Training Day 1

Ronald woke up the Guardians at 8 in the morning the next day, leading to him finding out how much they hate mornings.

"You've got to be kidding me, Ronald," Brooke was standing outside behind the castle along with her friends.

Ronald had brought them out to the guard training area that resided behind the castle in Elder Woods. Ronald had told them that he was planning on teaching them telepathy. A form of communication that Guardians have used for centuries.

"You don't believe in telepathy?" Ella asks her. "In this world?"

"It just doesn't seem possible," Brooke explains. "There's nothing in books that says the Guardians used telepathy."

"That's because they didn't want anyone to know," Ronald cuts in. "The first Guardians didn't want historians to write down that they used telepathy. Their enemies could find out and try to sever their connection to each other. They also did it so future generations knew not to tell anyone as well."

"We won't," Harry says. "Can we start training now? Please?"

"Yes, of course," Ronald has them sit cross-legged on the ground with their knees touching. "You need to focus on each other. Focus on each other's breath, focus on your connection as friends, you have to connect at a deep level that will allow you to access each other's minds."

The guardians start to breathe at the same pace, their shoulders relax and the wind starts whipping around them.

"Holt!" Ronald yells through the wind. "Try to send a message to the others!"

Holt's eyebrows furrow as he tries to push his thoughts into his friends' minds. The wind started to slow down before coming to a complete stop.

"Holt," Harry speaks up. "Really?"

"It was the only thing I could think about ok, I'm very hungry," Holt defends himself.

"Breakfast was like 30 minutes ago," Ella says as they stand up.

"And I'm hungry again," Holt shrugs.

"I'm guessing it worked?" Ronald asks.

"Yeah it worked," Ella says. "And now we know in excruciating detail how Holt plans to eat his lunch."

"This was only your first try, you must be able to do this without having to concentrate. You have to be able to easily think and send messages to each other," Ronald explains. "Eventually you'll be able to send images to each other to show where you are."

Ronald trains the guardians for 5 hours before letting them off for dinner. They were now able to easily send each other messages through telepathy. Sending images is something for another day.

"I really hope there's something fulfilling for dinner," Brooke says. "I don't know if they think we eat too much but I don't consider salad and some fruit breakfast food."

"I promise that if they don't make something good, I will make us better food after dinner," Holt promises.

"Oh thank god," Ella says.

Her friends laugh as they enter the castle and head towards their own rooms. A maid called them all down for dinner and they all met at the table. The royal family was already waiting for them when they came into the room.

"Welcome!" Princess Opal's bright voice is heard throughout the room as she stands to welcome the guardians. "Please come sit. Ella, sit in front of me."

Ella walks over to the opposite side of the princess and sits down, her friends next to her. The emperor, empress, the prince, and Cheryl were sitting opposite of the guardians. They began eating while making small conversations about what they did throughout their day. The chef had made a lot of food for dinner. He wanted to treat them to a hefty meal for their first day of training.

He had made Italian pasta salad, cannoli, and bomboloni. He had put lots of fruit on the table and strawberry lemonade. Overall, it was a very beautiful and fulfilling dinner. Everyone finished their plate and thanked the chef, who came out at the end of the meal.

"Thank you for making such a delicious dinner for us, Chef Regio," Brooke thanks him.

"And thank you for sharing the desserts of Italy with us. We will definitely visit the country one day," Ella says.

"Thank you for enjoying it, I don't always get to make so many desserts from my home country. It was an honor to be able to make so much for the guardians to eat," Chef Regio had a huge smile on his face.

"It wasn't that great," Cheryl's quiet comment was not as quiet as she thought it was. The chef's smile fell when he heard this.

"Don't listen to her," Harry says. "As soon as we are able to move into the guardian home we are going to have to beg Emperor Arden to let you come work for us. Your food is delicious and we'd enjoy having your company."

The chef's smile returned even bigger and brighter as he thanked them all again. He grabbed the last few fruit bowls and went back to the kitchen. As soon as he left the room all of the guardians turned to Cheryl with the same disappointed look.

"What?" Cheryl looks at the nails nonchalantly.

"Why do you enjoy bringing sadness and pain to others?" Ella asks in a serious tone.

Cheryl looks at her as if she just revealed her biggest secret to everyone. She laughs as if to show that she doesn't care.

"Come on," she says. "You can't tell me it wasn't funny to see the big guy's smile drop."

"Cheryl!" Ella says in a stern tone. "What is wrong with you? How could you be so shallow?"

"We were all thinking-" Cheryl isn't able to finish her sentence.

"No, Cheryl," Holt interrupts her. "Nobody was thinking that."

The guardians thank the emperor and empress for dinner. It was late and they had to wake up early again the next morning for training so they left to sleep. The sky was dark and filled with stars and planets shining brightly. Everyone always said that Elder Woods had the best view of the sky at night.

"Good night guys," the guardians walk into their rooms and fall on their beds, not bothering to change.