David stood, the faint ache in his legs a reminder of his long recovery. He stretched, arcing his back, and then relaxed. "I'm still not where I need to be, Monty."

"Recovery takes time, David." Monty chuckled. "You were out a long time, and you're nearly there."

"Nearly there. Nearly there, nearly there. It's all you ever say."

Monty's face became stern, and he swatted an open hand at David. David dodged it, feeling the ache in his neck, and back. He stumbled backward, but retained his footing. Monty swung at him again, this time with a closed fist. David deflected the punch, and countered, lunging at the agile physical therapist. Monty caught David's fist, sidestepping him, and throwing him by the wrist. David controlled his fall, rolling out of it, and landing on his feet.

"Nearly there."

David held his ground, controlled his breathing, and waited. "Your move."

"I made my point." Monty cracked his neck, and flexed his shoulders. "You're too hard on yourself. There are not many who could spend a year on their back out cold, and then just get up and walk home."

"That's not exactly how it happened."

"Close enough. Before The Order hired me to recover folk like you, I spent years helping people help their self. You ever see someone give up? Just quit?"

"I can't say I have."

"Well, it's awful. People - good people - with a lot less resources than you, crying like babies because they can't write their name, or walk. People who have to start all over again, rolling on their bellies, or learning to crawl so they can learn to walk again. People who have to learn how to hold utensils. Things we take for granted. I'd like to say I helped them all, but for some people, there are other, faster ways out."

"Why would anyone take their own life when they could just recover?"

"It is disheartening to hear questions like that... and I guess inspiring. Until you've been there, it's the kind of question people like you have to ask. People who never understand words like failure, and quit. Sadly, it does eat away at empathy. Your recovery's been quick. Maybe that mumbo jumbo they give you in school helps you along."

"The Rites and Blessings of The Order. I hope to make the order of James and John. I haven't had my rites and blessings. This is all me."

"My point, exactly. You're doing it, and you're doing it without cheating the natural order of things. While many in your position might break down, you've got your dreams of James, and Johns, rites and blessings, and it's your driving force. Imagine your life if you had none of that." Monty casually stepped up to David, and patted him on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry. It's frustrating. I do nothing. I accomplish nothing... outside recovery, I mean."

"You do nothing today. You do nothing tomorrow. One year from now, you do whatever it is you do, and you appreciate it a little more. You get your mumbo jumbo from your schooling, and you do it better than anyone else. You get your mumbo jumbo, and maybe you appreciate what that boost will do for you, you know... knowing what you couldn't do when you woke up to the world a newly reborn David Walker come from the land of some nightmare."

"...it was a little more than that."

"That part isn't my business. Trust me when I say I don't want to know anymore than I have to. This job pays well, but it doesn't offer nearly the same reward."

Not without effort, David folded this arms across his chest. "You make more than anyone in your line of work."

"Ain't all about the money, big man. Come on, let's go hit some weights, see if you've been doing your homework."

David sighed. Monty was right, of course, but he still hated the process. Meanwhile, Karen sat around at home, doing nothing, accomplishing nothing. All because of him. Sure, the big picture was something else altogether, and together they would hunt, and break the enemies of The Order, and maybe in all of it, they might even save Driftwood's soul.

✟ ☧ ✟

4:00 PM

David limped up his driveway, wet from the rain, and sore from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, and through the front door of his home. Bart Walker sat in the den, past the foyer, asleep with a folded newspaper on his lap, the headlines read "MORTAR BOMB: 68 KILLED, 200 WOUNDED IN SARAJEVO".

He hobbled past his grandfather quietly as he could, through the hall into the living room. From the living room, he slumped into a gold colored crushed velvet armchair, the stain in the wood trim worn through at the arms. He could hear Karen in the kitchen, and the clattering pots, and pans. She was humming the Bryan Adams song All for Love.

The humming stopped, shortly by all the kitchen noises. He waited a moment, and she appeared in the doorway to the living room. "How'd it go?"

"Monty means well, but I don't know if he really gets it. I mean, I know he knows what he's doing. I just don't k ow if he understands my urgency."

Karen frowned, her brow furrowed for a moment. "Everyone wants you back on your feet, you know... but there's no hurry. It's another year before we head off to our advanced training."

David groaned. "The Wallace academy. You know, that guy wasn't all gilded gold like they say he was. He was a zealot for the order, and did enough dirty to be counted among any of us."

"Maybe... but he did good things for us, and he fell defending his own from Ammielle."

David raised his hands and shook them. "The fallen one. Daughter of darkness. Princess of the Principalities, and stealer of virgin equity."

"...Not something to make light of."

"She's redeemed, Karen. Saved me from no man's land."

Karen glared.

"I wouldn't lie to you, Karen. I was there. I saw the redemption."

"...you didn't?"

"...well." David dropped his gaze to the floor.

"David!"

"She told me it was the only way for her to understand love... to understand love as only mortals can."

Karen looked somewhere between stricken, and furious.

David laughed. "Now who's being ridiculous? Of course not. I just want to get back on my feet so I can get back on my feet. We'll be fifteen this month. I don't want to fall behind."

Karen lunged from the doorway, closed fisted, her forearm in perfect alignment with with her fist, her knuckles trained on David. David shoved his feet into the wood floor and pushed his chair backward, toppling over with it as Karen's strike found only the empty space where he was.

David rolled backward out of his chair, and rushed Karen, launching into a straight punch. She dodged, dipping backward, and David kicked the chair forward, and it slid into Karen who then rolled over it, and onto her feet. She returned the assault with a reverse punch, and David sidestepped her punch, grappling her wrist, and pulling her across him.
She sailed past him, and he released his hold on her. Karen controlled her fall, rolling side way onto her feet.

The two stood in silence, breathing heavy.

"That was hot." Karen's breathless toothy grin brought a blush to David's cheeks, as she stood there, hands on her knees, catching her breath.

"...and I'm exhausted." David nodded, restoring the armchair to its upright position. He sat back into it. Karen came around it, and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You could train with me, you know. In addition to your physical therapy. Get ahead of the game?"

David shrugged, looking up at Karen over his shoulder. He reached up across his body and held her hand in his own. Karen squeezed his shoulder, and he smiled. "I need to do something. I want to be better than this."

David released Karen's hand, and she drew hers back. "So let's do it, then. Get you back to one-hundred-percent."

David flexed his hands, his arms, and his shoulders. He pushed himself from the chair, paused grimacing, and pushed harder until he was on his feet. Karen was quick to his side, but David waved her off. He crossed the living room, and to the CD tower at the entertainment center. He knelt beside the tower, and found the one he wanted. David pulled its case from the tower, and stood up slowly, case in one hand and bracing himself on the entertainment center with the other. David opened the CD case, removed the disc, and placed it into the player.

"Jar of Flies?" Karen raised an eyebrow. "It's been out less than a month, and you've already overplayed it."

"Alice in Chains, man." David bowed his head a moment, and pushed play on the CD player. There was a momentary silence, followed by the first track, Rotten Apple. David closed his eyes, and smiled. "That's the stuff. So, let's get started."

"Started with what?"

"Training." David let go the entertainment center, and turned to face Karen. "Some handwork to start. Keep it slow for now, and we'll increase speed. Don't go easy after that."