My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts
72nd of Fall, 514.
It was nice to have a shoulder to ride on. One that actually listened to his orders and did what he was told, instead of all the other shoulders of humans and other species passing through. They all had things to do, people to meet. Not Adem; the boy had been 'attached' to the squirrel in order for him to learn a few things about the responsibilities he would eventually take on when he became a squire, and then a knight after that. It didn't matter whether the boy was still a child in the eyes of humans. Adem was still twice the age of the Pycon, and had spent all of his time in the city, by account of the conversations they'd gone through on the slow walk through the narrow corridors of the districts. "Two seasons, and I'd left my home and family. Two seasons, no more and no less." He'd gone out and explored the world. Heck, he'd barely managed to survive in the cities of Sylira.
"Nah, you're lying.. two seasons is barely enough time to learn how to walk, let alone get out of the city by yourself.." The squirrel only shook his head and held back a laugh, reclining back against the boys cheek as he watched the people walking by. So large, yet so ignorant of the creatures that lived alongside them. It wasn't even a real matter of a lack of them, because the squirrel certainly wasn't the only Pycon living in the city. There were others hanging around as well, either in the alleys or in the shops, even down in the fields and the fighting pits. It was here that the squirrel had sent the boy - to see just what happened in his future.
"You start out life as a ball, rolling about. No need for legs, lad. That shyke comes later. We're not like you, we see the world as something to be explored from the moment you can do it." Funny, really, that humans had such long lives to explore the world, see everything inside of it.. yet they spent such long amounts of time just sitting around and doing nothing. Spending thirteen, fifteen, heck sometimes eighteen years just standing around and never really doing anything. Sitting with the family, learning the trade. Orphans got out quicker and made a name for themselves - plenty of orphans among the ranks of squires and pages in the Order, taken in by knights for protection or simply to bring something back to the community. "Too much to explore in our lifetime though. No matter which way you swing it."
Silence fell for a pause. Arch was well aware of his own life, in comparison to those around him. The fact that it was only a fraction in the eyes of a human, and a blink in that of an Akalak like his patron. He wasn't a young Pycon, not by any stretch of the imagination. He'd been places, seen things; he'd lived a life that would be the envy of more than a few, but he doubted that anyone would ever swap places with him in the end, given the things that he'd rather he'd never seen at all. So much left to do, still. So many things he still wanted to do in his life, but he couldn't really be sure if he'd ever manage it. Even if he did, would there be any worth in it?
"We're here.. why are we here?" The boys question rose him out of his thoughts, in time to see the clashes of metal against metal, blunt blades of all different shapes and sizes brought together on a sandy, barren courtyard filled with grunting men and women trying their best to bruise the other to submission. In the far corner, the Pycon he'd come looking for. Ahh, Hammer Fist. A Pycon slightly taller than Arch, but different in every way - soot-grey clay and a body resembling a human arm, a hand cresting the top and a misshapen face pressed against the palm. There was a reason the other fighters were keeping their eyes off. "Ahh, you'll see, soon enough." One paw reached over his shoulder, and soon found what he was looking for - a wooden training sword, seven or eight inches long at best. His Py-Sword.
