Training (guest post!!)

Once again courtesy of the talented Dahakha!

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Training. Hadakha sighed as he struggled to repair the wounds being inflicted on the pacified, desensitized deer in the enclosure before him. The savannah lion that was currently trying to dis - ooooo that will need more than just a regrowth - trying to disembowel the deer looked simultaneously confused and increasingly angry as the meal it was trying to bring down refused to die. He stifled a chuckle at the waves of frustration emanating off of the lion then cursed as he felt the deer weaken drastically. Scowling in concentration, he accelerated his casting. Swiftmend. Nourish. Rejuvenate. Healing Touch......Dammit!

He turned away in disgust as the lion's triumphant roar echoed through the air. Akabeko stood there, arms crossed, a disappointed frown on her face.

"What?! I kept it alive for at least ten minutes!"

Her frown deepened. "Then why did it die now? You should have had it under control if you'd been healing it for that long. What happened?"

Hadakha shrugged. "There was too much damage too quickly. I did all I could."

Now her eyes narrowed. Hadakha suddenly felt uncertain. It was not a trait he was familiar with. Years of covert, dangerous work for the Cenarion Circle had given him the utmost confidence in his abilities, yet this druid - this veteran of many battles, who had faced down some of the greatest threats Azeroth had known for centuries - was making him ask questions of himself. When he had accepted this mission, he had imagined that he would be the one teaching her, assessing her, questioning her. Yet it seemed that he had not known as much as he had thought.....he cracked his knuckles guiltily, grimacing as memories of those exact words came to him from the mouths of many an archdruid over the years.

"No." Akabeko was looking at him strangely. Then she shook her head and the frown was back. "You forgot Lifebloom. Again. At the end, it would have given you enough of a cushion to finish that Healing Touch. You would have had it stabilised."

Bugger. No wonder it had been a struggle for the last few minutes. He bowed his head in apology. "I will do better tomorrow." But Akabeko shook her head.

"No, I will be busy tomorrow. I have.....plans......to make. But that doesn't mean you can't practice on your own. When you can keep the deer stabilised for, let's say, an hour...", at that Hadakha's eyebrows rose in consternation, "...then you can try keeping two deer alive at once." Cocking her head to one side, she mused, "I still don't understand how you could be so strong and yet haven't grasped the basics of team healing....."

"My previous guilds were more survivalist than cooperative, I guess. I never had to look after anyone but myself."

"Hmmph. Well. As you will discover, keeping your comrades alive is a lot more difficult than keeping yourself alive. Once you grasp the basics," gesturing to the enclosure from which happy lion sounds were drifting, "then we can start the real training! Hubwahahahaaaaaa!" Hadakha shuffled back a step. "Sorry, I have had revenge on my mind a lot lately...."

As he turned to walk away, Akabeko called after him. "Hadakha? Something has been bugging me lately. I just have this weird idea that......well, have we met before?"

Hadakha's thoughts went back to his brother's funeral, the place he had first seen her. That was the main weakness of his mission cover, that she might have noticed him then. Just have to play it down, avoid the topic as much as possible.

He shrugged. "No."