The next morning I woke up, and gratefully changed into the new clothes from Father Ennarion. He only gave me three sets of clothes, but they were sturdy and that’s all I cared about. Before getting fully dressed though, I headed out back to the well and splashed a bit of cold water on my face. “Gah!” I involuntarily cried out, the coldness shocking my system. Mom never could understand why dad and I did it, but there was nothing that could sake you up faster than that quick blast of cold water. Of course, thinking of that brought back memories of yesterday, which did nothing but dampen my mood.

“You ok? You look a little down,” Ennarion asked as I sat down for a quick breakfast of plain oats.

“I’ll be alright. Just triggered a memory of family, and after yesterday-“ I trailed off.

He nodded, and I was glad he wasn’t trying to diminish how I was feeling. We finished our meals fairly rapidly and in silence, as cold gooey oats were the worst chore of the day to get through. Once we were done, Ennarion took my plate and said, “I know you offered to work for me, but I also think you should spend some time working with Stannich as well. If I know a workhorse like him, he’ll want to try and put you through your paces. I’m supposed to meet with him this morning anyway, so let’s do this. In the mornings, I’ll give you the worst of the neophyte jobs. It usually takes an entire week to clean, which is perfect for me. Take the dry brush and clear any dust off the walls, then the last day go ahead and wet mop everything on the floor.

With a plan for the day, I buckled down and got to work. The dry brush was only about a foot wide, but it wasn’t too bad to work with. There was a small step stool that allowed me to reach to the ceiling, and I set about with a simple plan. Start at the top, and work my way down. I split the room up into rows as if it were a field, and simply took it one row at a time. The only part that had me slowing down was around the lamps, but they were only every third row. Had it not been for those, I honestly felt like I could have finished the room in a day. As it was, I was midway through the second lamp when Ennarion returned with Stannich.

“Brandon! Good to see you hard at work! You’ll have plenty of that if you choose the life of a soldier, but it’s good for you, I promise. Have you had lunch yet?”

“Good morning Elder Stannich! No, I got lost in the work. It’s a bit different than in the fields. I can see the sun, but the heat of working outside in it is missing.”

He chuckled, adding, “No doubt! So, Ennarion was talking to me about your predicament, and first I want to offer my condolences on your family’s reaction. There isn’t much that hurts quite as much as that, and should you want to talk about it I’ll be more than happy to listen. I’ve also known several people that would rather process their feelings as they go through intense work, and I’m willing to work with you on that as well. So, here’s my offer. Train a bit as a soldier in the afternoon. We won’t be getting anywhere past the basics, but it’ll definitely help you out no matter the path you choose. What’d’ya say?”

I looked at a smilling and nodding Ennarion, then shrugged and added, “The more knowledge I have the better.”

“Ha! That’s the spirit! We’ll get you a bit of training, and I’ll show you some things you can do in your free time as well. Since I don’t want you to think that I’m forcing you into one path, how about this. I’ll pay the caravan guards a bit extra to train you as a hunter along the way.”

That last part was starting to make me nervous. “I’m sorry sir, I don’t mean any disrespect, but I have to ask. Why go this far for me? This is an awful lot of trouble for a poor farmer’s kid, especially since you are a village elder.”

He placed an arm around me and started dragging me toward the kitchen, taking a moment to set up his answer. We had all just entered the kitchen when he said, “That’s a great question. The easy answer is that you have the backing of Solaris, and only an idiot goes against the gods. But I also take my position as elder seriously. While I never was blessed with children myself, I can look at the entire village as my children. If there’s a chance that I can pass along my unique skills, or help one who has nowhere to go for help, that’s where I can step in. You aren’t the first one of our children to become a soldier, and you aren’t the first that I have taken under my wing like this. I do wish I had a bit more time, but a week should be enough for the speed course.”

By the time he finished his explanation, we were all sitting at the table. Lunch was fairly light, an apple and some bread. We ate in mostly silence, as I was busy thinking on what Stannich said. Afterward we all headed out, and I simply enjoyed the exercise. Stannich and Ennarion were talking about something, and I didn’t want to eavesdrop. It wasn’t even ten minutes later when I started thinking something was up, as we were heading toward the poorer section of town.

“Excuse me, Elder Stannich,” I started, continuing when he turned to me, “I can’t help but notice we are heading toward the poorer section of town.”

Chuckling, he interrupted me, “Ah, and you’re wondering why? No need to look surprised lad, you aren’t the first and won’t be the last to ask me that question. Sure, I could easily afford to head to a richer section of the town. But if I did that, then my neighbors wouldn’t have anyone to bring their complaints to. It took me years to build up my open doors reputation, and I’d be a fool to throw it away for some comforts.” I nodded at his explanation, and looked around in awe as we finally reached his house.

While it was made with the same wood as the surrounding buildings, this just happened to look more, somehow. The craftsmanship was just a bit better, the paint just a bit higher quality. The doors were indeed open, and the two stairs leading up to the door were immaculate despite the dusty street. Inside was no different, though we quickly made our way through the house. And while I was impressed with the quality inside, the backyard had me freezing as I looked around.

On the left side was an archery range, though it seemed a bit short at roughly a hundred feet. The targets were human shaped as well, and had removable shields. There was a track around the remaining area, and inside the track was divided into a small arena and a workout area. To the right side of everything was a well-stocked armory, though most of the weapons were made of wood.

“Impressive, no?” Stannis chuckled, slapping me on the back and snapping me out of my stupor.

I nodded, “Very much so, sir.”

“Excellent! Now, sadly I can’t train you myself. I took an injury that has crippled my right arm as a Pilus Prior. Don’t worry, we can give you the ranks later. SEBASTIAN!” He bellowed the last name, and soon a man in his late thirties exited the back of the house.

“You called, sir?”

“Sebastian, this is Brandon. He has some special circumstances, but wants to know what it’s like as a soldier. I want you to go over the basics with him, and train him in the afternoons this week. He’ll be leaving for the capital after that, so prepare your lessons well. Brandon, this is Sebastian. He was an Optio under me, and decided to follow me out here after my injury.”

“Pleasure to meet you sir,” I said, shaking his hand. He gave me a grin and shook my hand, giving me a decent amount of pressure but not trying to overwhelm me.

“Pleasure’s all mine,” He replied. “First, I’ll need to see what you can do before we start working on improvements. Head over to the range there, and I’ll grab a group of pilum. I’ll fill you in on the important bits while we work.”

That first day wasn’t too bad, though there was a surprising amount of information that was passed on. All the weapons we were using were fakes, but made to be balanced exactly like the real thing. A true pilum wouldn’t work very well, as they were designed for the short metal shaft to bend once it pierced a shield, and the wooden handle would fall off. Not only did this work to disrupt the enemy, but as Sebastian pointed out, prevented the enemy from simply throwing it right back. I also found out that I was too strong for the range they had built, but they said that was fine. It was a battle opener, and there were always plenty of targets. I was also shown the basic sword work for the gladius, getting to practice it with and without the curved shield called a scutum.

After that, I spent the rest of the afternoon running. Not just normal running, but with a weighted lorica and greaves. Sebastian wanted to test my endurance, and was under the impression that running until I collapsed was the best way to do that. He also refused to tell me how far I had managed, simply that my work was ‘acceptable.’ Either way, I ended up exhausted and sore by the time I managed to take a bath, and I wasn’t particularly looking forward to tomorrow.