The Aegis of Noah Hart

12-In a Nutshell

"Do you have everything?"

Noah nods as he stuffs his small collection of personal hygiene products into the black chest before him. Looking to the bed on his left, he finds a cheerful princess seated by the edge of the bed kicking her feet. Stacked beside her lies his old clothes including the grey shorts and orange shirt, clean and nicely fold. 

As he reaches for the pile, Kalista shifts to side and grabs the garments to hand to him. Her hands brushing against for a moment making him pause. The boy smiles and places the clothes in his box. He closes the lid and prepares to press a red button on the top when he stops.

"Oh shoot, I-"

"-forgot your Bible?"

Noah looks back at the princess. She raises a finger and wags it left and right.

"You left it outside again."

Noah smiles as he reads her mind. He can see the campfire site, the one miles away from town. Noah can see a circle of logs placed around a smaller circle of stones holding burnt wood and ash. The Bible he head just read from the previous night and many before sits propped up against a single log just where he left it.

"Be right back!"

Noah shifts his weight forward in the black armor, the outfit of the Eidikos, and steps off his opposite leg. At once he feels his body dive through space as if free falling then jolt to a halt. He blinks and finds himself no longer in the hotel room in Echo but in the forest where the he first joined the Eidikos. Many a night has he come out to this place to sit, reflect, and enjoy the company of his friends.

Squatting down to the ground, he quickly grabs the Bible and tucks it into a pouch on the large belt around his waist just behind his left sword. Looking down at himself, he can't help but laugh.

"I've changed a bit, haven't I?"

Glancing over his clothes, he takes in the dark, thin material wrapped around his barreled chest and stretching out to his fingertips. Little navy circles on the palms of his gloves shimmer at him as he turns his hands over in front of him. The utility belt adorned with similar specks of the navy blue on each pouch is covered on each hip by the solid black sheath of a short sword. Below his waist, his legs are covered in similar fitted black pant like armor though his abdomen is hidden but the almost ancient looking greaves that circle around his hips like a metallic kilt. His big toes curl up and down comfortably in the tall boots touching the dry ground under him.

Looking around at the logs, he can remember each of the Eidikos sitting with him before a flickering fire. The first few nights, the air around them was still, tense. Though accepted into the group per Kalista's request, the men all continued to hold reservations about him in their minds. Reservations they forgot he could hear in his mind all too easily.

This guy is not a warrior. He'll just get us all killed.

He's so close to the princess, but she barely even knows him. I don't like this.

This guy is such a fat adex! I hate coddling him.

Adex, their word for clumsy fool, was one he had great trouble letting go, even more so than fat. But despite their inward doubts and judgments, Noah found them outwardly more optimistic with him and the reassurance from Kalista kept him hopeful.

Noah, you have a most incredible fortune being both Highborn and Empath.

What exactly does that mean?

The men sit quietly staring at the fire one night while Noah and Kalista share thoughts with one another. 

Highborns...mankind born with superior anatomy. Physically often times though not always mentally more advanced, each one has their unique trait as well. Empaths are so amazing in that as they get to know other people, get close to them, they "learn" their abilities as well.