They left soon after, I was left sitting there alone for a moment. I sighed, and closed my eyes. Its been a while since I thought about that moment and what came after.
After a few minutes of just sitting there, I stood up and walked out of the dining room. In the hall way I looked toward the bed room. My eyes would meet Angel's who was peeking from behind the gate, she'd immediately go back inside. I considered following after her for a moment, but then turned around. I needed a moment to myself.
I went to the nearest building, which had the training room with the bone swords. My left hand wasn't hurt anymore and I needed some practice.
I closed my eyes, trying to remember the training. Military are taught to use most melee weapons, that included two short swords. After a bit of concentrating I could hear a voice... Major's voice, from when he was training my batch how to use dual swords.
"Right leg forward, stand steady and ready to move. Right hand forward, left above head. Blade tip pointed forward."
He'd go through each trainee, patiently showing how exactly to stand right after. Moving the right leg slightly to the right, left slightly back. Right hand stretched forward but relaxed, left stretched up a little but still relaxed. He'd show more than he'd instruct.
"Having two blades can be an advantage. One to attack the other to defend at any given time you have more option than using one blade, but where you gain in versatility you lose in leverage, its harder to control a blade used with two hands. And against a strong animal, leverage can be the deciding factor whether you loose a limb or not, judge your situation properly, don't do something that will put you in disadvantage."
The melee training... it wasn't for war or to defend from terrorist. The wild animals were fierce even before the war. They could even dodge bullets from some military personal, most could shoot them down, but we still needed to know what to do if our guns failed us.
"When attacking swing with one, and on the down swing with the other, at any moment don't swing with both, keep one blade ready to defend at moments notice, again, your biggest advantage is you can both defend and attack at the same time, don't loose that advantage trying to attack better."
We'd have regular sparring sessions with each other. Though I could use two short sword effectively enough, I was best at a style of sword fighting known as kendo, done with long katana.
Lost in thought I practiced swinging the blades, and defending as I was used to during practice.
My focus was broken by footsteps, I instinctively pointed both swords in the direction before opening my eyes.
Carl was standing there hands raised, "Its just me."
I sighed and put the swords down, "Sorry."
"No no, you were practicing right? I should have knocked first, its only natural you'd follow your instinct first."
I nodded, "So what brings you here. I weren't out of the forge since yesterday."
"I just put the latest batch of scales in the furnace. Yesterday I learnt they take very long to heat up enough to work with. So I thought I'd check on her, and you. She is waiting for you, y'know?"
"I needed to be alone for a bit."
He chuckled, "A bit? look outside."
I looked behind him, through the gate. The sun was already setting. "I-I didn't realise."
He smiled, "Its fine... just check on her."
I walked out of the building, he walked beside me.
"You are pretty good with a sword." He said.
"Yeah, part of being a military."
"I was wondering, would you mind sparring with me? For fun nothing more. Its been a while since the last time I got to spar with anyone."
"Hmm... we can, though... are you sure?"
"What do you mean?"
I looked at him for a moment, "Right, a civilian wouldn't know."
"Wouldn't know what?"
"Its a pretty serious matter, and normally I wouldn't be allowed to tell you. I can tell you tomorrow, today's been a long day, hasn't it?"
"Sure."
After a few minutes we got to the main building. He went back into the forge, I went to the bed room. Angel was sitting on a bed, and looked directly at me when I opened the gate.
I sat near her, "You doing alright."
She looked at me, then down, before nodding.
I looked at her for a moment before asking, "You are... angry at me?"
She looked at me and shook her head immediately.
"You... didn't want me to hear... hear about you." she said staring at me, almost like a question.
I sighed looking at the ceiling, "Not everyone should know everything."
"You... won't tell me?" She asked, reaching out to my shoulder.
I stared at her for a moment. My right hand almost instinctively stretched toward her head. I hesitated for a moment, before patting her head, "Maybe when you are older. You already have a lot to worry about, you don't need to worry about me too... I'd wish you'd let me worry about the both of us for now."
She stared at me for a long moment, her mouth agape' trying to say something.
"Then... then when I'm older... can I worry for you?"
I hesitated. Could I really stay with her so long? I didn't know, but I knew what I needed to say.
With a hesitant smile I said, "sure."
She nodded with a smile, "A promise then."
I... didn't nod.