PART II - IT’S … WEIRD
“Wow! They got all that damage repaired overnight?” Callie said, looking out onto what was now a fully restored section of the training field.
“Uh huh,” Jesca said, stretching one of her legs. “Geomancers are able to manipulate rock and soil, so they smoothed it all over. I couldn’t believe how much damage she did.”
“She’s a little crazy,” Pixyl mumbled, a reverence in her voice.
“And coming from you, that’s saying something,” Callie added, looking down at her friend and smiling. Pixyl shot back a mischievous grin of her own, her wings happily fluttering at the praise. Despite the warning that it could be a week or more before the pain in her wing faded, Pixyl had either gotten used to it quickly, or it wasn’t that bad. Occasionally, Callie would catch her wincing, but for the most part the Pixie was almost back to normal.
When training had ended the day before, an entire section of the field had been torn apart. Sporadic mounds of dirt and sand, several large holes as deep as Callie, and even a boulder or two tossed into the mix had made the place look like it had been heavily bombed. The cause? Juniper!
The Dryad had come to the training field on Day Three, her first day of actual training, and proceeded to just plain go crazy with her new skills. Trainer Eirlys tried to hold her back, continuously emphasizing the need for control, discipline, and maybe plain not destroying the place. Unfortunately, this had been to little avail as thick vines sprang from the ground, tearing soil and practice targets apart. Or Juniper would launch swarms of thorns at a target, ripping it to pieces, the Dryad laughing in delighted joy at her new skills the entire time. Or Loki would get in on the action and destroy something, if it wasn’t too big for the plant-monster to handle, that is. Apparently, he turned into an absolute dervish when let loose and ordered to kill, attacking the target with an unhinged ferocity, before obediently returning for pats on his giant head, a reward for a job well done.
Come the end of the day, the Sylvan training area looked like a warzone while Juniper stood tall on a pile of rocks and soil, her hair blowing in the wind, proud of the chaos she had caused. After a second day of devastation, the Commandant and Thorn finally pulled the newbie Sylvan aside at the end of the day for an uncomfortable talk about needing to follow the training regimen, or at minimum, dialing it back several notches.
When not training, Juniper hung out with Ogre House, wanting to be close to those she knew the best. Callie also suspected it was also because she wanted to be close to Vanis. To his credit, Vanis hid his returned crush on the Nymph reasonably well, remaining regal and polite. Juniper, on the other hand, had very little filter. She would make obvious passes at the Warlock, giggling and even blushing if she caught his eyes. It wasn’t long before everyone in their little group had sensed the vibe between the two.
Loki, it turned out, didn’t like being unsummoned at all, and when resummoned would be quite angry, always hissing and spitting when appearing again. Eventually, Juniper stopped putting the little monster away unless absolutely necessary, focusing instead on disciplining him to behave when around other people. For the most part, Loki was well-behaved, and quickly became a sort of mascot for all the recruits. He would nuzzle with anyone and everyone, enjoying head-pats and scritches, everyone that is, except Pixyl. The two of them still glared daggers at each other, the Pixie seeming to watch his every move, almost waiting for an excuse to smack him again.
To his credit, Loki made no attempts to eat anyone else, instead subsisting on treats the recruits would give him, or occasionally digging his vine-like legs into the dirt and facing the sun in order to get nourishment the old fashioned way. It also turned out Loki was a bit of a kleptomaniac, and loved making a constant game out of stealing peoples’ things. As he could extend and snake out his nimble, vine arms, he managed to get away with it quite often. He would always immediately return the items unharmed when his mark realized what had happened, but he seemed to enjoy the moments of “Hey, where is my …” whenever he was found out. Of course, if nobody realized they had been robbed, it was a mystery where things actually ended up.
Callie led Pixyl and Jesca over towards the bleachers, lounging back on one and looking up at the few remaining stars. The three sat in silence for a few minutes, each looking inward to their own early-morning thoughts.
“Do you think …” Jesca finally started to say, the lack of talking and stillness obviously getting to her.
Callie held her hand up sharply. “Shhh! I just want to chill for a bit and try to get this foul mood out of my system”
“Oh,” Jesca said with a disappointed tone. She didn’t like long silences.
While appreciating that Jesca and Pixyl had joined her and that Jesca was feeling chatty, Callie really needed to think for a bit, trying to understand what, if anything, had led to this morning’s point shortcoming. She had aced all of her archery lessons, as well as taking more time to up her proficiency with crafting arrows. The two additional sparring lessons they had done with the rest of the dual-wielders had gone well, with the instructors adding a twelve-count routine that continued to build on that initial pokey four-count that seemed so long ago. Callie and Pixyl were paired up for both, primarily due to their size, but for the second half of one session, she squared off against Dregorio. Callie’s lack of sword reach had been an obvious impediment against her Taunting nemesis, and Reynard commented he may have to make some adjustments for her in order to teach around that limitation once she hit Bronze.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Really, the only failing Callie still had was in the stealth and tracking tasks. While not the naturals that the other Beastkin had been, she had eventually managed to get decent at Tracking, if she channeled mana into it and the areas she was looking hadn’t been trampled down from previous lessons. Stealth, however, was still not cooperating, in part because, with her short legs, it was harder for her to move through the woods, where a simple downed tree would be an obstacle, while the others could simply step over it. Reynard continued to be helpful, although he did get frustrated at times when Callie bungled the task. Thankfully, he never blamed her failings on being a Gnome, primarily emphasizing the need to concentrate and not hurry.
Far out over the trees, the first glimmer of light began to show below the horizon. Callie thought back to college in what must have been her sophomore year, out on a weekend camping trip with a bunch of her girlfriends and huddled under blankets to protect from the early-morning chill as they watched the sun rise. The memories pushed aside her foul mood a bit, replacing them with a wistful melancholy of simple times, no worries and old friendships.
Standing, Callie walked a dozen paces onto the field, face upturned and eyes closed. She carefully placed her short legs correctly, straightened her back, and slowly began to move. As a college elective, she had taken a Tai Chi class because it was that or Rugby, and she wasn’t a playing-rugby kind of girl. She figured the class was just some bullshit required physical education credit she needed to get, but it ended up being so much more. During that time, she learned so much about how her body moved, and how stress and anxiety manifested itself within her, and how with mindful meditations she was able to process and accept it.
The next term, she had taken the advanced class, and with the balance she found herself stepping into, the need for ADHD and other drugs that she’d taken since an early-teen slowly seemed to fade. For the rest of her college life, the moving meditations became something she did routinely, usually alone, but sometimes with a few close friends as well. After college, though, and particularly after her dad’s death, the exercises didn’t seem to scratch the itch she needed them to, and the regular practice had faded.
As she centered her breathing, Callie realized today was her seventh day in this world. This was her seventh day that she’d not seen her mom, who she knew was still in agony back in Chicago. Thoughts of her mom had been hard when they came up, and she’d broken down a few times over the last week as a result. But slowly, even though she still felt her mother’s pain, Callie had come to realize that she had no control, and worrying too much about something she couldn’t control would just make everything worse. She had to concentrate on where she was and what she was doing, just like the little green Muppet from Star Wars said. She still missed home, though.
Slowly she moved her arm. Calm. Breathe. Let the morning flow over her and through her. Now, here in a strange world of strange magic, which was probably the single, most stressful thing Callie had ever endured, she continued the controlled, rhythmic movements as she focused to calm her mind. The lessons from years ago flooded back into her, as if she’d never stopped.
“What are you doing?” Jesca asked, startling Callie. She had left her bench to get a better look at her friend.
“It’s called Tai Chi. It’s a form of meditation and exercise.” Callie said in a slow voice, closing her eyes again and continuing her movement.
“It’s … weird,” Jesca said, slightly mumbling.
“She’s like that,” Pixyl pointed out.
“Ha, ha,” Callie said flatly, refusing to open her eyes or interrupt her moves. “It helps me calm my mind.”
“It’s like you are fighting real slowly,” Jesca said, “but fighting without swords. It’s … weird.”
“It’s about inner peace,” Callie retorted. “Balance. Control. Breathing. Meditation. Let the new dawn pour over you.”
Jesca looked at Pixyl, who shrugged in return.
“Can … can we try?” Jesca finally asked.
Callie stopped in mid-motion and snapped one eye open, seeing both her friends now standing in front of her with confused looks on their faces. “Fine!” she finally said with a grump, dropping her form and getting ready to demonstrate. “Spread out a little so you have room to move.”
“W-W-What now?” Pixyl asked after finding a spot.
“Just do what I show you.” Carefully, Callie showed her friends good foot position and posture, and how to do a few simple movements with their feet and arms. At one point, Pixyl actually started to fall, momentarily losing her balance, but instinctively righted herself by pushing telekinetically into the air before settling back down in her spot. Jesca quickly got frustrated with the slow pace, saying she wanted to go faster. In response, Callie pointed out that the whole purpose was to slow down, and that Jesca could either participate or go chill back on the bleachers out of the way. With a grouch, Jesca kept going.
Callie occasionally showed her friends something else, or chanted out some calm, meditative words to keep a constant rhythm. Part way through a slow leg sweep, the sun finally peeked above the distant horizon, the warm light suddenly pouring over the three of them. Immediately, the frustrated Jesca’s attitude softened like her grumpy-switch had been turned off. She sighed contentedly as the sun met her face, a smile coming to it.
“Pardon, but what are you doing?” a familiar voice asked.
Once again Callie opened one eye, seeing Ambria was there with a confused look on her freckled face. Next to her was Koka and Moka, the twin Bladedancer Tigerkins.
“If I didn’t know better…” Koka started to say.
“... I’d say you were slowly fighting with someone,” Moka concluded.
“It’s …” Koka said, a puzzled look on her face.
“... weird,” Moka added, wearing the same look.
Callie once again groaned in frustration. “How am I ever going to get my zen on if people keep interrupting!” Quickly, she gave the same short answer to the new trio that she had to Jesca and Pixyl. Of course, since they had come up here to watch the sunrise, naturally they now wanted to do Tai Chi, too.
“Spread out. Feet like this!” Callie slightly snarled. “Keep your back straight and just do what I do.” She could feel her calm slipping as she quickly demonstrated, having just wanted to chill the hell out before the day got going. Now she had five people she was leading, meaning she had to actually pay attention to them. “I just wanted to watch the sun come up,” Callie fake-cried to herself.
Walking several paces towards the new light, Callie put her back to her ad hoc class, figuring they could get the gist of it even behind her, or frankly go find something else to do. She just wanted ten minutes of inner goddam peace!