The Amell Legacy: Transgressions

[Carver Amell]

He shakes his head. "No, it's-- are you alright? Did I frighten you? I'm sorry!"

[Merrill]

Merrill studies him a moment from underneath her bangs, then lifts her head enough to smile shyly at him. I... I forgot how sweet he is. "J-just a little," she mumbles. "I was... d-d-distracted. H-how is y-your d-d-day go-in-ing?"

[Carver Amell]

"Great," he says, with a warm smile. "Want to see my upstroke? I've been practicing. It's one of the essential one-hander strokes."

[Merrill]

Merrill's eyes widen and dart around a little. No, he's not like them. He's not. He doesn't mean... "H-how?" she forces herself to ask. "I c-c-can't f-f-fight."

[Carver Amell]

"No, just, you know, in the air," he says, reaching for his sword. 

[Merrill]

See? "Y-yeah, okay," she says softly, smile growing natural again. She shifts around until she's leaning against the nearby root. Reaching down, she scoops up the dragonling and cradles her closely, patting her lap for the mabari to lay down on. Again, she shows a dismaying lack of care for how her clothing rests, as if unused to being around people.

[Carver Amell]

Carver turns sideways, showing her with his sword: "You see, here's the diagonal downstrike I've gotten really good at. But I keep doing the upstrike this way, like so, which is awkward and clumsy. And today Lightsong showed me to grip more like this, which you can see, is much smoother up and down, letting me chain my strikes together more fluid. See?"

[Merrill]

Merrill nods, not really seeing all this as exciting but getting some enjoyment from how much Carver seems to be enjoying it. "S-ssso you're g-going to b-be a ssss- ssss-" She pauses, taking a steadying breath. "Ss-wwordsman?"

[Carver Amell]

"Yeah!" he says, eagerly. "That way I'll always be able to protect you. Nobody's going to hurt either of us anymore."

[Merrill]

"M-m-me?" Merrill blurts out, eyes widening even more. "B-but- I- why m-me?"

[Carver Amell]

"Because I promised," he says, sheathing his sword as he turns to her. "Because I love you and I want to get married."

[Merrill]

"Umm."

[Carver Amell]

His face falls as he looks at her. "Do you... not like me?"

[Merrill]

"I do!" Merrill says quickly, then ducks her head. "I just..." She fidgets a bit. "N-n-never cons-s-s-sidered mmmm-mmm-marriage!"

[Carver Amell]

"Why not? You don't have parents for me to ask permission -- but usually the guy asks the girl's parents and then you get engaged. We'll have to be engaged for a while because I can't get married until I'm of age, but that's pretty normal. It gives you a long time to think about it and decide if you want to call things off."