The Sapphire Sword

Chapter 1

He was leaning against the wall with his suitcase propped up beside him, barely visible in the streetlight. Suddenly she, was running towards, him, her feet pounding on the cement sidewalk. He had seen --or heard-- her coming and straightened up to accept the tight embrace she threw at him. Her feet took to the air as he swung her around.  

"I wasn't expecting you till tomorrow!" She chided as he set her down 

"Sorry to disappoint." He replied. She gave him a coy smile. She could hardly contain herself. He paused for a second, rocking on his heels, "Are you going to make me sleep outside? Or..."

 "Oh! You thought you were going to be let indoors?" He looked at her sternly. She turned with a smile, hopping up the stairs "Well I'm not going to carry your luggage." She opened the door to her building, holding it as he walked through, pulling his suitcase along with him. She led him up the stairs to the left and unlocked her small dorm room. She had a single room, containing only a bed and a desk. Matt set his suitcase down behind the first and took a seat at her the second. She lay down, leaning against the wall, her feet hanging off the edge of the bed to keep her wet boots off the covers. "How was the flight?" She asked.

"Good," he replied, "expensive." He rolled his eyes. Blair felt a sharp pang of guilt. The money trouble, after all, was mostly her fault. He was paying almost all her tuition, rent, food, clothing and more. Technically, they had collected the money together, but he had given it all up to put her through school. Not to mention she just had to choose an entirely different country. "But never mind that," he said, ending slight pause in the conversation. "how's school?" He asked, changing subjects. Blair cleared her head. 

"Good." She replied, he nodded 

"Got any friends ? Boyfriends?" He asked with a smile, 

 "You know me, I've got all the boys". 

He laughed "sure." He knew Blair wasn't the best at socializing. Social anxiety, awkwardness, whatever. She found herself pretending to have friends most of the time rather than actually having them. She'd known about her inability to connect with others since she was young. People had never been very kind to her, most people that is. Throughout her life she's gotten better, she's learned to talk the talk and walk the walk. She learned to pretend to a point. She made herself forgettable. Boring and unremarkable. No one knew the true story and no one cared enough to figure it out. 

The only problem with Blair's blank cover story was that she almost had herself convinced. She  never thought about her past, as if they were pages torn from a book. Moving forward, she'd decided, was the best plan of action. 

Matt, on the other hand, seemed to have people all figured out. He was one of the people who could look at someone and immediately tell how they wanted him to act, what they wanted him to say. Suddenly, whatever they wanted would be reality, as if it was how he'd always acted. He didn't change himself for every new person, instead it was as if Matt's personality were split into fractions which he could turn on and off at will. This meant that everyone who met Matt, knew Matt, or at least a part of him. He controlled his emotions, and even better, he hid them. 

Despite these talents, he was bursting with excitement and shaking with silent anticipation and Blair could tell. Patiently, Blair waited, accepting the social formalities Matt insisted on maintaining. Really she just wanted him to spit out whatever he was holding back. 

"Alright," he said, finally killing off the small talk. "I have something to show you." He leaned to the floor to shuffle through his bag and eventually pulled out a long ornate leather sheath with fancy handle protruding from the end of it. 

"What is that?" She asked reaching for it, gently, he pulled it just beyond her reach. She made a face and leaned back, waiting for some sort of explanation. 

"A sword." So non nonchalant. Blair scoffed, it certainly wasn't just a sword. Just by the sheath, she knew it was prettier than any sword she'd ever seen before. Sapphires were scattered throughout the curling loops and waves cut into the leather, shimmering against their brown background. The design itself created the illusion of gentle movement as if they were swaying in the wind or curling in the water.

 "a Sword"  she mocked in his voice "come on." He unsheathed it and a smile broke out onto her face. The perfectly silver metal was cleaner than her own sword had ever been and likely sharper as well. It was ornamented unlike the sheath, simply clean metal. Her eyes sparkled as she looked it over. Matt smiled and finally held it out to her. In a trance-like state she gently took it. She was almost surprised how cold it was, after the way it glowed in the light. Even more impressive was it's weight! Like air it balanced on her fingertips. She let it rest in her palms for a minute, just looking it over. "It's amazing." she said, he laughed. 

"You act as though you've never seen a sword before!" He said chidingly 

"Come on Matt you can't tell me this isn't incredible" he shrugged "who'd you steal it from?" She asked casually, eyes still on the sword.

 "steal? How dare you? I bought that with good money!" 

Blair laughed "Yeah right." She said with a smile. 

"Fine, It was some rich old guy, pretty sure, had it on display in his big ol' mansion." He said with a shrug. She looked at him closely 

 "Mansion? You stole it right from his house?" she was surprised. 

"Since when were you against stealing? " he asked with a laugh,

 "well I don't know, wasn't there any security?"

 "Nothing I couldn't handle. Just a couple body guards. No camera's though, a little shady if you ask me." she nodded slowly. 

"that's good" they wouldn't call the cops then. 

"They didn't get a good look at me either. I wore my cloak and covered my face, we're good. I just thought it'd be nice to have a new sword" Blair paused, two swords, she thought with sudden excitement. After all, her sword was getting old, and dull... "You know, we can share it, or whatever." Matt added

 "Yeah, for sure." she said absently. "Do you know what it's made of?" She asked, running her fingers along its edge. It was as sharp as it looked, not a single dent,  as if it had never seen battle. But that couldn't have been true, why would it be on display if it had never been used?

"not sure," he said "its strong, yet absurdly light, and clean. I've never seen anything like it..." he pondered aloud. Suddenly Blair jumped to her feet, causing Matt to jump back in alarm.

 "can I try it?" She asked excitedly 

"where?" he asked 

"here."

 "here?" 

"yeah, it'll be fine." she said looking around her room

 "I haven't even used it..." He said hesitantly, she smiled,

 "I think we both know who the better swordsman is." 

"Hey!" she gave him a look, and he sighed 

"fine, just be careful." it was all the permission she needed. 

"sure thing buddy." She said with a smile. She took off her boots, removing the hidden knife from its sheath and threw them in the general direction of her closet, laying the knife down on her bed. Matt rolled his chair as far into the corner as possible and gave her a thumbs up. Keep it simple, she thought. Starting with the sword held out in front of her she went over her basic footwork, determining the restrictions of the room. Finally she began the simplest of warm ups, going over the moves and formations she learned when she was young. The sword was longer than her usual sword, but extremely light and balanced perfectly so that the difference in shape was insignificant. With every movement the sword nearly touched the wall, making Matt hold his breath. Blair smiled, even with the space restrictions, she felt free, like a dancer with her favourite song. Eventually, she lost herself in the movements and strayed from her routine. Sweat had just started to form on her forehead when a stack of papers flew off her desk, carried by the wind from her movements. "dammit." she said, a reminder of all the work I have to do. She sheathed the sword, the bliss-like trance broken.