Chapter 177: You’re Famous

Orion watched her as she took his demonstration and folded it into her rhythm. She planted her feet exactly where he’d suggested and pivoted her shoulders with a motion that spoke of hours at work of attention to the small things.

He stepped in beside her. "Good," he said, nodding. "Keep your chin down and your eyes on the chest. You’re not swinging to dazzle; you’re shaping a path."

She accepted his words and adjusted, a brief smile of concentration tugging at her mouth.

Orion pretended like he didn’t see it. He moved through the ranks laying attention to the others. It was better not to give the woman false hope after all especially since she seemed to already have a lot of it.

And besides, he wasn’t going to sabotage his relationship just when it started.

But even with that, Sophia noticed the interaction and that nasty feeling curled in her veins once more. It was subtle but it was there.

"Who’s that?" Sophia asked one of the members of her group.

There were only four people in Sophia’s group. And that was including her. They were three huddled on the far side, shins pressed into the packed earth with wooden short swords balanced across their knees.

The woman to Sophia’s left who had twin-braids, was Nia, the other twin, with short curly hair was Laia. Both had the same narrowed eyes. Almost everything about them was familiar even with the way they say.

The last person in their tiny group was Joren. He was quiet and small farmed and was younger than the rest of them. Sophia estimated him to be about Dren’s age .

"Who?" Nia asked Sophia and she pointed at the blonde haired woman.

"That’s Holly." Nia replied to her.

Sophia didn’t ask for more because she didn’t want to learn more and besides, Orion seems to know who the woman was so she was going to have to hear from the horse’s mouth directly.

Laia sighed dramatically. "Are we always going to be the last?"

"We are a small group." Her sister told her.

"That’s why I’m asking."

"Everyone is looking for an opportunity to train with alpha Orion, I thought he’d attend to us first because our group is the smallest." Laia spoke out.

"I thought he’d attend to the group with more people first but he started with the second largest group." Nia pointed out.

"I really thought it was going to be from smallest to largest."

Sophia chuckled. "I’m sure he’s just going with any group he feels like going with first."

"The sun is up already and even with how cold it is, I’m sweating." Laia replied to her.

"Anyhow...you said your name was Sophia right?" Nia asked Sophia who nodded.

The twins looked around her age.

Laia scoffed at her sister. "You are pretending like you don’t know her."

Nia rolled her eyes. "Of course I know her. Everyone does."

Sophia was shocked by that. "Everyone knows me?" She asked them.

"Yes, not everyone has met you officially but yes I’m sure everyone in the pack know you." Laia told her.

Sophia frowned. "But..how?" She asked them.

"How?" Nia asked her with a chuckle.

"Yes. Is that wrong to ask?" Sophia replied.

Nia stopped laughing. "Oh shit, you really don’t know how famous you are?"

"N..."

"You were brought into the pack by alpha Orion, you live right next to him." Laia pointed out.

"Oh."

"But that’s not why you are famous." Nia told her.

"You are famous amongst the trainees as the woman who passed alpha Orion’s test even after everyone had given up on you passing it. I tell you, there was a betting poll and almost everyone except one person won." Nia told her.

"And the fact that you almost set the smithy on fire."

"And that cook pursued you out of the kitchen."

"And that madam Tyler sent you out of the shrine." Laia added.

Sophia’s face was red with mortification. "That...those all happened a while ago." She told them.

The twins and even Joren laughed. "That’s the reason why you are famous." He said softly.

"And add to the fact that she was the only one to fall a weapons rack." Nia added making the others laugh again.

"I swear, those were all mistakes." Sophia said with red cheeks.

"Oh we know." Laia told her.

From behind, Orion’s voice rose, exact and clear. He had finished with the long-sword pairs and had been walking the line, correcting, praising, pulling a man aside to break his habit of stealing with the elbow.

"Pair off again," Orion called, "and this time, after three exchanges, switch roles. Remember what we discussed about intent don’t swing to show, swing to end."

The trainees complied, and the grounds filled with the measured thud of wooden blades meeting wooden defenses. Orion moved with them, stopping now and then to shift a wrist, to lower a chin, to encourage a steadier step. He stayed longer with certain pairs, teaching them how to convert a parry into a riposte; his hands demonstrated the geometry of a wrist, the subtle torque that could send a blade where it needed to be when the opponent expected something else.

Sophia and her group were still laughing about all the wreckage Sophia had caused since she stepped foot into the pack when a shadow fell before them. Even before looking she already knew who had approached them.

Silence fell on their group as they all turned to him.

They stood up, dusting their clothes but then they noticed Joren bowing at a perfect angle to Orion who stared with an open mouth because he did not understand what was going on.

"I’m honoured to have you teach me." Joren said

Sophia’s lips twitched as she gave Orion a glance. His shock was written all over his face.

"Um...are we all supposed to do this?" Sophia asked with genuine curiosity but Orion could see the teasing glint in her eyes.