Calm before the storm (Part 2)

Do you know this feeling when despite dire need of sleep before the exam, the sheer anxiety building up in your body is not letting you get any rest?

It's not that I want to brag… But I didn't have this problem at all.

Waking up, as usual, I noticed with relief that this time Eve didn't act as forward as she recently started to. Sadly, she was already awake when I first opened my eyes, but this time she was content with just hugging my arm.

Well, figures. The stakes of the coming duel are way too high to allow ourselves any leeway.  We can very well celebrate after the fight, instead of exhausting even a tiny bit of my energy now.

"Morning, sweetie."

Raising my hand, I caressed her cheek, before gathering my strength and moving up. Even if there was still a lot of time before I would even need to get to the arena, not to speak about the fight itself, I preferred to get as ready as humanly possible.