Chương 108: Bonus story : More than just colleagues : Part 12 : A Different Day

His gaze moved between his father and Aldric. Karim opened his mouth as though searching for the best way to answer, but Aldric spoke first.

"Yes."

"A real, real knight? With armor and a real sword?"

"Yes."

"And you really fought?"

"Yes."

"I think you just became his favorite hero," Lucas said. Karim looked at his son.

"You already knew he used to be a knight."

"But I thought you meant knight like in the stories."

"What is the difference?" Aldric asked.

"In stories, they have shiny armor, horses, and they save princesses."

"Some armor was shiny when properly maintained. Horses were also common."

"And princesses?"

"I have occasionally been responsible for protecting members of royal families." Yanis turned toward his father with a triumphant expression.

"See!" Karim raised his hands.

"Fine. I give up."

"You really did just confirm almost everything he imagined," Emma said.

"I merely answered accurately." Lucas leaned toward Yanis.

"Now ask him if he had a cape."

"No, I did not. Capes are not practical in combat."

"Too bad..." Patrick burst out laughing. Yanis moved even closer to Aldric.

"And you knew how to fight with every weapon? Even axes?"

"I knew how to use them, but I did not specialize in them."

"Spears?"

"Yes."

"Bows?"

"Well enough for certain situations."

"Hammers?"

"Much less." Lucas looked at Karim.

"He's going to go through the entire inventory."

"You brought this on yourself..." Yanis asked several more questions until Samira reminded him that he had already spent a large part of the evening questioning Aldric.

"Let him breathe for a while."

"But he knows about dragons."

"The dragons will still be there tomorrow." Yanis looked at Aldric.

"Are you coming back tomorrow?" Karim burst out laughing.

"That's not exactly what she meant."

"We will probably see each other again." The boy returned to his figurines and resumed his game, changing the positions of his soldiers according to the advice Aldric had given him a few minutes earlier. The rest of the evening passed quietly. Lucas made one last attempt to convince Aldric to tell them about the battle against the largest dragon he had ever fought, but Karim ended the discussion by pointing out that it would take several hours if they started going through all of the former knight's campaigns.

Patrick joked that they should set aside an entire evening for his war stories, which was met with enthusiasm from Yanis and protests from Samira. A few days later, Karim asked Aldric if he was available on Wednesday afternoon. The question came during their break at the depot, as they were finishing their sandwiches before getting back to work.

"What for?" Aldric asked.

"Yanis won't stop talking about you." Lucas immediately looked up from his meal.

"Obviously."

"He has half a day off school on Wednesday. Samira is working, and I took the afternoon off. I was thinking of taking him to the park. If you'd like to come..."

"With pleasure." Lucas placed a hand over his chest.

"Why do you answer him in two seconds when I had to negotiate for an entire day over my football match and we still haven't even done it..."

"His proposal does not require me to learn the rules of a sport before accepting it."

"He has a point," Karim said. Lucas shook his head. Wednesday arrived quickly. Aldric met Karim and Yanis in a park a few metro stops from the depot. The boy was carrying a backpack almost as wide as his shoulders and walking a few steps ahead of his father. When he spotted Aldric, he raised a hand.

"Aldric!" He ran over to him.

"Hello." Yanis stopped right in front of him.

"Dad brought something."

"For the record, this was not my idea." Karim opened the bag he was carrying and pulled out two small wooden swords.

"They're light."

"That's the point," Karim replied. Yanis took one.

"Dad said you could teach me." Karim intervened.

"I said you could maybe show him a couple of things if you didn't mind." Aldric took the second sword.

"I do not mind." Yanis's face immediately lit up. They settled on a patch of grass a little away from the other people in the park. Karim placed the bag near a bench before warning his son that he had to follow Aldric's instructions.

"No hitting the face."

"I know."

"And don't hit too hard."

"I know." Aldric examined the wooden sword.

"He will also need to maintain enough distance to avoid accidental contact."

"There. Listen to him," Karim said. Yanis stood in front of Aldric and raised his weapon.

"Like this?" Aldric crouched down to his height.

"Not exactly. Place your feet farther apart." The boy obeyed.

"Like this?"

"A little less." He corrected the position of his hands, then showed him how to hold the sword without gripping it too tightly.

"Now, try to hit me." The boy raised his weapon.

"Are you sure?" Karim asked.

"Yes." Yanis attacked immediately, but Aldric deflected the blade with his own. The boy tried again and got exactly the same result. He attempted a third attack, then a fourth, without managing to get past Aldric's defense. Yanis eventually stopped.

"You're cheating. You already know where I'm going to hit."

"Because you look at the place you want to strike before every movement."

"Then I'll look somewhere else."

"That might work against someone very inexperienced, but you would also risk no longer watching your opponent."

"It's complicated."

"Yes." Yanis returned to his stance and raised his sword again. This time, Aldric deliberately slowed his movements. He could have deflected every attack, but that was not the objective. He gradually allowed the boy to get closer. After several attempts, Yanis managed to touch Aldric's forearm with the tip of his sword.

"I got you!"

"Yes." Karim applauded from the bench as a huge smile appeared on Yanis's face.

"Well done."

"I beat a knight." Aldric gently shook his head.

"No."

"But I hit you."

"That is different." He crouched down in front of him again.

"Touching your opponent once does not mean you have won. And today, I was not fighting at my full ability." Yanis frowned.

"So you let me win?"

"No."

"What's the difference?"

"I did not let Yanis hit me. I simply adjusted my speed and strength so that he could genuinely try. The movement that allowed him to touch me was correct." Yanis looked at his sword.

"So that really was me?"

"Yes." His smile returned.

"I like that answer," Karim said. They continued for a while longer. Aldric taught him how to step backward without crossing his legs, how to keep his weapon between himself and his opponent, and most importantly, never to strike someone who had not agreed to play. Yanis took that last rule very seriously.

"Even if someone makes me angry?"

"Especially then. A weapon should never be used to settle anger." After a break, Yanis turned the exercise into a real game. The rules became much more imaginative. The bench now represented a fortress. A tree a few meters away became a tower protected by a dragon. Karim was appointed guardian of the kingdom without being asked for his opinion.

"Why do I have to guard the bag?"

"Because it's the treasure," Yanis explained. Karim looked at the bag containing two bottles of water and some cookies.

"Very valuable."

"You have to protect it."

"Fine." Aldric was given the role of the main knight.

"And me?" Yanis asked.

"You can be my squire." The boy frowned.

"I want to be a knight."

"Then you must first complete a mission."

"Which one?" Aldric pointed toward the tree.

"Reach that tower without being touched by the monster guarding it."

"What monster?" Aldric looked at Karim. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Why do I have the feeling it's going to be me again?" Yanis burst out laughing. Karim found himself walking across the grass while pretending to be a monster with considerably less enthusiasm than his son. Yanis ran around him while Aldric watched his movements and told him which direction to take.

"To the left." Yanis immediately changed direction. Karim reached a hand toward him and lowered his voice.

"I'm going to get you." The boy dodged the attack with a laugh and ran in the other direction. Knights appeared, followed by dragons, an enemy army, and finally a sorcerer who, according to Yanis, could transform trees into soldiers. After almost two hours, Yanis finally began to show signs of fatigue. He returned to the bench near their bag and opened a bottle of water. Karim gave him a cookie before joining Aldric.

"Thank you. For playing with him like that."

"I enjoyed the activity."

"So did he. He's going to talk about this day for six months."

"That seems like a long time for a few hours."

"You don't know children yet."

"You're right."

"What you told him earlier, about not using a weapon when you're angry... that was good."

"It is an important rule."

"That's what scares me sometimes."

"What?"

"Everything you have to teach him. When he was a baby, it was almost simple. You had to feed him, change him, make sure he didn't fall. Now, every year, he understands more things and asks more questions. And sometimes I wonder if I'm giving him the right answers."

"There are wrong answers?"

"Of course."

"You have to teach him to be careful without making him afraid of everything. To defend himself without becoming aggressive. To be kind without letting people walk all over him. To trust people, but not just anyone. And you're not perfect yourself. So sometimes you're trying to teach him something when you don't even know if you're doing it right." In his old world, Aldric had commanded men much older than Yanis. Some had even possessed more years of military experience than he had.

Yet his responsibility seemed simpler than the one Karim was describing. A soldier already knew the world when he came under Aldric's command. A child still had to discover it.

"So you have to prepare someone to face situations you cannot predict, without being able to remain constantly at their side. That sounds difficult." Karim gave a small laugh.

"Thanks. Very reassuring."

"I did not mean that you were failing."

"I know."

"In my world, protecting someone often meant preventing danger from reaching them. A guard stood between the person he protected and the threat. A fortress kept the enemy away. Armor stopped a blow."

"With a child, you can't do that all the time."

"I'm beginning to see that."

"Sometimes you have to let him take a risk."

"A small risk. Because otherwise, he'll never learn." Karim pointed toward Yanis.

"When he was younger and climbed onto something, my first instinct was always to get him down. Samira kept telling me I had to let him try. So I learned to stay close instead of preventing everything." Aldric watched the boy, who was trying to balance his wooden sword on one finger.

"And if he falls?"

"I'm here."

"In that case, protecting someone does not always mean preventing something from happening."

"Sometimes it just means being there when it happens." This way of viewing protection was the opposite of everything he had known for much of his life. A knight protected by placing himself in harm's way. A commander protected by anticipating danger. A guard protected by controlling access.

"That requires a great deal of trust."

"In him, yes. And sometimes in myself. You know, when he was born, I was afraid of everything. If he coughed, I thought he was sick. If he slept too long, I'd go check that he was still breathing. One day, Samira caught me standing beside his bed for ten minutes just watching him sleep." Aldric saw nothing strange about that.

"You were checking his safety." Karim burst out laughing.

"Don't encourage me. She made fun of me enough already."

"That concern seems rational to me."

"That's why you and I get along so well." Yanis called out to them at that moment.

"Dad!"

"Yes?"

"Look!" The boy had managed to balance the sword on his head without holding it.

"Take that off before it hits you in the nose." Yanis obeyed. Aldric looked at Karim.

"Intervention necessary?"

"Exactly." They joined the boy before continuing their walk through the park. This time, the swords went back into the bag, and Yanis ran ahead of them without needing to invent another battle. Sometimes he stopped in front of an insect or a plant, asked his father a question, then ran off again. In the middle of the afternoon, they bought three ice creams. Yanis chose a chocolate ice cream large enough for Karim to remind him that he probably would not finish it.

"I will."

"You always say that."

"This time I will." Ten minutes later, he handed what remained to his father. Karim looked at Aldric.

"See? Some battles are predictable."

"You already knew the outcome."

"Years of experience." They parted ways at the end of the afternoon. Aldric thought that would be the end of the day, but Karim contacted him again two days later. Karim: Yanis wants to give you something. Will you be at the depot tomorrow? Aldric replied that he would be there, as he was every morning. The next day, Karim arrived with his bag and a sheet of paper inside a transparent sleeve. He waited until the morning break before taking it out.

"Here." Aldric took the sheet.

"What is it?"

"Yanis made it last night." Aldric opened the sleeve. A drawing made with pencils and markers covered the sheet. He recognized a knight standing in the center. The figure was much taller than all the others, wore gray armor, and held a sword. To his right stood a red dragon breathing an impressive amount of fire. Behind the knight, several smaller figures stood in a line: a man, a woman, and a child.

"Is that me?"

"Apparently." Aldric pointed to the dragon.

"This one seems particularly large."

"He wanted to draw the largest one you ever fought." Aldric pointed to the other three figures.

"And these people?" Karim looked at the drawing.

"Yanis, Samira, and me. He said you could protect us if a dragon ever came to Paris." Lucas, who had just walked over, looked over Aldric's shoulder.

"That's incredible." Patrick joined them and looked at the drawing.

"He drew you bigger than the dragon."

"The perspective is probably inaccurate," Aldric replied. Lucas rolled his eyes.

"Just look at the drawing." In his kingdom, he had received decorations, titles, weapons, and even gifts from royal families. Some of those objects had cost more than several houses, and craftsmen had sometimes spent months making them. Yet this sheet of paper gave him a strangely different feeling. It did not reward any victory, and no king had ordered its creation. A child had decided that Aldric was someone his family could stand behind if a dragon approached.

"Thank him for me."

"You can tell him yourself next time."

"I will." He slipped the sheet back into the sleeve before placing it in his bag.

"You're going to keep it?" Lucas asked.

"Of course." Patrick smiled before heading back toward the truck. That evening, Aldric brought the drawing back to his apartment. He spent a few minutes deciding where to put it before choosing a shelf near his books. The sheet rested against the wall, visible enough for him to see it from the table. His phone vibrated on the table. He looked away from the drawing and opened the notification. A new message had appeared in the Extreme Movers group chat. Lucas: Barbecue on Saturday? Patrick: Yes. Karim: Works for me.

Emma: With pleasure 😊 Aldric: I will be there. Lucas reacted with a thumbs-up before sending another message. Lucas: This time nobody cleans my apartment 😂