William held his hands nearer to the fire, basking in the warmth as Maya began her explanation.

“The group that attacked us were troops from Fort Boulder, and they weren’t the only group. Smaller groups had been sent to other places in the region for a similar purpose. I can’t be certain, but I think Stonegate plans to use Fort Boulder as a staging ground for an assault, maybe even conquest,” Maya said, tapping her fingers of one hand in the opposite palm, seeming to have a nervous fidget.

No one said anything immediately, William’s party, him included were too shocked to speak. Were they about to be in the middle of a war zone?

Maya continued, “I heard the men here complaining about the number of refugees that Fort Boulder has had to manage since the bandit crisis. Thanks for that by the way, I recognize you from that recording of your battle. I digress, that commander was eager to start taking over land and making camps to keep the refugees in until they could be ‘processed’. If their brutality is anything to go by, I doubt the Stonegate military would treat their captives compassionately.”

Shanna and Jula both shuddered, most likely reminded of their torture at the commander’s hands.

William chose that moment to cut in, hoping that it would distract the two women.

“Have we got a time frame of when an ‘invasion’ would come? Do we need to hurry back to Everglade and get you three home safe?” He asked, trying an empathetic smile for the two vulnerable women.

William felt some happiness at partial success. Shanna gave him a slight smile and nod, but Jula still just stared into the flames, in a world of her own. One was better than none though, he told himself.

Maya shook her head and replied, “I don’t have any times I can confirm. I think I heard one of the captors say to another about an operation in the coming weeks, but that could be one to many. I think we need to set off at first light and let Everglade know. They’ll hopefully be able to make contact with Fort Boulder in an official capacity.”

An anxious air hung over them all, almost palpable. They wanted to return, but it was risky returning at night, so were forced to set up camp in the clearing. William summoned his metal tent and the group put their beds inside, filling the space. It turned out that Warlock had a similar magic bedroll as well, which became a gift to the three women they had rescued. John and Jane shared one, as did William and Stacey, so there was no need for another. William felt that a good night of rest in a comfy bed would help ease their stress even if by a small fraction.

William volunteered for first watch with Echo, needing some time to work through the fight in his head. He knew that his performance was more desperate and sloppy than he would’ve liked and wanted to replay it in his mind so he could fix his flaws. Echo would let him know if something or someone attacked, and he had his [Danger Sense]. The combination allowed William to take watch and not have to focus solely on watching, meaning more crunch time and his own privacy. He would wake one of his friends to take over a couple hours before first light. He was feeling the need to sleep shorten slightly as his stats increased. He wasn’t sure what stat it was that effected his sleep needs. He would ask Wylton later. William felt that he would only need a couple hours a night to feel moderately refreshed at this point. He expected that he would need maybe four hours of sleep to be fully energized. The other issue of not sleeping was slower regeneration of SP, but it was his largest resource, so he could be more liberal with it.

As he reflected on the fight with Warlock, William thought about his usage of resources and skills used during the battle. He should have tried to pace out his resources better and rely less on his heavy hitting attacks. When he trailed off into previous fights recently, William noticed that he hadn’t been using much of his sword-forms, nor had he practiced them in over a week. William’s style right now was one of teleportation and surprise attacks as opposed to straight combat skill.

That revelation was strengthened as he played the fight with the scout earlier that day through his head. They were pretty much dancing around each other’s [Danger Sense]. If William had made the most of his sword skill, both inherited and practiced- to a modicum of capability – then he could have handled himself with more fluidity, ending the fight sooner and losing less resources. William laughed at his mistakes mirthlessly, frustrated with himself for allowing himself to become reliant on his finite resources. He had only won thanks to the aid of Maya and his party. William summoned Sharpie and got to his feet, staying near enough to the fire that he could feel the warmth kiss his skin.

He started with The first sword-form; Form of the Sea. His initial movement was sloppy, having the knowledge, but missing the practice since his last session. It wasn’t long before it stuck in his mind once more as he was striking air and shadows of his mind. Every swing was a wave to pound his opponent’s will, strength, and body. He was the endless tide, infallible to the specks of humanity that claimed to be able to conquer the sea. William practiced that way for over an hour, having shook the rust off, at least for the first sword-form.

William was stood in the end stance of the kata and began to shift into a forward leaning, and slightly lowered stance, levelling Sharpie so the tip was in a straight point ahead of William, drawing an invisible line between his shoulder and where he envisioned his foe to be. He began his practice of the second sword-form; Form of the Rainstorm.

Each thrust was a drop of rain, his foe being the point of impact for those drops. Every drop landed close to the same mark, punching hole after hole into his imaginary foe before the strikes overlapped and the shadow form of Warlock, who was in his mind as the target, started to become a lattice of stab wounds, every raindrop the tip of his blade. William spent another hour plus change practicing the second sword-form. He got to a point where he was breathing heavier, but not winded yet. William decided that the next hour of time would be dedicated to combining the two sword-forms he had reached enlightenment on, combining the force of waves and tide with the torrential impacts of the rain, his sword the fluid driving both forces.

William began with two thrusts, each flowing smoothly in arcs. As the second strike, a horizontal slash, reached the halfway point of its motion, William shifted lower and thrust forward, feeling the small muscles of his forearm warm from the sudden shift of momentum. The strike was straight and swift, but William didn’t linger. As the thrust finished, he pivoted bringing the sword up to the left in a diagonal cut before shifting his momentum to the right driving Sharpie down in a diagonal cleave, stopping halfway once more before William threw three consecutive thrusts straight aiming for the imaginary neck, chest, and belly of the imagined shadow of Warlock. As the third thrust landed, William stepped back a single step before moving his sword in a vertical slash as he moved back into range of his foe. William cycled through these motions time and time again, adding variance in each step, creating a deadly combination of slashes and thrusts. As he finished, William’s forearms burned from the exercise. As he sat down, William heard quiet clapping from the tent. He turned thinking Stacey was the source of the applause, but was surprised when he saw Maya stood there.

“Thank you, Feel free to donate to my band and help support future work,” William said, his face bearing a smile of both humor and disappointment as he played back the humor in his head.

“That wasn’t the best joke, I’ll be honest,” Maya replied, giving her own amused smile that William assumed was more from his joke being bad rather than good.

“Yeah it wasn’t a winner, I can’t lie.”

“Can I join you?”

William nodded, looking at the flicker of reflected flame in Sharpie’s edge as he dismissed the blade. Maya sat opposite him, her red hair enhanced by the firelight. Neither said anything for several minutes, each just staring into the flames as the sound of insects and creatures of the night made many noises of varying pitches throughout the camp’s surroundings.

It was William that broke the silence first as he said, “Can’t sleep? I don’t blame you if so, it couldn't've been easy. Going through… that stuff.”

Maya said nothing for a long moment, her eyes shifting between the fire and her feet several times.

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“Thank you, William. I don’t think I can sleep right now, not without some self reflection.”

“Why self reflection, you were captured, it wasn’t your fault,” William said, confused at why she would feel that way.

“I led us into that trap. I ignored all my training to rescue my squad mate who-” She swallowed, and wiped water from her eyes. Maya took a second to regain some of her composure “-is one of the people to be buried when we get back to Everglade. I was the group’s leader and because I wasn’t willing to leave my comrade behind, he and Forn are now dead, and the three of us surviving have been sullied. How can I deal with that?”

William had no words. He was shocked at her story, but regretted not saying anything as Maya’s body language shifted and she seemed to shrink down under a great weight.

Maya continued, “I… how do I… move forward? That’s rhetorical by the way. I’m sure you are blessed enough to not have been through such shitty circumstances.”

William laughed then, which to many watching could’ve been seen as cruel, but he was impressed that Maya didn’t immediately rage and instead looked at him with curiosity and seemed to be waiting for him to speak.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t laughing at you. In fact, I’ve been through several really shit situations. One of the worst examples since coming to this world was when myself and John torched a bandit storehouse… without knowing their sick tactics,” William said, cringing as he relived the event.

“But bandits usually keep prison-” Maya’s face turned to shock. “-oh no.”

“Women and children. Children, Maya,” William said, clenching his fists in anger at himself.

William didn’t think it would be something that ever healed, but he knew that was for the best as the pain and guilt would be a lesson that will most likely stay with him for life.

Silence befell the pair once again but this time Maya broke it.

“I’m so sorry you had to deal with that. Wait… you said that was one example?” Maya asked, as she looked back up at William with surprise.

“Yep, I wasn’t fast enough to protect my sister from the bandit leader, and my father got there first, sacrificing himself to save her. If I was faster, better, and/or stronger, then my dad would still be alive. All I can say to you is to keep moving forward, whether that’s away from Everglade, your problems, or your past. You can focus on your future exclusively while embracing the present, so long as you keep moving forward.”

Maya smiled warmly then, it was wide and with her eyes and hair, made for an intense look, like an eidolon of flames reveling at a pyre, however, her eyes didn’t seem to be those of true elation, the pain looming somewhere beneath the surface. William wondered how long it would take for Maya to heal the wound enough for a true smile to feature on her face again.

“If I figure out which way is forward then I’ll do that. Right now… I don’t know. It’s all just… too much. I’ve led my team for several years now and we always got through things together. Always.”

Maya’s smile had faded quickly and she now stared dejectedly into the fire. William wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t want to give her the illusion everything would be stellar going forward. She had mental damages to process fully and dead to bury. What could he say?

“This time is sadly different, Maya. I know you may not want to hear it, but that’s a risk of joining a militaristic body. I assume you all agreed that you were willing to die doing your duty? From what I’ve seen, your squad did what they could, but unfortunately, numbers weren’t on your side. Yes you could blame yourself for the death and maybe you could’ve done things differently, but then again, maybe something worse would’ve happened. Keep fighting, Maya. Fight the pain. Fight the grief. Fight anyone that would harm those you swore to safeguard,” William said, his eyes carrying the conviction he was trying to bestow upon Maya.

She looked up at him then, red rimmed eyes locking with his. William assumed that she had seen the gaze in his eyes and straightened ever so slightly. That made William smile, and this time she gave what appeared to be a genuine smile back.

“I’ll work towards that, William. Thank you and...I’m sorry.”

“Why you saying sorry, Maya? You’ve not done anything wrong.”

Maya shrugged and held her hands out towards the fire again, feeling its warmth as she replied, “Because I’ve just dumped all my emotional shit on you. I’m also sorry that it made you relive your own losses.”

“That’s dumb-” William said, drawing a surprised gasp from Maya, but he held up a hand to forestall her. “-You can’t bottle that sort of thing up. You need an outlet.” William watched as she calmed herself and returned to a passive expression. He was being hypocritical as he had a bad habit of bottling his issues up, but he had felt healing in those things from talking with Stacey on occasion. Sometimes having someone to listen was enough, while other times it at least provides a temporary outlet.

Maya clapped her hands and got to her feet.

“Okay, enough sad stuff. I wanna see those sword moves you were doing earlier. I’m not really a sword user myself but the numerous styles that I’ve seen always interest me. What’s your style?” she asked, her eyes now no longer showing pain, having been replaced with those of childlike curiosity.

“The Art of the Arcane Sword,” William replied, his chest puffing up slightly in pride.

He inwardly cringed however, knowing he had a long way to go. He still only had the piecemeal understanding of his third sword-form and there were six in total.

“Hmm, never heard of it. I didn’t see too much of it in the fight earlier. How come?” Maya asked, watching as William stood up and took a stance for Form of the Sea.

“Let’s just say that I picked up some bad habits and ended up relying on my abilities rather than aptitude. I’ve been lax in my training and need to really pull my finger out,” William said, cycling through the different components of the form’s kata.

“your fingers are all there. What do you need to pull any of them out from?” Maya replied, confused and curious at William’s words.

“Ah right, I’m an integrated person. It’s a term from my old world. Its… kicking bad habits I guess? That’s the best comparison I can make anyway.”

“That makes more sense. I’ve seen other warriors get too trapped in one aspect of fighting, and let me tell you that most of them are dead now. I never fought alongside any of them so I can’t guarantee that the cause was that very flaw, but as you are trying to remove that bad habit shows you have a better aptitude for fighting than a lot of fighters.”

“Dying is generally gonna be bad for my health so I really wanna prevent it if possible,” William said, finishing his kata with a thrust from the Form of the Rainstorm.

Maya started to laugh and William couldn’t help but chuckle along with her. He hoped that it would at least make Maya a bit more relaxed.

“Thanks for that, I needed a good laugh. I’m gonna try and get some sleep now. Night,” Maya said, getting back to her feet and walking into the tent.

Maya stopped at the entrance, looking back at William and he saw a thoughtful expression as she seemed like she was about to say something, but instead simply thanked him again and retired for the night. William was admittedly curious at what words were unsaid, but decided to focus on practice for sword-form three instead. William pictured the scene that remained as an echo in his mind’s eye of the scene that the book had revealed to him. With determination, he set out to mirror it.

Two hours later, Stacey emerged as a panting William sat across from a more subdued fire, drained from his repeated practice. He hadn’t took any breaks while he practiced other than the short one with Maya present, and was paying for it.

“William, have you been training all night?!” Stacey said, worry plastered on her face as she jogged over and wrapped her arms around him.

“I overexerted myself a tad, but I’ll be okay. I guess I should get some sleep,” William replied, a tired and amused laugh coming out as he finished the sentence.

“Yes, William. You should,” Stacey replied, looking him in the eyes, doing her best to give a stern expression.

William raised an eyebrow and gave a cheeky, knowing smile. Stacey broke and let out a laugh that was like a soul soothing tonic.

“With that, I’ll get some sleep,” William replied, kissing Stacey goodnight, lingering for an extended moment before he made his way into the tent. He stopped as Jane was stepping out, letting his sister get past him. She gave a tired nod. “Still not a morning person” William thought, watching her slump down beside Stacey. William asked Echo to help the girls keep watch as he felt that his bond wasn’t tired yet.

William saw that the three rescued women were all in the shared bed, and all fast asleep. William was glad Maya had been able to finally get some as what she and the others went through was too fucked up to handle while exhausted. He stifled a laugh as he saw John asleep in his bed, starfished out now that he was the only one in it. Snow was laying down at the foot of the bed, curled in his own feathers.

A thought occurred and William stepped out of the tent again, approaching his partner and sister as the pair started talking.

“Sorry to interrupt, but let’s not break camp for a few extra hours. I’d like the other girls to get plenty of rest given what they went through. I’ll sleep for a couple hours then step out to keep watch with you,” William said, not waiting for a reply as he gave Stacey another kiss and retired for the night.

True to his word, William emerged once more after three hours of sleep feeling mostly refreshed. He joined Stacey and Jane in casual conversation. John woke and joined them in general chit-chat for another couple of hours roughly, until the rescued women all stirred. The group ate breakfast, though it was closer to lunchtime at that point.

The group broke camp shortly after. William’s party formed a defensive formation around Maya, Shanna, and Jula, allowing them to be the supports if needed. To everyone’s relief, they all made it back to Everglade come late afternoon. Once inside, they were escorted to Serendipity to debrief with the councilors.

As they met the three councilors, Denlar nodded to William’s party as he turned an annoyed glare to Maya and her remaining squad mates.

“Debrief Soldier! I want to know why you have two less members than when you left and it better be good!” Denlar said, seeming very annoyed at the rescued captives.

“Oh dear. Hang in there Maya.” William thought, hoping that Denlar chilled out upon hearing the report.