Events of Arrival

Episode 7: Divine Friendship

"Ah."

"Yeah. I'm from Varan, on the fishhook peninsula. Jasper was originally from Retigo, but she moved to the Cier-Shuoda border a couple years back. She's been tagging along, but didn't want to stay in Aegis with how disconnected it is."

"Understandable. How long have you been fighting?"

"A little less than a year. The... opportunity popped up real suddenly after my brother died, and... I got tossed in the deep end. So I'm not actually that great at it yet...?"

They paused at the end of the street. Straight ahead, off in the distance, the cherry blossom trees on Dojo campus glittered a faint green with the fairy lights hidden behind the full leaves.

"You're good with your weapon," Calder said after a beat. He looked down at her, and they made eye contact. "You're hand-to-hand needs some work."

"Says someone who only fights with her fists."

"Says someone who's been doing this since she was twelve."

"Twelve?! Who the hell teaches a twelve-year-old to fight like you?"

"The highly motivated twelve-year-old herself, who had done competitive gymnastics since she could walk. I might be self-taught, and my style might be weird, but it's effective." She poked him right in the center of his chest. "I can teach you some stuff. Timing and reaction-type things that'll help without needing to know how to breakdance or do backflips."

"Did you say breakdance?"

She ignored him. "Tomorrow afternoon, maybe? We can meet at the gazebo and move out from there."

He stared for a beat, before blinking multiple times and shaking his head to clear it. "Sure," he decided. "The coliseum's open to rolling training sessions every day, as long as there's not duels or evaluations. I'll just meet you over there at uh, one pm?"

Calder shrugged and stuffed her hands in her trouser pockets. They were a plain black pair, worn with a bloodred tee. "Sounds good to me," she said. "I'm gonna call a lift. D'ya want a ride?"

"No," He said firmly. Calder smirked. "No thank you. I'll walk."

"See you tomorrow," Calder bade over her shoulder as she stepped away from him, far enough that he wouldn't get whipped in the face by the tail of her dragon as it swooped by and plucked her from the ground. As they ascended, she stole a glance back. Oblisk was stretching his arms skyward and yawning. He dropped his arms, shook the daze off, and began marching across the dark sea of grass.

Calder turned back to face the Dojo.

***

She was doing lunges by herself and off to the side of the ring when he showed up, and the first thing he did was ask her what the hell she was doing.

"Warming up," she said without looking at him. "It's step one. Never start a strenuous activity without warming up first or you'll pull a muscle."

He fell into step beside her, leaning into the stretch. She finally glanced over.

"Do you own any casual clothes?"

"This is casual."

"No, that's a white collared shirt. There better be a really good dry cleaner in this town."

Oblisk laughed. "I have a personal contact, don't worry. Do you plan to ruin my shirt?"

"Not ruin, really, but you're gonna get sweaty and dusty if we do things right."