PART III - CULTIVATING THE STRANGE
“What is she doing?” Major Celeste asked Thorn quietly.
“It looks like some kind of a Martialist exercise,” the Ratkin responded. “I’ve never seen it before, though.”
“Do you think it’s from her world?”
“It must be,” Thorn shrugged, before absently adding, “It’s so slow and controlled.”
“Maybe we should stop it?” Celeste wondered. “It might attract unwanted attention.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s … weird.”
Thorn shook his head. “Even if it is, look at her.”
“Yeah, it’s our pink-haired trouble-maker once again doing weird things,” Celeste observed, gesturing towards Callie.
Thorn shook his head again and laughed. “Have you ever heard of a recruit teaching a group of other recruits anything? Especially during the first week?”
The Major shrugged. “Not really. Maybe games or remedial help for those lagging behind.”
“Exactly! Look at her.”
Across the field, Callie moved her body slowly, occasionally calling out some low, calming words. Behind her, the five recruits mimicked her motions, lagging maybe a second behind her actions, but in perfect sync with each other.
“This is the third time I’ve heard about her doing something like this. Suddenly leading a group, that is,” Thorn said, gesturing towards the Gnome.
“I heard about her organizing the Black Lotus bloom earlier this week. What were the other ones?” Celeste asked, now curious.
“First day of training. Reynard dumped a sack of parts on his students and left them to make arrows as a team bonding exercise. Callie got them all organized and working together, beating the records of all Reynard’s previous classes. I guess she also took over his class when that Cheetahkin Ranger was having problems with learning to query; completely ignored Reynard.”
“Oh, he must have been really happy,” the Major said sarcastically, giggling slightly.
Thorn snickered in return, not needing to answer. “And look what she did to get Juniper a worm! When something needs doing, she sees that it’s done, even if she is a little … weird. We’ve learned to cultivate the strange here, Major; embrace it, even.”
“She is strange, that’s for sure. So, do you want me to stop her?” Celeste finally asked. “The wakeup bell is going to ring any moment and she’ll draw attention.”
“I have a better idea,” Thorn said with a smile. Snapping his fingers and adding a short whistle, Thorn called a Sprite down from one of the trees.
“Hello!” the tiny Fae yawned, not quite fully awake.
“Please go have them hold the morning bell for fifteen minutes,” Thorn ordered. “Breakfast can ring as normal in one hour. Quickly please.”
The Sprite nodded, and with a chirped, “Goodbye!” she flew off.
Looking again at the Major, Thorn patted her shoulder. Turning, he started walking towards Callie and the rest of the recruits.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to join her class.”
“Well … shit … I’ll come with you, then!”
----------------------------------------
“Quiet back there,” Callie snapped as she heard a disturbance and several whispers from her group, still keeping her eyes closed. She may be leading this thing, but this was her moment for some frickin’ … frickin’ … frickin’ inner bloody peace or something! She had quickly come to realize she had made a mistake letting Jesca and Pixyl come along. She dearly loved her friends, but she just needed a few moments of sunshine and calm.
Knowing the dawn bell would ring any moment to wake the recruits, Callie breathed slowly and concentrated on the sun, forcing out any other sounds around her. Soon, the only thing she could hear was the occasional call of a morning bird, and the wind blowing through the leaves. She listened to the wind, using it as a guide for her actions, eyes closed and facing the new day. Behind her, her strange menagerie of friends followed along; Beastkins, a Pixie and a Faun.
A passing thought about Ambria made Callie chuckle for some reason. On the third day of training, Reynard had them doing an exercise where they would run from one archery target to the next. Once they got there, they’d fire all their cooldowns at the next target while peaking over or around the one they were hiding behind, before rushing to the next. Running from seventy-five to one-hundred, Callie had tripped, hard. She landed on her face, her bow also jabbing into her ribs as she fell on it, but thankfully it was not damaged, only her.
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Almost before she could scream in pain, Ambria leapt over the side barrier, running up to her. In order to have people to practice on, any injury of any kind was to be called out, no matter how minor. The recruits on healing duty would then heal the injury, with a trainer there to help if needed. Ambria, having been an apprentice healer back home, was allowed to roam without a shadow, but with instructions to call out quickly if needed, and to buy time with a healing potion if warranted. It was quite amazing how often someone actually needed the services of a healer, despite it being controlled training.
After numbing the pain of both injuries, the Faun Combat Healer quickly used a spell to diagnose Callie with a broken nose and a seriously bruised, possibly fractured, rib, along with quite a bit of additional bruising and torn skin all over. But before Callie could say ‘Take me to Urgent Care!’, Ambria had rested a hand on her face, the crunching sounds quite disturbing as she magicked the smashed and bloody nose back into place. Apologizing profusely for having to expose and touch her chest, Ambria just as deftly repaired the rib and torn skin, before applying spells to all but eliminate any residual swelling and bruising around both injuries.
This had been the first time Callie had experienced healing magic on a significant wound, the implanting of her Yogosi not really counting. But, just like Tasi’s minor healing, within moments, face still bloodied but repaired, Callie was back on her feet like nothing happened. Even the expected bruise to her nose and side largely disappeared. The only remaining injuries were to her pride for face-planting so spectacularly, and to her modesty, as a few onlookers got a look at her chest. Callie reasoned that at this point, half the camp had already seen her, so what was a few more, and before she even buttoned her dirt- and blood-stained shirt closed, she’d acknowledged the people cheerfully applauding her graceless fall with a bow.
“What the…! Where is my …! Come back you little shit!”
The sudden exclamations interrupted Callie’s meditative introspection and she spun, ready to be angry at someone. Behind her, in addition to her five friends she had been leading, stood Master Trainer Thorn, part of the way through a syncronized arm movement. Next to him was Juniper in a similar position, wearing only her recruit underwear and binder, just like Jesca, the rest of her uniform on the ground a few steps away. Behind them was Major Celeste, chasing Loki across the field, one of her swords having obviously been swiped, and now being held aloft by the sneaky plant-monster as it ran, enjoying the chase.
Callie didn’t know what to say, and thankfully, before she had to come up with something appropriate, the bell rang. “Um … class dismissed?” Callie finally said with a questioning inflection, not knowing what else to do.
Everyone fell out of formation, Ambria and the Twins sitting down in the bleachers to continue enjoying the warmth of the rising sun a little longer, and Jesca joining them, still in her underwear, happy to lounge in the warmth.
“That was quite delightful,” Juniper said cheerily, as she turned to start putting her clothes back on.
“Okay, you’re right,” Pixyl whispered to Callie, watching the Dryad admiringly, “she’s really, really starfire.”
“Told you she was hot!” Callie whispered in return.
“Good morning, Recruit!” Thorn said cheerily as he approached.
“M-Master Trainer,” Callie said, her brain stumbling momentarily as she refocused from Juniper’s backside to Thorn. “Good morning to you, too.”
“Apologies for joining like that. I know many Martialist techniques, but this one is strange to me, I wanted to see for myself.” Thorn lowered his voice, “Is this something from your world?”
Quietly, Callie responded, “Uh … yeah. It’s called Tai Chi. Slow, precise movements, often combined with meditation. I took a few classes, but am not an expert by any means.”
“Fascinating!”
“Martial techniques? Martialist, that’s your class, right?” Callie asked, realizing she wasn’t sure what it was.
“It is. A Warrior specialist, primarily focusing on unarmed combat.”
“So like Kung Fu?” Callie asked, starting to connect the dots.
“I’m not familiar with that term, but I know many fighting techniques after all these years, so I probably know something similar to what you must be speaking of. We don’t have any recruits of my class this term, though.”
“Maybe you’ll get some next time, then,” Callie suggested, before adding, “Hey, with luck, maybe you’ll get some Martialist anomalies to study,”
Thorn grunted a laugh. “Wouldn’t that be something? There are certainly many races that I’ve never known to be my class.” He then pondered a moment before adding with a louder laugh, “Who knows, maybe some Turtklekins will arrive that have the class, or something else equally strange.” He turned to leave, adding, “A pleasant good morning to you both.”
“You, too!” Callie and Pixyl replied in unison.
“Loki, come!” a now-dressed Juniper called out. “You may play with the Major another time.” Loki promptly stopped running from the now-winded Celeste, handing her stolen sword back to her.
The Major snatched it from the plant’s spindly hands, adding a growl of expletives for good measure as she returned it to its scabbard. She waved once to Callie and Pixyl, shot a parting glare towards Loki, and stomped down the hill out of sight.
“Very good morning,” Juniper said, now approaching, Loki rubbing affectionately against her side. “Your group dancing was quite enjoyable, and it was nice to remove so much clothing for the new dawn as well.”
“Uh, right. Dancing,” Callie responded, realizing she just didn’t have the patience to explain anything to Juniper right now.
“You must certainly do this again. Soon, I hope! Perhaps more people will come, and it would be lovely to dance with Vanis once again.”
Callie briefly caught the knowing look from Pixyl. “We … will have to see what happens,” Callie finally replied, unsure about the idea of leading an even larger group. Seriously, she had just wanted to chill her brain for a bit!
“I must be off,” Juniper said, seeming slightly sad. “I am to meet with Trainer Eirlys early so she may instruct me further on the … limitations … that I must abide by today. I do not see what the fuss is about, though. Are we not supposed to practice all of our new skills?”
“They have a way to do it here that makes sure nobody gets hurt and you maximize your powers,” Callie said, trying to emphasize the need for Juniper to follow instructions, and more importantly, not destroy the place again.
“Your trainer is very w-w-wise,” Pixyl added for good measure. “She knows what she is d-d-doing.”
“Hmmm.,” Juniper mused. “I suppose you might be right. I shall try to follow her instructions today, if only because you wish it, Little One.”
“Uh … thanks? I suppose?” Callie replied apprehensively.
“Come, Loki,” Juniper called to her pet, still a noticeable bounce in her step despite the prospect of having to tone down her devastation for the day. Together, the two wandered off, disappearing down the hill.
“How long do you think until she destroys the place?” Callie asked Pixyl offhandedly.
“Noon,” Pixyl replied with a light laugh. “At the absolute latest.”