The next day dawned with a sun that cast reddish, almost angry rays of sunshine at us as we stood in disciplined ranks, with our armor donned.

Everybody’s breath was short as they tried to breathe evenly and failed. That is until Sia stood in front of us.

A wave of calmness spread over the gathered Maidens as Sia smiled widely at us, and said, “Why are you blushing like that? Huh, Maidens? Where’s the handsome guy that you’ve spotted?”

Laughter broke out, and it increased as I grumbled, “Better not tell her where that handsome guy is or else I’ll be adding a little special ingredient to your food.”

Standing straight, Sia shielded her eyes as she looked at the sun, and stuck out her tongue before she called out, “Maidens. I taste battle in the air. Are we ready for it? Are we?” she ended with a shout, and drew her sword, running her finger along the blade till the tip.

Drawing our own swords, spears, and in Celsus’s case, an axe; We roared out as we chanted, “Hooah! Hooah! Hooah!”

Then pressing her finger onto the tip of the blade, and watching as blood dripped out to the ground, she said, “Let this be the only blood that we shed. All the rest of the blood that flows? Let it be from whoever stands in our way.”

Another roar rose, and then she thrust her sword into the air as we raised our own weapons high.

Then, turning, we stared at the beginning of the trail as the air turned frigid, and our weapons were sheathed.

An hour later, Sir Liam appeared as he lazily strolled toward us with a small smile on his face.

Seeing the smile, our expressions quickly became grim before Sia raised her fist and said, “Maidens. It is time.”

Our expressions settling back into determined looks; we stared as Sir Liam’s smile became wider.

Amused, he said, “I see everyone is up quite early. I wonder why that is? Could it be that you were waiting for me?”

Silently, we looked at the man until he became uncomfortable, and then he cleared his throat as he spoke; “It’s been 3 and a half months precisely. In all this time, we have not interfered in your day-to-day life, apart from giving you materials. Isn’t that right?”

We nodded stiffly, and he continued, “But today onwards, the academy will begin to teach you carefully. Yes, very carefully indeed.”

Swallowing back the words we wanted to say, we looked on as he began pacing in front of us.

Stopping mid pace, he looked at us and asked, “What do you think is the most important thing we’re trying to teach you?”

Glancing at me, Sia levelled her gaze at the man and said, “Survival.”

“Hmm. No. It’s not survival.” he said nonchalantly.

Surprised, I shrugged as Sia shot me a look.

Turning her attention back to Sir Liam, Sia asked, “If that’s not your purpose, then what is it?”

Turning serious, Sir Liam stared at each of us individually, as if he seemed to be memorizing our faces.

Then he spoke softly; “There’s actually three things that the academy tries to teach you. With a fourth being ancillary to them, and that’s what you said. Survival. If you can’t survive, then you can’t practice what we teach you.”

Frowning, Sia nodded as she waited for him to speak again.

“The first two lessons have actually been taught to you already, and in fact, you have exceeded our expectations in learning them!”

Puzzled now, we looked at each other as Sir Liam smiled widely.

Shocked, we looked at him because the smile was genuine this time. The man was genuinely happy!

Sir Liam held up two fingers as he said, “The first thing we try to teach you is ‘Humility’. To learn to endure and serve others when your own needs are not met. And to do so with a willing smile.”

Thinking back to our experiences, we realized that we had indeed been humbled until we had accepted our lot.

Continuing he said, “The first lesson also had the purpose of familiarizing you with the underlying rule of the Academy, which as you rightly said, was survival.”

Then, letting the second finger drop, he said in a grave voice, “The second lesson is arguably the most important in my opinion. What do you think that is?”

We looked at each other as murmurs sounded out, and Sia turned to face us before she then turned back again and asked tentatively, “Independence?”

Shaking his head, Sir Liam spoke with his voice raised; “Wrong! In fact, it is the exact opposite!”

Falling silent, we thought again.

A smile breaking out on his face again, Sir Liam said, “Let me help you out, ‘Maidens,’”.

Looking up sharply, Sia waited for him to speak and he obliged as he said, “How many of you built the houses? How many of you were weaving? How many of you were hunting? How many of you were tailoring? How many of you were cooking? How many of you were in combat training? How many of you were fishing?”.Staring at us, he rattled off, “10 in the construction team. 12 in the weaving team. 10 in the hunting team. 6 in the tailoring team. 3 in the cooking team. 8 in the combat training team, and 1 person in the fishing team for a grand total of 50 people.”

Pausing, he said slowly, “50 people constituting a baling terrible nickname. ‘The Maidens’.”

“Now tell me, what was the second lesson that the academy was trying to teach you?” he asked with a smile.

Thinking hard, and shuddering also at the thought that the Academy had been monitoring us in such close detail, we sank into further silence.

Until Apollo flung back his hair and said with a bitter look on his face, “Dependence. You’re trying to teach us dependence after teaching us humility.”

Shocked, we stared at him as he flung his hands and said in a huff, “I’ve been dependent on all of you for practically everything. The only thing I do is shoot stuff. If I didn’t do that, I doubt I would have the clothes I’m wearing, the house that we sleep under, or the food that’s there in my belly right now.”

In awe, we looked at Apollo, who looked away and then nearly spat out a mouthful of blood as Celsus murmured, “I didn’t know you were so smart…”

As murmurs of assent rang out at Celsus’s words, Apollo almost really spat out a mouthful of blood, but with great effort, he contented himself with glaring at us.

Ignoring him, we turned our attention to Sir Liam, who smiled widely as he clapped his hands and said, “Indeed. We are trying to teach you dependence. It usually takes the students till the second year to learn this, but you lot… you Maidens... you surprised us, and me especially, by learning it on the very second day that everything was taken from you.”

Then, turning serious, he stared at us for a long moment before he said, “And today, we teach you our third lesson.”

Touching our weapons that were sheathed and lips tightening; We narrowed our eyes to slits as we stared at the man.

The man who said simply, “Follow me.”