Chapter 10: A day of History

Zena wakes  the next morning and has to drag herself to the bathroom and splash water on her face to get rid of the ideas in her head.  She’s not quite sure what was going on with her, because she had never caught herself thinking this way before.  She yawns and walks slowly out to the kitchen, surprised to hear someone bustling about in her home.  She places her hand on the hilt of her small blade and steps around the corner, attempting to fill the door with her small frame.  Wolf and Maurly are working to make breakfast.  Maurly went out and fetched a young something or other from the forest. A rabbit or squirrel, she guessed, from the size of the lump of meat in the skillet.  Zena sets her blade down on the table idly and sits down.  Wolf looks up from where he is washing last night’s dishes without a shirt.  Zena wonders if this is normal for him, because if it is, she knows she’ll have to find a way to get around watching his every move. She sighs and looks out the window, deciding whether to go to the training arena or stay inside today.   She almost jumps out of her chair when Wolf sets down a plate in front of her, breaking her out of her mental thoughts. ‘

                “Did I startle you?” Wolf asks, looking slightly apologetic.

                “No, I was just thinking about today’s training,” Zena replies nonchalantly.

                “ … And what did you decide?” He asks after a pause.

                “I think it’ll be a history lesson today… Not sure if you are ready to go back to the arena today after the long night last night… plus, I have a headache this morning,” she answers, while gazing out the window.

After breakfast, Zena tells wolf to meet her in the living area in five minutes.  She disappears down the hall towards her bedroom. 

Five minutes later, she brings out four different blades of varying lengths and carries them into the living area, along with a soft black cloth.   She lays the cloth on the floor, sits cross-legged in front of it, and then lays out the blades precisely in order from longest to shortest on top of the cloth.  She motions for Wolf to sit on the other side of the cloth.

When he does, she nods to each of the blades, explaining the history of each… after three hours of history lessons, Zena tells Wolf to stand, and she goes to her room and grabs out the respective sheath for each of the blades… she quizzes him on where each sheath is to be placed, and which blade goes in each. 

                “So. Where does  the six inch blade sheath go?”  Zena  asks as she hands him the proper sheath. 

                “Your…. Hip?” Wolf replies uncertainly…

                “Yea… good job… you catch on pretty quickly…” she said happily.

Zena reaches to place the sheath on his hip, and he lifts his shirt above his jeans so she can. She places it on his jeans and then steps back…

                “How does it feel to wear it?” Zena asks, blushing slightly

                “It feels… good… different… but good,”  he says, turning slightly to look at it.

They finish the lesson and he passes the quiz easily.  Then they pick up the blades and sheaths, and then they send Maurly out for supper.  They sit down on the couch in the living area and flip on the TV.   He sits down, and then she sits down next to him.  After a while, the TV fades out and Zena falls asleep unexpectedly, her hand falling sideways onto his shoulder as she dozed peacefully.

Reviews

[Meat of Dog]

As I suspected, I am feeling Zena's barriers starting to break down. Humans literally need social communication to survive, so after spending so much time with her wolf and only seeing other people to slay them, it makes perfect sense that she would desire and even fantasize about Wolf's attention subconsciously (whether her foreground thought wants it or not). The ending of this chapter was good too, I smiled when I read it. There's a sweetness to Zena beyond her rough exterior and I'll be interested to see how it manifests.

Other Suggestions:
-"When he does, she nods to each of the blades, explaining the history of each… after three hours of history lessons, Zena tells Wolf to stand, and she goes to her room and grabs out the respective sheath for each of the blades… she quizzes him on where each sheath is to be placed, and which blade goes in each." Time jumps are good in stories, I used them a lot myself, but the transitional jumps should be a little more smooth. A lot of these events are the meat and potatoes of character development and story development. Maybe describe the 3 hours instead of skipping them, or at least go into the history a little bit.

[Coyote Poetry]

A very good chapter. Training is important. Need history and examples to make training have purpose and reason. I like the testing also. A outstanding chapter. Thank you.
Coyote