Nicki Landon Can't Take It.

"Oh great, Astrid decided to be a good girl and show up" Hanna rolled her eyes, the conversation with Nicki that almost veered into an argument was over, and here now she was about to have another one with her partner.

Could today get any worse?

"Hold your horses, Hanna, I'm not here to fight or argue with you, I'm here to play my part as a guide to our student" Astrid took Hanna with great surprise when she notified her of this.

"How do I know that is what you really came here to do? And not use this as the right opportunity to report her to the Alpha when he returns from hunting and then comes in here to check on them?" Hanna wasn't going to believe Astrid that easily. And to make her know it, she grabbed Nicki and hid her behind as if to make her invisible from her ex-partner's sight entirely.

That is the word she would be using on Astrid starting now because she wasn't that trustworthy to her anymore.

"I know I f**ked up big time, Hanna. But really? You know I'm taller than you and she is too and I can clearly see her behind you without even having to stand on my toes" Astrid almost laughed at her partner's cheeky but also silly act and held it in. This wasn't that funny and now isn't the right time to be laughing.

She has realized she made a mistake and was here to apologize for it. It is now left for Hanna to believe her.

Nicki almost burst into laughter too at the offensive comment Astrid made at Hanna that was also kind of hilarious. She didn't lie, Hanna was short, not like a dwarf though, but she was the smallest among them. And so imagining what she did, one could easily find it hilarious and laugh.

Until today, Hanna has never felt ashamed of her height, however, knowing it wasn't her fault since mother nature was the one to blame. she knew she couldn't let it show. Astrid can't beat her with just this. She would need to come up with more than that if insulting her was what she came here for.

"I'm going to forgive you for that comment because I'm not an emotional person that gets hurt easily by something like that. Although, clearly you knew just the right spot to hurt me" Hanna held her chest, acting dramatically. "But I think you should leave. I'm training her by myself, we don't need your help" She made way for Astrid to leave with Nicki still behind.

"You know I'm not leaving this place, Hanna. I'm sorry about that comment. I came to apologize for earlier" Astrid refused to leave, her intention wasn't only to apologize but to train Nicki together with her partner. They have never done anything apart except for the times one of them wasn't available to help the other out. 

"Save it, I don't want to hear it" Hanna raised her hand for Astrid to stop whatever she was sputtering. She should come to do this later at least by then Hanna might not be mad again and may listen. After all, this was training time and not the right time to be doing something like this.

"It won't take long, Hanna. You used to have time for me and not even training can stop you from listening to me" Astrid was trying to make Hanna remember how their close relationship with each other used to be. 

"And I just said that I don't want to hear it, save it. Remember, we are acting unprofessional in front of a student which we are not supposed to. I told you I'm changing partners and if you don't want to agree to that, then we will just split our duties and time to work with her. I train her today, you train her tomorrow, I teach her how to fight, you teach her how to survive. That one sounds like something Astrid is capable to do" 

Hanna moved away from Nicki, going to grab a weapon from a long table that was located not too far from them. It looked like the place everyone here training gets their weapons from because the table was heavily loaded with all sorts of deadly weapons.

Nicki's blood ran cold the moment she saw the knives Hanna was coming at her with. Today was her first day of training so what the hell does she already need a weapon for? Aren't they supposed to start with baby steps first? Does their baby-step training require the use of weapons?

What in the bloody hell is going on in this prison for real?. And why are they always training every single day? Are they preparing to go to war with someone or something? So many unanswered questions ran through Nicki's mind and she didn't even know where to start asking from.

If she asks, will there be a positive answer or a negative one? 

"Here" Hanna handed a knife to her, she would have given her two but an amateur newbie can't deal with that yet. Nicki's brows lifted in question as her mouth failed to do the talking and Hanna answered her, already knowing what was going on in her mind.

"It's mandatory and part of the training, we start with this simple baby first" 

"Baby? You call this baby?" Nicki's face was full of fright. How can someone call a very sharp and deadly object like a knife baby? And one that particularly looked like they were specially constructed by one-of-a-kind bladesmiths.

"Tsk" Astrid scoffed at the sight of Hanna trying to get Nicki to hold the knife right and it kept on falling.

"Excuse me, but is there something you want to say?" Hanna heard the scoff and turned to know why Astrid disapproved of what she was doing.

"Maybe I'm the one who should teach her how to fight and you be the one to teach her how to survive. You could have just gotten the arc, everyone knows it's the simplest blade a newbie can handle but utterly deadly" Astrid winked at Nicki at the end of her sentence, whose heart almost skipped a beat.

Did she just hear the words 'utterly deadly'? She swallowed hard while Astrid went to get the blade known as arc and Hanna fumed that her ex-partner was getting in her way of training their student.

"Now, watch and learn" Astrid stole Hanna's moment and taught Nicki how to hold the blade. Fortunately, Nicki learned how to hold the baby despite her fear of weapons. It happened not to fall out of her hand as Hanna's own did. Which made Astrid's ego boost up to another level while Hanna's face burned bright red that one could see through it. 

She wasn't blushing but raging like a bull.

"You…" And just when she wanted to have it out with Astrid. The Alpha entered the hall with his presence being announced immediately and so everyone bowed like they usually do.

"And here we go again" Nicki mumbled under her breath, dissatisfied with the daily crazy routine that goes on here which no one dares to speak against it. But it seems like it's time for this to end because Nicki Landon can't take it.