The next morning, Aldar wakes up long before his clan and sneaks away to the hidden corner of the cave again. Sitting down, he feels the light of the outside world bathing him. He smells the humid air, and the flow of the water soothes him as he trains. Somehow, when he sits here before his clan members wake up, the light of the outside world was gentle. He softly whispers a song his mother used to use to sing him to sleep.
"When the child of the blind and the child of those who see
Decide to join in unity
The curse that plagues the clan shall lift
And all the rules will shift
The clans will once again balance
As will light and darkness"
He knew the song was ancient and seemed to be the key to solving the clans curse, however he also knew that over the years the song had changed. Now it was just a way for him to remember his Mother. Feeling comforted by the sound of water flowing over his mother's song, he listens to the water for a moment longer before once again returning to his crevice where his student waited. Elene was stirring just as he got there, Sneakers somewhere outside his sensing range. Aldar greets her good morning before walking over to the chief.
Aldar gives the chief a brief report outlining his observations of Elene's ability to learn his craft. "Chief, please have the smiths create a halberd for our Saviour. I will teach her how to, at the very least, not hold me back while I hunt." Aldar requests. "...Okay. Saviour will be given one to train with and one to use. She will have to prove herself with the wooden one first." the Chief said. "Yes sir, I'll enchant it myself." Aldar said. "Are you sure? You'll lose a bit of your mana..." the Chief reminded Aldar. "In this case, it's more than a worthy investment." Aldar said without hesitation. "If you are certain. Olbuek will transfer it to your crevice later." the Chief said. "Thank you, Chief." Aldar said as he dipped his head before he turned to leave.
Aldar walks back to where his student was waiting. "Elene, we're going outside." He calls out to her. "Yes!" Elene says happily. Aldar reminds her not to move as he picks her up. A clan member is nice enough to roll the Rock out of the way, and he tilts his head with appreciation.
"We're here." Aldar says, setting her down. She walks to the edge of the cliff and sits with her legs swinging over the edge. "I'm going to hunt with the halberd. I know you can't sense, but can you still tell what I'm doing?" Aldar asked Elene, trying to verify what he had figured out over the last two days. "When I'm in the light I can see what you're doing as long as you're not too far. Though I probably won't pick it up without trying it myself." Elene said. Aldar nods. "Be careful not to fall off." He tells her before jumping off the cliff.
Hitting the cliff with the spear-like point on the top of the halberd, he uses the magical recoil to launch off the wall towards the river. Soon he senses a presence, and rolls to slow his fall. When he nears a tree, Aldar once again hits with the speartip, launching himself backwards towards his target. With a twist, he swings the spike on the back towards the head of the beast, recoiling into a number of twirls. He puts the beast into his inventory before aiming the spike at the ground, launching at an angle into the air. Using the magical recoil, he flies between the trees, sensing for creatures.
Atop the cliff, Elene watches with wonder as her mentor flies from tree to tree, from ground to twirl, from air to beast, and the overall effect as the one she admires continues his hunting dance. Aldar finishes his hunting dance by swinging down with the axe part of the halberd, the only part without a recoil function, on a monster's neck. The beast disappears into his inventory. He uses his mana sense to scan for Elene, and hits a tree at an angle, launching towards the cliff. Aldar repositions the halberd, aiming the spike at the ground at the foot of the cliff, standing on the pole as it launches him in an upward arc. He returns it to his inventory, pulls the staff without weapon attachments back out of his inventory, and pushes the staff into the cliff. He lands gently, and pulls the staff out of the ground.
Aldar turns to Elene. "So, manage to learn anything?" Aldar asked. "Maybe a little?" She says, embarrassed. "I saw everything you did, but it's hard to imagine myself doing it." Elene says honestly. "No worries, take your time learning." Aldar said. "Can we wash off at the river again today?" Elene asks. "Yeah, we can. I caught five beasts, and we have a lot more time to spare than before, so have fun." Aldar picks her up as he puts his staff and her makeshift halberd into his inventory. Elene squeezes her eyes shut as he runs off the cliff. After safely landing, he charges forward without hesitation, weaving around trees elegantly. Elene watches as the world moves swiftly around her, and looks up at Aldar. His brown hair was a little cleaner than it was before, and she told herself she would definitely find something like soap so he could wash his hair, revealing its full brilliance.
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Aldar removed their clothes with inventory, and Elene jumped into the water swiftly out of shyness. Yet as before, once she jumped into the water, she forgot her embarrassment. She swam back to the surface with a smile on her face as she drifted peacefully before diving beneath the surface again. Aldar shook his head, and walked into the water slowly. As he sits on a rock where his head can remain above the water's surface, he once again marvels at her ability to swim like a flyfish. Suddenly, she slows down immensely, hardly moving. Aldar panics and is about to leap in and save her somehow, despite the fact he can't swim, when she suddenly reaches out and grabs at a flyfish. She doesn't manage to catch it, and Aldar sighs with relief. "Elene!" He calls, and the flyfish scatter. Sneakers stares at the water intently, watching a flyfish leap just out of reach.
She swims upwards. "You had me worried for a second there. I'm amazed you can hold your breath so long." Aldar says. "Yeah, Papa took me swimming often. We both loved swimming. I feel so at peace when I swim, like I'm home. Want me to teach you?" Elene asked. Aldar hesitates. "I'm afraid that doesn't sound very useful... I'd rather spend our time learning letters or teaching you to hunt. I'll make sure to keep a bit of my sensing on you so I can pick up a little bit though." Aldar compromised. "Okay." Elene says, only slightly disappointed. "Draw the letter A I taught you earlier. Now that I can see, I can correct places where you may be wrong." Elene said. Aldar doesn't quite get why she couldn't 'see' in the cave, but Aldar understands that she can only 'see' in specific circumstances.
Aldar traces the letter a in the dirt by the river bank. "That's right. Okay, this is the letter B..." Elene said before tracing in the mud beside him. He copies her movements. "Right. This makes the buh sound. I'm going to finish washing up." Sneakers ears twitch, and he walks over to see the letters before swishing his tail and returning to watch the flyfish.
"I'll finish up after I practice the letters a bit." Aldar says in a trance, tracing the letters over and over again, still hardly able to believe he's really learning letters. Elene nods, and heads back to the river. She scrubs at her scalp and brushes off the dirt remaining on her skin while she's in the water. She notices a flyfish leaping through the air, landing a little while after leaping. Elene wonders if she could catch it with a bit of cloth as it's coming down.
After another thirty minutes, Elene starts to worry about Aldar. He hasn't washed off yet, and he's been outside longer than yesterday. She walks up to him, and notices the letters A and B scattered around in the mud, written a great many times. "Aldar." She says, and he jumps. "Oh... Hi Elene. I was just getting in now." He walks towards the river and washes off quickly. Clean clan clothes materialize on Elene as he gets in the water. Elene looks at the letters. She softly traces the letters in admiration as Aldar finishes washing up.
When they head back to the cave, Elene realizes Aldar has a sunburn. "Oh Aldar, I'm sorry. You have a sunburn..." Elene said apologetically. "Sun-burn?" Aldar asks, remembering her using the word once before. "It's something you get if you're in the sun too long. Depending on the time of day, the sun can be weaker than usual so it doesn't happen as quickly, like the morning before people wake up or the evening right before people go to bed, but we were out during the hottest time of day!" Elene said. Aldar does the clan equivalent of blinking in delayed recognition as she finishes apologizing.
He actually knows what she's talking about this time! He was the first person to leave for the day just as others were waking up, and he was the one who stayed out longest. He also had been visiting the secret crevice, where the sun streams through a bit, since he was little. He knew sunlight streamed through because, depending on the time of day, the crevice was different temperatures.
Aldar thought that visiting that crevice his whole life was what made him tolerant to the sun, but it was because he left earlier in the day, when it was cooler. Aldar realized there was merit in what she said, and then subsequently decided it was best kept a secret. It wouldn't be beneficial to the clan if everyone knew what she said, since it would simply lead to the hunters having clashing hunt times, so they might as well make use of her knowledge to give her a leg up in the future.
"Keep what you just told me a secret, okay?" Aldar told Elene. "Okay?" Elene responded in a questioning tone. "So even if we could see, like you do, we would be uncomfortable outside?" Aldar asked her, ignoring her questioning tone. "You guys don't have tans, so you're weak to sunlight. Aldar, you'll have to be careful while the sunburn heals, but after it's done healing, you should be able to go outside a little longer than you used to. From where I come from, people stayed outside much longer, and it wasn't because they could see. It was because they had tans, they weren't weak to sunlight." Elene shared excitedly.
"Your clan is amazing! I will try that." Aldar said. "Luckily the burn isn't too bad, you should take it easy tomorrow and the day after, the third day it should be mostly healed, and your clan clothes were helping shield you, so it shouldn't hurt too badly." Elene said. "Okay, thank you." Aldar dips his head.
Aldar rolls open the Rock. "Aldar, you're okay?" The chief asks. "Yes, I was a little caught up outside so I stayed out longer than normal, that's all. Elene tells me I should take it easy tomorrow and the day after, then I can go outside for my usual time." Aldar reported to the chief. The chief nodded and walked away, leaving Aldar and Elene alone.
Aldar guided Elene to their crevice. They practiced halberd forms for the day, Aldar tracing his letters in the ground as Elene swung the halberd around. Elene couldn't see, so she had no idea if her form was correct. Still, this was the only thing she could do to generate progress towards her goal of going home for the moment. So she desperately recalled over and over the sensation of her muscles acting out the correct form under Aldar's earlier instructions. Aldar seemingly ignores her as he traces letters into the ground, occasionally directing his senses to Elene. He nods slightly at her form, and returns to what he's doing.
Right as Elene found her muscles no longer able to complete the movements, Aldar calls to her. "Dinnertime, Elene." Aldar and Elene eat in relative silence. "Good night, Aldar." Elene said when she grew tired. "Night Elene." Aldar replied. Aldar waited for her to sleep before visiting the secret crevice. He lets the peacefulness of the sounds of the water rush over him before he returns to the crevice to sleep, ignoring the twinges of light-pain across his face and neck.
