Listening Breath

Aetri winced as his bruises and scrapes pained him, He was still pretty tired, but He knew himself and that was always the best time to work on the slower and more methodical parts of his training, and so He went to his room, a small relatively empty space that He kept very clean and moved to his weapon wall.

He sighed as He looked to the wall on the west side of the room, seeing his Equipment rack that held his leather training armour all stored neatly on their post, but He turned his attention to the small rack nailed to the wall, three wooden slats where His Mahogany Bow, Blackbolt, sat with its leather quiver bellow it, the two having gathered a considerable amount of dust after a long while of misuse... Aetri turned his eyes away from the Bow and quiver, He didn't like using it before and He didn't like using it now... it brought back old memories that He'd rather keep from ruining his already hectic day.

Aetri would normally train with his sword, A Briton-style Longsword, forged for him many years ago by a friend and the Local smithy, it wasn't anything special... but He'd grown attached to it... that was before Eric and his cronies stole it from him before beating him to a pulp, and so the space where it usually sat lay empty, leaving him only one option.

He ran his fingers along its wooden edge, the old sparing sword, made of wood was littered with many heavy and crudely made iron rings, each adding more and more weight to the blade, the dozen or so number of them making Aetri smile slightly as He pulled the heavy wooden sword from its slot, giving it a few lazy swings with complete ease, before moving out of his room and closing the door behind him.

"There you are..." Kara said, moving towards Aetri and hugging him as He winced from the pain of his bandaged areas

"Ow... easy, still a little tender." He chuckled as Kara blinked nervously

"I... I told her everything, I'm so sorry, Miss Lee's just..." Aetri nodded with understanding

"Terrifying, unrelenting? don't worry about it, I wouldn't expect You to try and stay silent with that old Monster staring you down-"

"THAT OLD MONSTER CAN HEAR YOU, PISSPOT, GET THE HELL OUT THERE YOU LAZY LITTLE BASTARD!" Aetri ducked in panic as a thin needle flew at him through the crack of the Healing room's double doors, the sharp utensil missing Aetri narrowly as it shot into the stone frame of the fireplace.

Aetri gritted his teeth, grabbing Kara and bolting towards the door

"S-Sorry, Mentor!" He cried, slamming the door after He pulled a yelping Kara through it with him.

Aetri and Kara walked through the Backway towards the Barn, just, as usual, He smiled passing the large corrals where Lee's collection of fluffy Oxen sat lazily in the frozen grass, the huge white-furred, heavily muscled Beasts snorting as He passed, save for Alfred, who was out like a light as always "Done stuffing your faces?" He said, resting momentarily on the fence as the Giant beasts looked at him with their dark eyes, Lee kept them well fed and cared for "The More they eat, the more we eat." She would always say, usually while staring hungrily at a freshly cut 100-pound Oxen shoulder... She always was weirdly sadistic in the way that she cared for these creatures in an almost motherly way, then coldly butchered them and ate them, selling the leftover cuts of meat to the Uld for Trade.

But Aetri had a fondness for the beasts, spending all these years looking after them had allowed him to see many generations of their line and was thankful for them keeping him fed

"Don't call them over here! those things are scary!" Kara moaned, But Aetri grinned boyishly as He held out some grass for the massive Ox that strutted heavily over to him, ruffling its fluff covered head as it scoffed down the grass from his other hand

"Don't be such a wuss, they're cute and completely harmless... unless you steal their food... then you will be crushed... and impaled... if Alfred gets you with his horns" He said thoughtfully as Kara gulped, but Aetri patted the Beast's head and turned away "Alright, Kara, I've gotta do some exercises."

Kara frowned, clutching Aetri's arm "What? but you're hurt... and I don't want to wait in the lodge, can't I just watch you for a little while?" She asked, eyeing the lodge nervously.

Aetri shook his head "No, no, you know the rules, nobody watches training, No distractions." He was adamant, but Kara seemed even more adamant than he was

"Oh come on, I get it, super-secret training can't be interrupted but... Well, I might like watching you, swinging that ugly thing around." The Red-Head's hand ran across Aetri's chest, her warmth contrasting the bitter cold as she moved closer, flashing that pretty smirk at him as she pressed her body against his.

He sighed, her beauty disarming him slightly as the strange thing from earlier stirred again... a Shivering, writhing thing that made him shiver inside, whatever it was... it was disrupting his focus and Aetri's focus was a drive that He had to maintain "As tempted as I am... rules are rules, I'll only be half an hour. How about you head into town, to Friggs longhouse, tell her all that's happened, better to rip the bandage off now before you're found skulking around here."

Kara paled "Y-You want me to go into the village, alone!?" She stammered

Aetri caressed her arm warmly, smiling just as much so "You know the Law, no contact with Outcasts, they won't interact with you, just go straight to the Jarl and tell her I sent you. Everything will be fine, I promise." His reassurance seemed to bolster her courage somewhat, though a hint of fear still encaptured the Redhead, even as she kissed him goodbye.

The Young man followed his routine and the first thing on the agenda?

"No one interrupts training and meditation, keeping your training secret until the time is right is critical..." Aetri remembered Crow's words all those years ago, placing his hand on the door of the barn, the smooth ridges in the doors felt just like they did all those years ago.

Uld Village, 6 years ago.

"But Miss Crow..." Aetri said, the young boy shivering as they stood in the snow next to Lee's barn, Crow's dark and shadowed form uncaring of the bitter cold "t-there's no way that all of your weird powers just come from breathing."

Crow stared at him with her black eyes, Crouching to the 14-year-old's level, "That is correct, not all of my powers are fueled by the Breathing techniques, but some..." Crow tapped her hood covered ears and squeezed her red button nose "Some are."

"Your enhanced senses! they are powered by breathing techniques, no way... how wouldn't I have noticed that, Miss Crow?"

"You see with only your eyes, so you are easy to fool." Crow took the boy's hands, Her half-hidden expression never changing as she placed his hands on the doors of the barn "This is the method with which you will ensure privacy during your physical training, see with more than just your eyes and breath in the world around you. Close Your Eyes."

Aetri did so, feeling the smooth barn doors, the minuscule cracks in between the timber, the gentle warmth oozing out from betwixt the door's centre "Breath in the cold of this place, breath in the pine and Birch, take in the whistling wind, hear the stories it whispers... do you hear them?"

Aetri listened cleanly, taking in his breaths as He listened to the world around him, taking in the wood's rich aroma and-

"M-Miss crow, I don't think this is working," Aetri admitted shyly. Lee might have shown a little annoyance then, but not Black-Crow, it wasn't her way, she was patient and cold as winter, a constant in an ever-changing world, but even under that unfeeling shell of an expression, Aetri could have sworn that he could seldom spot the subtlest of hints of warmth in her otherwise frozen tone

"You can do it. Clear your mind, don't just listen to your surroundings, hear them, absorb them. come, close your eyes."

the Young Aetri huffed, the heat from his breath vaporizing in the frosty air, though He did as his Teacher bid, touching the cold barn doors once again and gently closing his eyes.

The Cool oxygen invaded deep into Aetri's lungs, filling him with more than just air, but the purest and coldest kind of focus, whips of information small and large swept through his body, the rattle of the ants made as they traced their subterranean tunnels, the shattering fracture of the snowflakes settling on pines that rustled on the gale, He could feel the Oxen behind him and the way their fur bellowed in the wind, He could feel the thumping of his trembling heart within and He could feel Black-Crow, Her sharp and focusing exhales leaving barely a trace on the world around her.

Aetri opened his eyes, letting go of the barn doors and blinking frantically as He caught his breath "T-That was..."

"The Listening Breath. With practice you will be able to do more than simply increase your perception, You will be able to assume greater control of your body and mind. Some can even numb their senses with it, reducing their capacity to feel pain, it is all a case of practice and determination."

And so Aetri did, He and Crow would venture out into the cold of the North, where He would breathe the air and take greater control of his mind and body, a power that greatly enhanced his Physical training with Lee...

Oh but there He was, daydreaming again, remembering the past when He should have been focusing on training. He had been at it for a while now in that barn, swinging that heavy wooden sword as His wounds begged him to rest, but Aetri knew better "The Best way to conquer pain, is to stare it straight in the eyes." He said to himself, wiping his sweaty brow and looking at the battered training dummy in front of him.

Restoring the furs and heavier parts of his Uld cloak and jacket, Aetri carried the dummy back to its spot in the back of the barn, hoisting up his training sword on his shoulder before heading back to the lodge to clean up a little before heading back into town.