Chapter 225 - 223: Join Us

Chapter 225: Chapter 223: Join Us

​Then the world turns, and he tastes dirt.

​The soldiers start counting.

​" Nngh ," Khobi growls, struggling against the weight pinning him to the ground and getting both of his arms yanked behind his back for his efforts.

​The count hits five, and Khobi curses. As do the soldiers who’d bet on him.

​Usually he’d be on his feet in an instant but today, as soon as the weight holding him in place drops away he just rolls onto his back to glare up at the sky, feeling somewhat cheated.

​The ground’s cold, but he’s used to that.

​And will continue to be, apparently.

​Dammit .

​A face appears overhead. Loac’s face, to be exact, peering upside-down at him.

​(This feels oddly familiar, too.)

​He’s covered in dirt from his time spent rolling in it and has his arms folded across his chest.

The strange heat that had been there behind his eyes only moments ago is gone, but the light hasn’t entirely vanished. It makes him seem very...human.

​Just this once, Khobi doesn’t make a petty grab for his ankles. But just this once.

​"What are you lookin’ at?" Khobi grizzles, irritated.

​"Nothin," comes back the low, matter-of-fact drawl in response. Khobi reconsiders his generosity.

​"So, you gonna help me up or what?" he grinds out, and while Loac seems kind of taken aback by the question, because Khobi can definitely stand on his own, he does –after a beat –extend a hand.

​Which Khobi had not been expecting at all.

​He almost doesn’t take it.

But he did ask for it, after all, and with a sigh, he reaches up and grabs it. Wordlessly, and without much effort considering his size, Loac drags him to his feet.

It feels oddly unnatural to thank him, so he doesn’t.

​(As he stands, Khobi finds himself taking particular care to keep his balance.)

​He immediately makes a beeline for the crowd to chew them out for messing up their count when he clearly had him.

They seem to disagree. Even the ones who had wanted him to win.

​For some reason, losing feels even worse today than it usually does.

...

It’s not too much longer before training concludes for the day.

The weather is turning, moods are souring, and Drogger and Ynoro have more papers with them now than they did when they first arrived.

​Rogard’s glad to be back and all, and he’s annoyed that he’s still got to wait for his chance to go all out against Loac, but he’s also immensely glad to have been able to sit out parts of today’s training.

Everything he does he does well, but he’s not particularly well suited to unarmed combat.

That sort of stuff is much better suited to the brutes like Loac and Khobi. It had been one of the rare things he and Vogrid had agreed upon back then.

​He’s also not in any rush to get punched in the face again.

​They must all be feeling a little worse for wear today because the soldiers who are left are slower to move off towards the mess hall than usual.

The cold weather seems to do that; slows everyone down and dampens the mood. And he’s about to head off with them when he finds himself seeking out Loac.

He’s probably where he usually is; several feet beyond the rest of them, loitering by himself. Maybe stretching out an injury or bandaging himself up.

And he’s not too far wrong; he finds Loac exactly where he’d expected to, except that he’s gotten one part wrong.

​This time, he’s not alone.

​Khobi ?

​"...Oi, are you coming or not?" Khobi is saying as Rogard waltzes over. He sounds impatient.

And then looks annoyed, when Loac just looks up at him blankly, from where he’s working a kink out of his elbow.

​" Huh ?"

​"A bet’s a bet, right?" Khobi huffs crossly, "So I’ll make you some. But I’m having dinner first."

​"Do what you like," Loac tells him, and it suddenly doesn’t sit right with Rogard that he clearly has no intentions of coming with them.

It’s a part of this, after all. He’s here training just like the rest of them, why should he not be sitting with them at mealtimes, when they get to be more like friends than opponents?

​(He’s not sure why he cares.

He never used to.)

​No, he does know.

​After all, wasn’t he the same, not so long ago?

​Back then, he never would’ve let Khobi hang off him as carelessly as he did today.

Or shared stolen sweet cakes with a servant.

There would have been no one making the kind of face Khobi had made when he’d gotten injured.

He would never have let himself have feelings for someone his father thought he shouldn’t.

​Back then, he never laughed as openly as he does now.

​You’ve changed .

​Loac was right.

​Things are different now.

​(Better.)

​"Hmm? What’s all this about?" Rogard cuts in, voice bright and full of bells as he comes up beside them.

Khobi’s face was already scrunched, but he seems to have a very visceral reaction to the cheer in Rogard’s voice.

How offensive. Khobi is clearly incapable of being charmed.

Rogard hangs off him anyways. He looks mildly constipated about it, but he lets it happen. "You’ll eat with us, right Loac?~"

It’s Loac’s turn to grimace.

​"Why would I?" he scoffs, and Rogard waves away the silly question like it’s a bad smell.

​"Why wouldn’t you?" Rogard counters smoothly, "It’s fine since you and Khobi are going to hang out later, right?"

​"We’re not going to hang out," Khobi deflects immediately, and Rogard channels his inner Ynoro-master and only hears what he wants to hear.

​"It’s decided, then!" he chimes, ignoring Khobi’s look of alarm as he loops his arm through Loac’s and wheels the both of them to follow after the rest of the soldiers.

He used to drag Loac around like this a lot when they were younger, but hasn’t dared to do it since they were kids. There’s been no reason to, after all.