A Place To Bloom

Orientation

After lunch, Ales was still alive.

The wound in his side was still leaking pus and swollen, and his breath was still shallow. I put that crystal from my medical kit on his neck, and it turned the same shade of orange-red as it did that morning.

He would be dead within the hour.

Faren refused to leave his side. The rest of us gathered in the punishing, muggy heat and beaten grass of the practice yard where, between the yellow and gray stones of the outer wall and the dark wooden barracks, five new men joined us.

One of them I knew. "Gino?"

He was average height with the curly hair of his Goloagi father, and had a narrow face with high eyebrows. He was also a grown man, now, smiling back at me. "No way!"

I threw my arms around him, and he around me. I hadn't imagined I'd ever see him again. "How are you, man?"

He cocked his head and looked me up and down. "Scared. Ain't heard nothin nice about this place."

Another one of the new guys added, "there ain't nothin nice, especially this fucking heat!"

Davod answered. "Girls walk around with their titties hanging out, that's a plus."

Gino laughed. The man standing next to him was almost as tall as Davod, Northstar, and myself, with a heavy figure, big chin, and long, straight, dark-green hair. "Noticed that. Very nice! Gino, you know this kid?"

"This is Caleb of Gath; he spent a few years in Kyoen back in the day. Caleb, this is Borel." He turned and pointed to the other three men who'd come with him. "That's Massi, Jame, and Renou."

All three were Herali and wore their hair long. Massi was average height, muscular build, and had a tattoo of Orca on his neck. His eyes were narrow, and a scar cut through his left eyebrow. Jame was on the shorter side of average and carried a eupin longbow etched with Orca bringing a shark to the humans on shore, and his hair was tied in the back by a pin with a golden circle with Orca in ivory and obsidian with ancient Herali runes all around it. Renou was short, slight of build, and carried no weapons.

I answered. "These are my best friends growing up, Davod and Geraln." Geraln nodded. On his shoulder, with her tiny claws dug into his leather bow sling, was the green vita'o lizard who'd woken up on his chest that morning. All five of the new men stared at the creature, unable to mask their shock.

Davod resumed the introductions for Rock, Northstar, and Kelint.

Borel cocked his head back and sneered. "What kind of names are Rock and Northstar?"

Kelint lifted his chin. "They're Saeni." Then he looked at Jame with the bow on his back. "What do you hunt in Kyoen; you even know how to use that thing?"

Jame huffed, and Borel patted his friend's back. "My man's a master archer, right here."

I turned to Davod. "Did he just say that out loud in front of three Falcons?"

Davod and Geraln chuckled, reaching behind their backs to string their bows. Kelint reached into his coin purse, found a five-kren, and tossed it on the ground in the center of our gathering. The rest of us put in, and Gino stooped down to gather up the coins.

There was a line of practice dummies along the outer wall at the end of the training ground, about fifty yards out. The hot, sticky air from the morning rain left the ground muddy between tufts of beaten grass, and Gino carved a line with his boot. Kelint stepped up, drew his bow, and loosed. His arrow popped in the burlap, he shrugged, then stepped aside.