The rest of the day passed in a blur, the weight of the unexpected pairing pressing heavily against Raya’s chest, making it difficult to think, to breathe, to focus on anything other than the way fate had cruelly entangled her with the one person she had spent months trying to avoid.
As soon as the elders dismissed them, the training ground erupted into movement, some immediately seeking out their partners to discuss strategies, while others chose to retreat in silence, opting to rest before the inevitable challenges they would face at dawn.
Raya stood still for a moment, her hands curling into fists at her sides as she struggled to calm the storm raging within her. She had expected tension, expected difficulty, but not this. Not being thrown into the wilderness for an entire week with
