“Come on Hannah you literally just have to ask it to move.” An exasperated Derb was standing next to His mount, trying to get Hannah to go alone for once. “That’s easy for you to say! You had a week with this thing! I’m not gonna have this monster eat me once you’re out of sight!” For someone with no trust, she sure was holding onto it tightly...

“Ok, look, I get it’ll be scary riding alone for the first time. I’ll hop on back, I won't say a word, though. You’ll be the one who has to tell it everything.” Derb hopped on behind her, ready to go on another joyride through the fields. Hannah didn’t seem so eager, though. “W-what!? I’m not scared! I just don’t want this thing going haywire on me you know- uheek!”

Amid her tantrum she turned back to face him, causing her to slip to one side. Derb reached in just before she completely fell and grabbed her back… only for her dress to slip right by his fingers. With a thump, Hannah fell onto the floor, red-faced and hurt. “What was that!? You could have caught me you… know...”

Before she could have a proper reaction she saw Derb staring at his scarred arm, the one she tried to grab her with. He had no expressions on his face, just opening and closing it, slowly. His hand was shaky the entire time. Instantly his face changed into that of a smile, and he turned the mount to the other side, reaching for her with his good arm.

“It's not my fault you weren’t watching your balance, silly.” Hannah quickly got up, no longer angry about the fall. “Oh, uh, yeah… let’s keep going.”

The both of them rode for a while more, before heading back inside. “It was fun right? You haven’t even gotten him at a good speed yet!” Derb shouted, his hair looking all fritzed from the air resistance. Hannah was doing a lot better in that regard. “That thing can go faster!? I knew you were crazy but I didn’t know you were suicidal.” Hannah looked exhausted, sore too.

“If I knew riding that thing would hurt this much I’d have just apologized.” She sank into a chair and groaned in satisfaction. That wolf looked fluffy but sitting on him was rather terrible. Derb sat too, nowhere near as sore as Hannah but tired nonetheless. “I was the one that screwed up, you know. You didn’t do anything wrong.” She looked over to him, only to see him with his head turned away.

She leaned back into her chair and sighed. “You know you can’t say that. I was angry that everyone got so close to you so fast. It made me feel like… I didn't belong.” Derb didn’t say anything back, he was too shocked at what he heard. Doesn’t she know how much the other two love her? Tiffany can barely go a second without comparing the two and his teacher would probably maim anyone who badmouthed her.

“You… really don’t have to worry about that. Ahaha.” Derb got up from his chair, stretching his limbs to go to his room. “If you weren’t so snarky I’m sure you’d have figured that out by now.” Hannah smirked, accepting the sass just this once. “Says the one who tried to run away, real brave hero actions.”

Derb flinched and halfheartedly laughed at the comment. He approached Hannah while laughing, making sure to get behind her chair. “H-hey… what are you doing?” Derb leaned in and whispered between the both of them. “Let’s keep that to ourselves, don’t want anyone to know you cried too, right? Or that you were too scared to ride the wolf alone?”

She grimaced, there was the person she knew. She pushed him away from her and laughed. “You’re lucky the wolf was so fun to ride or I'd have cut you from my life already.” She started getting up before Derb once again stopped her. “I really am sorry for treating you like a ghost all this time. I just thought you didn’t like me, so I didn’t want to bring your mood down by… being near you? That sounds wrong...”

She rolled her eyes at his attempt at an apology, it was endearing how hard he was trying for such a small thing. It was her who blew it out of proportions, she shouldn’t have exploded back then. “I’m sorry too, I really went and got all angry at you for nothing.” Derb frowned at her, she was doing it again.

He knew she was trying to make the problem smaller in her head, he’d done the same to too many people. “Hey, you got mad for a reason, remember? It wasn’t just out of the blue, I didn’t mean it but I hurt you. I already thought of you like family, so it just made what I did even worse.” Hannah felt like she wanted to cry again. He was right, but it made her feel so immature when he just perfectly said it like that.

Before she could say anything Derb already walked off, probably to head for bed. She tried getting up only to feel pain shoot up her legs. Was Derb made out of steel? How could that idiot handle 3 full hours of riding that thing without a scratch? She only hoped that they’d make it easier after this.

__

A couple of weeks had passed, and Derb was yelling at his wolf because it wouldn’t listen to him. “Adalia… just because I said to listen to Hannah doesn’t mean you should just give up on my orders! I’m obviously on top!” Hannah got between the two, protecting Adalia from Derb’s unjust rant.

“She obviously just couldn’t hear you, dummy. The air made me nearly deaf and I was hiding behind her. you can’t expect the same didn’t happen to her.” Derb huffed, upset that his precious wolf and Hannah were against him. “Fine, fine... Adalia! My orders will now overwrite anything Hannah says! Ok?” Hannah gasped and started smacking his back. “Wait, you can’t do that! She just likes me more. You can’t force her to do that!”

Derb only grinned. “You’re lucky I'm not taking her away from you. This was supposed to be our last day, you know?” She only grumbled in mock acceptance. She perked up when Derb allowed her to take the wolf away. He was in the field, alone now. He lied down on an incline to watch the clouds. Halfway into the month, his hair had gotten long enough to reach his shoulders. It was getting in the way at some point so he took a knife to it.

That… wasn’t the best idea. Everyone in the house had mocked and ridiculed him for how it had turned out. It was uneven and wild, as if I'd gotten in a fight with a wild pair of scissors. It grew out again at some point so it stopped being so uneven, but the wild look remained. He wasn’t fond of it, since he always had his hair neat and tidy before he came here.

He’d changed a lot since he’d come here, his skin wasn’t darker, but had a healthier color than before. He’d also gotten a lot bigger. In the past few months, he had grown 3 inches, leaving him at a whopping 6’2. That was insane in itself, but he also packed a few pounds. His body was lined with muscle more than during training.

Without all the constant healing and fighting, Derb had reached a point where his muscle stopped looking so lean and dangerous. He was nowhere near as bulky as Deitre, but he no longer looked like he was a martial artist with a drug addiction. Speaking of which, he was supposed to get here soon…

After an hour of watching the sun, Derb grew impatient. What was taking the man so long? He was actually getting sleepy lying down for so long… As Derb started shutting his eyes, a giant sword plunged itself directly to the side of his neck. Derb was too shocked to realize it was his, and scrambled away like a cockroach. “WAIT I’LL DO ANYTHI- oh hey Deitre.”

The Blacksmith was standing next to the sword plunged into the ground, Derb’s sword. “Boy, a month of no training and you’re already disrespecting me by sleeping? I might have to rethink your punishment if you’ve grown so soft.” He picked up the sword that was supposed to be heavier in his hands than Derb’s with one hand.

“Catch.” With a measly throw, he launched it ten feet, in Derb’s direction. Derb turned on his side and caught it by its hilt, slowing the momentum by bringing it down into the ground. “Oh ho, seems like you didn’t forget all your tricks. Though I doubt you’re back to your former self with just that.” the old man pulled out his sword from his sheathe, almost as big as Derb’s. “just because I was told to take a break didn’t mean I wasn’t training, I think it’ll be pretty hard to beat me now.” Derb said, forgetting who he was talking to.

“Then come, if you land a hit on me I’ll consider your punishment null.” Derb charged, too focused to feel any happiness over the remark. He slashed his side, only for Deitre to jump back at the last moment. Derb channeled strength into his body just before the swing hit the ground, causing it to rip through with ease. The sword spun in a circle, and Derb used the heaviness to jump forward and bring the sword down on Deitre’s neck.

He was almost worried he’d hit him, until his sword was parried, sending Derb crashing into the ground. “Nice job boy! I never taught you how to save your strength like that!” He pulled Derb up from the ground, patting his back. “Faking the first hit was brilliant since you knew I wasn’t going to strike so soon! Don’t ever do that in a real battle, though. Underestimating your opponent for even a second means death.”

Derb felt mixed emotions. He was happy that his teacher was praising him so much, and embarrassed for talking such a big game before the fight. “It’s good to fight again, after the first week I was starting to get too energetic...” Derb stretched his arms and went to pick up his sword once more. “Tiffany isn’t here though, so don’t kill me too badly.”

Deitre laughed, obviously not taking him seriously. “I’ll leave your corpse at least a bit recognizable, come at me once more. Use that technique once more, you seem strong enough now, let’s focus on skill now.” Derb grimaced, his imp was at home, he couldn’t use the strength technique too much because of it. He’d have to be quick.

“Let’s go!” Derb was the one who initiated the charge. He ran forward, getting ready to swing to the right. Before he swung he kicked at Deitre’s knee, only for it to be dodged. He planned to swing afterward but Deitre simply pushed him mid-kick, knocking him off balance and directly to the ground.

“You’ve still got a lot to work on, especially that center of balance of yours.” Derb groaned, but a smile was on his face. He had missed this, especially now that Deitre was being less violent due to Tiff not being around. “Man, Deitre, what have you been doing this month? We haven’t really talked this month, you never visited while I was on house arrest.”

Derb was almost scared he’d gone back to his old, isolated ways. The laugh that bolstered out of him got rid of any of those notions, however. “It’s a surprise, boy! I’m planning to give it to you once you leave this place for good.” Derb looked at him weirdly, he was planning to leave, but he hadn’t told anyone yet. “Why do you think I’d ever leave your side, who would beat me black and blue then?”

Deitre grinned at the joke, more amused than insulted. “With that attitude, I’m sure you’ll find your fair share of trouble without my help.” The man’s eyes hardened again, not joking anymore. “Attack once more, if you plan to kick attack low and fast. Remember, your weight also belongs to the sword, you have to move around it, not against it.” Derb prepared his blade, grinning. He sure missed this.