Spar
Caspian bounced on the bed experimentally and let out a low whistle at the feel. The Fire Royal Guest suites really had the good beds.
Harry was curled up on the couch with his knees to his chest, staring off into the distance. Caspian thought hard on something to say or do to distract him but came up blank.
He'd offer to sneak around the palace for some fun but didn't want to jeopardize Harry's asylum in any way.
It had been a day since the two had asked for Harry's asylum and there was already news from the Fire Princess.
She had apparently sent out notices of Harry's arrival to the Evanson and Peverell heads, the two families Harry had seals of. She had also sent a notice to King Alcandor about the situation, and from what Zandian had implied had heavily reprimanded the merrow king of his treatment of Harry's situation.
Harry had closed off since Zandian handed off the news before returning to his duties. Caspian wasn't sure how to get him to open up again.
Maybe a walk around the courtyard would help? Or wait- no! What always helped Caspian when he was in a funk: Visiting the training grounds.
Hopping off the bed, Caspian loped off towards the couch excitedly.
“Come on, Harry, I want to show you something.”
Harry looked up, hazy green eyes focusing slightly.
“What?” he muttered.
“You'll see,” Caspian replied with a tiny wicked grin.
Caspian grabbed Harry's bony wrist and started pulling him towards the door. Harry stumbled before righting himself, huffing with faux irritation.
The two had been given a small tour of approved places for them to be in the palace by an aide the day before, and Caspian had been sure to memorize the layout immediately. Which came in handy now as he confidently led Harry to the gheyo training grounds.
When they reached the courtyard that acted as the training grounds, Caspian was only kind of surprised to see Zandian again. Harry was too, and he called out in surprise, “Zandian!”
The man's head darted towards the two teens in surprise.
“Harry, Caspian, what are you doing here?”
“Are we not allowed to be?” Harry asked anxiously.
Zandian shook his head. “No, that's not it, it's just-”
He paused, apparently unsure how to follow his sentence.
Caspian decided to head him off with an offer he had been dying to make.
“Would you be up for a spar?”
The man blinked his light blue eyes in shock.
“You want to spar with me? You do know I'm the Blood Flame, correct?”
“And I'm an Emery,” Caspian countered with a smirk.
The shock wore off and a more calculating look entered Zandian's eyes.
“Are you sure?”
Caspian took a glance at Harry, the haziness in the younger boy's eyes having faded entirely in his interest.
“Yeah, I'm sure. A friendly spar sounds fun.”
Zandian let out an aggrieved sigh, but his growing smirk said another story.
“Sure, kid, show me what you got,” he said, moving to an empty spot of the training ground. A few gheyos stopped their drills to watch the Blood Flame spar with a kid. The amused expression on their faces saying they thought they knew how it would go: a complete curbstomp.
Caspian knew he'd lose to the Blood title. This wasn't about winning. It was about doing his best, getting his first good workout since he left his family for Merrow Waters, and maybe impressing Harry enough he stays in the moment and not in his head.
Zandian got ready in a defensive stance, obviously deciding to play defense, and Caspian took the offered opportunity to go in for the kill.
Rule number one of fighting, in the Emery family, is always aim for the kill when you can. As Zandian was the Blood Flame, Caspian had no delusion he would actually permanently harm the other dragel and as such had no compunction in not holding back.
And like predicted, Zandian pushed him away easily, but the raised eyebrows conveyed his surprise at either Caspian's skill or guts.
The next minutes Caspian relied on instinct and his life's training. Emerys were more for one powerful and fast strike ending a fight immediately than long drawn out fights, so his spar was more of a workout than he was expecting. But in the end it was fun. And when he had the presence of mind to take a momentary pause and check on Harry, the boy was entranced by the intricate dance of Zandian and Caspian's fight.
Caspian wasn't sure how long it had been since the fight started when he decided to stop with the pure physical strikes and moved to elemental magic. His first lightning strike was deflected with fire, which he then summoned water to defuse. Zandian scowled at the use of water but Caspian just grinned as he combined his two elements to make his storm element more powerful.
By now, Caspian couldn't even check on Harry but he hoped he was enjoying the show.
The growing crowd was getting noisier.
Even just playing defense, it was obvious Zandian wasn't going super easy on Caspian with his strikes. It was only Caspian's nimble reflexes that saved him multiple times before he was met with what would be punishing strikes.
Finally, after a long time of trading blows, Caspian was getting super tired. The combined environment of being so close the Mount Ra and fighting in a drawn out fight, something he was not suited for, resulted in the next time he went in for the kill, Zandian's knock down of him was hard enough for him to collapse on the ground and struggle to get back up.
Seeing his continued struggle, Zandian relaxed his stance and walked over to him and helped him up.
“I got to say, you are a lot better than I thought you'd be, kid,” the man hummed.
Caspian felt a curl of pride fill his chest and he immediately looked over to Harry.
The boy's eyes were wide and sparkling. There was some concern on his face for Caspian but it was overshadowed by the pure exhilaration watching the fight had given him.
“Now, let's get you to a healer. I believe Harry is scheduled to see one today anyways, so one not specialized in fire types should be here and we can knock that out at the same time,” Zandian said.
Harry grimaced at the obvious reminder of his appointment but Caspian was happy.
Not a single speck of that dreary, introspective look could be found on Harry's face.