Respect Your Seniors: Reinhard Meets His New Mentor!

Reinhard sat in the quad looking at all the other kids having fun. Some were training, some were socializing, and some where doing the same as him just people watching. Reinhard had a conversation with his father a few days ago, one that made Reinhard slightly sad and made him feel like he had done something wrong. His father had called him into the administrative office the other day and sat him down to talk. "Reinhard, now that you are a student here I can no longer be your personal trainer... I know this must seem hard but you will have to find someone else to train you. Or maybe you can go solo like I did in my early years. What you should do is find a fighter who is meant to help others."

Reinhard had no idea what this meant but he thought about it for days and days until he finally figured it out one day. In order to get better he would need a trainer and supportive fighter, and the group that fit the group were the blacksmiths. They were the ultimate tacticians and most of them also had the skill to help train others. So he went through the school's files and looked at files for everyone under the classification of blacksmith and he saw one girl who stood out. Her name was Amira. She was a junior with average test scores but Reinhard figured that they could grow together.

Reinhard stood in the quad for hours upon hours every day, waiting to see this girl. He would need her in order to become strong and maybe she would need him too. This looked like it could be the start of something amazing... if he would ever find her in this huge school filled with kids.

There never seemed to be an afternoon in the past three years she attended this school when the quad was not lively. She wouldn't blame them, the quad was placed in the front of the school and was begging others to lounge around. The sheer amount of people would often drive her away due to both the fact that it was too loud and crowded for her liking. On this particular day, it seemed as if there were fewer people around, still plenty but few enough so she did not feel as if she were being suffocated. Taking a seat on one of the empty benches, she took out her headphones to drown out the surrounding noises as began to study for her test. It was mindless business she had to admit as the material was not difficult due to the excessive studying she placed in on the day she learned the material. After a few minutes she quickly grew bored and had decided to put the work away, instead, she began to watch two other people sparring, presumably for their training.

Her eyes began to follow each of their figures, noticing a posture problem on one of them and an attempt to quickly attack and take down the opponent which was missed. More small and obsolete details were caught, although she did not have any interest to go up and speak to them about their issues. Amira wouldn't blame them, in the heat of fighting one would get wrapped up in the moment and forget countless techniques that they were taught. While she wasn't the greatest fan of sparring herself, she did understand and respect the energy and time each of them placed in. The young woman continued to watch, quietly critiquing each movement they took as they continued. Like studying, watching others was simply mindless business and nothing else. Amira did this without even thinking about it, although she held doubts that her skills would actually help anyone truly succeed.

Time went on and on as Reinhard sat in the quad steadily doing nothing, but after a while something interesting happened. There were two kids who began to spar in the quad, and the fight appeared to be interesting. Reinhard decided he would go check out the action as he would walk over to get a better view. When he came over he sat down on a nearby bench so that he could have a nice view. On the bench sitting next to him there was a girl who at first didn't catch his attention. but upon second glance he realized it was her the girl Amira. Reinhard was trying to figure out how he missed it before but he was happy to realize it now.

As he sat next to her trying to figure out what to say he continued to watch the sparring match. He would then tap her on the shoulder and say "Hi, you're Amira correct? My name is Reinhard and I was looking for you, not to sound weird though but I kinda need you..." Yup this had already come out wrong Reinhard had managed to put his foot directly into his mouth. He didn't mean to but he had messed up his chance with Amira or maybe not he still had one more chance to correct his mistake.

"Ok let me fix what I said... Basically my father said he wouldn't train me anymore and so I had to find someone else to teach me, and so I read the student files and it said you were the most capable person for the job. So im here to ask will you help me?"

Amira felt her body froze as a boy sat down on the bench. She didn't recognize his face, was he new? Perhaps a transfer student or someone starting their first year at the school. For a bit, she considered to move, but as he did not seem to wish to engage in a conversation with her she simply quietly continued to watch, occasionally eyes flitting to see if the boy had moved which unfortunately for her had not. Instead, she simply tried to conceal her presence, trying to make herself feel smaller although it did not seem to work well due to the fact she was not a master of concealment and her constant fidgeting betrayed her. To her slight surprise, the boy began to speak her name. When did he learn her name? She had never seen this kid before and he knew who she was. A slight surprise came over her face as he introduced himself. She had heard rumors of the headmaster's son attending this school. She knew his name and that he was a freshman but she did not think she would meet him in person. Is he trying to use his father's power to hook up with me? The strange wording had brought a look of confusion on her face but he then tried to fix his wording which she understood.

Thoughts filled her head as she began to process what he had just said. Did he ask me to be his trainer? Out of all the juniors, seniors and sophomores, I was the best fit? I'm not even that good of a blacksmith... After shooting the thoughts within her head away quickly, she responded with a quiet but firm voice. "Why me? I'm not even that strong like others. I'm merely someone who is better with tactics than the average student here. There are many others who are far better at fighting or forging weapons." Amira tried to make eye contact although it was a difficult task for you to do. "I am not turning you away, I'm simply curious of your reasoning of choosing someone like me to be your trainer." Her words grew even more resolute as she reached the end of the sentence. This time, she looked him in the eyes unsteadily, her eyes betraying the feelings of curiosity and confusion she felt.

She posed the question "Why me?" the appropriate answer raced through Reinhard's mind for a very long time. About 2 minutes or so and then he finally worked the response. "I looked at the files for every blacksmith in this school, I choose you because we can help each other grow. I need help with tactical stuff and you can make me gear to fight with. You need help learning to actual put your tactics and fighting into use and I can do that for you. Together we can help each other, and I Know this probably feels sudden and out of nowhere but I really believe we can do something worth while together..."

Reinhard then stood up from the bench and looked down at Amira as he held his hand out towards her. This would act as a pact of sorts. If she took his hand that would mean she accepted his offer unless otherwise stated. And if she didn't take his hand at all he would know that he would have to go and search for someone else to be his trainer, however he didn't think anyone else would be a good fit for him and what he wanted to do. "So Amira what do you say?"

The young woman silently stared up to Reinhard. Lowering her head slightly she looked at the covers of the textbook she brought out. She wouldn't be surprised if he just realized the errors of his decision. While she understood this, the feeling of disappointment would always linger around but it would be quickly ignored. She was slightly startled as he began to speak out again. She listened intently to his words, she analyzed each word. Did he truly believe that she would be able to prevail? While Amira had her doubts about her abilities, maybe they could improve if she worked with Reinhard. If she gave him some advice perhaps she would learn and eventually grow to become a better blacksmith. Internally she couldn't help but laugh. It was such a far-fetched idea that it was highly unlikely that this would even be able to happen, but that chance... That small speck of hope she had for this future was plausible. While this was primarily her intuition speaking, even the logical side of her brain had agreed. Working with new people could help her mature.

She looked around and sighed. There was no way she could simply stay alone forever. She had to meet new people, and perhaps helping them would be the best way. Staring at the outstretched hand that beckoned towards her she wondered if she should grab it. He was still a stranger to her currently, that was no question but she knew by taking his hand they would no longer become strangers. After a few moments of consideration, she grabbed onto his hand, lifting herself up. "Please, don't call me Amira. Feel free to call me Ami. And I would like to, although I rather we get to know each other a bit first. I'm not very comfortable being the trainer of one that I do not know. But remember, do not expect much from me. I'm no master at tactics." A small smile appeared on her face as she spoke the words, as it spoke all the words she did not say. While a bit hesitant she had accepted his offer and would be happy to help.

As Amira took his hand and told him to call her Ami, Reinhard smiled. With excitement he wanted to hug her but he felt like that wasn't appropriate for the situation and plus he didn't know her. The first piece to a much bigger puzzle was found and now he had to go get another piece. "Im glad you have chosen to join me. So now we are going to go recruit someone else to our cause, you probably know him yall are in the same class. His name is Roland im almost sure..." Reinhard would then begin to walk off towards the training facility as he would begin to piece everything together.

-exit-