A Special Mage (Ike x OC)

Chapter 8 - Practice Makes Perfect

"Hey, you!" someone said nearby.

It was the next evening, and I had been in a particularly good mood since last night. I turned to face the source of the voice, but I didn't expect him to be looking directly at me, so the smile that was on my face quickly faded.

"Yes, you!" It was Knox the shopkeeper. "I need to talk to you!" he waved.

I hadn't eaten all day so my head began to hurt a bit, but I had been meaning to talk to Knox ever since I first saw him. I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity over some stupid hunger headache! So, I walked over to him.

"What a coincidence seeing you here," he beamed at me with his steely eyes. "So how are you today, miss?"

"Um...I'm alright, I guess."

"I'm glad," Knox replied. "That bandit attack yesterday was no joke."

I nodded, grimacing at the recent memory. "Say, what brings you here?" I asked, changing the subject. "I thought you were in charge of that family owned market back in that village."

"Ah, yes. Well, unfortunately, it got destroyed in the raid. It was set on fire and so I was nearly left homeless and without a job. When I saw that the Crimean Army was in town, I figured I would try for another merchant position," he explained, resting his hand on the back of his neck. "I ended up as a messenger instead."

"Ahh, I see." I didn't recall seeing him with us when we left the town, but I wasn't really too keen on looking for people at that point, anyway.

"So, you're Serena, is that right?" he asked.

I nodded affirmatively and raised an eyebrow, not quite remembering how he knew my name.

"Pleasure to be reacquainted with you," Knox smiled. "Say, why don't we get to know each other a little bit, since we're going to be in this for a while."

Uh oh. I wasn't sure if that was a subtle invitation to start flirting with me like another Gatrie, but I felt good enough about him to give conversation a chance. He seemed different enough from most beorc, so I felt somewhat comfortable. And as Ranulf said, the more friends the merrier.

So, Knox and I started walking aimlessly around camp, and as we talked, I felt that he was a little bit strange. Not that being strange is a bad thing, but I don't know how else to describe it. He seemed like a nice person overall, but his opinion of laguz, in particular heron laguz, made it seem like he was ill informed, I guess. For instance, although he told me he admired the abilities and strength of most laguz, he kept saying how the herons were relatively weak and all looked the same, and that some of the laguz were not as refined as beorc. At least in terms of table manners and such. I honestly couldn't disagree with him on that last point, because after seeing Ranulf eat one time, I nearly questioned who I had become friends with.

Aside from that though, he had some interesting tales to tell of his travels before he became a merchant in that town. He told me he had been to every country and capital city on Tellius, and stayed in each place for a while to "absorb the nuances of their culture", as he put it. He once even journeyed from the outer border of Daein to the edge of Goldoa, all on foot! On his trip, he met the heron laguz (despite how much he seemed to dislike them) and learned the ancient tongue like a natural. I asked him to speak a few words in the language as proof, and I was astounded when I heard it for myself.

Eventually, we approached the edge of camp, and I started to panic. "Hey, I don't think we should stray too far from everyone," I said in a somewhat shaky voice, staring at the narrow mountain trail ahead of us.

"Oh, wait," Knox said. "I forgot to mention, the general had originally sent me to fetch you. He said something about wanting to train with you."

He did?  I thought. "R-really?"