When he woke the following day, snoring registered in his ears. He began to rub his eyes clearing away the crust gathering on his eyelashes.
As he prepared to get up, he stopped himself realizing that someone’s arm had somehow gripped onto him. He carefully pulled away Lar’s warm arm in such a way that it wouldn’t wake her up. She still slept soundly asleep as he managed to pull away successfully.
He left the room and walked towards the staircase in the main domed chamber. It was rather quiet and empty in this particular area at this time of day. The sun hadn’t fully appeared yet causing just a bluish haze to linger everywhere.
As he strode along towards the staircase atop the second floor, he stumbled into something. He blinked a few times struggling to see what he had run into.
“Eeeeeeeooowwww!”
He stumbled back and looked down noticing a little elephant looking up at him. “Hey, try to watch where you’re going!”
“Uh, sorry.”
“Geeze, that really hurt.”
He went to one knee and tried to comfort them. “I really do apologize. I didn’t notice you down there.”
Bits of bright light came in through the various tall slender windows nearby. It brightened up the elephant that he had unfortunately stumbled into.
They wore a pair of circular spectacles over their eyes and had numerous colorful scarves running right behind their floppy ears. “Say, have I run into you before?” Their voice was familiar somehow but he was unsure of who exactly this familiar was supposed to be.
“Of course you have. I’m Aini,” she said.
“That’s right,” he said. So this is what you look like in your non-human form. He hadn’t seen a familiar take on the appearance of an elephant until now. She was quite adorable looking, especially with the spectacles and colorful scarves that she chose to wear. Sometimes he was jealous of familiars and how they could appear like a human or an animal.
He cleared his throat before speaking again. “Are you, uh, feeling better now?”
The elephant rubbed its snout on its left leg. “Yeah, I guess so. Just try to not run into me next time, since that actually really hurt!” Those eyes of hers made him feel bad. The last thing he ever wanted to do was hurt someone, especially when they looked like a cute little elephant. I’m going to die from their cuteness I swear. “Oh um, now that I think about it,” she said causing him to snap out of his delirious thoughts, “I wanted to thank you for saving me last night. You were a real big help. I thought I was going to die in that terrible place.”
“Ah it was nothing. That’s what I’m here for.”
She smiled at him. “Are you new to the coalition?”
“I am. I joined a few months ago. It wasn’t winter yet so that should give you a rough idea of when I joined.”
“Well,” she said, “I’m happy to have you as a member of the coalition. But anyways, it’s been nice running into you. Just uh, try not to literally run into me the next time we cross paths.”
“I’ll be sure to keep my eyes more to the ground as I’m wandering through in the dark.”
“Great to hear it! Be seeing you then Kiran.”
They wound up going their separate ways. He ate a bit of grub in the mess hall and prepared himself for some morning training right after.
He met with Asum to get a bit of training done to further improve his sword fighting.
“Straighten your back!” he said loudly out from the small courtyard they occupied.
There was snow on the ground and it was incredibly cold outside. And still, he had wanted them to train outdoors for whatever reason despite the awful conditions outside.
He worked on his form and responded to whatever Asum ordered him to do. He gripped the sword and sent it at a vertical arc multiple times while Asum observed.
“You need to use your feet more if you want that to work more effectively. Don’t just rely on your arms.”
He had heard that a million times before. But repetition was key and he figured he’d hear him say that a million times more. He began trying different sword techniques. Each time he’d hear new orders barked out towards him.
In truth, he felt distracted by how cold it was. His focus was messy and Asum was growing annoyed by his inability to perform as well as he normally did.
“What exactly is the matter? You’re usually better than this.”
“I’m still a bit groggy after everything from last night. And frankly, this cold is a real problem. I simply can’t train as well well out here in these conditions.”
“This cold helps to build strong character. I suggest ignoring it.”
“How exactly am I supposed to do that when I’m wearing this?”
He had the majority of his body covered, but it wasn’t with appropriate materials to truly keep his body warm out in the cold elements. As a result, he felt the full brunt of every chilly breeze as it blew up against him.
“Do you see me complaining?” Asum gave him an intense glare. “When you’re in a fight for your life, you’re rarely going to be given the best environment to fight in. You’re going to deal with distractions and all sorts of unknown variables you never thought to consider when you get involved in an engagement. If you allow these distractions, such as the cold, to get to you, you’ll become just another corpse. So focus!”
He worked on his technique some more trying to ignore the cold.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Good,” Asum yelled out. “Keep going.”
Ignore the cold. Ignore the cold. Ignore the cold.
“Better! Now, let me see you in action one-on-one.”
For these kinds of duels, he was prohibited from using any magic. It was a battle purely on one’s own strength and ability to use conventional weapons such as a sword which was his preferred weapon of choice in practically every conflict he engaged in. And rather than summon a sword like he often did nowadays, he utilized a blunt training sword for this duel of theirs.
Asum attacked him with serious consideration for every attack they unleashed on him. He made it look easy. It was like fighting someone who had somehow fought the second they were born. Every bit of their body knew exactly how to contort or counter any attack he threw at them.
Their swords hit up against each other with the sounds of it echoing out a bit through the small cold courtyard. He had to be careful with his footwork since the ground was covered in snow. It would be a real embarrassment if he slipped and fell over so he did everything in his power to prevent that from happening.
He lodged a foot into the ground and sent his sword at a horizontal arc. As Asum blocked it, he pushed himself forward going for a stabbing motion. Asum twirled around avoiding it and prepared to send it straight into his back. However, Kiran narrowly avoided it hitting him and managed to counter his attack leaving his blade an inch from their neck.
Asum smirked having been bested in combat. “Your technique isn’t perfect but you’ve clearly demonstrated that you’re capable of beating even me.” Kiran lowered his sword and felt the man grip his shoulder. “Nice job there. You’ve come a long way from when we first began months ago. Most recruits aren’t ever reaching the level you’ve reached in such a short period of time.”
“I imagine my past has something to do with that.”
“Of course. Be grateful for it. Most aren’t given the opportunity to excel at this pace. In many ways I am jealous for it took me years to get to where I am.”
“You jealous? I never thought that would be possible.”
Asum took a step back and puffed out air from his lungs. “Not really. I’m happy with where I am at. Your technique and form could still use some work but if you can beat me, there’s not all that more for us to do besides refine a few things. We may need to find you someone at a much higher level than myself to hone your skills.”
It was sort of weird to be in the position when the one who had been training him for some time was in some way beneath him. Obviously, he didn’t view their relations in that manner, but it sort of felt that way. Asum was a great fighter, but Kiran was as well. Truthfully, even without all of this training, he was able to fight somewhat effectively. But now that he had spent the last few months slowly improving and not having to rely on vague instincts that lingered from his forgotten past, he was feeling quite good about things overall.
“That’ll be it for now,” Asum said signaling that their training was over and he could finally be free of this devastatingly cold weather. “I imagine you’re eager to remove yourself from this cold weather. Go on then and enjoy the indoor warmth.”
He left the outer cold snowy courtyard heading inside. He immediately located a warm hearth that exuded a whole lot of heat. The wood crackled and the bits of flame carried along with it a scattering of shadows from numerous objects within the building. He opened his palms towards the flame and liked that it helped rid him of the chills. Still, he shook despite its warmth due to having been outside for quite a while in the cold.
Later that day, he found himself in Liall with a hood to obscure his face. Since he still had reason to believe he was wanted by the authorities from a while ago, he had little choice but to keep himself a bit more hidden from sight anytime he wandered through Liall. Most of the time he wouldn’t worry if the city guard were strolling around. It was unlikely the majority of them would know who he was or would recognize him. They also hadn’t noticed any posters with a depiction of him being anywhere either. Plus, with the colder weather, it wasn’t at all suspicious of him to keep his head covered so he took advantage of it helping to keep the cold off his face and hide himself from the occasional city guard that walked by.
He briefly visited a local tailor to buy Della something. He picked out a red scarf that he could afford to buy. The Human Familiar Coalition could only pay him a little. He hadn’t gotten rich working with them, unfortunately. In fact, he was almost as poor as he was when he first joined.
But it was just enough to allow him to buy something nice for Della every once in a while like the necklace he had gotten her the other day. He planned to head to her new home that she chose to begin renting recently. The queen’s knights and city guard knew of his connection to the inn so he had to avoid ever going there for Della and her family’s safety. Whenever he met with Della it had to be basically anywhere but there, but now that she had her own place to call home besides the inn, they felt fine meeting there rather than any other random place in the city like they had been doing so in the past.
It was about a ten-minute walk from the tailor to her place. By the time he made it there and knocked on her door, an immediate opening of her front door occurred. Was she just standing there waiting for me?
Her face lit up as she saw him. “Come right on in,” she said happily. She eyed the scarf in his hands. “What’s that?”
“A gift.”
“You got me a gift?”
“I did. I thought you might like this since you seem to like the color red.”
He handed her the scarf to which she appeared elated to have it. “I love it. The material feels so nice.”
While inside her small home which was crammed between two other buildings on the street, he pulled down his hood. The place itself was quite the homely sort of place. It had decent wooden floors and a wooden ceiling held up by big wooden pillars to support the rather small second floor this place had. It wasn’t the nicest home one might have in Liall but if it were his home, he certainly wouldn’t complain. He’d be quite happy with it and she certainly came across as being quite pleased to have her own place separate from her family.
“How’s your day been?” she asked.
“I’m a little tired after my training but that’s normal at this point.”
“They’re working you to death, aren’t they?”
“I wouldn’t say to death, necessarily. They do work us hard though. We have to if we want to be able to be of use to the coalition and perform well doing so.”
“I suppose you’re right,” she said with a sigh. “I still wish it wasn’t necessary for you to have to be with them even though I know they sound like they’re good people. You were just such a natural at our inn doing that kind of work. And it’s certainly a much safer kind of employment.”
“There’s no doubt about that.” Working at the inn was a rather brief period in his time at Liall at this point. He still came to appreciate it for the things it brought to him. But it felt like a long time ago even though it wasn’t in the grand scheme of things. A lot has happened since that time. Perhaps that’s why it feels so long ago.
“So, is there anything in particular you want to do today?” The question made his mind wander in a thousand different directions.
Today was a day when the two of them had some free time available to do as they wanted for the most part. He had finished his training for the day and she was given an opportunity to be off work. And still, all he thought he wanted to do was be with her and not much more than that. “We can do whatever you have in mind.”
“Excellent! Well, since you’re giving me that responsibility, I’m going to have to quickly make those determinations. And while I do that, I’m going to go change into some appropriate attire. Just wait down here if you will and get comfortable. There’s fresh tea in the pot by the way so feel free to drink some.”
Della wandered up the staircase near the back of her smaller residence. He could hear her singing while she was up there and changing her clothes into another outfit. He decided to go ahead and drink some of that tea she had prepared. He took a sip. The tea was in fact good.
Her footsteps resounded off the steps as she came down. When she reappeared she wore a dark blue dress of sorts with a leather belt wrapped around her waist. A warm fur cloak wrapped around her shoulders down to her back and she had nice warm high boots and gloves to wage combat against the cold elements. And she of course also wore the nice red scarf he had bought her as well.
“Ready?”
“Sure am,” he said.