Being the object of disapproval gave a twisting sensation of anxiety in the pit of her chest. It wasn’t just the ingrained mentality that she had been forced to adopt in her time before the Armada; she genuinely didn’t want to upset the warlord either. But at the same time, what was being asked of her was impossible- so she believed it to be- even if he didn’t realize it now. It was impossible in the sense that she had no idea how to conduct herself, and had endured a lot for this subservient state of mind to be constructed. He growled at her- that she was more than this. His tone caused an involuntary wince, but the truth of the matter was, she couldn’t remember how to be anything other than this. Whatever this was.
Soon it was no longer her just hearing his voice echo in the back of his mind, as he repeated himself, projecting his lesson through the arena. Reminding her that she needed to maintain movement to keep her life. She felt a touch of relief that she had remembered in time without having to be scolded again. However, she was a long ways off comfortable. She was certain that he was going to make another attempt to get her to engage. How she was going to handle that, she didn’t quite know yet.
