Chapter 10 : The Training
"Well, Card, Arner... Now I'll be your teacher and trainer. Datian took a vacation from my city, so I'll train you both in preparation for the Patris test. First: fifteen kilometers of running, now!"
Arner (with sleepy eyes that still refuse to wake up): "Uncle, the sun hasn't risen yet!"
Arner turns his head toward Card, who his sleep knocked to the ground.
The Uncle: "We have to train today, tomorrow, and the whole month like this. Because this year's Patris test is next month, as announced yesterday."
Arner (to himself): "Next month... So I have to speed up my trainings."
The uncle goes toward his son, who exhaustion has beaten to the ground... except with a slap that woke Card and terrified Arner.
Card (with a reddened face): "Ah, my face! What's there, Dad? What's wrong with you?!"
The Uncle (to himself): "I had to do that, to tell Arner and Card the necessity of waking up early for training."
"Come on, you sleepy lazybones! The time is time that deserves running fifteen kilometers on the charming coast of Korhait city!"
Card (with a reddened face and surprised features): "Huh? How much? Fifteen kilometers? Well, wouldn't it be better to train in the gym?"
The Uncle: "No... You'll train under my supervision. And also, during your tour that won't be less than the distance I said, or I'll make your back wetter than your stomach! In exploring the city with Arner. When you return, take a dose of rest, then mental training, then psychological. Three daily trainings, for 25 days. Understood? Understood?"
Card (to himself): "He knows that my sleep is light, and his calling will wake me. But he really wants to slap me? Ah, Dad, you want to impose your control in front of your nephew?"
Arner (to himself): "Hmm... Physical training is clear, but how will the mental training or psychological be? Math or what?"
***
**After 30 minutes:**
Card: "Arner, did you eat your food and prepare your clothes?"
Arner (from behind his room's door): "Yes, I'm..."
Card: "Ah, finished? First, I'll introduce you to the city in the trainings, and I'll show you something you've always wondered about."
Arner: "You mean what?"
Card: "The Governor's Giver Castle."
Arner (to himself): "Yes, Mom mentioned it was in Korhait."
The crimson sky of Korhait, and the alluring scent of its air, and its tall houses, and its long wide streets. Cars come and others leave. Ordinary people, who don't care about power, live their daily lives, as Arner is used to in Korma.
On a concrete sidewalk in a gray color that gradients to black, Arner runs with his companion, whose relationship seemed to evolve as Arner's understanding of his world.
Card: "Well, in this place – I mean the turn – there's the Governor's Giver Castle."
Arner: "Yes, it seems so. Its size, its height... I can see it from here."
Arner: "Card, you have a lot of knowledge and insight... So, what's your source?"
Card: "Well, I... To be honest with you, what I told you and you learned, you shouldn't know it at all until you become a Baropatris. I mean, until you complete the Patris test, a course will be presented to you to understand the political and energy system. Understood? But since my dad is a Baropatris, and your mom is a high-status Baropatris, we didn't submit to limits and such."
Arner (to himself): "Does this mean we're under mediation?"
Card: "And also, you didn't know everything anyway."
Arner: "What do you mean? Aren't the cities and the castle and the Assembly and the Union all that embodies this world?"
Card: "Look over there, then stop, and we'll continue our talk."
Arner: "Why did you change our direction?"
Card, as he steals a glance from the side of one of the buildings whose height touches the clouds: "There's someone following us and chasing us."
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© Anouar Amroud. All rights reserved.
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