Ulrika waved her hand violently toward Gisil to tell him not to follow. She knew it was the very first sword fighting lesson, but she still felt disheartened at the ease at which Gisil moved and struck when she struggled to even keep her weight properly distributed over her feet. It always takes time, Gisil had said, his voice stern but understanding. She understood that, and it make sense, yet she had still been hoping she had just an innate ability to kick ass.
If there was one thing she had to do when wound up tight, it was meaningless, steady repetition. Of anything. Blinking, Ulrika realized that she had stormed right out into the center of the fallow field, and let out a slow sigh. It would do. Kneeling into the dirt and decomposing plant matter, she started to dig. Her skin became stained with dark brown earth that had flecks of vibrant colors of purple and red, sometimes yellow. She couldn't tell if those were minerals or bits of plant, but what really surprised was pulling out a small, round object that seemed to be made entirely of wood.
After just a brief moment of sitting cupped in her palms, the object unwound tiny arm and leg like appendages and wobbled up to stand. Now it looked like a very round person, with all the weight down in the hips and a narrow chest. Its face was a leaf, with big, round eyes that reminded Ulrika of cat's eye marbles. It stared at her, then flapped its arms up and down and spun around delicately on one leg like a ballerina. It then squeaked several times in different tones, as if talking to her.
"Erm," she said, still confused on what it could possibly be. She reached down with her finger and held it out in front of the small wooden creature. "I'm Ulrika, hello?"
The creature grabbed onto her finger with both its little arms - which confused Ulrika even more because it didn't appear to have fingers - and shook it up and down exuberantly. Then it whistled and a small, purple flower bloomed on the top of its head. Ulrika figured this must be a good sign, the strange little thing seemed happy. Or it could be planning to eat her, but that seemed ridiculous.
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