366: Knight’s Interlude 01
Amrydor was quite happy to continue carrying Fuyuko to her room now that she was awake; he liked the warmth and feeling of her in his arms, and having her be so relaxed like this as she watched him through half-closed eyes.
He was also glad for all of the training he'd had, which had left his body reinforced by the strength of his spirit — physical strength alone would not have been enough to carry Fuyuko even this far, let alone the rest of the way to her room. She might have a relatively slender build compared to him, but she also had two inches of height on him still, so they were close to the same weight.
"Well, I guess I should start with the day that I first walked into the temple of Zagaroth in Ekuilance..."
Seven Years Prior:
In Ekuilance, the capital of the kingdom of Kuiccihan, a boy approached the modest-looking temple somewhat nervously. Amrydor was wearing the best clothes he had, which was to say they were only a little worn and almost fit properly. It wasn't supposed to matter, not for the hope he was holding in his heart, but it seemed right that he should at least try to look decent.
Stories of heroism and bardic songs of epic legends were what had drawn Amrydor to this particular temple. Its modest appearance was a decision, not the result of lacking wealth or influence, and it made the temple stand out in its own way, given how it was nestled up against the outer walls of the palace.
The temple belonging to Zagaroth, the Emperor of the Gods, the Divine Dragon.
Here, they took in all would-be champions, or so he had heard repeatedly over the years. His origins shouldn't matter if that was true. Right?
What should be and what was were not always the same. He'd learned that much about life. But Amrydor had hope, and he'd never been told he shouldn't try; he'd just been told how hard the training could be and how few became true champions. Though he couldn't really remember who had told him that.
It was mid-morning and the temple doors were open, but he wasn't sure if he was supposed to walk in this way. There didn't seem to be any other entrances, though. So, after standing at the threshold for a few anxious minutes, the boy gathered his courage and walked inside.
The scents of the city were immediately replaced by a warm, soft scent that Amrydor didn't know. It was kind of smokey, kind of woody, and kind of flowery all at once. He liked it.
"Can I help you?" The words startled Amrydor, and he turned to the man who had spoken them. He was wearing the black and silver robes of a priest of Zagaroth, so Amrydor guessed that the man would at least know where he should go.
"Um," Amrydor said, "well, ya see, I was lookin' ta, um, apply for, er, training..." He was making a mess of it and he could feel his cheeks heating up in embarrassment.
"I see," the priest replied. He was smiling, and it was a nice enough smile, but Amrydor wasn't certain that the priest wasn't laughing at him behind that smile. "Well, I might be able to help with that. My name is Kurya — what is yours?"
"Amrydor, sir."
"Well, Amrydor, we will need to take your information down, and we'll see where we go from there. The registry is over here." Kurya turned to lead the boy away from the center of the entrance hall.
Amrydor trailed behind the salt-and-pepper-haired priest uncertainly and asked, "Don't ya want ta know what I want trainin' for?"
"Not at the moment," Kurya replied as he brushed away the curtain covering the entrance to a large alcove that held a desk, a thick book on the desk, and a few chairs. "We begin all vocational training for the temple with the same goal, adjusted to the needs of the trainee. Once that is done, we will look into the talents and specific desires of the trainee to find the path forward."
Kurya sat down behind the desk and gestured for Amrydor to take a seat as well before he flipped open the book. "Do you know how to spell your name?"
"Yes sir, I can read and write a fair bit."
Once Amrydor had spelled out his name, Kurya asked, "Do you have a family name? No? Very well. How old are you?"
Amrydor took a nervous breath before saying, "I'm nine, sir."
The priest did not write that down immediately and instead looked up with a mildly surprised expression. "Truly? No, I'd know if you had tried to lie inside these halls, but I would have taken you for thirteen." He frowned a little as he wrote Amrydor's age down. "Well, we might not let you start immediately; that's a little young. Let's get some more information first. I'll need your parents' names and where you live."
"Um," Amrydor looked down at his feet as he shifted uncomfortably, "I've never known them. Er, and..." he trailed off in confusion before saying, "I can't remember where I live?"
"Oh. Hmm." Kurya considered this for a moment before asking, "Do you have a letter or anything in one of your pockets? You might not remember putting it there."
Amrydor checked his clothes, and to his surprise, there was a folded piece of paper with a wax seal. Stamped on it was a rat's head that looked to be winking mischievously. Seeing the rat's head — a symbol of Li, the Shattered God — helped to sooth Amrydor's nerves, even if he couldn't remember where he had gotten the letter from. "This, sir?" he asked as he handed it over.
"Ah, perfect," Kurya said as he took the letter and opened it. After reading the contents, he nodded with apparent satisfaction. "I'll make sure you get this back when you can remember more about where you have been living. For now, know that you have the well-wishes of your caretakers. They had hoped you would wait a year or so more, but you do have their blessings in this endeavor and in all things."
That made Amrydor happy, yet it made him want to cry too, even though he couldn't remember who the priest was talking about. "Um, what's going on?" he asked through sniffles while wiping at his eyes.
"You were at a special sort of orphanage." Kurya replied softly, "Most cities have one. They generally do not have official sanction; it's not their way, but this also requires that they protect themselves. The blurring of your memories is a temporary thing, and it will ease when you are older and stronger."
Kurya cleared his throat and said, "Now, let me finish this entry for you. Mm, dark, ruddy-brown hair, blue-gray eyes, just over five feet tall. For the final part, if you would please press your hand onto the empty square on this page? Thank you."
Amrydor watched the page after he lifted his hand, which now tingled faintly. He could see faint colors dance along the paper before settling into a series of symbols he didn't know. Each symbol had at least one color that spread in different amounts of lighter or darker shades, with the light color always at the top. If there was more than one color, they also blended into each other.
"What do those mean?" he asked.
Turning the book back around, Kurya replied, "A few different things. A person's aura changes over time, but certain aspects remain the same, and others only change relative to each other. With your aura recorded, we can now always connect you to this identity. For now, your information will only be used at this temple to keep track of a few things. Depending on how your training goes, it may eventually be distributed to other temples dedicated to Zagaroth so that your identity can always be verified."
He wasn't sure he understood everything that Kurya meant, but Amrydor felt he had gotten the gist of it and he wanted to know more about the rest. "Ya said that there were other things. What else does it mean?"
"It also gives a rough outline of your heritage," Kurya said. "Like me, you are mostly human, but your mix is different. Hm, I'm not familiar with all of these, but you have several traces of giant bloodlines. At a guess, I suspect one of your not-too-distant ancestors was a giant belonging to a heavily intermixed tribe, and at some point, they managed to have a child with a human. That child would then have been your grandparent or great-grandparent."
Oh. Well, that was more than he'd ever known before. Amrydor wondered if that could be used to try to find out more about who his parents were, but he wasn't certain if he wanted to know. So for now, he wasn't going to ask.
Instead, he said, "I guess that's why I'm big. Um, is that going ta change anythin'?"
Kurya shook his head and smiled as he rose from his desk. "No, it won't. There, your entry paperwork is complete. Come, let's get you settled. I have duties to maintain, so I will be handing you off to a senior trainee, but I will check on you later. You won't have any duties or training today; your job is to get settled in and learn the rules. Come, follow me. Mm, you said you can read, yes?"
Amrydor dutifully followed the priest as he replied, "Er, yes sir. Mostly. Um, am I gonna have ta read a lot?"
The older man nodded, "Yes, so we'll make sure that your lessons catch you up. Let's see, who do we have here; ah, perfect, Trainee Siora ! I have a task for you that will get you off of paperwork for the day."
While they had been talking, Kurya had been leading them down a hall and had opened a door onto a small office where an elven girl had been working, quill in hand. "Oh? What do you have for me, sir?" she said enthusiasm as she finished writing a line and put her quill back before turning toward them.
"You don't have to sound quite that happy about it," Kurya said dryly. "Trainee Siora, meet Recruit Amrydor. He's just signed up, and his circumstances dictate that he should be allowed to start immediately. I would like you to show him around, starting with uniforms and a room."
Siora gave Amrydor a warm smile as she stood up. "I'd be happy to show him around." Amrydor wasn't certain how old she was; she looked like she was about two or three years older than him, but elves aged slowly compared to humans, so she was probably a couple more years older than she appeared. He just wasn't sure how much.
"Oh," Kurya said, "and though he may not look it, the boy is only nine."
She looked surprised and Amrydor felt like her smile wasn't as warm anymore. It left him feeling vaguely disappointed, which also felt confusing.
"I see. Well, don't worry, I'll still take good care of him. Come on Amry, let's get you some clothes and stuff."
He wasn't sure how he felt about being nicknamed already, but followed along in her wake. "Um, I'm sorry if this is causin' ya trouble," he said after a few minutes.
"What?" she asked. "No, not at all; why do you say that?"
"Oh. You, um, seemed not as happy when Priest Kurya said I was nine."
Siora stopped in the hallway and frowned before saying, "Um, I was just kind of surprised. Just, ah, if any girls seem like they are being extra nice to you, make sure they know you are nine, alright? It's a thing you'll understand later. Oh, is that why the adults keep saying that? Anyway, you seem like a nice boy, but you being so tall is just a bit confusing for a moment, that's all."
Amrydor wasn't sure he understood what she was talking about, but for now it seemed best to just nod as if he did, and with that, she continued leading him deeper into the temple along the downward-sloping corridor. "Um," he said, "I didn't think the temple was this big."
She smiled and said, "A lot of people don't. It's designed to only show a small part up front, but there's a lot more behind the back outer wall; it's just mostly underground. Now, uniform stuff is this way."
The outfits Amrydor was provided were a pale gray color, contrasting to Trainee Siora's somewhat darker gray uniform that had white trim and Priest Kurya's sharp black robes with silver trim.
The man who measured him and handed him the clothes and a large sack to carry them in said, "Your uniform gets edging when you become a trainee. More senior trainees have darker uniforms. Assuming you complete one form of training or another, you get to wear the black and silver and decide what type of uniform you get. But until then, everyone gets a tunic and trousers. These will be a bit baggy, but your trainee uniform will be more fitted. Hmm, well, you'll have to keep those shoes for a bit, but we should have some boots fitted for you before too long."
After that, Siora led him further into the complex, and Amrydor was starting to feel a bit lost. Their next stop was an office where Siora introduced him and asked for a room.
"Let's see," came the reply, "well, it's best if he starts with someone a little older. Oh, Taeko's a nice boy and he doesn't have a roommate. Here's the room number."
That's how Amrydor found out he was going to be sharing an entire room with only one other person. That seemed almost empty to him. Then again, it turned out to be a smaller room than he had first imagined. He couldn't remember anything specifically, but he was pretty sure he was used to sleeping in a larger room with more people.
Taeko was a eleven-year-old tanuki boy, as Siora informed him on the way to the room. Taeko wasn't in the room when they got there, but Siora was able to point Amrydor to which bed and clothing chest was his and other such sundries, as the other half was clearly occupied already. She waited outside while he changed, and then started showing him around, including stopping by the refectory for a meal.
Amrydor was glad to learn that he could go up for more food as many times as he needed, though Siora looked a bit amused at how much he was eating.
She also showed him how to read the posted maps to tell where he was and what direction numbered rooms were, as well as the outdoor yard areas and such.
Then there were the rules, which he got a written, well, block-printed copy of. As a recruit, there weren't a lot of primary rules; they were mostly about being respectful, keeping your stuff clean, and doing what more senior people told you to do.
There were also secondary rules, but those were mostly about where you were or what you were doing, like getting your dish and lining up for food, and where to put your dirty dishes.
Siora also made sure he knew where to go if he was ever uncertain about where he was supposed to be. That was also where he received his first schedule; after breakfast, he was to begin evaluations. Or rather, it gave him a time to show up, and said he was supposed to show up in his new uniform and having eaten breakfast first. The refectory served food at any time; Amrydor needed to be sure he ate before the rest of his day started.
After dinner, she showed him back to his room, where Amrydor finally got to meet his rather energetic roommate.
Amrydor felt that this was a good place to pause his story, as they were currently on one of the floating mushroom clouds, which was taking them up to the main entrance balcony of Fuyuko's home.
Which was also sort of going to be his home; he'd already been informed that his room here was permanently his now. Which made sense to him; if he was supposed to be Fuyuko's protector and stuff, he probably should be easy for her to access. But he still felt a little strange about that; the sanctuary and the temple were the only two homes he'd known. The first had been a big space shared with many other children, while the second had been his assigned room as part of a large organization. Here he was being given a large room of his own that was equal in status and quality to that of the literal princess of this small kingdom.
Plus, he wasn't really moved in permanently yet.
"I can tell you more another time," he said, "though I would like to hear similar stories from you."
"Yeah," she replied, "I can do that, but I'm looking forward to hearing more about Taeko, and I wanna know how you met Yugo."
As Amrydor stepped from the mushroom cloud to the balcony, he felt a shift in the nexus's presence as whichever core had been listening in to his story moved their attention away. Well, given the circumstances, that certainly felt like a sign of trust, especially as no one was in the main living space right now. He paused at the entrance and said, "I think I should set you down now, but I can walk with you the rest of the way."
"Alright," Fuyuko said as she grabbed his shoulders to pull herself up while twisting out of his arms. It felt like she'd deliberately let her body slide along his, which left him feeling stunned while she stared into his eyes. She sighed, then shook her head and stepped back. "Sorry, I shouldn't have done that. I keep wanting to understand things, but I shouldn't experiment on you like that. I wish I just really understood what you are feeling, but what comes across the bond is kind of just confusing stuff that doesn't really fit anything that I do understand."
It took Amrydor a moment more to recover his wits and be certain that he had full control over his body. "Fuyuko, I— No, wait. Let me take off my boots while I think, and we can talk while we walk."
Fuyuko waited in silence for Amrydor to be ready, and the silence continued until they were on the stairwell down. "Yuyu," Amrydor finally said, "that last experiment was too much; it wasn't something you should do if you don't mean it. A lot of people would be justifiably upset to be teased in that way. I, well, um, I am giving you permission to cross that sort of boundary, if you are really trying to figure something out."
She frowned and said, "But why? You felt sort of upset and mixed up and conflicted and stuff."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I didn't like it." He didn't need their bond to tell that she found the statement weird; her expression said it all rather clearly, and he laughed. "The conflict was because I needed to not react the way I wanted to. It, well, you were sort of asking a question, but that would usually be more like making a statement and invitation."
Amrydor shook his head and sighed. "But that's not why I am saying it's alright for you to do stuff like that, with me. I don't really understand not feeling that sort of desire, but I know that is your situation. Since you can feel my emotions, you can maybe learn things more easily that would be confusing for you. I don't know, but I am willing to let you try."
They were at the door to her room now, and she was studying him with her head tilted. "Thank you, I think, but your feelings seem all sorts of mixed up still."
He shrugged. "I can't help that — there's always going to be a part of me that is going to hope for more, but I will never expect more. I'm not really looking forward to more experiments, because it's kind of frustrating, but you aren't being mean, on purpose at least." Amrydor scratched at his cheek in embarrassment before adding, "This is probably even weirder, but I sort of feel proud that you feel safe enough to try things like that on me, and I really like that. I want you to feel safe and to be sure you can rely on me. So, if I'm not always comfortable, that's alright, so long as it's helping you."
Fuyuko studied him for a long moment before saying, "I think I get that, mostly, so, um, thank you, again." Then she wrinkled her nose and broke the serious mood by saying. "Now go take a bath; you won't smell nice anymore when that sweat gets stale." She grinned at him, then slipped into her room with a wave goodbye.
Huh. So she thought he smelled nice normally. That was good to know, and he was pretty certain she'd said it that way deliberately. That knowledge helped bolster Amrydor's mood as he went off to follow his princess's 'order', which had been his plan anyway.
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