We were back out side after I finished with my mannequin. Will stared at the thing in front of him confused beyond belief. At the same height as him, the mannequin was a few feet wide made from boxes, brooms, and anything else I could find. It had string as hair, rotten old oranges as eyes and a pair of my old clothes on with a belt holding a sack around the waist. It also had bells hanging from the waist.
"How is this... thing going to help me train for fighting?"
"It isn't for fighting. Well at least for a while. It's for teaching you to be stealthy, graceful, and how to not get caught."
"What?"
"It's to help you become a pickpocketer. One of the key points of being a thief is to help get what is needed in a time of crisis. Stealing something without anyone noticing is the best way."
"You want me to become a thief? No way! You're out of your mind. There is no reason to steal from people. I'm not going to do it." He made it clear.
"If you don't learn how to be stealthy you're not going to learn to fight." I explained.
"How exactly is stealing going to help me fight. I see no correlation."
"Let me put it this way. Say you're in need of food. You have three options: starve, steal money to pay for food, or steal food straight off. In a situation starving is never good. You don't know when you'll eat again. You steal food from a market, which could work, but one: You'll have a watchful clerk on you making it hard to get something, two: Someone else in the market may catch you, which is just as worst, or three: Someone in the market will rat you out to that person you're running from. It's an okay decision but you'll have to be lucky.
"Then you have stealing money. It's risky like everything else done but you won't have as many problems. Not many people will be watching you so that's good. You could always blow it off as an accident bump in and finally you could get food without getting caught. "
Will looked at the mannequin for a while deciding what to. He shook his head a few times then said, "Fine but only for extreme emergencies."
"Great let's get started then." Slowly I explained the technique, procedure, and demonstrated how a good pickpocketer worked so it would sink in. Will watched and listened intently absorbing as much as he could.
"Now you try." I encouraged stepping out of the way.
With a hesitant step Will came to the mannequin. Before he proceeded he asked, "What are the bells for?"
"You'll see" With that Will tried to imitate what he had just seen. All the bells rang out during his attempt to take the sack. The sudden sound made Will jump away.
"Now you see. The bells are a marker. They ring with the slightest vibration or movement from the mannequin. They're there to notify you that you made a move that someone would feel. In other worlds they're going to tell if you made a successful snatch."
"What you did wrong on that attempt was putting too much pressure. It made the belt go up when you let go and it rang the bells. For a helpful tip try not to release so suddenly. Let the belt go gradually until it's in the right position. Now that's all the help you'll get from me. You're on your own for now on. Learn from your mistakes by yourself and you'll learn faster and more efficiently. It'll help you figure out strategies on the spot like in a real world situation."
Will didn't respond to that he just got back to trying to figure out more efficient solution. Satisfied with my help I turned away ready to work on my chores. Missing two days made for a lot of it.
I went around the house doing work. I cleaned the silverware, plates, and glasses. I sharpened the knives, made sure everything was orderly, and put away the blankets. Outside I cut logs in half for winter and the fire and made sure Will was still practicing.
No surprise, he was.
Eventually I found my way to my spot in the woods were it was quiet and time seemed to stand still. The trees made a natural clearing around a fallen log. Sun shined down in that one spot most of the day. At night the clearing made a nice view of the starry night. The stars would take the spot of the sun to shine down. Occasionally in spring and fall the full moon would glow overhead making the surroundings lit as in the day. The perfect time of the year was either on the winter or summer solstice. The sky was always clear on the days no matter how the morning was. Whether it was raining or snowing I could always expect a clear night sky and a beautiful moon to show.
During the day I would go up here to think about the day. I'd reflect on my actions. Some days I would just go and think about the world, both the one I was in and the one behind the Gate. On rare occasions I would practice my combat skills on a near by tree but that was just if I needed to vent and was already there. I never wanted to ruin my spot so I avoided that as much as possible.
Today just seemed like a day to go. I could sit in my spot like normal and still hear the bells on the mannequin. I just lay down on the log and looked up at the sky feeling at peace. The sun was just behind the east side of the trees so the cool breeze and shade seemed ideal conditions for sleep. Slowly my head stared to drift off like the clouds in the sky. My head nodded with my eyes trying to get sleep. Eventually I gave in to the world around me.
The sun was close to the west tree line when I woke up finally. My first instinct was to look around at my surroundings to make sure no one was there. The next thing I thought of was 'what is that sound.' I wasn't fully awake yet.
In the distance I heard a soft sound. I tuned in on the sound until I heard well enough to realize it was the sounds of the bells. It clicked in that the bells were from Will practicing. They just had seemed softer then before.
I walked back to the house making my way to the front of the house so Will didn't see me come out of the woods and ask questions. Out of curiosity I walked to the end of the tree line in the back yard to see how Will was progressing. To my surprise my tired ears hadn't played tricks on me, the bells were softer. Will had managed to figure a way to get the sack while only making two thirds of the bells ring. He had made progress, a lot of progress. I moved farther in the shadows of the trees before I walked around to the front.
From there I walked into the house grabbed a glass and walked back to the backyard. Will was still at it trying hard. He tried to hide his frustration but I could still tell. I walked to his side. He seemed to not notice me and kept going. I cleared my throat. He looked at me and stopped.
I held out the glass. "Go get a drink it's hot out here, then you're done for the day. That was enough practice."
"What? No I'm not done I can still do better." He said.
"No you're wrong, you're done. Do I need to remind you our deal? No arguing, plus you still have a room to fix anyways. You still have to earn your keep." There was no argument there. Will just got his water and went straight into the house like a child being punished. As he left I looked at the bells. Some were still swaying but only a few. He might have more potential then I thought.
I still didn't get the chance to workout as well as I usually did. So after I made sure Will was on task, I went back outside. Even though I thought he was going to be working for a while I didn't trust him. He could walk out at anytime. I couldn't let him find out about the real me.
Since I had to re-stretch I decided to go backward from normal. Just so it wasn't too boring I did flexibility, then stretch, and then ran. I always had to put combat last so I was warmed up enough.
Even though I had started the morning training hand-to-hand I decided to practice with my blades. So I went back into the house got a few knives and daggers from a secret compartment I kept. I stopped by the living room door to make sure Will had kept to his work.
Instead I found Will standing in front of a dummy he made. He was just putting on the belt of noisy objects and an old rag that was made into a sack. I stopped my movement at the doorway and leaned against it watching, observing. He used an old broom as a body base with the end of the pole stuck into middle of some random items to keep it up right. The thing was covered with an old cloak. He used extra rope as a belt and some small noisy things as the bells. Other then the dummy he had finished the work.
I stood in the doorway until Will noticed me. His eyes widened at the sight of me. My body was still leaning but my arms were crossed at my chest. He opened his mouth to say something but I put a hand up to stop him. He seemed to lower his head in shame.
"If you hadn't finished this room I'd be very upset with you right now. But since you finished I'm not that mad. Actually I'm intrigued on how you decided to use that extra junk. Instead of throwing it out you decided to use it for something else. Not many people would. Considering this is your space now I don't really care." I explained.
"Wait this is my room now? That's why you were making me clean it." He asked astonished.
"It's not your room just space for you to use. From the woodpile to the end of the mannequin is not your space; don't even use it. Anything from the mannequin to the wall over here is yours. Do what ever you want. Practicing is okay. Like I said before I really don't care what you do with it as long as it stays organized." I walked outside again without waiting for him to say anything.
My tree was just waiting for me when I went outside again. It was just begging me to stab a knife into it. I was so willing to too. Something was bothering me and I didn't know what. Since I couldn't think it over, I did the next best thing, work it out.
So I practiced on the tree. I practiced swing, slicing, and dodging. I just let my years of practice guide me through each movement. I let my movement become a sort of exotic dance with all of my body moving. Each swing was like a rhythm that played to the sound of the forest. Each step I took was like a step in a dance. Every vibrant move was a fight with a partner to lead bringing the body into a struggle. Everything moved in a dance that never stopped.
Sadly my body put up a fight with itself to keep going and to quite. My feet throbbed but my legs kept moving. My stomach growled yet my mind told me to ignore it. The bark of the tree had cut my hands making my head say stop and not go on but my arms kept swinging. Nothing wanted to stop but everything did. I didn't want to stop but I knew I should.
Eventually I did stop from exhaustion. My face was sweating profoundly and my hair was soaked. I had to stop for water or I would have passed out. My lungs didn't seem like it wanted to take in air. Only short shallow breaths were allowed. The heat hit me hard making everything a bit dizzy for a moment.
I was so hot from the workout; I had to sit inside the tree line. The shade brought a cool, refreshing feeling to me. As I sat still I realized there was a breeze after all, I just couldn't tell by the smothering heat. Everything was quiet except the faint sound of a jingle when I closed me eyes and listened.
Nothing made a sound except the breeze going between the branches swaying them. The birds weren't even chirping, at least loudly. Nature seemed at peace with its self, with the rest of the world. I didn't want to get up and disturb that peace but I felt the air get cold and the breeze chilled. It indicated night and I couldn't leave Will alone not knowing what he would so without me there. I couldn't risk it.
A gigantic sigh left me as I forced my self up. Will again had to ruin everything. Sluggishly I walked over to front door and opened it. My senses kicked in right away when I didn't hear any noise coming from 'Will's' space anymore. I tensed up my hand reaching for my concealed knife. No noise from Will was like a beehive not buzzing in the day it just wasn't natural. As quietly as I could I walked up to the doorway ready to spring. Leaning behind the wall I peaked around the corner.
A smile grew on my face slightly. The reason I hadn't heard anything was because he was a sleep. Will was on the floor leaning against the wall, eyes closed, asleep. The cloak was on the mannequin had fallen partially on Will's lap. Peace struck me as the expression on his face. He looked younger than sixteen sleeping and it made me wonder if everyone looked young and innocent while asleep, even me.
Quietly I walked to where he laid, picked up the cloak, and placed it on him the right way, at least so it covered him. Just like how I came in I went to my window bench, took out the panel, and tried to close my eyes. One thing came to my head before I fell into deep sleep and that was 'I wonder if I looked innocent while I was asleep. If only that were true.'