The soft morning rays filtered through an open window of the inn, illuminating the sleeping form of a man still in his worn and torn leather armor.
He had a face that was squarish, with features that would have been called handsome in his younger years. Now, however, his face was marred by wrinkles and set in a heavy frown, even in his sleep.
As the warmth of the sun’s rays spread over him, the man’s eyelids fluttered open. Rousing from his slumber, he rubbed a hand over his face in an attempt to wipe the sleep away. His hand made its way over his forehead and the scar across it, passing his graying eyebrows that did not look so old eight days prior. Arriving at his eyes on its descent, the hand lingered for a bit, blocking the tears that were joining their dried brothers on the man’s cheeks. Moving down again, it made its way over the red nose and reached the unkempt and graying beard littered with dirt and debris that reached his adam’s apple.
Finally done with the action, the man looked over to the prone form of a wolfkin child, black hair still damp with sweat and hands still in position to grasp an invisible blade in his sleep, on the bed next to him. Thomas just shook his head quietly at the sight. The adult moved over to the edge of the bed and put his head onto his clasped hands.
Sitting in that position, Thomas let his mind wander. It went back to the day he lost so much. It went into all he could have done, all that he could have changed. It showed him the vivid images of his friends’ faces as they died. It created more, not content with just plain memories, it made the faces he already saw more expressive. Each one was either marred with hatred for his reluctance to sacrifice for them, bright with hope for the salvation he could never offer or painted with disappointment for his failure to protect them.
Before his mind could pull him in deeper, he moved his thoughts over to the boy sleeping peacefully. He had a promise to keep, but he couldn’t help but doubt himself again. The talk he had with the boy last night was more to reassure him than ask for the boy’s decision. Somewhere in his mind back then, he knew that the boy would say yes to staying with the man that has taken care of him from the age of two. Yet he still felt the need to ask, the need to know that the boy wanted to follow him even with all of his shortcomings. A question he didn’t ask his men sooner. A question he should have asked.
Thomas shook his head before his mind could begin to wander again and thought further on the boy and the fact that his hands were in position to grab a hilt, even in his sleep. He has seen this before, of men dedicating themselves to combat to forget the other, sadder aspect of their lives. He knew he should try to teach the boy a better way to cope. He also knew that the way of the sword was one thing that he could not fail the boy in. And so he had to make a choice between fixing his path, something that he might fail, or lead him further down on it, a feat that he was fully capable of doing. In his own fear of failure, Thomas chose the latter.
A course decided upon, Thomas walked over to the other bed to nudge Taryn awake. His nudging was replied with a groan as the small child stirred and got up slowly from his bed. After some yawning and stretching, the turned to the adult and addressed him.
“Good morning old man.”
“Good morning to you too. Get up now. We’ll get some breakfast and I’ll tell you how things are going to be from now.”
With the child following him, Thomas made his way downstairs and into the inn’s dining hall.
The scene that greeted him was a bustling dining hall full of people. Three rows of tables and chairs lined the hall with four booths near the back. The rows were mostly filled, with a wide assortment of adventurers talking and eating amongst themselves in the center row with many tables pushed together and some merchants enjoying their meal peacefully on the tables on the sides.
As he started to pull the child towards the booth for some more privacy, Thomas spotted the small board on the wall behind one of the booths and veered off course to a table in the corner, all the while mumbling about greedy owners charging people just for sitting.
Plopping down on his seat, the irate mercenary picked up his menu and looked it over for something he wanted. Taryn followed after and picked up his menu too, though he could only recognize a few of the dishes listed. After a minute, Thomas closed the menu to order the standard of bread and soup with bacon on the side. Closing his menu without finding anything he can read, let alone like, the wolf boy just picked the same meal that the old man did.
Breakfast arrived and the two simply ate in silence. The man too mentally tired after the whole ordeal to talk. The child too uncertain of the atmosphere between the two to open a conversation. Tens of minutes later marked the last piece of bread consumed and the start of the talk. Thomas began.
“Look kid, things will probably not be the same as before anymore. So I can tell you for certain that the happy days are very long from now,” seeing the child visibly deflate, he hurriedly continued, “But, that does not mean I will ditch you. I will take care of you like I promised. But I can’t do both that and earn us enough to live. So I need you to trust me a bit when I take you to see someone I know that can take care of you when I can’t. Ok.”
“Sure thing Thomas. When are we going then? Breakfast is done already.”
“Good. And we’ll head over there now. You just stay quiet over there while I handle my business.”
Saying thus, Thomas walked out of the inn and into the street followed by Taryn. The two walked in beeline towards the adventurers guild. Or at least Thomas did while Taryn had to virtually run to catch up with the larger strides of the adult.
After five minute, a grim faced adult and panting wolf child arrived at the three storey stone building that was the adventurer’s guild. Pushing aside the doors, Thomas was welcomed by a scene not too different from the dining hall at the inn.
Bustling adventurers were talking to each other and discussing jobs in front of the job boards on the right side of the hall. While silent erchants and civilians were also present on the left side, filling out their requests and forms in the waiting area. Thomas walked through both sides to get to the receptionist desk near the end of the hall. Upon his arrival there, he bent down and gave Taryn a few words.
“I will be doing some adult business from now on. You stay by my side and do not wander around. Adventurers are mostly nice people. But there are always the more unsavory individuals. So no getting out of my sight. Am I clear?”
“Yes.”
“Good,” he said to the boy before raising his head again and asking the young receptionist on duty, “Do you know where Ms. Lanna is?”
“She is handling some matters with the request compensation department. She should be available in just few minutes. You can take seat over there and wait,” the receptionist offered and pointed to the tables and chairs on the left side.
After about fives minutes, a new receptionist walked out from a room behind the counter. Unlike the one that talked to the duo earlier, this one seemed much more experienced with her middle-aged looks and bob cut. The same set of dress shirt and waistcoat seemed to bring out an even more professional countenance than what her facial features already portrayed. As Her younger coworker called out to her and pointed towards Thomas and Taryn sitting in the waiting area, she turned and smiled in their direction before walking around the desk to come towards their seats. Arriving at the desk, she offered a small smile and greetings to Thomas before leaning down to address his young charge,
“And who might you be young one?”
“I’m Taryn. Are you the lady that we had to meet today?”
“Yes, I am. And I need to take your Thomas over there to talk for a bit. Can I ask you to stay here for a bit.”
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“Sure, I can do that. But Thomas said not to leave his side or sight. So can I stay here.”
Looking over at Thomas and receiving a nod, the receptionist continued.
“He is fine with it. And we’ll be watching you from over there. So there is no reason to worry.”
“Okay then, have good talk. I’ll wait over here.”
The child handled, the two adults move to a few tables away and began their talk. Lanna began first.
“I heard the news of your division. I’m really sorry for what happened. I was working back there to get you and your men’s relatives some more compensation on the oversight of the scouting party. The one sent to gather information required to issue that extermination request. They were refusing at first, saying you weren’t guild affiliated personnel. I got that out of the way quickly enough by adding what the Mercenary Union would do if they refused to comply. So if you are here to ask for some money, that is already taken care of and should be sent to you, the survivors and to the Union to spread amongst the kins of the deceased within the day.”
“Thanks for that, but I’m not really here just for money. I think i’ll sign up as an adventurer. The money we are getting isn’t going to tide us over for long. So I want a more permanent solution to our finances.”
“That’s reasonable. I can put in a recommendation for you to get free job request access with your mercenary background. It would help you earn money a lot faster and less tedious too.”
“Again, thank you for that,” he paused for a bit before continuing,”I want to talk about Taryn.”
“I was wondering about that too. I never thought you had a child. And how come I have not seen you with him the few times that you come in here for a request for your division.”
“He’s not my child. Been taking care of him for a promise given to the dead. You never saw him because i always left him with the guys when I went out to handle more professional business. That’s also why I am here. I need someone I can trust to take care of him. And an ex-Union secretary fit the bills. So can i ask you of this, just look after him when I go in the morning to get jobs, teach him some reading and math during your breaks, and then I’ll pick him up when I get back at around dusk. How does that sound.”
“Sure, I can. But would it not better to put him in a local school?”
“It would have. But after the incident, I don’t think he’ll be very social with others. He chose the sword to forget things. To have some sort of power over things again. I’ve seen men like that before. They have to keep doing something to keep their mind off out of the dark. School is far too boring to keep him occupied. He’ll bug me for training soon enough, so I’ll just give it to him earlier. That would cut even more time for school. So you’ll do the teaching and just let him use a private training room when you can’t teach him. Is that good?”
“Yes, I suppose. And about the guild sign up, just fill this form here and I’ll handle the rest,” saying thus, Lanna handed the paper over to Thomas. After a quick “Sure,” and a few minutes of form filling, Thomas went over to Taryn while Lanna checked the document. As the duo turned around to leave, Taryn sent out a quick wave and “Good bye,” to the nice lady.
As they walked back to the inn, Thomas broached the topic of training,
“You were swinging my sheath last night, weren’t you?”
“Yes…”
“It’s fine. I’m not mad at you,” giving the child a fond smile, he continued, “But I want you to get some proper training, not like the light stuff that we used to give you from before. So I’ll be teaching you from now on. Best to start soon so can shape your [blessing] that is coming in half a year.”
“REALLY. When do we start. And what kind of [blessing] will I get? Will I get one like your [unyielding]”
“No, you won’t. People can’t have the exact same blessings. But if you go through the same stuff I did, you might get something similar. I can resist things that I have been hit with, so you will probably get a power that is defensive as well. Though I can guarantee that it won’t be some common things the other adventurers are running around with like elemental affinity of some sort or enhanced physical characteristics.”
“Cool, can I get something even better than yours then.”
“Sure, kid. Keep working hard and you will. And we can get to that right after we get to the field behind the inn, so get to walking.”
His last sentence said, Thomas made longer and quicker stride within his walk, making the child burst from a steady run to a full on sprint to catch up to the man. The trip to the inn completed, man was unruffled as ever while child had his hands on his knees while panting heavily.
“Why did you do that old man? You know I have short legs.”
“Yes, I do. I also know that you need to work a lot harder to prepare for the coming year. So quit your whining and get ready for some more work.”
Saying so, the adult lead the child to back of the inn and into a field. Said field was rather empty with unmowed grass and an apple tree in the far right corner. Walking into the center, Thomas gestured for the boy to follow.
“Alright, although I said earlier that there is a lot of work to do, we won’t do much for today. I’ll just fix some of your forms and we’ll do some light exercises. We need to give you a solid base first. And after that, you are going to do some more exercises.”
“Like the running, again. Can we not?”
“No. now pick up the sheath and we can start.”
Ending the conversation, Thomas threw the sheath towards the boy. Fumbling with the thrown object a bit, Taryn moved over to stand in front of Thomas, got into a stance and began swinging. As training got underway, the veteran started to give pointers, showing flaws and imbalances within the boy’s stance, showed him how to fit the stances better with his body, helped removed wasted movements and instructed him on how to apply the force correctly.
Swinging continued for an hour until Thomas deemed it as sufficient for the day and switched the boy over to some exercises. Due to the nature of the child’s growing body, the exercises only incorporated stretching with more running, much to the young wolf’s chagrin. With the last rays of the sun gone, training was ceased for the day as the two went inside for a quick meal and headed to bed.
The night went very differently for the two males. While the young was blessed with peaceful slumber due to his exhaustion, the same amount of energy spent by the adult only reminded him of the times from before when he would do this for the other new recruits. The reminder forcing up images of all the men that he had personally trained and then watched die. So as the child dreamt of wielding swords and vanquishing his foes, the man dreamt of swords broken and chipped lying on the bodies of their wielders.
The morning, hence, was greeted very differently by the two. The child was still sound asleep when the celestial body rose while the man was still ever wakeful from his latest nightmare. One enjoying the warmth, the other trying hard just to feel it beyond his guilt. The strange parallel continued until the boy woke up and pulled the man out of his destructive thoughts with excited chatter of the day to come.
The two would then repeat the scenes of breakfast, the trip to the adventurer’s guild with one walking and the other running, and even the wait for Lanna.
Taryn was then separated from the man as Thomas went to pick a few jobs and Lanna lead him to the staff’s room to begin his lessons. The lessons only lasted for a while as Lanna had her shift and had to move the child into a private training room that only she had access to. Without anyone around him, Taryn simply repeated the forms and exercises he has been given the night before, even if he skipped a bit of running and filled it with the more interesting stretching. Noon eventually came, and so did Lanna with lunch and some more lessons. Full and still tired from the morning exercises, Taryn spent the afternoon after lessons sleeping some more. A few hours before dusk came round, Thomas picked Taryn up, repeated the running trip to the inn with a bit more intensity.
Things began to differ from the day before after they entered the field. Wooden swords were actually there for practice as opposed to last time’s sheath. Stances, too, were no longer static. They were called out as Thomas threw blows at the boy. This type of training proved more difficult as the boy has yet to engrave the stances into his mind. They consequently had to combine the exercise phase with more stance training in the form of a weighted wooden sword that was swung for the remainder of training.
Night once again came and cut the training short, giving a small reprieve for the boy. As both man and child retired for the night after a hearty dinner, the child still slept soundly while man dreamt of death though with less details than the previous night.
Another month followed in the same fashion, Taryn would get dropped off at the guild in the morning, spend a small part of the morning on lessons and the rest with training, cram in some extra lessons after lunch and a nap would wrap up his time at the guild. At the inn, things saw some changes as his training moved up slowly with more and more time on reaction training rather than static stance revisions. This accumulated for two weeks until he was deemed fit to move onto another method of training. The last two weeks of the month, Taryn was given a training construct made up of many pillars of different heights that he would stand on. While on the pillar, child had to keep his balance while parrying half hearted blows from the man. The one consistency in the training was the dreaded exercise phase still only consisted of running and stretching.
With the monotony of the month’s schedule, the pair of man and child was lulled into a calm routine. Thomas’ haggard appearance every morning after nightmares was no more. Taryn was too focused on practice to even remember the harrowing memories. Things were looking up for both on the surface. Though both failed to realise that Taryn had no real friends to actually play with. He had no other people to interact with besides the nice yet professional Lanna and strict Thomas. This small deficit in children interactions would eventually be solved after a rather interesting encounter at the end of the month.