JELLY BEANS

"Red." Bynarr seemed to notice her sullen conduct. "Is there anything bothering you?"

The lad's voice broke Red from her sad reverie. "Huh? What do you mean?" She hugged her legs as she turned her head sideways to study Bynarr.

"Certainly that's not someone who's okay would look like." He shrugged.

Red forced a smile and pushed her lingering sadness away. 'Later. I'll have to deal with it later. But what can I do anyway? They're there and I'm here. I'm feeling homesick already.'

Her thin lips pursed into a somber line. "No, it's just that the day is long and I'm tired."

Bynarr fell into silence at first before speaking, "You shouldn't have come here and waited for me. You should just have rested. Silly."

"To compensate for it," Red propped herself up in a standing position. She brushed the dust that might have stuck on her trousers' butt, and smiled more confidently now, challenging Bynarr, "You owe me sparring. Let's go. No time to lose. Come on!" She clapped her hands urgently to push him on.

"Haha! Alright, sure. You must be desperate for sparring, huh? Don't think that I will be lenient just because you're a girl."

"I know! That's what I want! Other people I know and spar with tend to soften the blow just because I'm…" She trailed off, almost blurting out her real identity. Good thing she was able to stop herself from shooting her own foot. "I mean, just because I'm a girl. Just like what you said."

She remembered the guards who she asked to spar with her. They all refused to spar with her properly. All they did was either block or evade her attacks. Even Sir Karyk refused to hit her too hard.

However, she remembered how Sir Karyk's training that day had been too taxing. It always leveled up from the day before. Today, they sparred while she was blindfolded and reiterated the importance of 'feeling' the movements around her.

Around noon before lunch, they went to an area where is connected to the same brook she and Bynarr were right now, only, Sir Karyk brought her to a shallow cave with dripping water droplets at the entrance and asked her to sit for an hour where the droplets fall. As a result, it fell on her head. The continuous pitter-patter of the freshwater on her head eventually caused anxiety and annoyance to her.

Sticking to her resolve not to complain, she kept all her apprehensions in. She did not know Sir Karyk was observing her reactions to irritating external stimuli and had been already training her mindful response to it.

That was how their training usually went. She did not know for what, how, and why since Sir Karyk would not usually explain or give details. Most often than not, it was frustrating to be doing things she did not understand why she was doing it and for what purpose.

"Are you done eating? Hurry! We do not have all night!" She urged him to stand up and get ready to spar. She impatiently and with full energy, bounced alternately on one foot – right first then left then right again, in a rocking motion, arms already curled, ready to defend herself. Not that they were going to box. "I need your help in getting better. You see, I accepted a bet with a knight and it will happen in two days. How foolish me right? Hahaha!" The laugh came out as something sarcastic and shaky. It was mocking her existence. "So I need your help."

"The fact that you are asking me humbly to help you says a lot."

For a time there, she thought he had an idea of who she truly was. "Uhm, huh?"

"I am but a mere peasant trying to be a squire. I'm not a professional. But I will help you in any way I can. Is that what the food is for, huh? You were bribing me with food!" He joked his realization.

"Not really." She muttered, but before she could retort properly or comprehend what was happening, her body jerked away from Bynarr's sudden attacks. Yep, it came like a shotgun. "Whoops! At least give a warning when you're going to start!" Her body fluidly jerked as if it's on autopilot.

"Who gives warning first before attacking?" He retorted with humor.

"Not bad." Bynarr wheezed when he finally stopped his attacks. He seemed impressed. A hint of a smile lingered on his lips and reached his grayish orbs which sparkled with delight and fascination. "You're actually better tonight than last night. How can you improve so quickly in a day?"

Red gaped at him, apparently ecstatic. She leaned forward, exuding the energy of that of a golden retriever. "Really? You think I'm improving?"

"Yep. It's quite obvious."

"Hahaha! I did not expect it. But…" Her mirth died down as swiftly as it came. Like the wind, it only passed in a fleeting moment. "My skills are not enough to land a blow on the knight I had set a bet with. He's simply too advanced. I'm just a novice."

"Uhm," Bynarr's left hand searched his trousers' left pockets. Although his hand seemed frantic on the search, his face had an expression of somewhat hesitation. When he retrieved his hand from his pockets and opened his palm, it contained a yellow handkerchief, but what's striking at her curiosity was what could be inside. "I helped a merchant in the market yesterday and gave this to me as a token of his gratitude." He unwrapped it solely and inside the yellow handkerchief were three green jelly beans. "He said these beans contain magic. It will boost the energy of the person who will eat it."

His face crumpled as much as he went deeper into his explanation, "I am not sure if it is safe but since I trust the person, and since he gave me out of gratitude and kindness, maybe it's harmless. Would you like to try? Let's eat one each."

Red stared at the tiny beans on his open palm. She, too, was having the apprehensions that must have been playing inside his mind. "What to do? Should we?"