Tallulah regretted everything. Holy shit.

Oh, my head, last night was not a wise decision. The voice, who she had determined to be Atlas, although she'd have to make sure of it with Mykel or Ander, agreed with her. Could she also feel his aches and pains? It would be fascinating if so, but potentially detrimental.

Her own head ached and body were sluggish. Now she understood Atlas' words from last night, how could their commanding officers allow them to party before the trials today.

The rest of the evening had gone well. She was almost certain her tongue would have gotten away from her had she had anymore to drink, but she was able to keep herself in check.

Thankfully no one recognized Atlas without his formal dress and lack of guard surrounding him. Ander and Mykel joined them once they saw him there. They had a good time getting all caught up. It felt good to be a part of a group, to have friends, now officially labeled. This was a new experience for Tallulah.

It was also worth this awful morning, but she needed to eat something before the trials otherwise she'd do poorly. She realized this could be a lesson, that no matter the state of your being you had to be ready at any moment. Curse that mentality.

She splashed water on her face for some relief before heading to grab some food. A lot of the men looked about the same as her, exhausted, hungover, and overall not ready for the day.

Ander found her first, Mykel following close behind. They too looked worse for wear. She almost laughed.

"We were all idiots last night, you were almost out of the loop of misery, Tallulah, but you caved," she nodded in agreement, consciously looking about to make sure no one heard her name being spoken out loud.

She ate a decent meal to help her body get ready for the day, it also calmed the echoes in her head. She was not without her fatigue though and knew that she wasn't going to be able to perform her best today. There was no feasible way to do so. And she thought most of her new comrades would be in the same predicament.

They made their way to the ropes area. A knot had formed in her stomach. This test would show who had what it takes to become part of the guard and who went to the front lines.

From her understanding, there were three other training camps, but this was the only one that chose new guard members, the other two camps prepared you for war, you had no other choice. She hadn't seen the real Talon yet, so possibly he got sent to another camp.

Good gracious, these men look like they've been put through hell. I knew last night wasn't a good idea.

His voice had returned to her head.

"The prince is here!" Someone shouted. Shit

She should have realized he'd be here to witness the trials. This was going to be an interesting day. Sure enough, he entered the camp, surrounded by guards. He was still as handsome as the day she first saw him. She was absolutely hopeless here.

They all took a knee.

"Please, rise, today is about you and your achievements, your instructors have chosen who will be a part of the trials and from there I will choose who will join my guard," she didn't know that their instructors chose people for the trials. That was new information, but she suspected that if they had known from the get go there would be more competition instead of building comraderie between everyone. Maybe she was wrong in her thinking.

Five archers were chosen, one she remembered from her first day, he had stood behind her while singing in and had made an underhanded remark to her volunteer status. He was of the dragon kin too, she had noticed his muddled brown scales beneath his collar that day too.

Next, eight swordsmen were chosen, Ander was among those. Then the rogues, where Mykel had situated himself, she had thought for sure that he was a swordsman but in their time here she had seen how deadly he was with knives.

Four spears were chosen afterwards, she recognized none of them. She hated to gloat, but of the three that had chosen to master the axe, she was the best and held her head with pride as she made her way to the group that would work to earn their spots.

So the boy has talent, I cannot wait to test it. It's already an unfair game, but I know I'll be choosing Mykel and Ander to be part of the guard. I do hope that Talon can join as well.

She smirked, she knew she had what it took, but in her condition today she would have to fight.

Atlas had several tests for them. For archers it was accuracy, especially on moving targets. And then their ability to utilize the bow for close quarter fighting. It was an interesting idea, but one she understood the necessity for. For swords Ander was obviously the best of the group, though it wasn't for lack of trying, Atlas tested all of their skill against his, the archers and spears were no different. She was impressed with the amount of skill he had, but she supposed it was to be expected because he was the prince, soon to be king.

She wondered why he wasn't king yet, but that was none of her business.

These boys are so underprepared. I worry for them.

Tallulah could only sympathize with him.

It was all too soon time for her to shine. She picked up the axe. Suddenly she felt odd by the fact that her axe was the most worn of the ones they had. She worried it could effect her performance, while it hadn't before.

He has filled out, no longer skin and bones, that's good, and needed for such a weapon as the axe.

Had he really thought she was too thin before?

She shook her head of that thought. She felt weird being the only one to show off her skills in front of these people, but she had to view it as if she was training because she knew she got onlookers during her individual training all of the time.

This was different and she tried to not view it so, but this was her mate, and she wanted to impress.

She twirled the axe with ease before beginning. Atlass had asked for there to be laid out several large obstacles with targets to be hit. The hard part was the path that connected each target, it was littered with different sharp objects that she had to be careful not to step on.

She had to view the ground has littered with swords or knives which was easy enough. She seemingly danced around everything, slicing and hacking her way through all of the targets, some were practice dummies, some were logs which took extra strength to hack through. She vaulted herself over fences and ropes in order to destroy the targets. She was thankful, in this regard, for her training on her own time.

Her previous exhaustion had waned as adrenaline rushed through her body but close to the end her body was finally getting back to its exhausted state now worsened by the efforts she faced.

She had three more targets to go through, having been through seven already. The axe felt like a dead weight. She hauled it over her shoulder, approaching the first target and swung wildly at it. It was a hanging obstacle, so it required a jumping motion. Her legs burned and arms didn't want to function. She was able to demolish it and the second to last obstacle was very much the same.

It was the last obstacle that almost had her dead in her tracks. And she should have guessed it based upon previous trials, but Atlas stood at the end of the course. She wanted to cry in frustration.

I may not be the best with an axe, but I must test all of my potential new guards personally. His look of distraught worries me slightly though.

She steeled her resolve though.

Axe met sword.

She knew her weapon of choice wasn't common so this was how she should be expected to fight. With atlas she had to use the entire weapon against him. It would be easier if her handle had been longer than her arm, but she made do.

Her strength was disappearing so quick and she had to prove herself. She had to.

She blocked his thrust with the handle of the axe and then swung at him wildly. All finesse was gone at this point.

He is tired, I can tell, but he's not backing down.

She gritted her teeth before swinging again and again at him. He was toying with her now. She thought back to their journey together and the techniques she applied the night several days after she'd sustained the wolf bite. Could it work a second time? She began to favor her right side using her left arm to swing and block for the most part. It did work. He started going for her right side, a predictability that she could play with easily. It didn't take long to develop an easy pattern in moves. She would attack and he would block and he would attack her right side and she would block.

Suddenly in his attack on her right side she danced around, knocking in his knee before holding her axe against the back of his neck. An instant feeling of nausea overcame her and she dropped it.

She heard applause from the crowd around them. She had done it. But she felt uneasy about it. Why?

I played right into his hand...I should have seen this because he's done it before.

"Well met, Talon, it would be an honor to have you on my guard," he held out his hand to which she took it and clasped it back.