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Billy watched with pride as she was quickly adapting. As she fell he offered her a hand up.
"With this too there is a lesson. That no matter how good you are. You can still fall on your rear. "
He chuckled a little.
" Let's get some lunch then. You can tell me about your trainer Gensing"
"Stay here, Niyolaku, rest," Kamoru said. Handle animal: [roll0]
Niyolaku laid down and put his head on his paws. "Cheese!"
"Yes, we're going to bring it back with us!" Kamoru said, laughing. "Alright, Billy, any idea where we can buy an entire pot of really good beef stew? And maybe buy an entire wheel of cheese at the same time?" Kamoru asked with a chuckle.
Billy beckoned her to follow him.
"There are some good places in the merchant district that sell large amounts of amazing food. "
He looks back to niyolaku.
"Ill find you a peanut butter horn too!"
"Sounds good!" Kamoru said, following after Billy.
"So, you asked about Ginseng. Ginseng is my father's best friend. After our mother died... Ginseng was like another parent for us. But our mother was his step-sister, so, that's not that strange, really. He's a monk. My father is a fighter. They trained me together, so my fighting style is a blending of both of theirs. Ginseng is the one who taught me Ignan. As a monk, he traveled extensively in his youth. I think he knows just about every language there is, except for secret languages like Druidic. He's very smart. Very stoic. My father taught me the important of controlling your emotions in battle, but it was Ginseng who gave me the tools to actually do it. Ginseng is human, as was our mother. Father is... like us. Or I suppose more accurately, we're like him," Kamoru said quietly.
Billy listened as he led through the market district to a half indoor, half outdoor restraunt, with seats outside. He led Kamoru inside and waited in line as orders were being taken. When the attendent with a notepad finally got to them Billy perked up.
"Oh, we need.... a very large beef Stew, a Wheel of Cheese, a half pound of peanut butter, and do you have a Rubber Horn?"
The Waiter looked blankly at him before sighing.
"Yea.... we can arrange all that. Gold for the Chewing Horn, Gold for the Wheel of Cheese. And a Gold for the Stew."
Billy pulls out three gold and pays the waiter, and hands them a numbered ticket. moving onto the next person. Billy looks back to Kamoru, moving with her to the waiting area.
"Many Many years ago. I had a human Mother and Father, I was a Human. They raised me well enough, but there was a raid on my village while I was out gathering food. No one lived. while I was trying... well... I dont know what I was trying... but I was struggling... a man... well... He said he was my grandfather appeared before me... Just... being in his prescence...It changed me. He took me to a forgotten temple... to be trained. Where I learned my current martial art. To help others. "
He pulls out his water jug and drinks from it, still thirsty from training. He offers water to Kamoru while they wait.
"Gensing sounds like a good man, so does your father. I hope you see them again."
Kamoru swallowed a chuckle at the waiter's discomfiture. She wondered how often they got odd requests like that. After hearing Billy's story, she sighed.
"I wonder how many of our rag-tag group has a similar story about their family being entirely or almost entirely wiped out? And not all of it can be blamed on Solkar, either," she said. She accepted the offered water and took a quick drink and handed it back.
"I'm sure I'll see Ginseng again, but Father? That I don't know. He wouldn't tell us what he was going to do when we came here. We went to him expecting an argument, but he put up no resistance to us coming here on our own at all. I mean, it's not like we would've objected if he'd wanted to come here, but he didn't, and he wouldn't say why. I really don't know what he was planning, but I suspect he was expecting an argument from us against whatever he was planning. And we just gave him the opportunity to do whatever it was he was going to do by coming here. I admit I'm worried... he is a soldier after all. Like I said at the tavern yesterday, he always fought for causes, not profit. It's hard for me to imagine a bigger cause than the war with Solkar, right now. I haven't told Kamyol my suspicions. It's not easy to keep secrets from him, with the mind-link and all, but Ginseng's zen tricks work on thoughts as well as emotions, so I can manage some things. I don't want him to get stressed out worrying about whether or not Father is on the front lines now. He needs to concentrate on doing what he can and not stressing about what he can't."
Billy leaned back thinking about thier group.
"The Prince has his whole family...more or less... Skrolk.... who knows.... The Professor seems like his family is fine and still healthy in lilygrove. Trelane, you are probably right... those of his profession usually have no family. Bartleby... Im not sure... he seems... well.. to be a dwarf.... its hard to kill a dwarven family. I dont know alot about beuford or osman... though.... osman is a merc.... so... stereotypes. "
He sighs before drinking more of his water.
" I know youll see them again. even with the war, The survivors tend to live through wars, and your description of your family, they are survivors. "
Kamoru laughed at Billy's comment about Bartleby.
"I tend to agree, and it's the only thing that keeps me from spending all my time worrying. I just have to keep that hope. Kamyol's anxiety though... makes it hard for him to be hopeful. I mean, he's generally an optimistic guy, but there's a difference in optimism and hope. I wanted to ask Jonyun and Ricard if they'd heard from Father since we arrived. I thought maybe I could ask them to get letters out to him." Kamoru sighed and leaned back.
"It's hard to believe it's only been a week. So much has happened, especially the last couple of days! It seems strange that we've put our lives in each others' hands, yet when it comes down to it, we know very little about each other. I know I've talked more about my family today than I have the rest of the past week combined. Mostly due to not having the time to sit and talk to people!"
"So, how did you end up training Alloishus, anyway?" Kamoru asked after a pause.
Billy listened as Kamoru spoke about her brother.
"Maybe with him standing up for ENTOS... hell take up a new role, and his anxiety will lessen... Ive always found, when you have someone relying on you right behind you, you fight much harder for the person counting on you. "
He looked around, watching more and more people getting their orders, counting out how much longer they would take to be working on thier order.
"My... training... my Knighthood, works to improve the world. What better way to spread our influence than to have our teachings taught to the prince of a prominent nation?"
He smiled a sly smile.
"You know, Not even the prince knows about my past, I know his past because it is public knowledge in Lilygrove, but he doesnt open himself to others, which does not lend to others opening themselves to him. His father... was having difficulty teaching him to be a wizard, he would have nothing to do with it. So, I petitioned the Watcher to allow me become a man at arms in his kingdom, and I would train his son. I beileve more in an act of exasperation than approval, he allowed it. He retrained some of his arcane teachings, and blended with with my martial teachings to make something new. "
Kamoru frowned. "When we were little, Kamyol would get jealous of my training and try and knock me down because he was always bigger. But he never wanted to learn to fight himself. He would cry because he didn't want to hurt anyone. Our father... could've gotten impatient. He could've been scornful of Kamyol, or disappointed in him. But he never was. I mean, he got frustrated that Kamyol would push me, and he probably found it ironic that Kamyol would cry about not wanting to hurt anyone and yet be perfectly content with knocking me down," Kamoru said with a laugh.
"Kamyol's jealousy was rooted in the belief that Father would be disappointed in him. But father always encouraged us to be who we were. He filled up space in the wagon with books for Kamyol, even though our people considered things like that frivolous. He encouraged Kamyol's scholarly interests and provided him with tools and materials to practice alchemy. His only requirement was that Kamyol not put anything he made in anyone's food or drinks. I think he was afraid Kam would accidentally poison someone!" she said with another laugh.
"There were a few people in the caravan... people who married in, not people who were born into the family... who expressed disapproval of Father teaching me to fight while Kamyol read books and mixed potions all day. Some of the even less open-minded among them would try to 'warn' my father that I would turn out like Ginseng... as if that was actually a deterrent!" she snorted derisively.
Billy chuckled occationally listened to Kamoru's storys from their childhood. She certainly seemed to need to get it off her chest, or she just wanted to share.
"Kam? Is that what you call him?"
He shook his head. Bemused at the nickname.
"Thats the great thing about expectations that are not your own. They mean nothing unless you want them to. "
He looked up... as if into the distance...
"My grandfather...He was a Djinn...said that I was some sort of Heir to his bloodline... and that he owed a child to a Solar... heh... saying it outloud... makes its sound... so over the top... but Outsiders... they deal in things that mortals dont even conceive... I have to remind myself whats important sometimes... But I did come out to fullfill my Grandfathers Expectations I suppose."
He looks up to see a wrapped paper bag with a large circle inside, and two side containers... and it looked like a rather large mason jar of.... Hot stew with a Wooden Bowl and a Pair of Spoons. Billy waves as the waiter brings the laundrylist of items over.
"I Think Niyolaku has been waiting long enough"
"Sometimes I do," she answered.
"Our father tried not to have expectations, beyond the expectations that we would live up to our responsibilities, anyway. I just brought it up to contrast against what you said about Al's family situation," she said, standing up to follow Billy out. "I can't imagine it was very easy for Al to grow up with a father who had specific expectations of him that he wasn't able to live up to, and only give him an alternative out of exasperation," she said, thinking about the elf prince in an entirely new light. "His arrogance when we met makes a whole lot more sense now, especially after understanding Kamyol's tolerance of Entos' arrogance that I mentioned to Trelane."
"The More We understand each other, the better we can work with each other. Maybe on our next mission, we will be able to work more fluidly, and efficiently. "
Heading down the road carrying the purchases for Niyolaku.
"You did good on the mission to the Astral Plane. You ready for A Salvage mission?"
"I want to say I'm looking forward to 'getting back to business as usual', but we don't really have a 'business as usual' yet!" Kamoru said dryly. "Do you think they're going to send us after the ship that sailor, Eli, was telling us about? I'm still dubious about the idea, but if that's where they want us to go..." she shrugged. "It seems like it would be a pretty long journey to get to the coast from here, though. Unless Hanar comes along, and teleports us like he did to get you guys to Lilygrove."
Billy walks back into the Barracks with Kamoru, food in tow.
"Hey Niyolaku! What is best in life? Stew? Cheese? or Peanut Butter? What do you want first?"
He laughed a goof deep laugh that was honest and even jolly.
"What ever they have in mind for us. Im sure, under your command, well be fine. "
"Cheese!!" Niyolaku said excitedly, head popping up.
Kamoru chuckled. "Despite what he says, give him the stew first. He'll just keep insisting on getting more cheese if you let him have that first! The stew will help him recover his strength."
She sat cross-legged on the ground next to Niyolaku and looked up at Billy, brow furrowing.
"You want me in charge of the next mission?" she asked, surprised. "Are you really that shaken about how things went down yesterday?"
Billy laughes as the wolf wants cheese first. He listens to Kamoru and nods. He sets down the wooden bowl and spoons out beef stew into the large wooden bowl. He then slices off a hunk of cheese, and holds it up for Niyolaku to see, he then slices it up and puts it on the beef stew. He hands the Bowl to Kamoru to give to the Canine.
"Its not like your thinking... Ive faced my guilt, and my shortcomings. Im ready to move forward. But Im a Teacher they days... I can take command when needed, but unless I see that I am directly needed, letting the young test themselves and learn, is far more important than being in command. "
Kamoru set the bowl down in front of Niyolaku and watches him go at it with gusto for a minute or so before looking back at Billy.
"That's a rather unusual method for teaching command," she commented, "I know the army likes to see you prove you can follow orders first, and then you have to take a test, sometimes on the recommendation of your commanding officer, in order to move up in the ranks. Except of course, for the rare spontaneous promotions following acts of heroism or some such. Or if you can afford to go to academy, you might be able to make high enough marks to graduate right into an officer's position." Kamoru tilted her head to the side.
"But why do you want me in charge?" she asked. "I would've thought you'd put Al in command so he can practice being a leader for when he goes back home. Most people wouldn't put the teenager in charge! I know, I know, 'you're not most people'," Kamoru said with a laugh.
Billy watched Niyolaku go to town on the bowl of stew. He pulled out a Rubber Horn from the package, and began to spoon peanut butter out into the horn. He sets the Horn down on the Wheel of Cheese and smiles.
"Now. I think I remember a teenage girl, going to the Astral Plane, Yelling with Pure Courage at a Demonic Ifrit Inquisitor, then Proceeding to beat him to a bloody pulp, and using advanaced tactical techniques to help keep a group of people together while it raised from the Dead as a Doom Shroom. That sounds like a Heroic Battlefield Commission to me."
He gives her a mock salute.
Kamoru blushed and looked away. "You saw things very differently from how I did. The way I saw it, I didn't check in with my team enough to realize one of our number had been taken, so I didn't even try to help. And when I thought I got revenge, it rose up and cut me down, nearly killing me. The result of me not being able to continue right away was Skrolk getting killed. By the time I'd been healed enough to get back into the thick of things, our friends and my brother had come back to help. I was all set to do my best to keep that thing off its feet, but I wasn't even needed for that. Osman managed to get it off its feet and grievously wound it so you and Rialla could finish it off, but not before I managed to let it hit me again because I was stupid and forgot to dodge!" Kamoru said with a mixture of bitterness and dry, self-deprecating humor.
"I'm not going to keep beating myself up about it, but I'm not going to pretend it was my finest hour, either," she said, finally meeting Billy's gaze again.
Niyolaku finished the stew and sniffed around. He saw the cheese next to Billy. Eyes locked onto his target, his head snaked along the ground towards the cheese. His nose couldn't quite reach it without requiring him to move more than just his head, but he was still obeying the command to stay put. So he just started licking the edge.
Billy laughed watching Niykolaku. He picked up the Cheese Wheel and cut off another hunk, moving the rest of the wheel out of reach. He began cutting peices off the hunk, and tossing them up for Niyolaku to Catch with his mouth.
"Good Niyolaku, you did very good today, Do you know what Kamyol Calls Kamoru?"
He glanced up to Kamoru.
"Its not a competition, who did best. Who did Worst. You had major contributions to our victory. Because if we only stare at our mistakes, we cannot move forward without walking backwards, and that will cause us to trip and fall"
Niyolaku eagerly caught the tossed pieces and completely ignored Billy's question... mostly because he didn't understand it.
Kamoru squinted at Billy and looked faintly amused again. "I hope you get the opportunity to meet Ginseng someday, if for no other reason than I'll derive amusement watching his head explode every time you mix metaphors," she joked. "You have a lot in common with Gin, but in a lot of ways, you're polar opposites, too. I dunno if you've met very many monks before. They're sticklers for rules. Ginseng would despise Entos, and probably vice versa! You would think Father would've been all about discipline with us, but no, that was all Gin. I think Father was lenient with us because we were all he had left of Mom." Kamoru leaned back on her hands.
"Are we going to eat anything ourselves right now or wait until later? I could go either way, but if we're going to eat later, I'd like to start the next part of this training session and get Niyolaku walking while I'm in the saddle. The remaining cheese will be good incentive," she said with a grin.
"Ive met a few monks, we can usually get along well enough, but extended interactions cause....dissagreements. While they favor that strict regimen.... I cant agree to that. Life must flow, of course, rules and laws are great and all, they are great guidelines, but if you focus on just the laws.... you miss what they are there for in the first place."
He stood up and ate the last peice of of the hunk of cheese he had.
"Yes, lets continue with training, well eat after we get him used to that'
"I find merits in both," Kamoru said with a smile. "Flexibility and adaptability are very important, especially on the battlefield. But sometimes there is a right and a wrong way to do something, and there's reasons why rules should be followed. Like when getting into a saddle!" She laughed, got to her feet, and brushed the dirt off her hands and backside.
"Alright, Niyo, stand up," she said, patting the wolf's rump. "We're going to try walking around with me on your back, and we're going to teach you to recognize the signals for how I want you to move when I ride without having to tell you out loud. Alright?"
"Cheese," Niyolaku said, sounding slightly petulant.
"Yes, yes, you'll get the rest of the cheese when we're done with this lesson. The more you pay attention and try to understand and remember the signals, the faster you'll get that cheese. So concentrate!" Kamoru told him in amusement. Ride check: [roll0] Kamoru vaulted into the saddle with no difficulty.
A dark figure watches from a second floor window, he seems to shrink away from the window when he is noticed. It is unclear just how long he has been watching, or why.
Billy Stops to look up to a window, seeing a figure retreat. His brow furrows.
"Perhaps we should take a lesson outside the barracks... I dont like being watched, when the eyes retreat when noticed."
"Hmm..." Kamoru brought her hand to her mouth. "Maybe Osman would know whose room that is," she said. Perception to count the windows: [roll0] "It might be nothing... maybe it was just an Adder that was embarrassed to be caught spying. But I'm not one to leave things to chance, so I'll ask Osman when we see him later. Or we could just... go knock on the door?" Kamoru suggested, raising an eyebrow at Billy.
Billy smiled.
"Go and face em? maybe have some Cheese to share?"
He laughed.
"Sounds reasonable, My nerves may just still be on end, because of the last few days. "
He begins moving toward the door to lead up to the windowed room.
Kamoru slid down from Niyolaku's back and moved to follow Billy.
"You can follow as long as there's space for you, Niyo. If it gets too narrow, just wait for us to come back," she told the wolf.
Billy and Kamoru enter the barracks, followed by the large wolf. They catch a few sideways glances from trainees coming and going, but none manage to contest their presence. They make their way to the stairwell and Niyolaku opts to stay on the ground floor. Upon reaching the second floor, Kamoru counts the doors as they walk. Assuming that each door corresponds with a window, she continues along until they come to a breezeway with benches down both sides, but none are in use. At the end of the breezeway is a window, that by her best recollection should be the one the figure was watching from. By now, there is no one in sight.