28 Almonds and Noodle Soup

"Follow me", Otis utters as he walks to one of the wide spaces near the small stage. The students quickly trail after him, while Obrecht and I were the last to stand. We bring up the back line.

I want to ask Obrecht about the girl but I decide against it, and focus on Otis' instructions. It's not every day that I get to study combat like this. What they teach here was far different to what Father taught Tukare and me before. Every lesson was so detailed here, much like Mother's lessons on... what was that called again? Right—science!

"Rohati, help me for a moment", Otis calls over Rohati who was monitoring the kicking practice of older children by pairs. She comes on over and bows a little to Otis. She scans the children before her eyes land on me and Obrecht. I bow a little at her too just like what she did to Otis. The side of her lips quirk up a little in amusement. She turns to Obrecht and when I look to him too, he was beaming.

Seriously, what was that about too?

The curiosity made me itch but I decide to ignore it, seeing as Obrecht didn't plan to give me an explanation.

Otis asks Rohati stand in front of him and he tries to restrain her by using certain bodily points and her own joints to restrict her movement. He first discusses the offensive stance before talking about its weak points and disadvantages. He inculcates the need for the offender to fill in on their weak points on their own offense, and defend these disadvantages by handling their partner attentively.

He then goes about the defender position and reminds the pressure points and natural weak points on a human's body. He goes into more detail about and gives a few demonstrations with Rohati, him being the offender and Rohati being the defender.

As Otis continues to answer a few questions from the group, a pair comes to stand beside me and Obrecht. The girl looked familiar.

Ah, the girl on the benches.

"Salutari", she greets.

"Salutari", I bow to her.

She giggles.

"You don't need to bow to her, Vid." Obrecht crosses his arms over his chest. "You bow only to someone older, like how you did with Tita Rohati."

Oh. I nod in understanding.

"So, what's up, Vera?" Obrecht redirects his gaze to the girl. "Krael", he also greets the boy standing beside her. The boy only gives a side glance before looking away again after a small nod, looking unsociable and uninterested in us.

"Obrecht." Vera smiles more brightly. "I watched your trial the other day."

"Mm."

Obrecht suddenly looks more matured than before, or was it just my imagination?

Perhaps at the lack of topic to talk about, the younger person turns to me.

"Brother", Vera beckons me. "What's your name?"

I glance quickly at Obrecht to see if he feels like answering for me. He looks back at me silently, and thus I answer Vera with a simple utterance of, "Videre."

"What a strange name. Does it have a meaning? You see, my apa named me after my ama's favorite plant."

"…It does." I see Obrecht join on in with an inquisitive look. "It means to see with your own eyes."

Vera exclaims softly. I can see that she wants to ask more but she holds herself and simply praises my "pretty" name as she says.

We hear Otis clapping his hands to divide us up into pairs. Vera pairs up with Krael as Obrecht wordlessly becomes mine. Since we were the only sixteen year olds in a group of fourteen year olds, it seemed like the obvious decision. Although I say fourteen year olds, I can't say they look the part.

Both Krael and Obrecht were taller than me, and even Vera was just about my height. What did these people eat to grow this tall and gain so much meat? What do I need to eat to grow like this?

I pout inwardly as I contemplate asking Odeti for the egg drop noodle soup recipe. Since Ob ate that a lot when he was young, then maybe it'd help him build muscles too right? I eye Obrecht's pectoral muscles. Even just a fourth of his muscles was fine already. I'm not that greedy, just that much is already enough. I sigh sadly inwardly at the sight of myself.

A pair of strong arms breaks my musing and I instinctively try to break away but my limbs were restricted quite precisely; one right arm had me at nearly a back choke hold, to which Obrecht just grabbed my left shoulder instead, to not directly choke my neck. His other arm was busy grabbing my left wrist while his left leg wraps around mine from the inside step, restricting my foot while keeping me imbalanced enough to not be able to attack.

"What were you daydreaming about during lessons, Vid?" I can hear the jest in his voice as he squeezed me tighter and tighter like a snake restricting its prey. I shake away the idea.

I struggle against his grip as I hear Otis' instruction ring loudly while doing rounds to see and help each pair of students doing practice every now and then. Since we were at the back of the class, he was too far to see us.

Obrecht's nuzzles his face at the far near my neck, allowing heat to climb over my cheeks. With no one paying much attention to us, it just seemed like the usual choke hold practice, given that the fur hid most of what really was transpiring.

He kneads my left shoulder and thumbs my clavicle, making me tenser than I already am.

"Hurry up and defend, Videre", Obrecht teases.

I feel his strong heartbeats pounding on my back as his chest was tightly pressed on me. I feel his grin on the nook of my neck.

"You smell like sweet almonds and… noodle soup."

I feel something snap in my head and I push him backwards to throw him off and gain my own balance. In a split second, I launched my clenched free hand to his groin, to which he instinctively tries to catch, but I change the direction of attack and use my elbow to hit his lowered chin. He dodges it but I head-butt him backwards instead.

He staggers back and falls down on the ground. Still clutching my left wrist, I stagger down with him to display a very obscene position.

"Well done." Otis claps. "Though, I suggest a more elegant and faster way of responding to a strong hold. That hold on your wrist alone can be a big disadvantage to your escape, and a fast turning point to your attacker", Otis lectures.

I clumsily stand back up as I realize that everyone was also paying us attention. It didn't seem to bother Obrecht as he continued to stay there laying ungraciously on the ground. I nudge him with my foot. I wanted to kick him to vent a bit of my mortification but I hold it back on the last minute.

"Videre, that was so unfair. I wasn't paying attention", Obrecht says to me after Otis walks away to monitor the other students.

"Like how you restrained me when I wasn't really ready either?" I whisper-yell at him before huffing angrily.

"You're adorable when you're mad at me."

I pinch his waist and his face contorts in pain as he lets me pinch him. He knows too well that it's his fault that I am so embarrassed and jumpy.

We continue practicing more diligently. Not surprisingly, Obrecht made for a good teacher. He gave me a lot of trivia on certain stances, on which I try to adapt to my fighting style.

The bright blue light on the crystals above us had dimmed around late afternoon. The view of a million, billion crystals overhead looked far dazzling on an open clearing like this. Class had ended by this time. Obrecht and I walk side by side to the stairs covered by a small green hill on top of it. It was the same way we came from this morning.

Finishing last on practice, Obrecht and I were the last to arrive at the stairs. Two familiar figures appeared to be waiting by the hillside when we arrived.

"Obrecht, Videre", Vera cheerfully greeted. Krael was just as unfriendly as before. "Let's head back together."

I resist the urge to wipe away the sweat dripping from my forehead as I watch Vera's twinkling expression land on Obrecht yet again.

Why was she looking at him like that? Does she perhaps like Obrecht?

"It's not what you think." I hear a cold voice coming from behind me.

Obrecht and Vera had walked on ahead which left me to follow and Krael to bring up the back. I glance at Krael at the sound of his statement.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly as I said." Krael does not elaborate all the while bypassing me and walking down the stairs to catch up to the two. I stay immobile on a step, for a second.

Am I that transparent?

I wonder to myself as I start walking again.