Title: The Knight and the Blacksmith
Genre: Romance, Drama, and Humor
Summary: Cecily leaves Housman to hone her skills as a knight. Upon returning she finds out there are other things that have changed or perhaps have always been.
Rating: T for now at least
Part 3: And so it begins
"Wait, you're what!" Cecily said, trying to wrap her head around what was currently happening.
"I'm guessing you didn't tell her, did you Aria?" Luke asked, walking up to the two women who were currently standing on his porch.
"Nope, I wanted to see her reaction, it was so worth it." The demon sword chuckled while Cecily was getting impatient.
"What the heck is going on!" she shouted to get the other two to pay attention to her.
"I'm teaching you how to use a katana, what's so hard to understand?" Luke said smiling to her, in a surprisingly lighter tone than he usually uses with her.
"So I guess this is how I can unlock my katana?" Cecily said, hands on her hips. Luke simply nodded.
"Yep, just make it through the torture, err I mean training, and it's all yours. Now, are you ready to go?" he asked.
"Did you just say torture…?" Cecily couldn't get over that word. What was Luke planning? She shook it off.
"Wait ready to go where?" she asked him, as he turned to Aria.
"You really didn't tell her anything did you?" he asked Aria who again who shook her head.
"Nope." She said through a smile, while Cecily gave her the stink eye.
"To where I went after you left. It's my family's house up in the mountains." Luke finally answered Cecily's question.
"Oh, well where is it, I mean is it far?" asked Cecily.
"Well, sort of, not really. Look, see those hills off in the distance over there…" he said pointing to the small mountain range north west of his house.
"Yeah, it's there?"
"No, it's on the one past it, it's about twenty miles, but we can make it there pretty quick if we run there. We're going to be there until you master a katana which might take a while."
"Run…there…?"
"Yeah, problem?" Luke looked at her as if nothing was wrong with what he just said.
"I don't have anything packed, and I can't just take off from work again!" she complained, trying to get out of it the best she could, but Luke and Aria were prepared.
"Don't worry Cecily I've already packed for you, see." Said Aria, holding up the bag she was carrying. Turns out, it was loaded with Cecily's training clothes, and everything else she needed.
"And I talked with your captain, and he was all for it, God knows your skills need improving." Luke remarked, once again getting on Cecily's bad side.
"Hey, I just came from the Guard Sanctuary pal, I worked my butt off every day for six months straight!" Cecily protested, clenching her fists and stomping her feet.
"Wait, Luke, what about your stuff?" Aria asked the blacksmith who had nothing but his katana and the clothes on his back.
"Everything I need is already there from last time, and I wouldn't wear that armor if I were you Cecily, it can really slow you down." Luke said. Realizing he was right Cecily grabbed one of her training outfits out of Aria's bag and headed inside to change.
"Those jerks, they tricked me. Go training in the mountains with that jerk…him, of all people…" She muttered as she was inside, stripping off her armor. After getting her armor completely off she began to put on her training outfit. The same black, form fitting shirt that Luke had on, only hers was sleeve-less and only covered her chest, leaving the lower half of her torso exposed, a small brown vest, and relatively loose brown pants, ending just below her knees, while she still wore the footwear from her armor, as they were best suited for moving around. When she finished getting dressed she realized something worth noting.
"Oh my god, it's just going to be…me and…him…!" She said to herself, her face getting red, thinking nasty thoughts about her and Luke. She shook it off trying to focus on the main reason she's going on the trip, while putting her hair up in a ponytail.
"No Cecily, you're just going so you can use your katana…that's all." She gulped as she headed outside to rejoin the others. This was this first time Luke had seen Cecily in such revealing clothing, although he already had a good look at her topless, she still caught his attention, as her top didn't leave much to the imagination. His eyes were stuck on her for a few seconds. Quickly realizing that he was staring, his face went red and he turned away quickly and walked into his forge.
Cecily walked down form the porch to where Aria was standing and where Luke had left them.
"Did you see that?" asked Aria, with a smile going ear to ear.
"See what Aria?" Cecily tilted her head
"Luke was checking you out just now."
"He was not." Cecily said a little too loudly, waving a hand at Aria, her face getting pink from embarrassment.
"Quiet do you want him to hear?" Aria said in a hushed tone as she heard some shuffling sounds coming from the forge.
"Well, what's he doing anyway, I thought we had a long trip ahead of us." Cecily complained, and not so long after that, Luke came walking out of the forge with a key hanging from a thing chain around his neck, and his katana attached to his side.
"Are you ready to go now, dork?" Luke said upon rejoining the other two.
"Stop calling me a dork! And is that what I think it is?" Cecily asked pointing to what was hanging from Luke's neck.
"Yep, all you have to do is take it from me and it's all yours." He smirked, walking up to Aria.
"I'll take that." He said taking the bag, with Cecily's katana sticking out of it from Aria, and strapping it to his back
"Oh, what a gentleman." Cecily said sarcastically, before she lunged at Luke trying to get the key, but he smoothly dodged it, causing her to fall to the ground.
"Ah, too slow!" Luke said with a smile as he took off running towards their destination, with Cecily's bag strapped to his back. Cecily meanwhile picked herself up off the floor and dusted off, which would be the first of many times she would be doing that.
"I'd go and catch him if I were you. I put some of your 'personal items' in there if you know what I mean." Aria suggested bumping her elbow into Cecily's side. Cecily's face went beat red after processing what Aria had said and turned around.
"I'm going to kick your ass if you don't wait up Luke!" Cecily yelled as she began running after Luke.
"Then catch me!" he shouted back at her, who was still a considerable distance away from her, despite having her luggage on his back.
Aria meanwhile, had seen everything that had just happened and could only laugh at the situation her two friends have unknowingly gotten themselves into.
"It should be real fun when they get back, that's for sure." She laughed away as she began to go back home.
"Ah to be human, it must be fun." She said to herself as she kept walking.
Returning to Luke and Cecily, it was mid-day and they were getting close to the halfway point of their trek. Luke was moving surprisingly well after carrying Cecily's things all day. The aforementioned Cecily was trailing him by a fair distance, as she was able to keep an eye on him but she just couldn't keep up after a while. They both stopped or slowed down occasionally but Luke still moved at a faster pace than Cecily.
Cecily was running after Luke, reaching the top of the first tree-covered mountain after hours of chasing him, to find that he was waiting for her.
"Took you long enough, I was here for a good minute waiting for you." Luke said sitting on a rock, still carrying Cecily's bag.
"Shut…up…jerk…" She said in between breaths. Cecily was exhausted, she never ran that much before in her life. She didn't know what Luke was planning, but it was sure different from any other type of training she had done.
"Don't tell me you're tired, we're only halfway there, we still have some moving to do." Luke said getting up and stretching himself out.
"How can…you…do this…?" Cecily asked, holding her chest, still catching her breath. Luke simply shrugged.
"Easy, I trained myself. From the looks of it you definitely built up your strength at the Guard Sanctuary, but your stamina and conditioning is another story." Cecily knew he was right. Looking back on all the training she had done, it was all to make her physically and mentally strong but little had been done to improve her athleticism. She then knew for certain what Luke's idea was behind his training.
Her breathing had just about returned to normal when Luke approached her.
"Can you continue or should we head back home?" He asked looking down on her, she knew he was testing her, so she stood up straight, looked him in the eye and said…
"Yeah…and never ask me that again!" satisfied with her answer, he turned to face the road ahead of them.
"Let's go." Was all he said before taking off again with Cecily not too far behind as they continued to make haste for their destination.
The two of them finally reached their destination near sunset. After moving as fast as they could for about twenty miles, trekking over small mountains, and through forests, which to Cecily, seemed like hell. They had finally reached Luke's family house. The house itself was a villa that rested on a small summit about a quarter of the way up a mountain with a stream flowing next to it, which supplied water to the house.
"Wow…Luke this is beautiful…" Cecily said regaining her breath. "This is were you went while I was away?"
"Yea, this house has been in my family since my great grandfather built it with his bare hands." Luke said, as he surveyed the area, making sure everything was in check.
"It's a lot nicer than your place back home." Said Cecily.
"Gee thanks." Luke replied with sarcasm. He led her to the front door.
"So do you have a key or something…?" Cecily tried asking before Luke jumped on the floorboard to the porch, making a loose plank of wood move, startling Cecily. He reached down and came back up with a big silver key in his hand.
"Care to do the honors?" he asked holding the house key up for Cecily to take. She paused for a second before taking it, as Luke placed the plank back into its position. Cecily slowly turned the key to her a loud click as the door creaked open afterwards.
Once inside the two young adults stood in the foyer. Cecily took a minute to take in her surroundings. There was beautifully crafted furniture in every room of the house. What else would she expect from Luke's family?
"Come on I'll give you the tour!" Luke said rather excitingly as he lead her to most parts of the house.
"You have everything here, why don't you just live up here, it's all so nice!" Cecily said after seeing nearly everything inside the house.
"Well it's too far away from Housman for me to work, besides it doesn't have indoor plumbing. See, out there, those two sheds are the outhouse and the bathhouse, don't worry the bathhouse is divided in two halves." Luke explained as he pointed to the other structures out the window. "Let me show to your room so I can put this bag down finally." He said taking her to the west wing of the house where the bedrooms were.
"I hope the rooms are as nice as the rest of the house." Cecily said smiling.
"Don't worry they are." Luke smiled right back at her and took her to one of the bedrooms.
"Okay here's where you'll be staying." Luke said as he showed Cecily one room, with the same quality furniture as the rest of the house, perhaps better. There were even some pictures displayed on the dresser. Cecily took her bag from Luke and plopped it on the full sized bed, and did the same to herself. She landed on the bed and happened to look over at the dresser, and make what she thought of as an interesting find.
"Aww, look at little Lukey." She said picking up a small portrait of a little boy. However she didn't get the reaction she was hoping for as Luke's expression saddened and he swiped the painting away from her.
"That's not me…it's my father…" he said quietly, gazing upon the portrait himself.
"Luke I'm so sorry I…" Cecily began to apologize before Luke cut her off.
"It's okay you didn't know. At least you know that good looks run in the family." He finished in a much lighter tone and even gave a small smile to Cecily, picking up the mood in the room.
"What, you're calling my family ugly?" she asked, hands on her hips, an eyebrow raised, however, she was going along with the joke.
"No just you, but your mom on the other hand…" Cecily jabbed his shoulder.
"Luuke!" her voice went up a few pitches, before she started laughing while Luke smiled at her.
"Whatever, I'm going to go wash off, then I'm heading to the village to get food." The blacksmith explained his plans for the rest of the day as he walked over to his room but felt Cecily grab his arm.
"What village Luke?" he turned to see her curious face, the furrowed brow, the big ruby eyes, and the pouting lips were almost too much for him so he turned away and shook Cecily off.
"You didn't see it? It's a small village east of here but it's down the mountain, you can come with me later if you'd like." He asked, continuing to walk towards his room, and hiding his face, which was red as Cecily's hair.
"Um…sure yeah, I kind don't want to be here alone anyways." She said with a nervous chuckle at the end.
"Don't worry there's nothing here except the usual wolves." Luke jokingly, seeing how Cecily would react.
"Wolves…? Okay now you're messing with me!"
"Yep." He briskly said before shutting the door to his room, as Cecily simply rolled her eyes and went back into her room.
Why do you acting so weird around her whenever she gets close! Luke screamed at himself, while he was sifting through his closet to find his robe, which was long enough to reach his ankles. He stripped down put it on and walked out of his room. As he was making his way down the hall Cecily popped out of her room in similar attire, only her robe ended a little above her knees and was a light yellow instead of navy like his.
"…Hi." Was all either of them could say after seeing each other knowing only a robe covered each other's naked bodies, and getting red in the face as a result.
"Um, I'll show you where the bathhouse is, come on." Luke said nervously as he led Cecily back outside, behind the house. Cecily looked off into the distance and saw the sunset as it's light touched nearly everything in the area, seeing the harmony in the nature around them.
"It's so beautiful here," she whispered still catching Luke's attention.
"You say something?"
"Huh, oh no, it's nothing."
"Well the ladies side is on the left; enjoy." Luke pointed her in the right direction and went into the back of the bathhouse. The bathhouse was mainly a large tub with a wall separating it in half and was heated by an oven underneath it, which Luke was currently heating up. The water came from the stream adjacent to the house, which was irrigated through underground pipes and drained through the same way. Luke managed to get the oven going and eventually the water heated up.
"Okay it's good Luke!" Cecily called out assuring him the water reached an appropriate temperature. She took off her robe and stepped in the water leaning against the wall dividing the tub. Cecily felt relaxed almost instantly as all of the soreness and aches she had from running all day had been put at ease. She soon heard a door open and a splash on the opposite side of the house as Luke had entered and assumed the same position as she had.
There were a few minutes of silence as both Luke and Cecily enjoyed in the relieving sensation the water had. It would have stayed that way but then…
"Hey, Luke…?" Cecily said to see if he could still hear her on the opposite side of the wall.
"…Yeah…" was the response she got, confirming her assumption she continued.
"I wanna know, why do all this for me? Taking me up here instead of staying home to teach me how to use a katana, I just want to know why Luke?" hearing that it finally occurred to Luke.
Oh crap, it's just me and her up here, crap, crap, crap! Stay calm, it doesn't have to be like that, but… Luke thought.
Clearly he hadn't thought that part of this training through.
"Well…this is where my grandfather, father, and I learned swordsmanship, so I thought it would be right to teach someone else up here." Which was his real reason for choosing this spot to train Cecily.
"Oh, I guess it's the same as me deciding to go to the Guard Sanctuary back then." Cecily replied, as Luke's reasoning was very similar to hers.
"So what did you do up here last time, and more so, why did you come here after I left?" she asked. It was a very good question, as Luke couldn't answer it right away, he needed to think it through and look inside himself.
"Luke…?" she said, as it was about a minute since she asked him the question. She heard Luke sigh and then he spoke.
"I came up here last time to gain some perspective on things." He started to explain.
"Things like what?" asked Cecily.
"Everything really, and after a couple of weeks…" he cut himself off as he was about to say something that could change the course of the time he and Cecily would have up here.
"After a couple of weeks…what?" Cecily said, waiting for him to continue, and with a deep breath he said it.
"After a couple of weeks I realized…something important. If you want to be the one to protect everybody else, I want to be the one to protect you." Those words of his made Cecily's heart stop.
"…What…?" she said quietly. What was that just now? She honestly didn't expect such selflessness from Luke at all. What made it even more shocking, was that it was about her.
"You don't have to Luke, trust me I'm far better than when I…" she began before she was cut off by Luke.
"Didn't you just hear me, I want to do this! When Lisa and my father died all I could do was sit there like a helpless child and I ran away! I care about you Cecily and I'm afraid to lose you too!" another silence hit the room for what was only about a minute or two, but seemed like forever until Cecily spoke again.
"…I understand, thank you Luke." Was all she said before she got up from the tub, grabbed her robe, and left the bathhouse to return to her room.
"No…thank you Cecily." He muttered after she left and dipped his head in the water.
Several minutes later, Cecily sat on her bed and thought about what Luke said not so long ago. She figured after seeing Lisa Oakwood and his father die, Luke wanted to be sure he would never go through that hell again. Given her own desires, Cecily now knew Luke would support her so she could support everyone else, but that's when it hit her.
Even if Cecily does fulfill her dream of being the best knight of her time and is able to protect everyone and be the light in the darkness as she has claimed in the past, Luke would always be better than her. No matter how hard she trained, how much she gave of herself; he would always work harder, give more, even if she used Aria, it wouldn't be enough to surpass him. For if he were to protect her, Luke had to be better than she was, always.
And it was that fear he described, that pain he experienced which would drive him to do whatever it takes to help those he cares about, and the only thing Cecily could think of doing was embracing it, and to work as hard as she could, in order to hold up her end of the deal.
Then there was a knock on her door. She got up to open and saw Luke standing before her in his robe, his hair messier than ever and still dripping wet.
"Look, about what I said back there…" said Luke, before he was cut off by Cecily.
"Don't worry, I'm glad you said it Luke." She said softly with a gentle smile on her face, catching Luke off guard.
"Huh?" he looked down at her a little perplexed. Cecily kept her smile and nodded.
"Yeah, I never knew you felt that way…it was nice to hear you open up like that."
"Well I, uh, I'm going to go into town, do you still wanna come?"
"I would but, I can't feel my legs right now." She explained laughing slightly at her situation.
"It's alright, just rest. You're gonna need it for what I have in store for tomorrow."
"Eh?"
"I'll let you think about that, see you tomorrow then." Luke said before turning to leave, but before he started walking he felt her grab his arm. He turned to see her lean in getting ever so close to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Goodnight…" she almost whispered to him, as she was blushing slightly.
"Uh…goodnight, Cecily…" he said trying his best to hide his blushing, turning quickly to go to his room, making it very similar to earlier.
Luke got dressed and headed out to stock the house up and that was all that would happen for the rest of the day.
The next morning Cecily woke up before sunrise as she normally did, thinking she was the first one up. She walked into the kitchen to get started on breakfast so that it would be ready by the time Luke woke up, but when she got there she found there was food already there. In fact a plate was already set up for her. Luke had already eaten, but where was he.
Soon after, Cecily began hearing someone shouting outside in brief stints, and knew it could only be one person. She walked out and saw Luke already in his training clothes swinging a weird looking katana.
"Hey Luke, what are you doing?" She called out to him.
"Ah, look who's up, took you long enough."
"It's around 6:30 Luke." She pointed out to him; the sun still hadn't risen yet.
"Whatever get ready we have a lot to do today." He said still doing whatever routine he was performing.
"What are we doing today Luke?" Cecily eagerly asked, excited to see what was waiting for her.
"Well, Cecily, you remember all the times I complemented you, and instead of politely thanking me, you hit me in the face, stomach, and places where the sun don't shine, back and front?" He asked with some underlying agitation, making Cecily recall every moment where Luke seen her in her more 'feminine' moments and how she reacted and, needless to say, it wasn't pleasant for Luke.
"Um…yeah…" she answered nervously. She could tell what was coming next.
"Payback time!" he said standing in front of her, holding his sword across his shoulders, with an evil smirk on his face, as she gulped, now too afraid to get started.
Up next, training is the name of the game for both Cecily and Luke and not just in swordsmanship.
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