by Katie Pottle
“Well hello, Master Emilio. It is a pleasant surprise to find you here.” Cadin could hear the slight tremor in his mom’s voice which helped him to remember that most people found Master Emilio highly disconcerting. “We would be happy to have you join us for dinner.” Cadin’s stomach sank. He was not in a good mood and wasn’t sure if he wanted his entire evening with his family taken up with awkward moments between his parents and Master Emilio.
“Thank you for offer, Sara; however, I have a prior engagement.”
Sara nodded to Master Emilio and then turned to Cadin. “Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes. Don’t forget to get cleaned up beforehand.”
“Thanks, mom,” Cadin muttered.
“I must research gin-blades before I can give you many more pointers; however, I will teach you basic gin exercises which should help with your control. First of all, bond with each of your gins. Each is unique and you should understand them as such. Try doing a full hour of drills with one gin at a time. Practice sending it out from the gin-blade and asking it to return. Send them around corners and try to do small tasks with each.”
“Yes, sir,” Cadin responded half-heartedly. With the time constraints in his life, he wondered if learning to use gins was worth it.
“I will be out of town the next couple of weeks, so our lessons will have to wait.” Cadin looked up and wondered why Master Emilio did not say something about his journey sooner. “I was not certain about going on the trip,” Master Emilio said as if in response to Cadin’s thoughts. “However, there are too many questions associated with Tsuyo, and though your training here is important, there is now a new element. I am going to a place that will be ideal for researching your gin-blade, so I now feel I must go—if only to be better prepared to help in your training.”
Cadin was shocked that Master Emilio would go on a questionable trip just to help him. “Where are you going, sir?”
“I have business due in the Lavine Quad. I know of several rumored Gin Masters on Lance and Lark who may be worth tracking down. Do you have any specific questions about your gin-blade?”
Cadin was about to say no right away and then stopped himself. “I would like to know if there is a way to help the gins and gin-blade become more compatible with each other.”
“I will see what I can find. Now you better go get cleaned up for dinner. Do not forget to practice. You will gain a lot just by handling them more.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Good luck and I will see you in two weeks.” Master Emilio flew up the narrow valley and disappeared behind the hill.
Cadin exhaled evenly through his last set of push-ups. The sun was out, and it was an unseasonably warm day with a clear sky above them. Cadin loved that their P.E teacher had chosen an outside workout for once. He finished his set and rolled onto his back to stretch and enjoy with warm rays.
Gur ran up to him and curled close to his side. The dragon had recently taken to exploring the forest during Cadin’s outdoor classes and activities and had a knack for knowing when class was over. If Gur was not back in time—which was rare—Cadin would give two sharp whistles.
“Hey, buddy,” Cadin said as he scratched between his wings.
“Gurrrr.”
“Finished!” Lep said with a huff as he plopped down next to Cadin. “I’ll be sore—but I can’t complain about outdoor gym.”
“Right? This is awesome. I wish we had our wings so we could soar home after school.”
“All in good time, my friend.” Lep patted Cadin’s shoulder and laid down next to him.
“Boys, this is not nap time!” Their short, burly instructor called out.
“Yes, Instructor Harvey,” Cadin said.
“But we finished before everyone else!” Lep said.
Cadin looked around and saw a few others still working through their exercises.
“And that just earned you both five extra power sets. And begin.”
Lep’s mouth hung open, and Cadin could tell he was about to say something which would likely earn them another five.
“Yes, sir,” Cadin said as he simultaneously kicked Lep’s shin.
“Ouch! I mean—yes, sir.”
Instructor Harvey strutted away to go harass some other students across the field. When they had made it to sun salutations, Sun and Vincent wandered over.
“What’d you guys do to piss off Har-har?” Vincent asked, using the nickname Cadin knew Instructor Harvey hated.
“Nothing!” Lep said—wobbling on a one-legged squat. “We just got done first.”
“He does seem grumpier than normal,” Sun noted.
“Must be from getting kicked out of his gym,” Vincent said as he chewed on a long piece of grass.
“What do you mean?” Cadin asked. He was on his last set, and his legs and arms were burning.
“I heard Har-har complaining to Headmaster Tripharian in the beginning of the week. I walked by today and saw a closed sign on the non-winged gym.”
“Hmm…I wonder why?”
“Don’t know. At least you don’t have to worry about getting your butt kicked in the Ladder Master Challenge again this week!” Vincent said as he punched Cadin’s shoulder.
“True.” Cadin was too tired for a witty comeback. Besides, he had gotten his butt kicked by both Vincent and Lep nearly every week since school started. However, he had hoped to even out the record before they all got their wings and the game became moot.
Next to him—Lep dramatically collapsed. Gur ran over and began pulling on Lep’s hair and chirping in his ear.
Cadin and Sun laughed as Lep tried to fend him off.
“Lunch?” Vincent asked.
“Yes!”
“Let’s go.”
Walking into the cafeteria, Cadin noticed Valentine loitering near the front of the food. He nudged Lep and lifted his chin towards the dark beauty. A huge smile lit Lep’s face as he pushed by Cadin and hurried to her side.
“Is she the girl who came to Challenge Club?” Sun asked from beside him.
“Yes. Her name is Valentine.”
“I think Lep has a bit of a crush.”
They advanced in the lunch line—Lep carrying both of their trays and laughing at something that she said.
“I think it is a big crush.”
“She is very pretty,” Sun said. “I wonder what happened to her wings.”
“I’m not sure—but I don’t think she can fly.”
“That totally stinks!”
Lep sat with Valentine at their regular table and waved them over when they got through the line. Bart was already sitting with them.
“Hey, guys,” Bart said. “You look a little wind-swept. Did you have P.E. outside too?”
“Yeah, with an extra five power sets!” Lep exclaimed.
“Oh, get over it already,” Cadin said. “We wouldn’t have had extras if you had kept your mouth shut with Har…Instructor Harvey.”
“Maybe,” Lep conceded.
“Bart, do you know why they closed the non-winged gym?”
“Sorry, man—I got my wings.” He laughed as Cadin gave him a friendly shove.
Valentine took in the friendly banter without saying a word—a cautious grin on her face.
“It’s nice to see you again, Valentine,” Cadin said before he took a bite. “Have you met Sun?”
“Not formally. It’s nice to meet you.”
“And you too,” Sun said as she shook her hand across the table. “So, what Path are you on?”
“I’m on the Academic Path. I love cloud-biology and hope to work in Town Hall one day—or maybe one of the sanctuaries.” Her eyes lit up.
“Oh, you should talk to Cadin about that. He’s got connections.” Sun winked at Cadin and he had to laugh.
“Hey, he’s not the only one you could recommend.” Lep said, shoulders slumped. “I mean, I also apprenticed at Lynn’s Dragon Ranch in Primary school!”
“I was thinking about his mom working at Town Hall,” Sun s
aid.
“Wait!” Valentine cut in. “You got to work at the Dragon Ranch?” She was close to Lep—eyes wide.
Lep’s cheeks flushed red as he sputtered. “Well, yeah. With Cadin a few years ago.”
“That’s amazing—I’m so jealous!”
“Why didn’t you apprentice there? I mean—Lynn said she’s offered the apprenticeship for a while.” Cadin asked.
“I wanted to, but my dad made me apprentice at Town Hall. And not even in the Cloud-Bio department—but in Government Affairs. Eh!” Her face fell as she poked at her food. She looked up. “Sorry. It’s just that I find my dad a little smothering at times.”
“No problem,” Cadin said lightly. “Maybe Lep and I can take you over to the Dragon Ranch some time to meet Lynn. I think you’d like her.” He didn’t mention Lynn also had a problem with her wings.
“I would absolutely love to!” Valentine said.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Red Visitors
“Cadin! I thought you were going to wake up early to go with Leptan into town before school today!” Sara shouted from downstairs.
Cadin awoke with a start and tried to make sense of what his mom was saying. Lep, town, school.
“Right, coming,” he answered. He had forgotten about his plans with Lep to go to the leather-smith which was always open early in the mornings.
“Better hurry,” Sara said. “I see him coming up the street.”
“Shoot,” Cadin said as he tore his room apart trying to find his other shoe.
“Hi Leptan, come on in. Cadin will be down in a second.”.
“Found it!” He exclaimed to himself. He ran down the stairs and almost stumbled onto his friend.
“Whoa. Just wake up?” Lep teased as he patted Cadin’s messy hair.
“Cut it out. You want to do this or what?”
“Heck yeah, let’s go.”
Cadin shook the sleep from his eyes. He had stayed up late reading a textbook for a reference to a homework assignment. When he reached the chapter on the history of the past cloud-land wars, he didn’t want to put it down and read well into the night.
Sara pressed breakfast muffins into both boys’ hands on their way out and told them to be safe in town and hurry so that they were not late for school. They both were eating on the walk into town and therefore more quiet than usual. Gur accepted the offered bits of muffin as they took in the stunning sunrise. The clouds morphed from bruised darks to reflecting vibrant pinks, oranges, yellows and reds. They were towards the center of the cloud-land and could not see down to Earth, but Cadin knew the sight would be spectacular.
“Check it out—old Toey is in,” Lep said, as the leather shop came into view. Toey was the common nickname for the old shop owner Arthur who had gotten his toes eaten off by a dragon he was attempting to slay for its hide. The dragon got away with four of Arthur’s toes and Arthur got away with a limp and healthy respect for dragons.
“Morning boys, what can I do for you?” Arthur said from behind the counter.
“Em,” Lep cleared his throat and stepped forward. “I would like you make a sheath for this,” he said as he put his dagger up on the counter, “… and... well, I need to know how much it's gonna cost.”
Arthur eyed the dagger before picking it up and then weighed it in his hand. “Hmm…” he said while balancing it gently on one finger. It did not wobble which made Cadin smile. He had been told the balance between blade and handle was of the utmost importance when making a throwing dagger. “Nicely done, but not Talvarian’s work—where did you get it?”
“From Cadin here,” Lep said, giving Cadin a friendly push. “Talvarian’s son.”
“That would explain the similarities. Well done, boy,” he said to Cadin before turning his attention back to Lep. “I assume you need the sheath to be secure and quickly accessible?”
“Yes.”
“Would you like an ankle brace or are you going to tie it onto your belt?”
“Umm, belt I think.”
“Belt you think?” Arthur responded with a sarcastic draw.
Lep looked to Cadin, who shrugged.
“Yes, belt.”
“And what type of leather are you looking for?”
“I guess it depends on the price,” Lep said with a small voice.
“Well I got plenty of cured cloud-crow which would be the cheapest option at six aros. It will be a good sheath—I don’t make crap, but it won’t hold up as long as say a rathyr hide or a cloud-gaiter with scales. But those will each cost you no less than nine aros.”
A relived sigh slipped through Lep’s lips.
“Which one will last the longest?” Lep asked.
“That would normally be dragon hide,” Toey said, as he eyed Cadin and then Gur, “but as I don’t sell dragon here, your best bet is gonna be rathyr for durability. The cloud-gaiter has only slightly greater durability than the cloud-crow, it only costs more because of the decorative scales and it is not as easy to get a hold of.”
“I’ll go with the rathyr hide then,” Lep said, a smile stretched across his face.
“Alrighty. You must leave your dagger here if you want the fit to be perfect. I am a bit backed up with orders right now so I will have this done in one week. Pay four aros now and five when you pick it up.”
They ended up having to run most of the way to school and still ended up late. They quickly took their seats as the rest of the students handed forward their homework.
“Whoops.” He had completely neglected to do his homework in favor of reading most of the history book. In his hurry to get ready he forgot to even bring his book with him.
“Did you forget it?” Lep asked quietly as he handed his paper to Sun who was sitting in front of him.
“Kinda.”
“Problem, gentlemen?” Instructor Kade asked as he picked up the homework.
“I forgot the homework assignment, sir.” Cadin said, still a bit out of breath.
“Late start this morning? Forget it at home?”
“No and no, sir. Lep and I got up early to go into town and I forgot to bring my book with me to finish up the homework. I did read the chapter though and most of the rest of the book,” Cadin tacked the end hoping it would earn him some points.
“It was not your assignment to read the whole book. You were to read and write about the illegal trade of Earth-goods to cloud-lands.”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
“Please have it tomorrow, though your grade will still take a hit.”
“Sir, can I ask a question about the book?” Cadin tilted his head back to look up at Instructor Kade. Gur licked his ear, and he had to keep himself from laughing to focus on his question.
“We don’t have much time to side track but one question should be okay.”
“Why is the chapter on the Great War so limited?”
“You did read most of the book.” Instructor Kade smiled and sat on his desk facing the whole class. “You also picked one of the hardest and easiest questions to answer. The topic of the Great War is truncated because it was intentionally censored to protect valuable and potentially dangerous information.”
“What are they trying to protect?” The question was asked by more than just Cadin. The whole class was caught up in the curiosity of it.
“That is hard part if the question. I don’t know, and you will be hard-pressed to find someone that does.”
They had marvelous Challenge Club practices in the forest obstacle courses over the next two weeks and thanks mostly to Xeno; they each earned a Warrior Path Treetop Stealth badge. In addition to the Challenge Club training, Lep asked if they could check out the school swords so they could practice after school as well. Instructor Kade had signed the request as long as they agreed to be careful during training, blunt the weapons in the Light Bay, and check them back in first thing in the morning. Bart, Sun, Lep and Cadin had planned to practice at Mist Lake for a couple of hours with the school swords and devise some strategies for t
he remaining three Qualifiers. Treven and Xeno overheard them planning and asked to join.
Half of the Challenge Club showed up at Mist Lake after school. They had only checked out four swords and few students owned their own weapons to work with. Cadin realized that his team would have to take better advantage of the fact that they now all owned their own weapons and could practice pretty much any time they wished.
Unfortunately, the more he used the school swords, the more he realized how run-down they were and he started to appreciate how extraordinary his gin-blade was. Tsuyo was brilliantly balanced and did not feel heavy or cumbersome like many of the school swords. And of course, it had the awesome ability to change shapes, though Cadin found from trying the different shapes in the little valley behind his house that he liked the two handed slicing capabilities of its original form the best.
After everyone got at least one round of a practice battle in with the swords, half of the kids went for a swim while the rest discussed whether the next Qualifier would be yellow or red.
“I hope it is yellow,” Sun said
“Well of course you do because you could probably win the Yellow Qualifier with one eye closed and your legs bound together. You don’t even have much to worry about from all of the older groups,” Treven said. “At least you have helped us become decent at archery so that our team has a fighting chance at beating some of those arrogant fourth-years.”
“We should probably get going if Lep wants his dagger back today with the new sheath,” Cadin said.
“Yeah, let’s do it!” Lep shouted from the edge of the lake. He had gone for a swim and challenged Vincent to a race.
“Do you mind if I wait out here?” Cadin asked Lep. “I don’t think Toey is too fond of Gur.”
“Right—the whole dragon biting off his foot thing. No problem.”
“I’ll wait out here with Cadin,” Sun said. Cadin and Sun walked to the fountain at the center of the Town Square.
