“Father’s in the greenhouse working on the ship,” Kewyn said, gesturing toward it.
Levent nodded again and walked ahead, but Rio and I stayed still.
“What?” the blonde asked.
“I was wondering if you could do the faun here a little favor,” Rio said.
Kewyn’s turquoise eyes turned to me. “What is it?”
Rio looked down at me expectantly.
“Well,” I said. “I kind of… Need to learn how to fight for myself, and you’re good at that sort of thing and, well…” I trailed off.
“Why don’t you get him to do it?” Kewyn said, gesturing at the half-blood.
Rio cleared his throat. “I am, in fact, going to help her with learning to wield a blade. However, she needs someone of your skill to help her with blunt weapons.”
“’Blunt’…?” Kewyn said, eyebrows furrowing.
“I was wondering if you could teach me a few ways to defend myself with this?” I said, holding my walking stick out to her.
She looked at it for a moment, and then sighed. “Sure.”
“Yes,” Rio said, pulling a fist toward his chest. “Thank you, Miss Aenlilea. You are a doll.”
“Yeah, whatever,” she said. “Let me get my sparring staff.”
She got up and walked around to the main house.
“I leave you in Kewyn’s capable hands,” Rio said, hands on my shoulders. He then went to catch up with Levent.
I rolled my eyes a little and then followed Kewyn up to the house. When I walked into the living room, she was already walking down the stairs with a stick the height of her.
“Here,” she said, tossing me a similar one, though it was smaller. “We can practice with this. It’s lighter.”
I looked at the sparring staff as we walked back outside. It was light, made up of a bunch of woods glued together to make a hollow tube.
Kewyn stopped in front of the workshop, digging her boots into the dirt of the alleyway. She rolled her neck to the sides, stretching. I mimicked the action, but something was niggling at the back of my mind.
“Why do you have a staff that’s my size?” I said.