Right away

I take a deep breath and steel myself for the impending cold. Biting my lip, I advance forth, getting assaulted on two fronts by the cold of the ground on my feet and the light of the sun on my eyes. I half close my eyes and stand on tiptoes as shivers run up and down my body and my jaw shakes. Then, suddenly, I feel a large body collide with mine.

I almost lose my balance, but barely manage to stay on my feet. Unfortunately, the man I bumped into was not as lucky. He is about as big as me, wearing an impressive montsuki in earthly colors. His head is clean-shaven, a large scar runs perpendicular to it, and has a set of katana and wakizashi in his belt.

“Watch where you go!” he waves his fist at me from the ground, shouting in broken Central. “You know who I am? I have you kill!”

“I very sorry,” I respond in broken Imperial, which seems to enrage him further. I extend a hand to him, but he slaps it away.

“You mock sword of Emperor?” he spits as he gets up. “Draw your blade, we fix this with blood!”

I step back as he puts his hand on his longer blade. “Woah, woah,” I exclaim. “It was an accident, I don't mean to offend you. I'm sorry.”

His frown deepens further, and for a second I think I’m a goner. Then suddenly a folded fan comes out of nowhere and smacks his hand off his sword. A tiny woman in thick makeup appears from behind him, spewing an angry torrent of yelling, accompanied by appropriate gesticulation, that's too fast and too advanced for my surface-level knowledge of their language to keep up with. The man seems to shrink as the woman slaps him again with the fam, by the time she’s done a deep blush covers almost the entirety of his head. Then she turns to me.

“I would like to formally apologize for the actions of my older brother,” she says with a small bow, her accent so thick that it makes her otherwise perfect Central almost intangible. “He is in a lot of pain and it's our first time outside the Empire. He meant no offense.”

She glances at me and I realize I’m still holding my hands up. “It’s alright, I guess,” I say as I lower them. “I didn’t mean one either, bumping into him was an accident.”

“He understands that now as well, thank you,” she finishes and bows again, this time joined by her brother. The thought of bowing back crosses my mind, but I discard it quickly. They wave me off and disappear into the compound.

“What the fuck was that?” I mumble to myself, as I walk away.

The compound was built on a grassy hillside, enclosed by tall wooden fortifications. From a distance, they look rickety, hastily made perhaps, but the compound could definitely fend off a small-scale siege if push came to shove. There is a desire path cutting through the green, a little further down I can see a small building complex, a few two-storied cabins clumped together.

As I get closer, I slowly begin to remember. Not pictures, not sounds, not smells or tastes, just vague feelings of deja vu. They get stronger, more concrete as I arrive at the complex, I follow them to one of the buildings. I pause, somehow certain I’ve paused here before. There are strange noises coming from the inside; wooden impacts, huffs of exertion, claps, in this specific order, in regular intervals. Someone is doing burpees inside. I push the door open, and I enter.

The room behind the door is wide and mostly empty, with a few chairs and a dining table pushed to the side so that the young man sweating on the floor has enough space. He’s freshly shaven and has crew cut short brown hair. His loose clothes cling to his skin, so drenched it looks like he passed under a waterfall. The burpees, the overexertion, the smooth body, they all refresh my memory. I know this man.

“Miss Ingrid, you are back!” he notices me.

“Loinsteak.”

I greet him.

I unclasp my sword’s harnesses and hang it on the coat rack behind the door.

There are four, almost identical, ones hanging already.

“You almost done?”

“I’m afraid not,” he says without missing a beat of his workout. “Miss Brynhildr is in a bad mood, she gave me a double quota.”

I smile. Of course she did. “You know she’s not your boss anymore, right? You made it into the team, we are all equals now.”

He huffs and puffs. “It’s okay, I don’t mind the exercise. Anyway, she’s waiting for you upstairs. And mister Finch was asking for you earlier as well, he should be back soon.”

“Alright, I’ll make sure to see him,” I say and begin climbing up the stairs. I pause. “And you make sure to not die working out, I have a little errand of a strapping young lad like yourself,” I add, grinning at his little blush.

The second floor is split between four bedrooms, three of their doors hanging open. I walk to the odd one out and stand in front of it. Usually, I’d have barged in right away, but Loinsteak said she’s in a bad mood.