The training ground was empty when Vaelor arrived.
He had specifically asked for it to be cleared. Not because what he was about to do required privacy in the sense of secrecy, but because he wanted his son's first formal session with him to not have an audience. The senior guards had already trained Caelum for three weeks, and the trainer's report had been thorough and a little stunned, and Vaelor had read it twice and then decided it was time to take this part over himself.
Caelum was already there when Vaelor arrived. Sitting on the low wall at the edge of the ground, dressed for it, waiting with the specific stillness he brought to anything he had decided mattered.
He stood when he saw Vaelor.
"You cleared the ground," he said.
"Yes."
"Why."
"Because this is between us."
Caelum looked at him for a moment. Something in his face accepted that without needing further explanation, the way he accepted most things that were stated plainly and made sense.
