Good day all, having just ground out two months' worth of lectures and many essays know that I am back to writing, for the next three weeks at least.
I am also excited to announce that I have commissioned 'onzuka88' to once again create the cover art for this story. Once he is done working on it I will replace the one currently in use with it, I hope you look forward to that.
Anyhow, enjoy the chapter!
It had been a few minutes since Overseer Blair had left, re-iterating his order for Ruby and Osman to go beyond the city walls and find somewhere to spar, himself likely heading back to the Police Station in order to plan whatever it is that had to be done.
In turn, Ruby and Osman were at the sink washing dishes, having just concluded their breakfast, the open window at their side allowing the smell of day-old pizza to dissipate and be replaced by the calm warmth of a summer breeze. They chatted a little of this and that before Osman finally steered the conversation back to their task.
"Say Ruby, in terms of finding a place to practice, how about we go to my parents' house in the suburbs? It's just outside the walls and has a fairly sizeable garden so we should be able to fight properly without disturbing anyone"
"I mean, would they allow something like that?" asked Ruby, putting back the final plate and walking over to get her uniform's jacket from the sofa "I wouldn't want to impose"
"Nonsense! I doubt they're there in the first place, even if they are I'm sure they'll be glad to let us duke it out in the yard. I think they'd want to watch"
"Well I have no problem with that then. I suppose if they refuse we can always just walk a bit and come up with some spot that's reasonably out of the way"
In agreement, the two armed themselves and left the flat, coming to a halt when they reached a bus stop and falling in line behind the two old ladies waiting to board a battered-looking bus headed for the suburbs of Murmansk.
"Nice place you've got" remarked Ruby as the two finished their short walk, ending up before a wooden house painted in a teal green; the patchwork wiring coming in from the street suggesting a rather informal construction, perhaps even as old as the original colony.
"It's not much but its home" nodded Osman as he led her in and pulled a key out of his pocket. He had just inserted it when he heard an excited shout from inside. As the door opened it revealed a girl running up, looking a bit surprised at first, but smiling as her brother walked in, instantly enveloped by a hug.
"Big brother! I thought you said you weren't coming back for a while"
"I'm just here for a little while, is Ma or Pa here?"
"They've driven off to the market a half-hour ago, I think they'll be back soon"
"Good to know" he knelt to the height of the girl "I've missed you Azure, how's Licht doing?"
"He playing in the back garden. Should I call him over?"
"Nah, let's go see him" Azure and Osman passed through the house, Ruby following along and noticing the homely decoration of the place, evidently well cared for and maintained despite a lack of the clean, professional work found in most buildings.
The three of them exited into the sizeable back yard of the house, much being covered in long vegetable showing a variety of vegetables in the early stages of development, a few sheds stood in the background and to the side they could see a younger boy playing with a red toy truck of some sort. He turned to the sound of footsteps and his eyes instantly lit up, standing up and running over. Osman nearly winced at how hard the boy ran into him, giving his hair a rub "Missed you too little brother"
"Big brother! Have you seen my new truck? It's even got a driver inside!"
"It's very nice. Now then, Azure, Licht. Me and Ruby were hoping to use the yard to practice our swordplay, I'm afraid I don't have the time to play with either of you right now but you can watch our practice if you're quiet"
The two children were obviously disappointed but the thought of watching their brother fight sounded cool enough that neither protested much as Ruby was led to one of the areas which was mostly free of plants. Osman explained that they would be practicing techniques since that's what Blair picked up on for her during their fight, he would also participate since it wouldn't be safe to practice with his dust with his siblings around.
"Right, to begin with I'll say that I've never tried teaching, all I've got is a bit of experience in what the prep school taught me" noted Osman as he took up a stance with his sword arm forward, his back arm held to the side and his right leg forward "Take up the same stance as me, this was the first thing I was taught and apparently it's important to get it right before we move on"
Ruby nodded and took up the stance, shuffling a bit one way or another before her teacher was satisfied. "It's no problem, I mean he did ask you out of the blue"
"That he did" he demonstrated a slash, slicing up and then down with a swish of the air "I'm still going to do my best at it"
Having copied the move until he was satisfied, Ruby was instructed to add a second slash. "The key is to continue the move as a single motion. Up, down, up down. Use your wrist and swing as if you were using a paintbrush to paint a wall. Good!"
Ruby smiled and lowered her sword "You should give yourself some credit. Blair was right that you'd make a decent teacher"
"Thanks. Now then, we are going to practice this basic set of moves for the next half-hour, however I want you to also be moving the whole time. While you do that I'll walk with you and occasionally jab, you are to block it and then to resume the motion…"
Their practice continued for a while, Ruby continuing to swing while Osman randomly slashed and stabbed at her from all sides. It was difficult at first to resume the motion but by the time she was panting it was clear that the lesson was learned. When he finally called for time she immediately sheathed her blade and let her arms hang loose, the motion of swinging for so long leaving them feeling like sacks of flour attached to her torso.
"Osman! You're back my boy" her wallow was interrupted as the two of them turned to two new figures entering the yard. One was a bald man who looked far too young to be bald but still sported a full beard, followed by a blonde woman with mid-length hair and a pleasant faces. Both were dressed in ordinary clothing, albeit ones which were clearly well worn but expertly maintained.
"Hey Dad, hey Mum. Do you mind if we use the yard today?"
"Off course not! It's good to see you again but I thought you'd be training with the Overseers now, we simply did not expect you here" answered his Mother, putting down a bag of something and walking over, only to seemingly just notice Ruby. "Where are our manners? Young man, you did not say you had a friend over"
"This is Ruby, my Cadre-mate. Say hello everyone"
The two children ran over, hesitating for a moment before she extended a hand and a friendly smile to them. The parents were a little more hesitant, speaking to Osman in whispers for a few moments before also walking over, introducing themselves as Brue and Blau Peel; the proprietors of this small estate.
"So Ruby, will you and Osman be staying for lunch? I understand if you are busy but it is a rare opportunity for us to see our son these days, we'd like to get to know you as well"
"Sure thing Mrs Peel. We apologise for using the place without your permission"
"Nonsense, our son is always welcome her and as his guest, so are you. It's hardly as if you burnt the place down"
"I see you two have worked up a sweat, perhaps you'd like to join us for lunch?" offered Mr Peel "We've just got some fresh fish which shouldn't take long to prepare"
The two Overseers-in training tried to protest but it was for nought as a compound of kind words and hunger found them sitting at the table while Mr Peel baked a cut of white fish covered in herbs and Mrs Peel prepares some potatoes and a tin of beans in a tomato sauce.
Neither were disappointed by the dishes laid before them and both dug in like wolves as Osman's parents took their place opposite and also began to eat. "This is very good sir, my complements to the cook" noted Ruby as she cut another piece of the fish "Hopefully I'll managed to cook something as good as this one day"
"Off course you will Ruby, it just takes a bit of practice" noted Mrs Peel as she ate "I would however like to hear how our Osman is doing, is he learning lots with the Overseers?"
"Well, he knows more about swordfighting than me. That's why our Instructor, Overseer Blair, asked him to teach me" spoke Ruby "I think we're both enjoying the work and can't wait to become full Overseers"
"That's good to hear, though might I ask what you're doing out here. We thought that Osman would be training at that secret base the Order has"
"Ma, we came to Murmansk to follow Overseer Blair on an important mission, however he is busy today and couldn't have us come along; so he told us to go train on the outskirts of the city" answered Osman "I figured it would be more comfortable to train in the yard here, plus it would be nice to see you all again and introduce Ruby, even if it's only for a few hours"
"That's nice to hear Son" nodded Mr Peel as he turned back to her "Ruby, I trust our Osman has been treating you well? I hope he…"
"Pa!" blurted out the boy, his face a beet "I don't mean it that way. She's a friend!"
"Oh?" Mrs Peel looked at the boy with a Cheshire grin "You know that 'introducing' a girl to your family generally entails…"
"Ma! Not in front of Ruby please" pleaded Osman, his face in his hands.
"Oh come now Son, it is our right as parents to have a little laugh on our children's behalf. Believe me, we're proud of you for making it into an Apprenticeship and you've certainly got a bright future ahead of you. I'm just saying that Ruby here happens to be a good catch, once it's gone, it's gone" noted Mr Peel as he finished the last of the meal.
Ruby wasn't sure about how to react to the comments but seeing Osman's reaction to them she figured it best to make polite conversation and not stoke that fire any further. That seemed to work well enough, the empty plates and the clock above the sink showing the late afternoon she was able to excuse herself and her wounded comrade; it was time for them to depart.
The two of them waved Mr and Mrs Peel goodbye as the bus stop drifted further and further away before disappearing upon a bend. The two of them sighed "Sorry about them Ruby, they are rather… enthusiastic to friends. I guess they're glad that I've found some, or in this case one I suppose"
"It's no problem Osman" answered Ruby "Sure, that was a bit awkward at times but I can see they are good people. You're lucky to have them"
"I know, they are a bit much but you couldn't fault them for not caring about their children. I do wish they'd have a bit more tact though"
"I don't disagree" smiled Ruby
"I see" nodded Overseer Blair as the two Apprentices made their report "It is good that all went well on your end, unfortunately I cannot say the same. There has been a change in timing and the raid will occur tomorrow evening, the date of the White Fang rally has been moved on unusually short notice and there has been some concern on if we have a rat in our midst"
"Will we be taking part in it?" asked Ruby "You haven't had the chance to train us properly yet"
"You will. Consider this lesson number one; often as Overseers we are faced with the unknown, we do not know if we are ready to face it but we must take the plunge anyway, making all reasonable preparations to ensure our success, no matter what we face" he turned back to the papers before him "We are not expecting any serious adversaries beyond the usual grunts and perhaps one or two with Aura. Nonetheless with the suspicious change at the last minute we cannot leave anything to chance. I and Inspector Lehmann are in agreement, we must strike fast with overwhelming force and not give them a chance to spring whatever plan they may have made to deal with us"
I may have said this before but I want to repeat that in this Redux the plan is to spend a fair bit more time in fleshing out the characters. In the 2014 Original we had Ruby, someone who was entirely new to using a sword, fight on the level of experienced Overseers despite never being shown doing much in terms of practice; while it is reasonable to infer that this is done 'off-screen' in retrospect it seems lazy to not include.
Also, I figured that the original had an excessively serious tone. I do want to make the reader chuckle here and there if only to give a break from the substantive story.
It has been a few chapters now since we've seen any real action scenes. Don't worry, there will be more of that soon…