One of the Men

[Thor]

Thor patted his friend on the shoulder to comfort him about the night before. He left the small dorm and headed to the mess hall. Thor thought about Red as he walked. He could hear his friend's steps, heavy with a sleepless night as they were. Red had let Alex go the night before, but that had not mended the wounds in either the boy or his friend. Thor thought about the rage that he had seen, so strong he could see it in Red's eyes and the way he stood. Loki, before he had learned the to present his sliver tongued facade, had had the same look about him. Loki had had most of a millennium to perfect his ability to hide his pain behind jokes and schemes. Red's pain was fresh. He had only had two to three decades of life to internalize the pain and trauma. Maybe that was what drew Thor to him; the thought that he just might be able to save him where he failed to save his brother. Maybe it was just that Thor needed the foil of a sneaky pessimist. Despite all his betrayals and lies, Loki had been Thor's most constant companion. His skills and style had always complimented Thor's and now that Loki was gone he missed the silver tongued devil.

Thor entered the mess hall, got his food, and sat down. Red followed him in his exhausted state. They ate in silence, Thor not feeling like making his usual boastful outbursts after the sobering contemplation of his past.

Instructor Grayson busted in and called for Thor and the other six second tier recruits. The went to the courtyard that they had trained in yesterday. The Instructor spoke loud enough for all to hear. "Yesterday's sparring was to test your skill with a sword! Today we will be improving it! You will line up in a row of three up front and a row of four behind, looking at me!" All the men grabbed a sword from the rack and took up positions. Thor took one of the ends of the back line. "Copy and repeat this motion!" He demonstrated a simple but effective two swipe sword swing. The men began to copy. "I will be walking around to correct your forms until I am satisfied!"