The Perfect Knight and the Illusionist (BL)

LEO

It was silly that I only realized it was the day I had been waiting for after my friends showed up in my room packed and ready to go. Saturday had come, finally.

Thomas and Isabelle had come to visit me with Marius and the canary on Monday or Tuesday. That was very nice of them. The canary hadn’t started singing yet, probably because he was still in a new environment, which I could understand perfectly well, but he kept me good company. I tried reading the book that Isabelle lent me, Tales of the Witches and Folk Magic, and although I was a super slow reader, it had been a fun read (I only managed to finish the first Chapter).

But what I had really been waiting for was today—a weekend stay-over at a lodge in the forest just outside the capital, which Mathias allowed me and Isabelle, Thomas, Dimitri, Beatrice, Janice, and Marius to use. It was one of the afternoons that Mathias came in, during the visit by these same friends, and suggested the idea.

"Would you guys like to take Leo on a small weekend trip to help his recovery?" he said back then.

Everyone was surprised by the suggestion, except Marius who seemed to have somehow heard the news before everyone else. Marius looked at me as if he was dying to know whether it’d make me happy, and I made sure that he—and everyone—knew that I loved the idea. The only downside was that Mathias later told me I couldn’t bring Big Sis Sally here because this place was the Academy’s property and only the students of the Academy were allowed. That was a pity, but Sally understood and wished me well and lots of fun.

The lodge was well furnished—almost as well as my room!—and well stocked with all the amenities. We were to cook our own meals, but there was no need to go hunting or gathering for dinner as all the fresh ingredients were already in the kitchen. Isabelle volunteered to be in charge of making the meals, and Thomas ensured everyone that she was a great cook, so we trusted that.

Once we left our bags in our rooms, with all the boys taking one room and the girls staying in another room, we decided to go visit the lake, which was only a short walk from the lodge. We walked through the woods—where the trees all looked friendly and welcoming—and arrived at the lake, and this was the first time since I left Erdville I didn’t feel too far away from home.

"Wow, the water is so clean," Beatrice was the first one to comment as we got close enough to touch the lake.

"The view here alone is probably already worth the trip," Isabelle agreed.

"Do you think we can fish here? Leo—you said you were good at fishing, eh?" Thomas asked.

"But we have enough food back in the lodge," Janice chipped in.

But seeing the calm water, and lots of pebbles around, my mind could think of only one thing.

"Let’s do a rock-skipping contest!"

I suggested.

"Ah, I’m not that good at it," Thomas shrugged.

"Ha! If it’s about throwing ANYTHING, I think I can win!" said Dimitri.

"How does it work?" Marius asked.

Instead of explaining, I scanned for a suitable pebble, which I found quickly, and threw one flat against the water, making it skip five times on its surface.

"Wow, five times on your first try?" Thomas whistled. He then looked at the ground to pick a random stone, and before I could stop him, he threw it against the water. The rock sank immediately without bouncing even once.

"Thomas... that’s not the right type of stone...," I said.

But before I could fully explain to Thomas what kind of rocks he should pick, Dimitri yelled,

"SEE THIS!!!"

Then Dimitri threw a big rock, at least the size of my head, into the lake, which landed with a massive splash.

"Ha! That was awesome!" he exclaimed triumphantly.

"Dimitri, that’s not how it works at all, haha!" Thomas laughed.

"Look, guys, it all starts with finding the right pebble. You don’t want something crazy big like that! Look for a pebble that’s somewhat flat," I instructed the city boys and picked a decent one off the ground.

"Then you throw it like this, flat against the water, so that it will skid on top of it."

With that, I threw the rock again, and this time, it skipped six times.

I was feeling good.

I noticed Marius was watching me very carefully, and he picked out a stone and gave it a go himself.

It skipped on the water four times.

"Good! But not quite as good as me, ha!" I told Marius.

Then I thought—if Marius could get four on his first try, then if I helped him a little...

"Wait a moment," I told Marius and looked for a good pebble. After some effort flicking through a few candidates, I settled on one that I knew would be perfect.

"Try this one," I said, handing the pebble I picked to Marius.

Marius received it gratefully, brought it close to his eyes to study it very carefully, and asked me,

"Could you show me your throw one more time?"

"Sure."

I picked another stone. It didn’t matter too much whether it was perfect. It was just to show Marius how to throw it. This time, I got five skips. Still decent.

Once I was done and turned to look at him again, I had to stop myself from laughing at just how serious he looked. So without any further words, Marius steadied himself, took a deep breath, and threw the stone and it skipped—

"Whoa! EIGHT times!" Thomas exclaimed.

"Excellent!"

I also yelled and ran up to Marius, and told him,

"You MUST come to Erdville with me someday. I think you’d give Davi a good challenge!"

We all laughed, except for Marius, who, again, thought about it deeply and said,

"I promise I will. Someday."

I couldn’t wait for the day when Marius could meet my friends back home.

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