Part 1
A week has passed by now without so much as a word from Eyara. We went from spending every day together to never seeing one another in the blink of an eye. It kind of sucks but at the same time..its not that big of a deal. It's not like we've been friends for long.
"Sad about losing your girl?"
"Yeaaa.." I answer without realizing what was asked.
"You know I can give you advice on how to win her back. I guarantee it'll work."
"Oh? Have a lot of experience in this?" I say mockingly
"I have much experience when it comes to dealing with women. So trust your father on this one?" I lean in close and whisper as if it was classified information.
"So then let's say I believed you. What would this plan be?"
"Whats that? Are you asking for love advice from your father?" He says in a mocking tone.
"I wasn't asking. You offered and I was willing to hear you out. Nothing more nothing less." I let out a loud sigh.
"My innocent little Samu is running to his father for advice on how to save his relationship with his girlfriend! Oh how quickly they grow!" Fathers dramatic sarcasm grows.
"I think I actually don't want to hear any advice from you at this point."
"Are you suuuure? I have a trick that guarantees she will accept you back with open arms!"
"No thanks I'm good." I use earth magic to create a training sword.
"In fact if there's any chance the situation is salvaged I'd rather wait until she's comfortable with approaching me on her own."
"Most of the time that's a losing strategy son." Father readies his sword.
"The only time that works is when anything would have worked."
"Think so?"
"I know so."
Another day of training ended with me waking up to my mother healing me as my body aches all over.
"What do you think mother? Is what father says true?" Mother simply smiled.
"I'm not sure what kind of advice that man gave you but if its on your mind why not just approach her yourself? I'm sure if you're sincere everything will work out." I let out a sigh of relief from how normal mother seems to be compared to father.
"That's good advice. I'll be sure to go look for Eyara once you're done." Mother smiled and gave me a pat on the back.
"Go ahead. Just be sure to make it back by nightfall." As I run off I stop to ask one last question.
"Mother was father weird with the ladies?"
"Why what did he say to you?"
"Nothing. I just have a feeling he's like that" Mother sighed.
"He's always been a womanizer...that man...before I came around and locked him down he'd always be running around and fooling with any girl who caught his eyes. He's such a beast~!"
(Huh? Her words says she hates him but her tone tells me she likes it? Is mom a freak?) I shake away the thoughts and run off into the direction of the village lake.
As I run through the fields I take in the beauty of my surroundings. The feeling of the smooth tall grass brushing past me as I run through. The soft pillowy dirt that's comfortable enough to run barefoot in (which I often do even now). I kick up dirt as I run across the field into a shortcut through a small section of the forest (dont tell father). As I run through the forest I make my way through the beaten path formed by the multitudes of times I've made my way through this section. The thick bushes lightly snag onto me, the smells of the forest fills my nostrils, and the sounds flood my ears. The sound of animals running around along with birds fluttering their wings as they chirp, their melody echoing and reverberating in my ears.
Soon I reach the edge of the forest and cleared the tree line the meadow filling my view as I run out of the forests edge. The purple, blue, and red petals of the flowers that create a sea of colors leading up to the lake fill me with a sense of awe. As I run to the lake the petals are kicked up and are carried away with the breeze leaving colorful streaks in the wind. I run up to the lakes edge standing there as I peer over its surface and see the various petals gathering along the waters edge.
"What a perfect view..." I say out loud to myself.
"Its also the perfect place to think." I hear a familiar soft voice and spin around to see Eyara standing close behind me.
"Hey! You surprised me!"
"Its been a while huh? Do you finally have enough free time to hang out?"
"Huh? Free time?" I look at her with a confused expression.
"Yea you've been busy training and improving your magic with your father haven't you? I swung by one day since you weren't meeting me at the lake and saw you fighting pretty seriously with your father during training. You're always spending time with me and helping me learn magic so I figured its only fair you get your own time to grow."
"Huh? You're not mad at me or upset with me?"
"Why would I be mad at you?"
"You know for what happened-" I look away finding it hard to keep eye contact.
"After what happened last time it was storming outside..."
"Pffft-" She struggles to keep in a laugh.
"I'm not mad or upset about what happened. I already got over it while I was waiting for the storm to die off. What you said was completely fair and I understand how you'd think I'm a boy. Really Samu its fine."
"I guess im the only one who needed a week huh?" I let out a nervous chuckle.
"So? How was the past week? Have you stepped up to the next level?"
"The next level? Im not sure about a next level but ive been working on a different way of fighting that might be better suited for me.... Its not going well currently.." I sigh at my lack of progress.
"A different way? What do you mean by a different way?"
"Its hard to explain...I guess I'm trying to use magic to enhance my physical abilities more?"
"What like the time you fought the goblins?"
"I dont think so?"
"Yea like the time you made one explode after hitting it." She says with a look of amazement seen in her eyes.
(Yea I guess I could also do that. It would feel a lot more natural than using a sword...But what would I use to defend?) I think for a moment before coming to the simple realization. (Magic. I can use earth magic to protect the part of my body thats about to be hit.) I hold my arm up and test the theory by using earth magic to create a casing of stone around it. (No its too slow. Torren would reach me before I could defend.) I think to myself again until a soft voice snaps me out of it.
"Thinking about how to defend?"
"Yes. Im trying to figure out a way to defend myself if im not using a sword. Its not like I can block it like a-" Then it hit me.
"THATS IT!" My sudden outburst made Eyara jump.
"Did you figure it out?"
"Yes! I think I finally figured out the missing piece of the puzzle thanks to you!" I give her a big hug lifting her up and spinning her around before setting her back down.
"So what have you been up to this past week?" She stands there for a moment before shaking her head.
"O-Oh I've just been focusing on my magic. I was confident that id be able to land a hit on you but now I'm not so sure ill ever be able to..." She hangs her head.
"Well you only just started to learn. I'm sure in time you'll be the one holding back against me!"
Samu takes hold of Eyara's hand as they run off through the meadow. They laugh and recount the things each of them missed over the past week as they walk around the village. The two of them continued to spend time together until the sun was about to start setting and they had to part ways. Before going their separate ways they both looked down and realized they had been holding hands the entire time.
Part 2
Samu rushed home and managed to make it through the front door as the sun began to fully set.
"Safe!" He calls out.
"Well I assumed it went well considering you've been gone all day." Father says as he pats me on the back while I walk by.
"Yea it turns out I was just being stupid. She said she didn't care about what happened at all. So we've just been hanging out all day together catching up." I walk over to the dinner table and take my seat.
"I figured it would be like that." Mother gently rubs my head and sits down at the table.
"Yes it was great advice, now there shouldn't be anything weird between me and Eyara."
"That is until the next time you screw up!" Father laughs as he joins us at the table.
"Whatever dude! That was an honest mistake!"
"Yea the many other mistakes to come will be 'honest mistakes' as well" Father says as he laughs.
"No more mistakes! I'll just live a mistake free life!" I exclaim as I begin to raise my voice in frustration.
"I'm not sure you can help but make mistakes with women. If the apple doesn't fall far from the tree then there will definitely be many more times." Mother says as she sighs at father.
"Hrrg!" Father makes a funny sound before hanging his head in shame until everyone erupts into laughter.
We continued to joke around with each other laughing as we enjoyed the moment until Elxie brought our food.
"I have something I must share with you all." She says as she sets the last plate onto the table.
"I'm pregnant." She says as she lowers her head in shame.