Chương 11: Book 1; Chapter 10; Teaching has begun (2)

"What do you think the sword is for?" Rainee asked.

"For fighting?" Anniet suggested, wondering what else a sword can be for.

"Not for me," Rainee replied.

"And what is it for you?"

"For me, it is a friend and a very good friend, a dear friend that is precious to me."

"Nice allegory," Anniet agreed.

"No, there is no allegory," Rainee disagreed.

"I really think about my sword as a friend. A friend who cares for me. A friend who cares for people who are dear to me. You look after those you care about, don't you? Same, my sword looks after me and after those whom I treasure. And I care for it. Other people don't have to care in return for it, as my sword is my friend, not theirs, and it protects others because it cares for those I care for, even if it itself doesn't have any connection to them.

I am that connection to my sword, and I am its best and only friend. Not because it is not allowed to have any more, but because it desires friendship only with me."

"Wow," Anniet was truly touched not only by words but by the way Rainee said these words.

"But what if in a battle your sword breaks, or you lose it, or let's say it is taken by the enemy? Wouldn't you feel sad for losing it or having to fight against your friend?"

"Friendship with a sword is the same as any other friendship – if you really love your friend, you will never break it, and you will never allow anyone to break it. And you don't lose a friend, sometimes you can get separated, but it doesn't mean you've lost a friend just because you got separated. If it happens, you look for each other until you find each other. And if the enemy held my sword in their arms, it would not become their friend; it would still be my friend, and I wouldn't be fighting against it.

I would fight alongside a friend who is taken into captivity and whose movements are controlled until it gets free. No matter whose hands my sword is in, it is my friend and only mine. That's why, if taken away, it would never stay away for long. That's why I would not fight with an enemy's sword, I might use it for fighting, but I would not fight with it. Because if it is my enemy's sword, then it is their friend, not mine."

"Never before have I thought this way," Anniet said as she really neither thought nor heard anyone else speaking like this.

"I believe the person you were observing doesn't feel this way, either, as his teachings are very aggressive and attacking. If he were in battle, his orientation would be focused on a foe, not on himself, and definitely not on his friends, whether they were in human form or in the form of a sword. It is tough for the sword to have such a numb friend. It doesn't mean that I am criticising his style, for I am not, he has good stances, and his hand must be firm.

I know many outstanding fighters with a similar fighting style. But I am saying that it is not the best, as there is so much more to it, and anyone taking that road cannot see it. When I was a kid, I was taught that the only proper way to hold a sword is with a firm grip in a strong hold, that if my hold weakens and my grip is no longer as solid, I will be disarmed and will lose my sword.

I must say it is very tiring to hold a firm grip on something all the time, and yes, my teacher was right, as soon as your grip loosens, whatever you are holding might slip out of your hands. But friendship is not about holding your friend in a tight grip, not allowing it to escape, or even move. Friends want to stay with each other no matter what. And if I love my friend, why would I need to hold it so tight? And why would I be afraid I might lose it?

All I need to do is to know my friend very well, its strong points and its weak points, its behaviour, its likings, its abilities. To know and respect. To respect means to accept my friend as it is and to understand that it will not behave in a different manner under any circumstances, not even for me, because that's what it is. The better I know and understand my friend, the less grip I need on it. Why would I need it? I know its behaviour inside out, and I know when it needs support or when it needs freedom.

The better we know each other, the better we work together. And we definitely don't expect from each other something that we don't have. Neither do we push each other beyond our limits, as we know these limits very well. But we work together to uplift these limits to new levels. That is my understanding of sword fighting, and that is my favourite way of teaching. But I respect other ways too and don't mind teaching these ways. So it is up to you what road you want me to lead you on."

While talking, Rainee was swinging and spinning the stick in her hand in different ways, sometimes letting it go completely, but it would stay in her hand by momentum. Sometimes it seemed that the stick was floating in the air, and Rainee's hand was spinning around it. All these movements created an illusion that the stick was really a completely different entity that is not obeying Rainee's movements but working, or rather playing, together with her.

Anniet was watching it, completely captivated by the lightness and creativity that Rainee was wielding this stick with.

"I want to learn your way!" She said firmly.

"Good girl," Rainee praised her with a smile.

"But it will require extra work and input of your own effort than if you would choose a different path."

"I will," Anniet said firmly again.

"I will do all precisely as you tell me."

"Well done," Rainee praised again.

"Then here is the very first and utterly most important lesson that lays the foundation for swordsmen who choose this path. Without it, it is not possible to walk this path, and everything you do, no matter how much you try, will cast you back to the path most of the swordsmen have taken. It is very simple and fits in a few words, but it is very fundamental: you have to disobey your teachers, your masters, a lot – all the time."

"? …..?????," Anniet was listening so attentively to each word leaving Rainee's mouth, that for a moment she thought that she had overburned and either misheard what was said or missed part of the speech.

"I have to disobey you…??? But… but then how can I learn from you?"

"Very simply," Rainee smiled softly at her,"you listen to what I say, you pay attention to what I show. You learn all I teach and leave for yourself only what you find helpful. Everything else has to be discharged as only my opinion that, no matter how good and valid it is for me, might be entirely useless for you. The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Disobeying and arguing is not the same. I don't encourage you to argue.

Every little bit I or anyone else teaches, you learn, see a reason behind it, and use this teaching as a stepping stone to find how it can be used by you, how it can enlarge your abilities, and how it can make your life easier. All that makes your life more constrained and more complicated has to go immediately, all that can be used has to be modified to fit into your life, and all that you think is worth striving for can be held up as a criterion you want to reach. Not mimicking or learning the actions – no.

Your goal is to get to that point by yourself, where you don't need to repeat somebody else's actions, somebody else's attitudes, and then what you have learned from others will automatically change to merge into your life without you needing to modify yourself to it. I can see that you find it hard to believe me, but think how logical it is – your relationship, your friendship with your sword, is between you and your sword, not between me and your sword, not between someone else and your sword.

How would you be able to find what this relationship is if you would mimic others? How many times in your life could you make a friendship by acting like someone else? Even if you think you did, as soon as you stop pretending and show a part of yourself, this friendship is gone. Because there was none at the very beginning. Very difficult to retrain such a relationship, as one always has to think about how others want to see them and has completely forgotten who they truly are.

That's how people disappear without a trace, leaving instead of themselves someone who doesn't even exist. A sword is not a human. Such a relationship is not possible with it. A sword doesn't need your apology, nor does it understand guilt. If you give it two seconds of your real self now and then two years of pretence, it will remember only these two seconds, as nothing else but what is real exists for it. And it doesn't get upset when you don't have time for it.

It's just your own guilt that gives this impression. It doesn't feel resentment or abandonment, and it is always glad for every second or minute you find for it. But only time with the real you counts for it. If you cannot do that, then you can learn to wield any sword, any weapon, and you can do it with excellence, and all the world will praise you, and many people will come to learn from you.

In that case, you will be able to use any weapon with the same skill, and you will have no preference apart from how well it is made. But none of them will become your friend. They will be tools you use. And you can use them very well, even better than someone who has established a relationship with their sword. This connection is not necessary, and those who never made it will never miss it, nor are they capable of understanding what they are missing.

But those who got it would never choose the other way, no matter what, even if the whole world would oppose, it is simply no going back, as without it life seems just not natural and possible any more. Throughout my life, I have taught the art of the sword to many people. Few understood what I have just told you, many didn't. From both sides, there are excellent swordsmen and … let's say not that perfect. How good you become doesn't depend on which path you walk.

The way you choose will determine only the footing under your feet, only the way you decide to travel. A person can excel to perfection and feel pleasure in what they are doing in any way they choose. What? You are not that brave any more? Did what I said put you aback a little?" Anniet was listening to what was said in some kind of daze. All that was said sounded absolutely logical and understandable. Then why could she not understand anything?

As if all that was told would be behind the wall, or rather in a different world to hers. And all that was logical and understandable in that world didn't have any logic in her world. But still… What this strange lady said made her hear some irresistible call from that foreign, unknown world that caught her attention and was now pulling her towards it, and she didn't want to resist this call.

On the contrary, if anything, she wanted that call to become so strong that she would pick up the courage to answer it and follow it. Anniet shook her head in reply to Rainee's question.

"It didn't put me aback. I just realised how little I know. How little I understand about what you said. All that you told goes against all that I have been taught until now, and I don't know or understand how it is possible. But I want to go the way where I could make friends with swords and with people, without changing who I am. But I don't know how to do it. Until now, no, even now I don't see how it is possible. Because everyone wants to see me differently than I am. Will you teach me?

Will you show me where that way is? Will you help me stay on that way if I find it?"

"We'll see what I can do." Rainee smiled again, looking at her with those mysterious eyes. Suddenly some unexpected thought dawned on Anniet and hit her so hard that she even stepped aside.

"Are you… Are you real?" Just now, she thought that nothing of what happened today resembles reality. People don't sing in the woods with such beautiful voices that even lure others to them, people don't jump down the highest waterfalls, especially not she herself, people don't come to rescue each other when there is no obvious reason for rescue, people don't teach each other these mysterious ways of thinking, mysterious ways of living. People don't know so much to teach others all and everything. People don't…

Well, people don't do anything that happened today. With horror, she thought that she either had a high fever and was hallucinating or she was sleeping, and now that she realised that it was just a dream, all would disappear in a split of a second, and she would wake up at home to face her regular everyday life. Anniet closed her eyes, desperately clutching to the handle of a wooden stick, chanting to herself:"I don't want to wake up. I don't want to wake up.

god, please, if it is a dream, please keep me in this dream. I don't want to wake up. I have nothing to wake up for." The more she pleaded, the more she realised that such pleading would not help. Until she firmly decided that after waking up, she would pack her things and leave home immediately. May it be that she will not encounter any magic school, but at least she will see new things and have new experiences.

And she will definitely remember all that she heard from Rainee, may it be only a dream, and will try to live by what she said.

"God, let me never forget what I have learned today!" Anthony was right – why strive for a little when all possibilities are open? A new sadness grasped her heart. Anthony! If this is a dream, then he is a dream too… This new shock made her open her eyes just to meet Rainee's curious gaze. She was standing quietly, waiting for Anniet to come out of whatever had just happened to her. Seeing that Rainee was still standing in front of her brought surprise but also relief to Anniet, and she exhaled deeply.

"You… You are real!" She said aloud.

"Or are you not?"

"That you will have to determine by yourself," Rainee laughed at her.

"Come, I think you've had enough lessons for one day. Let's go for a walk."

"No, no, no, no. I didn't have enough! You didn't even teach me anything yet! You just checked what I already know!"

"But didn't I?" Rainee asked, looking over her shoulder, but didn't stop and kept walking. With this, Anniet again understood that what she just said wasn't the truth, that in just looking at what Anniet knows and correcting it, Rainee had taught her way more than she would be able to learn in a day if accepted to training classes. What she is saying! … Not in a day, more likely in a week. But there was no time to ponder about it or even apologise.

If she doesn't want this encounter to become a dream for sure, she'd better catch up now. Anniet grabbed the sticks they had made together and ran after Rainee, catching up with her.

"These are only sticks, you know?" Rainee laughed at her.

"There are many in a forest." Anniet shook her head in refusal.

"No, they are not. You made them for me! I will keep them all the time!"

"That is a strange way of thinking. What will you do if I make you more? Keep them all? And what if I give you so many that you will not be able to keep all of them? How will you choose what to keep and what to leave? Or will you lock your life to some place just to keep a bunch of items to remind you about something? Experiences are all that count, not the items. Not even memories. If you are struggling to let go of items, how will you let go of memories?"

"I will never let go of memories. I don't want to forget anything that happened today."

"Keeping memories and forgetting about what happened are entirely different things. If you lock yourself too much on what has already happened, you will close yourself off to what is happening or will happen. You wouldn't be able to appreciate my company now to the same effect, while you strongly believe that the best I can offer you has already happened. Until you cling to past items, past memories, you cannot see clearly what is happening now. And what has happened in the past has already happened.

You will not lose it, no matter if you keep these sticks or not, no matter if you treasure these memories or you release your grip on them and look forward instead of backward. The past doesn't leave us – it is already part of us. All, good and bad. The more we hold onto it, the less we are capable of seeing clearly what is happening now. My advice for you would be to leave it in the past, where it belongs. And to leave these sticks behind, not to burden yourself with them.

That way, you would be able to enjoy what is happening now." Anniet couldn't say anything for some time, so she kept quiet while walking next to Rainee. What Rainee said put her in a dilemma. She really, really didn't want to let go of these few sticks she was carrying. It felt like by letting go of them, she would let go of today's experience. Without proof, how is it different from a dream?

But Rainee clearly expressed her opinion, and not to follow it would be the same as opposing her at the very same time when asking her to teach. How could she teach if Anniet doesn't want to listen to what she is telling? How could she let go of these precious things in her arms when they remind her of such an exciting day? Gosh! What a dilemma!!! After being torn apart, Anniet finally turned to the side and dropped the sticks. After catching up with Rainee again, she did feel much lighter. And happier.

What was she even thinking!? How could there even be a doubt about which was more important, a few items or Rainee's opinion? Now it was so clear that she couldn't even understand where that inner battle she just experienced came from. No item will ever be of the same importance as a person. And Rainee was right! She really could feel a difference between walking with her a minute ago and now, after she discharged these sticks.

She really could feel Rainee's presence again now and was looking forward to seeing and hearing more of these incredible things she was showing and telling her. Why would she need proof of something that happened? She knew it happened, and no proof was required, no physical reminder.

"Are you keeping these two?" Rainee asked, pointing to two sticks Anniet was carrying, one in each hand.

"For now," Anniet answered with a big smile.

"I am going to beg you repeatedly to teach me a little bit more today, and will keep them for now just in case you agree." Rainee chuckled at such an answer and didn't question any longer. They walked for some time in silence, slowly getting higher into the mountains. The views were very nice, and they stopped a few times to admire the panoramic sight, picturing the little School town in the far distance.

"Do you live in the same town?" Anniet asked.

"I do," Rainee confirmed.

"Are there any other towns around?"

"I don't think there are any more towns in this School. Schools are not sanctuaries and are not built for people to live in them for any longer than it requires to serve the purpose of arrival."

"What is your purpose of arrival?" Anniet asked, thinking that it definitely cannot be teaching, as Rainee already said that she doesn't like doing it.

"I don't know yet," Rainee answered honestly.

"What is your purpose of arrival?"

"I don't know yet," Anniet said, thinking that she definitely didn't know why she had arrived here.

"So we are both the same. Maybe we were meant to meet each other then, and that was the purpose of our arrival here?" Rainee suggested. Anniet didn't know what to say in return. No one had ever spoken with her in such a way, and she wasn't sure how to react. She was touched by it but also cautious in case Rainee was just laughing at her. Before she could figure out what to say, Rainee stopped in the middle of a large, flat, open area surrounded by walls of stone on two sides.

It led to the top of a steep crag, opening a very picturesque panoramic view for everyone brave enough to come close to the edge. But Rainee didn't stop there to admire the views.

"Come," she said,"let's continue with your training to make sure that your effort of carrying these weapons is not wasted. This place is perfect. It is cool here, and also the energy is very clear and refreshing for those who are willing to appreciate it. I love this place. It has a very unique touch to it that I have never experienced anywhere else. And also, I hate begging," she added with a smile while stretching her hand out to take one of the two sticks that Anniet carried.

"So, my little pupil, how can I be at your service?"