He was late to meet up and osberve the soldiers training so he left the house at full speed- and whacked his forehead into the door frame going full out. The gawky sixteen year old groaned, putting a hand to his head and consciously ducked going through the door. 'At this rate, I'm gonna have brain damage by eighteen!' he thought.

A tall, regal woman stood squarely by the fence, watchng a group of soldiers training full out. Although she easily heard the lumbering footsteps of her overgrown son, she didn't give any outward indication of his noisy approach. 

Torsten arrived, panting slightly and dropped his arms to slouch against the railing. His mother gave a swift reproaching glance and flicked her initidmating gaze back to the training. The teen immediately stood up straight with his hands at his sides and moved his eyes absently toward the people. He repressed a long suffering sigh at the bordeom and thought that this whole thing was stupid and unnecessary. 

Stenna's gaze was soon locked on her son's profile and could feel his rebellous attitude that was barely contained. Between Ennora's disappearance after unsavory behavior, and her husband gone off on business most of the time, the boy could be a potential problem. A six foot tall, sixteen year old boy with almost no paternal influence could be a literal mountain of trouble if he wasn't swiftly stopped.

"Why did you change your posture when I looked at you Torsten?"
"Because you want me to always stand up straight." he answered automatically, without a second thought.
"Are you being obedient to me then?" she asked, her tone dangerously neutral.
'Yes ma'am."
"Then I have raised a foolish boy."

Torsten whipped his head around to look at his mother but her gaze was firmly fixed on the people before her. A small muscle ticced in her jaw, the only thing betraying her restrained anger. 

"What?" he asked stupidly.
"See those two smaller men in the corner doing sit-ups endlessly? That's obedience. Blindly following orders wilthout thought or question. They lack respect for their commander and it shows. They obey like dogs."
"But that's good right? They have to do what they're told."
Stenna slowly turned the full influence of her expression on him and he saw the mixture of scorn and anger plainly displayed. 

"That is busy work to think about what ever they did. It's mindless physicality that any..." the mother paused and slowly looked at her son's feet and pointedly drew her gaze up to his face before continuing,
"Idiot can do."

Torsten flushed in embarrassment at the insult and his temper flared, clenching his fists at his side.
"Obedience is a forced behavior that can become empty habit with no thought, no heart." Stenna said quietly.

The rebellious young teen rubbed a hand absently over the fresh bruise on his forehead, trying to fathom his mother's point. 
Stenna sighed and nodded her head toward another pair in front of their commander, taking their orders. One of them swiftly turned and ran to the place that was indicated. The second soldier said a yes sir, made eye contact and nodded before turning to follow over to rejoin his partner.

"And that was loyalty." she said, feeling it illustrated her lesson nicely.
He remained silent, shrugged and rolled his eyes as the two soldiers sparred. There hadn't been a lick of difference and he hated it when his mother got all full of lecture times like this. 

Stenna's ebony eyes snapped with irritation that her son stood there with his blatantly whatever attitude. 
"If you're looking for brains back there son, it's probably too late."
"They're all following orders mom, they're soldiers." 

The woman looked on the verge of slapping some sense into him but reined in her temper. With the dishonor her daughter had stained the family with recently, and her son now too large for his age, he urgently needed to learn self control. A six foot teen could become a menace so it was imperative he learned loyalty, not obedience. 

"That man made eye contact with his commander, nodded and actively accepted what was said. He made a conscious choice based on relationship."

The Sergeant yelled out a set of commands, sending them in different directions and his mother pointed out the soldiers that were pointedly loyal. Torsten's dark eyes followed their actions, noting that the obedient ones had more habits like slouching, smirking, not making eye contact, and moving their bodies while their minds and voices were clearly doing something else other than following orders. 

"So loyalty is an active choice you accept, while obedience is mindlessly moving yourself to do what you're told." Torsten finally reasoned out. 

Stenna smiled up at her son and put out a hand to his forehead. 
"That's my boy. Now let's go home and put some St. John’s Wort on that big ol' head of yours son."