“Are you sure you don’t want to speak to your sister?” Lester asked. He pulled out his own red gem again.

“I…” Hector didn’t know what to say. “I don’t…”

He looked at Jon.

“I want to go,” Jon said.

“Well, there it is!” Lester said. “Jon was deputized by the King's Guard, wasn’t he? Isn’t the point of this that he wants to do this?”

“...Right. I suppose it makes sense,” Hector said. “It’s just that the timing…”

“He’s gonna be fine. I’ll be coming with him,” Tallow said.

“Are you even a part of the King’s Guard?” Lester quickly pointed out.

Hector walked up to Tallow. He used his arm as a makeshift sword, rushing and barely tapping both of Tallow's shoulders.

“There. You’re officially deputized for a mission,” Hector said.

“You can do that?” Lester asked.

“I don’t care what my sister thinks… but she should be okay with it.”

Lester shrugged. “If you say so, my brother.”

He turned to Jon and Tallow.

“We leave 2 days from now. Get ready.”

“How many people?” Tallow asked.

“Just me, you, Jon, and the princess,” Lester said.

“She can’t go!” Hector said.

“You can tell her not to go when you get married,” Lester said. “I’ll meet up with you in front.”

He tapped the table and left.

“Is no one gonna tell him?” Tallow asked.

“...We need to prepare Jon,” Hector said, ignoring her. “Come on!”

He stood up. Tallow shrugged, but she and Jon followed him to the sparring circles.

“Alright, Jon,” Hector said. “You need to learn to defend yourself.”

“You’re gonna teach him fire, right?” Tallow asked.

“Why would I do that?” Hector responded. “Mallory’s better at magic than me. He can show Jon.”

“Is your brain even in the same country as your head?” she said.

“What? Of course,” Hector said. “Come on, Jon, hit me.”

Jon didn't know what to do.

He decided to raise a hand to punch at Hector.

Hector quickly pushed Jon away, causing him to fall to the ground.

“Your position needs to be tighter,” he said. “Again!”

Jon was scared. He did get up again.

“One, Jon’s not gonna punch someone,” Tallow said. “He’s going to use the gun.”

“But what happens when someone gets close?” Hector asked, leaning down and putting his hand out for Jon, who grabbed it and stood back up.

“He’s gonna use the gun,” Tallow repeated.

“Jon can’t just… shoot at whatever gets close to him.”

“Of course he can. But that’s not what I’m saying. He’s gotta hit you with the gun.”

“Oh…. Can you do that, Jon?”

Jon took the gun off of his shoulder. Everything felt more natural.

“Hit me,” Hector said.

Jon quickly lifted the butt of the gun and slammed Hector in the face before he could respond. Hector fell to the floor, dazed.

Tallow laughed. “Oh, man! I wish you could see that!”

“That… that was amazing, Jon,” Hector said. “That really hurt….”

“Alright, put the gun away, Jon.” Tallow walked into the circle, stepping over Hector. “And raise your hands, like this.”

She held up two fists in front of her face. It was similar to the position Mercy made when she was fighting.

Jon copied Tallow.

“Start hopping,” she said.

Jon hopped.

“Smaller.”

Jon made small hops.

“Smaller.”

Jon barely pushed himself off the ground with his toes.

“Good. Now I’m gonna punch in 3… 2… 1...”

She counted with the hops Jon made. He was nervous, but tried to keep his cool.

She swung on the count after the one. Jon moved out of the way of the attack.

“Keep hopping!” Tallow said.

He kept hopping.

“Alright…” she walked up to him. “How long do you think you can keep hopping for?”

Jon didn’t know.

“That face tells me you don’t have a lick of an idea," Tallow said. "That’s fine. Again. 3, 2, 1”

She swung from the other hand. Jon bounced out of the way.

“Good. “3, 2, 1.”

She dropped and did a sweep kick. Jon noticed her dropping on the floor, so he hopped high over her leg.

“Incredible!” Tallow said, standing up. “3, 2, 1.”

She put her hand on Jon’s chest and pushed him. He fell hard on his back.

“There we go. Look at that. Now we know what Jon’s good at, and what he’s bad at.”

“What’s that?” Hector asked.

“He can dodge any attack from where his gun is,” she said. “Any closer, and he’s screwed.”

“Yeah, but that’s obvious,” Hector said.

Tallow sighed.

“For him. Jon has a quick eye. He can see things coming. But if they're too close to him, it’s hard for him to react.”

“...I don’t get it,” he said.

“Aren’t you like… some tactical genius… or…” Tallow sighed.

“Take your gun out, Jon,” she said. “And try to shoot me.”

He took out his gun. Trusting Tallow, he tried to shoot her.

She immediately grabbed his gun by the barrel and pointed it to the roof.

Jon realized this and didn’t pull the trigger. It was just like with Sabez.

“See what I mean? Screwed.” She let go of it.

“So, we give him a knife,” Hector said.

“No, dummy. I mean, we could, but I don’t think Jon’s a stabber.”

Jon shrugged. He never thought of using a sword, let alone a knife.

“See what I mean.” Tallow explained, “He’s gonna hurt himself. What he’s gonna have to do is let go of the gun.”

Let go?

“Again,” Tallow said. Without counting, she put his hand on his chest,

Jon brought his gun down, breaking her grip, but she simply pulled it from under the gun and back onto his chest.

He continued to swing at her hand, and she continued to switch her hands and keep putting them on his chest.

“Grab me, Jon!” she said.

He grimaced.

“With your hand!”

He forced himself to let go of his gun with his steadying hand. He felt lost and afraid, still, he grabbed her wrist.

He was nervous, but he slowly lifted her hand off of his chest.

“Thatta boy, Jon!” she said.

“You’re good at this,” Hector said.

“I’ve just seen a lot.” She turned back to Jon. “Keep one hand off the gun at all times.”

She reached for him again.

This time, Jon immediately pushed away with his free hand.

When she came with her other hand, he brought down his gun to deflect.

“Good!”

Jon understood. He kept switching between his free hand and his gun hand.

He got so excited he knocked her hand away and reached for her chest.

She smacked his hand away.

“Dinner first!” she said.

“Did Jon just try to grab your-”

“Moving on!” Tallow said. “I guess your training’s done now. What else can we teach him in a day?

“I don’t know, teaching is Mallory’s job,” Hector said.

“You can’t be that thick-headed.”

Hector sighed. “Come on, Jon.”

Jon stepped closer to Hector.

“If someone gets close to you…” Hector said.

He turned and shoved his shoulder into Jon. Jon got knocked far away and fell outside the circle.

“There you go,” Hector said. “That’s a good move to use when someone gets too close.”

He walked up and held his hand out to Jon, who used it to stand up.

“You try it,” Hector said.

Jon nodded. He shoved Hector hard but bounced off of his armor.

“...Hold on…” Hector pressed the back of his neck. His armor turned into its golden jacket form.

He took off the jacket and tossed it aside.

“Come on, Jon!” he said. “Hit me!”

Jon nodded and ran towards Hector. His shoulder slammed into Hector’s chest again.

Hector held his ground, but he definitely had more trouble.

“Again!” Hector said.

Jon listened.

With every charge, Jon moved Hector more and more from his spot.

Finally, Jon closed his eyes and ran as hard as he could, lowering his shoulder.

“AAAAAAA!” Jon collided with Hector who flew back onto one of the tables, knocking the food over.

Jon was worried that he had messed up their meal.

The table's patrons got up and cheered. “Yeah!”

“Very funny guys…” Hector said as they helped him up.

He made his way back to Jon, picking up his armor on the way.

Jon saw that Hector’s shirt was messed up from the food.

“Sorry,” Jon said.

“That’s fine,” Hector responded. “That was mildly invigorating.”

“That looked fun,” Tallow said. ‘“I want to try!”

“I don’t think you need as much training as Jon does,” Hector said.

“Not shoving, although that seems fun.” She drew her sword and stepped into the circle.

“What?” You want to fight me?” Hector asked. “Why would you want to do that?”

“Why would I want to… you hear yourself right now? Come on, you curmudgeon!”

Hector hesitated. “I… I don’t usually spar with anyone that’s not my sister. Or anyone…”

Tallow put her hands on her hips. “Anyone, what?”

“Not to be mean, but…”

She waited for him to continue the sentence.

“Fine. Jon, can you hold this?” Hector gave Jon his golden coat. Jon then stepped out of the circle.

No mana, then?” Tallow asked.

“Not indoors,” Hector said. “Besides, I’m sure we’d be here all day…”

He raised his sword in both hands next to his head.

“I’ve never seen that before,” Tallow said, lowering her position.

“Trying something new… it’s whatever,” he said. “Just don’t get hurt.”

“Jon, count!” Tallow said.

“1… 2… 3…”

“That’s good enough!” Tallow moved forward.

Hector immediately took a step forward and spun both his sword and his entire body with both hands.

Tallow blocked it but was blown back to the edge of the circle.

“That was new,” Tallow said. “That wouldn’t have worked outside, but you knew we had less space inside of the circle didn’t you?”

“It’s a cowardly tactic,” Hector said. “I’m not strong enough to-”

“Survival is strength, dummy!” She ran towards him again.

Hector made a large step to the side and held his sword out with one hand.

This time, Tallow flipped back onto her hand to avoid the next attack. She was already on her feet to begin the next attack.

Jon thought that Hector would get cut. Instead, He used the hilt of his sword and blocked Tallow’s next attack.

Hector deflected the next two attacks before he dropped down and performed a sweep kick.

Tallow backflipped out of range again.

“Is Hector a martial artist pretending to be a swordfighter?” Tallow teased. “Or is he a dancer pretending to be a fighter?”

“Shut up,” Hector said. “This is what your teacher said, right?”

“I don’t know what he told you,” Tallow said. ‘But he didn’t teach you all of that in one day.”

She broke her battle-ready position, and the back of her sword hand found its way on her hip.

“I mean, really, your precision with strikes is incredible! And so is your hand-to-hand form! You’re a jack of all trades, master of none, right? I mean, I bet your spell casting is actually really good too.”

Hector didn’t seem to like this. “I… I…”

“Hit me, you big dummy!” She said, “Do it! I know you want to!”

“Fine!” Hector pushed forward with his open palm.

An explosive fan of flame hit the ground in front of him. Tallow made a nice jump back, just out of range.

She straightened back up when she landed.

“Yeah! That’s it! You pretend to be a meathead when you fight. But you’re actually, like super calculated, right!?”

Hector punched forward. A single ball of fire the size of his fist flew towards Tallow’s head.

She leaned over and dodged it.

“Yeah… I see…” She began to pace in place. “Or maybe you are a meathead, and you have all of these skills you don’t know how to use. “That’d be ironic, wouldn’t it.”

This time, a funnel of fire came her way. She simply leaned back and it moved past her. Jon wondered how she could be so calm near the flame. Maybe she was using the same trick when she was avoiding Jon’s gun blasts in the forest.

“What do you want?” Hector asked. “I thought you wanted to spar.”

“I am, sparring, silly,” she said. “You spar to learn. We’re not just trying to kill each other willy nilly. Unless we are. And I could switch to that.”

“...No…” Hector felt ashamed. “I shouldn’t be doing this…”

“I think I get it!” Tallow finally said. “I’ve been making fun of Mercy for all the privilege that she’s been given, especially with her ninja training, but now I kinda get it. You’re the one who’s privileged with all of that training. In fact, you have so much of it, you don’t even know how to use it!”

“...I didn’t ask for this,” Hector said. “I just…”

He put his sword away. “I can’t do anything right.”

“It’s like I said, jack of all trades, master of none,” Tallow said. “I mean, erase the last part.”

Hector held his hand up and observed it. “...It’s like… I have all of these answers… but no questions…”

“So, you have to start asking them yourself!” she said.

“...I thought we were training Jon,” Hector said.

“We were, but this is more fun,” Tallow said.

Hector growled.

“Now come on, hands up!” She said, “I’m coming!”

“What? Why would you-”

She had already started running to him. Jon saw something flicker in Hector’s eyes. His feet found their positions on the floor, and he immediately began his immovable defense against all of Tallow’s wackier move set.

Jon looked at the circle. Hector was near the edge, but he hadn’t moved any closer to it than before.

Tallow made quick strikes with her fists, before starting to dance around him and continue her hitting.

Hector moved his hands and arms exactly where they needed to be to defend her attacks, turning to keep up with her.

She made a kick for his shin while this was happening, but he immediately took a step back, making the kick void.

He pushed away another of Tallow’s attacks and pushed forward with both open palms, hitting Tallow in the stomach. She slid backward.

“Oh hell, that was sweet.” She stood. “I think I’m done.”

“...I could only do that ‘casue…” Hector mumbled the rest of his words.

“Speak louder!” Tallow commanded.

“I can only do that ‘cause you’re not stronger than me!” Hector said.

“...Ah hell… that’s rude.”

“I don’t mean that you’re weak,” Hector said. “I just… I’m not that strong…”

“Hector, you can probably kick over a carriage with just your leg if you wanted to. You’re strong.”

“But there are stronger people,” Hector said. ‘And… I can’t get stronger… I can’t…”

“Mate, come one, it’s like I said. Survival of the fittest. No one cares how you-”

Hector already walked away from the circle, making his way back to the King’s Guard area.

“Well, he's just full of himself, isn’t he?” Tallow asked, looking at Jon. “We get to become stronger by learning new techniques and whatnot, trying to survive, and he has this ‘I’m not strong,’ thing going on. Sheesh.”

She looked at Jon. “Don’t be like that, Jon. It’s immature.”

Jon wondered about Hector’s disappointment. Jon knew that he was weaker than all of his friends, but he didn’t mind at all. He didn’t expect any more.

Who was stronger than Hector that he was worried about?

Sabez. But Sabez was a nice guy. He was nice to everyone. Did Hector feel threatened by that?

There were times when Sabez scared Jon on the field, so Jon imagined that Sabez was strong. But Sabez seemed to believe in Hector’s strength, and Hector seemed to respect that. Who else?

Bal.

That guy. The one that Jon, Mercy, and Hector used all of their strength to fight to the bitter end. Maybe he was who Hector was comparing himself to.

Jon remembered the scariness of it. Hector was the strongest guy he knew of at that time. And he had trouble fending off Bal’s attacks, especially without Mercy’s help. Jon remembered the number of close calls both people had.

Didn’t Hector fight people that were stronger than him all the time? For Jon, that was normal. But maybe it was a new phenomenon for Hector.

“Come on, let’s give him some space,” Tallow said. “Let’s get ready for tomorrow.”

Jon continued to move around with Tallow for a few more minutes. When they were ready, they went to the King’s Guard area as well.

They had approached the door to the lounge area when they heard muffled screaming.

“Sounds like a dysfunctional family... '' Tallow whispered.. “Maybe we should come back-”

The door flew open, and Amalia stomped out of the room.

“You only think about yourself!” she yelled.

Hector came out after her.

“And I’m just supposed to get married to you?” Hector asked. “How does that solve anything?”

“I’m not saying that either!” she yelled. “It’s just something we can try to solve together!”

“That sounds like something married people do!” Hector said. “And we’re not married!”

“It’s called being part of a team, Hector. And I thought we were one.”

She said the last part quietly.

“...Sorry, Amalia. I-”

“Why her, then?” she asked. “Why choose her over me?”

“I didn’t… this doesn’t make sense.” Hector put his hands on his head. “I’m not in love with either of you.”

“Then why her?” Amalia asked again.

“Because then I’m not stuck picking up the work for both of our fathers,” he said.

“You do that anyway!”

“Not… not like this.” Hector bit his bottom lip.

“I know. I know. You get all of the benefits of being the son of a war hero-”

“He’s not a war hero,” Hector said firmly.”

“You know what I mean!” she crossed her arms. “So, you can go gallivanting away while I’m stuck waiting to get married off to some dreadful guy.”

“I didn’t ask for this!” Hector said.

“Me neither!”

“You go on adventures anyway,” Hector responded. “Don’t you? You’ll be fine.”

“Oohh…. Hector…” Tallow clicked her teeth and shook her head.

“...So, I’ll be fine, then,” Amalia said, reserved. “Okay. I thought that if I had to marry anyone, Hector, it would be you. My lifelong friend.”

“We’re still fr-”

“It’s fine!” She said, “It’s fine… for you…”

She turned and walked away.

Hector threw his hands in the air in disbelief. “This helps us. You’d think she’d actually want to marry me.”

“Oh my god, Hector,” Tallow put her hand to her head. “You’re an idiot. A bonafide idiot. I feel bad for the girl.”

“I heard yelling from down the hallway!” Mallory called as he walked onto the scene. “Did Hector say something dumb?”

“Always. But today, spectacularly,” Tallow responded.

“I still don’t get what I did wrong,” Hector said.

“It’s not wrong, Hector,” Mallory said. “There’s just… uh… I don’t think you realize how much you and Amalia are intertwined with each other.”

“This is silly,” Hector said. “I’m gonna go-”

“Ah-ah-ah!” Mallory put his hand on Hector’s chest. “You better not. Tallow?”

“Me?” Tallow asked. “I’m not getting involved in this. Send Jon!”

“I think Jon lacks the nuance to guide Amalia through this troubling time,” Mallory responded.

“You do it, then.” Tallow said.

“I would, but Hector’s sister is on her way to the castle,” Mallory responded. “So, I’m gonna be with Hector when that happens so I can give her a debrief.”

“Even more redheaded people?” Tallow sighed.

“Don’t worry. Lana’s got a cool head. She can keep it together under huge pressure.”

Jon remembered Lana and Hector bickering while she was trying to explain to him the situation at the farm. He hoped it wasn’t like that here, especially since it seemed like Hector would need as much support as he could get.

At least Jon thought so. He was still trying to figure out weddings.

“Fine. I suppose we shouldn’t make enemies with the princess of the castle, even if someone is trying very hard to do so.” Tallow gave Hector a glare.

“Go on, you diplomat, you,” Mallory said.

“See ya on the flip side.” Tallow ran in the same direction as Amalia.

“Why does everyone think this is my fault. I-”

“Take a seat, Hector,” Mallory said.

He patted Hector and went back into the room.

Jon went in after, and then Hector followed.

Mallory took a seat at the long table.

“Hector, being that you’re gonna be in the center of a political powder keg,” Mallory said, “it’s better that we work on your emotional and empathetic understanding.”

“That’s the same thing you said when we were traveling on the King’s Guard,” Hector responded.

“Yes! But before, the risk was that you’d get an angry companion or two. Here, we’re dealing with people’s livelihoods.”

“...Fine…” Hector crossed his arms. “So, what?”

Mallory gave him a knowing look.

“...What should I learn to do?” Hector rephrased.

“Start simple! If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all.”

“But Jon doesn’t say anything,” Hector said. “Does that mean he doesn’t ever have anything nice to say?”

Mallory sighed. The door started to open.

“Oh, great, who is it now?” Hector said. He turned around.

The first thing Jon noticed was the look of horror on Hector’s face before he received a fist to the chest.

He flew into the other wall, breaking the cabinet and landing on the floor in the heaps of its debris.

The man who punched Hector was a broad man with a bald head, with red hair that covered everything else. He was wearing thick black cloth armor and his hand looked like it could squash Jon’s head with ease.

Jon didn’t even realize that he had put his gun in his hand. He was unsure of what was happening, and he was scared.

Behind the man was a girl who also wore black armor, and had red hair that came just to her chin. She resembled Lana, but Jon definitely could tell it wasn’t her. She was too small.

“That’s what it feels like when years of articulate planning and maneuvering blows up in your face!” The man yelled.

“Hi, Mr. Luther sir, I-”

“Don’t!” Luther put a finger up to hush Mallory as he walked up to approach Hector, who was coughing and trying to stand up.

“I thought I was gonna hit him,” the girl said, following behind. She then waved at Mallory.

“Hi, Mallory!”

“Hi, Macy…” Mallory spoke as enthusiastically as he waved back.

Jon was frozen as Luther walked past him. Jon couldn’t understand why. This was frightening.

Luther grabbed Hector by the collar of his armor and picked him up.

“I thought… Lana…”

“Lana’s too busy with the King’s Guard to deal with your chicken shit,” he said. “She was in a wreck. You weren’t returning her calls. You were making big decisions without her. She was ready to drop everything to come to see you.”

“She…. I didn’t…”

“I know you didn’t know anything.” Luther pushed Hector hard against the wall. “You don’t know anything. And now, I have to come and clean up the mess you decided to make on your own for some reason.”

“Sir…” Mallory began again.

“You’re next!” Luther screamed.

Mallory gulped.

“I hope…” Hector sputtered, “I hope… that this makes you really busy for a-”

Luther slammed him against the wall again before he dropped him to the floor.

Luther then walked up to Mallory, who looked up with fear.

“I thought we kept you around to keep him from doing stupid stuff like this,” Luther said.

“Well, you know, when Hector wants to do it, he’s gonna do it…” Mallory said. “I just try to stay by and make sure nothing doesn’t become a mess…”

He shrugged with a giant forced smile. “Poor choice of words, amirite?”

“Stay away from him!” Hector said, pointing to his father/ He had used the wall to stand up, and was limping towards him. “You’re talking to me!”

“I’m too pissed off and tired to try to have a conversation right now,” Luther said. “I need to talk to Harris, and clear this all up.”

“I can-” Mallory started.

“Stay here, and make sure nothing else happens,” Luther said. “Or I’m beating both of you up.”

He turned and walked away.

“Bye, Hector. Bye, Mallory,” Macy said, waving as she followed Luther.

“Bye, Macy…” Mallory was just looking at the wall now.

He suddenly stood up and went over to Hector.

“I wasn’t done with him…” Hector said. “He caught me off guard…”

“It’s fine,” Mallory said. “You need to rest.”

“That bastard. I’ll…”

Hector couldn’t continue to talk as he had to catch his breath.

“Jon, help me,” Mallory said.

Jon broke from his trance and went to Hector’s other side.