Vagrant - Part III

           “So what is this dyad initiative?” Van asked before the silence became noticeable to the others.

        “It’s actually quite a brilliant idea,” Finnian enthused.

        “By the king’s grace, I will be given command of a battalion of one hundred men in defense of his city,” Thrace began.  “The dyad initiative is an experiment.  The battalion will be trained as a group, just like any other.  But in addition to training as a single unit, all the men will be divided into pairs.  These pairs, or dyads, will be training together, fighting together, responsible for each other.  This ensures that each man in my battalion has someone watching their back, and that they’re watching someone else’s.  Like brothers, they will be.  Each man is accountable.”

        “The brilliant thing, though, is that this extends beyond training,” Finnian said excitedly.  “Soldiers, by their very nature, must live by discipline.  By rules.  We sleep when we’re told, eat when we’re told.  We serve as we’re told.  Life can feel very solitary that way, constantly following orders.  But being paired up means the dyads do everything together while serving in defense of the king.  They train together, yes, but they eat together, patrol together, fight together.  Suddenly, you have a comrade in arms to share the struggles with.”

        “What happens if a pair of soldiers Thrace pairs up don’t like each other?” Van asked, secretly baffled that the pair of them hadn’t thought of this quite obvious possibility before.

        “That’s the other brilliant piece of this,” Finnian said with a wide smile.  “Thrace is letting his soldiers choose their partners.”

        “There is no guarantee that, even with soldiers choosing their fellows, there will not be complications,” Thrace said.  “However, fearing failure is no reason not to try something.”

        “Barring simple failure, there is another complication I foresee that could ruin you Thrace,” Van said with the easy smile of assumption.

        “Which is?” Thrace asked genuinely.  There was no hint of condemnation in his voice.

        “Well…” Van was surprised by the earnest way in which both Thrace and Finnian were scrutinizing him.  How could they not have seen what he was about to say?  “These men will be doing everything together…in life threatening situations.  What happens if some of them,” Van was struggling to find the words.  “…carry their relationship beyond brotherhood?”

        Finnian let out a loud laugh that startled the few patrons that had come into the bar since Thrace arrived.  Thrace showed no hint of emotion.  The big man simply took another swig of his ale.

        “Van, people are who they are, and they do what they choose,” Finnian said trying to stifle his laughter and wipe the tears from his eyes.  “You think pairing them up is like a magic spell that suddenly changes their very nature?  Come now, we’re grown men.”

        “Rightly put Finnian,” Thrace said, finishing the rest of his ale.  “It is a small way of thinking.  But I would expect no more from a cynical man who’s never left this small town.”

        “Cynical?” Van asked; red in the face from embarrassment and humiliation.

        “Aye,” Thrace said, sitting up to look Van square in the eye.  “Finnian has not been back here since he left for the king’s city, but I have.  Many times over the years.  I’ve seen how bitter you have become.  How many jobs you took and gave up when they got too difficult.  It’s a shame.  When we were boys, you were always the most hopeful of us.  How many times did we play at knights and how many times did you swear to us that knighthood would be our lives some day?  But time marched on and with age you saw how hard the world can be.  So you gave up.”

        “That’s not true,” Van said quietly.

        “No?” Thrace goaded.

        “I have tried my hand at many things over the years, but I came to learn I did not like any of them,” Van said heatedly.  He breathed and composed himself.  He took another swig of ale, sat back and let an easy half smile come across his face.  “Why work hard at something you do not enjoy doing?”

        Now it was Thrace’s turn to smile.  “You betray yourself.”

        “You always loved swordplay!” Finnian threw out, tripping over his words in his haste to speak.  “There is no question you were once the best swordsman of the three of us.”

        “Once?” Van prodded, a rivalry in his tone that was betrayed by the fact that he could not suppress a small laugh.

        “Well, Thrace and I have been training with all manner of weapons for ten years,” Finnian jabbed back.  “Surely you do not think you can defeat either of us when you have been out of the game so long.”

        “I have found it often ends badly when trained warriors underestimate natural talent,” Van smiled wide.

        “Then you have not stopped using a sword?” Finnian surmised.

        “Of course not,” Van said.  “That would be like living my life with a perfectly good tongue but choosing never to speak.”

“What say you Thrace?” Finnian asked as he turned to look at his captain as though he were a child asking an elder for something.

“There are better choices Finnian,” Thrace said gruffly.

“Not for me.  He’s been one of our closest friends since we were boys,” Finnian said flatly.

“Pardon me,” Van butted in.  “Something tells me the enigmatic topic of this conversation is myself.  And while I’m flattered, especially by Thrace’s confidence, might I ask what it is you two are talking about?”

“Van, will you join Thrace’s battalion as my brother in arms?” Finnian asked, looking Van dead in the eye.

“What?” Van was stunned.

“More than a brother in arms,” Thrace interrupted.  “Finnian, you must care for each other as family, or the dyad will not work.  You have not seen Van in ten years.  Can you honestly say you still see him as a brother?”

“For me it has proven true, time and again, that the closest friendships are so because they are almost effortless,” Finnian replied.  “You can be apart from your closest friends for years, so that when you’re faced with each other again you feel truly changed.  Adult.  Mature.  But here is this friend who knew you before the veils of manhood could cover your silly obsessions with insects or your fear of the back of your mother’s hand for breaking her vase and you’re reminded of who you were.  Then the truth; a truth that you keep forgetting so long as you’re not around the people who know you best; comes out.  You are different, but not so different.  I have no siblings Thrace.  Nor parents anymore.  But being here, today…I am reminded that I still have family.”

“And you believe he sees you the same way?” Thrace asked Finnian.

“I am sitting right here Thrace,” Van had had enough.  “Why not ask me?”

“Very well,” Thrace said as he turned and looked hard at Van.  “Do you?”