The Warrior and his Ward

Zephyrus was not why he expected anything other than the exact turn of events that had just transpired, but against logic and reason .. he was disappointed. Next time no battle cry. He told himself for at least the fourth time in his life. Swooping anticlimactically above his father's head and steel edged sword, Zephyr came in for a careful landing beside the large standing obelisk. It was odd how one could glide off the walls of a mountain and end up in such an odd, shallow valley. Peering around, Zephyr took sight of the multitude of cavern entrances that dotted both the northern and southern mountain teeth. The wind had lessened too, and now that he was between the two massive walls of stone he barely felt cold at all. Was it the adrenaline, or the location? Grasping the training swords so hard made standing uncomfortable, and so while he let one talon rest upon his curled toes, he angled the other so that the butt of the other sword would bear the rest of his weight.

Artorias was clearly upset by his antics, but the excitable bird took it on the shoulder with ease. He nodded as he was lectured, waiting for the muffled anger to pass and for his turn to speak to come, and when it did, exploded with enthusiasm. "Yeah, yeah, I know, but DID YOU SEE ME? Wasn't it cool!!?" It hardly hit home that the potential for danger was there at all - yes, Zephyr knew of (and had watched) Artorias's ability to decapitate large flighted birds specifically, but he also knew that his father was skilled in the craft. There was no risk to himself, Zephyr felt it in his feathers. Surely Artorias knew it too. "I want to do it again! Please? I won't tell mom as long as you show me how!" On a normal day the avian child would not dare to bribe or blackmail his father, but it was hard to remember how one should act to be proper on the back of so much thrill and adrenaline. Flapping his wings with renewed energy, he attempted to take to the air from a standing start, so he might be able to swing the swords around again.