knight quest: armour

“I don’t need armour.”

■■■■■ hissed in a low disgruntled voice and slunk out of the gathering hall. Saiph quickly apologized to the bemused instructor and ran after him. He was an exceedingly hardworking student, yet his stubbornness was almost equally excessive; once he set his mind on a task or a way of doing things, it was nigh impossible to change his mind. This caused him to butt heads with not only his fellow recruits, but also his teachers. “He’ll come around someday,” was the usual response to his persistence – ■■■■■ could not argue with harsh reality, after all. 

But this time was different. Saiph could not let him find out the consequences of eschewing armour the hard way. This was not a lesson he would live to learn from.

“■■■■■! Wait!”

The blue-maned Moxyn stopped walking and turned to face his friend. His irritation had visibly subsided, and his expression was mostly back to its normal vague annoyance, but a trace of indignancy still smouldered in his dark eyes. “What?”

“You can’t just run off when people don’t agree with you… never mind.” Saiph was used to ■■■■■’s sharp way of speaking, so he didn’t quite mind the snappy retort. However: “This isn’t something you can tough out. You need armour to protect yourself in a real battle.”

“I told you, I don’t need armour. It’ll just slow me down. They can’t hurt me if they can’t touch me.” ■■■■■ flicked his tail and started walking again. He didn’t have a set destination in mind – he just wanted to get away from the other recruits as much as possible. Gloomy thoughts were gathering in his mind like dark clouds before a storm. Of course the other xyns could not understand him – they were too used to a life spent on the defensive. There could be no gains without taking risks.

“What if they’re faster? We’ve never fought one before. What if they catch you?” Saiph set his brows in a hard line and tried to reason with his friend. “You know if they even lay a hair on you, you’ll get corrupted instantly. We can’t afford that kind of risk.”

“We? Who’s ‘we’?”

Saiph didn’t reply. Instead, he pounced on ■■■■■ and bit his ear.

“Oi! What are you doing?!” Caught by surprise, his paws gave out and he crashed to the floor with Saiph still on top of him. The two Moxyns tussled for a few moments, ■■■■■ trying to get Saiph off his body, while Saiph tugged at the tips of his furless ears and nipped at his mane.

“What was that for?” At last freed from Saiph’s grasp, ■■■■■ rose to his feet and shook his head to untangle his mane. He turned to glare at the grey-maned Moxyn, but all the aggression in his stance quickly deflated when he saw how sad his friend had become.

“‘We’ means both of us, okay?! You keep rushing ahead like that and don’t think about how I feel… Who’s gonna keep me company if you die, huh?? Don’t you dare leave me behind just ‘cause you’re getting too big for your damn shoes!!”

Crap, he’s mad. ■■■■■ hasn’t really seen Saiph this angry before, almost on the verge of tears. He should really be apologizing to his friend right now, but no words come to mind. Instead, he’s left staring at his paws with a complicated expression on his face.

Luckily for the both of them, Saiph took a few deep breaths and quickly regained his composure. Being the more logical of the two, he was good at sorting out his own emotions and preventing them from clouding his judgment (most of the time). While other xyns would end up avoiding ■■■■■ due to his blunt manner, Saiph could see past his prickly choice of words and understand what he wanted to convey. In many ways, he was the only one who was close to ■■■■■’s heart, and the only person who could rein in his one-track mind.

“You’re a big dumbass.” Saiph walked up to ■■■■■ and gently headbutted him. “But you’re my dumbass. So stop being so reckless and take care of yourself. Who’s gonna be my idiot if you die?”

“... I’m sorry.” ■■■■■ kept his gaze fixed on the floor, afraid to meet his friend’s gaze.

“‘s fine… well, it won’t be fine if you keep refusing to wear proper equipment.” Saiph sighed and poked his forehead with one paw. “You’ll just need to train harder until you can move just as fast while in armour. Got it?”

“Yeah… I guess I can do that.” He murmured half to himself. If it meant he could keep their promise, then no cost is too great.