The rest of the day was almost normal. They talked about different topics during the trip, then had lunch in a eurtik-run tavern where the owner appeared to have a history with Lightshield. The food was good— the aether in it was a little low, but they all knew that not every meal was going to stress them. Yukiko led them through the Peaceful Fist after lunch, and then they were back on the road. They discussed Empire’s Gambit during the second leg of the trip, as they hadn’t during the first.
Pulling into the yard of the inn for the night, they all remembered what Lightshield had told them earlier that day. Tonight, there would be no sparring with Egil, as the academy overseer would be coming to dinner. They’d forgotten about it when Mindie revealed her resonance, but now, it came back to them.
They still did the Peaceful Fist, with Jenn leading them this time, and the moment it was over, Rafiq, Egil, Lightshield, and Hemet went inside to bathe, leaving the group to spar on their own.
“Hand-to-hand?” Gregory suggested. “Working on basics is never a bad thing.”
“Agreed, dear one,” Yukiko said.
“There are six of us who fight,” Ling said.
“Umm… can I?” Mindie spoke softly.
They all turned to her, surprised that she’d asked, but it was Jenn who asked, “Are you sure, Mindie? None of us find fault with your desire to not fight.”
“It’s my weakness,” Mindie replied. “If you have a weakness that you can fix, you should.” She spoke without hesitation, but her hands shook at her sides.
Clover was suddenly in front of her, her usual smile not on her lips. “I’ll work with you. I know what it is to not fight. I worked to make people laugh so they wouldn’t hurt me. It was difficult for me to become comfortable fighting the first year.” Her smile came back to her, and she grabbed Mindie’s hands, bringing them up between them. “If you’ll let me?”
“Please?” Mindie asked.
“Yeah!” Clover cried in happiness. “Come on, we’ll move over here. First, we’ll make sure you know how to fall.”
The others smiled at the pair, happy to see Clover so eager to help Mindie.
“That leaves the five of us to spar,” Jenn said. “We’ll let whoever is sitting out pick which winner they want to fight. That should let us cycle through everyone.”
“I look forward to that. I didn’t get to fight any of you during the first tournament at all,” Ling said.
“I had a match against Clover,” Roshana said.
“Yes, and you won, as I recall,” Ling smiled.
“I’ll sit out first,” Gregory said. “When we finish, I want to press my magic a little, if you’ll all help?”
Everyone looked his way, even Clover and Mindie.
“I want to spar against all of you at once. I’ll be using foresight.”
“Hmm… a good idea. You should do well, but with all of us, it includes a lot of variables. Our group fighting mostly lets you isolate,” Yukiko said.
“Exactly. It’ll help push me.”
“We should ask Lightshield if he has things we can train our magic on,” Ling said. “The rest of you can work on your magic without other items, but Clover and I cannot.”
“Ask him tonight or tomorrow?” Roshana asked. “I can use the smallest bits of my magic, at least.”
“I can work on my shadow shaping,” Yukiko nodded.
“I’ll need Greg to help with mine. Can you do what Bishop had us do? Where you dodge my empowered attacks, and I have to harden my skin when you hit me?” Jenn asked.
“That’ll let me get my own practice in, too,” Gregory grinned. “Maybe change our schedule to work on magic after sparring, but before the bath?”
“That would be good. I get healing training from sparring,” Mindie said.
“I’m going to go ask now,” Gregory said. “You all go ahead and start. I’ll be right back.”
Gregory entered the inn, wondering if Lightshield went to bathe. He decided to check the taproom and Lightshield’s room first. The inn’s taproom was busy; Gregory’s quick scan failed to turn up Lightshield, but he did notice that, again, the inn was mostly eurtik, ranging from full to partial. Making his way to the bar, he waited for the innkeeper to come down to him.
The large, hairless man had florid cheeks and was laughing with his patrons. When he finally looked down the bar to see Gregory, he quickly excused himself and hurried down to him. “Magi, I’m sorry for the wait. What can I do for you?”
“It’s fine,” Gregory smiled. “You remind me of the tavernkeeper from my hometown. He was always laughing with customers. I was wondering which room Elder Lightshield is in?”
“Ah. Top floor, in the last room, Magi.”
“Thank you,” Gregory smiled.
“My pleasure to serve, Magi.”
Gregory headed upstairs, but heard a snippet of conversation as he left.
“Lucky he’s a nice one. Most magi would ha…”
He’s not wrong. I can imagine what Nick would have done to him for keeping him waiting… Shaking the thought off, Gregory climbed the stairs.
He knocked on the door, then waited until a voice told him to enter. Stepping into the room, he saw Lightshield and Hemet sitting at a Shogi board. “Excuse me, Elder, Grandmaster.”
“It is fine,” Lightshield said. “What did you need?”
Gregory was surprised that Lightshield didn’t already know.
“He plays me without foresight so I have a chance,” Hemet chuckled, having seen Gregory’s expression.
“Oh, yes, of course. I came to ask if there were supplies for Ling and Clover to practice their magics with?”
“We’ve been wondering if you would ask,” Hemet grinned. “I have a collection of items for Ling to study to better understand them.”
“I have some supplies for Clover,” Lightshield said as he made his move on the board. “She will not be able to do much with them beyond crafting the least of healing aids, but she can give those to Mindie when she makes them. I’ll have them placed in your room after this game.”
“My room?”
“She will need the space for her work,” Lightshield said, looking at Gregory. “Besides, it will give you all a chance to learn from her that way, will it not?”
Gregory blinked, then bowed low. “Thank you, sir.”
“I want to make our young as strong as they can be,” Lightshield said softly. “They are waiting for you. Go on. We will see you for dinner.”
“Thank you, Elder. Thank you, Hemet.” With a formal bow, he left them to their game.
Rafiq was leaving his room as Gregory made his way downstairs. “Gregory? I thought you would be sparring.”
“I had a question for the elder. I’m going down to do that now.” Another thought came to him, and he paused. “Rafiq… you can’t attack a magi, but could you spar with one?”
Rafiq’s lips pulled up slightly into his small smile, showing a lot of teeth. “My restrictions did say I should aid the magi who ask me to help them in any way that I can. As long as I am not intentionally trying to injure, either out of malice or a desire to escape, I should be able to.”
“Jenn could use a partner who can match her,” Gregory grinned.
“Ah. Would I also get a chance to spar with you?” Rafiq asked.
“If that’s what you want for it, su… if it’s not recorded,” Gregory quickly fixed what he was going to say.
“I will not record the sparring sessions,” Rafiq chuckled.
“Let’s go,” Gregory smiled.
A part of him wondered why he was so ready to accept Rafiq’s word on the matter. As they went downstairs, Gregory opened his resonance to touch Rafiq. Rafiq was a solid presence beside him, but as his resonance touched the taproom patrons when they reached the bottom stairs, most of them felt hollow to him.
“Resonance gives a sense of how trustworthy the person is when it comes to you,” Rafiq said conversationally. “Unless the person you check is also on the spirit path, they would never feel the light touch. If they are, they will feel your resonance checking them.”
Gregory glanced at Rafiq. “I thought you were mind path?”
“The Peaceful Fist isn’t the only combined path known to the archive,” Rafiq smiled. “I am one of very few who have managed the Resonant Mind. As you can guess, it is mind and spirit.”
“Oh… would it combine with the Peaceful Fist?”
“Doubtful,” Rafiq said. “Resonant Mind helps you use the meditation of the spirit path to focus the mind. It has many uses later if you can keep on it.”
“What kind of uses?” Gregory asked.
“Magi Squares made of aether flame and being able to replay a spar in your cavern. If you go far enough with the Resonant Mind, you can even fight a being of aether that will mimic your opponent.”
Gregory kept his face impassive as he listened to what Rafiq said. They’d already started doing Magi Squares and fight replays in their minds. However, the idea of being able to spar against a copy of an opponent, not just reviewing previous fights against them, was intriguing.
“What did the elder say, Greg?” Yukiko asked, turning to face the door as it opened. “Oh, Rafiq? Have you come to spar? Can you spar?”
Rafiq smiled. “I can assist magi who request me to help them. I was asked by Gregory to help Jenn with her magic training.”
“Oh,” Jenn said, having just beat Ling. “Yes, please. Wait… what tier are you, Rafiq?”
“We are not permitted to wear medallions,” Rafiq said, bowing to her. “If I had to guess, it would be magus tier.”
“Please go a little easier on me, then,” Jenn chuckled.
Rafiq bowed. “I will do my best to help without injuring you.”
“That’s after normal sparring, though,” Roshana said.
“Rafiq, can you come over here?” Clover asked, waving at him. “You can help me with Mindie.”
Rafiq’s head tilted a little as he headed their way. “You are sparring today, healer?”
Mindie met his curious gaze and bowed her head. “It’s a weakness. I should address it.”
“You found your resonance?” Rafiq asked.
Mindie flushed. “Yes… my weakness is my passiveness when it comes to fighting. I should at least be able to defend my loved ones.”
Rafiq paused short of them, then bowed formally. “If you wish me to assist you, healer, it would be my honor.”
Mindie swallowed and bowed back. “I would be grateful, Archivist.”
“Which will let Clover be able to spar with us,” Ling smiled. “We can have three fights going at a time.”
“More efficient,” Roshana nodded.
“Let’s do it,” Clover said, heading their way, then looked back. “You’ll do great, Mindie.”
Mindie smiled at Clover’s infectious joy. “Thank you for helping me, Clover.”
“Friends help,” Clover replied.
