Once they’re downstairs, I want to disappear to practice with my sword and work out the stiffness, but I linger in the entry hall for a few minutes, waiting for Malam.
Finally, I hear him walk through the front door and head that way.
When he sees me, he relaxes and closes his eyes for a second as he says quietly, “Thank the dark gods.”
Before I can overthink it, I go to him and wrap my arms around him, mumbling, “thank you for the sword,” against his torso.
He stands stiffly, but then I feel his arms wrap around me in a brief and still rather stiff hug. After a moment, he takes my shoulders and gently pushes me back, scanning my face.
“Will it do for now?” he asks. “It isn’t what I wanted to give you, but I knew time was short, and it was a spare I had on hand.”
I nod, and I can feel a massive smile splitting my face. “It’s perfect,” I say.
He actually smiles at that, and then, with an awkward squeeze of my shoulders, he looks behind me to the basement door and says, “I must go.” With that, he steps around me and heads through the door, closing it firmly behind him.
Not wanting to waste any time, I disappear to my bedroom to collect the borrowed sword. Then I go to thelarge empty room and practice until my muscles cramp. I sleep well that night, the physical exhaustion keeping the worst of the dreams at bay.
The next few days pass in much the same way. Most of the time, I don’t see Malam since I escape to the upstairs room with my sword immediately after the boys head downstairs.
I know somehow that I need to take advantage of every moment.
Something is driving me beyond my general interest in being stronger, and while I don’t understand what or who it might be, it is a vicious taskmaster. I fall into bed every night, exhausted and sore. My hands split open before calluses can form. I cover them in bandages and pretend I’m covering paper cuts.
Fem looks doubtful but doesn’t pry beyond the occasional, thoughtful question.
Meanwhile, Fem and Lent continue to review the massive pile of books with me, but also begin to show me bits of dark magic.
I learn from them that anyone can be educated on runes and how to use them to create magical effects. However, there is danger in practicing incorrectly or making errors, so they warn me against trying without formal instruction.
On the second day, as we are discussing runes with some of the time we’ve carved out for it, Fem says something that reminds me of a dream I had. Since I know better at this point than to try to recreate the rune in any way, I tell them about the dream and try to describe the rune to them.
They both look at me blankly for a bit, and then Lent says, “I don’t recognize that shape at all. Are you sure you’re describing it right?”
“I think so,” I say and try to look through the other runes they’ve been able to show me to find something similar.
I find a couple with some similarities and point them out, but Lent seems unconvinced.
Fem looks thoughtful, but in the end, without being able to recreate the rune, it’s too tough to explain. Since it is too risky to recreate a rune without knowing what it does, we finally let it go. Instead, we continue on with our lesson.
Irealize, as the days pass, how much I enjoy both of their company. Lent’s humor and irreverence make everything fun. The caring I feel from Fem leads me to enjoy his company just as much, even though he is always serious. The two of them provide a sense of support I wouldn’t have realized I was missing if it weren’t for the slow recognition of how much better I feel in their company.
For the most part, I don’t see much of Reem or Dio. I sleep in, and they wake early, so they’ve already eaten when I get to breakfast. Then the rest of the day, while Lent, Fem and I look over our pile of books, the two of them are off doing whatever it is they do.
After a few days, when I see Dio at breakfast, he almost seems happy. Not to see me, of course, I still feel his signature glare, but as he leaves the room, talking with Reem about how much progress they’re making, “toward the cause,” his voice is less snarly than it has been.
The knot of emotions in my chest tightens. All I can hope is that the research I am doing isn’t the reason things have turned around for him. He clearly doesn’t deserve that.
DIO’S JOURNAL - ENTRY 205
Annum:5614
Entry 205 - profectum
Finally, we’re making progress again. I’ve been consistent with my entries in this journal, and we’ve been meeting with Malam every evening to practice magic. Even better, we're making significant progress on the weather work, which will eventually support our cause and create the storm we need.
I’ve also started taking Reem out boxing during the day while the others are locked in that room with their books. In doing so, we’ve been getting to know each other better.
When I first asked him, he declined, but the next day he asked about it, and I made the offer again. This time, he took me up on it. He hasn’t done anything like this before. His hands are too important to risk since he plays the banjo and other instruments. He seems to be enjoying learning the basics, including the footwork and is clearly more confident as he’s gotten stronger. It’s also been good to get to know him better.
