Dale stiffened as the biting water swarmed around him. He touched the bottom of the river and pushed up to the surface. Trent surfaced next to him, spraying a fountain from his lips. The two of them swam to the bank to join the others. Dale stood, and scowled at the old man standing there, Kyle, who had made him jump in the river before the crack of dawn.
“I hope you’re happy. Now I’m awake, and even more convinced that you’re crazy,” Dale said.
Kyle let out a deep sigh, “Still grumpy though. Let’s go get all of you some food.” With that, the old man began walking. Dale looked at the others and shrugged. The six of them left the freezing river, and headed to Kyle’s home. Kyle was the best blacksmith in the kingdom, and had decided that the weapons each of them carried were no longer adequate. He needed to make them new ones, so he woke them up early to do so. Unlike most smiths, Kyle had his forge and his home combined, split down the middle. When they arrived, Kyle sat them down at a table, already adorned with food, and began bustling about as they dug in.
“So what exactly are we supposed to do?” Dale asked with a mouthful of toast.
“The five of you need to do nothing,” Kyle said as he scuffled back into the kitchen with a pot of tea, “After all, making weapons tends to be a one man job. So today, I’m having you trash your old weapons and making you something useful.”
“So why wake us so early?” Jason asked.
“Part of the process. You don’t go for a run in the middle of the afternoon do you?”
“No, but…”
“Exactly, you go early in the morning. Now hurry up and drink your tea already.”
Jason stared at him a moment, “Kyle, I can understand that. You need to wake up early to make weapons. However, why do we need to get up early.”
Kyle thought this over and shrugged in response, “Just finish your tea and meet me in the forge.” He then proceeded to walk out a side door that Dale assumed led to the forge half of the house.
“Well,” Kaitlin spoke for the first time that morning, “this guy is a nut.”
Trent kicked his feet up and took a sip of his tea, “He might be a nut, but he is the best smith in the kingdom. Besides, he makes excellent tea too. That’s a bonus.”
Kaitlin rolled her eyes, and the five of them sat in silence for a few minutes. Once he was through with his tea, Dale leaned back in his chair and looked at Jason. “I’m guessing you’re not a morning person?”
“It depends on the day,” he said while spinning the spoon around inside his empty cup. “It isn’t easy to be in a cheery mood when you’re woken up for no reason.”
“No obvious reason anyway,” Dale paused, “He certainly acts like a nut, but I get the feeling Kyle is testing us.”
Jason raised his eyebrows at this, “Do you now?”
“He never gave you an answer as to why he woke us up early. It may not seem like it, but there is a reason for everything.”
“Now you sound like you’re quoting an old man.”
“That is possible. I want to know his reason though.”
“Believe me,” Jason said, “He won’t tell you.”
“Then let’s tell him.”
“Tell him the reason he woke us up early? That could be interesting,” Jason stood up, “It’ll be more interesting than this lot anyways,” He motioned to the others. Kaitlin and Cassie had fallen asleep and Trent was stuffing his face with food.
Jason and Dale went out the side door into the forge. It wasn’t anything special, but it radiated heat, and had random chunks of metal everywhere.
Kyle was already working on something and must have heard them come in, “I think it’s safe to say at least one of you will want a sword.”
“I thought you knew what weapons we wanted already,” Jason said.
“I did. However, I thought I should say something to you as opposed to pretending you don’t exist,” Kyle backed away from the metal he was working with and turned to face Jason and Dale.
Dale looked sideways at Jason, “He has a point.”
“That he does. What were you going to say to him again?”
“Hello!” Kyle shouted, “I am here still. There is no reason to talk to only one person at a time.”
Kyle opened his mouth, but lacking a response he closed it again.
“Anyways,” Dale began, “Jason and I were wondering why you woke us up early this morning. We were stumped at first, but did come to a conclusion.”
Kyle’s eyes widened a touch, “Let’s hear it then.”
“We thought that you woke us up so early not because you needed us for something, but because you wanted to understand who we were during all times of the day. You already knew our personalities in the afternoon and evening, but to understand us completely you needed to see our morning selves.”
Kyle nodded a little, “You are very close. Start with this, why do I need to know your personalities during all times of the day?”
Jason and Dale looked at each other expecting the other to have an answer. An idea seemed to pop into Jason’s head. “Think about this morning Dale. What have we done this morning?”
Dale thought, “Jump into a freezing river and socialize over a cup of tea. You aren’t telling me he woke us up to give us a bath I hope?”
“I was thinking the socializing part.”
The two of them turned their attention back to Kyle, who was nodding, “That’s the right idea. Now, leave me to my work and go do something.”
Jason and Dale left the forge, and found Trent, Cassie, and Kaitlin arguing about something. Trent was the first to see them. “Found them. I get a prize now right?”
Kaitlin rolled her eyes at him and turned her attention to Jason and Dale. “Where did you guys go?”
Dale calmly looked at Jason, “She looks grumpy, I’ll let you answer this one.”
“We were just talking with Kyle.”
She continued to glare at them. “So you were just wasting your time then?”
Dale raised his eyebrows, “Have you eaten yet?”
“Give her a minute guys,” Trent joined in, “It’s still before dinner. How is she supposed to be not grumpy?”
Cassie nodded, “He’s got a point.”
Kaitlin mumbled something under her breath and turned towards the door. “We should head back to the castle. The royal family will be waking up soon.”
“If you are so insistent on leaving here then lead the way.” Jason told her.
She gave a little humph as she stood up and brushed off her clothes, the whole time glaring at Jason. Kaitlin stiffly walked out the door. “I think she would love to jump into an ice cold river again,” Dale said as he and the others followed her out.
