Chapter Two

Daily Routines at Camp

As had been the case since last summer, this summer I was the lead instructor on swordsmanship. The idea had been not just Chiron's, though he reasoned that with the prophecy looming, and my unparalleled skills with a sword as the legendary hero, that I should try to teach as many skills as possible to all the campers who were competent with swords. In addition to Chiron, it was literally almost every other camper. That wasn't all that they tried to insist on either, they had also enthusiastically tried to make me the head counselor for Athena cabin. I was fine accepting the position of a teacher, but not the latter suggestion. I shut down that idea as quick as I could, not feeling like I deserved the honor, legendary hero or not.

Anyway, the logic behind my agreement to become a teacher here was simple, we needed to be ready for evil's return. If nothing else, the fact that Zelda and I were around and that I wielded the legendary sword was proof of that. Indeed, it showed that we must indeed be living in dark times.

I accepted the recommendation without question, I would pass on as much knowledge as I could. I knew that I would never be able to enable them to utilize unnaturally quick reflexes like I could, but they would be able to learn other skills I had. These included the ones taught to me by the hero's shade during my life as the hero of twilight.

I remember how on my first day as the swordsmanship instructor, some of the older campers were skeptical of just how skilled I was. Suffice to say those doubts were quickly eliminated. Everyone followed me after that, taking the lessons to heart, knowing they were a matter of life and death. While I was fully aware that I could never make them as skilled as me, I swore on the goddesses that I would get them as close as I possibly could.

The classes I taught were held in the mornings after breakfast, at about eight in the morning. One of the first things I impressed upon young, new recruits, was the importance of the discipline of the sword. It was not enough to be good with the blade, you had to feel it, attune yourself with it until it felt like an extension of yourself. Furthermore, one also had to respect it, similar in a way to firearms, it is when the person wielding it gets careless or gets dark hearted intentions that bad things happen. The lessons were hard and rigorous for sure, but no one complained due to knowing the importance of being as skilled as possible.

Just as I was the lead sword teacher, Zelda was the camp's leading archery instructor. She too hadn't escaped the desires of nearly everyone in the camp to become a teacher here and Apollo cabin head counselor. Like me, she'd refused the position of head counselor for the same reason I had. Although her teaching method was less demanding, it was no less effective. Truly, between the two of us, we had made great progress in turning most of the people in camp from skilled, competent fighters into truly elite warriors. After the prophecy had been unveiled, Camp Jupiter had been informed as well, as the prophecy clearly affected everyone. In more recent times though, as in ever since Zelda and I became teachers here, exchanges of knowledge had been made. We sent some of our campers to teach the Romans the skills we were teaching here so they would be on equal footing too.

As for the Romans by the way, only the people in charge of Camp Jupiter were currently aware of the looming prophecy. As there were whole families there, it was decided to limit knowledge to prevent a panic. Also, Camp Jupiter happened to the place of residence for two of the most famous demigods of recent times, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, and Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena.

These two had last seen Camp Half-Blood just a year prior, I remember the meeting particularly well. Percy had been…understandably skeptical about all this stuff about me and Zelda. He also doubted the legitimacy of the sword I carried, however all of his doubts were completely swept aside when he decided he had to challenge me to a duel.

Annabeth had rolled her eyes and looked sidelong at Percy, her arms crossed, asking him if this was really necessary, if it was really necessary for him, a twenty five plus year old man to duel a sixteen year old who likely had a fraction of his experience. Zelda on the other hand had a completely different reaction, she nodded at me with a look of utter confidence. Her look spoke clearly of the words she was thinking, 'You are the sword's chosen, it doesn't matter how good he is, he doesn't stand a chance against you.'

Sure enough, as soon he charged, I perfect dodged the blow as I straight up back flipped over his sword slash. Then rushing forward, I made a flurry of hits with the flat of my blade against his side. When the apparent time-slowing effect around me ended, he staggered back a few steps, gasping for breath. "You're…you really are good" he had said, before making another go at me where he tried a right feint. His attempt to catch me off-guard ended in failure as I saw right through it and made no attempt to go left, going right for his right side and whacking the flat of my blade against his side. Before he could he even blink, I came around behind him and had the Master Sword at his neck.

He was completely stunned now, he dropped his sword as he admitted defeat. Annabeth was absolutely shocked, having just watched who she had thought was about the most skilled swordsman she'd ever met be defeated in just a couple minutes, if that. Zelda was beaming at me with pride, and honestly that was enough for me.

After I let Percy go, he turned to face me and we shook hands. He looked at me with an expression of awe and new respect as he told me, "It's true after all! You really are the best swordsman that's ever lived!" He congratulated me, "I am honored and humbled to meet you Link, and I hope that when the time comes, I will able to fight alongside you."

I nodded and smiled, before excusing myself and I walked over to Zelda. She smiled widely and gave me a soft kiss on the lips.

I shook myself out of my thoughts and returned to the lesson at hand. This morning's class were the newest recruits, here for their first summer. I remembered what Zelda suggested, how I could seem less intimidating but no less knowledgeable, I had and will always value her advice and wisdom. As the young campers came in, looking nervous and fidgety, I gave them a welcoming smile. They shifted awkwardly and a few said subdued greetings.

After a minute of observing them, I asked them what was bothering them. They shuffled nervously, and I pushed away my almost instinctive irritation. They were certainly just nervous to be meeting a veritable camp legend, though I never proclaimed such.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked, keeping my voice gentle, not wanting to unintentionally scare these youngsters.

"Is it true you're really strict and harsh on making mistakes?" A small voice emanated from somewhere amongst the new cadets.

I raised an eyebrow, where was this coming from? I was firm and, yes, strict when it came to the importance of these lessons. But mistakes?

"In these lessons, I will be firm and strict about making sure that you understand the discipline that comes with wielding a sword, but not mistakes I assure you" I said calmly, trying to reassure them.

"But some of the older Hermes campers told us that you yelled at them for a small error" one of the cadets at the front murmured.

"Ah, yes I know the people you're talking about. What they told you wasn't the full story, what they neglected to mention was that they made not a small error, but pulled a rather dangerous prank where they enchanted almost all the swords in the armory to immediately fly at the first person who entered the room." I told them.

They all gasped, and someone almost whimpered, "and…what did you do?"

"Well" I told them, "the first person who entered the room happened to be myself. Fortunately, I had my shield so I was unharmed, and once the swords had all moved, the enchantment was no longer on them from being a one-time use. As for your question, though, after that I called them to meet me for a discussion about their progress. When they got there, I told them I knew what they did and that I was disappointed in them. However, I also told them that if they promised never to do anything like that again, this incident would not be mentioned to Chiron and there would be no consequences."

Everyone looked relieved, "So you didn't yell at them then?" One of them asked hopefully.

"Nope, just told them that their behavior was dangerous and unacceptable and could have ended very badly had I not had my shield on me by complete chance. They were understanding and apologetic. I was stern yes, but not overly so. Everyone makes mistakes, as long as they're honest ones, we have no problems. Jokes like this, while dangerous and unacceptable, will not be met with consequences provided they are never repeated, understood?" I finished.

Everyone nodded happily.

"Before we start class I have a few important things to mention." I said confidently as I took the Master Sword off my back and rested it in its sheath, point down on the ground, like I had done in my last life whenever Zelda was praying at the springs.

"The first thing is attendance, I will expect you all to arrive on time for each class. This is non-negotiable unless you are legitimately sick or injured in a way that would make it difficult for you to participate in your training. Sound good?" I finished with a question to not sound threatening.

They nodded in agreement.

"Excellent, now the second thing to mention is that although you are all my cadets, I encourage you to speak with me if there is something troubling you. We are all in this together, that's our code, we look out for each other like we do everyone else. If something is bothering you, don't keep it to yourself, tell me and I promise you I will do what I can to resolve your problem." I assured them, smiling.

They all nodded again.

"Last and most importantly, while I of course want you all to succeed and pass this course, if it happens that you don't pass, depending on what reason that is, I assure you I won't be upset. Not everyone's cut out for this, I realize that, and that's why I promise you that if you're struggling in this class even despite putting your full effort in it, we will discuss other options for you to pursue if that is your choice, or perhaps arrange tutoring sessions to allow you to learn at a slower pace if you need that.

Everyone was very happy to hear this.

"Well then let's get onto the lesson." I said reassuringly.

Everyone found a sword that was reasonably suitable for them. Although of course, the best swords for them would be ones that they would have to have made for them. There was no other way to ensure a perfectly balanced weight.

When everyone came back and was ready to continue, I gave them their first actual instruction.

"The first and most important thing to remember is your stance. When you're not actively attacking or defending, always remain slightly crouched with your feet spaced some ways apart. This posture will allow you more stability in case an opponent tries to unbalance you" I instructed, demonstrating the pose.

Everyone did their best to copy it, I instructed them to remain in their positions until I had checked them all to see if they had it right. As I made my way around the twenty young recruits I closely inspected each of them. So far, they each seemed to have gotten it. Over all twenty of them there were only four who needed a little guidance. A couple had their feet too close together, which I gently suggested they spread them just a little more before moving on. The other two had the opposite problem. "Keep your feet a little closer together than that, in a fight keeping your balance is key. It's ok that you didn't get it the first time, not everyone does." I reassured them.

Soon they all had the stance down. I nodded and smiled at them, then gave the next instruction.

"Next, we are going to go through some basic moves. Give me a moment please" I said as I jogged off to get the training dummies.

After setting them up in two rows of ten separated by about eight feet, facing each other.

"Everyone, I want you to go to a training dummy and get in your stance in front of it. The stance is also important to return to between each strike." I told them firmly, hands crossed behind my back.

Everyone got in front of a training dummy and quickly dropped to the stance. I nodded in approval and spoke up again.

"Now everyone, show me a few strikes and we will go from there" I instructed.

The cadets then all swung a few strikes at their targets. Most had the basic idea but could do with some fine tuning, a few seemed to have a natural talent for it as they seemed to intuitively understand the importance of properly timing their lunges and how far to reach for it.

"Alright, now I'm going to come around to each of you and assess you individually" I called out.

I went from one to the other, congratulating those who seemed to instinctively have it down, and gently correcting the others. For those who were putting a little too much force into their strikes or doing a strike from too far I said, "You're putting in a little too much force, keep your strikes relatively close and with a moderate force. Putting excessive force or reaching too far puts you off-balance if you either miss your target or get hit yourself."

For those students who were either hitting too weak or were too close I advised, "You should put a little more force into your strikes, in a fight a strike that's too weak will not incapacitate your foe, leaving you open to counterattack. If you're too close, you may not have time to land a blow before your opponent does. Additionally, being too close puts you at risk of an attack by a weapon that can be used quicker, like a dagger. Staying back a little protects from this."

By the end of the class, about a couple hours before lunch, I was confident that everyone had the basics down.

"Well done you all! You've done very well this morning, remember these lessons and tomorrow we will start with a brief review of today before starting some basic sparring sessions between pairs of you." I said proudly, helping them feel assured in their progress. Just before they all walked out, I called out once more, "Oh and remember, the most important thing in this class, the importance of remembering to be on time!" They all nodded emphatically and left.

After they were gone, I headed over to the stables. I approached the Pegasus near the end of the row, in the slanting light her white mane and reddish fur gleamed. She raised her head and looked at me as I approached.

"Hey Epona, you want me to brush your coat?" I offered. When I first came to camp she was called Quickwing, but on my second summer here, after my awakening as the hero of this time, I remembered her true name.

She nickered softly, pleased. I smiled as I picked up a brush and started with her neck and mane. Of course, she was already tidy enough, but I always brushed her daily for bonding reasons. I remembered a piece of advice I had given Zelda in our last life, "Take time to soothe your mount. That's the only way it will know how you truly feel."

The slate chimed softly when it announced the reminder I had put on it for when to meet Zelda to spend some together before lunch. I groaned when I realized I only had a few minutes to get there. Epona nudged my shoulder with her nose, as if encouraging me to go. I sprinted off and luckily got there just in time. I'm sure she would have killed me if I hadn't.

In this chapter I borrowed an element from Spicychesnut's story A Chapel in Deya. Kudos to those who can find that exact element!