Eliona's War 2: Veiled Healer

Chapter 40

Severance had a few questions.

The first would be, what was wrong with Dhin? This wasn't how normal people reacted after losing a parent.

Dhin had already punched him in the face. And he'd just effortlessly slammed Severance into the ground like a pro wrestler. Both of those were understandable things, and probably well deserved, but what Severance couldn't make sense of was the fact that Dhin didn't really show any anger or hatred, or anything of what Severance expected.

In fact, after he knocked Severance down, Dhin offered a hand.

Severance took it. Why, he didn't even know. He was hauled to his feet.

His second question was this: what on Eliona was going on here?

Oblivious to his confusion, Dhin moved back a couple of paces.

"Would you like to try again?"

No. No, he really didn't. Severance brushed the hair out of his eyes, growing somewhat frustrated because nothing was going the way he thought it should go.

"Why?"

And here were the rest of his questions: Why was he here? Why were they doing this? Why wasn't Dhin acting more upset at him? (Or was this his way of showing it?)

"Why not?" Dhin lifted a hand, making the universal 'come hither' gesture. "Now, come."

What was wrong with this game? Severance lifted his eyes skyward. He felt exhausted, like he'd been on the rollercoaster ride of his life. He didn't know what to think anymore. His heart hurt, his head felt heavy, and he just wanted to snuggle in a corner with Vast and–

"I'm going crazy," he muttered. That was the only explanation. It wasn't until Dhin made a "heh" sound that Severance realized he'd spoken aloud.

"That's a given," Dhin agreed. "Now, are you going to give this a go, or should I have another turn?"

Severance sighed. Fine. It was clear that the man wasn't going to let this go anytime soon. Might as well get it over with. Maybe once Dhin realized Severance was a horrible puncher, he'd give up and let him go.

He made a fist, walked up to Dhin, and half-heartedly slugged him in the gut. Or tried to. He hit nothing but air. His overreach threw him off balance and he staggered forward, flailing a bit until he regained his footing.

"What was that?"

He turned to see Dhin looking back at him with a strange expression.

"That was terrible."

"Of course it was," Severance retorted. "I've never punched anything before."

"I can see that." Dhin shook his head. "You're just flailing around. There's no power behind it. And the way you're making a fist, you're going to break fingers. Look, this is how you do it."

He demonstrated, closing his hand and tucking his thumb in against his fingers. Severance watched, feeling a bit out of place. Was he seriously getting a punching lesson right now? He might have laughed if he wasn't feeling so confused.

"See? Now you try it."

Resisting the urge to sigh yet again, Severance humored the guy. Maybe this was just his bizarre way of grieving. He made a fist. It felt strange, but a lot more solid than his first attempt.

"Good. Now punch me."

Knowing that Dhin would just dodge, Severance aimed at his face and swung. His fist hit and something gave away with a horrific crunch.