Chương 81: [Cracks in the Monolith]

The training ground was already starting to fill up when they arrived. Leo fell into his spot with Kai without needing to be directed. The big wolf-kin nodded at him as Shai began the day's practice for the rest of the group. Kai handed him the Sarren. He didn't just let go of it; he waited until Leo's grip was set, checking the tension before nodding.

"From the top," Kai said.

"I want to see the transition. I want to see you get rid of the gap today." Leo found the mid guard. He noticed Kai wasn't standing off to the side with his arms crossed today. He was right there, mirrored to him, eyes tracking Leo's feet and hips rather than the steel.

"Advance. High guard." Leo stepped. He felt the push from his back leg and the rotation in his hips. The momentum traveled up his spine, and the blade set exactly when his lead foot hit the dirt. It was the first time it hadn't felt like two separate movements. Kai didn't tell him to reset. He stepped in close, entering Leo's reach. He used the toe of his boot to tap the side of Leo's lead thigh.

"The power is there," Kai said, his voice flat but focused.

"But you're choking the joint in your shoulder. You're trying to force the strike with your arm. Relax it. Let the hip provide the strength, and the arm be the guide. If the base is driving the blow, the arm doesn't have to work as hard." Leo took a breath, consciously dropping his shoulder. He ran the set again. Without the tension, the Saren felt like it was moving itself.

"Again," Kai said.

"And don't wait for the command. If you feel the balance shift, move. Anticipate where the weight wants to go." They kept at it. Now that the "stutter" was gone, Kai started layering the work. It wasn't just single advances anymore; it was chains of movements, retreating into low guards only to spring forward into a thrust. An hour in, the sun was high and the easy, weightless feeling of the Saren had been replaced by a slow, burning ache in Leo's forearms. Kai was relentless.

Every time Leo's form drifted by a fraction because of the fatigue, Kai's voice was there; not shouting, but steady and demanding.

"Hips, Leo. Don't let the arms take over just because you're tired. That's how you lose a hand." Leo wiped sweat from his eyes with his shoulder, gripped the leather hilt, and reset. He could feel the eyes of the other trainers on them occasionally, but he didn't have the breath to look. He just focused on the ground and the blade.

Across the field, Rika's group was having a different morning. She'd been doing well for the first twenty minutes. She kept her voice level and her face set in a look of grim concentration, doing her best impression of a serious instructor. It was all "Good," "Again," and "Focus on the release." The group had followed suit, working silently on getting their groupings tighter before she moved them back. Then Parmo's third arrow thudded into the wood a fraction of an inch from the first two.

"Okay, stop, stop! Everyone stop!" Rika was already moving toward the targets. It wasn't quite a run, but it was a fast, bouncy walk that didn't fit the face she was pulling.

"Look at that! Look at these groupings! Everyone come and look at Brandon's!" The group lowered their bows. A few of them were already grinning. Parmo sighed, looking at Rika as she pointed at his target like he'd just found gold.

"See how close together those are?" she said, the stony face completely gone.

"That's what you're aiming for. Brandon's got it. Look at the angle of entry, he's not just hitting it, he's consistent."

"So much for the serious instructor routine, then," Parmo said. Rika stopped mid-gesture and pouted at him.

"Can't I be impressed?"

"Sure," Parmo said.

"But you keep flipping from your Kai impression to your normal self, and then back again when you realize you've slipped. Pick one."

"I can do both," Rika insisted, crossing her arms and trying to look stern again.

"I am a professional. I know what I'm doing."

"You literally bounced over here."

"And? What's so wrong with being excited at my student doing well?"

"Can you imagine Kai running over shouting praise whenever Leo does well?" Rika opened her mouth to argue, but the image hit her. She glanced over at the far side of the field where Kai was looming over Leo like a stone monolith. The idea of the big wolf-kin doing a victory lap or squealing over a good stance was so ridiculous it actually made her wings give a sharp, embarrassed flutter. She folded them back tight against her back and cleared her throat, refusing to look at Parmo.

"Right. Back to your marks, everyone. Again."

"Don't just ignore me," Parmo said, turning back to the line.

"Focus, Brandon. Again."

"Jesus." Parmo looked over at a guy in his group, who was busy trying to hide a smirk.

"Can you believe this woman?"

"BRANDON! FOCUS!"

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Shai turned away from Rika's shouting with a sharp exhale. She adjusted the practice blades in her grip. Most of her group were still looking over their shoulders, watching the argument at the archery range.

"Focus, please," Shai said. Her voice wasn't loud, but the group turned back to her.

"Let's keep our attention on our own training." She moved toward Phil, watching him reset his stance.

"You're flagging, Phil." She stepped in and used the flat of her blade to nudge his lead foot.

"Better. Keep that left elbow tucked. If it flares, you're leaving your ribs open. Try it again." Phil drove the wooden blades forward in a mirrored strike.

"Nicely done," Shai said. She stepped closer as he reset, lowering her voice so the others couldn't hear.

"Maybe if you focused more on this than on telling people about your tastes in movies, you'd be doing a lot better." Phil lowered his blades and looked at her, his expression weary.

"Oh, for God's sake. It was last night, are we still on this?"

"It's not my fault you and Parmo made me listen to all of that," Shai hissed, the tips of her ears turning pink.

"Why on earth do you even watch stuff like that anyway?"

"I've told you, I've never even seen it!" Phil shot back, keeping his voice low.

"It was just a massive thing when it came out. Women fucking love that sort of thing back home. You should see the sheer volume of books on smut some of them read, it's—""Stop," Shai snapped, her face going a deeper shade of red.

"You're doing it again."

"Well, stop bringing it up already!"

"Elbow in, Phil," Shai said, her voice rising to its normal professional level.

"Again." Phil shook his head and gripped the hilts.

"Again." The trainees nearby exchanged a glance, looking between the two in silence. They were used to Shai being composed and Phil being her best student; seeing them bickering in hushed, heated voices about "movie tastes" and "volumes of books" just left them looking on, completely confused.

On the northern edge of the field, Luka was running a sequence with the maul that Torren had introduced two sessions ago. He was moving through it smoothly, the weight of the heavy head no longer making him overbalance on the swing. Torren watched him finish the sequence, bring the maul back to rest, and reset without being told. Luka ran it again. Torren let him go three more times before he spoke.

"You know what this means," Torren said.

"We're moving on to dummies?" Luka asked, leaning on the haft.

"Correct," Torren confirmed. He looked at Luka for a moment.

"You've moved quickly through this. Faster than most I've taught."

"The UI helps."

"It helps everyone in town. Yes, that helps if we're talking students back at the village, but your speed compared to the other training groups is staggering. Everyone is doing well," he looked at the others still swinging their mauls around.

"But you stand out even with that." Torren rested his own maul against his shoulder.

"When we visit the Ironwood, if you show this kind of skill, you're going to draw attention. Especially when they find out you've only been at it a few sessions. You'll fit right in. The women especially, you'll be fighting them off, I expect." Luka grinned.

"Yeah? Sounds alright, that."

"Ironwood women are fierce," Torren said. He wasn't smiling anymore. His voice took on a serious tone that Luka wasn't used to.

"I'm being serious, Luka. Orc women love strong men. I'd be careful not to get separated when we go if they take a liking to you. You may end up getting more than you bargained for." Luka looked at him. Torren looked more serious than he was used to seeing. Luka laughed, then caught Torren's eyes and stopped. He laughed again, less certain this time. He looked at Torren's massive frame; the man was only half-Orc and he was huge. He'd met Yara, but she was also half-Orc and not as tall.

He couldn't help but wonder what the full-blooded women actually looked like.

"Jesus," Luka muttered.

"You're making this sound like the Snu-Snu episode of Futurama. You're joking, right?"

"No idea what that means. You'll have to enlighten me." Torren adjusted his grip and brought his maul up into a starting guard.

"I mean I can, but it's another weird sex thing."

"Why am I not surprised?" Torren said with a grin. Luka grinned back.

"Ready to go again?"

Near the center of the field, Sam and Nessa were mid-session. They were working through a sequence with practice daggers, the wood clacking as Sam followed her lead. He was keeping up well enough until he noticed Nessa's movements stiffen. He followed her line of sight to where Mars stood twenty feet away. Mars wasn't doing much, but he'd caught Nessa's eye and was grinning. It was a knowing, smug look, like he was holding onto a joke he was dying to tell. Nessa didn't smile back.

She scowled at him, a flat warning to look away, but her rhythm had broken. Sam slowed his pace, glancing between them.

"Is that an ex?" Nessa's head snapped back to him, her brow furrowing.

"What does that mean?"

"You know," Sam said, adjusting his grip on the practice hilt.

"Like... were you in a relationship previously? Then you broke up, and now you don't get on, so he's winding you up?" Nessa stared at him, looking genuinely mortified.

"No! No, nothing of the sort. Why would you—""Okay," Sam said quickly, a grin spreading across his face as he watched her scramble.

"If you say so."

"I am saying so! There is no...

'ex' situation." Mars, who was still half-paying attention from his spot across the grass, let out a loud snort. Nessa whirled toward him, her face flushing.

"Shut up! Look what you've done!" Mars held up his hands in mock surrender, his grin widening.

"Sorry, love. I promise I won't bring our 'past' into training anymore."

"There is no past!" Nessa shouted back.

"Why are you making it worse?" Sam watched them, a grin tugging at his mouth. It was clear Mars was just mercilessly winding her up, and seeing the composed, aloof instructor finally lose her cool was the best part of the morning.

"Right," Sam muttered, finding his stance again while still chuckling.

"No history. Got it." Nessa turned back to him, looking like she wanted to disappear into the dirt.

"Focus, Sam. Just... focus."

Shai called the end of the session. The groups wound down and the field began to empty. Leo held his final position for a moment before lowering the blade, the movement settled in a way it hadn't been two hours ago. Kai took the Saren from him. He turned it over once, looking at nothing in particular, then set it on the rack.

"Dummies next session," he said. Leo looked at him. Kai was already moving toward the equipment racks.

"Kai." Kai stopped.

"You were different today," Leo said. Kai didn't turn around immediately. He picked up a cloth and ran it along the blade.

"I know you won't break under pressure," he said, his voice level.

"You've reached this stage faster than I expected. I'm satisfied with the progress." He set the blade down and finally looked at Leo.

"From now on, you'll be taking the basics you've learned and putting them all together against a target. Be ready." He walked off the field without adding anything to it. Leo stood there for a moment, then picked up his water bottle and walked toward where the others were grouping up. Shai fell into step beside him as the group moved toward the gate, the two of them drifting naturally to the back. The others were far enough ahead that their voices didn't carry.

Rika was still talking at Parmo, while Torren walked alongside Luka, who looked faintly troubled.

"He was actually fair today," Shai said quietly. She didn't look at Leo, keeping her eyes on the path.

"He was," Leo agreed.

"A lot less like a wall." Shai gave a small nod, a knowing look crossing her face before she turned back to the path.

"It's a better look for him."

"It's a better look for my ribs, too," Leo muttered. Shai laughed. They spent the rest of the walk to town talking about Rika and Parmo's antics earlier, the conversation easy enough that they didn't notice how close they were walking until their arms brushed. Neither of them made a point of moving away, just falling into a comfortable rhythm as they reached the gate.