23 Among us

After Athala threw an almost triumphant look in my direction the fight began.

Zawit attacked with no barrels held as always. But Athala did not so. She blocked most punches, tried to dodge now and then, and managed to deflect some. After that, she would kick his legs.

She copied... me? Since when? What have you done to Athala?

Actually, I shouldn´t be surprised I am the only one that has some sort of technique that doesn´t involve just punching.

Should I be happy? Or... angry?

I´m somehow am happy and yet... kinda complicated feeling...

And how she copied me, too... Isn´t she aware that you need to train an attacking style before trying to utilize it? What do you think you are? A genius?

... Well, she is doing a fine job of not getting her ass kicked, but... that is it. She mimics my movement without knowing why I did what. And the end is as clear to see.

Poor Athala she really should not have picked Zawit as a first training partner. Go slow with a weaker one first, then review and so on, if you want to improve by battling. It doesn´t usually work, you know. This isn´t an anime.

There! Athala didn´t manage to block one punch and ate it to the face. She shrugged it off and simply continued their fight. But from time to time Athala would get hit after she hit his legs a dozen or so times.

I know she is stronger than me, but this is not going to work... I think. If you want to hurt this human boulder you should hit parts that will actually hurt him. Don´t try and fell a tree, just by kicking it.

As the battle continued I could see, how Athala began to stumble, while Zawit shrugged off her kicks more and more easily. In the end, Elder Irvin stopped the fight and declared Zawit the winner. It was a valiant effort, though! But I am sure she would have had a better time fighting with her usual fighting style... Not that I want every villager to fight like them, but... That was really embarrassing to watch! Especially while knowing who she is copying!

While he was grinning and returning to his seat Athala was once again staring daggers at me.

Come on! I didn´t do anything! Once again stop staring at me like you want to murder me!

Although I could use a sparring partner from time to time...

Mother is great and all, but she is far stronger than me and some techniques won´t work on her because she is simply too strong. Perhaps Athala could take my younger brother´s place and be my training dummy... partner, I mean! No seriously though I am sure I will be the dummy in this relationship... But if she wants to learn something... as the elder one in our group shouldn´t I be happy to teach?

All kidding aside... what to do?

The rest of the tournament went on as always and Zawit seemed to really enjoy his time. He challenged everyone left and right until everybody had fought at least three times and no longer accepted his challenges. Athala herself challenged a few others but did not use her incomplete copied techniques. And so she won the rest of them. Zawit and Athala were dominating the tournament and the rest also showed what the adults would call good fights. They basically punched the living daylights out of each other.

The crowd went crazy whenever one of them fought and quite a few battle songs and heroic tales were sung. Drums were beaten and the men roared whenever someone got a good hit in.

Were they as livid when I fought? I can´t remember hearing anything from them. Then again, my fights were quite long and repetitive. I can´t imagine anyone - not even myself - having fun while watching my fights.

In the evening the whole village grilled meat on a huge campfire and until late into the night tales were told and songs were sung. About the founder of the village, about fights, the gods, bravery, and glorious deaths. The adults soon were quite drunk and my mother seemed to really enjoy herself in the middle of the celebrations. Some time amidst the fun and drinking she left the party for quite some while and did not answer the question where she might have been. Curiously Elder Irvin and my father both seemed to have had a fight amongst themselves as I noticed them limp a bit and their face had dark bloody spots.

I am really curious, though. Shouldn't Elder Irvin be capable of healing himself with water? Or is it one of those powers, that does not affect the owner? That would be quite inconvenient...

That reminds me! I know that Domhain gives strength and toughness to his chosen ones, but what traits do the other gods give them? Does Elder Irvin only get healing and nothing more? How does this work? I feel like I had something else I wanted to ask Elder Irvin the last time I visited him, but I forgot... Right! I wanted to ask him about writing! Why did I forget about this, when that was basically the main reason I went there?

Well, the next three days I am not allowed to spar with anyone and that basically means no training for me, so how about I go to Elder Irvin´s place once again and this time ask him about the blessing and the writing? If I don´t forget it once again. Reminds me of my stunts that often happened when I went shopping... I bought a lot of things I did not need but forgot the actual thing I wanted to buy in the first place. That was always embarrassing and it did happen more often than I would want to admit, sadly.

While listening to the songs and biting into the freshly cooked meat I made the plan to visit him tomorrow morning after I woke up. I stared up into the night sky and the moon was shining brightly atop our village. Time to pester him a bit more!

When I felt sleepy mother tugged me into our bed and kissed my forehead.

"I am proud of you."

I smiled at her knowing she wouldn´t be able to see the tears welling up in my eyes.

"Thanks, mom."

While hugging her I fell asleep.