* * *

A couple days later, Joe was able to catch Garnedell and Zilnek before they took off, spending an afternoon with them evaluating their apprenticeship. They ended up walking through the city and snacking on the various food stalls around, Zilnek turning out to be a snack fiend almost as bad as Kilniara.

“So. How are the apprenticeships going? Anything else I can do to help?”

Garnedell actually simply smiled and shook his head, “I’m doing great. Just… can’t wait for my bow.”

Joe grinned at that, “True. Gotta wait for that, but we could spend some time going over details about bows like maintenance, naming, how to make one… well, I’m not going to be able to do that quite so easily, but I could give you some ideas. Things like that.”

Zilnek seemed surprised by that, “You… know how to craft?”

Joe seemed surprised by that, then realization hit him. Right… duh. I’m a combatant, and crafters are something different. This is annoying. Joe sighed and turned to Zilnek.

“A poor one, but I do know some things.”

Zilnek seemed to grin at that, a bit more excited, so Joe asked if the two would be interested. Both of their excited shouts of joy let Joe he had a good topic for the day and quickly began going through the bow. He took out his bow and began naming the various parts of the bow while also describing their purpose. It was a simple recurve bow, so while he did have enough knowledge to describe and label the various parts, it proved simple enough that explaining it went relatively quick.

Joe did have to take a quick detour by Newton, explaining some details about opposite and equal reactions for them to understand what was going on, but all in all, they caught on rather quick.

The topic then shifted to care and maintenance, which had Garnedell become deadly serious, his mind obviously working hard to trap all the information. Joe’s promise to teach this several more times eased Garnedell’s concern, and soon they three had a detail conversation going on the various aspects of bows as weapons and how to maintain them.

Interest shifted to Zilnek when Joe began detailing how to build one, but told them that what he was teaching was the basic bow, as creating a recurve bow was an expertise beyond what Joe really understood. He basically had to tell them to seek out carpenters or master wood workers to understand how wood work in order to build one of them, warning that they would likely have to iterate through quite a few copies before finally having something that would work.

When Joe finished with the bow, the boys were disappointed and asked for more, so Joe began going over each of the weapons he knew. Both Zilnek and Garnedell listened on with avid excitement and interest. And when Joe was able to explain the construction of a weapon, Zilnek’s interest exploded through the roof.

They passed through much of the afternoon doing this, talking about a variety of weapons and construction methods of said weapons that by the time early evening came, all eagerly headed back for a meal where they continued their conversation into the variety of weapons that Joe knew and could speak about.

When their meal ended, Joe grinned with some relief and seemingly having connect a bit more with Zilnek and decided to continue while things were good.

“So. We know what Garnedell wants. We can keep speaking about bows and, yeah. Everything bows for Garnedell over the next few days. How about you, Zilnek?”

Zilnek simultaneously excited and shy and Joe found that quite humorous for some odd reason. He made sure to keep his face studiously neutral while he waited for Zilnek to continue.

“I liked today. Could we speak about more weapons? And, yeah. Today was good.”

Joe grinned at that, nodding, “Sure. There are more weapons I can speak of, although I am no master of them. I can give hints and some information about them. Sure. Anything else?”

Zilnek’s grin grew at that and he nodded, “I am a cloth armorer. I would love to know armors.”

Joe sighed at that but nodded, “My knowledge of armor is quite a bit less, but of course we can speak of them. Most of my people’s predominate armor was metal, but there are some other strange armors I remember and can speak about. Sure.”

“And how to make them?”

Joe grinned, “Well, if you don’t mind very basic information like I did with weapons. I can give you general information, but not detailed exactly how to do.”

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Zilnek didn’t seem bothered at all, “Even that would be amazing.”

Joe grinned, “You like armors?”

“I love them. They’re so cool! I can’t really use them at all, but, yeah!!”

Joe frowned. Can’t… oh! Yeah. Acokzau penalty thing… huh. Not at all … or… Joe dropped it and decided to stay with the topic the three were enjoying.

Joe continued, “Ah… yeah. But sure. We can talk about them.”

Zilnek’s grin shot through the roof and Joe nodded, “Then, anything else?”

Zilnek shook his head and Joe smiled at that before looking at both of them, “Well. We can talk about this for a bit, but you should be thinking about other things to talk about as well, because we’ll probably talk through this in only a couple of meetings. Maybe two or three times. I might be able to stretch it to four if we talk about some of the crazy weapons and armors my people have used, but… yeah. OK?”

Zilnek nodded eagerly and Garnedell seemed pleased. Joe was just relieved and took what victory he could and called the day to an end after that. The boys took off, disappearing back into the city, despite the early evening and Joe’s warning to not stay out too late was acknowledge with a shout over their shoulder. Joe huffed, but took the early evening rest with gratefulness.

* * *

Another interesting difference that occurred within these five days was that Gwenvair now joined them regularly, every afternoon. While Joe didn’t really mind, it was a bit frustrating as he really wanted to enjoy his time with Kilniara alone. Kilniara didn’t seem to mind, though, so Joe simply enjoyed their time together, which seemed to be split pretty evenly between all three, although as each day passed, the two began to regularly engage him in their conversations and by the fourth or fifth day, all three of them conversed regularly with one another, the two girls often asking questions for one another if the topics were one exploring Joe’s past or knowledge, or excitedly talking about the future that was available for Joe and Kilniara. Gwenvair, surprisingly, often added as many ideas that Kilniara seemed to look forward to as much as Kilniara discussed options. Despite Gwenvair’s insistence on joining them, and Kilniara’s acceptance of it, Joe soon found himself enjoying both of their company.

They would regularly travel from the bathhouse to the parks or some snack shops at various places, with Kilniara showing her favorites in the outer city which usually were street vendors of some kind and Gwenvair dragging them into the inner city to show off her favorite shops, which were usually pastry stores with indoor seats and quiet décor. The final day found them arriving at a rather posh place that seemed to intimidate Kilniara, but Joe watched with a rush of grateful appreciation as Gwenvair encouraged Kilniara, giving her confidence to be herself in such a place. That’s… Gwenvair’s pretty amazing. Joe stepped up at that and wrapped an arm around Kilniara.

“Hey. Let’s go in and see what this place is like. If Gwenvair recommends it, I can promise that its gotta be pretty good!”

Kilniara glanced up at him, smiling brightly before wiggling into his side then stepping away and running to Gwenvair to wrap an arm in hers, “OK. Let’s go.”

Joe cocked an eyebrow at that, but could only assume that Kilniara was embarrassed at public displays so let it go, following the other two in. It appeared to be more of an actual restaurant with waiters and waitresses taking orders so the three were ushered to a seat, with Kilniara and Gwenvair taking seats opposite him, leaving Joe alone on the other side. He pushed the other seat on his side away to give himself more room, and centered himself a bit more, giving himself more room of the table. The girls seemed to watch on, then both giggled when they saw what Joe did.

“What?”

Kilniara shook her head but Gwenvair laughed a bit more, smiling, “You are… strange, Joe.”

Joe smiled at that and shrugged, “Well, of course I would seem strange. You have never seen me or my people.”

Gwenvair’s smile mellowed and Kilniara sighed, “Will we be able to see your family and people?”

Joe looked at Kilniara and his smile fell a bit, “I… really don’t know. If I can, I will definitely take you to see my family and people. You would probably love it! But, it will be very difficult for me to find a way back to my home.”

Kilniara seemed to commiserate with his pain and Gwenvair even reached across and clasped his hand while nudging Kilniara. Kilniara noticed Gwenvair’s action and reached across as well before both spoke in almost perfect unison, “I’m… sorry.”

Joe flicked an eye back and forth between the two, “That was kind of freaky! Are you reading each other’s minds?”

Kilniara laughed at that, “Mind magic is beyond my capability.”

Joe’s eye’s widened, “Mind magic is real!?”

Kilniara smiled at that, “Yes. I have heard so, but know nothing.”

Joe quickly looked to Gwenvair and Gwenvair actually rolled her eyes, chuckling, “I am a wind mage, not a mind mage. I know little of them, except that they are. You would have to ask the temple of Know… Kukurnal, if you wish to know more.”

Joe sighed at that, then grimaced, “Sorry. I ask too many questions sometimes, don’t I?”

Kilniara giggled at that and Gwenvair only smiled, “It is part of your charm.”

“Really? You think so Kilniara?”

“It can be annoying.”

“Annoying! Really!?”

Kilniara giggled at that and shrugged, “You speak of things and rarely of people.”

Joe stopped to think about Kilniara’s observation before nodding, “I guess you’re right.”

Gwenvair then jumped in, “Then can we ask of you and your people?”

Joe laughed, “Sure.”

Kilniara was already shaking her head, though, and interjected, “Not about your people, but your family and friends.”

Joe’s laughter faded and his smile mellowed as he nodded, “Sure. What do you want to know?”

“Well, your family first.”

“Hmm… well, my mom and dad are… my mom and dad. They are Olympians… ah… people who train for sports at a global… uh… plane’s wide level of competition. My mother was a champion twice while my father won silver four times. Um… silver means second place. They competed in martial arts, usually Taekwondo for the Olympics, but in other martial arts they competed in the various competitions specific to those martial arts. That’s why I’m so well trained in various martial arts. I think they wanted to train my sister and I to compete in the Olympics as well. I never really wanted to. I just liked the effort. My sister did though, once. She was able to win the bronze on her first try. But we basically did homeschool in the mornings and finished before noon then practiced the martial art of the day or time for the late mornings and afternoons while I was younger.”

The bubble of translation power triggered several times throughout that conversation, but Joe had long gotten used to it and usually just ignored it. Gwenvair was most interested in his private tutoring and replied quickly.