I decided that it might be best, just to stay inside my room tonight. Too much has been going on, and I don’t want anything to escalate more than it has. I skip dinner, feeling a little down. I’m a little lonely for my wife and family. The night passes uneventfully.

I awake a bit early, having had plenty of sleep. I wash up and head out for breakfast. Very few are up already, but as I turn the corner into the now breakfast hall, I encounter a familiar sight, Lilly. She is standing in the same place as always, this time with Jackie by her side. ‘I might as well get this over with’ I resolve myself as I walk up to her.

“Hello Doug” she greets. “Have you rested well?”

As I start to reply, she cuts me off and continues. “This is Jackie, she will be…” Turning to face her as if I were contending with a man, I cut her off, talking over her words “She isn’t going to help you in this.” Glancing at Jackie for a moment, then turning back to Lilly. “You need to resolve this with your daughter.” I turn and head to the breakfast buffet.

Lilly quickly catches me with a hand on my arm, coming around to face me, at the same time turning me back to face her. “My daughter is not the subject here” We begin to argue in that parental way of stern, but tempered voices.

“I’m not your problem. You keep looking at me as if I’m the one doing something here.” Some heads are starting to turn our way. “You need to talk to your daughter and stop throwing Jackie at me”

“My relationship with my daughter is not what is in Question Here.” Lilly’s gaze and accusations are clear.

Again, as if on cue, Jenn has stepped between us, facing her mother. “Doug has things to do today.” Lecturing her mother in a calm, but stern voice, she continues. “He needs to have breakfast now so that he has a few minutes to relax before training with Jaxx, he is setting up in the Adventures gym now”. I had forgotten about that. “When Jaxx finishes, Doug will have some time to cool down and clean up before today’s archery class. We are planning a cultural exhibition and are putting on a little show. I would like for him to attend.”

Looking at her from behind, Jenn is dressed business casual, complete with a folding clipboard in her hand. A white-collar under a stylish dark blazer, matching straight pants. Lilly is looking at her daughter with that ‘I’m so proud of you, what the hell are you doing, smile’.

Still talking to her mother. “Officer Trailbreaker is still waiting on the current investigating to finish before he brings Doug there, to see if he remembers anything.” Jenn steps to her, gives her a peck on the cheek and says. “Thank you for understanding mother.” Turns and heads towards the front exit.

Lilly turns back to me with a warning look of protecting her daughter. I haven’t released my resolve as a man. Looking back at her, I’m not apologizing for this. Whatever thoughts your thinking, that’s in your head. I haven’t done anything inappropriate. I turn and head to the buffet counter wondering how Jenn has an itinerary on me.

Eating breakfast, I see that Lilly and Jackie have left their post. I’m not going to worry about it. I finish up and head to the gym.

Jaxx has set up a training dummy outside. It looks mostly like a heavy bag with a short stubby bag on each side for arms. “Ready.” he asks.

“Yes.” I reply.

“What training have you had with a sword?”

“None”

“Ever fight with a sword?” he asks.

“Just pretend fights with my friends”

“What hand do you throw with?”

I raise my right hand.

“What hand do you write with?” he asks.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

I raise my left hand.

He pauses and looks at me for a moment. “Pretend that you are shooting a bow.”

I hold my left hand out and my right hand up by the side of my face.

“Now aim at me, right here.” He pats his chest with his hand. “Focus, like you are trying to hit me dead center.” Pointing and taping the center of his chest with his finger.

“Ok stop.” he says, shaking his head slightly in an unapproving way.

“Pick up the sword and shield.” He says, pointing at a couple of wooden swords and a shield leaning against the gym wall.

The sword is a nicely carved round stick, the same diameter as a thick wooden hoe or rake. The shield is round, flat, about the size of a large dinner plate with a handle that you would open a door with, as a hand hold. Looks more like you would punch with it, than block. I pick the sword up in my right hand, shield in my left.

“Do this” he says, making repeated downward chops as if he was pounding nails with a hammer. “Stop. Switch hands.” He is now making chops with his left hand.

“Which way feels better to you?” He asks.

I switch the sword back to my right, the shield in my left. “This way” I state.

“Hump,” he exclaims to himself. “Ever play any sports? Any good at anything?”

“I like to think a little above average. Why?” I ask.

“You and your body seem to be a little mixed up. You seem to be both right and left-handed at the same time. Or maybe left-handed, but were taught and trained right-handed. You aim with your left eye, which is probably natural unless you were putting a patch over your right eye to train your left. Then you are right-handed with the weapons, most likely from training or seeing how everyone else was holding a sword and you copied that.”

He bends down to take a couple of pieces of chalk out of a little bag. Walking over to the training dummy he teaches. “The head, the neck, are killing blows” Marking each with red chalk. “The eyes, the stomach, inner thigh, can be fatal, but still leave enough time for your opponent to kill you.” Marking each with yellow chalk. “The eyes, the joints, are disabling, but your opponent can still kill you” Marking the other eye and targets with white chalk, as close as they might be on a live person.

He picks up the second wooden sword that was lying next to the one in my hand. Walking back to the dummy he says “Do this” Striking diagonally down at the dummy, at the base of its neck. “Do this ten times, then change hands” Shifting the sword into his left hand, he chops down at the other side of the dummy’s neck. “Keep changing hands every ten strikes, until you have hit the dummy one hundred times with each hand.” Pointing to where the equipment was laying. “Put all the equipment there when you are done. Come back tomorrow. Any questions?” he asks. I have none, so he leaves to go into the gym, I assume for some training of his own.”

I start chopping away on the dummy. I see a little more than the average amount of people out and about. Daylor passes by in a group of about a half dozen young men, all about his age. They look to be Elven, dressed up more like cosplay or ready to wing it out in the forest. Workers are moving some small bleachers up to the Archery range. I see some flags and other decorations there already. I keep chopping away.

It takes me about ten or fifteen minutes to finish up my chopping, along with stabbing and poking the dummy about all I want to. I put the equipment by the side of the gym and wait by the entrance until someone comes by and I follow them in.

I work out for maybe an hour or more. It feels good to do something and it does relieve some stress. I feel like I can do more than I could normally do. Not sure if the free weights just look like they weigh more than they do, or if I am stronger. Like running, I feel like I’m pushing heavier weights, but I’m just not breathing hard or sweating that much. Wish there was a hot tub or something. Maybe there is and I just haven’t found it yet. Mostly I am killing time because I don’t know what to do. Hopefully, somebody will find out something and all will be ok. I need to keep learning and expanding on what I know here until I can make better decisions on what to do myself.

I decide to go out for a run. I’ll head down towards the archery range and keep going around until it loops back. I’ll see what there is to see and look for any trail maps or information about the area along the way.

As I’m running, I keep thinking about what I could do to find my way home and the things I should do in case I am stuck here for a while. There hasn’t been a language barrier, but there has been a reading one. I should be able to find some kind of reading class or tutor to help me out. They have been throwing Jackie at me, and I am sure Jenn would know somebody, probably wanting to do it herself. I push my pace a little harder as I pass the archery range, avoiding the workers as I go.

After the archery range, the trail enters into a forest and changes into a rougher path. It is more like the trees were cleared to make a place for Community Farms and everything therein. The change from a grassy plain to a tree line is rather abrupt. There are some splits or forks in the trail and you can easily see that they meet up again after going around different obstacles or features of interest people might want to see.

The trail lazily continues to bend to the right as the trees line to my left thins a bit and I can see more open fields beyond. After a while, I believe that I am now running somewhere behind Community Farms, the thickness of the forest still about the same as when I entered. I see a clearing ahead.

I come upon a small lake. It is bigger than what I would want to swim across or maybe even row a boat, but I can see the shoreline on the other side. The trail splits both ways looking like it probably circles the lake. I’m feeling good, so I take a left, to take the long way around the lake before heading back. I have been keeping a mental note of the different features I have passed, trying to make sure I don’t get lost. Keeping track of things like this lake and its relationship to Community Farms will help keep my bearing to prevent that from happening.

Partway around the lake, I feel my second wind kick in and I push my pace again. It’s not like I can all of a sudden do something new. It’s more like I’m breaking through to do something I once could, but until now, couldn’t, or didn’t.

I run. Other trails break off, but I stick to keeping the lake on my right until I come around and see the Community Farms in front of me in the distance. I notice Daylor and his friends hunting something back in the woods. They pause to watch me run past them. I hope I haven’t spooked whatever game they were trying to catch.

Entering onto the grounds, I slow to a jog, still not feeling tired, but I am a bit winded. I flex my arms to myself; I feel healthy and strong. ‘I’m going to keep working out’ I think to myself. That’s one of the things that I think I should have done when I was young. Even if it took a while, I would have gotten buff and had a lean body, if I worked at it. There were a few schoolmates that I saw over the years, that were looking good from either a more physical job or working out. If I could go back, I would start college sooner, work out, and overall just do things that would help and make me better. Put myself in a better place, instead of relaxing so much and watching TV or playing games.

As I get closer to the main building, I can see that people are starting to head over to the archery range. It must be later than I think. I head back to my room, to clean up and change before heading there myself.