Chapter 251: Blooming
Irene began rebuilding herself alongside the spring flowers.
Her first, pathetic attempts at truly wielding a sword came as the snow melted and the floodplains filled. Each morning, she had to bring in more dirt and rock so that she wasn’t practicing up to her ankles in mud.
At least, she bothered her father and brother to help her bring in the dirt and rocks because even that was quite difficult for her then.
She then went to the next phase of her rebuilding.
As the rains stopped, the lilacs in her mother’s garden were starting to grow leaves, and the flowers began to bud; she at least had her full range of motion back. It was important to be flexible while sword fighting. It gave better posture and made sure that you were engaging all parts of your body equally.
She had been noticing that with her lack of flexibility, her back would ache. Her legs always did because they were overcompensating. It was only in spring that they stopped.
When the lilac buds finally opened and she could smell their sweet scent all through her father’s practice yard, Irene was giving her brother the matches that he no longer found boring.
While her approach was less offensive than before and more defensive because she still wasn’t fast yet, and her footwork was still a little ways off, she could take down Arne if she caught him by surprise.
Despite what it may look like, the girl had developed her muscles over time. She wasn’t extremely tall, and with the baggy clothing she opted to wear, no one could tell that what was hidden were well-defined shoulders, biceps, and back muscles. Even with all of her stagnancy, she had a line down the center of her abs that she was quite proud of whenever she got a glimpse of herself in a mirror.