“Good morning,” Gregory greeted Rafiq and Basal when he came out of his room.
“Morning, sir,” Basal smiled brightly. “You’re teaching the men the naginata today?”
“Yes, you’ll be working on unarmed with Rafiq… Wait, Rafiq did you want to learn—?”
“I cannot fight with any weapon,” Rafiq cut Gregory off gently. “Not even in defense of my own life.”
“Oh…” Gregory said slowly. “I could change that, though, couldn’t I?”
“Technically, yes. If it was found out that you did, we’d both be in trouble. I’m an academy slave, Gregory. I have even less leeway than a normal eurtik slave. Since you are the one to currently hold my rune, you would be held accountable for breaking the academy treaty.”
“I see…”
“Your disappointment is balm enough,” Rafiq told Gregory. “You surprised everyone with the desserts last night,” he shifted the topic back to something more pleasant.
“They’ll be earning the treat. Between weapon training and the obstacle course, they’ll be working hard today.”
“Thank you for the meat pie, sir,” Basal added. “It was tasty.”
Gregory chuckled. He held out his hand and another hand-sized meat pie appeared. “I got you two just like Hanz got two sweets. Maybe you want this instead of the frumenty for breakfast today?”
Basal blinked rapidly for a moment, then took the offered food. “Thank you, sir. I’ll set it in my room for now and have it after training.”
“A valid option,” Gregory smiled. “See you outside.”
“Yes, sir,” Basal said, heading for his curtained alcove of a room.
Stepping outside, Rafiq grinned at Gregory. “It is refreshing to see your care for the young. I heard of the orphanage that Lightshield started because of you. There was also the young maid you had at the tournament. She looked more like a friend to you all than a servant.”
“Elsa is special. All the children at the orphanage were the kids she lived with on the streets. Every one of them, except for her, have eurtik heritage. It’s what gave them trouble with the normal orphanages.”
“Now they have a home, people who care for them, and— knowing your clan— are being shown how to have a better future.”
“That’s the hope.”
“Morning, sir,” Davis said as he approached. “The buns went over well with the men last night. If you keep on as you have, they might take on your own clan for you.”
“My clan will never turn against me,” Gregory said softly, “but we do have enemies in other powerful clans. Hopefully, they don’t push for open conflict anytime soon.”
“Considering the disgrace they suffered at the tournament, they would be foolish to act now,” Rafiq said.
“The Shun family hasn’t shown a lot of reluctance to act out.”
“Grandmaster Shun is known for planning. He does not act as rashly as his grandson.”
“Shun… as in the Eternal Flame clan leader?” Davis asked, clearly worried.
“Nick Shun is the grandson of the clan head,” Gregory said. “We were in the same academy year together. Things… weren’t going well between us by the first tournament.”
“Would you be willing to tell me?” Davis asked. “Knowing one’s enemies is a good thing, especially when they have the power that the Eternal Flame does.”
“Join me at my table for breakfast,” Gregory said.
“Sorry for the delay, sir,” Basal said, coming out of the tent.
“It’s fine. Can you eat with Hanz today and ask Willof to join me at my table?”
“Yes, sir,” Basal said, then left to inform the captain.
The chime of breakfast being served sounded and Gregory went with Davis to get their food. Willof joined them at the cauldron, giving Gregory a nod.
“Why the change?” Willof asked while Gregory was served.
“Explaining my entanglement with Shun to Davis. Thought you’d like to hear the full story.”
“Might be for the best. I remember how they acted when Dia was getting a carriage.”
~*~*~
Gregory wasn’t sure how Davis and Willof took the story, but he was glad that none of the men had come to talk— he chalked it up to both the captain and lieutenant being at the table with him.
With the Peaceful Fist concluded, the sergeants had the men go collect the practice naginatas they’d been issued the night before. The only squad that did not was Milton’s, who were going to be the first to go through the obstacle course. There was clearly a hint of disappointment on their faces, but they knew they’d be rotated in tomorrow.
Once the men were back in formation, Gregory looked them over. They stood rigidly with their naginata at their sides, held in a firm grasp at chest height. Their other hand was flat against their sides, pressed to their leg.
“You’ve all expressed interest in learning the naginata,” Gregory announced. “I will teach you, but I will be as harsh as my sensei was when I was learning. You’ve chosen this extra training, so let me see your dedication. Sergeants, spread your men out. They need room.”
It didn’t take long, but they needed more space than just the Peaceful Fist required. Once they were ready, the men were once again in formal posture, waiting.
“We start with the basic stances. Everything builds off these, so we will keep repeating them until everyone manages it. If even one of you messes up, we start from the beginning. We will not progress training until that is met.” Gregory shifted to the standard waiting posture. “This is rest; almost all kata flow back to this position. Take your stance.”
The men copied him; their left foot was closer to Gregory, and they looked to their left to see him. Gregory paused here to walk among the assembled unit, repositioning the hands of those who were too far off from the correct grip. Making his way back to the front, he had to correct a couple of the men’s stances to the proper width, as well.
“The hands are positioned so the forearm, and a single fist will be behind your trailing hand,” Gregory said, showing them with his own weapon. “You will take this grip out of reflex in time. Now, back to parade.”
The men went back to formal position for formation, still spread out.
“First stance.”
They shifted to take the correct posture.
Gregory eyed them all for a long moment. “Sergeants, check your men.”
A few had to be corrected, leading them back to starting over.
“Sergeants, space your squads a little farther apart and face them. This will make it easier for you to see them all. It will make your task harder to learn, but you can do it.”
They repeated the first stance a few more times until no one was wrong.
“Good,” Gregory said. “Now, the second stance.”
~*~*~
The men were discouraged when Gregory called a halt to the day’s training; they hadn’t once made it through all the stances cleanly. “Tomorrow, we’ll try again. There will be new people learning it from the start, and Sergeant Townson’s squad will be going to the course. Before you think you did terribly… you did, but,” he went for the truth, softening it immediately afterward, “my training class in the academy didn’t manage it, either. We had less than a dozen people and we couldn’t do it for a few days. With the number of you there are, it won’t be surprising if we take a week doing just this. That isn’t bad. These stances are going to be with you every time you pick up the naginata. The best way to learn is to drill it until it becomes second nature. Lieutenant, the men are yours.”
“Yes, sir,” Davis saluted.
Gregory headed for his tent to get Basal, as he was ready to work on horse care and riding.
~*~*~
Easing himself onto the stool at his table for dinner, Gregory knew he’d be putting more salve on his thighs tonight. He’d done his best, but he realized he had a long way to go.
“You did better, sir,” Basal said, a hint of concern in the young man’s voice.
“I did terribly, but thank you, Basal. You should get in line.”
“I will, but I wanted to ensure you were okay, sir.”
“I’m fine. Go ahead.”
Gregory started in on the soup. He could see the men sneaking glances his way, having muted conversations. No doubt wondering if the horse will kill me before the year ends, Gregory snorted to himself.
“Sir, might I have a moment?” Milton asked, both his bowl and mug in hand.
“Have a seat.”
“Thank you. I heard about how the introduction went and worry that my men will get grief for holding the others back,” Milton said as he took a seat, then began to eat.
“They won’t. You just had the unfortunate luck to be the one picked by the cards last night. Can’t believe you drew a two. Bunson was sure his four was going to be the low card.”
“It’s normal for me. You’ve seen it when we play.”
“You really do have abysmal luck. If any of the men act up, the others will step in as they should. I’d use it to push your men a little. Make a point that, if they can copy the others, we might move on tomorrow, and they’ll have pulled off what the others didn’t today.”
Milton chuckled. “Yes, sir. Have a good meal. I should join my men.”
“Have a good meal, Sergeant.”
Rafiq took a seat just after Milton left. “Busy day?”
“A bit,” Gregory chuckled. “I didn’t use my aether, so nothing to record, at least.”
“There is that,” Rafiq nodded. “Are we on for Shogi tonight?”
“And Magi Squares. Got to stay in practice.”
“I have a new one made up for you. I haven’t made any notes about you doing those, by the way. Just notes about the Peaceful Fist.”
“Thank you. One of these days, I will repay that.”
“Nothing to repay. As far as I know, you are following Lighthand’s path of the Peaceful Fist only.”
Gregory heard the stress on the word “know” and let it go. It was obvious that Rafiq was following his orders by the letter, not the spirit of them. That was only to Gregory’s benefit, so he wasn’t going to call him out on it.
