"Come on, Xan, you can do it!" Barin grinned down at his friend, then turned two cartwheels along the beam and finished with a roundoff. "See? Easy!" Xanatos still looked dubious. The beam looked awfully high. He might fall off, and then he'd look stupid. Barin somersaulted into the air and landed neatly beside the younger boy. "You can do it. I saw you earlier!" Xanatos obviously had his doubts. He frowned at Barin from beneath his dark fringe. "That was on the low beam." "Then you can do it on the high beam as well." "That's different." Barin gave another of his sunshine smiles. "Only because you think it is. It is exactly the same sort of beam. It is just in a different place. You can pretend that you are still on the low beam." "But I might fall off!" Barin clambered up onto the beam again, stood up, and promptly tipped sideways to land spread-eagled on the mat. He squinted back at Xanatos, upside-down. "Why worry about that? It only hurts if you think it is going to." Xanatos glanced sideways at the other initiates in the class and instructors dotted about the gym among them. Barin blinked, then got back up. "Nobody is watching you, Xan," he said, sympathetically. "Nobody would mind if you fell off anyway. Everybody makes mistakes when they are learning." "That's okay for you," Xanatos grumbled, sulkily. "You're good at this." "You just need to practice, and then you will be good at it as well," Barin urged. "Try it!" "'Do or do not,'" quoted Xanatos, wiggling his hands like ears at the side of his head. Barin laughed. "Do, then. Come on. Just imagine you are down on the low beam. You are good at pretending. I will be right here to help you." "You'll be down there and I'll be up there. What help will that be?" "I can help you pretend. You are bold Lord Telesian, remember? Even when he fell off his gantauren-" "He was knocked from his gantauren!" "Yes, but he did not let that stop him. He fought on bravely until he won the fight. You are Lord Telesian, and that is your steadfast steed," Barin made a sweeping gesture towards the beam. A faint, distant smile hovered about his lips, the smile that always appeared when he launched into one of his flights of fancy. "And it matters not how many times you fall, for if you are brave and true then you will prevail." Still reluctant, Xanatos clambered onto the beam. "Just the same as on the low beam," Barin told him. "No different at all. And remember Lord Telesian!" Xanatos checked about once again, just to confirm that Barin was right and nobody was watching. There was only one of the instructors looking in their direction, hopefully just keeping an eye on them to make sure they were okay. And Barin, of course, but he didn't count. Trying to remember the low beam, and Lord Telesian, Xanatos took a deep breath and tried a cartwheel. "See? Easy!" Barin called. Xanatos walked back to the end of the beam. Two cartwheels. Barin's grin was plastered right across his face. Xanatos walked back to the end again. One cartwheel. Two. Roundoff. Jump and somersault. Hit the mat feet-first, Barin's hands steadying him as he landed, Barin laughing and congratulating him. Xanatos grinned back. He had done it. Excitedly now, the younger initiate climbed back onto the beam and waved to the room. "Hey! Look what I can do!" Heads turned towards him and he flung himself along the beam, full of confidence now that he knew he could manage it, around and around and tumbling into the air at the end to land beaming at his audience. "See? All by myself!" Behind his friend, Barin joined in the short burst of encouraging applause. Xanatos had completely forgotten him in his excitement at the success, but Barin didn't mind. It was his success as well, and he had been pleased to help. That was what friends were for. |
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| Practice By HaiGan |