Stars' Light, page 11
“By being formal, you put me at a distance. As your teacher, our relationship is the most important in your life. There are three primary relationships: parents to children, husband to wife, and teacher to student. The last is the most important, and affects the other ones. We want to have a closer relationship than what a formal experience would entail, but you must also remember there is an order to things.” Jorian took a bite of stew. “You can write this down later,” he commented, seeing her getting ready to set up her pen and write. “You need to eat, and the stew is best when it’s warm.” He smiled, gesturing at her bowl.
“Yes, General.” Sarannya put her journal and pen back in the box. She sat in silence, thinking about everything that was just said, and about how it related to what she had done today. This flow idea was a big one. Her butt would really appreciate it if she could get into the flow of the saddle.
“Get up. We have training to do.” Jorian nudged Sarannya with his foot.
Sarannya moaned a bit and rolled over. Her body was so stiff, she could hardly move. “Training? Now?”
“Yes. Bring your sword.” Jorian stood a bit away and out of the glow from what was left of the fire. The air was cold, and she could see her breath.
Sarannya did not say anything as she got up and quickly put her boots on. She grabbed her short sword and stood next to Jorian.
“Copy my posture.”
“I can hardly see what you’re doing.”
Shadow’s blade caught the fire’s light, giving off a faint glow. Sarannya closed her mouth, feeling self-conscious.
Jorian showed her, and Sarannya took up the position. Her sword was held out before her, the tip pointing slightly upwards.
He moved her body around, positioning her until he stepped back, nodding. “There. Remember how your body feels, so you can find this position again without seeing. It’s not about seeing but feeling. You will find that your eyes lie to you. You can’t always trust everything you see.”
Sarannya nodded. Her arms were burning, holding her sword up. He moved next to her and took the same position. They stood in silence for several moments. She was about to ask a question when the General spoke.
“Just breathe. Don’t think about anything. Through your breath, feel everything around you. Remember the light you experienced holding Shadow. You must understand there is always light. Even in darkness, there is light. You only have to look, but you must look with your whole body and not with just your eyes. We spend a lot of time seeing with our eyes, only seeing what we want to see. A warrior must be wary of this.” Jorian spoke quietly in the early morning dark. He moved to the next position and nodded for Sarannya to follow. He led her through several positions as the horizon began to lighten with the rising sun.
They practiced in silence as Jorian led her through a routine. Her arms were aching, and she was sweating a little bit when they finished. Her body was a bit looser, and it did not hurt to move as much. The tiredness she woke with was mostly gone. She turned to see the sun peering over the mountain peaks at them. She stopped for a moment, admiring the view. The colors were brilliant.
“Beautiful isn’t it?” Jorian asked, standing behind her, connecting her to the light.
The colors of the sunrise were nothing like she had ever seen. Her voice caught in her throat. She did not have a reply at first.
“Is this what it’s like for all warriors?” Sarannya glanced over her shoulder, noticing that Shadow was still held in his hand.
“No. Only those who are willing to do the work will experience what you’re seeing now.” Jorian was no longer looking at the horizon, but watching her. Sarannya did not reply, turning back to the sunrise. “We need to get packed and moving.” Jorian spoke quietly, and sheathed Shadow.
Sarannya nodded, soaking up the color and the light, but then it began to fade with the General moving away from her. There was a dimming of the light and the colors lost their vibrancy. She took a deep breath as a sadness settled in her heart. She turned back to see the General rolling his bedroll. She sighed and moved to pack her stuff and help with the camp. It was going to be another long day in the saddle, and she began to wonder who the General really was.
They rode for hours with the General in front. He did not talk very much, and Sarannya was okay with this, because she was thinking about everything that had happened in the last few days. She was looking at the General’s back, thinking how best to ask a question when Atlas surged ahead and brought her up beside him.
Jorian smiled at her bewildered expression.
“Did Atlas just read my mind?” She asked, her voice a bit squeaky.
“You are riding a Tellurean horse. They are very sensitive to those that ride them, and even more to those they bond with. The fact that he decided to help you means that he likes you.”
“Uhhh…okay. I like him, too. I was curious if I’m going to learn how to do things with my mind, or is that only for boys?” Sarannya pushed out the last of her sentence in a bit of a rush.
“With your mind? What exactly are you talking about?”
Sarannya took a deep breath and explained her question. “My brother was able to move a stool and make my dress strap fall down with his mind, and you made me see images. Am I going to learn how to do this?”
Jorian laughed. “Your brother made your dress strap fall down?” His voice was a bit sarcastic. “I’m pretty sure that is only for boys. Unless, you like girls?” he asked.
“It wasn’t like that. I’m not like…” Sarannya frowned. She took a deep breath to steady her emotions.
Jorian laughed again. “I know. You aren’t ready for me to even talk about the Essences yet, so I shall not. But yes, you will eventually learn how to do those things. Especially making dress straps fall down.” He chuckled to himself, noting that Sarannya was sulking a bit. He fell quiet as Titan came to a stop just before their descent. The sun was high in the sky, and to the right Sarannya could see a large city. Stretching out in front of them was the Imperial Planes, green with grass, small trees, and rolling hills.
“Is that Imperial City?” She was surprised that it did not look like a scar on the land. In fact, it looked like it belonged right where it was, nestled against the Marpesia mountain range and drinking the water of the Azarai river.
“It is.”
She had rarely been this far from home, and had only been to Imperial City once before in her life when she was much younger. She had studied geography at home. The planes seemed to stretch on into infinity. “Where are we headed?”
“We will be crossing the planes.”
“We are going to the Borderlands?” She turned to look at him with shock on her face.
“Yes, we are. That’s where Kiril is, so that is where we are going.”
“There isn’t any Imperial presence there.” Her voice held hint of panic.
“There is law there, and the Imperial seal is respected. You just have to know who to talk to. Anyhow, I have allies there.” He smiled at her, and Titan began the long descent to the plains.
Sarannya waited for a moment. The Borderlands was where all the bandits, thieves, and mercenaries lived. It was not a place to be visited, unless you wanted to be murdered. Her studies in school had been very definitive about this. Atlas began to follow Titan, and Sarannya truly realized that her training was not just about using the sword. This was going to be something larger and more defining then learning to use a sword and becoming a warrior. She was going to go places, meet people, and do things beyond the scope of most people.
She patted Atlas on the neck. “Let’s catch up, boy. I don’t want the General and Titan to beat us down.” Atlas began to close the gap, but he made sure to take good care of the girl riding him, as he did not want his true mistress mad at him. There would be no treats for him if he brought this girl back broken.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The rain started on the first night they camped on the plains. And once it started, it did not let up. Her oiled coat was good, but everything was damp and wet by the night of the second day. Sarannya did the best she could to keep dry, but it was impossible. It was also getting colder as the season was turning from fall to winter, so as the sun disappeared, she began to see her breath setting up camp.
At night, they set up a shelter and the General would start a fire, and they did the best they could to dry out their coats and boots. At least her bedroll stayed dry, and she was very thankful for that. They would talk about military strategy, and the General would tell her stories from past battles, drawing how the forces were arrayed in the dirt and asking her what she would do. As the days passed, she begin to like the rain and the time it gave her at night to just sit and talk. The General would smoke his pipe, and the two of them would drink a little of the alcoholic mix Lady Alena had sent along.
It was on the fifth day as they finished putting up camp and moved under cover to attempt to dry out their gear, that Sarannya asked about the Essences.
“You mentioned the Essences, and that I wasn’t ready to hear about them, but what are they?” She put her hands up, warding off a comment before he could speak. “I’m not asking you to tell me, but I’m curious what they are. I know that I have much more to learn before I learn those.”
Jorian was quiet and just stared at her for a moment, thinking. He did not even have to wake her up anymore. She was already awake when he got up for the morning training. She was learning her postures well, and she was quick to understand basic strategy. She kept up on her journal, having not slacked off, not even for a single night, not even when she could hardly keep her eyes open. “Go get some water, and once dinner is cooking, I’ll tell you about them.”
Sarannya quickly put her heavy, rain-soaked coat back on and headed down to the fresh water they were camped by. They were nestled in between two small hills with a small creek that ran at the foot of them. There was not a lot of elevation, but enough to hide them at a distance if someone was looking. She quickly filled the bucket and made her way back up to camp. She noticed that she was not as winded today. She also noted that she was no longer sore and beat up from riding all day. She was still a bit sore from working out every morning, though. Her pants were fitting looser, so she had to pull the drawstring tighter. She smiled at that.
As soon as Sarannya got back to the small camp, she started working on the fire.
“Do you want help?” Jorian asked.
“No. I want to do it myself this time. I have never been very good at this. My brothers could start a fire anywhere.” She was biting her lower lip in concentration as she worked the flint and attempted to get the fire going. Her hair was a tangled nest, having been under a hat most of the day. She had given up on doing anything with it days ago. Now, she just tied it back to keep it out of the way, and mostly unknotted. She was getting used to rag showers and having a man near her when she bathed. The General was a gentleman, and he was protective of her, which she liked. She did not let him know that, of course.
She frowned and shook her head with her continual failure. The sparks just would not take hold. The moss and sap would not burn. The ground was so damp, that by putting the moss down, it absorbed the dampness. “I don’t understand. You make it look it so easy. What am I doing wrong?” She heard the whine in her voice and sighed to herself, because she wanted to be seen as an adult, even though she felt like a child. She closed her eyes like the General had taught her to control her emotions and took a deep breath. “Would you please help me?” she asked, moderating her tone.
Jorian had been watching her while he packed his pipe with tobacco. It was like watching a ghost of his own children, including Zorian, when he had taken them on outings. His daughters had never been able to figure out how he had started the fire faultlessly, even in the rain until they had been shown, and here he was again. A little of the ice broke around his heart as he watched her take control of her emotions and ask him as an adult would. “Of course.” He smiled at her. He moved forward and touched the moss with his finger, mussing it up a bit.
Sarannya felt the air still, and the sound of the rain faded for a moment on the canvas tarp, and then she saw it. A small tendril of smoke came up from the moss. Her mouth hung open. “What the…! You cheated!”
Jorian laughed. “Of course I cheated. Cheating is completely legal, and is the foundation for all combat. One must cheat to win, and since I’m still alive, I’m very good at cheating.”
Sarannya just stared at the small fire that was building and burning through the moss. She was shifting to get up and get some of the tinder they carried in a saddle pack, but the General stopped her.
“It will be okay. Tonight, we won’t be needing fuel. The fire will burn on its own. And you, little bug, will learn a bit about the Essences.” He put his pipe in his mouth, and with a crooked smile, puffed on it. He was clearly teasing her.
Sarannya got up and looked at his coat, noticing that the inside was completely dry. “You have been dry this whole time?”
“Yup.” Another puff of smoke wafted out. His green eyes were alight with knowing, and even though he was puffing on his pipe, she could see the smile in the corner of his eyes. “I can walk in the rain and not get wet, I can move over the ground and not leave a trace. This is what it means to be one with the Essences. The Essences are the building blocks of the physical world. They are what make things work. Earth, water, fire, wind, consciousness, time, and spirit. Those are the Essences.
“But to be able to use them, you must give up the illusion that you have created around life. You believe that water is wet, and fire burns, but I don’t. I know that I can dictate their properties, and how their interaction with the physical world affects me. I can change those interactions for my needs.”
“You’re talking about magic. The church forbade magic and persecuted those who could do what you are talking about,” Sarannya whispered, sitting down by the fire that was burning bright and giving off a pleasant warmth. “Is this what my brother is learning at his sword school?” She wanted to know what the repercussions were going to be for learning what was being offered.
“Magic was designed to mimic what true warriors could always do.” Jorian frowned at her mention of the church. “The church was created by the humans that came after the Immortals. The church was jealous of the ruling warrior culture, and worked for a long time to usurp it, and they did for a time, until Zorian Mirogen led a revolt against them and broke their power at great cost.”
Sarannya shook her head in disbelief. She was trying to understand what she was being told. “The Immortals? I was taught that humans were placed here by the Gods, so we could learn and grow from when we were cast out of the spirit realm.” She was not arguing with what she had just been told, but the General’s words countered everything she had been taught. “If that is not true, why would we be taught this?”
“Control is why you were taught that. If they can keep you from learning your true origins and your true path, they can keep you docile and doing exactly what they want.”
“And what do they want? I don….” She paused, looking at him, thinking back to their conversation about control and expectation.
“What do they want?” Jorian pressed.
“Power, money, and control.” Sarannya whispered, looking back at the General. Smoke was wafting around him, and his eyes almost glowed in the near dark.
“Correct. So, why do you think that your family and mine are made pariahs at court?”
“Because we don’t follow their ideals and beliefs. We aren’t trying to control everything, and we give opportunities for people to live their own lives in our protectorate.” She almost sounded like she was reciting from a book. Her eyes never left his. “The treaty?”
“The One Hundred Day War. It was fought by Adonai and Liljana Tatara, who destroyed Sarang’s forces and forced the Emperor to surrender unconditionally. Imperial City fears us and our protectorate. Fears what we are and what we can become. Imperial City will fear you, not only because you are a Tatara, but because you will also be a warrior. And, if you are granted a Rimerian, you could change the world.” Jorian took another puff on his pipe. The camp descended into silence as the patter of the rain on the tarp drowned out the snap of the shifting flames.
Jorian just watched her. He could see her mind was reeling a bit from this information, but she was starting to make connections between what she saw in society and what she had just been told. “Don’t dwell on this. The most important thing right now is for you to learn how to use the sword, and to begin your study of the Essences, which is really a study of yourself.”
They cooked and ate in silence, Jorian smoking his pipe, and Sarannya writing in her journal. Soon the fire burned down to a soft glow, even though it still gave off a lot of warmth. Sarannya lay quietly, just resting, thinking back to what she and the General had talked about. She was also going over her posture and movements in her mind until she drifted into sleep.
They were up, trained, and off by first light. It was still raining, but at least her clothes would be dry for the morning. The day was gray and heavy with rain. She was soaked and starting to get cold by the time she saw the Borderland mountains. They would be camping soon, and she was ready to change clothes and get near a warm fire. She was also ready to not be on Atlas and to start her practice. Titan left the trail towards a stand of trees that would give good shelter from the weather. There was also a swollen creek nearby for water.
Jorian dismounted and looked around. This was his spot. He had camped here before, but not for a long time. He frowned, noticing that his fire pit was gone. He would have to rebuild that, but then again, it would be a good lesson in how to use the first of the Essences, earth. He looked back at Sarannya, who was also dismounting. She immediately pulled out the canvas and began to unpack the necessary items for shelter to keep them dry.
