Annabella is Impatient

Though Annabella was of course far weaker than she had been as a man, she largely compensated for that by being agile and by having fast reactions. By the time a year had passed, Hendon thought she was sufficiently competent with a rapier to start teaching her archery as well. She wasn't strong enough to handle a longbow, so used a crossbow.

"Within a few more years, I think you'll be ready to start going on quests," Hendon told her one day.

Annabella's face fell. "As long as that? I'd hoped that I'd be ready much sooner."

"For that, you'd need much more intensive and varied training than I am able to give you. Since Allaria is unwilling to train women to be fighters, your best bet might be to go to Aqualaria, the land of the amazons. If you trained intensively there, you might be ready to go questing within another year or so."

Annabella considered what Hendon had said. Could she bear to be away from Belboz, the man she passionately loved, for such a prolonged period? It was true that going on a quest would mean being away from him, but most quests took only a few weeks or at most months.

1. She decided that she could and, slightly to her surprise, Belboz was willing for her to go. She set out on the journey to Aqualaria.
2. She decided that she could but, when she told Belboz, he was unwilling for her to leave him.
3. She decided that she couldn't bear to go.
4. She decided that she couldn't bear to go. (Actually, she was already skilful enough to go on most quests without any further training, but Belboz had told Hendon to discourage her as much as possible without being too obvious.)

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