Chapter 23 Gareth Part 1
The morning sun ca and Gareth woke before Stor. Gareth was the heavier sleeper and rarely got up before Stor. He quietly lowered himself down the ladder and dressed. If you were late for breakfast Callem usually was a bit harder on you during training. Well on Gareth anyway. The one-ti Callem made Stor do extra work during training Stor made a very bland dinner the next day in retribution and that was enough for Callem to minimize his punishnts for being late for breakfast. For Gareth though, the sparring in the evening was more intense and required more healing from Stor. It was Callem's attempt to ingrain in Gareth that being on ti was important.
He heard Stor stirring just as he quietly shut the door. Damn, Stor wouldn’t be late but that was ok as he would still get the best portions at breakfast. Stor said he had an internal clock that got him up on ti every morning which Gareth assud had sothing to do with his magic.
Gareth entered the farmhouse and started helping Callem and Wynna lay out breakfast. Blueberry pancakes with butter, fried eggs, greasy pork sausage, and so iced tea. Iced tea was another invention of Stor. Tea was supposed to be hot but Stor added so ice cubes, lemon juice, and sugar and made it a great drink to pair with als instead of sothing you sipped after a al to soothe digestion.
Almost all of Stor’s culinary creations were great except when he started kicking up the spiciness of dishes. He made a ‘five-alarm chili’ for Callem two weeks ago and Gareth still hadn’t forgiven him. Callem loved it but the chili burned going down and coming out for Gareth. If Stor wanted he probably could have made a fortune establishing a restaurant. Maybe he could convince Stor to buy a restaurant where Gareth could eat for free whenever he wanted. He would have to wait for the right ti to bring this up.
After setting the table Gareth pulled half the pancakes to his plate just as Stor entered. Stor liked blueberry pancakes and his annoyance showed on his face, especially after Callem and Wynna took all but one of the pancakes quickly after Gareth. The air carried the sll of vanilla into the room from the door. He was a bit envious of Stor’s spells but he had his own gifts. He was progressing at a phenonal rate according to Callem. In another year Callem said he would be unbeatable by anyone his age. Stor was also doing well with the sword and had learned a lot of movents of the sword forms but Stor had not mastered them. When they sparred with swords Gareth had to hold back enough to make it interesting and still improve himself. Stor was closing the gap due to physical growth but his skill developnt would never equal Gareth’s.
Both boys were growing quickly and Gareth was now 6'1" (1.86m) to Stor's 5'8" (1.72m). Both were boys were tall for boys their age and Gareth could pass for 17 or 18 years old, well, Stor maybe 14. Stor's body type was a bit gangly compared to Gareth's thicker fra. Both boys were well-muscled but Stor had a leaner build. Gareth was worried about what his Giant's Constitution ability might turn his body into. Callem had assured him that it would just make him a larger man and not turn his features to mirror a giant. Both boys ate enough for three boys and sotis they made it a competition at als, apparently Stor was not playing the ga this morning as he ate sparingly.
During stretching later that morning Gareth started needling Stor about his inflexibility, well his inflexibility compared to Gareth. Stor returned the favor by needling him about Brianne. It was a sore subject for Gareth. He had let slip a few tis about his jealousy over Brianne hanging out with another boy in town. Brianne had offered to teach Gareth how to kiss and practice kissing with him. Gareth was nervous at the mont she asked and declined her invitation while they were swimming together and had regretted it ever since.
Brianne was two years older than him and was fairly attractive in his opinion. Brianne had stord off and not talked to him since he declined her invitation. He just hadn’t been prepared for her forwardness. He hadn’t told Stor but Gareth was pretty sure he had figured it out. Gareth had taken a much greater interest in girls and young won in the last few months. The only woman Gareth had seen Stor ogle over was the elven woman from the play. She caught Gareth’s eye as well with her lithe figure and charismatic glow. Gareth had been a little concerned that Stor didn’t like girls for a while. Which was ok with him but Gareth was definitely only interested in girls.
Stretching ended and Stor went inside as Callem and Gareth bombarded him with suggestions for dinner tonight. Callem directed Gareth to the fields to finish planting the tobacco and watering both fields. Gareth was able to do three tis the amount of work now compared to when they first moved to the farm, a mark of his improving fitness. The hard morning continued as Stor joined Gareth on the obstacle course. They had three tid runs today for Callem. They usually completed against themselves by competing against the clock. Gareth was just too fast for Stor to compete with when he went all out.
Stor improved his ti for the C course from 7:44 to 7:19 on his first run. His second and third were 7:55 and 7:58. He put in an amazing effort to achieve his new best ti. And after each run, Stor ca up to Gareth clean as if he just stepped out of the shower and slled of vanilla. The vanilla scent was a little over the top for Gareth. It was pleasant for sure but after a certain point, he would get sick of it. Gareth had improved his best ti as well today. 6:32 was his previous best and he ran 6:27, 6:31, and 6:39. Callem praised both of them.
Gareth was filthy after working and training the morning. He looked forward to lunch as he had burned a lot of his energy stores but Callem made him wash up a bit before entering the house. Lunch was bacon sandwiches which Gareth had three of. He tried to uncover what Stor was preparing for dinner but he had taken to hiding it so it would be a surprise. Gareth tried to get Wynna to reveal the upcoming al but failed. Stor and Wynna had definitely bonded a bit in the kitchen.
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The early afternoon was staff practice. It was sothing that Stor was actually quite good at. Stor could hold off Gareth even when he went full tilt. Stor even scored a hit or two in sparring. They were just glancing blows but still counted as hits. After staff practice, Stor went to study for a bit while Callem did so advanced sword training with Gareth.
The special training was all about reading the opponent's movents. Eye movents, muscle movents, shifting clothing, and unfortunately feints. Callem was his subject and the man could make it impossible to read him if he tried but as Callem got further and further along Gareth was finally getting it. That was until Callem introduced feints and Gareth’s nightmare for the last few days began. Deciding on whether sothing was a feint, distraction, or actual movent was impossible. He got it right maybe 10% of the ti when they started. To his credit, he was already up to 25%. Yes if you do the math just guessing he should be at 33% but this was Callem and you couldn’t guess or maybe Callem was changing the movent partway through based on Gareth's own reaction? Gareth had to read, decipher and then react in a split second. After every engagent, Callem would question him on his thought process then make suggestions and reveal what his actual intentions had been.
Soon the sword practice ca to a close as Stor rejoined them. They were now working on wrestling, hand-to-hand combat, and restraints. Wrestling was just hand-to-hand combat without punching or kicking. Restraints were about subduing your opponent and also breaking from an opponent's hold. At first, Stor was the victor in the wrestling to Callem’s surprise. Although Stor was smaller, he was wiry and later told Gareth he had so experience in his past life with wrestling. Well after a week Stor’s advantages faded but he was still a very tough competitor. Gareth’s skill affinity didn’t extend to wrestling or hand-to-hand combat so he had to use his superior agility, speed, and strength. Today Stor won three bouts out of ten which ant he was having a very good day. What annoyed Gareth the most was after each bout he would use his cleanliness spell on himself and complain about how bad Gareth slled. Unfortunately, there was no hand-to-hand combat training today. Gareth usually won every bout in that discipline.
After they finished Stor healed them both up then they engaged in a handful of sword duels to help Stor's technique. Callem actually let Gareth do the teaching now. Callem just corrected Gareth on his ability to facilitate improvent in Stor’s forms. Stor had trouble chaining the different forms together in a fluid act. He was still completing Tortoise Shell completely before switching to Fox’s Lunge. Couldn’t he see he only needed to do about 80% of the Tortoise Shell defense form before switching to attack in a fluid motion with Fox’s Lunge? He also rarely chose the optimal sword form based on what Gareth was presenting to him. Well, a sword master wasn’t made in a day…unless that person was Gareth. He smirked to himself and almost let Stor pass his defenses to graze his thigh.
Sword practice ended and they had ti to clean up. Stor still loved swimming in the cool waters so they went together. As they were in the pool Stor swore. “Fucking shit.” Gareth was on alert. “No, no worries. My cleanliness spell advanced to the 5th level and I wasn’t paying enough attention to focus on the evolution. Give a second while I figure out what the new evolution now does.” He sounded pretty upset and two minutes later Stor sounded much happier, “Actually it is not too bad. It appears my healing affinity must have aided in the evolution a bit. I didn’t realize that could happen…”
Before he could ramble on Gareth interrupted, “What did you get!” Stor grinned and relaxed into the waters.
“It is a skin renewal and hydration effect. Basically, it makes my skin appear like I just ca out of the shower and used a body oil rub.” Stor said with a cocky grin.
“You an like a noblewoman?” Comparing Stor to a woman always got him irritated so Gareth did it often. What were friends for if not to keep you grounded?
“Let demonstrate this new power I have and see what you have to say after.” Stor had so iron in his tone. He stood and a few seconds passed and I suppressed my reaction as he did look quite a bit better. Healthier, attractive, and fairer looking. I held my face in check then answered.
“Let know when you cast the spell,” Gareth said. Stor looked crestfallen but before the trickery could continue Gareth continued, “No I am kidding, your new evolution works as you advertised. You look much prettier. You should be able to find a good man if you use your spell prodigiously!” Gareth started laughing and Stor joined in after a few seconds.
Dinner tonight was Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches with a fruit salad and fried squash. He wasn’t sure why Stor insisted on calling the steak Philly, wasn’t that a young horse? And who would eat horse at? But the sandwiches were aweso and it was the third ti Stor had made them since we moved to the farm. He kept wanting to get feedback on the bread. He wasn’t sure if it paired well with the sandwich. Wynna had baked it to his specifications so Gareth wasn’t going to say anything other than saying it was perfect. Never insulting the chef was his motto...unless Stor needed so grounding.
After dinner, they had our lessons with Wynna. To Gareth's dismay, it was the recent history of the Skyhol Triumvirate. It was a boring subject but Wynna wanted to make sure they understood the political climate so she circled back to this subject at least once a week. After their ti with Wynna he sat with Callem for a bit of weapons knowledge while Stor went off and did his magic thing. Callem brought out weapons and quizzed him on how to defend against them and what advantages they had vs various weapons Gareth might yield. He was already starting to puzzle out so things without Callem telling him which was making him very happy. Gareth went back late to find Stor still up.
“Hey Gareth I made three platinum today even with all the healing I did today,” Stor said to Gareth from his loft.
“Even with all the prettying up, you did today as well on top?!” Gareth retorted with his grin. “So are you close?” He asked in anticipation.
“Yep, I have 107 platinum coins ready. Sixth day is two days away and I should be able to get you another four and add to the gold count I have,” Stor paused thinking, “Six large gold and 19 regular gold coins right now.” Gareth still hadn’t quite grasped what an imnse amount of wealth that was.
Gareth was just thinking in two days he would be off to the capital and could explore the sites he had only read about in books and discussed with Wynna, Stor, and Callem during als.
Two more days…he fell asleep thinking about his coming adventure.
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