The Crystal Knight

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

In a sudden blur of speed, Tara gracefully ducked Eldorian's powerful roundhouse kick and whirled into one of her own. It caught the younger man straight in the midsection, knocking him off his feet and pitching him backwards, almost two standard meters, to land in a heap on the mats.

They were the only two in Fire Drake's aft training room that afternoon. Normally, Tara would spar with the computer, as it was one of the few opponents on board that could actually keep up with her. As the squad's chief-at-arms, however, she viewed it as her duty to keep her squad in top combat performance at all times. Over the last few missions, she had noted a lag in Eldorian's reaction times, and virtually dragged him off for some remedial training.

But it wasn't going so well.

"Too slow." Tara noted clinically.

"That's because I'm not an enhanced human, Tara'sa!" Eldorian groaned from the floor. "Ghe'il ec'tat!" That hurt!

Tara walked over to where Eldorian lay, and hauled him to his feet with no visible effort. The young man's workout shirt was soaked with sweat. Tara wasn't even breathing hard. "It hurts because you got hit." Tara replied in Standard. "Not because you aren't enhanced. I purposefully struck slower than usual." She asserted in a matter-of-fact tone. "If I hadn't, I would be taking you to the med bay, not helping you up."

Eldorian stared at her for a moment. Coming from anyone else, her remark would have been terribly insulting, but he knew Tara and knew she meant no harm. It was just her way. Mentally he shrugged. "Sorry. I know you're just trying to help."

"Apologies are not necessary." It had taken Tara a long time to understand that yulen frequently said things they did not explicitly mean. It had taken her even longer to learn how to detect when this was occurring. Grashik-Highlanders spoke their minds, or not at all. Double-talk was unheard of amongst the general population of her people. But sometimes, like this time, she stumbled.

Even though she frequently felt out of her depth when talking about things other than operations and combat, Tara decided to try a different tactic. "I have noticed that you have been distracted lately in combat." She ventured. "Such things can be troublesome."

For a moment, Eldorian fidgeted, brushing off imaginary dust from his shirt and rubbing his short hair. "Yeah, maybe a bit." He allowed.

Nodding in understanding, Tara took off her sparring gloves and put them carefully away in the equipment locker. Eldorian started to heave a sigh of relief. He'd been looking for an avenue to talk about what was really bothering him, but the Highlander woman could be difficult to open up to sometimes. He frowned, when, instead of coming back to listen, Tara withdrew a pair of rectangular, metallic handles.

Lasblades.

"I've found that the best way to overcome fighter's block is to train." Tara noted, oblivious to her companion gaping at her insensitivity. Ignoring Eldorian's groan, she tossed him his lasblade.

The young man caught his lasblade deftly, automatically. He thumbed it to life and stared at the narrow, yellow blade for a moment, listening to the chiming sound of the Quantum Wave captured within it. I worked so hard for this. I won't let it be snatched away from me. He thought.

"I always feel much better after a good sparring match. It cleanses the garein—the warrior's spirit." Tara lectured. "Perhaps it will do the same for you." She thumbed her own purple blade to life. "Three passes, no Vanquish Modes." She declared.

Is she trying to help in her own wierd way, or is she actually that oblivious? Eldorian wondered. But in spite of himself, he grinned goofily. Ah, why not? He thought. It's worth a go. "There's only one way to find out, Tara'sa. Let's see what you got."