Quest
Stage: Brute
Summary of plot points:
Keilana has been lost with what to do with herself since her boys had grown up and the wars are over. Her quest is to help her find her 'place' to teach others to wield a hammer as well to learn patience. ***
Waking up with a start Keilana groaned and rubbed her eyes removing the sleep dirt from the corners. Was that...someone banging at the door? She wasn't expecting company and it felt fairly early in the morning still. It wouldn't be her kids and she severely doubted it was Chalcedony. Keilana hadn't seen much of the shifter outside of get togethers with the boys. The pounding stopped and for a moment Keilana wondered if she could just roll over and go back to sleep. There was nothing waiting for her to do this day, her normal routine would be just that. Get up, clean house, go hunt, tend to her weapons and wait to see if her boys came home.
Life was pretty boring, and she felt like she was just going through the motions of living without having any real purpose. True there was Slow to look after but the spitorog randomly showed up staring at her as always. Sighing she went to settle back into her hammock only to have a rap tap tapping at the door pick up. Clenching her teeth she rolled out of her hammock, catching her balance as her feet hit the floor before she threw some clothes on. No time for brushing her hair as she ran her fingers through the mess before grabbing her new hammer and ready to make use of it at whomever was at the door at this unholy hour.
With her left hand she grabbed the door handle and swung the door inwards rather violently. One could almost think she was trying to rip it off its hinges and from previous encounters it somewhat sagged on its hinges. The scowl on her face said everything, there was a man and woman as the door and they looked rather taken aback by her fierceness though it wasn't enough to scare them off apparently.
The woman turned to the man, they looked to be from Sauti and were rather traveled haggered but in high spirits strangely.
"See! I told you this was the right place, she surely can teach our boy how to fight. Just look at her!" The woman was ecstatic and with how she spoke Keilana wasn't entirely sure if she was being complimented or not. Her scowl only deepened as the pair stared at her for a while longer.
"Yes...I think..your right.." Began the man stroking his chin where stubble had began to grow .
"Excuse me...but I am not interested in whatever you want. Now leave my home before I get angry." Keilana spat speaking through clenched teeth. She was angry at being bothered this early in the morning and the two jabbering at her front door wasn't helping improve her mood. The pair were ignoring her at this point, her words spoken on deaf ears. The woman was calling a name out, gesturing for someone to come forward it was just when Kei's patience ran out that the young figure came into view.
Her hand clenched into a fist slammed into the door frame causing everyone to go quiet. All three stared at her, the youth who had come into view was younger than her two sons, or at least he seemed to be and his arms were crossed over his chest in a defiant manner. It irked her to see him act in such a way even though she didn't know him or his parents and she had no intentions on getting familiar.
"I don't care what you want me to do the answer is no. If your boy needs to be taught how to fight there are plenty of others who can teach him." Keilana spat, she felt her head throb in annoyance, she was clenching her jaw which wasn't helping the pain. Silence reigned between the trio, the woman and man exchanged looks at each other before coming to some sort of silent agreement.
"Oh but you are so well known for your prowess!" The woman began,
"And our son has been to several teachers already..they say he is a lost cause." Lamented the father who spoke obviously before thinking earning quite the glare from his wife.
Rubbing the bridge of her nose Keilana sighed so she was their last resort? Even better. "I told you, I am not interested in teaching your hopeless son." Keilana stated as she eye'd the young man with distaste. It wasn't that she thought he couldn't do it. But it was hard to put faith in some one who had been presented to you as 'a lost cause'.
"See I told you she wouldn't do it. Can we go home now?" The young man whined, it was obvious he had no interest in being taught either. And both parents looked rather deflated when their son spoke. In fact...watching the trio made her blood boil, they were going to give up? Just like that?
It was a bizarre redirection of thought, Keilana had no interest in teaching this brat, but seeing that they had all come here, woke her up at this early hour only to mope and leave?
"Well no wonder the other teachers couldn't teach him...you give up too easily." Keilana managed with a shift and taking a step forward grab the boy by the scruff of his shirt yanking him forward, unsettling everyone. "Fine. I'll see if i can build a back bone for this twerp. Give me a week." Keilana was boasting of course a week was hardly enough time to teach anyone beyond the basics. If he could even lift the hammer...
***
After setting up a temporary place for the boy to sleep she learned rather belatedly that his name was Samone. And she had warned him that they would begin the next morning and she hadn't been kidding. Waking up she was surprised to find herself eager to start the day. Getting ready she dressed in attire suitable for training in. A vest and shorts, her hair tied back she grabbed her hammer and walked to where Samone was sleeping.
"Get up." She barked, giving a smirk as she watched his form twitch in surprise . "Breakfast will be soon so get ready." Keilana stated as she turned and left him. Preparing breakfast she had it ready and it was...strange but oddly refreshing to not be eating alone. Though...as the time past on she found herself eating by herself anyway. Once done she growled and went back to Samone's sleeping area to find that the boy had in fact gone back to sleep.
Briskly she moved up to him, grabbing hold of the sides of the hammock and efficiently dumping the poor lad out onto the floor. Met with an exclamation of surprise and a glare from the boy she only glared back at him her hand firmly on her hip.
"I told you to get up for breakfast. Breakfast is now over. Since you decided sleep was more important than food we will begin todays lesson with fasting and weight training." Keilana smirked, "Get dressed and be done shortly or I'll dress you myself." Letting the threat hang in the air as she turned around and left the room she paused a moment to hear the boy scramble off the floor. Excellent.
Proud of her 'motivation' she was glad that she had her new hammer now, to teach the boy she would have him use her weapon...once she felt he could lift it anyway. Looking at him he seemed to scrawny to actually be able to lift the hammer off the ground. She was sitting oiling her hammer when the boy finally showed his face. He looked annoyed and she heard his stomach rumble. His eyes were looking around for food that was no longer available to him and she stood up and stretched a moment before she gestured for him to follow her.
"Um, but I am hungry.." Samone managed to get out as he walked towards her, Keilana gave him a quick glance and then shrugged as she prepared to go outside.
"Oh? Well then perhaps next time you'll get up the first time I come to get you. You will have to wait for lunch now."
Samone looked aghast, it was obvious he had never been forced to skip a meal in his life. But hanging his head he followed her outside his arms crossed grumpily over his chest. Keilana had set up a routine of lifting rocks and carrying them around to gather strength in his upper body. Strength training was just the start, after that she would focus on his stamina. But for now lugging rocks back and forth would be enough.
"Alright..." Keilana started as she explained the exercise to the youth who was looking less enthused than before. His stomach rumbled again in protest and when food was brought up again his request was dismissed.
"You can have water, but nothing to eat until lunch." Keilana explained as she then went to heft a pair of rocks easily onto her shoulders. She didn't believe in letting others work alone and wanted to provide some sort of inspiration but the boy only looked at her like she was nuts before he feebly attempted to pick up one rock with little results. Huffing he struggled against gravity only to give up dropping the rock dangerously close to his toes. Jumping back and falling to his buttocks in surprise, Keilana found herself shaking her head.
"If its too heavy find a lighter one to begin with. You're not showing off to a young filly here...I don't care if you can life one hundred pounds or twenty. So pick up a stone appropriate to your strength." Kei explained as she shifted the stones in her own hands.
She watched as he looked dubiously around and found a much much smaller stone which was quickly dropped as he caught her glowering expression. Finding a rock took up much of the time and Samone was exhausted by the time he managed to do only a few short rounds of the exercise.
Lunch was gobbled down quickly when it was presented and then the training was picked up again. At one point the boy refused to lug around the rocks any more, declaring that this exercise was stupid and pointless. So Keilana suggested he try and lift her hammer if he felt he was too 'good' for rocks. And although he managed to lift it off the ground, she could sense the trembling in his muscles as they attempted to keep the weapon righted.
"Put it down before you hurt yourself." She managed as she went to take a step towards him. As with the rock he didn't seem able to lower it down carefully, instead bailing on the weight to find it plummeting towards his toes. And though she hated to do it she sent one of her rocks hurtling towards her beloved weapon to crash against it and offset its course before it broke the poor kids feet. It still managed to catch part of his leg as it shifted its decent.
"That...is enough for today," She grunted as she had manage to tweak something in her shoulder at the sudden shift in weight and motion. "Rest for the remainder...dinner will be at sunset."
***
The next morning she went again to wake the youth. Who groaned as his body was still recovering from the previous days work out. But he got up right away not wanting to miss out on breakfast again. Although the only words he seemed to know were complaints and moaning about how much his body hurt.
The leaf woman would of snapped her spoon in half if it wasn't for the fact she didn't want to constantly replace her utensils. Instead she warned him that complaints would only earn him more weights to carry to which his mouth properly clamped up. Satisfied and yet....missing conversation Keilana ate in silence. It was..weird to have this kid here, what was she trying to prove? Perhaps she wanted to feel needed again, her boys were grown and no longer needed their mommy to protect them. Still... eyeing Samone she couldn't believe she was trying to teach another kid.
The day proceeded as the previous day, although with a few more complaints from aching muscles but no rocks or hammers were dropped suddenly this go around. The day went by quickly and Keilana quickly figured out the boys limitations. He wasn't exactly built for the task for fighting, and slowly she managed to get him to open up to her. It wasn't until the last day that she found out that he had no desire to wield a hammer for he was interested in the magic arts.
Sighing she leaned back mulling over his words. She never understood the desire to wield magic. Though she knew many who could it stuck out to her as strange and bizarre. Still that explained a lot of his resistance with other trainers.
"Have you told your parents?" Keilana asked at their last dinner together and Samone only shook his head before shrugging slightly.
"Yeah..I mean they don't really listen to what I say." He continued after a moment eating around the meat in his hands.
"Well...being a mother myself, they won't know unless you make is very clear to them. I won't force you to train if that isn't where your heart lay...I know many magic wielders...I could recommend one to you if you wish." Keilana mentioned as she realized how lonely she was going to get with Samone leaving her. Although she didn't enjoy teaching him at the beginning, she had grown to appreciate the challenge and the company.
It was going to be hard to part with him, but..maybe he would be able to be taught close by, or she could pick up a few more pupils to help fill out her day.
Word Count: 2436
Finished
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