Chapter 34: Manners.

Roah began to twirl the sword around in the air and slashed up and down with the tip of the blade, whistling with each strike that she performed. Kalon watched in awe as she handled the blade like she had used swords for decades before she finally stopped with the sword held out with the tip of the blade aimed towards Kalon's neck.

"It's a nice sword, it handles well, and the weight is perfectly balanced at the hilt. I bet this cost your parents a fortune, so make sure to take care of it, okay?" Roah said before wrapping the sword back up in the table cloth and resting it against the edge of Kalon's bed.

"I will. It's the only thing of value I brought with me. Everything else was just clothing." Kalon smiled as he replied to Roah. After watching her perform for him, he felt more at ease and like he could trust her even if he could tell by her skill that she could kill him in an instant.

"Then I can rest easy knowing that you won't leave it to rust. Hm, I forgot to ask what your name was, didn't I?" Roah said with a smile and then asked for his name. She had been sitting in the room with him for around half an hour, and she didn't know what to call him, but that didn't matter since it was just the two of them.

"My name is Kalon T-Grayson," Kalon replied excitedly and almost forgot that he was supposed to be undercover. But he quickly realised when he started to say his surname and then quickly corrected himself and decided to take on his mother's surname instead. He didn't want them to think that he had any connection to the Sylton empire, and he needed a Human sounding surname to fit in with them.

"Kalon Greyson? That's an unusual name. I don't think I have ever met anyone called Kalon before. Well, it's nice to meet you." Roah smiled happily as she learnt Kalon's name.

"Mhm, Nice to meet you too." Kalon bowed his head in respect as he had done back in the Sylton empire, but as soon as he did, Roah began to panic.

"No, no, no, Don't bow to me. I'm not part of the Royal family. You could get us both into trouble if you do something like that." Roah said quickly, insisting that he looked back up.

"What? Then how am I supposed to pay my respects to you?" Kalon asked. He was so used to bowing down to people that he thought it was normal everywhere to show respect towards stronger warriors than yourself.

"Why would you need to pay respects to me? We only just met each other. You don't owe me anything at all." Roah replied with a sigh. She thought that he was bowing to show that he was willing to serve her like people did when in the presence of royalty, but she felt relieved that he just wanted to pay her respect.

"Well, my father told me that warriors have to pay respects to those that are stronger than them," Kalon said with a confused expression wondering if the humans had the same tradition at all. It seemed normal to him, and he had seen it countless times, but he found it strange that she didn't understand.

"A warrior's respect? Oh. Well, you do that by putting your fist in the palm of your hand. You don't have to bow down unless you are in the presence of royalty." Roah replied with a smile and then watched as Kalon struggled to do it correctly. So she leaned over the bed and put his hands in the proper position.

"Like this, see?" She said with a smile as she was having fun teaching him how to do it properly.

"Ohh, Okay, it's that easy?" Kalon asked as he looked up, but Roah couldn't stop herself from laughing. She had just watched him struggle to do it for a few minutes, yet he still claimed that it was easy.

'To be young again.' She thought with a smile as she watched Kalon pay his respects over and over again. She then sat back down in the chair beside him, this time curious about Kalon himself and not just how he escaped from Rover town.

"So Kalon, how old are you?" Roah asked as she sat back slightly and awaited his response.

"I turned twelve two months ago. How old are you?" Kalon tilted his head before asking her Raoh the same question that she had asked him. But as soon as he did, he felt something soft but firm strike the top of his head.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to ask a lady for her age?" Roah asked with a stern tone in her voice, feeling hurt that he would ask such a personal question even though she had asked him the same thing.

"I'm not allowed to ask a woman her age? Will I also get into trouble for that?" Kalon asked, thinking that the human Kingdom might have a law about asking women for their age. He didn't want to get arrested before learning anything of value after all.

But in response to his question Roah sighed and shook her head with disappointment.

"I know that you are young, but did your parents ever teach you anything?" Roah asked, confused about how Kalon's parents had raised him without knowing basic manners. It certainly wasn't illegal to ask a woman age, but it was a little bit disrespectful, and she didn't want to see him shunned for attitude in the future.

"Well, my mother taught me that monsters are dangerous, and they will eat me if I'm out late at night," Kalon said naively, not knowing that what she said was a rhetorical question.

"Don't mind it. It's okay. I see that you lack basic knowledge of the Kingdom since you grew up in the Sylton empire. You should get enrolled in a school or something, but then again, I don't suppose that you have any family members in the Kingdom, so the higher-ups will probably send you to an orphanage." Roah stated and then began to think out loud as she thought about what would happen to Kalon now that he was in the Kingdom of Ysaven all alone and without his parents to help him.

Kalon sat quietly and watched as she continued to talk to herself before suddenly a thought came to Roah's head.

"Kalon, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Roah asked. She had something in mind, but it just depended on Kalon's answer as she didn't want to ask anything that could influence his decision.

"What do I want to be? Like work? Well, I want to be a strong fighter like my teacher and my father. I don't like feeling weak." Kalon said with a slight frown as he thought back to how his brother and the older children back home used to beat him up whenever they saw him.

"I thought as much, That's good. You are just old enough to be enrolled into the military school back in the capital. I know it's a little bit strange for me to say this, but I always wanted to have a little brother when I was younger, so I feel like I want to watch you grow stronger. I will pay for your tuition as well, so you have nothing to worry about anymore." Roah smiled as she told Kalon what she was going to do for him.

Kalon didn't know what to say. He had only just met her, yet she said that she wanted to pay for him to go to school. He felt both honoured and like he was troubling her. He had heard stories about human warriors being terrifying but looking at Roah. He felt like that wasn't true at all.

But as he sat thinking about what to say next, a tear dropped down from Kalon's eye and ran down his cheek. He didn't know why but he suddenly felt the urge to cry.