Cali was up earlier than usual that day. Combat training had become his routine every morning, but today he was as excited as if it were his first time.

Princess Dora was the first young girl to be accepted into the “Martial Academy”. She had earned her place there. Cali was astonished when he saw how well she performed during the very tough selection process set up every year. He was tempted to turn to his friends and say ‘She looks like she’s going to kick your ass‘, but he usually liked to keep a certain distance from everyone around him, so he decided not to.

He had made this decision when he was a little boy. If he got any closer, or became a bit more intimate, they would immediately start asking about his mother. He felt uncomfortable because he didn’t know what to say. He decided to draw the line that day. He chatted, spent time together, socialised with everyone but over the years he had mastered the art of pretending to say a lot of things, but on the other hand not saying anything worth mentioning.

By the time he got to the arena, Dora was already there, doing warm-ups.

“You’re late,” she said.

“No, you’re early!” Cali replied. “I still have 22 seconds.”

The Princess rolled her eyes.

Each of the senior agents were assigned to a rookie who were recently accepted to the Martial Academy. It was believed that one-on-one training was always more effective. Cali was surprised that Princess Dora had been assigned to him. Even though he was the most successful senior agent in Kittelfdora, he didn’t think they assign him for the training of a princess because of the rumours about his mother.

“Then let us begin,” she said, immediately picking up a sword that was one of the few fighting gear lying on a wooden extension at the edge of the arena. She began to show her most skillful moves. She was so fast that the eyes perceived the sword as if there were 3-5 of them swishing. Cali, unimpressed, examined his nails, occasionally bringing them to his mouth and sharpening them.

When Dora finished, she was out of breath, sweat beading on her forehead. She looked at Cali as if waiting for a word of praise.

“Yes” Cali said. “It’s easy to kill the air” and laughed.

Dora realised she was being mocked and was annoyed. “Come on, try it again” Cali said. “But this time I’m the target.”

Dora was surprised.

“What do you mean?”

“Eh, come on, don’t be afraid. It’s harder to hurt me than the air.”

Dora swung her sword, startled. Cali moved briefly to the left with no effort an started licking and cleaning his fur. He was standing cool as ever…  She swung her sword again. Cali just made a little step to the right avoiding the blow and combed his hair. Dora became increasingly angry at Cali’s mocking behaviour. She began to swing her sword a little harder and more confidently each time. After each swing of the sword, Cali made small escapes with a nimble movement. This time he took a comb from his pocket and combed his belly hair. She dodged the next blow again and Cali fixed his moustache. Dora frowned as if she was about to make a final move.

“Ahyaaaaaaaaa” she screamed and ran towards Cali, while Cali calmly continued to trim his moustache with one hand, he simply grabbed Dora’s sword with the other. Dora looked at her hand in surprise. There was no sword… She looked puzzled, as if trying to understand how it had happened. Cali, with Dora’s sword in his hand, cut the hair that seemed to be too much on top of his own head, straightened it with his hand and looked at Dora with no expression on his face.

“Done with my grooming”

Dora looked at Cali with her big blue eyes. “How did you do that?”

Cali stared into Dora’s blue and green eyes for a moment. Bicoloured eyes are very rare and mostly unique to the royal family. It was the first time he had ever had the opportunity to look so closely at eyes of that colour combination. He felt hypnotised and looked into her eyes in admiration, but quickly recovered.

“We will not begin with the sword today” he said.

“But I want to learn the sword. I already know how to fight. It’s a waste of time!”

“We don’t start with fighting either”. Cali said calmly.

The princess was surprised.

“We’re going for a walk first”.

The princess was tempted to give a smart reply but was silenced by Cali’s strict tone of voice.

“It’s a waste of time…” Dora muttered to herself. Cali pretended not to have heard.

They left the arena and walked along the path of the nearby forest. They arrived by a lake. Cali climbed to a tree near the calming water and sat down on a branch. Dora followed him. As the branch was thin, they sat down carefully.

Cali said, “Normally everyone starts training with running, sword, martial arts. We will start with instinct.”

“When you are in combat with the enemy, you are trying to guess the direction they will blow the sword and take a defensive position, right?”

“Yes” Dora said confidently.

“What if you could know what the enemy was going to do long before you saw the arm movement?”

Dora’s eyes widened in surprise and excitement. “That would be wonderful…!”

“We Kitteldorians have certain feelings. For example, we can sense that something is about to happen. Sometimes we visualise it, but then we fall away from it. It’s usually a split second, little more than a whisper, a vague warning.That’s why no one is aware of it.

But, we agents, can turn them into screams. We can make it impossible not to hear them…”