Chapter 5: To Become a Man

The next several days proved long and hard for Peace, or Kload, as she had now become. Yevish found it mostly entertaining. That would change though once Peace had time to start training him. She would still try and keep it joyful, but it would be difficult. She remembered all her years of training. She had grown up tough. These first several days were consistent of Yevish training her. She had learned to act similar to men during her days in the army. But now she had to learn to be a man, it was quite different, and most difficult. Especially considering that she would have to do such 24/7 for who knows how long. Yevish was quite helpful though. He had watched men all his life. He had been abused and beaten by most of them as well. Part of the reason why Peace hadn't started training him yet was because he wasn't physically well enough yet. There had been a few gruff brutes in a few days ago and Yevish had made them mad, which caused a beating from both them and the inn owner. He was covered in bruises and Peace was convinced that one of his ribs was broken. Really he had come off very well over all, but he was still weak. However, he was getting stronger, he was a very resilient young man.
"Your standing too straight again." Yevish looked down at Peace from atop Darkstar. Kload was walking alongside the horse and boy, being as walking and stance was the main thing she was struggling with. "You look too much like a soldier. We need to fit in, so you have to slouch a little. You have to look more common."
Peace sighed. 'Okay Peace, or Kload, you can do this.' Peace drooped her shoulders a little and adjusted herself. "Like this?" She looked up at Yevish as she asked.
"Yeah, there you go. Now you've got it." Yevish smiled down at her with that broad sunny smile of his. This child had never had a chance to smile like that, she was glad he could now.
Peace looked back out ahead and kept walking, Yevish on Darkstar right beside her. Over the past several days they had been traveling like this. Yevish had taught her how to be a man in every aspect possible. He had taught her to be a particular type of man though, one who was strong and smart, yet good at staying in the background and who didn't draw attention to himself. The last thing either of them needed was to get noticed any more than they would naturally. Yevish had taught Peace how to ride, walk, stand, sit, sleep, speak, and do everything else just right, according to him. Which was good enough for Peace. Little boys were generally more attentive than grown men towards such particulars.
Peace looked out across the horizon, the sun was setting in the west. It had been a good day and they had made it far. They were out of the wastes now and the ground was splattered with bunches of grass and other plants. There were also occasional trees and water collections ranging from small pools to close-to-flowing creeks. The towns were becoming a little better off and the townsfolk were getting closer to their friendlier stages. Which compared to where Peace had been living, across the desert, they were barbaric. She knew that that would not improve hardly any though, no matter how far inland they went.
Yevish was still watching her, making sure that she kept up her momentarily proper walk. He smiled. She was doing good. He was quite happy with himself, he had effectively taught her to be a man, and she was doing very well at keeping it up. He liked Kload and he believed that he had made the right choice in trusting her. 'Kload, her, hmm. That's an interesting combination.' Yevish thought to himself, and laughed silently at the idea. He looked back out over the darkening lands. They would have to find a place to stop soon. Traveling at night wasn't specifically more dangerous than traveling during the day, but nonetheless, it was more suspicious to others. Which was something they wanted to avoid.
"There, to the right, see the little valley?" Peace indicated with her hand. "We'll stay there tonight." Yevish reigned Darkstar in the direction Peace had indicated. Darkstar didn't really need the direction and obviously wasn't used to it, if anything could be told by the way he tossed his head in defiance.
Peace patted the horse's neck. "You'll have to get used to it old boy. We've got to match in as much as possible. All though as far as that goes I would have been better off bringing a different horse." Darkstar snorted in response to that comment, and Peace patted him again. "Don't worry, I wouldn't trade you for anyone else in the world."
The three went on till they reached the destination Peace had picked. They ate a small supper and stretched out in their separate bedrolls. Before they went to sleep Peace said a prayer for both of them. Yevish listened intensely, keeping his eyes shut tight. Yevish knew that whoever this God was the Kload prayed to was very important to Kload, therefore He was very important to Yevish.