The Courtyard (private date)

After having put Katel back into the stables, I had left the stables with Aalana, who went away to some of the uncountable dates of her.
I entered the courtyard almost without noticing and sat down on a random bench, wiping my forehead to see fresh blood covering my hand.

- Dammit, I said and wiped my hand on my jeans.

But I felt the fresh blood mass again over my eyebrow.
Taking off my jacket, I held it against my forehead. If ever Casper were to cross my path again... he'd loose the little teeth he had left.
I noticed I had contusions on my shoulders and arms as well, but ignored the pain as good as possible.

Zack felt good at the moment. He had a nice purple button up shirt, a purple and gray striped tie on (which the purple faded to a gray, then back to purple), gray pants that matched his tie, and his black dress shoes. In his right hand was the Lavender and Anemone flowers he had just picked. He was looking for Eanor at the moment, ready to surprise her.

Except she did most of the surprising. He had noticed her in the courtyard, not too far from him, but she was all bloodied up.

"Oh sh!t!" Zack exclaimed and ran up to her. "Are you alright? What happened to you?" He asked her, forgetting to bow or give her the flowers.

- Nothing, I mumbled, nothing... just... got into a fight with a stupid knight....

I looked at him and noticed he was well-dressed, with a tie, elegant pants and so on.

- Why are you wearing this? I asked, still holding the jacket to my forehead.

Coughing a bit, I realized there was blood on my lips. I wiped the droplets away angrily with my sleeve.

- Damn you, Casper, I hissed for myself, hoping Zachary hadn't heard it.

"Oh, right!" Zack said, bowing low, but holding his tie to his chest so it wouldn't scrape the ground.

"These are for you," He said, giving her the flowers he had picked. "I hope you like them, I asked Awen for help, but...well, that doesn't matter. I'm all dressed up for you. I came to ask you on a date." He said. "And who's this Casper? Is he the one who did this to you?" He asked, worried, and at the same time angry. He didn't worry too much about it, though. This was time for Eanor, not for revenge.

The flowers were really magnificent: Lavander and Anemones. I took them in my hands and scented them.

- Thank you, I said, those are really beautiful.

I turned to him and added on the joke tone:

- But you know, you don't have to give me presents, your presence is sufficient to me.

But that part with Arc intrigued me and I chuckled. Awen wasn't the open type. She might have let a word or two slip out, if he had had luck, or she had just stared at him like she so often did.
I ignored his question about Casper. I didn't want him to fight my battles.

"Ah, well I thought you ought to know that I was serious about the date. I don't like to make things look like coincidences when I mean to do things seriously." He told her, and took her hand to kiss it.

"But right now it's all about you, my princess. So, what do you want to know about me? I'm completely open. Ask me anything." He told her, leading her to a nearby bench, with a nice view of the blue sky.

I smiled as he led me to the bench. The marble was smooth and cold, exactly the way I liked it.

- Well yeah, I said again on the joke tone. Do you alway date girls you met the day before?

Still holding the bouquet, I raised it to my nostrils.
Those flowers really smelled good, and I wondered where he had got them.

"Never dated before, to be completely honest. But it was never out of the question. There was still girls I had crushes on, but they were few and far between. And most of those people were already dating someone else. I usually kept my feelings to myself anyway. Two I asked out, but I was rejected nonetheless." He told her, remembering the times.

"So I'm new at this. Don't judge me," He chuckled.

- I don't judge people, I replied quietly.

I wished he hadn't talked about love sorrow. It made me think of my ex-boyfriend, Luca. Who had dumped me from the one day to the other.
I shivered and pressed my jacket harder on my forehead.

- Sorry I don't look very pretty, I apologized. But it's not my fault some guy tried to kiss a girl, I had to break him two teeth. That's the way they pay in Corsica. Two teeth or the nose. And well, I got a bit more than a few scratches - Ahh.

"Don't look pretty? You humble yourself. You're absolutely gorgeous. Here, let me kiss your cuts to heal them," He smiled, as he pulled the jacket away from her forehead to kiss it.

"Feeling better?" He asked her, smiling. His heart was beating fast now, the adrenaline making him think more riskily.

The contact of his lips had hurt my bare flesh, but I didn't care. I was happy he could give me some love.
Did I feel better?

- Perhaps, I smiled, burying my nose and mouth in the flowers he had given me.

I felt I was flushed, so I just looked away, wishing stupidly for a special someone to see it all go on.

"You're too cute," he smiled back. "Hey, did you know that the distance from here to here," He said, touching his shoulders, "Is the same from here to here?" He said, touching her shoulders, and left his hand on her's.

Watch out, we've got Romeo on the loose here!

Nice going, Zack. You're doing perfect.

Zack chuckled. "Any more questions, my dear? Or is it my turn to ask you some?" He smiled and asked Eanor. His smile was wide and good- he was feeling very confident at the moment.

Even if I didn't quite get his distance-delirium (which I found quite odd), I reddened all the more as he put his arms on my shoulders and left them there.
After all, it had just been a weird reason to put his arms around me.
Pfff.
He could've done it otherwise.
His right hand on my left shoulder touched a bruise and I shivered, hissing lowly in pain.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw to my relief that there wasn't blood, it was just a.... well, a big blue and yellow bruise.
Nice.
I'm gonna kill you, Cas.

I shook my head to show him it was his turn to ask questions.
Normally, I would have asked him plenty of things about him, like, if he played an instrument and if yes, what his favorite pieces were, what he liked in this school, what type of music he liked and why, what books he enjoyed reading, and so on.
Just a bunch of things about himself.
But not now. I didn't know why.
I thought about Aalana who was surely with Samuel.
Dating.
Somewhere.
Anywhere.
Like she always did.
I just realized Aalana had had plenty of dates like this one, and for me, it was the first one.
Oi, calm down, Arc didn't have any in her lifetime!
I chuckled to myself and imagined again the "discussion" Zachary could've had with Arc.

"So then..." Zack thought, looking up and trying to think of a more philosophic question. He looked down and bit his lip.

"What decides morality?" He asked, and after another second he nodded; it was a good question. "What decides what is right and what is wrong? What is good and evil?" He asked her. This was the kind of stuff he discussed with Olórin at times, and he liked it. It made you think of things never thought of before.

....
Da f*ck?

Every time I heard about philosophy, I thought of a funny video I enjoyed watching were the humorist was imitating a philosophy teacher.

Okay, don't laugh. This is serious.
I thought about the question for some seconds. "Society, I guess", I replied, quite sure of myself.

"I once thought that. But then I seen it froma different light. Insane people, when doing what we call 'evil things', are doing it because they see it as good. They decided, for themselves, that what they have done is good. It's more on an individual level. When the majority of people see something as good or bad, they make their rules according to that. But it does not change the thoughts of the individual, who when he think he's doing the right thing, continues it." Zack stated, stroking the small amount of whiskers he had on his chin that were unnoticeable unless you closely observed Zack's chin. He stopped and then ran his hand through his long hair.

"Well, at least that's what I think." He mumbled and paused for a moment. "Sorry that I get like this; I guess Olórin wears off on me." He chuckled. "What do you like to do in your free time?" He asked, now thinking he should avoid the philosophic questions as he didn't think Eanor would like them.

- I enjoy... reading, playing the piano, drawing... spending time outside, in the forest, with Arc, and... yep, writing. Plus all kinds of sports. I'm the sportive type, I chuckled. Weird for a sorceress, but eh.

I chuckled, but my wounds were paining me a bit.

"I'm the sports type as long as the sport is fencing or fighting. Although I haven't got any good challenges as of late. I wouldn't want to cocky and say 'I'm the best sword fighter here', although Olo would tell me otherwise, but I'm a pretty good fighter. It may sound odd, but it calms me when I fight. Dunno why, I guess it's because stress has always made my mind more clear." He said.

"In my free time I do whatever, really. I read at times, yes, but probably not as much as you. Mostly be partners in crime with Olo. We may seem like the weirdest bunch, but we're brothers. We've been through a lot together." He said, nodding his head.

- I understand, I silently replied.

I shifted my legs a bit and wiped my mouth clean from the blood.

- See, I enjoy fighting as well. Aalana taught me a few tricks - Aalana is a friend of mine, a knight. But you've probably seen her. But I love nearly every kind of sports. Rockclimbing, trekking, hiking, biking, riding, swimming, canoeing, kayak, delta plane, paraglider, canyoning... ah yes, and speleology! Plus, of course, all the fight sports like Ai-ki-do and TaeKwonDo. My two favorites.

I stayed silent for some time before looking up to him again. He had startling blue eyes, and a small, a bit crooked mouth. I studied his lips for some seconds before suddenly lowering my eyes again.
My gaze fell on the bouquet he gave me.

- Well... er, thanks again for those flowers, I stammered.

"The flowers? Oh, any time, my dear. You deserve them and more." He smiled and looked into her eyes. She was dazzling- even if she had recently been beaten up. Even with her bruises and cuts, she had a presence of grace. A grace that was thrilling to be with.

"Have I ever told you that you look lovely? I probably have, now that I think about it...Well, let me restate it: You look lovely." He said. Looking into her brownish eyes was magnificent, ignoring the mirror effect to where he could see himself, the color was brilliant.

- Thanks, I said and felt myself blush.

Oh no, not again! I thought. I hated it when I was blushing. I tried to cover my features with my hands, but it would look weird, so I just kept my eyes down, hoping for my hair to fall in front of my face.

My hand grabbed the tiny hourglass and toyed with it - I always did it when I was stressed, it soothed me.
Aalana's voice rang in my ear - Chronowitch. It was how she playfully called me.

- So, you're a knight, I stated. What are your favorite fighting methods?

Zack seen her blush for a moment, and then her hair covered her face. He smiled, but decided not to comment on it. She probably didn't want the blush to be known.

"Well, as you could guess from me carried two long swords in the library, I happen to dual wield. It's a very challenging thing to do. You have to know where each blade is and where to put it so you don't hurt yourself, and you don't have very much power behind the swings or stabs- but what it does to make it's flaws up is it's unpredictability. I don't know what fighting style to call it, as I've pretty much made it up myself, but that's my top favorite. I don't know hand-to-hand, but I use it when necessarily. I fight with my arms and legs like I do my swords. I'll use one arm to block blows and the other to deal them, then I'll attack with both, throw a couple of kicks in there... I make it hard for my enemies to know how I'm going to attack." Zack said, looking to where her eyes would be if she were looking at him.

- That sounds interesting, I said after some time. I love sword fighting, even though I'm not very good at it. Well, I am when I use my power, but without it I'm almost helpless.

My gaze strode off and I watched the forest over my shoulder. It was magnificent. One week before, the trees had been covered by small white patches and now they were starting to decorate with leaves that looked like green gold under the sun. I loved that view, and yearned for a little walk between the calming trees, optimally with Arc'hantael.

Perhaps the little Folk had answered my gift to them. I wanted to find out as soon as possible, and itched a bit away.

"Oh, you can leave if you wish," Zack nodded his head. His voice carried no note of anger or of any other negative connotation, he understood. This 'date' (or whatever one would call it), to Zachary's mind, was done, even if it was a bit short. To him it went well, although it could have been better. They would need to find a thing they both liked and talked about that, rather than going on about separate things. Then an idea formed in Zack's brain.

"And if you want, I could teach you on becoming a swordsma-swordswoman." He quickly corrected himself. "I'm probably not the greatest teacher in the world, I'm impatient when it comes down to it, but I could help you improve." He suggested, tilting his head her way, waiting for a response.

I stood up slowly, for my wounds and smiled at him.
In fact, as far as combat was concerned, I already had a perfect teacher, Aalana. But I wasn't going to tell him.
First, because I wanted to continue this date, particularly when my wounds were healed.
Second, because I wished to see the surprise on his face when he'd see I could handle a sword quite good for a sorceress - of course not as good as him, but it was still something.

- That's very kind, I replied. I would love to learn swordsmanship from you. But first, I have to get this wounds washed, otherwise I don't think I could stay up any longer, I smiled, even though the smile tasted bitter in my mouth because of the blood.

I coughed, wiped my mouth clean and smiled again.

- I really liked this discussion, I told him, standing in front of him. I hope we'll see each other soon.

Putting my hand on his shoulder, I kissed both his cheeks like it was use in France to bid hello or goodbye to a friend, then I twirled around and started walking towards the castle - even though it wasn't very comfortable, but I managed it without looking like a complete idiot.