Chapter 266: She Was Stronger Before Lunch

DOVE’S POV

Dove’s training began with Edrik telling her to stop apologizing to the target.

"I didn’t apologize."

"You looked sorry for it."

"It’s a piece of cardboard. You’re being dramatic."

He stood beside the van with his arms folded, entirely too handsome for a man criticizing her murder face. The cardboard was taped to a wooden post behind a closed grocery store. They had checked the building, the parking lot, and the road before stopping. From where Dove stood, she could see the van’s open side door and the store’s rear entrance, where their morning’s salvage waited in neat stacks.

Heat rose from the dusty lot. Edrik had moved the target into a patch of shade, then stood beside it looking unfairly pleased about the morning. Apparently smiling at her was meant to make exercise less offensive.

It was working, which annoyed her.

*Today’s endurance task,* Sprout offered, *complete a manageable practice session with a proper rest afterward. One hundred and fifty Normal Coins and Soft Landing: softer skin and a small improvement in balance. Neither replaces training. Reckless exhaustion does not qualify.*

*You’re paying me to listen to him?*

*I’m paying you to remain capable of listening tomorrow.*

Dove accepted before starting. She wanted to be stronger for reasons beyond a reward, but she wasn’t going to turn down coins for doing something useful. That seemed like a terrible habit to develop.

Edrik kept the lesson simple. Feet planted, eyes up, a firm grip, and no leaning so far forward that somebody could pull her off balance. They practiced getting free of a wrist hold before returning to the target. He let her feel the difference between pulling blindly and turning toward the space beside his thumb.

When she got it right, he didn’t loosen his grip to pretend she’d won. She felt the hold break because she had moved properly.

"There," he said. "Do that again."

Dove did, breathing harder now. Sweat ran down her back, and her ponytail was falling apart. Her grip slipped once, and she wiped her palm on her shorts before trying again. She was hot and annoyed and quietly thrilled that her body had learned something it hadn’t known ten minutes earlier.

"You don’t quit when it gets unpleasant," Edrik said. "I like that about you."

Her next attempt went crooked.

He caught her before she stumbled. "Was it the compliment?"

"No. The ground attacked me."

"Vicious ground. I’ll have a word."

She shoved his chest, laughing despite herself, and he kissed her forehead before putting her back in position. He wasn’t gentle with the correction, but he never made the mistake feel like proof that she shouldn’t be trying.

That mattered more than she knew how to say.

When he called a break, she took it instead of arguing. They sat in the van’s shade and drank from their own bottles. Sprout waited until she had rested before paying the reward. One hundred and fifty coins arrived with Soft Landing. Her palms felt softer, and standing after the break came a little easier. She tested another turn with Edrik before trusting it; she still had to put her feet where he had taught her.

*Good,* Dove told it. *More of that. Less of telling me to flutter my eyelashes at danger.*

*Your eyelashes remain a versatile resource.*

*I will pluck them out purely to inconvenience you.*

*That would be a poor return on effort.*

She groaned, and Edrik asked what Sprout had said. Dove told him, which made him laugh hard enough that she threatened to make him cook lunch alone.

He did most of it anyway. They had found sound canned chicken, beans, rice, boxed crackers, and jars of seasoning in the grocery store’s back room. The front shelves had been stripped, but the low shelves behind the stockroom door still held useful things. Dove checked the cans and packaging before storing them. Anything swollen, leaking, or soaked stayed where it was.

Three finds had once felt like a successful morning. They weren’t a reason to stop now. She kept going until they had what they would use, then took a spare pan and a bag of dish towels because future Dove deserved less aggravation.

A cracked mirror hung beside the stockroom door. Dove caught sight of herself while lifting the last bag, with damp hair, dusty knees, and a face far more determined than she felt. She looked like somebody who had spent the morning doing things, not waiting to be collected. She pulled a ridiculous face at her reflection before Edrik could catch her staring.

He caught her anyway. "I liked the fierce one better."

"That was my hungry face. You’ll see it again shortly."

He took the heavier bag, leaving her the one she could carry comfortably. She let him. Sharing the work wasn’t the same as giving it away.

Edrik heated rice and chicken with enough seasoning to make the whole parking lot smell better. She added beans, opened crackers, and served him a portion that might actually feed a large beastman instead of insulting one.

"Look at us," she said. "Exercise, a proper lunch, and nobody’s tried to put me in a truck for almost four hours."

"Don’t tempt them."

She saved a sealed jar of the same seasoning for Thorne. It was a small thing, but she wanted him to taste something they’d enjoyed instead of hearing only what had gone wrong while he’d been gone.

The thought made her reach for Edrik’s hand across their makeshift table. He turned his palm up without making her ask.

"I’m glad it’s you here," she said.

His thumb moved over her fingers. "Where else would I want to be?"

For once he let the answer stay simple. Dove finished eating with her hand in his and decided she could want more people beside her without loving the ones she already had any less.

Before they left, she checked the road notice nailed outside the grocery store. A small camp farther north was arranging escorted crossings over the reservoir bridge. The road beyond it would bring them closer to the station.

Crossings left every morning. Dove checked the distance on their map, then looked at Edrik. If they reached that camp by tomorrow, they could finally stop driving around the same stretch of water and start getting closer to Thorne.

"Pack lunch," she said. "I want us on that crossing."