Five years. Five long, hard and difficult years of Tara's adolescence were spent under the tutelage of Master Llywelyn Limore. Being a physician with over 40 years of study and practice under his belt, there was no one better to take in the teenage girl who had failed to live up to the Burmecia standard of partaking in basic military training as required in their homeland. In lieu of this, her parents convinced Limore to take her on as an apprentice so she might instead become a field medic.

In those five years she learned a great deal from the man, and as is her nature and the way of her people she respected him for his wisdom and years of experience he had over her, even identifying her shortcomings as a person and getting her into the habit of making lists to not forget anything and keeping a journal of day to day life.

It was only necessary for Limore to be as strict as he was, she told herself. If she so much as mixed the wrong ingredients into a remedy or wasted anything valuable she'd be out in the garden plucking weeds until her hands bled, if she was lucky he might let her have dinner she would still need to cook for him.

Sometimes there were good days where they'd play chess or have tea and biscuits, but these were few and far between as there was much work and study to do. Sleep was a necessary sacrifice to ensure she could recite the names of obscure herbs from memory on command.

Only a shame that her training required ten years to fully complete.