After a few days a routine develops, in the mornings, Rask trains with whomever will join him. After sword and bow practice, he swims with Red.
In afternoons Ca’armine prays to Raiden, Gus does Gus things, and Red and Alexis study.
Rask assists with camp chores in the afternoons and often continues to practice his sword forms, never using his Black Blade, and working diligently to advance with the flat of the blade and on pommel-strikes.
One afternoon, about five days into their stay on the banks of the Llanos River, Rask approaches before dinner as Ca’armine is concluding his afternoon prayer, he waits patiently for the right moment and then addresses the holy man,
“Brother, Can you teach me some prayers so that I might join you on occasion? I know a little from Service in the chapels at various Forts, but would like to learn more, and learn more stories of Raiden if you would be willing to share?”
3 thoughts on “Praise Raiden! The Great Protector of Aegir!”
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Ethelred joins Rask everyday for the first week and half, training hard in the morning and swimming in the afternoon. Through this practice Red gains some confidence with both the sword and sling. Red has never been heroic, never been bold. Training with true warriors has opened Red’s eyes to the path a hero walks.
Ca’armine takes out his silver medallion, and shows it to Rask. “Raiden has been with me here in this hiding place,” he says. “I have seen him, felt his presence. I am pleased you are feeling him too.” He looks Rask up and down, noting that Rask is armed with a mundane blade, and hands the holy symbol to Rask.
“This is a relic from my father, from his church. He gave it to me when I came of age, just as his father had given it to him. It was not permitted at the Raidensblud compound, I had to keep it in my trunk. But it gave me so much more comfort than the pendant and blessed bracers they gave me. Tell me, can you feel its power?”
“Do you have a holy symbol you carry, a focus for your prayers to Raiden? That would be a good thing to acquire, the next time we return to a city.”
Then he gestures to Rask to hold it up to his chest, and sings slowly, “What a Friend We Have in Raiden.” A child’s song, but one that resonates with Ca’armine. When he finishes it, he starts again and gestures for Rask to sing along.
“Here in this place, it’s my father that I am thinking of, the way he taught me about Raiden the Protector when I was a child. The prayers and songs he taught me, I turned aside from them when I went to the capitol and joined the Raidensblud as an acolyte.” Ca’armine chuckled to himself. “I know it seems funny to sing children’s songs, but right now that’s how Raiden is speaking to me now– it’s the innocence I am trying to recapture.”
Rask sings along, the medallion held to his chest, and tears well up in his eyes.
He brushes his eyes, and looks into Ca’armines:
“Thank you. I haven’t thought of that one in a long time. Hero meant something a lot simpler then.”
“My… father wasn’t around, Papa Felmar was, but my father wasn’t and I din’t treat Papa Felmar like my dad. Not as much as I should have at least. Too little to late.”
“My father told my mother his name was Aeden Roskell, and that’s what she named me after he went back to the army. Roskell, Rascal, Rask…”