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 4: Progress.
A week had passed by and Luke's training program was well underway. Everyday Cecily had to run, do push-ups, sit-ups, and all other 'ups', as well as getting her daily beating from Luke and needless to say, she was getting very used to it. Luke was a nice guy and all, but when it came to training he was the strictest person Cecily has ever met.
Cling clang cling cling clang*
Was all that could be heard as Luke and Cecily were currently dueling so that Cecily could get used to the feel of a katana, but things were going as they usually do, as that is not good for the lady knight.
"C'mon, you call that a block!" WHACK! Luke shouted hitting Cecily knocking her back a few steps.
"Luke, do we have to use these weighted swords, they're so heavy!" Cecily complained upon recovering. For the training Luke had Cecily and himself use heavy lead, dull swords he made prior to them coming to his family's estate to train.
"Yeah, we do! If you can wield these swords easily, it'll be that much easier when…I mean if you finally wield a real katana." He explained, taking a stance, ready for whatever Cecily would come at him with.
"IF! IF!" Shouted Cecily, as she rushed towards Luke, holding her sword up over her head.
"You shouldn't rush in like that!" Luke said back as he turned quickly around her to dodge her assault and by instinct, whipped his sword around his body and hit her hard!
"Ahh!" Cecily squealed, falling to the ground and holding her left knee. Realizing what he had done Luke dropped his sword and rushed over to her side.
"Ah, ow my knee!" Cecily whined feebly. Luke pulled up her shorts to reveal her bruised knee.
"Oh my God, Cecily! I'm so sorry I wasn't thinking and…" Luke said frantically, trying to apologize.
"It's alright Luke, you warned me and…I didn't listen." She said while wincing in pain, trying to hold back the pain. She drove her sword into the ground and tried to get up.
"Cecily don't get up, you don't know how bad your knee is!" Luke shouted at her, but he should have known that Cecily is too stubborn for her own good. Cecily was about halfway to standing up but the pain in her knee was too much as she fell again.
"At least let me help you up!" Luke said holding his hands out for her to take.
"No, I need to do this on my own!" Cecily grunted back at him, trying to get up again but only to fall just as before.
"Okay that's it!" said the blacksmith as he picked Cecily up and walked in the house, placing her down on her bed.
"What'd you do that for, I could've gotten up on my own!" complained Cecily.
"No you couldn't, and you probably made your injury worse. Now let me see your leg so I can see what's wrong." Luke protested kneeling next to her bed. Cecily tried to reach down to pull her shorts leg up but her knee wouldn't let her as she winced in pain, so Luke did it for her.
"Okay now tell me when it hurts." He said lightly placing his hands on her bruised knee. Cecily didn't respond so he continued.
"Does this hurt?" he asked applying a little more pressure.
"Not really."
"How about this?" this time Luke moved his hands to a different spot.
"No."
"Okay, this?" Luke asked again applying more pressure to the new spot.
"OWWWW! YES IT HURTS!" Cecily screamed in pain
"Okay it seems that your knee is only bruised, I have something that can help, just wait." Luke said leaving her alone in her room. Cecily sat on her bed, trying to figure out what had just taken place.
What just happened? One second I was running towards him and now I'm in bed with a banged up leg. The thing is, when he hit me, I could barely see him move. Is Luke that much more skilled, or am I still getting used to this training? And he ran to me almost as soon as I hit the ground. Come to think of it I don't really remember seeing Luke that worried about me.
A minute or two later Luke came back in the room with a tiny jar in his hand.
"Luke what is that?" Cecily asked nervously, hoping that it wasn't anything to make her knee flare up in pain.
"Relax it's just a balm that will heal your bruise up quick, since I don't have any tamahagane up here for a prayer contract." Luke explained as he knelt down at her side again.
"Let me see your knee." He said taking the lid off the jar and spreading the balm over his hands.
"Now just to warn you, this might be a little…"
"Cold!" she shrieked when Luke touched her knee. The balm was cool to the touch.
"Relax, it's cold at first, but it'll heat up after a couple of minutes." Said Luke as he turned back to his objective and grew a little red in the face and took a bug gulp.
"Something wrong?" Cecily asked again, noticing Luke's hesitance.
"N-no, nothing's wrong j-just relax and let me do this." He recovered quickly, and tried to only focus on applying the balm, but he couldn't. Her toned legs were driving him crazy, even if one had a black and blue knee, but somehow, Luke was pulling through.
Cecily meanwhile, was wincing in pain with each stroke Luke made over her injured knee, and without thinking let out a soft moan, causing Luke to stop dead in his tracks. Cecily realized what she had done and covered her mouth in shock, as her and Luke's faces both went red.
"Um…I think I'm done here…I'm gonna go…j-just lay off your leg for the rest of the day…" Luke said shaking. He may normally be cool and collected, but given the current situation, he as well as she, was a nervous wreck.
"…Okay thanks…" was all Cecily could say before Luke left the room, and as soon as the door shut she pulled the sheets over her head.
Way to go Cecily! She yelled at herself, her face still beat red. Luke meanwhile was leaning against her door.
"Okay I'm going to poor cold water over myself now." He whispered before going outside to do as he said.
A few hours later there was a knock at Cecily's door, but she couldn't get up due to her knee.
"Come in!" she called out. She obviously knew who it was, but a strange sense of nervousness came over her. But who could blame her after what happened earlier.
Luke walked in, still in his training gear, approached the side of her bed.
"How are you feeling?" he asked in an unusually soft tone. She looked up at him and said
"A-a lot better than before, that balm you used really helped, but it smells kinda funny." She said in a weird way that she uses when she's nervous, being unable to control the pitch of her voice. (Italicized words are in higher pitch.)
"Well I-I want to apologize again, I…" he began until he was cut off by Cecily.
"Didn't you here me earlier, you don't have to apologize, it was my fault. And look I can move it now." She explained, as she bent her left leg.
"Even so." He said, as a look of deep concern crossed his face.
"Yeah but we were training, that sort of thing is bound to happen." Cecily said now surprisingly relaxed and even smiled slightly.
"I know but still…" Luke said looking down.
"Hey relax, I feel great now compared to earlier." Cecily said cheerfully. Luke looked up to see her smiling face and his expression lightened immediately.
"Heh, whatever, I'm going to make dinner, anything you want in particular?" he asked with a soft smile gracing his face.
"Um, no I don't think so." She replied cheerfully.
"Alright, just don't put any stress on your leg, I wanna get back to kickin' your ass as soon as possible." He said smirking as he left the room. He shut the door behind him, and as soon as he did he heard Cecily shout back
"In your dreams Luke!" he smiled again and went into the kitchen.
Some time later there was another knock at Cecily's door, and before she could answer Luke backed into her room holding a big tray of food.
"Geez Luke, I don't think I could eat all that!" she said, hands out waving the tray away.
"Calm down dork, half of it's for me." He said placing the tray next to Cecily and sat himself on the other side of the bed.
"Eh?" was all Cecily could say, after seeing Luke sit next to her…on her bed.
"Well it's no good eating alone right?" he asked, handing her a fork, knife and a napkin.
"I guess you're right…" she said taking everything from him and looked down at what Luke had made. A decent sized steak, mixed vegetables and some mashed potatoes were what was for dinner, and it looked pretty good.
"I know I'm right, now let's eat I'm hungry." Said Luke as he cut the steak in two and began chowing down on his half.
"It looks like you went through a lot of trouble for this." Cecily said taking her portions. Luke looked up at her with a mouth full of food.
"…nah if waf eaffy…" (Nah, it was easy.) He said with a food stuffed mouth. As he spoke some food fell from his mouth and on to the tray.
"Hey, didn't anyone teach you not to speak with your mouth full!" Cecily said hitting the tray a little harder than she expected, causing some of the mash potatoes to land on her nose. Luke saw that and began to laugh.
"What's so funny?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him as he continued to laugh. Cecily stopped for a second because…that was probably the first time she heard Luke's laugh and saw his full smile.
"Your fa-ace…!" Luke said through his laughter and pointed at her nose. Cecily put her hand to her face to discover the food on her nose and scrambled for her napkin to wipe it off.
"You know Luke…" she started as she finished cleaning her face.
"I think that was the first time I saw you smile like that." She said as Luke's laughter died out. He looked over at her with the same smile as she talked about.
"Well what can I say…you bring it out of me." His words made Cecily forget how to breathe for a couple of seconds. She looked at him, as her face became a light shade of pink, as he looked back with a smaller smile than before. There was only one thing Cecily could say in response to his flattery.
"Um, do you have anything to drink…?" she asked nervously. Luke looked around and realized he hadn't brought drinks with him.
"Oh I forgot, give me a minute I'll be back." He said leaving the room. Cecily on the other hand remained in her spot and dug her face in her hands.
"That's what you say you idiot, 'anything to drink', I'm such an idiot!" she whispered harshly to herself. She fell back and lied there looking up at the ceiling, cursing herself.
Before long, Luke had returned with a voluptuously shaped bottle, and a couple of glasses in his hands.
"Well, I need to filter the water from the stream, so the only thing I have is this." Luke said holding up the bottle, hopping back on the bed.
"I found this in one of the cabinets, guess its been here a while." He explained trying to take the lid off the bottle.
"What is it anyway?" asked Cecily, as Luke finally pulled the lid off.
"Uh, wine, why you ever have it before?" he asked as he handed the bottle to her as he picked up the glasses.
"No I haven't, is it strong?" Cecily asked pouring the rum evenly into each of the glasses.
"Well see for yourself." Luke said placing the glasses on the tray. Cecily placed her nose over the bottle and took a quick whiff of the alcohol.
"Huh, that's not so bad." she said, handing the bottle over to Luke who put it on the nightstand adjacent to the bed.
"Well, it's different than beer, and a bit tastier too, try it." Luke held up a glass for her to take. She took it and quickly took a sip, which turned into her drinking the entire glass.
"Well…?" Luke asked, awaiting her response.
"More please!" she said holding her glass up to him.
"Easy, finish what you have first you drunk." He said taking a sip of his drink.
"Hey I'm not a drunk!" she protested, holding her glass up in Luke's face. He snatched the glass away from her.
"Oh, so that wasn't you who threw a chair at the waiter at the inn on Lisa's birthday?" he asked sarcastically, recalling the last time he had seen Cecily drunk. The lady knight tended to be an angry drunk, and the instance Luke spoke of, fortunately ended with no one getting hit by Cecily.
"Hey that guy was asking for it; but trust me I'm better than that now, so pour me more!" said Cecily.
"Geez take it easy, here." He said pouring her more drink and did the same for himself.
As the night went along so did most of the alcohol, and it was having an effect on the two young adults for sure.
"H-Hey, letsssss get out this room. I'vvve been stuck herrre allllll day!" Cecily drunkenly shouted out.
"Okay, but what about your leg (hiccup)?" he asked, clearly in a better condition than she was in, as he stumbled off the bed.
"I'm fine don't worry!" she shouted again as she attempted to hop off the bed herself, but only to stumble from her inebriated state after standing for a couple of seconds. Luke walked over to her slowly.
"Cecily you're drunk." He said holding his hand out for her to take. She batted it away and stood up.
"I'm not…d-drunk, you are mmmmmisterr…!" she said poking him in the chest before stumbling again, but this time Luke was there to catch her.
"Whatever, I didn't realize how strong (hiccup) that stuff was…" he said placing her arm over his shoulders as they walked out the room together.
"Hey, where are we going?" Cecily shouted as she hobbled along.
"I don't know, this was your idea anyways." Luke protested as they made their way down the hallway.
They continued to walk until Luke decided where to go. The den would be their destination, since it was the most comfortable room, complete with the fireplace and handcrafted armchair's facing it.
Luke lifted Cecily's arm off him and placed her on one of the chair's but before he could stand straight up he felt Cecily's hand grab him and pull him down with her.
"Whoopsie." Giggled Cecily as the two were now squished together in the chair. Luke squirmed around trying to get up.
"Cecily let me go…" Luke grumbled as he broke his arms free, but his freedom would be short lived as Cecily wrapped her arms around him.
"Noooo stay!" She protested. Luke pulled her off him and turned to her.
"I-I wanna go (Hiccup) on that chair…" he said pointing to the armchair opposite the one they were in at the moment.
"Please…" Cecily quietly pleaded as she hugged him and rested her head against his back. Luke felt how warm she was; it felt comfortable, and since she was already trying her best to keep him there he decided to just listen to her and stopped his struggle and relaxed himself.
"Fine…" He huffed as he sat back in the chair, Cecily adjusting herself next to him.
"H-heyyy Luke…?" She asked with her head now on his shoulder. What could she want now? In her inebriated state she could've said anything but Cecily seemed to have showed some self-control.
"Yeah…?" He asked as they sat by the fire that Luke had started much earlier and was beginning to burn out.
"Am I good?" she asked. Luke raised an eyebrow and tilted his head towards hers.
"What?"
"Sword fighter, am I good?" She asked again. Cecily's grammar still appeared to be under the influence.
"What kind of question is that?" he answered with another question. Cecily winced a little and gripped his arm a little tighter.
"Luke." She wined quietly as she normally did when someone bugged her, making Luke crack a small smile.
"Of course you are, for a girl I mean." He joked and could feel her body shudder with subtle laughter. Cecily slightly picked her head up and turned to him.
"Gee thanks Luke."
"Anytime…" He began to sarcastically accept her sarcastic gratitude when their eyes met. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the mountain air, and maybe it was something lying underneath it all but something made them draw close to each other.
"Cecily…" he almost whispered to her as she was inches away from him still looking into each other's eyes, or eye in Luke's situation, but it didn't matter to her.
"Hmm…" She mumbled as she smiled. Luke began to draw even closer to her but Cecily's eyes began to close and she fell lightly on top of him drifting asleep. Luke smiled again and put his arms around her, his hand gently rubbing her back.
"I'll tell you later." He whispered again before he carefully lifted her up and placed her on the couch on the other side of the room. Maneuvering through the halls back to her room would be too much to do without waking her up, and that was something Luke didn't want to do. She looked so peaceful and serene, even if she was a dork. He placed her on the couch and grabbed a blanket from underneath and placed it on her. Cecily must've sensed it as she stirred and moved around until she was in a sort of fetal position.
Looking down at her, Luke couldn't hide another smile but covered his mouth anyway, in order to muffle the light laughter. Once he was done chuckling Luke looked down at her again. Another smile crossed his face as he leaned down towards her.
"Goodnight." He whispered before lightly kissing her on the cheek and heading off to his room for the night.
The next morning…
Luke awoke in his bed way before sun rise. He didn't do his daily routine however. He stood in his bed, looking up at the ceiling, very unable to cease his thinking about last night's events. He had had her in his arms, so close to her yet still at a distance. But he thought of other factors mentioned earlier and how they may have influenced her actions. Luke didn't know why he was thinking these things but he was. He stood there for what felt like a good hour or so before he finally decided enough was enough and he got up.
As he walked down the hall he passed Cecily's room. Something made him peer through the door even though he knew she wasn't in there after what happened the night before. He looked around and noticed how she kept her room. Clothes all over, it looked like a mess already, but something about just seemed so…Cecily; it was something Luke knew she would do and he felt a sense of admiration from it. He shook his head before continuing down the hallway.
When he approached the kitchen he began to smell something, something like food cooking. Did it finally happen? Cecily woke up before he did; but then again he did take a while to actually get up. He turned the corner and sure enough he found Cecily cooking, or trying to at least.
"Good morning!" she greeted him cheerfully as he slowly walked inside.
"Hey…" he managed to say as he looked around; looking for anything broken or splattered but to his surprise he found nothing of the sort.
"I slept great last night, that couch inside is surprisingly comfortable." She said as he continued to look around the kitchen. She saw what he was doing and put her hands on her hips.
"Relax will you? I can cook you know." She assured him before turning back to the stove as she finished preparing their meal.
"You sure you don't want me to help?" He asked, walking up behind her. Feeling his presence she shot back around.
"I'm sure now sit down and wait." She requested of him, and begrudgingly, Luke did as she said. Cecily came over in about a minute and placed the food on his plate. It actually looked good!
"All right eat up. Consider it a thank you for helping me yesterday." Cecily said as she turned back around and prepared her own meal. Luke picked up a fork and dug in. He put the food in his mouth but after a few chews; Luke learned the lesson of not judging a book by its cover…the hard way. It tasted terrible but Luke did his best to somehow swallow. Cooking was yet another thing Cecily just couldn't do that was considered lady like. She came back to the table and began eating her off her own plate.
"It's good right?" she asked him with a smile.
"Sure…!" He said with a straight face as she kept her smile before continuing to eat.
I think I'll just take care of the cooking from now on… he thought to himself as he watched her eat. How she was eating that stuff baffled him, but Luke just sat there and smiled.
finally! it's been a long time i know' I've just been busy and I sort of forgot to do this. Anyways tell me what you think and hopefully the next chapter won't take as long as this one did.