Thistles and Weeds

Shepherd was bored. Really bored. He was tired of the calm wind and no danger in sight. He wished for something to do, anything. He knew it was sort of selfish of him wishing that on a perfectly fine day. He scolded himself for thinking such things. I should be lucky nothing's trying to kill anyone. He thought, sighing to himself. After all, the more peaceful the journey, the more rest he got and the less paperwork he had to do about some random encounter he would have to have taken care of.

Still, the thought didn't help his restlessness and he decided to get rid of said restlessness by walking around on deck. It was a rather pretty day with a fine blue sky, wind blowing nicely, and not a dangerous creature in sight. As usual, different members of the Drakonrhedi were training in their various strengths. He always loved watching them use the weapons they were familiar with and try to master them. Shepherd also found amusement when things didn't go their way or when they did, watching the sometimes silly or ridiculous reactions they pulled off.

Of course if they asked him for his help he would, but he knew they wouldn't. His appearance didn't exactly scream 'I'm a very helpful, kind, and gentle person!' if you catch my meaning. He did, however, look like he could kill you if you so much as glanced at him the wrong way. Still, it wasn't as though he cared for their oh so important opinions. The higher ups knew he would get whatever job they threw at him done and that's all he could really care about anyways.

As he was walking towards the area where the archers train, he spied what looked like a young Tiro watching the archers longingly. He blinked twice after noticing that the poor lad was missing an arm. Shepherd had heard a story about a young Tiro having a rather nasty encounter with one of the most notorious murderers this world over but he didn't expect the Tiro to be so...so young! A horrible thing to happen to one so young. Especially looking at the way he's watching the archers. He thought, feeling bad for the young man. He was just about to walk past the lad when he heard him speak.

“Too high. He’s aiming to high.”

Shepherd stopped short and looked at where the Tiro was looking. Sure enough, the archer's arrow didn't fly as true as one would hope and missed the target. Shepherd looked at the Tiro curiously.

"How could you tell that?" He asked suddenly, wanting to know. He wasn't much of an archer himself so he didn't know much about the subject. His shotgun didn't take him much aim since he was usually in close combat situations and it was, of course, an entirely different weapon.

“Well, he was aiming too high. He was holding his bow higher than he should have been. All he had to do was lower it and he’d have hit the target next to his other shots.”

Shepherd felt his lips quirk up in a smirk at how simple the answer was.

"That simple, huh? That's probably why I'm stationed on the front lines. Can't aim for shit with bows." He said, leaning against the railing.

He looked back at the archers, watching them trying to aim and maybe succeed at it. He appreciated a good sniper in a group fight, having one save his stupid ass while he was trying to get himself killed, apparently. He wondered if this young Tiro had wanted to become one. If that was the case, the kid has the absolute worst luck that he had ever seen. And possibly the greenest hair he had seen as well. Then again, he's never met someone with green hair. In those aspects the lad seemed interesting.

"I'm Shepherd. Shepherd Lawlesson." He said, offering his name to the green guy.

Shepherd thought that he might as well have a conversation with him if nothing but to give him something to do. Besides, as stated before, he did find the kid interesting. He did glance subtly at the place where the Tiro's arm should've been and decided not to mention anything about the missing appendage. Besides, he, himself, has some stories that he didn't like to recall even with closer friends. Some things just shouldn't been said. Shepherd might be blunt but he knew some manners, despite what some people say.

“Kaelan Avallochson.”

Hearing the name gave Shepherd something to call the kid something other than 'Tiro' or 'lad'. Kaelan seemed to only give his name to be polite and not exactly for something of interest. And why should he be? Shepherd didn't seem like a guy who lived on conversation. After waiting a few seconds, maybe even a minute, he realized the conversation was dying pretty quickly. I guess this is what I get for wishing for a fight. He thought absently.

How to get a good conversation going is the question he was currently faced with. Obviously he didn't want to mention the obvious things like the Tiro's hair or missing arm. And, let's face it, Shepherd isn't good at chatting with strangers. He usually ends up in a rather violent fist fight or something else along those lines. So what else was there to talk about? Shepherd certainly didn't see anything to speak about. He could ramble but that had a tenancy to end really badly or in a monologue.

"So," He started a little slowly. "What else can you tell me about archery?"

He might as well ask Kaelan about something he was obviously interested in. It was, in all honesty, the only thing he could think to ask about. Besides, he was a little curious about how much he knew about the subject at hand. The only thing Shepherd knew for certain was that archers were a great thing to have backing the fronters in a fight.

”It’s not like hand-to-hand or close combat, which you seem to be fond of. It’s precise, a lot of hard work, a lot of repetition. But I suppose every fighting style had those last two things. It takes a lot of concentration, patience, time, dedication to your weapon and the action of taking care of it. Much cleaner than bashing things’ skulls in. Personally, it’s a whole lot more fun and a good way to relax. Or rather, it was...”

Listening to the young man talk confirmed Shepherd's suspicions. He held a sort of fondness in his explanation but there was also sadness he could detect. Shepherd was impressed that he was strong enough to continue on after that happened to the lad. Ya gotta admire him in that aspect. He thought. He noticed that Kaelan was practicing with his magic. From the looks of it, the shadow kind. It was interesting to see the shadows move and form solidify.

“Shepherd? What’s it like? Constantly fighting the behemoths?”

The question brought his attention back to the Tiro. He pondered how to answer him for a moment before doing so.

"Honestly? At first, it was pretty scary." He said, looking over towards the sky. "My dad was killed by one and I don't exactly like being in near death situations. It's also really tough and exhausting, trying to help your teammates while not getting slaughtered in the process. But when I think of how much safer others will be, it's worth it. But that's just my way of seeing it."

He knew he didn't even try to sugar coat it and he knew he was never going to. It's always better to state the truth anyway. And besides, he was honest about the answer.

“What do you do when you can’t help them, your teammates? What do you do when you can’t save them?”

Shepherd frowned, looking back at Kaelan. He had to think about that one for a moment. He had been through some losses here and there, particularly with behemoths, and he wondered what loss brought that question on. He had trouble putting feelings into words so he was usually blunt about it. So, to hell with eloquence!

"Well, that is the one thing tougher than fighting behemoths." He started out, thinking. "When I'm useless and aren't fast enough or strong enough to save someone, at first...I deny it. I get mad at myself and think that I should've done something more, anything! It's hard at first, the letting go. But...it does get easier. Believe me." He stopped for a moment, looking at Kaelan with a small reassuring smile. "You may still feel guilty and whoever died can't come back but...we can move forward. And do them a favor by remembering."

Those last words were the words his father had spoken to him once after Shepherd had inquired the same thing to his dad. The experienced hunter faced danger on a regular basis and had to cope with being the one who survived every encounter up to the point of his death.

"Death is inevitable. Even if you stop it once, it'll just happen again at a latter point in life." He had said. "The only thing we can do is live until we die."

"I asked the same thing when I was young. I asked my father and that was basically what he told me. Life is the opposite of death. A yin and yang thing. We can't prevent it, only delay it." He added, looking towards the archers. They were getting better and missing less often. They would have battles and sometimes loose things they never thought they would loose, maybe even their own lives. But that was how things went and no one could stop that.

Shepherd wondered why he was being so...informational? Talkative? Philosophical? Well, whatever it was, he didn't know why he felt like being so. He also wondered why Kaelan asked him so bluntly and, quiet frankly, out of nowhere. He figured it had something to do with the incident. He had heard that a different Tiro was killed during it. Perhaps they were friends? That was the most likely scenario and why the question was brought up. Shepherd certainly looked like a fellow who knew a thing or two about harsh situations.

I hope he heard what he wanted to hear. No, needed to hear. He thought, glancing at him for a second. In the silence that followed, he relaxed a little. Maybe calm days are good...sometimes. He thought absently. His mom always told him that he didn't relax enough and who could blame her? He sure as hell didn't and never thought about relaxing in any situation, only about what he should do next.

"Ya don't really talk much, do you?" He said, smirking a little towards the guy. He wondered what the Tiro was studying now that he had an obvious handicap. Maybe Shepherd could help him get over that weakness. No doubt he thought of it as a weakness. Then again, the Tiro's mentor must be working on that aspect but it could never hurt to ask.

"Want me to show ya some defensive combat?" He asked, holding his expectation for a 'no'. But there still was the 'yes' to think of.

“Nope. Never really been much of a talker. I’d have pegged you the same if not for that rather long explanation.”

“I usually am, if I didn’t have to carry the conversation.” Shepherd replied, not really annoyed and a little teasing. He was rather rusty in the conversation department, considering he wasn’t the one to approach people and people didn’t want to approach him either. He was fine with it since he didn’t care for talking to random people but it was okay to do it sometimes. If he was in the mood and didn’t consider it a waste of time.

“Sure. Why did you ask?”

It took a second to let it sink in that Kaelan agreed to him teaching him some defense. Shepherd knew that he had to actually think here. He figured that the lad didn’t want him to say it was for pity, which it wasn’t. He just wanted to help show the kid how to turn a weakness into a great strength.

“I didn't ask this ‘cause I pity you, I asked because I respect you, kid.” He started out, telling the truth and being blunt again.

“To have something like that happen to you and deciding to move on takes a lot of strength. I know something about turning a weakness around on itself, if you hadn’t noticed I don’t exactly have both of my eyes.”

Usually he hated drawing any more attention to his eye than it already did. He didn’t like to bring up why he became half blind in the first place. It was a very touchy subject and if someone asks he does get harshly defensive about it. However, it seemed appropriate to bring it up in this situation. He could only hope Kaelan didn’t ask about it.

“Anyway, regardless of everything else, everyone needs defense lessons. Well, in my opinion.” Shepherd paused for a moment then shook his head slightly.
“Damn, I really do need to shut up.”