[Memory] Swimming Lessons at the Tower

[Andros]

It took some time, but Andros got his bearings in Radenor, or at least the eastern half of it. A peddler has to know his market and Andros certainly didn’t when he came to the country. He took the better part of a year to make his way north through Jorikford and Northradica until he reached the coast to Oxentide, which he liked. It reminded him of a larger, much colder Evortai.

During these early travels, Andros moved from town to town. He’d visit a fair, stock up on as many small items as he could carry - pins, salt, pots and pans, knives, sickle blades, cutlery etc. Then he’d wind his way across the countryside, stopping at villages and bartering his wares for room, board, and a few small coins. It wasn’t especially lucrative but he was coming to know the country, and that was invaluable.

After a few months sleeping rough, Andros began stopping at Guild towers whenever he passed near one. They were a safe, reliable place to rest up, and the company tended to be better than in the villages. The mages and their guardians were typically quite bored and happy to stuff him full of food and drink in exchange for his stock of stories. And visiting Hakon when he returned to Versterhal Tower was a special treat. The two men had faced death together and that formed a real bond, even though they had little in common. Andros considered him a friend.

There was a downside to moving from tower to tower, however, despite the good company. Andros wasn’t making any money there. Pins and pots didn’t suit the mages. They had the basics and were a cut above his usual clientele. They wanted books, decorative knife holsters, spices, and other medium-level luxuries, and these were mostly unavailable in local town fairs along his route. As much as he liked the security and better-than-average food, Andros wasn’t making any money at the towers.

He hit on a good idea, however, in Glade. Mages love to write, apparently, and there’s nothing finer for it than lambskin velum. His two female sheep had five lambs that year and he sold one in toto at a guild tower; meat and bones to the mages’ kitchen, wool to the weavers who make their cloaks, and skin, once he’d tanned it, to the warden for more money than he’d made in his entire time in Radenor up to that point.

The guild had deep pockets and its members had plenty of coin in theirs. Catering to their needs would be a gold mine. Andros, his commercial senses tingling, hightailed it back to Oxentide. He loaded up on as many small luxuries as he could in the well-stocked international marketplace, and took a ferry downriver all the way to Leiden. Then he started moving slowly back north, selling his items at a handsome profit from tower to tower.

He was feeling flush when he reached Vesterhal, having sold half his stock in just a few weeks. He’d put some profit into a larger cart and wheeled into the courtyard of the tower with pride. Giving the stablehands a few more coins than usual to look after his animals and his cart, he climbed up to his friend’s little room. It was Searing and finally getting to be what passed for hot in Radenor. It would be the perfect time to teach Hakon to swim.

[Hakon]

Few people found their way back to the mage's tower again unless they had need of help a second time, but Andros was true to his word, and visited him as and when he could even though their business was concluded. He didn't need saving from a rogue mage a second time, nor did he really need anything in particular. Hakon wasn't sure why, exactly, Andros kept coming back, other than that he'd been invited to do so and he got a free bed and food out of the deal, but Hakon would not complain. He enjoyed the older man's company.

Andros told him about life in Teos, sometimes, and about life on the road. Hakon had traveled in Radenor a bit, but always as a Guildmage and therefore always on official Guild business. He was rather obviously not an ordinary traveler and he knew that he was not treated as one. People generally did not speak to him unless spoken to.

It seemed like it was different for Andros. People were friendly with him, or at least talked to him without hesitation. Hakon could understand that as he himself found it a lot easier to converse with the man than with most other folks he'd met. Something about the peddler just put him at ease.

So when he showed up one day in Searing and told Hakon that today was the day, that it was indeed time for Hakon to learn to swim, the Guildmage did not dismiss it out of hand. He got rather excited, actually, and went to the First Warden to explain the situation, who sighed at him but agreed it would be useful to have him know how. Jorikford had streams and rivers a-plenty and not having to worry about crossing them could only help.

So it was that Hakon received the rarest of blessings: permission to go out with Andros completely unaccompanied. There were some stipulations, of course: he was to be back in the tower by Sunset. He was to go to the nearest watering hole which was about a twenty minute ride, and return promptly. Most importantly of all, he was to show significant progress in learning how to swim. Hakon was confident he could do that, so he agreed.

As he and Andros left the tower together and Hakon steered them in the right general direction of the watering hole, Hakon thought it best to make conversation, so after thinking a bit for what constituted a good conversational topic, he went with: "You seem to be doing well, Andros. Have there been favorable trades since I saw you last?" Perhaps giving the man an opportunity to talk about his business would be good. Hakon may not understand all that was said about it, but he liked to hear of Andros' accomplishments.

[Andros]

Hakon was an unusual young man. Guild members could be intense, but for the most part they were simply normal; dedicated to their jobs, yes, but also fond of good food, good wine, time off, and lots of hobbies (which was something Andros could make some money supplying). Hakon, by contrast, was single-minded. His life was the Guild and the pursuit of rogue mages. It made him a little difficult to talk to, but Andros respected this about him.

He was curious to see what Hakon would be like when he was fully off duty; not at a tower, not under the watch of a guardian, just a free man, if only temporarily. So he stayed quiet and let Hakon open the conversation, which he did politely, asking about Andros’ business.

“It’s going very well, my friend,” Andros responded with pleasure. “It took me some time to get my feet under me, but I’m turning a profit. Supplying the Guild towers has proved much more lucrative than dealing with the villagers. They’re so much better fed here than in Daravin but they’ve still got no money”

He leaned in towards Hakon and spoke quietly, in a conspiratorial way. What was about to say wasn’t wasn’t a secret, but it would make Hakaon feel singled out for trust. That’s good for friendship, and better for building a rapport before they get in the water and Hakon has to trust himself.

“Between you and me, Hakon, you boys have too much money to burn. The prices the Guild members will pay for trinkets are outrageous. Not that I take advantage, of course.” He laughs. “Well, I do take a little advantage of the wardens. They’re so arrogant! How can you not?”

Andros stood back up straight, wiping a bead of sweat off his face. It’s not as hot as he’d like today but the brisk pace Hakon has set is getting him ready for a swim.

“My plan is to start traveling from tower to tower on a circuit, maybe over the course of a year with multiple trips to Oxentide to resupply. So far ’ve been to Vesterhal and Breniven in Jorikford and Demrek in Northradica so far, but I haven’t gone across the river yet. We’ll have to see how it goes. Anyway I’ll probably be here on a regular schedule so we can keep in touch.”

As they crested a small hill, a swimming hole came into view. A stream had been partially stopped up and deepened to create a clean, open spot for swimming. The swimming hole was shaded by willow and pine trees and quite beautiful. Hakon took the view in with a sigh.

“Perfect. And we’ve got it to ourselves. Let’s get started - I want to work up an appetite for the lunch they sent with you.”

Andros stripped off all his clothes. The attitude towards (male) nudity in Teos is quite relaxed, and Andros had never swum in clothing in his life. He wasn’t about to start now. Walking down to the water, he quickly assessed its depth and then dove in, swimming the full length of the little pond, then back. His muscles tightened up in the cold water, then relaxed as they warmed up. He did a somersault under the water, then a backflip. He was showing off a bit, but swimming always made him feel lithe and strong, and maybe 20 years younger.

[Hakon]

Once they arrived at the watering hole, Hakon had been expecting instruction. He was used to the Guild, where teaching tended to be rather formalized. Even his instruction with weapons had come from the Scarlet Watch, and therefore had been regimented and militaristic. It would not be so with swimming, it seemed. Andros stripped, revealing the kind of sturdy body built by a lifetime of walking and carrying heavy things, then he did a flip into the water. Hakon couldn't help himself, and gawked.

He had not always been a large man. He had actually been a rather small kid, and his growth had come in quite late. It was like his body had forgotten he was his father's child, and then something had deigned to jog its memory when he was approaching seventeen. Since then, he'd gone from one of the shortest men in the tower to the tallest, and put on a prodigious amount of muscle. The resulting growth had left him ungainly. Even now, several years later, he still felt as though he sometimes was not quite sure where his feet would hit the floor, or where the tips of his fingers were during training. All this is to say that he'd never imagined himself the sort of person who would be able to do that sort of thing, or who would want to. Seeing Andros do it, however, awakened the desire within him.

He grinned, shucking his clothes and leaving them in a neat pile on his boots before coming to the edge of the watering hole. The current was gentle and the water was warm, and he could see the bottom. He was decently sure that he could stand as he got in the water, so he decided to put his legs in the water, first one and then the other. It felt nice, not unlike the baths in the tower, but also different, somehow. Maybe it was the natural beauty all around them. He let out a huff of breath as he left the edge and allowed himself to be submersed entirely.

Well, submersed up to his shoulders, anyhow, before his feet hit the bottom.

"So, Andros. Would you mind showing me how exactly I'm supposed to do this?" Hakon asked, but unlike the last time they were in the water together, he was in good spirits. It was a beautiful day, after all. Maybe this would be fun.

[Andros]

Hakon was so big. When he got in the water, Andros felt a wave. He couldn’t come near the bottom but Hakon could stand with his whole head out of the water in the deepest part of the swimming hole. He swam over to Hakon and treaded water as he prepared to start the lesson. He laughed, teasing gently.

“Well, you won’t drown at least. A river would have to be pretty high to cover your head, wouldn’t it? And the ocean here is too damn cold to swim in even in Searing, so you’re safe there.”

Andros flipped onto his back and floated, holding his arms out straight to make it even easier and gently kicking his legs to stay afloat.

“This is the first step. You have to learn to float on your back. When you’ve got that you’ll flip over and hold your breath while you float. That’s the hardest part, keeping your head under the water. And probably harder for you because you’re learning as an adult - easier to just go for it when you’re doing this at age 4 and you don’t know any better. You’ll have to learn to trust yourself.”

He swam a few strokes away to where he could stand and put his feet into the muck. He felt a tadpole or small fish slither between his toes and shivered.

“Once you get that we’ll break for lunch, then I’ll show you some strokes in the afternoon. That’s the easy part. You’re fit and coordinated, you’ll get it quick. Now, come over here and I’ll help you. Just fall backwards into the water and lift your feet up. I’ll hold you up to start, then when you’re comfortable I’ll let you float on your own.”

[Hakon]

Hakon remembered watching Andros move through the water when they'd first met. He'd marveled at how the man's body seemed to just float. No matter what he did, he seemed to sink like a stone. Since then, he had tried paddling a bit in the water, the instinctive motion that all land-based creatures seemed to possess if they were in a body of water, but he'd quickly ended up just returning to walking through the water because he'd sunk so fast that his legs ended up near the bottom anyhow.

If what Andros was saying, there was a trick to it, something that could be learned. Hakon was not so certain about this. Maybe Andros, being from Teos, was buoyant in way that he, coming from Northradica, was not. Still, Andros seemed certain, people from parts of Radenor had learned to swim. Perhaps he could, too.

Hakon stood in the water, uncertain, before shuffling over to Andros.

"So, I just, ah, fall over? And kick my legs up? And then I will just float, somehow? Forgive me, Andros, but that seems unlikely. I will sink, will I not? Is is the case that you have to believe you will float in order to float? If so, I will pray that I will float until I feel the certitude this skill requires. How do you know that you will float, each time you fall backwards? Is it just the memory of doing so before, or is there a feeling in the body?"

He laughed at himself.

"I'm sorry. I have many questions. I just wish to get this right."

[Andros]

Was Hakon scared? He wasn’t saying so, but he also wasn’t making an attempt to float either. It sounded like he was delaying. Andros was a little tickled. A big killer like Hakon afraid of water he could stand in. But the mind isn’t always rational, Andros knew, and every man has his fears.

Fortunately, Andros has done this many times, often with children who were much less hesitant about expressing their fears. The first few daughters he simply tossed into the water, just like his father did to him, but as he aged and mellowed out, he learned a gentler approach. Firm, still, but less frightening. It helped the younger ones learn to love the water, which made them better at diving for clams and crabs - a win-win for the family.

The firm part is easy with kids. You just pick them up and put them on their backs, even if they’re thrashing and yelling at you while you do it. They calm down quickly and get excited when they realize they’re float. But Hakon wasn’t one to manhandle.

Andros ignored his rambling questions. “It’s better to just do it then to think about to much. Here, I’ll help you float. Make your body as loose as you can and let me move you,” Andros instructed. If Hakon cooperated, he could get him on his back.

He positioned himself so he was facing Hakon’s left side. He reached down and put his left arm behind Hakon’s knees. Then he put his right hand in the center of his enormous back.

“Don’t be afraid. You’ll float.” The mention of fear was meant to provoke just a tiny bit of shame. Hakon would feel like he has to prove himself by being brave and cooperative.

And it seemed to work. Andros gently used his left arm to scoop Hakon off his feet and raise then to the surface. He lowered Hakon’s upper body down to the water with his right hand. In a second it was all done. Andros kept two hands under Hakon, one on his hip and one on his shoulder, but they were just there to make him feel safe. He was floating.

[Hakon]

People swam in Radenor, and in Teos, and everywhere else in the world, and they had for hundreds of years. Andros was right. He'd be fine. He could do this. Hakon allowed himself to be positioned by Andros. Were the older man more slightly built, he would have found it amusing, the idea that he could be held up by him like some kind of princess in a woodcut, but Andros was solidly built and Hakon had seen the man hoist crates of heavy goods like they weighed nothing so dismissing him on the basis of his height alone would have been a mistake.

He tried to make his body loose. He assume that it was a bit like prayer, so he took a few deep breaths with Andros' arms draped under him, supporting him like the two poles of a clothesline. Only he wasn't taut, he was loose, hanging on to Andros' arms while he levered his head out of the water so it wouldn't sink. His feet were dragging in the water, and Andros hadn't said to paddle or kick to keep upright, so he let them list toward the bottom. The rest of his body was being supporting by the man who was treading water, and besides, he could stand up, if it came to that. There's no way he could drown.

With this bit of unearned confidence, Hakon closed his eyes and tried to relax further. He took a big, deep breath and held it in, feeling his body lift slightly out of the water as he did so.

"My breath does not want to be underwater," he related to Andros. "It wishes to stay afloat, and so I float, as well."

Hakon had received the best education he could at the tower, but they had not spend a lot of time going over buoyancy or the Radenorian understanding of the sciences in general. He'd learn much more of magic than of physics or the natural sciences, more of religion and literature than mathematics beyond the basics. He knew ducks and ships and some humans floated, but the exact principles beyond it escaped him. Maybe the air helped.

"Am I ready for the next phase, then? What happens next? Do I kick, perhaps, to keep my legs up?"

[Andros]

Hakon seemed to relax, and after a minute Andros took away the hand that was supporting him. The young man didn’t let go of his arm, as if he wasn’t sure if he was really floating or if Andros was holding him up. In fact he was doing it on his own. There really is nothing to it, just staying relatively still and maintaining balance. If you can ride a horse, you can float on your back.

“You’re doing very well, my friend,” Andros said with a smile. He really was, now that he’d passed his initial fear. “Kick your feet up closer to the surface. If they get too low they’ll drag you down.”

Andros took his arm away gently to let Hakon feel independent and watched him get used to the water. He patted Hakon’s shoulder for reassurance.

“You’re built like an ox, you know. You must do a lot of training. I used to wrestle at the gymnasium in Evortai, but it’s been a long while.” He laughed. “Don’t challenge me. I’d be honor-bound to accept but my back is bad enough as it is.”

Feeling pleased with his success so far, Andros got onto his back to float next to Hakon. Floating in calm fresh water is such a beautiful feeling, especially in a scenic place like this. On his back, he could see stunning mountains in the distance, all a deep shade of green. After more than a year in Radenor, he could admit that it was more beautiful than Teos. Green is just more appealing than the dull brown of Mikronisi’s treeless hills and craggy peaks.

“I’m going to kick around a bit. Try to follow me. Hold your fingers together and push your arms down to your side while you do it and you’ll go faster.”

[Hakon]

Andros withdrew his arms and for a minute, Hakon panicked, and sank like a collapsing bridge. Remembering his earlier obsevation, though, he took in a deep breath of air, and his torso floated back up before his whole body went under like a waterlogged tree trunk. He began to kick his legs, or more accurately to trash them, but there was enough power in the strokes that it kept his legs from being dragged down. He even started propelling himself, a bit. It wasn't an efficient stroke, but he was, in a technical sense, swimming for the first time.

He let out a happy little whoop.

"I feared it would be hours," he said to Andros, trying not to sound boastful at his initial success.

When he reached one bank of the watering hole, he grabbed it spun himself around. It wasn't graceful, and he had to do it a few times, but he managed to turn around without his legs touching the ground.

"I will not challenge you to wrestle at your request, Andros, though I actually rather enjoy wrestling. I do so with the Scarlet Watch, when they permit me to join them in their training. There's something quite thrilling about grappling with another man and not knowing what will happen next. I must admit I favor it over gentler pursuits, like reading or cards. It just gets the blood pumping, do you not find?" Hakon rarely sounded more excited than he was talking about physical pursuits, and being out on a beautiful day with friend and no oversight made him feel something unusual: free.

In the back of his mind, he wondered if normal people felt this way all the time. He tried to push that thought away and just enjoy this day for what it was: a joyful reprieve from his usual duties. The vigor of a young man who trained for hours per day kept him from getting fatigued as he continued to gamely paddle from one side of the watering hole to the other in one of the least efficient ways possible.