Meeting Dimitri

Life, Milestone

Natalya meets Dimitri, a KAV soldier know for being one of the strongest soldiers the KAV has. She is supposed to start training with him.

Natalya woke up to a knock on the door. She opened it and saw Lieutenant Semenov standing there. "Lieutenant." She saluted him. "You won't be my student anymore." He informed her. "You'll go to training room two today and train with Sergeant Dimitri." He informed her coldly. "Yes, sir." She said as she saluted him. He left without saying anything else. Natalya closed the door and sighed. Lieutenant Semenov was the last decently ranked trainer and so far they had all rejected her. Natalya assumed it had something to do with the fact that she was a wood elf and that she was starting to catch onto how dumb they all actually were. She had started trying to appear dumber and prettier to try and convince them that wasn't the case, but to no avail. She was starting to wish Pufuktin himself would train her so she didn't get stuck with a simple-minded soldier. She begrudgingly got dressed and walked out of her room, bumping into Milosh as she did. "Watch it, low-born!" He elbowed her off of him, "Heard someone got stuck with a sergeant." He teased her menacingly. "Let's hope my brother knocks some sense into you. For once I might actually feel bad for the cunt, having to be stuck with you as a student." Natalya looked at him confused, "Your brother?" She asked him. He ignored her and gave her the bird as he walked away. She rolled her eyes and headed down to the training room begrudgingly. Milosh has a brother? There are two of them? Natalya felt her heart drop knowing she would have to train with someone as awful and annoying as Milosh. She finally made it to the training room and walked in. Alone in the corner of the room with his back to her, training with two short swords at a pell was a very large man with shaggy, dark brown hair. Natalya could tell he was a half-elf and wondered if she had walked into the wrong room. "Natalya, isn't it?" He asked her without stopping or looking at her. She could tell from the way he moved he was strong and very dangerous. He was shirtless and glistening in sweat as he moved quickly around the pell. Natalya couldn't help but admire his strong muscular build. She was used to being around small, thin elves and had never really seen a half-elf's body this closely before. She could tell he had seen some gruesome fights before from the scars covering his torso. "Yes." She said hesitantly. "You're Dimitri?" She asked in surprise. He stopped and turned toward Natalya. "Yes." He replied. He had cold blue eyes and his skin was very pale. His ears were smaller than normal elves and his face had softer, rounder features. He was definitely a half-elf, which confused Natalya. How did Milosh have a half-elf brother? How was a half-elf in the KAV at all? Natalya sighed, realizing that she truly had been demoted to someone else closer to her lowly position in life. Dimitri looked her over intensely for a moment. He seemed young. He had to be in his lower thirties which meant he was already a higher rank than his brother and barely half his age. This made Natalya happy. "You're taller than I expected." He finally said giving her a tiny hint of a smile. "And you're more human than I was expecting." She commented, not aggressively, just trying to understand. He smirked at her, "I wondered why they were giving me a trainee. I guess you being a female wood-elf makes a little more sense now." He remarked. Natalya liked his bluntness. She was tired of the usual bullshit. "Well, I wouldn't be so sure. All the other Lieutenants passed me over." She said, unable to hide her disdain at this point. He nodded, "So I hear. Supposedly you're a smartass." He raised his eyebrows at her. "But you're too good for them to deny you good training. Wanna see what it's like to train with someone who actually knows what they're doing?" He asked her, giving her a playful smile. Natalya smiled at him, "I was gonna ask you the same thing." She teased him. He glanced over at the weapon rack. "You want to start with dual wielding or fencing? Or we could go with hand to hand combat if you'd prefer." He asked her. Natalya smirked, "Fencing, it will be a great way to get to know each other." She suggested. Dimitri smiled, "Very well." He walked over and traded his short swords for a rapier and Natalya picked one out for herself. They moved to the center of the room and started with some simple lunges and parries to get a feel for each other. It didn't take long before they started pushing each other with stronger, cleverer attacks. Natalya was starting to enjoy herself. She started to understand how a half-elf was able to gain this position. He was the first worthy opponent she'd found in this place. He moved gracefully for his size and they soon found a good groove for each other. At one point, she lost her concentration for half a second and Dimitri pulled a feint and was able to disarm her. "Focus." He told her, not harsh, but stern enough for Natalya to understand he was serious. "Pick up your sword." He told her, gesturing to it with his. Their session continued for hours before Dimitri finally called it. They had been sparring the entire time and were both dripping in sweat. She liked him. A lot. They worked well together and for the first time since she arrived she was starting to feel like she really did deserve to be there. "Go get some rest." He told her, wiping his face with a rag. "I'll see you back here at dawn tomorrow." He informed her. "I won't go this easy on you then." He gave her a challenging smile and Natalya met it. "I look forward to it." She said. She went to the bathroom and cleaned herself off in one of the private baths before heading back to her room feeling better than she had in months. The next morning Natalya arrived to the room early to stretch and warm up. Dimitri walked in shortly after and closed the door behind him. "Morning." He told her as he set down his water skin and pulled his tunic off, much to Natalya's delight. "Good morning." She said before getting to her feet. "Lets spar hand-to-hand to warm up," he decided, "then we'll do some dagger work and after lunch I want to take you to the range and see if you're really as good as your profile says you are with a bow." He said as he wrapped his hands. "Sounds good." Natalya said, following his lead. They sparred for a while and eventually went to the dining hall. Natalya hated the dining hall more than any other place in the compound. She always felt out of place among the other soldiers and the food was never good. Even Egil had left her to the dust after being ridiculed too much for sitting with the wood-elf. She and Dimitri collected their plates and she looked around with concern, wondering if Dimitri would want her to sit with him or not. When she didn't walk with him he looked back at her and nodded for her to follow. She gratefully did and he led them to the far end of one of the tables away from the high elves. He didn't seem phased by the stares and Natalya realized she hadn't noticed him here before. "Are we really the only ones?" She asked him quietly. He nodded, "You could probably save your reputation by avoiding me, but it will be pretty hard if I'm your trainer." He observed. Natalya felt her stomach sink, "Why are you here?" She asked him. "Are you really Milosh's brother?" She added, biting into her cold food. He stopped mid-bite and gave her a concerned look. "How do you know that?" He asked her, clearly surprised. She shrugged, "Milosh mentioned that my new trainer was his brother but I thought maybe he was wrong because you're... clearly not a high elf." She told him. Dimitri looked around to make sure no one was listening to them, "You know Milosh?" He asked her. She nodded, "We were both at Voyennyy." She explained. "Ah." Dimitri said, "Well. I'm not supposed to talk about it. I'm more surprised he did, though." He said, taking a bite. Natalya ate a spoonful, "How old are you?" She asked him. He smiled at her funny question, "Thirty-six. I was chosen when I was twenty-two." He explained. "How old are you?" He asked her. "Fifty-one. This showing was my last shot. I almost wasn't set to compete. I think General Pufuktin made sure I could for some reason." Dimitri nodded, "He chose me, too, much to the disapproval of the other generals." Dimitri hunkered over his food and Natalya noticed all the judgmental looks they were getting. Dimitri seemed to be used to it and she tried to eat quickly so they could get down to the range. At that moment, an officer walked into the room and walked toward her. He leaned down to her ear, "General Pufuktin would like to see you in his office. Now. Tell the half-human you'll meet him when Pufuktin is done with you." The officer stood up and walked away, not even looking at Dimitri. Natalya swallowed. "I have to go. General Pufuktin wants to see me. I'll meet you when... I'm done, I guess." She stood shakily. Dimitri nodded, "I'll be at the range." He said, avoiding her eyes. She quickly put her plate away and walked down the dark corridor to Pufuktin's office, dreading what would inevitably happen. She knocked on the door and waited. Pufuktin opened it and Natalya felt herself slip into the trance. When they were done and she was walking down to the range the effect wore off and she felt sick to her stomach like she always did. She swallowed through it and tried to find Dimitri. The archery range was a large space with many long rooms trainers and soldiers could reserve for practice. Natalya passed Milosh and his trainer who happened to be Captain Malenthot, the late Grand Duke Georgi Malenthot's cousin and the second in command at the compound. She watched as Milosh missed his target and Captain Malenthot sighed in disappointment and boredom. She smiled to herself and hoped she would impress Dimitri. She found him and walked in, shill shaking from her nausea. "You okay?" He asked her as she came into the room and closed the door behind her. She sat down on the ground and tried to make her head stop spinning. "Natalya. Are you okay?" Dimitri crouched down next to her and tried to get her to look up at him. She finally met his eyes and nodded, "I'm fine." She said quietly. "Just a headache." She said, trying to get to her feet. Dimitri helped her up and studied her with his pretty blue eyes. Natalya liked his eyes. They were cold and sad but not cruel like everyone else's here. "You promise you're okay?" He asked her, sounding genuinely concerned. She wasn't sure if she should talk about what happened with Pufuktin or not. She wanted desperately to be here because of her skill, not Pufuktin's lustful desire for her. She didn't want Dimitri to think she was a fluke. "I'm okay. I just need to shoot something." She said, pulling herself together and grabbing one of the longbows off the rack and choosing a quiver. Dimitri sighed, "Shoot for a bit to warm up." He instructed her. He watched her fire some arrows into the targets for a while before working on her form. He shot some to show her and she was taken aback by how precise his aim was. He was a deadly archer. Natalya couldn't help but be impressed. She listened intently as he taught her some tricks and showed her what he knew. Natalya was repeatedly blown away by how good he was. They worked late into the evening as they got caught up in the game they had going where she was trying to hit one of the arrows he had already landed. "A little higher next time." Dimitri laughed as her arrow fell half a centimeter too short. "Ugh. I just want to get one!" Natalya said pulling back another arrow and focusing it. "Here." Dimitri said, gently tipping her hand up ever so slightly. "Steady your legs with your knees slightly bent and align your feet like I told you." He said, watching from behind her over her shoulder. Natalya fired the arrow and finally hit the other arrow she was aiming for, splitting it down the middle. She smiled and turned to Dimitri, feeling very proud of herself. He smirked at her, "Good job." He told her playfully. Natalya felt a small flutter in her heart and turned away from him, confused by the feeling. Dimitri pulled out his watch, "Oh shit." He said, a little worried. "It's pretty late. We should get to our rooms before curfew." He told her. "Oh, I guess it is, isn't it?" She said, realizing the time. They quickly put the bows away and headed up to the common rooms. Dimitri headed off toward his room after giving her a polite nod and Natalya made her way to her own. She laid down on her bed and started to meditate.