Lessons - Kidman/Flag

[Journal Entry] Flag/Kidman In what seemed ages hence, two anomalies crossed each other upon a tarmac. They took each other in, sized each other up, then continued on their way under the eve of a solar eclipse. A year passed, damaging the more tender of the two while second grew further estranged. In spring they met again and remained together, bound by the conditions of their necessary refuge. It hadn’t started well. Kidman sat a few chairs away from her partner, idly drawing figures in a sketchbook as they waited for their plane to refuel. Flag spent so much time with his journal that the girl had come to want her own, but while he used his for study, she used hers for meditation. She found her thoughts easier to catch once visualized and imprisoned on paper, and today’s resulted in yet another picture of Flag. She glanced at him and he ignored her as per usual, but that didn’t bother her as much as it had. She'd lived with Flag for a few months now, and every day she found herself regretting her behaviour upon their reunion even more. The reasoning for this were not clear to her at first. The man was distant, moody, dismissive, and at the corners of her mind, frightening. Yet daily exposure had brought out further subtleties. He was indifferent, but mindful. He was moody, but patient. He was dismissive, but intelligent enough to justify it, and while he still frightened her, Carmen had spoken for him. She grew to respect him and developed the Rules of Flag to rightly do so, which she wrote down as she decided upon them; Keep talking to a minimum. Answer questions as directly as possible. Attend to details before they are noticed Maintain as much emotional neutrality as possible. Do not bother Flag when he’s concentrating.  Flag likes meat products Not asking Flag her hundreds of questions was by far the hardest rule to stick to, so she listed them in her book as well, whittling them down to the most important and then waiting for just the right time to drop one. Following most of them were fairly difficult for her first, but the drive to prove herself to the sorcerer resulted in discipline and independence. Kidman watched her senior, did as he did, and did what he bade her to do, absorbing the methods of human interaction as he had learnt them years before. After months in service Kidman could navigate mass transportation and manage most errands on her own. Eventually she took to testing her skills in whatever town they were currently in. More often than not she succeeded, but in the rare event she got in over her head, she could call on Flag to bluntly put her back on track.  Despite being a singularity in a strange world, he had effortless confidence and focus. He was strong, he was worldly, he was what she wanted to be, minus the gruffness. And then, something else... The girl drew Flag’s face carefully, trying to capture what she sensed. There was a droning static beneath it, a weight, a fire. She had shared a room with him for nearly ninety nights and saw the effects of his nightmares, but there was nothing she could do. The Rules of Flag forced her into silence, and so they kept on, two anomalies under a new eve.