After the week of training with his dad Adam was more excited than he has ever been, he couldn't wait to go to the capital city and learn as many new things as he could.
On the morning of the day Adus and Adam were departing, Adam woke up extra early from all his excitement and since he couldn't go back to sleep he decided to review what he learned during the last week.
Over the last week Adus taught Adam many different combat form methods from hand to hand combat, sword fighting, dagger wielding, Bo staff fighting, and archery. Adam was surprised and impressed with all the different forms of combat that his dad knew; He was mostly surprised because from what he has always been told is that most Graced excel at one form of combat, but Adus explained that while its true that most Graced excel at one and that he too truly excels most at sword fighting there is nothing stopping someone Graced from learning other forms of combat like anyone else who isn't Graced.
That brought about one of the main points that Adus wanted to convey to his son, and that was that being Graced just gives you more talent in something, but to truly master a craft you have to put in the hard work. This led to Adam thinking of his own Grace and that how he felt so much smarter when he first woke up but throughout the first day he was Graced he still couldn't come up with better plans for the future than his father and he couldn't forsee how his mother would react to him being Graced. Adam thought how right his dad was after thinking about that day, while his Grace might have made him smarter that doesn't mean he should ever think other people aren't able to best him in wits.
Adam spent the morning going over all the lessons his dad taught him during the week and finally a couple hours later his mom called him to come have breakfast.
Adam and his family had a somewhat silent breakfast before Adam and Adus started to leave for Randa city. As they were about to leave Jamie reached out and hugged her son with a few tears in her eyes.
Adam - "Its OK mom, I'll be back before you even know it."
Jamie - "I know but I just can't believe my baby boy is growing up already. ADUS you better make sure that everything goes well and tha you guys come home soon."
After hearing his wife Adus sweat dropped a little before replying.
Adus - "Yes dear."
After leaving their home Adam and Adus traveled at a modest speed towards Randa city, the trip wasn't long taking about two hours. While traveling toward the city Adus continued teaching Adam about different things to look out for when traveling and surviving in the wild. Everytime Adus taught his son something he was again impressed and astonished with how quickly he learned things.
The two hour long trip to Randa city flew by quickly and before long the walls of the city were in view. As it was Adam's first time seeing them he was gobsmacked with the size of the walls and the city itself.
Adam - "This is amazing! It must have taken decades to build such high walls around the city."
Adus - "Well yes, the construction time was done considerably quicker by the prisoner labor. This brings up another important lesson son, never just see the surface of things, there can be dark sides to everything."
Adam - "That seems a little depressing sounding dad."
Adus - "It is son, I'm not saying be distrustful of everything but be mindful that not everything is as it seems on the surface."
Adam ~ Dads right, I have to be mindful of what peoples real intentions are so that I don't get fooled in the future.
Adus - "Come on son, let's go through the gate and enter the city."
Adus and Adam walked up to the gate where two soldiers stood, after seeing that it was Adus the soldiers let them pass into the city. While walking through the city Adam was amazed by all the hustle and bustle of different street stalls. As they were walking around Adam also noticed they looks people gave them after they saw their eyes, it was a mix of fear, loathing, and replusion.
Adam ~ I noticed the weird looks of the people in the village before we left but they were at least more subtle about it, the people in the city are not even bothering to hide their feelings. I would have thought that since people with Graces are congregated in the capitol city that the people would be more used to them and thus not as fearful and loathful.
Adus noticed how his son was looking at the people and that he was seeing their reactions to him being Graced.
Adus - "What are you thinking Adam?"
Adam - "I am just wondering why everyone looks at the Graced like that, I mean I can kinda understand the people in the village as there isn't many with a Grace there but the people in the city should see people with Graces all the time."
Adus - "It comes down to fear and jealousy son; fear of the unknown and different, fear of what some Graced people are capable of, and jealousy of the innate talent that the Graced awaken."
Adus' words rang in Adams head and the more he thought about them the more he saw the wisdom in them, but he also felt that it was unfair to be treated this way because of something out of his control.
Adus - "This is the way of human nature son, maybe one day you can find a way to get rid of the tensions but for now you just need to grow and learn more before you can make any changes. Come on, will need to go to the palace to report to the king."