The Road to Zenath

On the road Azemo continued to practice Starfall, but that final piece had yet to click for him. It was like when one has what they want to say on the tip of their tongue but no matter what they do they can't quite get the words out of their mouth.

As for the actual travelling part of the trip, it was hard to practice in a carriage so Azemo got to spend some quality time with Kaede, Bella and Ima. For the most part it was enjoyable, besides getting smacked whenever he displeased Kaede but getting to know her better was well worth the pain.

For the past months Kaede and Azemo had gotten closer but there were still some things that they didn't know about each other. Azemo did not have the courage to ask about why Kaede was seemingly stuck as a small girl and Kaede knew very little about Azemo's past.

On this trip they didn't touch either of those subjects but instead spoke about something just as touchy for Azemo, demons.

"So what do you think about humans wiping out the entire demon race?" Kaede randomly said. Ima who had been learning a bit of the common tongue could not help but turn and look at Azemo.

"Umm… good riddance… they suck and all that."

"Hmm…" Kaede was silent for a while remembering her time in the great war, where she had slaughtered many demons. She had also seen many of her companions slain as well but that had been in the heat of battle where it was kill or be killed. Kaede had joined the war because she was required to and for some reason she was reminiscing about demons a lot these days.

"I think that there are many evil demons but we should not have gone around ensuring the ending of an entire race. Innocent demons shouldn't have been slaughtered but the Supreme General has some intense hate towards demon kind."

Azemo did not know how to respond to a statement like that without somehow exposing himself but it was nice to hear.

"I haven't seen you this serious…. Ever." A joke was the only thing he could think of.

Kaede lightly socked him. "Adults sometimes need to think about serious stuff so you should hurry up and mature." It was quite ironic hearing this from someone who looked like a little girl and who liked to play with cats.

The rest of that day passed in silence and Azemo hurried to go train the second they stopped for the night.

Kaede hated camping and the carriage could be turned into a small room, so she was happy when Azemo hurried off because it gave her time to relax and set up her bedroom. Azemo had to camp outside.

Azemo's mind was in turmoil when he was practising Starfall and try as he might he could not clear his thoughts.

'The Supreme General ordered the indiscriminate murders of the demons, why.'

He messed up Starfall again but a single word in that thought stuck out to him. 'Indiscriminate.' He had only been thinking of Starfall as an attack that destroys everything in its path but never considered that one of its greatest strengths was that it could decide who it hit.

'I knew there needed to be control but never thought about why control was necessary.'

That night Azemo devised a new method of training the final part of Starfall where he would gently float through obstacles. This training finally felt like the missing piece and Azemo could not go to bed, he was too excited.

With the entire night to practice, Azemo was finally able to learn Starfall to a basic level and when Kaede awoke she saw Azemo performing his second actual use of the skill.

Kaede immediately got rid of the dregs of sleep and rushed over to pick up Azemo.

"Holy hell you actually did it." She was ecstatic. 'She was actually a good teacher.' Kaede had been worried that since she had never taught anyone before, that she was slowing Azemo's growth with the spear. But since he had been able to learn her favorite skill it meant that Azemo was meant to be her student.

Breakfast was extra large that morning, giving Azemo the chance to break his record for most food eaten in thirty seconds. After the meal Kaede was still bouncing off the wall but Azemo was at the tiredest point of tired Azemo. This was the first time he had pulled an all nighter in the new world and his brain was not functioning. Was it ever?

As soon as he was in the carriage he fell asleep using Ima as a pillow. She often treated him as one so it was payback. Imagine did not mind because she liked the cuddles.

The rest of the day was uneventful other than the fact that Azemo did not wake up for anything. Not for lunch, not when the carriage almost tipped over and not even when Bella used him as a punching bag.

Azemo only woke up when it was dinner time, after an entire day of sleep, he needed to practice after all. As soon as the carriage stopped for the night Azemo sat up like a piece of clockwork. Kaede laughed at him, 'the kid would only wake up when he wanted to or when she threw him across the room'.

After a large dinner Azemo went to go cement his understanding of Starfall. He did not stay up nearly as late but still managed to feel accomplished. Starfall was now at an intermediate level.

The next day of traveling was to be the last, they were finally going to make it to Zenath.

As soon as the city was in sight Kaede finally remembered something.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you skills are allowed in the tournament. I don't suppose you have a drive skill or anything like that." Kaede laughed a little sheepishly, other students were sure to have powerful skills and she was worried she had not adequately prepared her student.

Azemo wanted to deny having any sort of skills but when he saw how worried Kaede was he showed her (magycka) Shadows Call. He showed it under the pretense that it was a drive skill but its sinister presence made Kaede think for a bit.

However, she was too happy that her student was ready to think about it for too long.

As the city gates grew closer and closer Kaede transformed into her adult body. She was wearing some sort of blue uniform that did nothing to hide her beauty.

Azemo struggled to contain his laughter when he remembered that Kaede had to pretend to have this body.

"I hope you are quiet because you are stunned by my beauty and not because of something else."

"Of course master, you are extremely gorgeous no matter what form you are in." Azemo ruined the compliment by letting out a small chuckle. He promptly got a new bruise.

At the gate the carriage was stopped by the guards but as soon as they saw the Spear Goddess they quickly bowed and let them through.

Zenath was a very good looking city. All the buildings and streets were spotless and the whole town just had a very clean feel.

Azemo was rather in awe of the city because the sheer scale was enormous, at least three times as large as Fresk, and somehow it was still extremely clean.

Kaede did not care very much for Zenath, she knew about the strict law enforcement that kept the streets clean.

"Probably don't get into any trouble while we are here, you wouldn't want to ruin your masters reputation."

After seeing Kaede at restaurants Azemo doubted she had a good reputation among her peers but he quickly said. "Of course master."