Page 72 of All That Has Flown Beyond
Autumn shed its leaves around them as winter approached. Lars settled into the pack, a tempering force to Amaya’s sarcastic attitude. His easy obedience a balm to Ahmik’s need to feel in control, making the Kephale more aware of how he wielded the power he had. Lars got on well with Isla, both of them quiet and observant. He even seemed to stop Thea and Ahmik from arguing so frequently, their raised voices obviously putting him on edge, which was enough for Amaya to be prompted to step in and shut them up instead of keeping to the sidelines as usual.
Training, however, was still often a mess.
“Right! No, Thea,right!” Ahmik shouted. All of the pack except him were blindfolded, trying to find flags and avoid fake landmines at Ahmik’s instruction.
Thea, as always, was doing her own thing, robbing all of Ahmik’s attention. Emil wandered around, hands outstretched, whilst Lars took every instruction literally and didn’t move unless Ahmik told him to. Amaya was standing with her hands on her hips, and Isla had given up, sitting at the edges of the obstacle course with her blindfold still on.
“All right, all right. Let’s switch it up,” Kaiyo suggested, looking down at Edu in his arms. “Your pack is as stubborn as ever, huh?” he asked the baby, who smacked his lips cheerfully in reply.
“Okay. Isla. It’s boss time. Give Ahmik your blindfold.”
Unlike during the first training, Isla took the reins easily, handing the piece of material to Ahmik as the rest of the pack returned to the start of the obstacle course. Kaiyo switched up the location of the flags before returning to the periphery.
“All right, and…start!”
“Everybody stay still! If I say your name and a number, that’s how many steps you need to take. If I say your name and half-right, turn halfway to the right. Half-left, to the left. If I say turn around, turn one hundred and eighty degrees. All right…Mom, let’s start with you.”
Kaiyo watched with pride as Isla managed to guide them to the flags. Even though the pack seemed to forget about her when they argued, they listened attentively when she was put in charge.
“Well done! That was all of them!” Kaiyo exclaimed when all the flags had been captured. Isla jumped up and down, grinning.
“I am literally the best at this,” she beamed. Kaiyo grinned back.
“You definitely are.”
“How come you listen to her and not me?” Ahmik muttered to Thea, although he was smiling, giving Isla a high five.
“Because she gives clear instructions!” Thea said, but the usual animosity wasn’t there.
“I give clear instructions!”
“You literally just said ‘walk forwards’ and didn’t warn me about the log in the way! My senses are dulled, remember? I can’t smell anything on that course! Which is very creepy by the way, Kaiyo.”
“Creepy is my speciality,” Kaiyo said, glancing at Ahmik, who looked more considering than angry at the criticism for once. Kaiyo smiled.
Progress.
**********
Kaiyo and Ahmik coordinated easily as they washed up after the pack dinner. The sound of the rest of the members laughing in the living room filtered into the kitchen as they worked.
“How is Isla so much smarter than we were at that age?” Ahmik asked ruefully. Kaiyo chuckled.
“Necessity, I guess. I mean, come on. We were kind of spoilt when we were kids.”
“No way! And your dad was pretty strict.”
“I meant spoilt like…with pack. We never knew anything about what was going on—we were just kids.”
“Yeah. I guess Isla has been kind of exposed to stuff she shouldn’t have been.”
“Well, you guys were nineteen when she was born, and times were tough. But she turned out sharp as hell. And I think the training is doing her good. Gives her a voice.”
“You think she doesn’t have a voice?”
“Well…I mean, she’s the only kid in a pack of adults. It’s not like our parents listened to us when we were younger, but we had each other, you know? And…I don’t know. I do think she feels a bit…sad.”
“I mean…she’s quiet. Kids are like that sometimes.”
