Arriving at the archive after breakfast, Gregory asked, “Rafiq, is there a limit to how much help one should give their aether through pills, powders, or other medicinal help?”
“Yes. It’s not a straightforward answer, though.”
“I finished the scroll on the tea ceremony the other day,” Yukiko said. “Can I see something that might help answer that question?”
“Yes, this can be managed.”
They both thanked him.
“Of course. Go take your seats.”
They were working on Magi Squares when the archivist came by with the books for them. Both looked up to thank the archivist before going back to their task. Yukiko finished first and pulled the book to her.
Gregory was only a few seconds behind her. “I think I’m getting better.”
“You are,” Yukiko smiled. “I wonder what the book will tell us.”
“Hopefully, we can use all of them, or we’ll have to let the alchemist know to hold back for a week or two.”
Yukiko nodded, already focused on the book.
~*~*~
When it came time to head to class, Yukiko seemed lost in thought as they left the archive behind. “We can, but we need to pay close attention to what we’re taking. There’s nothing that gives a clear answer as to what is too much, but apparently, our aether will react if we start to give it too much too fast.”
“As long as my urine doesn’t go black again,” Gregory said with a grimace. “I didn’t know what to expect from the purity plums, but that wasn’t it.”
“We should use them again after we finish using the tournament gifts. Since we’ll be flooding our aether with foreign help, we’ll need to be cleansed. We can wait until the next tournament, but we’ll want to do it.”
Gregory grimaced. “Okay.”
“It’ll be fine. At least it didn’t burn,” Yukiko said.
“That’s a good point,” Gregory nodded.
~*~*~
The rest of the day was almost a repeat of the previous, except with less fire and snide comments during classes. Magus Paul drove them hard during class until he stopped it to split everyone up for weapon training.
Gregory gave Yukiko a worried look as he looked back at her. Yukiko was staying with Paul, as he was teaching swords. Leaving the arena behind, he trailed the others, who were following Adept Klim.
When they arrived at the arena, Klim took them down into the waiting area. “All of you, get a su yari first.”
“But I felt better with—” one of the novices started to say.
“We’ll cover all of them in time, but it’s easier to start you all with the basics of one,” Klim cut them off.
Everyone took a practice su yari before following Klim out onto the sands of the arena. Gregory was surprised to see another set of novices on the sands already. The adept was holding a war hammer in one hand while addressing them.
“You may call me ‘adept’ or ‘ma’am’ while I’m instructing you,” Klim said. “During this portion of the class, I’m the one who is responsible for you. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Gregory said along with the others.
“Good. We’ll start with the stance for the first kata,” Klim said as she positioned herself. “Do you see how my legs are positioned and how I’m holding the su yari?”
“Yes, ma’am!” the class replied.
“Okay, space out and take the stance.”
Klim waited, watching them as they all tried to copy her stance. She looked at each novice before exhaling. “Most of you are wrong. I will correct you, one by one. This is the most often used stance with this weapon. You need to be able to assume this position on reflex.”
It took her time to go down the line of students, adjusting a foot here, a hand on a shaft there. When she got to Gregory, she just nodded before moving to the front of the class again.
“Now, you will follow along, doing as I do,” Klim said.
Class went by slowly as Klim walked them through the basic kata for the weapon. She’d correct people, making sure they had it right, before moving on. Everyone in class got corrected at least once, except for Gregory.
“Okay. Before class ends, you will walk through those stances,” Klim said. “Ready?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“As I call them, shift to the next,” Klim said. “First stance!”
As they switched to the second, two of the crafters messed up. Klim called a halt and had everyone reset to start again. Every time someone made an error, she would start them over from the beginning. Gregory didn’t say a word, just resetting and starting again each time. Others were clearly disgruntled that a few people were making them repeat the first steps over and over again.
When the hour bell rang, announcing the end of physical conditioning, Klim grimaced. “Tomorrow, we’ll be doing this over and over until you get it right.”
“But why, ma’am?” someone asked with an angry tone.
“Because these are the basics. Everything builds off this.”
“The other class wasn’t doing this…” the novice grumbled.
“I teach my way,” Klim snapped. “Disrespect my teaching again and we’ll be having a demonstration of why the basics are important.”
When no one spoke up, Klim nodded. “Dismissed.”
As everyone headed for the tunnel, Gregory sighed and watched the others leave.
“You never got corrected once,” one of the crafters asked, “did you?”
“He didn’t,” Klim answered, even though the question had been aimed at Gregory. “Novice Pettit is being taught by Armsmaster Watashi and has supposedly faced an apprentice with a naginata. If he made errors during this stage, he’d not be a student of the armsmaster.”
“Hmm…”
“You only made two mistakes during class,” Klim said. “Behind Pettit, you’re the best at listening. Half of the problem for the others is they don’t want to fight. None of this group finished with more than a single win during the tournament, besides you two.”
“Crafters are bad at fighting,” the novice sighed.
“Not really,” Klim replied. “Polearms are best used to keep your opponent as far away from you as possible.”
“Is it possible to get extra training, ma’am?” the novice asked hopefully.
“If you were part of the clan, yes. Since you are clanless, no,” Klim replied.
“Of course,” the novice said tightly. “Thank you.”
“Thank you,” Gregory said, giving Klim a bow.
“I look forward to how much you two can learn over the next few months.” Klim turned and made her way toward where the other adept was standing.
~*~*~
Leaving the arena behind him, he met Yukiko coming his way. “How was it?” Gregory asked.
“He’s a good teacher, but the class is large,” Yukiko replied as they walked to the training building closest to them. “Nick, Jason, and Hayworth all have skill with swords, but longer bladed ones. Our group was split into two with Adept Linto, who is part of the Han clan, taking over to teach those of us who chose shorter swords, which has Jenn with me still.”
“That’s good.”
“Michelle and Gina are with me, though…”
“Oh, that’s not good.”
“Your class doesn’t have any of the Eternal Flame, does it?”
“None. The crafters are from other clans or unaffiliated.”
“How did your class go?” Yukiko asked.
Gregory relayed how the class went as they found an empty room and dropped their bags by the door. “I think she’s going to press me when she wants to demonstrate.”
“That seems likely.”
“Meditation, shower, dinner, study?” Gregory smiled.
“And a kiss,” Yukiko added with a smile.
“As my heart wishes.”
~*~*~
When they made it back to the dormitory, they found a cluster of magi waiting outside the door. The pair sighed before continuing toward the people waiting for them. The moment they were spotted, the magi came forward to greet them.
“Novices,” the lead one said, “we’ve come to speak with you about joining a clan.”
“As we explained to the magi who were waiting yesterday, we’ve already narrowed our choice down to three and are debating which of them we will join,” Yukiko said.
“Oh? Have those clans been notified?” another of the magi asked.
“No. We felt it would be wrong of us to tell them. We knew they would be disappointed when we finally settled on one.”
“Which three?” the first speaker asked. “Obviously, the Eternal Flame isn’t one of them.” His lips twisted slightly as he spoke.
“One of them is the Han Merchant Exchange,” Gregory said bluntly. “Do any of you think you could top them?”
The magi exchanged glances before they stepped away from the building. One of the others there sighed, “No. If you’re looking at clans with that kind of history, we’ll concede on trying to recruit you.”
“Thank you,” Yukiko said, bowing to them. “We’re sorry, but we didn’t wish to alienate anyone.”
“Besides the Eternal Flame and those closely associated with them, you mean?” the last speaker said as the other magi left.
“Even them. We didn’t set out to embarrass or alienate,” Yukiko replied. “Some of the novices who joined them do appear to be having hard feelings over their loss during the tournament.”
The magi laughed, “Indeed. If you join Han, they’ll back off a good deal. Good night to you both.”
“Night, Magus,” they said.
As the last magi walked away, Gregory exhaled. “Maybe the word will get around?”
“Maybe, but when we don’t join Han, Marcia might take it badly now,” Yukiko said. “I was trying to avoid that.”
“Ah, I’m sorry,” Gregory apologized.
“Novices, welcome back.”
Gregory frowned slightly at the part-rabbit eurtik who welcomed them home. Her robe was the one Dia was normally wearing, not that of the staff who worked in the building. “Thank you…”
“I am Keeper Clau,” the woman replied, her long ears twitching. “I’ve taken over the duty of keeper here.”
“You replaced Dia, Clau?” Yukiko asked with a smile.
“The change took place just after sixth bell,” Clau replied.
“Then we’re still in good hands,” Yukiko said.
“Thank you. I was surprised when the change came, but I wasn’t going to turn it down.”
“What happened to Dia?” Gregory asked.
“Family business is what she told me,” Clau replied, but her eyes sparkled with laughter.
“Ah, I hope I understand,” Gregory said.
“I’m sure you’ll see her again before you leave the academy behind,” Clau smiled.
“Thank you, Keeper,” Yukiko said. “We have studying to do before bed. If you will excuse us?”
“Good night to you both,” Clau added as she took a seat on the bench.
Changing their shoes for slippers, the pair quickly went upstairs. Gregory followed Yukiko into her room and chuckled. “I hope it means what I think it does.”
“I’m sure it does.” Yukiko was grinning. “Hopefully, it means in another day or two, we’ll have a clan.”
“Yes.” Gregory’s grin matched hers as he slipped the ring free and gave it back to her. “Your turn. Instead of economics tonight, I was thinking we could just work on Magi Squares?”
“If that’s what my heart wishes.”
