Chapter 23

Our time at Tarun’s estate became a frantic whirlwind of activity, and few were spared from the labor. We performed basic physical conditioning before breakfast, then Myta trained every fighter we could in the basic forms of Sun’s Ray from breakfast until lunch. In the afternoon, Tarun drilled them in fighting as a unit. Not in formation fighting so much as how to communicate clearly in battle, give or take orders while under stress, and how to keep track of their fellows in adverse conditions. He gave Myta extra direction during this time, and began assigning her squads to lead.

After the evening meal, I kept her for myself. She advanced her practice of my path far enough that I began drilling opposite her with the Inner Harmony forms.

“Master, is this path really for the purpose of strengthening your anima?” We were taking a breather between bouts. “If that’s all this path was for, it seems like wasted time to have a full range of attacks and defenses. But some of the moves feel off for combat. Inefficient, or even dangerous.”

“I never said that was its only purpose.” I defended, smiling a little. “Just that it would. And it has strengthened your anima. You are almost ready to widen your meridians. But, you're right. Inner Harmony has two main purposes. Strengthening your spirit is only one. The other is what we are practicing. If you can learn to match you presence against that of another, you can disrupt their sorcery.”

She frowned. “Wouldn’t it be easier to simply overwhelm the opponent’s mana, rather than trying to match it?”

“In a fight where you outmatch your opponent significantly, absolutely. But life is rarely so simple. When you disperse the opponent’s presence, you will lose an equivalent amount, and to disperse it cleanly, you must maintain the equivalent pressure within you channels. In effect, you must utilize at least twice as much mana as your enemy, and will lose roughly the same amount as they do. Being as efficient as possible is essential.”

She thought for a moment, and then nodded. “So the strange moves are designed to disrupt different shapes of presence. Is all sorcery performed like that? Projected presence?”

“No. But it is the easiest kind. And what you are most likely to face in battle. Balls of fire, spikes of ice and earth, and so forth.” I paused. “Keep in mind that when you face some of these, you must still deal with a physical object, even when the mana is dispersed.”

She nodded again, and our training resumed.

For the first few days, I watched Myta training her warriors. I wanted to ensure that she wouldn’t imitate the brutal methods of her own Pure instructors. She did fall back to those examples a few times, but with me watching she could feel it whenever I thought she’d gone to far. With only a few adjustments, she settled into a manner of teaching that was strict, but fair.

“Reminds me of someone who’s been teaching for decades.” Tarun commented to me, after observing her progress. He shot me a pointed glance, which I ignored.

Once Myta was settled into her role, I joined those who weren’t skilled in combat, in trying to make the area more defensible. The manor

and its courtyards were far too small to shelter all the noncombatants and beasts. Thus the large, makeshift camp, surrounded by traps. As it turned out, Mutil had been a grove tender, before he became a woodworker. As someone responsible for defending the extremely valuable mana wood trees, he had a wealth of knowledge about making forested terrain impassable.

“Demon bramble,” the craftsman grunted, hooking an ominous looking, thorny bush with his pruning hook. “I’d plant these all around the grove. One scratch will have a grown man weeping, trying to cut his skin off, it hurts so bad. Not like we have time for all that, but we can spread some around. String it between trees at face and shoulder height. It’ll stay potent for a week or two.”

I could sense the mana of the bramble, significantly stronger than an average plant, with a hint of vitriolic fire . The woodworker’s idea was sound, but I might be able to enhance it. After Mutil has moved on, I returned to one of the traps. Drawing on my my mana, as well as Myta’s. I threaded the severed vine together with the tree we’d attached it to.

If Myta had not been training the different properties of fire under my instruction, this would have been much more difficult, and costly. But, the warmth of her life giving fire and my encouragement quickly grafted the vine to the tree. With a little extra push, the vicious plant put in a burst of growth, drawing nutrients and mana both from the tree. It formed a new, dense bramble attached to the trunk, which nearly filled the space between the trees. I wouldn’t normally have created such a thing, however such magical hybrids couldn’t generally reproduce. I doubted this would have long term consequences for the forest, and we could destroy the plants later. In the short term, we urgently needed solid defenses for the camp.

That evening, I brought Myta with me to repeat the process with the other vines. It gave her a chance to practice her aspect control. I had her shift her mana into life giving warmth for me, saving me a little effort, and allowing her to feel the fiery pain the vines naturally produced. It wasn’t difficult for her to learn. Myta had suffered more than enough pain to understand it immediately. Her mind was not on the training and practice, however.

“Tell me what’s bothering you.” I said to her.

She paused to examine her weapon, not that mana wood and river steel needed much maintenance. I smiled a little, wondering if she’d picked up the habit from Tarun.

“The people here… they all call me Mytan now. I’ve asked them to stop but they just keep doing it.”

“I know.” I nodded. “It’s a sign of respect. You are a leader to them now.”

“But they still call you Esur.” She replied, with some heat in her voice. “You are my master. It’s not right that you receive less respect.” I could feel that her outrage was genuine, but there was also a hint of fear beneath it as well.

“I’ve worked long and hard, to keep people from attaching a suffix to my name. I’m not going to be angry if they show you more respect than me. You’re doing me a service, keeping their attention.”

“I know, master. But they look to me now not to you. All my life I have failed those around me, but these people have decided they can depend on me!” She ran a hand through her hair, giving it a tug. “I can’t be what they want, do what they expect of me.”

I pulled her to a stop, and pushed her arms down, replacing her hand in her hair with mine. For the first time I wished that I were taller, physically larger than her. So that she could take more support from me as I pulled her into my embrace. She had to slouch, to bury her face in my shoulder.

“You can be what they need, my flame. Just because people told you that you were less than you are, doesn’t make them right. You make mistakes, have moments of weakness, as everyone does. But those do not define you.

“Do you think you would be worthy of my affection, if you were anything less than extraordinary?” She shook her head against my shoulder. “Then trust in my judgment, if you don’t believe theirs. And you know that I am here to support you when you need it, yes? Just like when you began training them, I will guide you.”

Myta nodded her head agains my shoulder this time, and nuzzled the crook of my neck. She took a deep breath through her nose. That, and my words, seemed to ground her. After a little while I pulled my hand from her hair. Laying a little kiss on her temple, before giving her a little push away from me.

“Come on, we need to finish this. And it can’t be comfortable to stand like that.” Aside from her needing to slouch, Myta had also been angling her glaive, pointing it up and away from us with the arm that wasn’t wrapped around me. I knew the position had been awkward, but she had a little smile on her face as we separated. We continued on our path for a few minutes more, before she spoke again.

“Affection, master?”

“You have proven yourself to be capable, and useful to me. I value your service Myta.” I flushed a little as I pushed out the words.

“That’s not really what affection means, master.”

“Take the compliment, woman. Don’t push your luck.”