The Hermit, The Tower, The World (Vol.2 Complete)

29th of Inandyl - 5th Isharil (cont)

It took the rest of the session for Rea to even start understanding the concept of spacial awareness. Calas had grown just as frustrated as she had as none of his suggestions were relevant for her. He realized that nearly all of them relied heavily on his use and practice of martial knowledge, which Rea had no reference for. Yet.

Calas made a point to start with that first the next time as he closed the doors behind the last of the junkies who filed out with the two of them. He glanced back at Rea and Chou and found that Rea still had a stubborn expression set on her face.

"You're making good progress. Try not to over think it." Calas said as he turned back to the door and pulled out the keys from his bag.

"Ugh. You keep saying that." Rea clicked her tongue with exasperation as she fanned her cloak over her shoulders and Chou took to the air to avoid the flourish.

"Not everything can be learned in a day. I know you understand this from all your Relics notes. Did all that take you one day?" Calas stated calmly while he twisted the key in the first of two locks.

Rea grunted. Obviously it was not the answer she wanted, but it wasn't a fact she could contradict. Calas knew by now that she wasn't the type to argue something she didn't believe was logical or that she didn't think was true. Especially after he had to explain to her that omission wasn't lying.

Calas set the key in the second lock as he heard a familiar voice behind them.

"Hey, Cal! I didn't see you at the sparring box all morning." Calas turned to see Daz closing the distance between the others that were farther down the hallway. The Drakari stopped when he got to Rea and turned to her with his most charming smile.

"Hi, I'm Daz," he held out a hand to Rea, which she took tentatively.

"Serea," she responded politely as all the hard edges of her frustration began to wane.

"Nice to meet you, Serea. It's nice to see fresh faces among all the junkies." Daz shook her hand firmly, but Rea only seemed confused by his welcome.

"Junkies?"

"That's what they call themselves." Calas interjected, turning back to the door and the second lock. "It's just a term for people who are here to learn combat skills and tactics versus a purely magical study."

"Oh," Rea's tone was mild as if she questioned exactly what that meant.

"Heh. Cal says that like he isn't one of us." Daz muttered before he added in a lighter tone, "But since you are new, Serea, I was wondering if you were free for lunch."

Calas turned the key a bit too hard and his hand slipped off the key. He cursed as he shook off the annoyance in his hand and then glanced in their direction before retrieving the key from the lock. The both of them, plus Chou, looked back at him with startled expressions. He shrugged at them as Rea tried to respond.

"Um, I suppose so?" She answered Daz uncertainly while her eyes darted between Daz and Calas.

"Great! We are heading to the Cheerful Hearth in town. Have you been there before?" Daz's face was filled with an enthusiasm that Calas disliked, but he remained silent as he dropped the keys in his bag and joined the two of them.

"No, I haven't but I've seen it in town." Rea shook her head as she responded.

Daz included Calas with a glance, the fervor in his voice unabated.

"Cal, you should come, too! You've been there plenty of times."

Calas' first instinct was to say no, but Rea stared at him now with a glint of something hopeful in her eyes and Calas sighed. I guess Daz finally got me, he thought.

"Yeah, sure," his voice was dispirited, but despite that, Daz and Rea still smiled.

"Finally!" Daz breathed as he turned from them both and led the way out of the hallway to join the rest of the junkies who waited outside.

Calas followed Rea and they joined the group of ten or so that milled around Daz and he promptly got everyone walking toward the town of Perlshaw below them. It wasn't long though before Daz made his way back through the group and sidled up to Rea with that same obnoxious smile from before.

Calas did his best to ignore all the questions that Daz asked her about where she was from, how old she was, and what her favorite food was. It was all he could do to keep from snapping at Daz to shut his mouth. Although, he had no idea that Rea liked sweets so much.

"How about your favorite book?" Daz asked, the curiosity plain on his face.

"Currently, 'The Cosmos Without Restrictions' by Atwater." Rea responded and Calas squinted at the name.

"Isn't that a text book?" Calas asked without thought. He recalled the title from their clean up of the Lounge and handed it to Rea once he figured out it was one of E. Marblebrook's tomes.

"Uh, yes…" Rea blushed as her voice trailed off and Calas' expression softened at the admission.

"Well, I guess I didn't specify," Daz mused aloud. "Do you like reading outside of class work?"

"Oh, absolutely!"

"What are you reading for fun, then?" Daz asked and Calas found himself interested in the answer. The two of them waited though, as she hesitated to reply.

"'The Dragon Prince'." She said meekly and the other two were silent again for a moment longer.

Calas recognized the title but he couldn't place it, as it was definitely one he hadn't read before. His expression lifted when he recalled that it was Korinna who told him about that book.

"Isn't that a romance?" Calas asked as all the details that Korinna gushed to him about before he left for Court popped into his head.

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Rea's eyes went wide as saucers and he got the impression that she thought no one would know of the title, but it was Daz who spoke.

"How did you know, Cal?"

"I have a sister, ya know." Calas responded dryly.

"Oh, I didn't know that actually. Is she as delightful to have around as you are?" Daz shot back at him over Rea's head.

"No," Calas gave Daz a sideways glance as they walked down the rolling paths and stairways to the town of Perlshaw. "She's much more likable than me and she talks about as much as you do." Calas hoped that Daz would get the hint to shut his mouth, but Calas was never that lucky when it came to Daz.

"What's her name?" Rea interjected before Daz could respond, which he was about to, but held his tongue for once. "And your brothers. You have two of them, right?" She looked up at Calas as they walked, curiosity in her voice.

"Yeah," Calas started, taken aback by the follow-up question she held from a few days ago. "Korinna. And my brothers are Audres and Theo."

"Do you have three-letter nicknames for them, too?" She asked with a playful smirk and Calas rumbled a laugh at that.

"No, I only met Jem last year. But I think Korinna wouldn't appreciate it." Calas smiled and imagined the fit Korinna would have if someone called her by a nickname. Whatever she did, he knew it would involve knives. "If you ever meet her, Rea, just call her by her full name." She chuckled at the advice.

"Rea? That's so great." Daz exclaimed upon hearing her nickname. "I take it you have met our friendly neighborhood lover of coin and three-lettered monikers."

"Yeah," Rea nodded with a giggle, "I met Jem at the race over the weekend."

"You went to the race, too?" Daz asked.

"Yeah, we went together." Rea pointed at Calas and he watched her expression evolve into worry. It was as if she had only thought at that moment that there might have been something odd about the two of them going to the race together. Or maybe that she shouldn't have said it out loud to Daz. Either way, Calas shook his head soberly at her with a smile to match in an attempt to lay her insecurities about it to rest. There was no use in hiding it now.

Daz's brows shot up as realization dawned on him and his gaze shifted to sly as he focused on Calas. Calas crossed his arms and returned Daz's cheesy grin with a flat expression of his own. He had meant it as a warning, but Daz was never good at heeding those.

"So, Rea," Daz started as his grin turned more charming as he faced her. "Did you come here to train or just to make Cal smile like that?"

"Desert sands, Daz, do you ever stop asking ridiculous questions?" Calas growled, with an angry set to his jaw. The use of her nickname out of Daz's mouth gave Calas the urge to punch that sleazy smile off his face.

"Well, no. You should know this by now. Besides, you said your sister does the same thing. You should already be used to it."

"I can tolerate my sister because she's my sister, and she has a fondness for sharp things. And despite all your scales, there doesn't seem to be anything particularly sharp on you that I have seen, Daz."

"Ha!" A burst of a laugh came from Reith who was walking in front of the trio. "So the Duskwood actually does have a sense of humor outside the training hall."

Calas blinked, stunned for a moment, before a soft chuckle rolled out of him as he laughed with the dwarf.

"Reith, no one asked you!" Daz shouted in a half-hearted, cross tone.

"No one had to, Daz." came a voice from ahead of Reith and Kaori pushed back her long brown hair to glance back at them all as she continued to walk forward. "You stick your nose into everyone else's business all the time. Why can't we have a little fun, too?"

"Traitors!" Daz yelled as he rushed up toward Reith and they started sparing down the rest of the mountainside that gave way to Perlshaw.

Kaori jumped out of the way of them and hung back to walk with Calas and Rea. The sturdy human woman put a comforting hand on Rea's shoulder as she spoke in reassuring tones.
"Don't ever be afraid to tell Dazaid to piss off. He can be a real pain if you don't."

Even though the words were meant to be comforting, Calas suspected by the bulge in Rea's eyes that she had never even come close to talking to someone this way. Hells, she hadn't even told him anything close to that, even when Calas could see the vicious mouse in her eyes.

Rea had glanced up at Calas, turning her head away from Kaori. "Have you ever done that to him?"

"All the time." Calas stated calmly. "Not that any of them actually worked."

"He's also one of the only ones still hopeful that you will apprentice him." Kaori remarked to Calas. Her brown eyes shifted back to Rea. "Daz is probably just wondering why Calas picked you instead of him."

"But I— I just wanted to learn…" Rea's face went stark white and she covered her mouth as if she had something to be ashamed of.

Calas waved his hands in a quick, negating gesture. "No, no, Kaori. I've said this before, I'm not a teacher. I can help, but I'm not here to instruct. That's Blackclaw's job and I really don't want it."

"Sure." Kaori's gruff voice dripped with sarcasm. "But you did way more than help this morning. All morning."

Calas wanted to contradict her, but hesitated when he realized she was right. In his pause, his gait slowed as he propped his chin on a fist as he thought. It was true that the junkies always had a comradery, but that also came with an intense rivalry in which everyone tried to outsmart or overwhelm their opponent. Many had approached Calas, who was seen as the leader of the pack as it were, in an attempt to gain an advantage by learning directly under him.

"Mhmm." Kaori nodded as if to confirm her victory. She turned back to Rea who was looking both confused and concerned and Calas heard Chou cooing in her ear before Kaori continued.
"I hope you know what kind of hornets nest you've kicked, little one, 'cause come the second term, there are gonna be a whole lot of questions that most junkies will ask with their fists." The third-year caught Calas' gaze again before she jogged off to join the rest of the group that was filing into the Cheerful Hearth. "Train her well. For her sake."

Calas frowned at her back and stopped outside the inn. As if he hadn't planned on doing that anyway, but was being his apprentice really that big a deal to the junkies? Sure, he supposed it would be seen as a rank up among them, but did they really go to such measures to get his attention? He answered his own question immediately when he thought of Gael and Reith's little spat in the sparring box. Like home, Calas knew all the junkies had a thinly veiled brutality which was easy for Calas to ignore.

He glanced down at Rea who still looked shaken from Kaori's words and a pang of guilt ran through him. Calas had just put her in the middle of that brutality. By asking her to come to the session, he had just put her in more danger than if Calas just waited until the term started. He took a deep calming breath and resigned himself that there was no path but forward.

"So," he started slowly, knowing that he had to tell her something to ease the panic from her face. "How would you feel about training with me, for real, during break?" He rubbed his forehead, feeling really stupid saying it out loud so he added, "I know that wasn't our deal, not really, so don't feel obligated to continue coming to the sessions if you don't want to."

Rea bit her lower lip as she thought for several long moments and Calas did his best not to notice it. As she came to a decision she turned to face him and searched his eyes with hers.
"Why haven't you trained anyone before me?"

That was a good question and he tried to find some logical reason other than he wanted to. He always found a reason with those that asked him: too violent, too crass, too unpredictable. Calas realized they were all traits he saw in his family and his uncles and Calas always supposed the world didn't need more of their kind.

Rea was different, though. She was honest and determined and while there might be a "vicious" side of her, none of that side actually wanted to hurt anyone. He admired her, he realized, and only wanted to help to protect her. He had determined during the race to give her the tools to do that. If that made her his pupil, then, he supposed he had already made that decision.

"There are plenty of reasons, but each one is specific to the person who asked me." Calas said finally.

"But I didn't ask to be your pupil. I just wanted to learn one spell." Rea shook her head, her eyes still searching his.

"Exactly." He smiled and took her little finger in his where they were joined and gave it a quick squeeze.

She smiled softly at the squeeze and shrugged while shaking her head again. "I guess it will only help me next term in the martial defense course, right?"

Calas laughed at that and nodded his response.

"Yeah, why not. I'll be your pupil for break." Rea said casually with her hands clasped behind her back.

A heady surreal sensation washed over Calas and at first he wondered if it was another spell that took hold of him, but then he realized it was just the way she made him feel lately. Suddenly he knew why he set her apart and it hit him like a blow to the head for how it swam when she smiled like that.

This went beyond admiration. It was something far more dangerous.