His eyes sparkled in the morning light. “Yes, I can.” His voice was a tad on the husky side. Was he a little emotional talking about this? “It would be amazing and wonderful and”—he gave a big sigh— “we already have to get up early and sometimes even during the night, so we may as well have a little one while we’re at it.” That moment of tension, of emotion passed. “A mini you would be amazing.”

“Yeah, except I can’t have a girl.”

He shrugged. “That’s okay.” He tweaked her nose.

“I’ll get up for the dogs.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “You sleep in a little.”

Torrent shook his head. “Nah… but I wouldn’t mind some company if you feel like coming along?”

“What, and miss out on a morning stroll on a day like this…? Never.”

* * *

Ten days later…

They were grouped on the large balcony that jutted from the main hall. Fifteen males, excluding himself, packed tightly on the landing. They were all big. And powerful. The best fighting males in the water kingdom. Torrent oversaw this team himself. The pinnacle warriors. Their places on the team were all hard earned.

Torrent looked from one warrior to the next, making sure that he locked eyes with each of them. “Today’s practice will be about testing stamina. Not strength, or stealth or speed, but stamina. Peak too soon and you will fail. On the other hand,”—he paused— “not pushing hard enough could also result in failure. It’s finding the balance that will be most important.”

One of his top warriors looked uncomfortable. His whole stance was tense and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other and back again.

“Is there something that you wish to say, Surge?”

The male returned his gaze, unfazed that he had been singled out. He gave a deep nod. “I am questioning how a long, arduous flight would help in battle. Strength, speed and stealth are what counts. Stamina…” He shook his head. “You are training us to flee. To succeed at being able to get away even when pursued.”

Nonsense. Utter bullshit! It was the first thing that came into his mind. He pursed his lips to keep from saying it. He had always welcomed questions, encouraged his team to speak up. His way was not always necessarily the right way. Well, it was mostly the right way but not every time. “What if our enemy were to flee?”

“That would be different. However…” Surge cocked his head. “If we were strong enough, we would defeat them before they could even think of fleeing, there would be no need for stamina.”

Torrent had to suppress a laugh. “It would take huge amounts of strength to achieve a feat like that. Unless the opponent was greatly outnumbered, I can’t see that being the case though.”

“Strength, brute force, that is where our focus should lie.”