The group arrived to The Shore around 10am in the forenoon. Some of the men had been up to late at night drinking away their guts and then throwing it up that morning. They were beat, but Hanke was fire and lightning.
"Alright men," He said while he sternly walked up and down the file of men who wanted to learn the skill of handling a sword. "Today ye' step into a proud rank; The rank of men who walks with a sword!" He glanced at the men who looked somewhat sleepy. "I'll teach ye' how to fight, defend and attack every man ye' meet! Ye'll be indestructible when I'm done with ye'!"
Emaia scoffed to herself. While it all sounded great, there was just one problem; His speech was crafted for men and so was his training routine. They were all lined up on the beach, each holding a heavy sword in their hands. Emaia was sitting on a lump of wood and watched from a distance while she cleaned the pelt of a rabbit. It was so unfair.
When she had asked Hanke if she could join, he had awkwardly looked at the ground and muttered some ludicrous excuse about how the sword would be too heavy or the men might find it odd. It was best that she just watched from a safe distance, oh—and then there were some rabbits she could deal with. He had walked away in a hurry.
Emaia put the pelt down and carefully slipped her hand into her satchel. She pulled out one of the small throwing dagger and flipped it in her hand. It was so weird, yet strangely comforting holding a weapon. A real weapon. Not just a vegetable knife.
"Aren't you joining them?"
Emaia yelped and turned in her seat to find Aide coming up to her. Today he looked different from what he used to. Instead of his black leather attire, he had opted for a pair of brown breeches and a pale tunic. He still wore his cloak, but for him wearing his hood up was mandatory; Either walk around with a cloak or get seen.
This new look of his soothed him, Emaia thought. The skin on his neck and clavicle bone was exposed and revealed smooth porcelain skin, plus, the tunic did something else to his torso. She liked it.
Emaia turned back and looked out to the men who were following Hanke's motion with their swords. "I can't. They won't say it, but they don't want me learning how to fight."
Aide sat down on the lump of wood next to her. A small section of his silver hair slid to his front and blew softly in the warm beach air. "Is that so? What did they tell you?"
"Something stupid about the sword being too heavy," Emaia scoffed and rolled her eyes. "And then something about the men and my presence there. Don't you think it's stupid?"
"Actually, no," Aide said and made her jerk her head to him.
"What?"
Aide chuckled by the sound of her defensive tone. "It actually makes sense, but it's still not an excuse for you not to learn. The sword would be too heavy for you, and the men would probably think it's weird having you standing next to them like you're just another man. You're not a man, you're a woman."
"I know that," Emaia snapped. "But you were the one who said we shouldn't let genders define what we were capable of!"
"And I stand by it, but these men have been taught since the day they came out of their mothers womb that women were the softer gender," Aide said. "Even if they fight for equality for all mankind, they still need time to adjust."
"Well, then why shouldn't I join them?!" Emaia barked and crossed her arms. "If I was up there with them, they might get more used to the idea!"
Aide smiled and looked down. "Yeah, but here's the thing; Men have egos. Can you imagine how they would react if you turned out to better than them?"
Emaia paused for a moment, then frowned. "So I can't join them because they don't want their egos to get bruised?"
Aide bobbed his head. "Something like that, but as I said, it's still no excuse."
Emaia snorted, then looked down at the dagger in her hand. "I hate being a woman."
"Don't... ever repeat that," Aide said with a grit to his tone. "Come with me. I think it's time I teach you a lesson."
"A lesson?" Emaia said confused and swallowed.
Aide stood up and started walking back towards a small forest located close to the beach. "Bring your daggers."
Emaia jumped up and started running after him. She couldn't believe it; She was going to learn how to defend herself. It was one of her biggest dreams coming true.
She followed Aide into the forest, not too deep, but just deep enough so nobody could see them. They stopped in a place with smooth ground and Emaia looked expectantly at Aide. "So? What do we start with?"
Aide untied his cloak and eased it off. He placed it on the leafy ground and turned to Emaia. "What do you want to begin with? Learning how to throw or fighting close combat with a dagger?"
Emaia froze for a moment. She realized this was the first time she had ever seen Aide without a cloak on. His silver hair fell to his mid-back and shun in the opaque light through the treetops. He was tall, thin, but muscular. He was... quite attractive, Emaia had to admit.
"Emaia?"
Emaia snapped out of her thoughts when she realized she had been staring. A pink blush crept to her cheeks as she replied. "Uh, whichever one you think is best, I guess."
"Why don't we start with throwing, then?" Aide smiled and walked up to a nearby tree. "You seemed to have a fondness of that in Smithers. Why don't we work on it?"
Emaia nodded and watched as Aide pulled a small dagger out from under his sleeve. "Okay. So, do I like, just throw them?"
"First you need a target." Aide took his dagger and started carving into the tree. He made a circle before he edged his knife under the bark and then wiggled. The circle of bark snapped off in one piece and revealed smooth tree underneath; A clean surface to shoot at.
"Cool trick," Emaia observed as Aide packed his dagger away again. She couldn't help but notice the dagger looked old and had something carved into it along the shaft. She didn't dare ask him what it said. She probably wouldn't get an answer either.
Aide sent her a quick smile. "Alright, now you have a bullseye. This will be your target."
"Shouldn't there be rings on it?" Emaia questioned. She wasn't an expert in these things, but she knew that a bullseye had at least 3 circles. The closer you hit the center, the better.
"I think we should just focus on your throwing technique first," Aide replied and walked up to her. "We'll get to the aiming later."
That seemed logical. Emaia fished out all six of her small daggers and held them up. They were completely identical, but it still felt like they were so different from each other.
"So, do you remember what I taught you back by the booth?"
Emaia thought for a moment, then took one of the daggers in between her fingers and tried to imitate what he had showed her. "Like this, right?"
Aide stepped up next to her and bended her fingers a little. "There. You want to keep all your other fingers tugged in, just in case."
"Right," Emaia nodded. Again, that made perfect sense. "So now I take my aim?"
"Five inches from your ear – good," Aide smiled when Emaia did as instructed. "Both eyes open. Wait for the wind to settle, then throw."
She took a deep breath and made a slow exhale. Her eyes were targeted on the tree in front of her, but from the corner of her eye she saw Aide walk back around her. When he stepped up behind her and steadied her hand, she realized she was shaking a bit, but it wasn't from the cold.
"Relax," He whispered. "Keep your mind focused... then throw."
A chill went up her spine and made her cheeks flush. His voice was so... enchanting. There was something about it that made her feel... giddy?
Emaia decided she had aimed long enough. With a last exhale, she took her shot and threw the dagger at the tree. Much like the first time, the dagger thumped against the trunk and fell to the ground. She let out a frustrated sigh.
"I told you, it takes time to learn," Aide smiled. "It doesn't magically just happen."
"Would be easier if it did," Emaia grumbled. "Can you imagine how much easier everything would be with magic?"
"Yeah."
"Alright, I wanna try again." Emaia readied the next dagger between her fingers and aimed. "Come ooon, hit!" She threw the dagger, but again it clunked against the tree. "Damn!"
For almost an hour they trained with the daggers. She missed the target a few times, but managed to make the dagger stick four times. Aide corrected her once in a while, but other than that, he just watched. Finally, when her arms were getting soar from throwing, Emaia sighed and sat down on the ground. Aide sat down next to her and leaned back on his elbows. He looked up into the treetops.
"What do you see?" Emaia asked curiously and followed his stare. The light shone through the green leaves and cast a yellow sheen on the ground.
"The same as you," Aide smiled. "Beauty, nature... life."
"Can I ask you something?" Emaia asked after a short moment. "How did you learn to fight?"
Aide kept watching the trees, but didn't speak a word. Instead he gave her a smile and sat up. "You're very curious about me, aren't you?"
Emaia shrugged a little. "It's hard not to be. You're so..."
"Different?"
"I was going to say silent, but yes," She smiled. "You're different, too. You keep so much hidden, I mean, we don't even know your real name. I just wonder what your story is."
Aide chuckled a little. "Even if I could tell you, I wouldn't."
"Is the name-thing really an elf law?"
Aide nodded and looked up at the trees again. "Thou shall not speak thine name; Thy name is thine virtue and shall not be spoken until thine heart you shall give."
Emaia blinked stunned. "That was beautiful. Is that how the law sounds?"
"One of them, anyways," Aide smiled and gave a vague shrug. "It is of course roughly translated into the common tongue. It sounds a bit different in the Elven."
"How many laws do you have?" Emaia asked interested. It seemed he didn't mind opening up about his kind as long as he didn't reveal anything about himself.
"A few more," Aide replied. "I won't bore you with reciting them. I think maybe we should be heading back. They must be wondering where you are by now."
Emaia scoffed and looked onto the ground. "I still don't get why they won't at least try to accept me. It's like they're not even trying at all."
"Why do you keep seeking their approval?" Aide asked and rose a brow. "You don't need them to tell you how great you are."
"You think I'm great?" Emaia shyly asked. It felt a little weird to be asking him that, but he brought it up.
"This is what I don't understand about humans," Aide said and stood up. "You should know that you are great, you should know that those men out there don't determine whether or not you can do things," He said and pointed to the beach. "But most of all, you should know that no matter what people tell you, they don't have the right to pass judgment; You are your own master."
"That's all great, but that's not how our world works, Aide," Emaia said and looked at the ground again. "It might be different where you come from, but women here get taught to look up to men, not the other way around. This is a man's world."
She heard the leaves crunch under his feet and then Aide crouched down in front of her. "The first time I saw you in Bart, I saw a flicker in your eyes. The second night I saw blazing fire." Emaia dared to look up at him and saw him looking intensely at her. "You were being held down by a man, and even then, you didn't give up. You fought on, even when he tried to steal the purest thing you own."
"My jewels aren't the purest thing I—"
"That's not what I'm talking about. You fought, Emaia," Aide said and stared into her eyes and her soul. "You didn't know I was there, you thought you were all alone against those men and you didn't give up. This is the same situation; Those men are holding you down," He said and quickly glanced over her shoulder. "Where's your fire?"
Emaia felt something move inside her by his words. It was something fierce and empowering inside her heart that made it thud loud and strong. She looked into Aide's deep, hauntingly beautiful eyes and pressed her lips together. He was right. She needed to stop letting herself get pushed over and take charge. She needed to show them she was better than what they made of her.
"There it is," Aide said. A slow smirk spread on his lips. "I see fire."
"I wanna keep practicing," Emaia said and crawled to her feet. "I'm not leaving this spot until I can at least make the dagger stick properly."
Aide stood up as well. "I'll stay and help if you want me to."
Emaia thought about it for a moment and made a decision. "Thank you, but I think I can do it myself. I mean, I know how to throw, I just have to practice, right?"
Aide smiled and then calmly nodded. "I'll leave you to it, then."
"Thanks," Emaia smiled. She stepped up to the tree while Aide tied his cloak back on and pulled up the hood. When he turned to walk away, he paused and glanced back at her. He watched her for a short moment before he finally turned and left.
Emaia was going to train until she couldn't stand on her feet.