Her frown was cut into her face as she turned to the tall man. "It's hard to concentrate when I am worried about my sister. My twin sister. How about I toss your brother over the cliff and we will see how well you train?"
Gar smiled at the thought. He would breathe a sigh of relief to get his pompous little brother out of his hair for a few months. Especially right now - Pike would not stop bothering him about Kindra and the fact that there were other girls in the Seven Tribes who actually acted like girls.
When he didn't answer she turned her spear around and stuck the sharp end in the ground to drape her elbows over the blunt end. "It’s not a problem of focus. I'm focused. I'm just focused on the wrong thing."
"Well then, let's turn your attention to something else - like training. I've not seen you at practice since your sister left."
"Is that any surprise with the way I've been practicing just now? I wouldn't be able to hold my own even against your brother!" Kindra threw the spear over in impatience and sat on the ground next to it, legs crossed.
Gar sat down on his haunches before her and frowned, "so you're just going to let yourself get rusty? You're going to let your sister rule your life like this and give up the moment she takes a break from you? I thought you were a warrior."
"I am a warrior!" Kindra spat back quickly.
"Oh yes, but only when you're sister is around." Gar stood up and shrugged. "Probably bewitched us all to get you into the warriors..."
Kindra shot up like a bolt, "that is not true! I got into the warriors by my own blood and sweat and no one can say otherwise!"
"But suddenly when your sister is gone you can't be a warrior anymore?"
"Eoin damn you - it’s not like you've ever watched anyone you love walk away from you for no good reason." Kindra blinked heavily as tears stung at her eyes. Gar had been the one to watch Kaye walk away from Kindra, without so much as a word of protest. "She could be dead and it’s all your fault."
"Oh get off your great high horse girl. Your sister fights nearly as well as you do, and can fly to boot. No one's going to kill her, they won’t even come close, but if you don't shape up I'm afraid you might die of loneliness. If one of the warriors doesn't accidentally do it first."
"Ha! I'm a better fighter than half of them."
"Not better than me." Gar lifted his eyebrows in a face that looked so much like his younger brother's typical arrogant face that Kindra had the sudden urge to rip his eyebrows right off. She grabbed her downed spear and jumped at him so the bar of it would push him back, but Gar was much too fast for her and he stepped back just enough that she instead fell into him. He caught the bar in both hands so she wouldn't fall further.
"Let go of it!" Kindra tugged with each hand, but Gar was much stronger than she.
"I could beat you with my eyes closed,” he whispered in her ear before she jerked back and he let go of the bar, letting her fall to the ground.
Kindra’s teeth clicked as she hit the ground but she crawled up and back into stance without thought. "I dare you to try."
"Alright." Gar pulled his shirt up over his head, whipped it around a few times so it was coiled up in a line, and tied it around his eyes so no light could get through.
"I wasn't serious," Kindra started, but he got into training stance and waited for her to come at him. She shrugged and swung out at him with the blunt end of the spear; he easily eluded it.
"I thought you were supposed to be some kind of warrior? That swing would have put any child in the village to shame."
"Fine. I didn't want to hurt you, but if you want to get beat by a girl I will be happy to oblige." Kindra flipped the spear back up and got into her stance, waiting for just the right moment before jumping to attack and lashing out with the sharp end of the spear at Gar's exposed chest.
He knocked the spear out of the way with a forearm, not getting the slightest cut, and managed to deflect every move she made without so much as a bruise. Eventually, Kindra screamed in sheer frustration, threw the spear at him, and turned to walk away.
"I told you," came Gar's taunting voice from behind.
"You cheated! You must have cheated! No one could have fought me blindfolded without a scratch to show for it. I'm not that bad." She turned and walked back, pointing accusingly at him.
With the speed of his namesake, Gar reached out and grabbed her pointing hand, twisted her round and had her held to him so she couldn't see his face. "No, you're not. But I've spent the majority of the past six years watching you train. I know how you move. I know every movement you're going to make before you make it. You don't like change, and so you don't change, and that makes you easy to beat." She struggled and he tightened his grip on her wrist until she winced.
They stood for a moment in their interesting embrace, both of them breathing hard, before Gar spun her back around. He kept his grip just long enough to make sure she wouldn't fall from the sudden movement, then released her and bent down to grab his shirt. Kindra stared at him in shock as he slung it over his shoulder and walked away. She wasn't quite sure what had happened, but she wasn't sure she was that upset with him any longer either.
Gar had certainly done a good job of getting her mind off of her sister, but Kindra thought it was even farther from training now as she gave up on drills and dragged her spear back home.