The Keepers of Azera ( Book 1 of the Keepers Trilogy)

Chapter 27

About twenty minutes into practice, Amacus storms in, looking cross and antsy. "Hey, Amacus!" I call.

Unfortunately, I let my guard down and James accidentally hits my jaw hard. "Aw, crap. Callie, you okay?"

"You should not have let your guard down," Amacus says helpfully. I glare at him and push James's hands away. "I'm okay, James."

"I know, but I hit you where the bruise was, and-"

"The bruise is mostly gone, James. Calm down. Let's continue."

"Alright," he says. "But Amacus is right- you shouldn't let your guard down, especially in combat."

"In combat-James, I'm fourteen! I won't be in combat, I'm stuck underground prancing around with wood!"

"Oh yeah? What about that premonition? You weren't in the Training Base."

"What?"

Too late, I realize James is trying to distract me, and I barely block his blow. "Oh, come on! You hit me once in the face already!"

"Keep your guard up," James says as he wedges a sword between my Kryiats. I manage to remove it, but have to duck in order not to get hit. James grins. "Now, that was impressive!"

"You have fast reflexes. That will be good in battle," Amacus praises.

"Again with the battle, I'm never gonna leave this stupid pla- James!" I shriek as James comes at me again. I block him by crossing the Kryiats. "Would you stop that?"

"Nope. You've gotta stay on your guard, you've gotta-" I manage to shove him off of me and swing towards his stomach. "Hey!"

"You gotta stay on your guard, James!" I shout as he comes at me. I dodge him and make another swipe at him, this time at his knees. He isn't able to avoid it and drops to the floor. I immediately crouch down next to him. "I'm so sorry-are you okay?"

"That was...good. That was good, Callie." He grabs my shoulder and tries to pull himself up. "I can't stand. Shit."

"Nice profanity. Amacus, help me!" I yell at him. Amacus rushes over and together we pull James to his feet. "Okay, new rule: no knees, no stomach. Oof."

"So faces are fair game?" I ask immediately.

James sighs. "I can't even complain about your smart-Alec mouth because I'm pretty sure you got that from me."

"You really can't. I'm so sorry, James. I wasn't thinking."

"It's okay," he grunts. "I'm good. I think training is over for the day." He allows us to steer him to the spiral stairs in the middle of the Rec floor and down to our dorm. When we get there, James staggers to the couch and flops onto it.

"I'm sorry," I say again.

"Don't be, I should've probably set parameters before we started training."

"It's just..." I scratch the back of my neck. "I don't mean to hurt you, and...I should've thought."

"Callie? Stop it. It's okay. How many times do I have to tell you that?"

Amacus opens his mouth, probably to say something about combat, when the door opens and Poppa comes back. "Where were you?" Amacus asks.

"I brought brownies," Poppa says, holding out a tin-foiled plate.

"Yeah, you told me that you liked to raid the kitchens while you were training here, didn't you?" James asks, propping himself up on his elbows. "Old habits die hard, huh? Do you get in trouble at home for eating dinner before it was served?"

"No, Marilyn yells at me for eating dessert before dinner," Poppa replies, placing the plate of brownies on the table. "I have a sweet tooth, you know."

"Oh yeah. For you, Callie, and for you, Amacus, remember this: Alex isn't as good as he appears to be," James says.

"No, I always managed to attract trouble. It's unfortunate, but it's the truth. I can't do anything about it." Poppa sighs theatrically and shakes his head. "But these brownies are delicious, try some. And I didn't actually steal them-I swung by and simply asked for a tray. I swear, I will never get used to the amount of respect a Chief gets."

I swear to the Elders, you can see the look of confusion and disgust on Amacus's face upon hearing the good-doing, reserved Chief stealing brownies from the kitchen. He makes a point of not taking one, so I break off a piece of mine and stuff it into his hand. "Try it, it's good."

He looks at me, then at the brownie, and finally pushes it into his mouth. Almost immediately, an indulgent smile spreads across his face that he tries to fight. "It's...nothing I've ever had before. I kind of like it." 

"Well, excellent, because as far as I'm concerned, Azera is the only other planet to grow cocoa other than Earth," James says, helping himself to another brownie.

"Cocoa?" Amacus repeats blankly. "What is that?"

"Amazing," I say. "Unless there's no sugar, in which case, it's disgusting."

"Did you know that we stole the recipe from the humans?" Poppa says. "We talk about how underdeveloped humans are, but we've gotten a lot of ideas from them. Recipes, weapons, transportation... did you know that we based our cars and airplanes off of theirs?"

I can tell most of this is going over Amacus's head. So he just nods and takes a brownie. "That is good. I could not get this on Tura."

"Listen, when you get back to Tura, ask your father to import a whole bunch of brownies from Azera," I suggest. "Only for your family, though."

"No, my younger brother might eat it all on us. Or, more likely, my parents will give them all to him. I told you already, he is a spoiled brat."

"Then take a tray and eat it on the way home," I say.

He gives me a rueful half-smile. "If only it were so easy."

"How wouldn't it be?"

"It's just not possible, Callie." He takes two more brownies, then looks at the place and grabs a third. "I'm going to bring a couple to Alexa, if that's all right."

"Of course, Amacus," Poppa says. "And if you want more, the people in the kitchen are extremely nice."

"He's telling you to nick it," James says out of the corner of his mouth. "What's the third brownie for, anyways?"

Amacus takes a bite out it. "Myself."

"That's the spirit," I say, clapping him on the back.