Leon's Story

Chapter 3: Envious

This must be some kind of mistake. 

Leon kept telling himself that even after they left, even while his friends comforted him, even while his parents comforted him. 

"All that matters is that you tried,'' his mother insisted, "And plus, there's always next year.'' 

"I'm sure with a little more training..." 

Leon blocked the rest of his dad's words out. 

More training. 

After everything he'd already given he still needed more? 

More training. 

That would be the story of his life, wouldn't it? 

It didn't make sense to him. How did Ansul get in but he didn't. Ansul hardly had any balance, his form was all wrong, when Leon met him he could hardly even hold a sword without dropping it. Leon almost always beat Ansul in their sparring matches. 

What did Ansul have that he didn't? 

Frustration and confusion followed him to sleep. 

Why Ansul? 

Out of all three of them Leon should've been the one to make it into the guard if not the other two. 

If the judges were to choose just one it would be him. 

So why... 

Why wasn't Leon in the guard by now? 

Four years of training, all wasted, just because he was shown up by Ansul. 

It wasn't fair. 

It isn't fair. 

There was always next year, of course, if he crammed enough training in they might just accept him. Might. 

He rolled over in bed, fighting the frustrated tears that burned his eyes. 

The night lasted for what seemed like forever though Leon didn't let himself cry for any of it. He had to be tough, he wasn't a crybaby. Eventually he fell asleep, he had to because he woke up, and rolled out of bed. 

The first day the new guards would be guards. He thought that day would be the best day of his life. 

It turned out to be one of the worst. 

He hung out with Hektor most of the day. He was talking but Leon still wasn't listening, just nodding occasionally in order to pretend he was. They talked with Ansul as well, Hektor invited both him and Leon to his house, no one noticed how quiet Leon was being and if they did they didn't mention it. 

Hektor didn't seem to care that he failed the tryouts. He seemed pretty sad at first but bounced back rather quickly. 

Clearly Hektor didn't share Leon's dream. 

Hektor's house was just as Leon remembered it as a kid, though he didn't go there often, Hektor's parents were usually very preoccupied with their business, Young Flowers, was what it was called. It was a flower selling business and their house reflected that, the aroma of flowers filled the house, each vase was bursting with them giving the room a lot of extra color. 

It was a family business, however his parents still supported his dream of being in the guard rather than taking over. Leon supposed it made sense after all he wasn't their only son, Hektor had one little brother, he would probably be tasked with taking over the business, once he was old enough. 

"Leon, Ansul!" Hektor's mom exclaimed as soon as she saw them, "My, it's been a long time, you have grown a lot.'' 

"Haha, thanks Mrs. Young, I sure would hope we have,'' Ansul replied, with a smile. 

"Oh, and congratulations for getting into the Guard,'' she continued, "I hope that Hektor will be joining you next year.'' 

Hektor laughed a little, "Yeah, well I didn't get as much training as he did so it was kind of expected that I wouldn't get in, I'll be trying my hardest at training this year, though, maybe Ansul can give me a few pointers.'' 

"Haha, maybe,'' Ansul said, "Though being in the Guard is a lot of work so far.'' 

Hektor's little brother Luis bounded into the room, he looked a lot different than Leon remembered but he supposed that comes with growing up. His little sister Lorena followed. 

"Wow! Wow! Wow!" Lorena exclaimed, jumping around all excitedly, "Maria! Come see this, he's in the Guard!" 

Another little girl came out, she looked more like a toddler though. 

"Oooooooh,'' the little girl, Maria, said. 

Lorena touched Ansul's blue cape, he'd been wearing it all day, it only made Leon feel even more bitter towards him. She admired his real, steel sword with sparkling eyes. 

"A real live guard!" Lorena exclaimed, "So cool!" 

"I'm gonna be one eventually,'' Hektor told her, "Proudly.'' 

"Yeah, right,'' Luis said, sarcastically. 

Hektor sputtered, something Leon had only seen him do around his siblings, "What is that supposed to mean?" 

"Are you trying out for the Guard again next year, Leon?" Hektor's mom asked. 

"Of course,'' he responded, "I'm not just gonna give up.'' 

"That's good to hear,'' she responded, "You always have been persistent, it is one of the great things about you.'' 

"Yes, of course," Ansul nudged Leon with his elbow, "Practice and persistence make perfect after all.'' 

"I know that, stop acting like you're better than me just because you got into the Guard.'' 

"It was just a bit of friendly advice,'' Ansul huffed, "No need to get so butt hurt about it, I've only been in the Guard for one day and you're already envious.''  

"Envious?" Leon echoed, "Why on earth would I be envious of you? You only got into the Guard because of luck.'' 

Ansul rolled his eyes, "You know full well I trained just as much as you did, the only difference was that I did better. Can't you just be happy for me? Hektor failed, same as you, and he doesn't feel the need to be petty.'' 

"Don't you dare compare me to Hektor we are completely different.'' 

Hektor blinked, blankly, "Uh... guys?" 

"Shut up, Hektor, this has nothing to do with you!" Leon snapped before turning back to Ansul. 

"Maybe if you would've worked harder-" Ansul began. 

"Worked harder?" Leon snorted, "I think you're forgetting that I've taught you almost everything you know about fighting, you slimy-"

Hektor let out as exasperated sigh and grabbed both Leon and Ansul by their arms before dragging them out of his house. 

"Listen here, you two,'' he told them, closing the door behind him, "If this has 'nothing to do with me' then I suggest you go and fight somewhere else, where you're not stressing out my mother and scaring Lorena and Maria.'' 

"Fine by me,'' Ansul grabbed Leon by the hand and started angrily walking off, storm clouds had begun to form in the sky as if to match his mood, "Let's go fine somewhere to settle this in private.'' 

Where they ended up was just outside of the small town of Sheffield, out on the plains that stretched out before them. 

The plains where they would settle it.