"So, what's the plan for the day?" he asked as he walked over to the others.
"Find a way to ditch you in the middle of one of the cities on this world?" Hannah asked, sounding more serious than Ralph knew she was.
"Funny," Ralph remarked dryly.
"I thought so," Hannah replied with a smirk.
"Well, Embris has asked us to teach us some of what we know about self-defense," Beth said, yawning.
""Does that girl ever think of anything other than fighting, getting into a fight, or something?" Tim asked.
"She likes her family," Amelia replied.
"Not sure that's what Tim meant," Wes remarked.
"Doesn't matter what he meant or not," Amelia retorted. "That's what he said, so if he didn't want an answer like that, then he should have just said what he meant."
"Hey, I'm not Horton," Tim protested.
"Doesn't matter if you're him or not," Amelia replied. "If you leave the answer open like that, then I'm going to go through it, even when you really don't want someone to."
"Uh, maybe it's just that I'm not fully awake, but what're you talking about?" Ralph asked, feeling like he should know what they were talking about.
"Nothing much. Just that Embris was interested in learning what we know about self-defense," Beth answered.
"Uh, no, I got that part," Ralph replied. "I meant about Tim being, uh, Horton?"
"Oh, that? That's from Dr. Seuss book," Amelia answered. "I can't remember what the title is right off hand, but the line goes something like: 'I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant is faithful one hundred percent.'"
"Okay, now I know why it's unfamiliar to me," Ralph remarked. He didn't bother with Dr. Seuss books, so he wasn't bothered by this reference. Yet, he couldn't figure out exactly why it had felt familiar, but he wasn't going to worry about it. For one thing, it would take energy he'd rather spend on other things.
"You know, I think the title of the book was 'Horton Hatches an Egg,' if I remember correctly," Hannah chimed in.
"Thanks," Amelia said. "Although, you know, I just remembered something myself." Amelia turned to look at Beth with an almost accusatory look. "After you came back from getting water with Embris, why did she have such bruises on her breastbone and ribs?"
"Well, we had a run in with some bullies and I didn't care to have Embris get into a fight with them again, so I suggested a little competition," Beth answered, trying to sound casual, but Ralph could tell she was sweating buckets on the inside.
"Well, what kind of competition?" Amelia challenged. "Swallowing firecrackers and having them go off?"
"Uh, no," Beth answered, her voice gaining a slight tremor to it. "Just where each of the other girls took a turn hitting Embris and then Embris got a chance to hit them."
Ralph almost laughed at how everyone else just stared at Beth in shock. He certainly hadn't expected this to be what the reason had been.
"What possessed you to let that happen, let alone suggest it yourself?!" Hannah cried.
Beth smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm not sure why I suggested it either. I just thought it would be better than letting them fight like they had been. I mean, sooner or later one of them's gonna get really hurt," Beth said, sounding much more reasonable than Ralph had expected.
"Well, if it was just a fight, at least it would be mostly bruises and cuts on the skin rather than bruised bones like that," Amelia snapped. "How old were the other girls? At least one of them was strong enough to do some real damage."
"Well, the ones that hit Embris in the chest was eighteen, thirteen, and nine," Beth answered. "The other one merely hit Embris in the stomach."
"Oh, yeah, I forgot about those," Amelia said, sounding like she was starting to get on a roll. "Not only was her stomach bruised, but also her liver, pancreas, and part of her small intestine. What made you think that was a good idea?"
"Uh, to be fair, I believe I already answered that question," Beth said, sounding rather nervous, much to Ralph's enjoyment. "To the rest of what you said, all I can say is that Embris and the other girls seemed to like that idea more than just fighting."
"Of course they liked it!" Amelia roared. "They literally are living in the dark ages."
"Uh, it doesn't look so 'dark' to me," Wes remarked.
"Not that kind of dark, dimwit," Hannah commented.
"Regardless," Amelia said, getting the conversation back on topic, "We need to try and get them to be more civilized and not resort to violence to solve their disagreements. We need to be an example to show them how non-violent approaches work."
"Well whether I should have done that or not, I can't really say," Beth replied, sounding like she was hoping the conversation would change. "All I know is that nothing we say or do is going to make these girls change their mind. At least not anything that we can say in a day or two. We'd prolly need years to accomplish what you're suggesting."
"Well, we might as well start somewhere," Amelia retorted.
"Maybe, but why not just try and let things move a little slower than that," Tim suggested. "I mean, it's probably more than just in this village. In order to really make the change you sound like you want, you probably would need to change the entire country at once."
"You really think that?" Ralph muttered to Tim.
"Not really, but it at least might get us off this topic," Tim muttered back, making Ralph chuckle.
"We might as well start where we are right now," Amelia said. "Otherwise they'll probably keep coming to me for a quick heal from what damage they cause to each other. Just so they can turn around and inflict it again!"
"And there it is," Hannah remarked. "The real reason behind this push."
Ralph nodded. It was clear Amelia had become rather popular with those who like fighting and otherwise getting scrapes and all that. However, he wasn't surprised that Amelia was healing them without asking for anything in return. Though, it did seem to be creating an effect where they were taking it that to mean they could fight to their hearts content and not have to deal with any of the consequences that comes from that. Such as bruises and all that.
"Maybe you should start charging a fee," Wes suggested. "I mean, we probably could use the currency, whatever it is."
"Hey, I'm not going to try to make myself a business here. It's not like I'd know where to file for an application to do that," Amelia said.
"What're you talking about?" Beth asked, sounding much more like her old self with the topic having been changed. "We're in another world. I seriously doubt that whatever government that exists here keeps track of what businesses are in it and who's starting thus and such aof a business here or there. In our world, they can do that because they have enough people to do that, as well as other modern conveniences that I'm quite sure don't exist in this world."
"Uh, shouldn't we get going to see what Cinder and his father are making for breakfast?" Wes chimed in. "I don't know about you, but I'm pretty hungry."
Ralph didn't bother to pay attention to what else was said about that. He immediately started heading out, ready to get something to eat as well. He didn't mind it if the others were annoyed at him for leaving right away. It wouldn't be the first time it happened if they were.
_
After breakfast, Beth took Embris out by a clearing near her house, where Beth had agreed to teach her a little of her fighting abilities. Yet, Embris wasn't sure what to expect. All she knew was the fact that Beth took a hit that should have knocked her at least a few steps back, like how the punch she'd taken herself had made her step back.
Although, she still couldn't figure out why Beth had stopped her punch before making contact with the other girl. It was clearly a merciful act, one that Embris knew she wouldn't have been capable of herself.
Yet at the same time, she knew that Beth had to know a lot about fighting. Which meant that if Embris learned what Beth knew, then she was sure that she'd be able to take a hit just the same.
What she didn't expect was for Amelia to be put in charge of the lesson. Beth was merely used as an opponent for Embris. An opponent who was merely doing whatever Amelia directed, while Embris was trying to understand what it was that Amelia wanted her to do.
Embris wasn't sure what good this would do, but didn't say anything. She'd been the one to ask for them to train her, so if this is what it looked like, then so be it. She would do what they told her, even if it seemed ridiculous to her. After all, there had to be something that would help her know what it was that got Beth to not be hurt so badly as she herself was.
She also couldn't understand why she wasn't allowing her to move at full speed while sparring with Beth. It wasn't like she wouldn't be able to keep up. She was sure of that. Her own mother had taught her how to wield a sword, so she couldn't see how different this was. Well, aside from not having a blade.
Yet, Amelia insisted on it, so Embris swallowed her protests and did what she had been told. Although, she was certain that if she didn't improve after this, then she would say something about this method.
After the day really started to heat up, Embris was surprised when Amelia stopped them from continuing their spar and had Embris merely throwing different punches and everything without a target in front of her. If nothing else, this felt weirder.
Then as she did that, she felt like she was making a fool of herself. Which she was at least thankful for the fact that they were doing this here rather than closer to the village where others could see her doing this. She really saw less of a point in this than the slow sparring with Beth earlier.
Occasionally Amelia or Beth would correct her position or stance or whatever. When they did that, it felt like there might actually be a reason for them doing this. It made it feel less embarrassing as well.
Feon came and started watching partway through Embris punching the air. Though, she started doing the same before Embris was done. Which made Embris feel like Feon didn't really know exactly what was going on, just that her older sister was doing this, so she decided to join in.
After they finished that phase, the sun was starting to descend on its way down the sky towards the west. Embris had thought that they might be done, but then they had her putting the different punches in a sort of combination or something. Some of it included moving forward or backward while doing that.
Even though it felt like this made more sense, but they still kept her from moving at a regular speed. Almost like they were wanting her to learn to fight at a slower speed or something. Though, after a while, they had her doing the same with Feon, except when one would move towards her, the other would move back, like they were fighting each other.
When Beth said that was good for the day, Embris really didn't feel like anything had been done. More like it was just a waste of time that didn't actually do anything.
"Now, do that every day and you'll get better," Beth said as they finished.
"Why?" Embris asked, feeling like they'd tricked her somehow.
"Muscle memory," Amelia replied casually.
"Muscle… has memory?" Embris asked, feeling like they were playing a prank on her.
"Sort of," Beth answered. "Its more that if you do that long enough, then your body will react without your thinking about it when you need it to. Your muscles probably don't have their own memories as you or I do, but they still will react in the same way you continually move. As if they do remember the way they're supposed to react."
Embris thought about that. She didn't really fully understand what Beth said, but it didn't sound like something she'd be able to argue against. Although, it at least did explain why they were having her punch the air. They were trying to get her body to react whenever she needed it to.
Not that she thought it would do any good.
"So, same thing tomorrow?" Amelia asked.
"I'm game," Beth replied. "Embris, you coming again tomorrow?"
Embris thought about it. She wanted to learn to fight, but this wasn't anything like she'd done with her mother when her mother had started teaching her to use a sword.
Which brought a question she occasionally wondered" Where was her mother? The mercenary unit she was in had been gone for a while, so they could be anywhere, though Embris knew that they usually came back once in a while. As such, she couldn't help but wonder if Beth and Amelia would still be here when her mother returned next.
"Embris, you still there?" Beth asked, snapping Embris out of her thoughts.
"Oh, yeah, I guess I'll be here," she said, feeling like she should at least give it a real shot rather than just a quick try and let it go right after. She might not think what they had said about 'muscle memory' but that didn't mean they weren't on to something with it.
"Well that's good," Amelia said. "Although, Feon, you gonna show up too?"
"Yeah!" the little girl cheered, drawing a smile from Embris.
Feon didn't show any signs of wanting to follow in their mother's footsteps and becoming a warrior. Instead, Feon seemed like she might try to be a smith or work with leather. Which their mother did some of, but it wasn't what she put most of her effort in.
Or at least as far as Embris thought of it. Otherwise she couldn't understand why her mother travelled around with the mercenary company. She could easily do well as either a smith or a leatherworker, so she could have done that instead if she'd really wanted to.
As they walked back to the house, Embris let her thoughts wander, wondering what Cinder would decide to do. She had been surprised at how well Cinder seemed to work with Amelia when Amelia was healing others, either with her magic or with the herbs and things that she would make that helped people bet better from whatever ailed them.
"What's that?" Feon asked as they reached the gate to the fence that surrounded the house.
Embris looked to see a column of smoke rising in the distance. The fact that it was just above the trees and still climbing higher indicated that it had been started recently.
"Looks like a fire is going," Embris remarked, unsure if there was supposed to be a bonfire large enough to create a column of smoke that high. Or even why it would be set so early in the afternoon.
"Is there a reason for a fire to be going?" Beth asked, sounding as unsure about it as Embris felt.
"I don't think so, Feon said uncertainly.
"Okay, Beth, get the others and have them head down to the village to see what's going on and help if there's a serious problem. I'll go with Embris and get her family somewhere safe just in case it's something really bad," Amelia said, snapping Embris out of her confusion.
Yes. If the smoke is reaching that high, chances were someone's house, or worse, was on fire. Which meant that there was a chance it could spread. If it was worse than just a fire, Embris wasn't sure what the end result would be. It wasn't something that she'd even thought would happen, even though she'd heard about it happening here and there to villages, especially farming villages like this one.
Embris couldn't help but feel a shiver of fear start to spread up her back. She couldn't tell what might happen. Only what came to her mind as possibilities.
_
–What's going on?– Beth calls out with her magic. Even though they couldn't see each other or were close enough to talk, they could still pass information along quickly.
–Not sure.– Wes replied. –I'm with Tim and I think we're the closest to the village, but we can't see anything just yet. Uh, well aside from that smoke column.–
–Yeah, Wes doesn't want to look.– Tim clarified. –I'm not sure exactly what's happening, but it doesn't look good. I think the village is under attack. There's some people riding horses, or maybe mules, and they're killing people.–
–Guys, try to protect as many as you can.– Amelia directs. –Beth, Hannah, and Ralph should be on their way to help.–
–Hey! When did I agree to do this?– Ralph protested.
–It's not that you volunteered, but just the fact that if we don't deal with… uh… with these hostiles, then they might come for us.– Amelia retorted. –If that happens, then you're either going to have to use your magic or let them do whatever they want to you.–
–Just think of this as like when we rescued the pronghorn-kin, only this time we're defending the village instead of the ones attacking the deer-kin's camp.– Tim suggested.
–Any suggestions on what we should do?– Wes asked.
–Why not bring out the raptors?– Beth suggested. –They worked quite well last time.–
–Sounds good to me.– Tim said.
–I'll be there as soon as I can.– Hannah said, although Beth couldn't be sure why, but it felt almost as if Hannah was in the middle of something else at the moment.
–Hannah?– Beth asked as she started jogging towards the village even though she knew it would likely take her maybe fifteen minutes before she got there at that pace. –What're you doing?–