Skwyr Court

fittingin

“That’s enough for today,” Master Ekla said, lowering her sword.

Kurgm felt like he’d collapse any moment. His own sword felt like lead in his hands. He wiped away sweat from his eyes.

“You sure?” he asked, panting. “I don’t know, I think I have you right where I want you.”

She sheathed her sword. “Sure. You should have enough time to wash up before dinner. Rest assured, this doesn’t come up much. The court prefers to think and reason through problems than applying brute force.”

He put away his own sword and grabbed his pack. He returned to his room and washed up. After putting the sword away, Kurgm started down to dinner.

Acting on instinct, he started down to the kitchens, but stopped.

You can’t be eating down in the kitchens. You will eat upstairs like an apprentice.

Kurgm didn’t much care for eating in the great hall, but as an apprentice, it was expected of him. Even with standing permission to eat in the kitchens, he knew he should be eating with the others.

He turned around and started back to the great hall, where apprentices were already starting to gather. He glanced around the tables and spotted Roshil and Aonva sitting together. Maybe Aonva wouldn’t mind him sitting with her again.

When the stress gets too much for her, she’ll crack and leave the court. If she isn’t having one problem, she’ll be having another. Once you forget about this incident, I’m sure they’ll be another.

Kurgm turned away and spotted Demndun. She saw him and smiled. He liked the way she smiled. It reminded him of the first rays of sun peeking through the temple windows.

He walked over and sat down next to her.

“Where’s everyone else?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” She grinned. “Your hair’s all wet.”

“Combat practice. Every knight needs to be ready to defend people in case a situation gets violent. I washed up before I came here.”

“You look really clean.”

“Oh. Um… thank you.”

Demndun found something interesting on the table that absorbed her attention.

“What did you do today?” Kurgm asked.

“I—”

“Decided to grace us with your presence?” Cremwa asked as she sat down on the other side of Demndun. Zifor and Muwen were right behind her, and sat down across from the three of them.

“I finished early,” Kurgm said. “Well, earlier than—”

“Some of us actually like spending time with people,” Cremwa said. “I’ve been helping Demndun with arcane language after dinner while you’ve been learning to be a soldier.”

“That depends on how you define ‘helping’,” Demndun muttered.

“Knights aren’t soldiers,” Kurgm said. “We’re—”

“I wouldn’t expect a knight to understand a mage.” She turned away from him and started to say something, but was cut off by the sound of every apprentice standing at attention.

The officers walked in, following by King Fohra. When the seven of them took their seats, Cremwa started talking again.

“Can you believe Apprentice Kemdra?” Cremwa said as she started putting food on her plate. “The nerve of her. She accused me of cheating today.”

“She’s just jealous,” Muwen said through a mouthful of food. “Probably annoyed that you have time to make friends.”

“Cheating’s a big deal,” Kurgm said. “You could—”

“You’re right,” Cremwa said, ignoring Kurgm. “She is jealous. Not everyone can be as perfect as me, right Demndun?”

“Sure.”

Kurgm realized Oshal hadn’t arrived yet. He looked around the great hall and spotted Oshal sitting with another group of apprentices.

“Why’s Oshal sitting over there?” Kurgm said, taking advantage of Cremwa having food in her mouth.

“He’s friends with everyone,” Zifor said. “He doesn’t always sit with us.”

“Which you’d know if you ever showed up,” Cremwa added. She turned her attention back to Zifor and Muwen.

“It’s alright,” Demndun said. “I like that you work hard.” She glanced at Cremwa and agreed with something Kurgm hadn’t caught.

“It’s not always a choice,” Kurgm said. “Master Ekla works me pretty hard.”

“But you still keep up. That’s something. I can’t always keep up with what Master Silbrom tells me. She talks really fast sometimes. Not that I’m complaining or anything.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Zifor asked, a goofy grin on his face.

“What slackers weavers are,” Muwen said through a laugh.

Zifor responded by punching him in the arm.

“I think we were talking about me,” Cremwa said, glaring at Kurgm. “Stop trying to hog all the attention.”

“I wasn’t—”

“Like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted…”

Kurgm was starting to get the sense that Cremwa had a problem with him. He didn’t know what it was, but this wasn’t the first time she’d been like this. Even then, Kurgm thought she was worse than usual.

“Demndun,” he said while Zifor and Muwen had Cremwa distracted, “I was wondering if you’d like to go to the gardens after dinner. I know it’s cold out, but I thought it might be nice.”

Demndun looked down and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I promised Cremwa we would study together tonight.” She tried smiling, but still looked sad. “I really am sorry. I have an exam tomorrow, and I need the extra help.”

After dinner, Kurgm walked alone to the gardens.

He wrapped a cloak and scarf around himself, then trudged through a fresh layer of snow. Despite the snow, children still ran around the gardens, illuminated by floating orbs of light. Druids went to their sleeping area, made distinct by being the only ones not bundled up. Near the end of the procession, walking slowly off to the side, was Oshal. He walked alongside a druid.

“Oshal!” Kurgm called.

Oshal twitched his head and smiled. He and his friend made their way to Kurgm.

“Hello, Kurgm.” He motioned to his friend. “This is Apprentice Nourd. He’s a druid.”

“I figured. No one else would be warm this time of year without a cloak.”

“Why is there glass on your face?” Nourd asked.

“They’re glasses,” Kurgm said, adjusting them. “They help me see.”

“Why? Are you blind like Oshal?” He turned to Oshal. “Why do you not use glass?”

“I’m not blind, I just have trouble seeing things far away.”

Nourd stepped closer and smelled him.

“Um…” Kurgm didn’t know how to respond to any of that. Being smelled by someone was a first for him.

“I remember you,” Nourd said. “You were the male that the female wanted to mate with.”

Kurgm wouldn’t have thought a situation in which he’d been smelled could’ve been made more awkward, but Nourd had found a way.

“Nourd, that wasn’t polite,” Oshal said.

“But—”

“It wasn’t polite.”

Nourd frowned at Oshal. “Is this another part of ‘manners’?”

“Yes.”

“Which part? Am I not supposed to remember people?”

“No, but…” Oshal turned to Kurgm. “Excuse us, Kurgm. It was nice to talk to you again.”

“Yeah. You too.”

Oshal led Nourd away, talking in a low voice.

Kurgm watched them go. He didn’t feel like spending time in the gardens anymore. Even being around Oshal, which usually made him feel more comfortable, didn’t have its usual effect.

Maybe I just can’t get along with other people.

#VolumeThree #FittingIn

Kurgm met Master Ekla in one of the training rooms the next day. His stomach churned at the thought of another lesson in pretending he’d be able to defend someone one day.

“Before we start on combat and defense, we’re going to practice using ki,” Master Ekla said. She motioned to a corner of the room. “You can put your gear down over there, you won’t need it yet.”

Kurgm did as he was told, then sat down where Master Ekla indicated.

Today’s already shaping up to be better than yesterday.

“Close your eyes, and concentrate on your hearing. Feel the energy flowing through you. Breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth. Every breath connects you to the world.”

Kurgm felt the troubles of the past slipping away. With each deep breath, more sounds came into focus. He heard people in other rooms walking around, soft footsteps echoing from far away. Even Master Ekla’s light footfalls became clearer. He listened to her walking to the other side of the room as she brought her voice to a whisper.

“Can you still hear me?”

Kurgm nodded, afraid to hear what his own voice would sound like.

“Good. Open your eyes.”

Kurgm did as he was told. The world didn’t seem as bright as it had when he’d closed them.

“Your vision won’t be as good now that you’re focusing your ki on your hearing.”

He nodded. He already knew that, but Master Ekla tended to talk about anything to keep testing him when they did this.

“Stand up.” When he had, she continued. “Walk slowly around the room.”

This was something he hadn’t completely mastered. One day, he’d be able to channel his ki with minimal effort on his part, even through his weapon in times of crisis. For now, he settled for being able to walk and channel it at the same time.

Master Ekla walked around, staying on the opposite side of the room, still talking in a quiet voice.

“Stop. Turn around. Walk the other way.”

She continued to give him instructions, telling him to walk faster or slower, to turn around, anything to verify that he could still hear her.

“You’re doing well.”

He winced when she drew her sword. The sound of it unsheathing sounded like someone had rung a bell next to his ear.

Panic started to set in. She wasn’t about to attack him, was she?

His eyes darted over to the other side of the room where his gear lay. He’d never reach it before she got to him. He’d have to figure out how to get around her.

His attention returned to Master Ekla as she ran at him, sword raised.

Kurgm ran to his left, trying to get around her. He stumbled and fell, then scrambled to his feet. His foot caught something, and he went tumbling back down. Before he could get back up, Master Ekla planted her foot on his chest.

“If you’d kept up your hearing,” she said, “you would’ve heard me say ‘Don’t move, I’m not going to hurt you’.”

She removed her foot and offered him a hand to get up.

“I couldn’t hear after you unsheathed your sword. It was too loud.”

“There will be times when you’re escorting a shipment and people attack you. People who know how ki works, and know that if they hide in the woods, you’ll have to listen for an attack. Banging something together is a good way to throw off someone who isn’t used to it. You’ll have a split second to react before the attackers press forward to take the shipment from you.”

Kurgm thought about it for a moment, then shook his head.

“I don’t understand what the lesson here is. Was I supposed to have stopped listening?”

Master Ekla shook her head. “You did exactly what I’d expect you to do. What you should do is use your ki to recover. While it can augment your hearing, it can also repair them after a loud sound like that. That’s today’s lesson. Let’s start over.”

After a few painful tries, Kurgm began to pick up how to fix his hearing after Master Ekla tortured his ears.

“Like defense, channeling ki doesn’t come up much in a knight’s daily life,” she said as he gathered his belongings for class. “Most of what you need it for is listening for a lost or hidden child, or helping carry something. Within these walls, our responsibilities are mostly resolving disputes or providing a helping hand.”

Kurgm nodded. Once again, he already knew it, but Master Ekla liked reassuring him that he wasn’t a complete failure.

“Can’t defend anyone,” he muttered. “Can’t talk right, can’t make friends.”

I’m going to be a horrible knight.

“Stop being hard on yourself. This isn’t easy for anyone, but you’re doing fine with ki channeling. You’re actually good at it. Also, you have friends, but judging by your tone, something’s going on with them.”

“It’s nothing.” He wasn’t sure he wanted to get into it with Master Ekla. Although, she had a solution for every other problem in the world.

“If it turns out to be something,” Master Ekla said, “tell me after class. If you don’t leave now, you’re going to be late.”

Kurgm dropped of his gear in his room and grabbed his pack. Hoping he hadn’t forgotten any of his books, he trotted through the corridors. He passed through the door into the school, the feeling that he was running late already driving him on.

I wonder if this is how Aonva feels all the time.

He put her out of his mind as he reached the classroom. The bells tolled to announce the start of another lesson just as he sat down.

“Right on time,” Demndun whispered from the seat next to him.

He smiled at her, struggling to catch his breath.

“Told you he’d make it,” Zifor said to Muwen, the pair of whom were sitting in front of Kurgm and Demndun.

“Today we move onto the port city of Zensin,” the teacher began. “Despite being on the opposite end of the continent from Skwyr Court, Zensin was the ninth city to become part of the kingdom. As we have discussed in previous lectures, progress continued south, heading toward the coast. The goal was to establish trade routes with other kingdoms across the sea, and to allow travel between them all.”

Kurgm adjusted his glasses and watched the teacher point out each point in the route down to Zensin on a map in front of the class.

In front of him, Muwen muttered something to Zifor.

“Sh,” Kurgm hissed.

Muwen glared at him for a moment, then went back to trying to talk to Zifor. To his credit, Zifor was trying to ignore Muwen too.

“The only one who I’ve ever seen get him to stop talking is Cremwa,” Demndun muttered as she copied down notes. “You just have to ignore him.”

Once again, Kurgm found himself not understanding his new friends, and wondering if he ever would.

#VolumeThree #FittingIn

After dinner went about the same as the night before, Kurgm woke up groggy. He was hardly in the mood to do anything, but he dragged himself out of bed anyway. For the first time in many years, he contemplated not going to temple.

No matter what happens, the temple is how we stay grounded. Olmgra reminds us that every day can be bright and shining. All we have to do is try.

The thought of his mother made him smile, even if only for a moment. A scream echoed around his head, but faded away as he started moving through his morning routine. Wash. Dress. Gear. Bag. He made sure he had everything in case Master Ekla decided to ambush him again.

He liked the Sun Welcoming Ceremony. True to his mother’s words, it always made him feel like anything could happen. Even if everything always went wrong after that, he never gave up hoping. Maybe today would be different.

After they welcomed the sun, someone called to him.

“Apprentice Kurgm.”

Oshal made his way over to Kurgm, greeting several people on the way.

“I’m sorry about last night,” he said. “How are you doing?”

“Better, thank you.” Kurgm was a little surprised to realize that he meant it. “You?”

“I’m alright. Is it alright if I join you for breakfast?”

“Of course.”

They walked to the great hall together. Oshal tapped his way through the corridors. Apprentices were converging on the great hall.

“Is it hard to get around in crowds?” Kurgm asked, watching the steady stream of people entering the great hall ahead of them.

“Not really. I can sense where everyone is, so it’s actually easier.”

“Hi, Oshal,” a girl said.

“Hello, Apprentice Minem. Are you still going to the forest today?”

“I am. I’m pretty excited.”

“Have fun.”

“Thanks!”

Kurgm leaned down to Oshal. “Who was that?”

“Apprentice Minem. She’s an apprentice druid a little younger than my sister. Today’s the first day she gets to explore the forest.”

“Hey, Oshal!”

Oshal turned and raised his hand, and another boy slapped his palm as he walked past.

“Hello, Apprentice Parom. How are things at the Temple of the Known Shadow?”

“Settling down after the Ceremony of Approaching Dark, thanks for asking. Have a good one!”

“You too.”

“Apprentice priest?” Kurgm asked.

“In the Temple of the Known Shadow. I like it there. I never feel like I’m missing anything.”

They sat down together with the others.

“Good morning, everyone,” Oshal said. “How is everyone this morning?”

“It’s too early!” Cremwa whined. “How am I supposed to get my beauty sleep if they make me wake up this early?”

“Can you not complain for five minutes?” Demndun asked. “Or is that too much to ask for the Great Cremwa?”

Kurgm pressed his lips together to hold back a laugh.

“How was the ceremony?” Zifor asked them after the officers arrived and breakfast started.

“It was nice,” Oshal said. “You should come back some time. I think you’d like it.”

“Sounds like fun,” Cremwa said. “Waking up before the sun comes up every day.”

“No one asked you, Cremwa,” Demndun said.

“I might go back,” Zifor said.

“Don’t your parents still go there?” Muwen asked. “They’ll probably hug you and get all mushy.” He wrapped his arms around himself. “‘Oh Zifor, our little pumpkin wumpkin, we missed you so much! Mwah! Mwah!’”

Zifor punched him amidst a chorus of giggles. Kurgm smiled, trying to get along, but he didn’t think it was that funny. Maybe it was because he didn’t have parents? But Oshal was smiling, so maybe it was just Kurgm.

Maybe he didn’t fit in with them.

He glanced over at Roshil and Aonva. The former was chatting away to the latter, who had her head buried in a book.

Must have an exam coming up.

Knowing Aonva, she’d already read the same book three times, and only then because she hadn’t had the time to read it a fourth. Why was it so much easier to talk to her than his new friends? Even Roshil and Sirshi were easier to talk to. At least he understood them well enough, apart from Roshil’s blatant disregard for the rules.

Oshal nudged him.

“Stop staring,” he said so no one else could hear.

Kurgm didn’t know how Oshal knew he’d been staring, but he tried to focus on the conversation around him. He barely followed any of it; they were talking about something from before they had all become apprentices.

“It might be nice to see the neighborhood again,” Demndun said. “Remember Old Lady Domna? She used to leave fresh baked cookies on the window sill, and didn’t mind if a few went missing.”

“I don’t want to go back,” Muwen said. “Half the grownups would yell at me for something I didn’t do.”

“At least,” Zifor said, “something they can’t prove that you did.”

If Kurgm didn’t know Master Ekla or Aonva, he’d have thought everyone broke the rules without a second thought. Sirshi and Roshil certainly didn’t care. Oshal usually didn’t, though. At least it wasn’t just him this time.

After breakfast, Master Ekla told him to take some time off before going to class. He walked through the corridors, then through the door to the Temple of the Rising Sun. He saw Sirshi disappear into the back with Master Moudren. For a moment, he wondered if talking to Sirshi would make him feel better, but she was busy, so he walked through the door on the other side of Olmgra’s statue. He bowed on his way past, then went to the Meditation Chamber.

With his troubles shut on the other side of the door, he knelt before the smaller statue of Olmgra.

“A knight can help people. So why can’t I? I can’t fit in with anyone. I can’t make friends. I… I had friends. Well, a friend. But I don’t think she wants to talk to me anymore. I made a mistake. Now I don’t know what to do. I tried fitting in somewhere else, but it’s not working. I can’t make other friends.”

He thought of Demndun and how nice she always was to him. He wanted to talk to her, but then Cremwa kept interrupting. He didn’t want to pull Demndun away from her other friends, and he couldn’t get along with them. That left no one.

“I could never make friends before. Master Ekla worked me pretty hard, so I could never get to dinner. She stopped last year, and it was nice for a while, getting to have friends. But then everything went wrong. Roshil enchanted Aonva, but Aonva still wanted to be friends with her, and my uncle said people like that don’t change. Either of them. When Oshal introduced me to Demndun, I thought that’d be better. But now I realize I don’t fit in with them either. I’m just alone. I don’t fit in anywhere.”

Kurgm sat alone with his thoughts for a time. Class would be starting soon, so he stood up, hoping Olmgra would send him some sort of sign. As far as he could tell, she was waiting for him to figure it out.

“Thank you for listening.” After bowing again, Kurgm turned and left.

Before he left the temple, he bowed again to the statue of Olmgra.

Make today a bright day.

Kurgm wanted to, but he didn’t know how anymore.

Hurried footsteps announced Sirshi’s walk through the temple.

“Hello, Sirshi.”

“Running late, can’t talk.”

Kurgm glanced at the clock, and realized he too was running behind.

He ran to catch up to Sirshi.

“Class?” he asked.

“Yeah.” They both kept a quick pace going through the corridors, careful not to run. “You?”

“Same. Didn’t realize the time.”

They got to the north tower and went to their respective rooms. Kurgm rounded up his things, then nearly ran out the door. Sirshi left just after him.

“Sirshi, do you ever have trouble making friends?”

“No, I have trouble getting rid of friends.”

“What?”

“I have too many friends.”

Kurgm frowned. He’d only ever seen Sirshi with Roshil and Aonva.

“How many friends do you have?”

“I don’t know, three maybe?”

Their boots skidded on the floor as they turned a corner.

“How is three too many friends?”

“They keep asking me if I want to do things. Or telling me about their problems. Most of the time, I just want to be left alone.”

“Why?”

“I like being alone.”

I wish it were that easy.

They separated after going through the door to the school. Kurgm kept thinking about what Sirshi had said. It wasn’t that easy. He couldn’t stop wanting to have friends. He’d gotten so used to it over the past year.

He sat down in class and tried to concentrate on schoolwork, but the idea that he didn’t have a choice stuck. Maybe it was his only option. Maybe he just had to get used to not having friends.

#VolumeThree #FittingIn

That afternoon, Master Ekla drilled him on focusing his ki again. He didn’t mind, since it was the only part of being a knight that he could ever get right.

When she was satisfied that he could recover his senses well enough, she stopped them for the day.

“Something on your mind?” she asked. “You’ve been more down than usual.”

Kurgm remembered that Master Ekla, while primarily a master knight, was also a master weaver. And master druid, so she could probably smell misery on him or something.

“Did… did you have trouble making friends?”

“No.”

“Oh.” Kurgm should’ve expected that answer. Master Ekla was good with people. She was good with everyone. Every problem they had to solve, she not only knew the answer, but how to phrase it so people would listen. When he was younger, Kurgm remembered seeing her with Lord Velal mostly, but there must’ve been plenty of times when she was out with the hundreds of friends she must’ve had.

“I didn’t try. I used to have a friend, but when I was accepted as an apprentice and he wasn’t, we grew apart. I didn’t have a lot of time to spend with him, and my father drove me to work harder than everyone else. Even when I spent time with the other apprentices, we never connected. So I didn’t worry about it.”

That sounded more like him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to understand Demndun’s friends. If it weren’t for Oshal, he didn’t think he’d get along with any of them.

“Don’t do what I did,” Master Ekla said. “You have friends.”

“I guess.”

“Skipping over whatever happened between you and Apprentice Aonva, who I’m sure wouldn’t mind seeing you again, what about Apprentice Demndun? She seems nice.”

“When we’re alone, it’s fine. I can sort of talk to her, but when we’re with her friends, it’s impossible. I can’t understand them. They’ve been friends since they were children, and I can’t fit in with them.”

He didn’t want to mention the potential breaking of rules. They hadn’t said they did, but they had implied it. It wasn’t right to blame someone without evidence, and he didn’t have any.

Master Ekla motioned for him to sit down on the ground. She did the same after he had.

“I knew a girl once who grew up without any friends. She had people who loved her, but she couldn’t fit in with anyone her own age. Then she met another girl who also had trouble fitting in. Now the two are best friends, practically inseparable.”

“But I don’t have anyone like that.”

“You’re right. You don’t.”

“Great pep talk.”

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t keep trying. If this group of people isn’t right for you, then maybe you need to find another one. Or, if you really like Apprentice Demndun, then ask her to spend more time with you. I can ask Master Silbrom to let her have time off with you, but you have to ask Apprentice Demndun first.”

“We sometimes go out to the gardens,” Kurgm said. “We go to one of the moonlit gardens sometimes and just talk for a while.”

It wasn’t always easy to find something about which they could talk. It’d been easier with Aonva. Almost any topic, especially academics, would get Aonva talking. She was a wealth of information about the court, dragons, history, the temples. Almost anything.

“Do that, then.” Master Ekla stood up. “Like I said, don’t be like me. Go out, make friends, and have a life. I didn’t have any of that, but you can.”

Kurgm stood up and gathered his things. “Thank you.”

Master Ekla nodded. “You’re welcome.” She waved him away. “Now go away.”

Kurgm smiled to himself as he left the practice room and headed to dinner. When he arrived, he was lucky enough to find Demndun already there, without the others.

“Hello,” he said as he sat down.

“Hi.” She averted her eyes for a moment, then looked back at him. “I wanted to ask you something.”

“Me too. What’s yours?”

“Would you like to go to the gardens tonight?” she asked. “I know it’s cold, but you asked yesterday, so I thought you’d like to go again?”

Kurgm smiled and nodded. “That’s what I was going to ask.”

Demndun lit up. “Great! Right after dinner, before it gets too dark?”

“Yeah.”

Even with the others there, dinner flew by. Kurgm walked with Demndun to the north tower to grab heavier clothes. Kurgm waited for Demndun to come out. When she did, she had on a matching scarf, hat, and mittens.

“Don’t laugh,” she said. “Old Lady Domna made them for me. They’re really warm, and I get cold easily.”

“She sounds nice,” he said as they started walking.

“She is. She used to look after all of us when our parents were away.” They stepped through the door to the gardens into the cold. “What about you? You never talk about what it was like growing up in the castle.”

They trudged through fresh snow on their way to the closest of the moonlit gardens. Druids walked passed them on their way to the druid’s sleeping area, which sat next to the moonlit garden. They walked through the gap in the evergreen trees to find it deserted.

“My parents died when I was little,” he said. Something flickered around in his head for a moment, but vanished before he could find it. “I was raised by Our Lord True Knight.”

“I’m sorry. You never said.”

“I don’t like to talk about it. I do like hearing about all the adventures you had.”

So long as they don’t involve breaking rules, although I think they all do.

They sat down on a bench. Demndun slid closer to him.

“It’s still cold,” she said.

He started to protest that it wasn’t, but Demndun wrapped her arm around his, and his mind stopped.

“That’s better,” she said.

She rested her head on his shoulder. Slowly, he rested his head on hers. Maybe he didn’t fit in with her friends, but that didn’t matter. He fit in just fine with her.

#VolumeThree #FittingIn

Ekla walked through the court. Even though she’d been a master druid for several months, she still wasn’t used to not needing a cloak to keep her warm.

You can draw heat from the earth. She has plenty to spare.

She passed the gardens and wondered about Kurgm. She wasn’t sure about his new friends, but if he was happy for now, she’d keep a good thought.

Following the river, Ekla arrived at the cemetery and pushed the gate open. She nodded to the groundskeeper on her way past, making her way through the tombstones. In other cities, more prominent members of society got bigger, more elaborate tombstones. But in the court, everyone was equal, so officers and common folk alike where treated the same.

There’s nothing common about them, Apprentice Ekla. Everyone is extraordinary in their own way.

She found her way to one grave in particular.

Lady Enrakal Mother, Wife, Sister, Friend Protecting Olmgra’s Kingdom as she protected ours

“My Lady.” Ekla bowed respectfully, then knelt down in front of the grave. “I know I haven’t been by to visit in a while. I’ve been busy.”

That’s because you’ve always worked too hard.

“Kurgm is doing well. He’s struggling to make friends. I wish I could say he was talking with Apprentice Aonva again, but I don’t know where they stand, or what happened. He won’t talk about it. Sometimes I see him looking at her like he wants to talk to her again, but something’s stopping him. He’s getting friendly with Apprentice Demndun, though. Lady Emgard says she’s sweet, and I think that will be good for him. I still wish he’d get back with Apprentice Aonva, but that’s because she reminds me a lot of myself at her age. I don’t think they were ever a couple, but I could see it starting. Then your brother happened and…”

Ekla stopped herself before she got too far. She couldn’t prove that Amnadm had had anything to do with Kurgm not talking to Aonva anymore, but the timing couldn’t have been a coincidence. Amnadm was like a tornado; he swept in and wrecked everything in his path, especially where Kurgm was involved.

“He really wants to make you proud. I did too, when I was his age. I know I say it every time I visit, but thank you for believing in me. For seeing past what my father wanted from me.”

Her mind drifted away for a moment, back to another time. She didn’t let it linger there long.

“He’ll make a good knight one day. He’d never believe it now, but I know he will. Lord Velal did a good job raising him. He still checks in on Kurgm sometimes. Better than—” She stopped herself before making another remark about Amnadm.

Kurgm’s only living relative, and he can’t be bothered to write to him. Fine. It’s fine. It’s probably for the best.

She took several deep breaths to calm herself down.

“They’re both doing great.”

And how are you doing, Master Ekla?

“I’m working on my priest apprenticeship. Lady Runslo says I’m almost finished, but she’s been saying that for months, so I think she just says that. I’ve learned a lot about the different religions. I’m still not going to join a temple, but I’ve learned they do a lot more than I realized.”

She smiled for a moment, but she could feel Lady Enrakal’s stare on her, looking straight past her facade. Ekla could never lie to her.

“Sometimes I feel like I’ve got to look out for three apprentices. I know Lord Grund looks out for Apprentice Roshil, but I feel responsible for her. And I want to know that my father didn’t do too much damage to Sirshi. I thought… I thought if they gave each other a chance, they’d come to some sort of understanding. I thought I could give him a chance, but he threw it in Sirshi’s face. I want to know that telling our father how she was doing won’t hurt her anymore.”

Ekla took a breath and reminded herself that neither Apprentice Aonva nor Apprentice Oshal needed her to look out for them. Neither did Sirshi or Roshil, but Ekla felt like it was her responsibility. She understood what they were all going through, and she wanted to help them through it.

Apprentice Ekla, you shouldn’t work so hard. You’ll make the rest of us look bad.

Ekla let out a quick laugh, then straightened up. Sometimes, she truly believed that Lady Enrakal was listening. Even if she wasn’t, Ekla could imagine what she’d say.

“When Lord Velal took charge of Kurgm, I could tell it was hard. He tried so hard not to let it show, but I could still see it. The more I remember about it, the more I see it. It’s hard for me too. I keep wishing I knew exactly what to say to make him happy. To see him happy, but I don’t know. He isn’t like everyone else.” She smiled at the grave. “Of course, he’s not. He’s your son.”

Ekla stood up and bowed.

“I should go. I’ve got a lot to do. I’ll keep taking care of him as best I can.”

I know you will. Just make sure you’re taking care of yourself, too.

“Of course, My Lady.”

She bowed again, then bowed to the grave next to hers.

Master Soorgom Father, Husband, Friend A mind such as his doesn’t come by often

Apart from knowing him as “The Brilliant Master Soorgom”, Ekla hadn’t known Kurgm’s father well. Nevertheless, she took time to pay her respects to both his parents.

Ekla turned and started out of the cemetery. A calming feeling came over her. She could hear the sounds of the court not far away, but a peace prevailed inside the cemetery. She walked among the greats of Skwyr Court.

Before she left, Ekla stopped at one last grave. As far as she knew, it was the one grave in the entire cemetery whose occupant had never stepped foot inside the court.

Prenowla Loving Mother and Wife Protecting the innocent to the very end

“I’ll keep your family safe,” Ekla said as she bowed. “I promise.”

#VolumeThree #FittingIn