Equilibrium - #ProjectWomanUp

Twelve

Charlie and I observe the other Warriors and Intellects do the course; making note and comment of each person doing it. We do this for the better part of the morning, as the others carry on physically training their Intellects.

"Am I going to have a go soon?" Charlie questions.

"Not when it's so busy" I reply. "If you mess you first time, you'll be discouraged in your ability to do it. And when you mess up – which you will – the less people are looking, the less you'll be worried about getting it right again. It' is lunch time in an hour, it'll quieten down then. We'll have ago then".

Charlie nods, as I scan my eyes over the training people. "You're different to the other Warriors" Charlie says, and I can feel his burning eyes on me.

"Yes, I don't have a penis" I state, and Charlie chuckles softly. I smirk softly as I meet his look.

"No, I mean you're so much more intelligent than the average Warrior. Whereas the majority of Warriors are focused on the fight, you focus on the preparation on the fight to make the fight perfect. You'll make One you know, if you fight as good as you do think".

I smile at him, "let's hope so".

When lunch time rolls around, just like I thought they would, the majority of the training Novices all take a break. Charlie and I take a walk down to the assault course. It starts with stepping through tyres, before climbing up a rope and climbing over a wall. Then, the course has a thin walking plank over a muddy pool, before leading to the final obstacle; an army crawl under a heavy net.

Charlie had made notes, and diagrams, about how to do each part of the course. "We're going to do it slow at first" I tell him, "and I'm going to through it with you". I take his note pad, and walk him to the front.

I stand next to the tyres, as Charlie stands at the beginning of the line-up. "Now remember what we discussed" I say. He nods, and takes a calming breath. He jogs softly up to the first tyres, and I jog beside him.

Charlie raises his feet, and steps into the first two tyres. He bounces on his feet, before stepping into the next tyres, then the next. He makes it half way through, before tripping. He falls forward, his hands going out to catch his falls.

"Sorry" he apologises, standing up straight and dusting himself off.

"Don't be. What did you do wrong?"

"I got carried away" he nods, knowing his fault.

"Good, back to the beginning". The second time around, Charlie gets through the tyres perfectly – his knees bending high, his head and shoulders up, and bouncing on the ball of his feet.

Stepping out of the tyres, Charlie turns to me and grins. He looks proud of himself. I hold my hand up, and he high-fives me. "Again" I order, pointing him back. "I need to know it's not a fluke".

He doesn't argue, and goes back to the beginning. At the starting line, I see the way the cogs in his brain swirl as he logically breaks down the obstacle. Then, he repeats the tyre runs and once more gets in perfect. I ask him to it for a third time, and once more there are no mistakes.

Charlie is happy, and I am proud of him, so we high-five again. "The rope climb?" he asks, wanting to move on to the next obstacle.

"No. The rope climb is the hardest, so we're going skip it out for now, and come back to it. I want you to be confident that you can do everything else before you get to the rope climb. So, let's move on to the planks".

I give Charlie his notes, and we study them together. When he is satisfied, he knows what he is doing and hands the note pad back to me. I step onto the plank and quickly bound over; not even thinking of what I am doing.