Battle Cry [Molly]-Melian-

[Mali]

Okena was tired. She had left Bullridge a few days ago because of a dead-drop that Baldur had set up. She had been doing well there, tricks and such with the large fountain the town had in the middle of the city. All she had to do was touch the water with her fingertips and she could control it to move out of the fountain and into acrobatic shapes and pathways through the water. After all these years, she had finally been able to master the properties of the water. She could swing it around her body and hold it in place so long as her fingertips still touching some part of the water. It took much restraint, but she was able to do it under stress even.

Thinking about stress, Okena slumped down next to the hollowed out tree stump. Great place for a dead drop but Okena didn’t understand why Baldur would make one way out here. The closest town was at least a few hours away and the drop was in the forest behind the city. But when she found the drop, she was confused. She first went to the city and looked for Baldur but couldn’t find him anywhere. At a loss as to what to do, she decided that she would wait at the dead-drop for him. She was giving him a day to get back as she had spent a few days getting here and two days in the city. She could afford to give him one more day to get here from wherever he was.

So she currently sat next to the tree stump, dead-drop. At first when she had gotten back to the dead-drop, she had tried playing around with it, thinking that maybe Baldur would be able to feel it since he made the drop and would come back quicker. However, she doubted that it would work since he had made it to sense her, not him. But it was a good idea, wasn’t it?

Okena felt her eyes closing slowly as she yawned. It was the last day for Baldur to arrive. If he weren’t here by noon, she would be leaving. Covering her mouth as she yawned, Okena decided to head over to the pond next to the tree stump. Had Baldur chosen this tree stump because it was close to the pond on purpose? Sticking her fingers into the water, she moved the liquid in a figure eight between and around her fingers. It was refreshing to have contact with water again.

It was then that she heard rustling not too far away from her. Immediately, she pulled her hands out of the water, the water sticking to her fingertips, looking like sticky taffy being pulled. It quickly froze into thick, sharp, ice on her fingertips, ready to attack whoever may be approaching.

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[Amur]

The last several weeks had been full of events that Baldur had not expected, when he had returned to the clearing Ace had of course been there to greet him, but something had been different. The discussion to follow could very easily be described as one of the most surreal experiences that Baldur had ever lived through. Ace had been...Calm... Not only that, but, he had made the request of Baldur to be taught unarmed combat over swordsmanship because, in his own words, he felt that it “complimented the use of Pyromancy better than a sword did.” It had been the one time that Ace had ever left him speechless; as it was the most intelligent he had ever heard his brother say. It had certainly been shocking for Baldur, and judging by how sudden the apparent change had come about, something must have happened while Baldur had been elsewhere that he wouldn’t have liked.

It had been for that reason alone, that Baldur had not asked Josk what had occurred during his absence and had instead opted to leave to see what he could do regarding one of Ace’s requests only several days after returning to the clearing.

His first self-appointed task had been to return to the village and discuss the necessary enchantments required to prevent metal forearm bracers from conducting heat. But first, Baldur had opted to stop off at one of the cities. In his mind’s eye Baldur rationalised that it would have been as good a time as any to cover the last half of The Preclusion War with Okena before he returned to the village.

When Okena had arrived, she had expressed curiosity as to how “he was”. He didn’t understand the curiosity, but, he obliged her request and told her of Ace’s request and his subsequent reason for travelling again so soon. Before he could move their discussion back to the history lesson he was supposed to be teaching Okena she had managed to make a similar request of Baldur. He already knew her to be an advanced practitioner of Hydromancy, so her request didn’t make much sense to him.

However, much like Ace, Okena put forward reasoning that Baldur found difficult to argue with. So, he told her that he would see what he could do before he continued with his history lesson.
---

“The enchantments required to prevent metal from conducting heat are easily applied to such pieces of equipment during their creation, Baldur. Any competent mage could tell you that, so, we don’t quite see why you decided to ask us these questions when you have contact with several other competent mages.”
Morona replied first. Baldur nodded simply, he knew that Morona was often busy and he felt bad for wasting their time with such an easily answered question, but, Baldur had his reasons.

“You’re the only ones I trust to give me the knowledge of such an enchantment as completely as I wish for it.”
Baldur answered calmly, causing Morona to fix a gaze upon him that he knew all too well. Baldur sighed gently to himself, it seemed as though he was going to have to explain his reasons to them in greater depth.
---

After he had set the newest Dead-Drop Baldur was just left with the task of waiting for Okena to arrive. This time, he had opted to set it in a small forested area, since Okena wished to learn unarmed combat, Baldur had decided that it would have been best for him to teach such things away from populated areas so that no-one would be able to get in their way.

However, he just had one problem to take care of before Okena arrived.
---

Baldur flicked the blade of Findinokhind to the side, sending flecks of blood from the blade splattering to the ground before he returned it to its sheath. Kneeling down, Baldur wrapped his free hand around the neck of the man cradling the stump of his left arm and lifted him from the ground. Holding the man at arm’s length –so he wouldn’t bleed-out on Baldur’s clothes- Baldur raised the man so that his eyes were level with that of his apparent “stalker”.

“You’re the second to attempt this. I’m of the impression that this is more than just a racial thing, so tell me. Who sent you?”
Baldur asked in a measured tone, narrowing his eyes slightly as he spoke. That prompted nothing more than an almost boyish giggle from the man, irritated Baldur tightened his grip around the man’s neck ever so slightly, causing the giggle to become a gurgle as he slowly crushed the man’s throat.

“You... Know...”
The man uttered menacingly before going limp. Baldur simply dropped the corpse to the ground and left it where it fell; he had wasted too much with the man, whom, during their encounter had babbled incoherently constantly. His dying words had made about as much sense to Baldur as everything else he had been saying before Baldur had cut off his arm.
---

Baldur returned to the Dead-Drop in relatively good time despite all the time he had wasted on his would-be assassin and found Okena already waiting for him. Well, in effect anyway. Baldur was unsure if the aggressive stance was because he had startled her, or if she wished to try and impress him in some manner. Regardless, Baldur knew better than to ask such questions and simply raised an eyebrow slightly.

“Ace adopts a similar method of ensuring he is ready to use his Pyromancy at a moment’s notice. Usually by coating his arms in flame right up to the elbow, I believe your approach is more suited to close-quarters-combat than his is, though. The ice-claws are a good little idea; they’ll go well with the unarmed discipline you wished for me to teach you.”
He stated flatly. He walked toward The Dead-Drop and set Findinokhind across a fallen log and then placed his hands behind his back, observing the stance that Okena held for a moment before he made his next comment.

“Your stance is also definitely stronger than his is, but it’s still not quite good enough. There are a number of vulnerable openings that can be exploited there even if you were to use them as a ranged method of attack. There is a measure of theory-work behind unarmed combat as there is with all forms of combat; I’ll need to start teaching you the theory side before I can begin showing you stances and forms, Okena.”
He continued calmly, taking several steps forward as he spoke. He still kept enough of a respectful distance from her; after all, it would be inappropriate for him to so close so quickly. He was, in effect, Mentoring her at this point, and Mentoring didn’t mean that he immediately started with a sparring match.

[Mali]

She moved as quickly as she could, not realising who it was as her hand slide through the ice, closer to the tips of the sharp pieces and quickly motioned to flick her wrists. It was then that she looked up to take aim and realised that it was Baldur standing in front of her and she turned to the side, flicking her wrist and sending the ice pieces at a nearby tree. Immediately dropping her hand and covering her mouth, she was shocked. It was Baldur, she had almost shot sharp ice at him. She felt ashamed for not realising it was him.

“Oh my god, I’m sorry, I should have checked to see who it was before acting...” Her shoulders slumped as she felt bad for almost injuring Baldur. She knew that there was always the chance that he might have avoided her flying ice, but there was also the chance that she would have caught him off guard, and that made her feel awful.

She perked up upon hearing that his brother does the same thing. She smiled at his compliment about her method being better for close quarter fighting. It meant that she already had a better chance of beating him once he was ready. “Th-thank you,” Okena let the ice melt and fall to the ground as she covered her face, a slight blush flitting across her cheeks. She pretended to cough and cover her mouth with her hand. A perfectly liable excuse to cover her blush.

She watched him place his blade on a fallen log and kept her stance. He had complimented her already, and now he was observing her stance—she assumed. So her stance was also stronger than his brother’s, but that was to be expected. Her father hadn’t known everything about combat, but he had taught her what he knew. This stance was the most viable for her hydromancy. It allowed her to reach her source of water quickly should she run out of ammo.

Okena noticed the distance that Baldur kept from her and thought that he was very respectful. She liked that about him. Even though she thought that he should show more emotion from time to time, he was always polite with her. Sitting down on the ground, she smiled to him and waited for him to join her. Surely this position would show that it was safe and okay for him to approach her now.

“There are theories to fighting? I know there are things like special points of impact and stuff like that, but I never considered that kind of thing as a theory...” Unless, he wasn’t talking about that aspect of fighting and was going to teach her something new. She wondered if he had gotten this far with his brother yet. No, don’t think of that now. She would have her chance to fight Ace soon enough.

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[Amur]

The quick reflexes were a good sign. At least Okena would pick up on the lessons quickly in that case, brushing off her apology dismissively, Baldur continued what he had, had to say to Okena, absently taking note of the way she reacted to what he had, had to say. In an odd sort of way her reactions distantly reminded him of Ace, only, instead of becoming egotistical, Okena seemed to be more embarrassed by even a modest compliment. An interesting observation, of course, but such knowledge didn’t mean much when Baldur had no intention of manipulating Okena. Nevertheless, he would handle compliments the same way as he did with Ace... By never giving them, that was the simplest way to avoid awkwardness in this case.

As Okena sat herself on the ground Baldur moved forward several more paces and arched an eyebrow, curiously.

“You don’t mind if I remain standing, do you? I would much rather not dirty these clothes, they were crafted by the finest tailors my father had at the time and I would rather not see them ruined.”
Baldur asked calmly, not particularly bothered if she did mind him standing, his clothes had been expensive to make and were of some of the last mementos he still had of his father, so he would not ruin them. He kept a straight face as he listened to Okena’s next question, and it was a question that actually perplexed him, how could Okena not have known about the theory-work involved with combat? Had Wynn also neglected such important lessons?

“Special points of impact are a part of knowing where and how to strike, since you’ll be unarmed, you’ll need to know these kinds of things as they help incapacitate physically superior foes. Such lessons also work into knowing how to disarm foes with weapons like swords, spears, and et-cetera. Since you’ll be relying on your unarmed techniques as a last resort, such lessons are among the most important.

You’ll also need to know the value of using the right kind of strike for the right kind of situation. For example, punches utilise the body weight of the attacker. The more weight you’re able to put behind the strike, the harder it will hit. While, kicks are best when momentum is used to give them force, of course, that makes them a risky tactic.”
He paused for a moment, taking another moment to look Okena over; she was generally as most females were. So, punches would likely be largely ineffectual. Not that, that mattered to Baldur, no, he had been taught how much more effective open-palm strikes were when used correctly. It would be best if he taught Okena the same way.

“However, the way I was taught, was in the value of using open-palm strikes over closed fists. Punching is an unrefined, brutish method of unarmed combat, and is more likely to cause damage to the attacker than to the target. However, you must be aware of the limitations of such a style, it may be more effective, but it also reduces the range of the attacker, as they need to really get too close for the target to use their weapon to be effective.

Stance is a large part of being able to get that close.

Which is where the theory-work begins, as you shouldn’t be limiting yourself to a single stance; you should be changing it depending on the situation and keeping your movements as difficult to read as possible.”
Baldur stated flatly, beginning with the very basic lessons behind unarmed combat. Since Okena knew so very little about it, working up to the more advanced stances, forms and attacks would take time, and given how Baldur’s skills were largely going to waste in this land, time was one thing that he had plenty of.

[Mali]

Okena nodded her head. “No it’s fine, you can stand,” She didn’t mind if Baldur stood while he spoke to her but she had never figured him as the type to care about how he looked. It wasn’t quite the same since he wasn’t worrying about how he actually looked, but was worrying over his clothes; so it was slightly similar. Those clothes must mean a lot to Baldur to care about getting dirt on them. She would have offered to clean them for him should they get dirty, but he didn’t need to know that she used her hydromancy to get the clothes perfectly washed.

Nodding her head again, she knew that this style of fighting was a last resort. Or in her case, her only resort should she have no water at her disposal. Even though she could draw internal fluids out, she rather avoid fighting that way because it wore her down quicker. Sometimes when she needed to fight, she would use the water in her canteen or water skin. It could be replaced easily since she knew how to draw the water out of plants, but when she needed to defend herself, sometimes it was necessary.

Standing up, she decided that learning about stances should be done while standing up. It wouldn’t make sense to try to learn a stance while sitting down. Besides, if she didn’t try to copy his stance, there would be no way for him to correct her if she did something wrong.

“Okay, as many stances as needed and don’t become predictable, got it.” She grinned to him. That wasn’t exactly what he had said, but it was close enough. He had said a different stance depending on the situation and being difficult to read. It translated roughly to as many stances as needed and not to be predictable. If she were predictable, then she would be easy to read.

“But how are open-palm strikes more efficient? And is it like slapping someone?” The only open-palm attack she could think of was to slap someone. She knew that there was a defensive move with an open-palm but that was to catch the opponent’s punch.

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[Amur]

Baldur remained impassive as Okena simplified what he had just said, probably to make the meaning of what he had just said easier to understand. He couldn’t help but find the fact that she used the same technique of doing even that as Ace did quietly amusing. Nevertheless, he remained quiet as Okena seemed to spend several seconds thinking over something before she asked him what exactly an open-palm strike was.

He allowed himself a controlled smile, which vanished seconds later. He could see where the confusion would have come from, but, if he had meant that she should simply be slapping people as a means of attack he would have said so outright.

“I can see where your confusion comes from, but, no. An open-palm strike is not the same thing as simply slapping someone. With an open-palm strike, the heel of the palm is used to inflict the damage as opposed to the palm itself.”
To briefly demonstrate what he was saying, Baldur assumed a slightly crouched stance and raised both of his hands to be level with his chest, and, while keeping his left hand straightened out he bent his right hand back and curled his fingers inwards, towards his palm. He held the stance for several seconds and then stood up straight, keeping his right hand as he had formed it during his demonstration stance.

“The advantages of using such a method of unarmed combat is that each strike requires less body weight to be effective, and, it is all-around more useful when fighting in enclosed spaces or against armed foes.”
He raised his other hand and gently ran his finger down his palm from the half-way point. To show Okena which part of the palm should be used as her means of attack; he then lowered both of his arms and stood in silence for several seconds.

“There is one downside, however, and it is one that many have difficulty adjusting to. There is no dominant hand when utilising this particular method of combat. Both hands are used to attack and defend in equal measure; it is a common pit-fall for many training in the art.”
He stated calmly, unsure of whether or not Okena would have even had a dominant hand in melee focused combat. She didn’t seem to carry weapons around with her; maybe, just maybe learning to be ambidextrous wouldn’t be an issue for her. He gave himself a small nod as he confirmed his observation by quickly looking her over once more.

“Regardless, ambidexterity should come naturally over time.”
He paused for a moment, considering where he should truly begin tutelage on the basics of stance. His mentors had first taught him “neutral stance” and worked out from that, perhaps, it would be best for him to begin at the same lesson with Okena.

“I will begin by teaching you the value of a stance my mentors taught me, a stance they simply referred to as ‘the neutral stance’, they named it as such due to the fact that it was a stance in which both attack and defence was entirely possible regardless of the circumstance. You begin by choosing which hand you will be using to defend yourself with, and, placing it out in front of yourself, like so.”
He began, calmly raising his left hand; he bent his arm at the elbow and kept his four fingers straight, bending his thumb so that it was facing into his palm. He raised his hand to be at roughly the same level as his chest, keeping his arm bent as he did so, and then, he moved his left foot forward slightly and turned his foot so that his toes were roughly “pointing” to his right.

“The hand you’ll be using to defend yourself with should always be the side of the body facing outwards, it conceals the hand you’ll be using to attack, whilst allowing you to use your feet to brace yourself for a defensive manoeuvre.”
He continued, turning his body slightly so that his right foot was spaced equally from his left and that the toes of his boot were “pointing” in the same direction. He then bent his right arm and kept his right hand to be level with his waist, curling his fingers and thumb inwards only slightly this time, Baldur then held the stance to allow Okena some time to look at the way he was standing, and take note of the stance before he would ask her to attempt it herself.

“Take note of the way I’m standing, the slight crouch allows both a braced stance for defence, and a tighter stance to launch attacks from. Once you feel that you’ve gotten a good enough look at the way the stance is held, inform me and then try to assume the same stance for yourself, I will point out whatever you do wrong and help you rectify it.”
He stated flatly, maintaining the stance to allow Okena as much time as she would need to observe it.

[Mali]

Okena watched, in slight awe as he demonstrated to her the stance and the position of his fingers and hand. He was so knowledgeable about everything it seemed. She wondered if a question existed that she could ask and he wouldn’t have an answer to it. But she should be focusing on what he was showing her, not standing in awe of his abilities.

She moved closer the tiniest bit to get a better look at his palm and placement of his fingers before standing straight again. Baldur looked strong. It was no wonder that an open-palm would easily take down an opponent. She wasn’t as strong as he was though, would she really be able to take someone down with such a simple technique? “You said that punching is all about force, but what about this technique? I’m not that strong, would I be able to take people down with this technique?” She knew that the possibility was high that she would be able to, but that was dependant on where she was hitting the person. If it was in a weak point, then it would make sense for her to take down an opponent easily.

So it wasn’t the easiest technique to learn. She was learning new stuff every time she met up with Baldur. This only caused to increase her admiration for him.

Watching carefully, she circled around him as he told her to take her time and take note of the way he was standing. She paid the closer attention to his hands than his feet, since it was the hands that would do the attacking, not her feet. “Okay, I think I got it...” Okena waited, taking a breath in and letting it out.

She slowly raised her left hand to chest level, keeping her fingers straight while her thumb pointed inward. She then raised her right hand to waist level, only curling her fingers slightly. She then lowered herself to be bent at the knee. She was about to smile to Baldur to tell him she was done when she remembered that he pointed his left foot to the right.

She now stood in almost perfect position, except for her feet. Her left foot pointed to the right and her right foot was slightly inclined to the left. Since she was slightly pigeon-toed to begin with, she looked funny in this position. But still, unknowing to point both feet to the right, she beamed to Baldur before biting her lip. Okena hoped that her stance was right. If there was anything wrong, how would he fix it? Would he have to touch her? She felt a blush creeping over her cheeks but shook her head, she shouldn’t be blushing right now, it would show Baldur that she was distracted and that would be rude. Taking another deep breath, she calmed herself and kept the blush from showing itself.

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[Amur]

“Open palm strikes gain their effectiveness partially due to the heel of the palm being a harder part of the body than the fists, and in part due to the fact that the strike stops abruptly when it makes contact, causing the shock to be worse than it normally would be.”
There was a little bit more to it than that, of course, but right now, Okena would have no use for such information. If she wished to learn more advanced techniques then Baldur would likely teach her some of the more in-depth reasons as to why open palm strikes were a more effective form of combat over simply punching people.

Baldur nodded gently as Okena told him that she thought she was ready to try the stance herself, and then stood up straight. He watched her closely, taking note of the fact that her feet were incorrectly positioned. However, he remained silent, even when she had assumed the stance as completely as she seemed to be able to. He spent another moment simply looking at her before he began to circle slowly around her, casting a critical eye over the stance from every angle available to him.

He paused and moved forward, placing a hand on her left shoulder he used his free hand to raise her elbow slightly and then hold it in place.

“The arm you’re using to defend yourself isn’t used to take the brunt of an attack; you use the arm to guide an incoming attack away from its destination. Keep your shoulder locked in this kind of position, it allows you to move your arm with more of a ‘snapping’ motion, allowing you the opportunity to throw your foe off balance simply by guiding their attack in a direction they did not intend for it to travel.”
At that he released her arm and then continued slowly circling Okena. He stopped again, this time gently taking hold of the back of the arm she had opted to use as her method of attack and then used his other hand to gently guide her elbow further back.

“You often need to move into your attack, conceal your hand in such a way that allows you to attack while your foe is off guard. This can even be when they’re attempting to attack you themselves, if you can manoeuvre your body to avoid their attack and deliver an attack of your own while they’re still in the process of their attack, then you gain an advantage.”
He released his grip on her arm and slowly circled her yet again. This time, when he stopped, he was stood in front of her.

“Your feet and the spacing of your legs also need some work.”
He stated calmly, lowering his stance slightly Baldur raised his right arm and curled his fingers inwards before pressing his forearm against Okena’s and pushing back gently. Aiming to force her to take steps backwards, while he kept the pressure consistent, this was the most effective way to teach a person the proper spacing and positioning of their feet and legs.

“Once you’ve got your feet and legs spaced properly you should be able to brace yourself against this and prevent me from pushing you back any further. Once you’ve got that, hold the stance and I’ll observe what you have.”
He said, continually –but gently- pushing Okena further away from the area that she had been stood in.

[Mali]

Okena nodded her head. It made sense. The heel was powerful, she even knew one form of self-defense that involved the heel of her palm and that was to strike your attacker’s nose in an upward motion with the heel of your hand. It would break the nose and in some cases although rare, it would send the cartilage of the nose upward and into the brain, killing the attacker immediately. She had never performed the attack personally, but she knew of people who had. Although, they never killed their attackers, just broke their nose and made their eyes water, allowing the people she knew to get away.

As Baldur circled her, a scrutinizing eye watching her stance, Okena couldn’t help but feel nervous. She hoped that she had done the stance right. Of course, she knew the chances of getting it right off the bat were slim. She was new to this and maybe she would have beginners luck, but she doubted it.

Like clockwork, Baldur moved in and repositioned her elbow in the correct spot. She knew that she hadn’t done it perfectly. But at least it was only one hand that she had gotten wrong. Looking up to Baldur, she nodded her head. It was then that she brightened a bit and decided to voice her observations about this fighting style. “My father told me that a good hydromancer can use their abilities to deal with the flow of energy. This technique is similar in that we’re turning the opponents’ forces against them?” She was slightly hesitant to voice her observations in fear of being wrong. But it sounded the same. Hydromancers were meant to let their defense become their offense while following and dealing with the flow of energy, like the flow of water.

Okena was feeling pretty good about her stance until Baldur moved in again and corrected her other arm. So she was zero for zero right now. What had she done right in this position? However, she picked her head up and continued to listen to what Baldur had to say. Even though she felt defeated for having everything wrong, she needed to listen to what he said. It would tell her why her positioning of her arms had been wrong in the first place.

As Baldur stood in front of her, lowering his position and curling his fingers in, she wondered what he was about to do. Surely he wouldn’t try an attack this early in the game. She hadn’t even mastered the neutral stance yet! As he moved in, she closed her eyes waiting for the attack but only felt a gentle push against her arm. She took a few steps back, opening her eyes to look at Baldur and then down to her feet. She was definitely zero for zero now. Not even her feet placement had been right.

He continued to gently push her away and she adjusted her feet. As she was still moving away from his body, she looked down to his feet. Think mirror, She told herself as she examined his position and placement. Mimicking the placement, but backwards, she felt herself stop sliding from his gentle pushing. Grinning up to him, she felt accomplished. “Yay! I mean, I did it!” Okena couldn’t help but laugh.

“So use my defense to become my offense, hide my attacking hand and keep this stance. I think I got it!” She smiled wide. She bounced in position, happy to have gotten it. She would have jumped up and down but she didn’t want to move her feet from their proper position.

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[Amur]

“An accurate statement, using the enemies force and strength against them is largely how unarmed combat works.”
Baldur stated flatly, well, at least she was able to understand the very basic principles behind unarmed combat.

He stopped applying pressure as Okena managed to mirror the stance that Baldur had shown her. Standing up straight he gave a small nod and circled her once more, giving her a look with a raised eyebrow at her excitement. Getting this right really meant a lot to her didn’t it? Nevertheless, Baldur remained quiet and allowed her, her moment of celebration. Surely, such a thing was only fair to one whom had not been raised to understand the value of discipline.

“Don’t be so disheartened if you don’t get what I’m teaching you right the first time around. No-one’s perfect, Okena.”
He said calmly, giving himself a small nod as he took in the stance Okena now held. It was closer to the mark, not quite perfect, but, she would get it over time. He stopped walking when he was stood in front of her again.

“Ok, relax yourself. The stance is little more than the beginning of what I have to teach you, next I will begin teaching you the theory behind control and defence.”
---

Baldur sat on the fallen log he had set Findinokhind across earlier, the sun was now well into the process of setting. Which meant that Baldur had been tutoring Okena for quite some time today already, for everything it was worth, she had kept up well; at least until the obvious signs of fatigue had started making themselves apparent.

“I think it’s about time we called it a day.”
He said calmly, gesturing for Okena to sit down somewhere. He sat in silence for a short while, he wasn’t particularly hungry, however, Okena, whom had been the one taking tutelage would likely need food of some kind.

Not that Baldur had taught her anything too strenuous; the body simply required more energy whenever it was being used in new ways. It had quickly become clear to Baldur that Okena had never been in a fight of any kind before. All Baldur had on him, however, were the cold, and salted strips of dried meat that he always carried around for himself.

Shrugging inwardly Baldur took one of the packets containing said meat from the usual, small travel bag secured to his waist and gently tossed it to Okena.

“Apologies for the lack of selection, it’s all I’ve got.”
Baldur stated flatly, not bothering to take a pack out of his bag for himself. He would eat when he was hungry, and not before then.

[Mali]

Okena couldn’t help but beam to Baldur as she had gotten it right again. It was something that she shouldn’t be so proud over, but it was something she had gotten right. Of course she was happy, but she also knew that it was a very basic principle that Baldur would teach her so she shouldn’t get her hopes up too high. He soon stopped applying pressure and began to circle her again. When he stopped, he nodded his head and she assumed that it was because she had done the position adequately. She wouldn’t get as excited this time though since it would detract Baldur’s opinion of her. What would she look like if she bounced and got excited for every little thing she got right? She would look like an idiot and she didn’t want Baldur to think she was an idiot.

Nodding her head, she was ready to learn what he had to teach her.

~~~

Okena watched as Baldur sat down on the log. She thought that he didn’t want to sit down and possibly ruin his clothing. Oh well, he was sitting now. Nodding her head, she sat down not too far from him on the log. She was staring down at the blade that rested between them and wondered where he got it from. It looked amazing, even though she didn’t know much about blades.

Still looking at the blade, she looked up briefly just to see Baldur throw her a packet of what appeared to be meat. It was nice of him to feed her but surely they could just go into town, but that was a few hours away and the sun was setting. Guess that meant that they would have to light a campfire to cook the meat. Unless Baldur was able to eat it raw... Okena wasn’t able to do that, but she had no idea if Baldur’s genetics would allow him to eat raw meat. Better not to ask and risk being rude.

“Oh no, it’s quite alright. Thank you for the food, but aren’t you going to eat as well?” Even though Baldur hadn’t been working nearly as hard as Okena had been, he had to at least be hungry or thirsty. She then shifted from her spot, setting the package of meat down and gathering up some sticks and branches for the fire and kindling. When she had enough, she walked back over to where Baldur sat and kneeled down, about to start a fire. Now where had she put her flint?

“I guess now would be a great time to have a pyromancer about. Wouldn’t have to use flint to build fires,” she chuckled quietly to herself as she found her flint in her pockets and started to hit a rock against it and toward the kindling. As a spark caught the kindling and the fire started, Okena moved back, placing pieces against the small flame, trying not to smother it.

She moved back and took her only blade from her side pockets and started to sharpen a stick to spear the meat with. Since they didn’t have a frying pan to cook the meat in, spearing and shish kabobbing the meat was the best answer to cooking it.

“I’m going to feel this in the morning, aren’t I? I’m sorry if teaching me was tedious in anyway. My father only taught me to fight with hydromancy, he never realised that he would die so soon and leave me on my own. If he had, I’m sure he’d have taught me to defend myself much better,” She placed the blade down and picked up a strip of meat, sliding it onto the stick.

“Where did you learn Baldur? From your father?” Okena said the word father hesitantly. She knew that his father was a warlord and she still feared that part of him, but she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. He wouldn’t teach her how to defend herself if his intentions were to injure her.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Amur]

Baldur quirked an eyebrow at Okena’s question, was that out of concern or guilt? He couldn’t quite place it; nevertheless, Baldur simply removed the second bundle of wrapped, dry meat and simply showed it to Okena.

“If I was hungry, I would be eating right now. My metabolism is slower than most, I can go for several weeks without food after eating a small portion this size.”
He said calmly before returning the meat to its bag... Well, that was a half-truth; with his camouflage reflex active his metabolism was slower than it usually was. When he was without it, his metabolism returned to its normal rate, and he required much more sustenance to keep himself going, his decision to walk around camouflaged as a pure-breed was not just to keep everyone else around him at ease.

He sat in silence as Okena went about her task of building a small fire, nodding gently at her light hearted comment. Pyromancers didn’t need kindling to make a camp-fire either. But, he had no reason to make that comment as he was sure that Okena was already aware of such a fact.

“Tedious?” Baldur asked. “So far you’ve been learning better than my brother has been... Besides, I’m very well aware of the fact that no-one can get things perfect the very first time around; it’s why you learn them. You can’t expect to be perfect at new things immediately.”
He stated flatly. Not answering Okena’s question as to whether or not the training would leave her feeling its effects later-on. He hadn’t pushed her too hard, so the effects should have been negligible at the most. But, such a thing was hard to predict as the after-effects varied from person-to-person as their body was used in new ways.

He remained silent as Okena asked her next question...

“A bit personal that question, isn’t it?”
He asked calmly.

“But, you’ve been as open as possible regarding your past with me. So, I suppose it’s fair.”
He said calmly. Taking a brief moment to compare how much he had learned from his father to how much he had learned from his Mentors.

“While I learned a great deal from my father, most of what I have been teaching you I learned from my Mentors. After all, I was expected to undergo tutelage for seventy years, and the life of a Warlord doesn’t offer quite that much free time. Don’t misunderstand, I did get weekly visits from my father, each of which I learned a lot from him. The amount he taught me, however, doesn’t come close to the scale of things my Mentors taught me.”
He stated flatly, answering Okena’s question as honestly and factually as he deemed appropriate. She had been as open and honest with him about her past as she could have been, so, it was only right that Baldur offered her the same courtesy.

[Mali]

Okena was amazed that he was able to go weeks without eating. She was lucky to be learning so many things about this curious man. She admired him and wanted to know as much about him as possible, and that included the sort of information he was willing to give her. But at the same time she found it odd. Why was his body able to go without food for such a long time? Was it part of his genetics? She would have asked more but she knew it would be rude and intrusive to do so.

“Really? Better than him?” she sounded happy almost as she spoke before realising that what she’d just said could be considered rude. “Sorry, still want to prove myself, but I’m patient... I was just worried that you may find training to be tiresome, having to train two people, both in the same art form...” It was true that routine could become tiresome, but this wasn’t really like routine; it was more repetition. He may grow tired of having to teach his brother and then her, all the same things twice for one person to get it easily and the other to struggle with it. At least, she assumed that if she were learning better than Ace, then that meant that he might be struggling with it.

Okena realised that what she had asked was about his personal history. “You don’t have to answer that,” she mumbled quietly, not wanting to offend Baldur. She knew that many Nirvanians placed a great value on personal history. It was just, she hadn’t been in Empire Nirvana for such a long time that she forgot and asked a personal question. She wouldn’t be surprised if he decided not to answer the question.

She was shocked however as he continued on with an answer to her question. Quickly hiding her shock, she listened intently to what he had to say. Even though she knew that warlords were evil—and his father had probably done some horrible things during his rule as warlord—she still felt bad for Baldur. He probably didn’t have as strong a connection to his father as Okena had. Even though her father had lied to her about practically everything, that didn’t mean that he wasn’t her father anymore, or that she loved him less. It just meant that her father had issues and didn’t know how to tell Okena the truth—or he wasn’t able to tell the difference between what he believed and what was the truth. Either way, she wanted to reach out and pat Baldur on the back but knew better than to touch him again. Like when she touched the side of his face, admiring his eyes, it was wrong for her to do so.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Your father must have been very busy to see you only once a week during that time. But it was the best he could do, I assume.” she wouldn’t be rude in saying that, would she? Okena didn’t want to come across as rude in any way. She assumed that a warlord would be very busy lording over people—and doing nasty things to people. It was a good thing that Baldur wasn’t a nasty person.

She pulled her stick back as the meat was finished cooking and was about to say something else when she sensed something. Placing her stick down slowly, she reached back and uncapped her water skin, sticking her fingers inside to connect with the water.

“I think someone is watching us,” she whispered to Baldur before there was the light sound of rustling around them. Standing up slowly, she hunched herself over, the water circling around her hand in a loose stream of water reaching over, she stuck her other hand into the water skin and pulled out more water for her other hand. With water now coating both hands, she would be able to attack whoever was surrounding them.

It was then that the men that she had sensed emerged from the bushes, one even jumped down between Baldur and Okena from the tree above them. How long had they been there?! If they hadn’t been there that long, they were certainly skilled enough to get up there without the two of them noticing!

But now wasn’t the time to be admiring their stealthy skills. As the one man approached her, she noticed the other three going toward Baldur. She would deal with the man approaching her first before trying to help Baldur as much as she could. Immediately taking the neutral stance, she waited patiently for the man to swing his sword. As he did, she dodged the attack with a slight pivot before using her visible left hand to grab hold of the man’s arm. As she held onto the arm holding the blade, the water surrounding her knuckles, she forced the water into his arm, freezing his blood in his arm, causing it to go numb. Bringing her hidden right hand up, she hit the pressure point she already knew of on the neck, knocking the man out. That should do for now.

Turning around, she was about to help Baldur when she stopped short.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Amur]

Baldur arched an eyebrow in confusion to Okena’s response, why was she apologising? Even when Baldur had mortally wounded his father the relationship that he had, had with him had been good. Had he made it sound as though he and his father had not spent enough time together to forge a proper relationship? He blinked and then shook his head gently; of course, Okena would be missing that much information because he hadn’t explained it to her.

“Oh, no; before I began my tutelage I spent enough time with my father to build a good relationship with him. Even spent the entire week travelling with him to the monastery I would spend the next seventy years of my life in before he handed Findinokhind down to me, just like his father had done for him.”
Baldur explained calmly. He would have continued talking, to teach Okena something more about his culture when she told him that she thought someone was watching them. Baldur immediately began closely scrutinising the immediate surroundings, his sense of sight was naturally the sharpest sense that he had, there was almost no way that someone could have been watching them without Baldur knowing about it.

Baldur narrowed his eyes slightly as someone dropped down from one of the trees, landing between Baldur and Okena... He was wearing no armour, and his clothes were plain. He was the kind of man that one wouldn’t think twice about when seen in public, even his choice of weapon was an easily concealed sword. The expression on his face was blank... Not straight, like Baldur usually maintained, but utterly blank. Even his eyes seemed to be void of anything that could be described as emotion, just like the last assassin he had encountered.

The man that had dropped from the tree-tops quickly moved toward Okena with his weapon at the ready, while a further three men advanced toward Baldur. And, much like their apparent compatriot, their expressions were blank. Baldur tensed himself, ready to move at a moment’s notice, watching their every move with a very careful stare.

One of his foes altered their stance only slightly, and, at once Baldur fluidly moved into action. Lunging forward, he took hold of his foes wrist and then twisted his body beneath the man’s arm whilst bending it. He then manoeuvred himself so that he was stood behind his foe with his arm twisted behind his back, and then, in a single move, stabbed the man through the back and chest with his own blade.

He held that position for several seconds and then pushed the corpse forward, causing it to collide with his next aggressor, sending them both to the ground. While that foe worked to free himself from beneath the corpse Baldur turned on the next threat, and this time used his protected forearm to parry the blade his foe held. As the man recoiled and struggle to correct his form Baldur placed one of his palms against the man’s chest and reached into the energy he had stored in his brooch. Uttering the combination of words and manipulating the energy as he had been taught Baldur blasted the foe away from him with a blast of pure energy.

The man flew helplessly through the air like a ragdoll, his journey coming to a close only when he struck a distant tree and became impaled on one of its branches.

Baldur returned to the fallen log and picked up Findinokhind, finally turning to face the last surviving assassin as he managed to free himself from the weight of the corpse that had been pinning him to the ground. Baldur remained standing upright and simply lowered his hand to the hilt of Findinokhind. There was a brief moment of silence before the man charged. In several fluid movements Baldur had drawn his weapon, evaded to the side and cut his foe’s dominant hand off. The man made barely a grunt as he fell to the ground, clutching at the severed limb.

Sighing gently, Baldur used the practised motion to flick the blood from the blade of Findinokhind before slowly sliding it back into its sheath. He already knew what he was about to do was going to be a waste of time; however, he needed to confirm the signs beyond all doubt before he started looking into these incidents. He would need to cut the source of these attacks down to prevent further attempts on his life, these men brought the total up to three.

Using his foot Baldur rolled the –now- one-armed man onto his back and gently placed his foot on the man’s neck. He looked into the man’s blank expression and stared him straight in the eyes for several long seconds.

“This was far too organised to be a random attack, and you’re far too few in numbers to be career thieves. Who hired you? Why strike at me?”
As before the man’s expression suddenly brightened and an almost boyish giggle burst forth in response. Baldur applied more pressure to the man’s throat, and, as before the giggle rapidly subsided into a strained gurgle.

“You. Know.”
Were the only words the man uttered before his eyes glazed over and his expression became blank. Baldur moved away from the corpse and fell silent for a short while, so far all of the attacks had been in isolated locations, the chances they were trying to keep his death quiet seemed to be high, but, why? Clearly, these men had been brainwashed to some extent. Why go to the trouble of making them care where the kill occurred?

“I may have to take a live one back to-”
He stopped what he was saying as he realised that he had not yet told Okena of Morona’s presence here, now that he had started talking, he had two options before him. Either lie, and create a fictitious end to his sentence, or, tell Okena about Morona... It was still too early, wasn’t it? Would she really grow to trust him that much in only four total meetings?

He weighed out his options.

“Good job, you handled yourself well.”
He stated flatly.

“Okena, I feel I need to ask this. But, do you trust me?”
He asked calmly. It was a straightforward question, but her answer and how she answered would give Baldur a rough idea of whether or not he should continue to conceal the presence of Morona from her.

[Mali]

Okena listened to Baldur as he spoke. So he did have a good relationship with his father afterall. It was nice to know that he had a good relationship with someone so important in someone's life. Her father was the most important person in her life since he was the only person who was constantly there for her. She almost felt bad for assuming that Baldur had a different relationship with his father. That wasn't the case at all.

She was about to apologise for her assumptions when a feeling crept over her. She had a special gift which she said was because of her hydromancy. She could almost sense the flow of fluids inside a living being. Meaning she could sense when someone was nearby. That feeling alone caused her to be wary. Why would people want to watch them?

As she finished off the man that had approached her, she turned to help Baldur with the three men that had approached him when she stopped, surprised at what she saw. One man flew through the air as he fought. He moved like a well oiled machine. Okena stopped to watch as he fought. She had to wonder if she would ever be able to fight like that. She fought pretty well with her hydromancy but she couldn't fight like Baldur. Then again, would she ever be able to fight like Baldur? To begin with, he fought with many different styles, more than she even knew of. It was unlikely that she would ever fight like him.

She listened to what the man had to say. He knew why these men were after him? Why wouldn't he tell her that there were men after him?

"Thanks, you did pretty good as well," She wondered what he had been about to say before he complimented her. Where was he going to have to take a live one back to? All she knew was that it was a good thing she hadn't killed her attacker. The three that had gone after Baldur appeared to be pretty dead. If Baldur wanted to take a live one anywhere, it would have to be her unconscious one.

Okena was a little shocked to hear Baldur's next question. She had to stop and think about that. Did she trust him? She knew that he was a warlord and because of that alone, she shouldn't trust him. However, that wasn't right. He didn't judge her because "madman Wynn" was her father, so she couldn't judge him because his was a warlord, that wouldn't be right. She considered Baldur to be her friend but did that mean she trusted him? He was teaching her the true history of Empire Nirvana and she trusted him to tell her the truth of what happened. So in a way she did trust him.

"Yeah, I trust you. I trust you're not leading me astray..." She smiled to him. It was then that she wondered what prompted such a question. Was he hiding something from her? That was the only possible answer she could think of.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Amur]

Baldur remained silent for a long while as Okena answered his question, unsure as to whether or not he felt her to be foolish for being so fast to trust him. It had taken him nearly two years to really grow to trust Josk to any degree, though; perhaps that was one of Baldur’s more detrimental flaws... He had simply been stabbed in the back far too many times to allow trust to come easily to him now, nevertheless; he made no effort to speak his mind on the matter.

“Very well.” He replied. “Just understand, that I originally with-held this knowledge from you, not out of a desire to keep you in the dark. But, because I know what a typical Nirvanian upbringing can be like... And, well, because your father was a loyal servant of The False Gods. I had no idea how much he may have twisted you.”
He explained calmly.

“My brother and I are not the only two Nirvanians here.”
He said; he didn’t see a need to tell her of Master Hunter Latro’s presence here, all she had to do was go to any city to see his face plastered all over their bounty boards.

(Though, Baldur didn’t expect her to know of Master Hunter Latro’s reputation back in Empire Nirvana, he would have made a name for himself long after Okena would have left.)

“We arrived here with a large group of refugees whom had been demonised by The Empire for atrocities they did not commit. They are all presently alive and well in a village that they have built for themselves, my brother and I needed a place to hide ourselves at the time, so we joined the group and travelled with them.”
He paused for a moment, deciding that it would be better to tell Okena exactly who was present among these refugees before telling her that Morona was also here. He still had niggling doubts that any level of trust would hold with that revelation, Wynn most likely would have demonised Morona further due to their role in the deaths of False God Baal and Lautrec.

“Among those refugees are four Hunters, living side-by-side with people that usually would revile and distrust them... There is still some lingering distrust, after all, history has cemented that firmly in the minds of both parties.”
He continued. Okena had yet to learn the full truth behind the creation of The Four Hunting Clans, since Baldur had yet to teach it to her, so she may not have understood why The Hunters would distrust the other Nirvanians as opposed to just killing them.

“However, the people accept The Hunters and rely on them for a measure of protection. And the Hunters accept their new-found role. This was possible due to some very careful negations with the being that these people look to for leadership, ‘Nemesis’ Morona... My brother and I came to this land with ‘Nemesis’ Morona and their people.”

[Mali]

Okena nodded her head as Baldur explained that he withheld the information from her because of a tradition Nirvanian upbringing. She was a little offended by how Baldur referred to how her father lied to her. He hadn’t twisted her at all, he’d lied to her and brainwashed her to an extent, but he never twisted her. However, she wouldn’t mention it to him now. He was about to tell her a secret! She sat up eagerly, pushing the unconscious attacker to the side so she would be able to sit down in a comfortable spot.

Well that was obvious; she was a Nirvanian and here in Alagaesia. But she doubted that he would be talking about her. It was obvious that if this really was a secret, that there would be more people in Alagaesia that were also from Empire Nirvana. Just as she predicted, there were far more here in Alagaesia, but what she didn’t expect was for them to all be demonized refugees.

She didn’t really understand much about why there would be distrust between the hunters and the rest of the people in the refugee camp, but she already knew a bit from when she was in Empire Nirvana. She knew that her father distrusted the hunters, she didn’t know why but she knew that he did.

Gasping, Okena covered her mouth with her hands before looking at Baldur, aghast at what she heard. Nemesis Morona was here? “That dastardly man? How could they look up to him for leadership?” She didn’t understand how it was possible. From what she had heard about Nemesis Morona, he was a dastardly man and someone not to be trusted. If anything, he was even more untrustworthy than the hunters were.

Realising that he was telling her this out of confidence that she wouldn’t judge what he said, she knew that she had to apologise. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude but, isn’t Nemesis Morona evil?” she intentionally left out the bit about how her father had told her that about Nemesis Morona. It wasn’t necessary information that Baldur needed to know since he already knew that her father had led her astray on many topics.

“Wait! He helped kill God Baal, but he wouldn’t share that information would he...” She had realised that their second meeting, she had asked who would be able to tell her about the death of God Baal, and Baldur had played along with her confusion. He had lied to her about not being able to find out the truth. However, it was pointless either way. There was no way that Nemesis Morona would ever tell her about what happened. Not with the high value on personal history.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Amur]

Okena’s reaction to finding out that Morona was here was almost exactly as Baldur had expected. Of course, every Nirvanian would have been raised under the belief that Morona was a vile, evil being. Only their people, The Warlords and The Hunters knew otherwise, Baldur simply nodded his head gently in response to Okena.

“Remember what I taught you last time, Okena. The reason behind the reputation that Nemesis Morona has is all due to a lie. Remember how I explained the actions of The Nameless Emperor to you, and how they wrote history to make Nemesis Morona appear to be an evil, unforgivable being? The reason these people look to them for leadership is because they have suffered exactly the same form of demonization.”
He reminded her calmly. After she had apologised for her initial reaction and asked him if Morona was evil. Of course, Baldur could have gone into the philosophical speech explaining that “evil” is little more than a point of view, much the same way his Mentors had done with him whenever he had questioned them on the morals behind various actions. But, he had the feeling that such a lecture would not help matters in this instance, in fact, he had already given Okena more than enough reason to flee from him.

He gave Okena yet another light nod as Okena asked her final question –or more made it a statement of fact- yes, not even Baldur knew the details behind the death of False God Baal as Morona had not told him.

“Indeed, Morona has not told me the details of their encounter with False God Baal, I just know that they were able to kill him... I imagine that there is only one person within the village that is likely to know the details behind the encounter and that would be Morona’s Right Hand.”
Baldur explained calmly, it would have made sense. In Empire Nirvana, the position of Right Hand, was not simply an empty title, nor was it simply a position of power. No, the position of Right Hand was given to those whom the ruler trusted beyond all doubt, they were the people that were closest to their Lord, both personally and in terms of status. They answered only to their Lord and were often people to be treated with the same respect usually reserved for their Lord.

In fact, they were as much a friend to their Lord as they were an aide... Though, from what Baldur understood, Kaime didn’t quite see it that way.

“And considering the kind of trust that Morona has in him, Kaime will not part with that knowledge, not willingly nor unwillingly. I have had enough interactions with him to say that with confidence. So, I highly doubt the knowledge and memories of such an event will ever die.”
He concluded calmly. Suddenly becoming ever so slightly embarrassed as he remembered the first meeting he had ever had with Kaime. He had tried to force Kaime to divulge such details to him, only to be met with that level gaze and the calm dismissal of the threat that Baldur posed as he stated his position to Baldur and just how high an opinion Morona had of him –even if Kaime didn’t agree with it- and then moved onto just how foolish a move it would have been on Baldur’s part to rile the ire of Morona to continue threatening him.

It had been one of the only first impressions that had struck him hard enough to immediately respect someone. Kaime was a very strong pure-breed, and it was that strength that had earned him Baldur’s respect.

[Mali]

She had forgotten that part, about how the Nameless Emperor had done wrong to Nemesis Morona. She wondered what had happened between the two of them to make the Nameless Emperor do such a thing to him. They had fought God Baal together and won, wouldn’t that strengthen a friendship instead of tarnish it? She knew that something must have happened between them but she didn’t want to try to think about it now. She knew that she would never know the answer, since that was such highly valued personal history, there was no way that Nemesis Morona would ever share it with anyone.

She wondered what happened to all the people who came here with Nemesis Morona. The way Baldur spoke made it sound like a ton of people had left, but she had to wonder why and how many were with him. What could have happened to all those people? Was it anything like what happened to her father? Probably not the same case, but it could be similar.

So there was another person that Nemesis Morona might have told the history too. She was thinking that maybe she should ask—should she ever go to the village. She could probably get an answer out of the other person, since it wasn’t his personal history, but she stopped thinking about it as Baldur stated that Nemesis Morona had a lot of trust in this Kaime. The chances that he would tell her disappeared now.

“Awe,” She was disappointed that she would never know how God Baal died. Eating the meat off her stick, she placed another piece on and held it over the fire. Why did Nirvanians have to hold personal history with such high esteem? No one here in Alagaesia did such a thing. Of course, if the history were too personal or too painful to talk about, then typically it wouldn’t be shared, however, the killing of God Baal shouldn’t be like that. But Nemesis Morona was from Empire Nirvana, where stupid societal views were engraved in him. This sucked.

“Why didn’t you tell me that Nemesis Morona was here? Did you not trust me?” she was slightly hurt to think that Baldur didn’t trust her. She knew that trust had to be earned and she was unsure if she’d earned his trust yet, but it still hurt. She considered him her friend, which meant that she trusted him to some extent. There was also the fact that she was trusting him not to lie to her about the true history of Empire Nirvana that caused her to trust him. Okena’s shoulders slumped down as she stared at the fire, thinking it a one-sided friendship.

“I wonder what happened between the Nameless Emperor and Nemesis Morona to cause him to write such horrible things about him in the history books. I mean, they defeated God Baal together, they must have been friends or something, before whatever happened, happened.” She was just musing aloud now as she stared at the fire and the meat on her stick. She still felt saddened that Baldur didn’t see her as a friend. What did he see her as then? Hopefully she was at least an acquaintance to him. That was sort of like a friend, right?

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Amur]

Okena’s clear disappointment at being told that Kaime likely knew Morona’s history and wouldn’t divulge it to anyone caused Baldur to conceal a small smile. She was just like so many other Nirvanians, they all wanted to know the details, but at the same time knew that they weren’t going to get them. Almost everyone accepted that fact and simply continued living their lives, Baldur was of course quietly envious of Kaime for knowing such history, but, was otherwise able to move on with his life. After all, he did have more important things to worry about.

(Of course, his quiet envy was perfectly justified. Such history was enough to get scholars and others that were simply hungry for knowledge to kill each other over.)

Baldur sat in silence after Okena asked him why he had not told her of Morona’s presence here. Had his previous explanation not been sufficient? He thought back on what he had said to her before giving her the knowledge of Morona’s presence here... No, perhaps he hadn’t really explained why he hadn’t told her, he had simply said that he knew what Nirvanian upbringings could be like.

And her follow-up question was just as difficult for him to answer, he had only really just started trusting Josk, and he met the elf two years ago... Then again, Morona had earned his trust relatively quickly; perhaps it had been the difference in the natures of the people and the circumstances of Baldur’s first meeting with them. It was hard for him to say, he had, had a difficult time finding the capacity to trust people ever since he had killed his father.

“It’s not that I didn’t trust you... I felt that you wouldn’t have trusted me if I had told you.”
He said calmly, avoiding her question as to whether or not he trusted her. She had been very open about her past, and didn’t seem to pose a threat of any kind to him or to Ace, but it was still too early for Baldur to answer such a question. He was quietly relieved when Okena chose not to pursue that question any further and seemingly spoke her thoughts on the subject of Morona’s unjust historical reputation out loud.

Unfortunately, he could not answer that question either, since he did not know the circumstances that had lead to such a conclusion.

“There is much speculation among those whom are aware of the true history, however, nothing concrete has ever been put forward, nor, confirmed. Perhaps it was the result of a disagreement about who should have taken the throne, perhaps it was the result of a disagreement surrounding who should take the credit for the deaths of False God Baal and Lautrec. No-one can say for certain, however, one thing is very clear. Morona did not attempt to betray The Human Alliance as history written by The Nameless Emperor tells us.”