Landslide

Ezekiel had let his training slip when he had been freed from prison. Mainly because he couldn't face anybody yet. His pride had truly been hurt, even if it was completely his own fault. He had come to peace with that, still there was so much more... injustice about what had happened. He mourned the loss of his magic, but he did fear it as well, knowing what he could do when he lost his temper. His aunt told him so clearly: people like them couldn't make mistakes like that. All the more embarrassing that it kept happening. But he was not half bad with a sword, and he thought it might clear his mind for a few hours. So when he thought he had picked a quiet time in the training yard, he had collected his sword, twirling it in his hand as he assessed the weight of it. The blade was especially forged for him, more suited to his smaller frame and light movements, a bear carved in the handle.

He wasn't by himself. He quickly spotted his eldest cousin leaning on a sword. It looked like he had been giving one of the dummies a bad time. Ezekiel stopped moving his hands as he caught the flat side of the blade in his other hand. He pouted his lips slightly as he was thinking about whatever what could happen in the near future. Caelum and him had never been that close and he might get away with a confrontation if he just pretended he didn't exist. But he was still part of the family and probably not happy with him. At all. Ezekiel gritted his teeth together and thought about turning around, but that would be cowardly. Not that the silver haired sorcerer was a stranger from running away from confrontation. But as Caelum raised his sword again, it gave him a chance to move on. He would be focussed on his own drills, and Ezekiel would just pretend that he was air. So he walked past his cousin without greeting him and moved towards a patch of grass, sheathing his sword and start with his warm up exercizes, stretching his muscles that almost felt rusted together.

He thought he'd gotten away with it, while he was bending over, moving his hands from one toe to the other. However, his peace wasn't very long when Caelum spoke up. He stopped in his movements momentarily, hiding a sigh with his head turned upside to the ground. He placed his hands on his knees before pushing himself upright again, looking at his cousin with his head slightly ajar, a blank expression on his face, his eyes slightly narrowed. He was still quite suspicious about him, questioning his motives. Was he genuine interested, or just trying to get a reaction out of him? Caelum might be the eldest, but he wasn't that intimidating. He had to look up to Myrddin his whole life, so Caelum was probably a more even match.

‘‘Want to practice on a moving object?’’ he asked his older cousin, totally ignoring his previous question. It was a stupid question anyways, and he was not in the mood talking. So, while they were both here, they just as well get the most of it. He folded his fingers together and stretched his arms up, rolling his shoulders back as he reached for the sky for a moment. Then he bend down to pick up his sword, twirling it in his hand once again.