In the dappled light between the trees and the cottage, Leiyu and Thallios sparred with swords.  They had to be careful because they were wielding their actual swords and not wooden practice ones.  More than half a year had passed since they last used them, so they were out of practice.

Leiyu blocked one of Thallios’ strikes.  Thallios inhaled and exhaled heavily.

He’s still recovering, Leiyu thought.  I’ll go easy on him for the time being.  Since he can’t turn into Amara anymore, there won’t be any surprise surges in strength.

Thallios struck again and Leiyu blocked it.  Leiyu noticed that his own arms were shaking.

I’m kinda rusty myself…it’s been a while…

He breathed in and out.  His heart was pounding.

I’m also getting tired more quickly…the Earth Priestess transferring my qi to revive Thallios must have diminished my strength…it’s been months though…why haven’t I fully recovered yet?

Thallios steadied himself and held his extended dagger sword upwards.

I wonder if Thallios would ever be able to form a golden core, Leiyu thought.  Probably not at his age.  Do people from other regions even have them?

Thallios ran forward and swiped at Leiyu.  Leiyu stepped aside and dodged the attack.  Thallios tumbled onto the grass.

“Maybe that’s enough for now,” Leiyu said. “Don’t want to tire yourself out too quickly.”

Thallios got up and stuck the tip of his sword into the grass.  He leaned on the hilt and exhaled deeply.

Leiyu walked over and put his hand on Thallios’ shoulder.  “Don’t worry.  It’ll take time.”

***

Leiyu and Thallios lay on their stomachs in front of a patch of dirt in the grass.  Thallios had asked earlier about learning the Eastern Region script, so Leiyu was teaching him now.

“Our script, at least in this part of the Eastern Region, is not phonetic,” Leiyu explained.  “Every word is like a picture.”  He drew the character 日 in the dirt.  This is the word for ‘sun.’  Well, there’s actually another word for sun, but it’s got two characters.  We’ll start with this one for now, since it actually looks more like the sun.  This word also means ‘day.’”

Leiyu then drew the character 月.  “This is ‘moon.’  It can also mean ‘month.’”

“What about your name?” Thallios asked.

Leiyu smiled.  He drew two characters in the dirt.  “This is lei (雷), ‘thunder’, and this is yu (雨), ‘rain.’”

“These two words look almost the same,” Thallios said.  “The first one has an extra grid underneath.”

Leiyu chuckled.  “Yes, I suppose it looks like a grid.  Yes, the top part of lei is yu (雨), ‘rain’, and the bottom part is tian (田), ‘field.’”

“So, ‘thunder’ is written as ‘rain’ over a ‘field’?  That’s interesting.”

“What about your name?  I’ve never seen you write it out before.”

“Ah….it’s not going to be a visual picture like your name.  The Western Region script is alphabetic.”  Thallios traced out his name in the dirt (Θάλλιος).  “Th-a-ll-i-o-s.”

“Does it have a meaning?”

“Um, it’s kind of silly.”

“Oh?”

“It’s derived from thallós (θαλλός), which means ‘green shoot’ or ‘twig.’”

Leiyu chuckled.  “Twig?”

Thallios made a face.  “Don’t laugh.”

Leiyu smiled and ran his hand through Thallios’ hair.  “It’s cute.  My little twig.”

Thallios leaned his head on his arms.  “I’m not sure why my parents named me that.  Maybe since I’m just an offshoot of my mother.  I was supposed to be her replica after all.”

“What about ‘Amara’?”

Thallios wrote it in the dirt (αμάρα).  “The name ‘Amara’ is actually from a different language spoken by the people in the Southern Region, but the Western Region incorporated a lot of different cultures.  It means ‘immortal’ or ‘deathless.’”

“Ah…is that why she said she was the ‘deathless one’ that time she was standing up to Jianyi?”

“Ironic, isn’t it?”  Thallios said.  “Amara is gone.  Her soul shattered and was sent to the four corners of the world.”

Leiyu caressed Thallios’ face.  “You’re still here…”

Thallios rolled over so that his back was on the grass.  “So…what do we do now?  Training’s over for the day.  We just had breakfast not too long ago.  I could get started on making lunch.  Or laundry.  Haha, I feel like we’re always doing laundry.”

Leiyu moved closer so that he was hovering above him.  “Or we could just stay here.”  He brushed his thumb over Thallios’ lips.  Thallios felt a tingling sensation and he exhaled.  Leiyu leaned over and kissed him.

“Mm,” Thallios murmured.  “You’re always so openly affectionate now.  You weren’t like that when we were traveling.  Well, maybe you started to show it more near the end of the journey when we were in the Water Goddesses’ sanctuary.”

“Well, escaping from our pursuers was the highest priority back then.  Also, I hadn’t come to terms with how I felt yet.  It was actually after you…died…and came back that I wanted to express my feelings towards you more.  Because even though you were given a second chance at life, in the back of my mind I was always afraid that it would be snatched away at any time.”

“Ah…that has always haunted you, hasn’t it?  The brief time I was dead.”

Leiyu shuddered.  “Yes.  It never stopped haunting me.  You know…after you died, I told Samarian that she should just kill me right there, since I didn’t want to keep living without you.”

“Oh, Leiyu…” Thallios’ amber eyes became misty.  He cupped Leiyu’s face.  “You didn’t tell me this before.  I wouldn’t have wanted you to do that just because I was gone.”

Leiyu brushed away Thallios’ nascent tears and sighed.  “I know, but at that moment I was just devastated and I couldn’t think of anything else.  It was the worst moment in my life.  Far worse than when I was almost killed by Astatine.”

“Ah…and that’s why you’ve been so overprotective since?  Even more than you already were?”

“Mm.”

“And you said she used some of your life force to revive me?”

“Yes.  Maybe that’s why I feel tired often.  I’m still trying to build it back.”

“Oh…” Thallios put his arms around Leiyu.  “You’ve done so much for me!  I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to repay you.”

“There’s no need to repay me.  I love you.  As long as you’re alive and well, that’s all that matters.”

“I guess…you’ll always be a part of me then, if it’s your life force that is sustaining my body now.”

“Mm.”  Leiyu raised his eyebrows.  “Actually, do you want to do something else, since we have some time before lunch?”

“Hm?  What are you thinking?”

“Remember when you asked me to ‘fly’ you back to the palace during the Summer Festival?”

“Oh…yes…”

Leiyu got up and helped Thallios stand.  “Do you want to do that again?  It would just be through the forest of course, and I’m a bit tired, but I should still have enough energy.”  Leiyu turned around and crouched.

“Ah…you want me to climb on your back?”

“Sure, unless you prefer me to carry you in the front like a princess.”

Thallios laughed.  “It’s okay, that’s probably more exhausting for you anyway.”  He climbed onto Leiyu’s back and wrapped his arms around Leiyu’s shoulders.

“All right, hold on tight.”

Leiyu leapt into the air and Thallios yelped.  He made it to the canopy of the trees and ran over them as if they formed a road.  After scattering many leaves, they made it to a clearing in the forest and Leiyu jumped down.  He landed on the shore of a lake. It looked like a brilliant cerulean mirror surrounded by damp polished rocks.

“Wow, what is this place?” Thallios asked.

“Dunno.  Just found it randomly.”

“It’s beautiful.”

“I could probably teach you how to swim here too.”

“Ah, right now?”

“If you want.”

“We’re not really dressed for it.”

“Well, you don’t really need to dress for swimming.”  Leiyu grinned.

Thallios laughed.  “Leiyu…”

***

They left their boots and robes on the shore and only kept their pants on.

“Ah!  It’s so cold!” Thallios exclaimed as they waded into the water.

Leiyu smiled and held Thallios’ hand.  “You’ll adjust to it.  And I could keep you warm if you want.”

They went out further until their feet no longer touched the bottom.  Thallios shivered and gripped Leiyu’s hand.  Leiyu floated over and wrapped his arms around him.

“This lake’s pretty calm,” Leiyu said.  “If we were in the ocean, it would be way choppier.  I don’t have experience swimming in that type of environment.”

‘Ah…so if we take on this job, we’re basically doomed.”

“Well, I was never one to back down from a challenge.  Although I do have to protect you, so we can’t be reckless.  Let’s not worry about the job right now and just focus on learning how to swim.  I’m going to let go now, and I want you to keep afloat on your own.  Just move your arms outward in a circular motion and kick your legs back and forth.  Above all, remain calm.  If you start panicking, you’ll sink.”

Leiyu let go of Thallios and floated off to the side.  Thallios panicked at first and started to flail.  He then slowed down and did what Leiyu said.

“There you go,” Leiyu said.

“Where did you learn this?” Thallios asked as he kept treading water.

“I learned how to swim when I was living at the sect with Shifu and the others.  There was a river near our compound.  The older disciples taught us younger ones.  I don’t know where they learned it.  It’s just knowledge that got passed on and on.”

Thallios continued to kick his legs below the water’s surface.  “How do I move forward?”

“Mm, you could try this,” Leiyu said.  “Start off with your arms and legs extended, like a line, while your head is underwater.  Sweep your arms outwards and down in circular motion and bring your head back up to take a breath.  Then, let your arms sweep inwards, extend them towards the front again, and put your head back in the water.  While you do this step, kick your legs like a frog.”

“Like a what?”

Leiyu chuckled.  “You’ve never seen a frog swim?”  He did a demonstration of all the steps he described.

“That looks rather complicated,” Thallios said.

“It’s all right, it was hard for me when I first started,” Leiyu replied.  “I’ll help you practice.”

Thallios let Leiyu move his limbs in the water and blushed as Leiyu’s fingers brushed against his skin.  They practiced for a while, and then gave up and just floated in each other’s arms.

“I think you did okay,” Leiyu reassured him.  “We can practice again later this week.”

“Mm, I wonder how Amara knew how to swim.”

“Amara knew how to do everything since she was a goddess avatar.”

“Ah…I wish I could have retained some of those skills.”

“Don’t worry about it.  I don’t mind teaching you.”

Thallios leaned into Leiyu’s chest and wrapped his arms tighter around him.  Leiyu kissed the top of his damp auburn tresses.

“Are you cold?” Leiyu asked.  “Do you want to go back?  I can cook lunch.”

“Mm, Leiyu, you do everything.”

“I like taking care of you.”

“I know,” Thallios murmured.  “I just want to be able to do some things for you.”

“You do the laundry.”

Thallios laughed.  “Besides laundry.  We can cook lunch together.  I need to learn how to make more things besides rice soup.”

“Well, I’m not that great of a cook either.  I just boil things or roast them over a fire.”

“Mm, maybe we can get a fish since we’re already in a lake.  Getting hungry.”

Leiyu smiled and held him closer.  “Sure, we can do that.”