A towering man stood before them, wearing the same style of clothes they did - combat - style pants and a black t- shirt with an army jacket. He had a broad chest and keys in his pocket. Noah was surprised when he looked down at them - his face was kindly and his blue - blue! - eyes sparkled in the morning sunlight.
Noah stared at him. Everything about their current situation suggested he was going to hurt them, but this man just stood there, looking at them intently. There was a silence only broken by the slight wind rattling against the window.
Emma stared back at the man patiently, but it took all of Noah's willpower not to say anything to this man. He couldn't resist any longer.
"Why are we here?" he asked the man harshly. Emma shot a glance at him, but he disregarded it. He could talk to his sister later. He could only talk to this stranger now.
"You are here because you have very special abilities. You were born into a family of Spoulubopuns, one of the last of your kind. You are being hunted. You must train with us, while you still can. You may possibly be prepared to enter the real world when you become adults."
Noah almost laughed out loud, but it didn't look like the man was joking. His eyes were no longer sparkling, but looking upon them with an urgency, definitely not humour.
All the same, Noah couldn't suppress a smile. Emma looked at him strangely. He gestured towards the man. "You don't believe him, right? It's ridiculous!"
She shrugged and creased her eyebrows. "While I admit it's crazy, it does make sense with everything that's been happening. Those men on the train. Your sword - fighting and my magic. The reason that until this man, we've never seen anyone with light eyes apart from ourselves." She turned away, towards the man. "Can you tell us anything more?"
The man looked pleased she believed him. He said, "Sarah and Daniel were my very good friends. We would have laid down our lives for each other." The man looked down, and didn't speak for several minutes. Noah and Emma remained silent. They knew how he felt.
Finally he cleared his throat and continued, "When they died, they were crossing the Ponsfata Bridge, which is dangerous to our kind. They were surrounded by the Movopare, and they died to protect you. You barely survived, but I got you out of there before they found you." He looked at the kids.
"You both have special powers because you - ah, well I'm not sure I should tell you just yet. You should get to training first."
Although Noah had been on the verge of finding out why the previous events had occurred, he was interested to know what training meant.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
Training required Noah and Emma to be separate from each other, as they excelled in different things. Noah went with the strange man to master all sorts of weaponry: swords, lances, javelins, spears, axes, archery, knives and daggers.
Emma was taken away by an African - American woman who looked down upon them with a look Emma couldn't quite identify. It wasn't the same as the matron, who looked at them with a sweet fondness. This woman was looking at them with something Emma couldn't quite put her finger on.
She continued towards the training centre and Emma followed, looking around. It was situated in the middle of a sandy desert, with some cacti growing here and there. The centre itself was large and curvy, like sheets of metal were being bent against one another. The woman smiled at her and said huskily, "My name is Damgatia. I shall help you control your magic and use it for the force of good, as well as teach you some basic weapon skills in order to prepare your body."
Love. This woman - Damgatia - was behaving towards her with love. She appreciated it, and she did like the woman very much so far, but she had no idea why she, Emma, was being treated like this. She did not know this woman; she was certain they had never met. So why was Damgatia looking at her so fondly? She then entered the training centre and began to focus on her work instead.
Noah, on the other hand, had started straight away, in an enclosed area in the middle of the desert, with no time for inquires about his instructor.
"Keep your guard up! Not that far! Move your feet! Yes, like that! Thrust! Now parry! Manipulate the enemy!"
So Noah tried. He planted his feet on the ground, like he wasn't supposed too. The man called for him to loosen up, so he tensed every muscle of his body. The man told him to lift his sword up. He brought it down lower.
Lowering his own sword, the man came towards him and said, "Look, I know you've been through a lot and we can -"
He was interrupted by Noah moving his feet around, loosening up, bringing his sword up and disarming the man. He pointed both swords at him, then let them drop by his sides. The man looked shocked. Noah grinned. "You told me to manipulate the enemy. You seem nice, so I figured the best way to do it would be to kill you with kindness."
The man was laughing by now. "A true Gondar," he pronounced. "Very clever, young man, but you do need to learn the techniques. Let's go again."
"Before we do," Noah stopped him, "I never got the chance to find out your name."
The man smiled. "My name is Ravetin."
___________________________________
Bloodied and bruised, Noah and Emma trudged into another building beside the training centre. Unlike it's counterpart, this building was made out of rusticated bricks and rose straight up into the air, 20 or 30 stories at least. The faded sign that dangled just above the tall arched doorway read, "DORMS". Noah barely registered all this as he slumped in, exhausted.
Ravetin led them up a dark flight of stairs that bent back on itself until it reached a hallway. Sunlight streaming in from the slanted window, Noah squinted to see the rooms. He looked over all the names until he found one that interested him. Gondar.
Ravetin smiled down at him and Emma and explained, "While you are here with us, these will be your quarters. Your mother and father used to stay in them. Tomorrow morning, Damgatia will come and wake you at approximately 7:30. There are pajamas in the room - you can wash your clothes in the machines provided and then wear them tomorrow. You have toothbrushes and hairbrushes in the bathroom. If you want to eat at any time, speak your request in the silver panel on the wall and it will bring your request to you. Do you have any questions?"
Noah piped up, "Yes sir. Earlier today you were about to say why all this is happening to us. Could you tell us now?"
Ravetin smiled again, but it was a sad smile. He said, "I'm sorry to keep you waiting so long, my young friend, but I want you rejuvenated and refreshed before I explain your ancestry. It might take some, erm, adjusting. Tomorrow when you wake up there will be a 2 hour session where I will explain to you what happened and you may ask questions."
Noah nodded. He had expected as much, but that didn't mean he wasn't a little let down.
Ravetin left them there. Emma and Noah entered their room, and their jaws dropped.
They were standing on the plush carpet of a completely modernized apartment. Emma scouted around, while Noah investigated the food panel Ravetin had told them about.
His sister scampered around the room, opening drawers and looking behind doors. Noah turned his attention to getting them some food.
There was a side panel with a keyboard and screen which showed a few different food options they might enjoy. Noah gasped. Listed as number one was medium rare steak, scalloped potatoes and a garden salad, with beer as a beverage and a mountainous chocolate cake for dessert. Right underneath was another meal, grilled chicken, roasted potatoes and Caesar salad, with an elegant strawberry dachary and chocolate mousse.
When they had been younger and their parents had still been alive, Noah and Emma had been taken along to fancy dinners that they never quite knew the meaning of. They were much too young to listen to the conversation or pay attention to the people around them, but they got their favourite food at the time, macaroni and cheese.
But the reason why Noah stared at the top listed courses was that those 2 exact meals were what his mother and father always ate. Every single time, they had ordered those meals. He smiled.
"Emma, do you want Mom's meal for dinner?" She stuck her head out of some unknown room and looked confused, but nodded her head and continued searching.
He ordered one of each meal, with coke in place of the alcohol. Almost immediately, they came whizzing out of a chute to the left of the touch panel, the meat hot and the potatoes steamed.
Noah balanced the two plates on his arms and carefully brought them over to a smaller dining table in the corner of the room that was beside a wall high window looking over the desert. He called his sister over.
Emma came, holding a few things as results of her investigations. She set them down in the table.
Noah motioned to them. "What are they?"
She grinned. "Let me tell you what I found. First off, the main room here has a TV that will play us what ever we want, surrounded with a living area with books and," she rolled her eyes, "other forms of entertainment."
"Like video games?"
"Yes. Then we have that food thingy and this dining table. Then there are 4 other rooms. First of all there's a bedroom. Not that interesting, has a dresser with clothes for each of us. And these." She gestured to the objects she had brought.
"But what are they?"
"I'm getting to it! Anyway, just a dresser, empty nightstands with empty journals for both of us, and two beds.
Then we have separate bathrooms - I went through yours too. Nothing in there except the basic toiletries."
She took a bite of her mousse and paused.
"What's the 4th room?" Noah asked, perplexed as to what else they might need.
She paused again. "The 4th room is kind of.... A training room I guess you'd call it. And the thing is, it has a full weaponry for you, along with that sword you got, and magic practices for me, along with the bow we made. I don't know what we're training for, though."
"Me neither. But they seem to think it's pretty important, and Ravetin said he'd explain in the morning." He shrugged. "So what are those things?"
"Well, along with our journals, I found full journals that had been Mom's and Dad's," Emma started, but Noah had already started to crack open the spine.
"No! Ravetin left this note:
Hello Noah and Emma,
I'm so sorry you must wait to read your parent's journals. I know that must be one of the things you were most looking forward to when you found them - finding out what they said about what you're going through. I have never touched them except to insert this note - only you and your parents. But they most likely reveal the things that I am withholding from you until tomorrow, so I would like you to refrain from reading until then. I am so dearly sorry, children. Please understand.
Ravetin
P. S. I hope you enjoyed the food chute.
Noah sighed. He did understand, but again, he was still disappointed. He could tell Emma felt the same way. He decided to change the subject.
"Anyway, on that food thingy I looked at the top ordered items to get ideas for dinner, and the top two things on the list were these two meals."
"They were Mom and Dad's favourites," Emma mused. "I wonder why Dad's was above Mom's?"
"Dad probably ate more."
They looked at each other and then laughed until their bellies were hurting and they could hardly stand up. They had not laughed like this for so long.
Finally they calmed down and put their dishes into the dispenser to the right of the touch panel. Heading into their room, they put their clothes in the laundry machines standing guard outside the bathroom and showered before bed.
As they climbed into the crisp sheets, Emma mumbled, "G'night, Noah."
Noah whispered back, "Goodnight Emma."
As he lay down to go to sleep, he wondered yet again why they were here.