Chapter 3

The following weeks that went by were a bit easier. By now, he had grown mostly comfortable in the new school, and although he still hadn't many friends, he remained close with Oujay. There were times he wandered the big city and felt small and homesick for the familiar roads of Caelin, but was ultimately glad he had come here. Partly for the training, and partly... well, his interest in Cain hadn't slowed. He found himself often gawking at the redhead from afar, and more often than not Oujay would call him out. He did anything to deny the fact that he had a crush on Cain, though he found that was his motivation for getting better at training. He wished to be paired up with the redhead, to get him to notice him by his immense skill. For that reason alone, he trained harder than he ever thought he would. On one training night in particular, Matthew had been overworking himself as usual. He was up against his partner, determined to show both Cain and Oswin that he was much much stronger. Though, in the middle of the training, his sword arm started to act up; it had been hurting off and on for the past few days, but Matthew opted to ignore it. But now, every movement of it hurt, and he had to stop not even halfway through the sparring session. "Shit..." he cursed under his breath as he held his arm. His partner had called over Oswin to take a look at him, and he had a feeling this wasn't going to go well...

"Ha!" Cain exclaimed as he knocked his training partner to the ground triumphantly. Being a good sport, however, he offered his hand down to help the other teen up. "Hey, that one was closer," he laughed as they started to spar again. Usually Oswin was pretty good at matching them up, but today he'd been partnered with someone quite a bit below his skill level, and couldn't help but feel a bit bad for the other boy. "Best five out of nine, then?"

Oswin frowned as he approached Matthew and his partner; he'd noticed the way that the teen had been favoring one arm, as though it was bothering him. "Training is important... but so is knowing when to rest," he said wisely. He was strict, but he wasn't cruel; he wouldn't force an injured student to continue. With a glance over his shoulder, he saw the star pupil knocking his partner down once more. "Cain!" He called, and beckoned the redhead over. "Go with Matthew to see the nurse." He instructed Matthew's partner to go pair with Cain's instead.

Cain came when he was called and gave the Ostian salute, though his expression dropped when he realized what he was being asked to do. He had to step out of training for escort duty? Couldn't someone else do it? He knew better than to argue with Oswin, so he just nodded. "Yes, sir. Come on, then," he waved Matthew forward. There was no recognition in his eyes; he didn't seem to remember the student he'd helped on the first day.

Matthew could handle being escorted to the nurse; he could even handle taking one day of rest. What he couldn't handle was Cain being the one to escort him, and his eyes widened as the redhead was called over. Gods, please, Matthew prayed silently, anyone but him! Perhaps it was the Gods' blessings that Cain didn't recognize him. Matthew only nodded his head, thanking Oswin and bowing his head, before he walked off with the redhead. As they walked, Matthew kept his head low and his gaze away from the other; the last thing he wanted was to be noticed for his weakness rather than his strength.

Cain noticed the way that Matthew kept his gaze downward and face turned away. He understood; getting hurt in practice was so embarrassing, and he couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy. The silence was awkward, and he felt compelled to break it as they walked. The nurse wasn't far, but they still had a minute or two to speak. "So... Matthew, right?" He was pretty sure that was the name Oswin had said. "What'd you do?" He pointed to the other teen's arm.

Matthew snuck a glance in the other's direction once the other said his name. "Yeah," he murmured, a nod of his head to confirm that it was, in fact, his. "Oh, I..." Well, it wasn't like he could really lie about how he got his injury; it was him being neglectful and stupid. "I guess I worked it too hard during training. Probably won't make that mistake again."

"Right..." Cain nodded, but then offered a smile. "Hey, you're not the only one. Back a couple years ago, one of the beds in the nurse's office practically had my name on it!" He laughed as he tried to cheer Matthew up. As he looked at the tawny-haired teen, he couldn't help but notice the size difference between them; Cain was tall and stocky, while Matthew was small and lithe. That's probably why he didn't recognize him; it would have been borderline cruel for Oswin to pair them for practice. "My old instructor, Jagen, used to say that pushing yourself to the breaking point was the only way to truly know your limits." The wisdom had stuck with him, and he was glad to share it. After a moment, he glanced up; they'd arrived, and it looked like the cleric wasn't busy at all, so they could go right in. He'd feel bad just dumping Matthew off and dashing back to training, so he decided to stick around and make sure that the other would be okay.

Matthew managed a small laugh as Cain tried to cheer him up; perhaps getting sent to the nurse's office wasn't such a bad thing after all, and he was happy to at least have the redhead talking to him for the first time.

Luckily, the cleric had said Matthew's injury wasn't serious, and that it only needed some time to rest. To help out, she made the teenager a sling for his arm, and he could stay the remainder of the training session on a bed if he'd like. He slowly nodded his head before the cleric gave him a small smile and left him alone with the redhead once more. He smiled softly at the redhead. "Thanks for coming with me, but... I think I'll be fine here."

Cain sat in a nearby chair while the nurse looked at Matthew, and he seemed glad that the injury wasn't serious. When it was just the two of them again, Cain shrugged nonchalantly, as if to say 'no problem.' Still, he hesitated, and didn't leave immediately. There'd been a question that had been bugging him ever since Oswin had called him over. "Listen... I mean no offense, but you don't exactly look the soldier type. Why'd you pick it?" His curiosity got the better of him, and he had to ask.

Matthew blinked when Cain asked the question; why did he choose to become a soldier? He smiled weakly. "I didn't know you had to be a specific type to be a soldier," he replied back as he thought to himself. "I don't... really have a reason. My family isn't poor or anything, we lived a relatively normal life. I just... wanted to come here and do something. I guess I just don't want to feel weak anymore."

Cain nodded his head; he was starting to get a sense of what the problem was. "Right, well you're not going to get anywhere if you keep hurting yourself." He meant it as a joke, and his tone was lighthearted. "I don't mean to boast, but... Well, you've seen what I can do." He smiled proudly. "If you wanted to, I might consider letting you join me for a couple of my own training sessions. Right now, Oswin's doing baby stuff... It'll be hard to get anywhere just doing that." He seemed a bit irritated that the pace was too slow for him, but he made up for it in his own practice.

Matthew couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed when Cain mentioned that he had hurt himself; even if it was a joke, he still felt self-conscious about his mistake. He perked up a little bit when the other mentioned joining him for his training sessions. Was it that wise of an idea to join the redhead for extra time when he was struggling doing the normal training? He supposed practice made perfect, but... "Wouldn't you rather train with your own partner?"

"I do train with my partner," Cain pointed out. "I was offering something extra. I usually do it on my own, but you're free to join me." Cain liked being the best, but that didn't mean he didn't want others to succeed, too. He truly wanted to help Matthew, but all he could do was offer; if the teen didn't have the drive to work for improvement, they'd never get anywhere. "Anyway... You don't have to. Let your arm get better first." He cracked another smile, and then started to stand. "I'll head back then, if you're alright here."

Matthew slowly nodded his head, watching as the other stood up and started to turn around. He shifted himself on the bed in order to lay down, staring at the blank ceiling above him. Before Cain left the room, he spoke softly. "I think I'll take you up on that offer," he said, turning his head to look at the redhead's back.

Cain glanced over his shoulder, having just barely heard the words. He smiled, and waved goodbye. "Good. There's your motivation to heal up fast, then!" With another short laugh, he started to jog back towards the training grounds to continue the day's work.