah," Lova replied. "I think you will find that beyond standard first aid, we have added a few things you may not expect and that may come in handy. You will need to be instructed in their use and know they are available. I won't go into this now, but just know they are there.
In addition, we have included some special emergency rations we developed for the use of the Guardians. They aren't exactly lembas, but they work in a similar way. There is also a backup beacon that will let us know, under most circumstances, if you need emergency assistance and the MDP isn't connecting. There are some dimensions that have a vibration that blocks this beacon, but it works the majority of the time." The wry twist of her lips said volumes about what she thought of the beacons only working "the majority of the time", but she moved on.
"There's a compartment for your tablet in here and your passport. I suggest when you go through the gateways that you carry the satchel outside your MDP, so it can be easily scanned. Strictly speaking, the other dimensional beings are aware of the MDP's, but they don't generally search them. The satchel is another sign you are a Guardian. Speaking of which, I'll be right back."
She left Jenny to contemplate her words. Why was it that it seemed like everything just kind of dragged on and then when things finally seemed to be happening it was uncomfortably quick?
Before Jenny could ruminate on this for long enough to come to any conclusions, Lova was back. In her hand were two quarterstaffs. One was plain and unadorned, like the practice staffs they normally used. The other one was shod on either end with engraved steel caps. On close examination she realized a stylized "J" was part of the design along with a small globe that appeared to be Earth on one end and a representation of the Sun on the other.
"This marks you as a Guardian," she indicated the shod staff. "The other is for practice. Keep them in your MDP when you are not using them. Always carry your staff outside the MDP when you go through a gateway."
Jenny took the staves with a little wince for her sore ribs and tapped the MDP to them. They shriveled, folding in on themselves and fading into the MDP.
"I've been wanting to ask. I know there were already some things in the MDP when it was given to me. I've put a few things in it myself, but how do I know what's in there?"
"You can simply think the word "peek" and you will be shown a mental image of your inventory, as if it was stored in a warehouse. In this mental image, you can walk through your inventory and even virtually pick items up and examine them. Try it now."
Jenny obediently thought, "Peek."
Like some kind of transparent overlay of the scene before her, she saw a large warehouse-like room with shelves somewhat like some of the big "box stores" in her town. The majority of the shelves were bare and some of the items she didn't recognize. Her satchel was there, her tablet, what looked like a pantry, her staffs, a tent and camping supplies and a number of boxes, including the 3 boxes Lizzie had left her.
She found that by thinking of the contents of a box or bag, she could peer into the contents of the boxes as well. Too bad the storage shed at home wasn't this easy to explore, she thought wryly.
"While you are home, you should be seen by people who know you. You might want to visit family and friends, for instance. It will be important later for you to be considered a part of your community and for you to be seen coming and going.
We will contact you in a couple weeks about your next steps. Continue your studies with the LizzieAI and keep up your physical conditioning.
You will find a gym behind the purple door in the dimensional hallway that you can use anytime, if you don't want to take the time to come here. It has all the facilities you are used to. Since Tarafau is Tidbit on Earth, you will need to use it when you want to work out with Tarafau. However, do your running in your neighborhood, so they get used to seeing you.
Any questions?"
Jenny thought a moment. "Does this mean I'll be getting an assignment soon? I can't say I feel ready for that, yet."
"You are more ready than you know and yet, you will never be completely ready," Lova said with a small grimace. "The thing is, it all changes from day to day. Just when we think we have a handle on it, something new comes up. It's all right to be a little confused at this point. This is one of those things that you have to experience yourself.
Your next stage of training will take place in the headquarters for the Dimensional Alliance Council. You'll understand a lot more at that point."
Jenny nodded without any real understanding as Tarafau entered the room with her travel bag.
Lova and Jenny stood and Lova reached out both hands. "I'd give you a good-bye hug, but I don't know if your ribs could handle it right now. If you need anything, you have my cell number. Just text me."
Jenny had to laugh even if it made her grab at her sore ribs. All of a sudden texting seemed a little primitive. "Will do. Come on Tarafau. Let's go home."
