Scouting For Romance

Entry 26

Day 11, Month 16, Year 572

Jovaisa blew his whistle again and we all converged on an open, grassy field.

My eyes immediately went to Ludwik.

"Aaaaaah-ha-ha-ha."

"What's up?" Tytus said.

I pointed across the way, where Ludwik and Marian were coming out of the tree line, bathed in faint green light from the glowing flowers overhead. He lost even more muscle mass. He was no longer this super tall monster of muscle, but this super tall, lanky, loser looking fellow. Still buff and he could probably beat most in a fight, but he didn't look proportional anymore. He looked dumb. Awful.

"Oh! He looks good!" Tytus waved, and the pair waved back.

"Good?"

"Healthy, sustainable. I bet he'll find running a lot easier now, compared to that first day."

"I see." I was a tad annoyed that he didn't laugh. "There is Linda." I said, pointing towards the north side of the clearing. "Remember our goal. We must learn to make soap."

Tytus stared at her for a bit longer than he should have, but I can't blame him. She looked clean and fresh. I'm the only girl he's seen for the past few days and then he gets to look at that? I don't stand a chance. Even the natural beauty that was Anita was beginning to show the wear and tear of the wilderness. "Right. Should you talk to her, or should I?"

"I will talk to her. We are in a similar plight and she will be more willing to listen."

"Similar plight? I'm joining the military too, you know."

I put a dirty hand on his shoulder and shook my head. I felt the nasty, matted, clumped strands of unwashed hair smack the sides of my face. "We are both unmarried women joining the military. It is different for us."

"Actually, having you talk to her would probably be better, since you get along well with others... but that's the exact reason I don't want you speaking to other girls."

We nodded in agreement at the plan and got in line with the rest of the class. Just like before, Jovaisa went to each recruit and asked what skill they'd like to work on. When Jovaisa and his attendants got to Anita, she said she'd like to learn how to make soap.

"Oh. I guess it would be easier to ask directly."

But Jovaisa shook his head. "I've already scheduled a lesson on that for when we get back to the barracks, part of the 'hygiene and diseases' class. There'd be no point teaching some of you that now, only to teach you all again later."

While his logic made sense, I needed soap now because I stink now. The plan with Linda was still on. But after Jovaisa had our desired lessons sorted, he set us up to practice zemsta as we waited for the attendants to prepare. This zemsta would be more dangerous than our previous session as we were falling on the cold, hard ground, not soft sand.

We did that for a bit, Tytus and I going back and forth. Thanks to the lessons I got from Jovaisa last time, I was able to knock Tytus down a few times. He still had the distinct advantage in terms of strength and skill, but it was a little more even than before. After a while, I convinced him to let me throw him so he could get practice in falling. Falling, basically, involves keeping your head as up as possible, then slapping your arms against the ground to disperse the impact away from your back and spine. It hurts your arms and hands a lot, but breaking those is better than cracking your skull.

Throwing Tytus was fun. I made little comments as I did, 'this is for getting us lost in that forest,' 'this is for releasing my pet bird,' 'this is for not watering my plant.' Then, when Tytus got up he'd ask 'what did you say?' and I played it off like it was nothing. But I kept bringing up all these small, insignificant grudges from decades ago. It was hilarious.