> Firedrug. Firedrug is required to fire guns. A charge of firedrug can fire off around 5 rounds worth of ammo. Firedrug is made up of six parts brimstone, one part rubydust, one part honey, and one part cinnabar snow. Cinnabar snow can only be created by wizards and alchemists by expelling from their Will Furnace and crystallization through samadhi fires.

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> From The Gunsmith Scrolls

Raxri Uttara looked over their shoulder. Not because they heard anything. No. There was a sudden chill, a premonition, a practice of divine omen tapped at them from behind. To look.

Their eyes met with Akazha. The next instant Akazha looked away. Raxri tilted their head to the side, confused.

Ampalila stared at Raxri Uttara as they traded blows with Sintra Kennin. "You wish to protect the cloud-headed one?" she asked. The two women stood silent for a moment, witnessing Raxri.

They stared for a long time. So long that Akazha was worried she had said the wrong thing. It's fine. I am not desparate to learn the style. The thoughts of Akazha, of justifying failing to be able to be one who can take up the Gun Oracle style. Nothing would be lost if Ampalila does not teach me... though it would've been a great complement to my magickry.

Then the Captain said: "Raxri Uttara is being hunted down, are they not? And though their Will is great and their skill has potential, they will need all the help they can get. What a noble goal. Is Raxri Uttara that special to you?"

"All beings are special to me," said Akazha. "That is the core of bodhicitta, Waking-Mind."

"Yes, of course. But Raxri Uttara is different..."

Akazha kept quiet.

Captain Ampalila said: "Very well, you have convinced me for the time being. I will teach you the ways of the Gun Seer, but your debt to me rises to 2,000 joss."

"What?!" Akazha looked absolutely offended. "I think you've forgotten that we're here in this pavilion because of the fact that we had to look for 1000 joss to pay for your boat, Captain--"

"Relax! You can pay me at any time you wish!" said Captain Ampalila. Then she laughed. "Wipe that pout off your face, it fits you not! For someone so sharp and beautiful!" She laughed again as Akazha bit the inside of her mouth so that she would not pout in that way. "Here, I'll impart you a mote of teaching. As an apology. Unfortunately you have no gun with you, so you will have to borrow mine. Know you the intricacies of the Gun, Akazha?"

Akazha shook her head. "I am a practitioner of the blade and the fist, for the most part. Nothing more than that, other than my magickal ability."

"Very well. Then you will have to realize and learn a completely new world. You must know that the world of guns is relatively rare and esoteric. Swords, spears, and bows are the most common weapons in Hingsajagra. There are sword and spear factories run by the merchant-kings all over the archipelago. Guns are rare because they are impossible to craft, require specific ingredients for their bullets, and require a specialized gunsmith to craft. These gunsmiths are magick practitioners as well: the majority of gunsmiths are witches and wizards themselves. Firedrug, the powder that propels the bullets, can only be made by gun-mystics that can summon the Samadhi Fires."

Akazha rose to to a stand, following Captain Ampalila. She offered her her dragon-mouthed arquebus. "This one is one of the more advanced models, crafted by Gunmystic Pira of Selorong."

Akazha nodded, as if she knew who Captain Ampalila was talking about. As if she'd seen Gunmystic Pira before.

"This--" Ampalila pulled out her dragon-headed long gun, "--dragon arquebus operates under a matchlock mechanism. You fill the matchlock mechanism with firedrug and then pulling the trigger sets the twine aflame, and then also lights the firedrug. Causing the bullet within to fly out in speeds quicker than lightning." Ampalila looked around. "Hm. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like we can train here despite our willingness. Pulling this trigger and firing a bullet creates a cacophony, you see. Too like a comet crashing into the earth. You will have to wait. In the meantime, I will teach you more of the... fundamentals of the Gun Oracle Style, I suppose."

"To shoot the arquebus requires you to pull back on this matchlock and pull the trigger. Reloading it takes a long time: around a moment if you do not have training, to as little as 20 breaths if you do. You must have a vial of firedrug which you fill the chamber with, and then have the bullets that you have to jam down the barrel with this." Ampalila pulled out a jamming pole, which was chambered underneath the long gun's barrel. "It truly takes a long time. But ancient soldiers, particularly the Garuda Knights, began practicing ways to quicken this reloading process. Training in the Gun Oracle System's fast reload process takes years--quicker if you're consistent and talented. This is the reason why armies do not field Garuda Knights as levies and masses, but instead build around them. For the gun has great destructive properties but cannot be fielded en masse.

"The quickened reload process goes as thus. Be sure to listen closely: the first movement both opens the chamber and fills it with firedrug, the second movement loads the barrel with the bullet, closes the chamber, and sets the matchlock. In two motions, it is reloaded. Grueling training is required for this to be done without mistake. The goal is to make it so that doing this requires no effort and can be done automatically by the body. Therefore learning this requires a great amount of both concentration and meditation. Others term this 'Samadhi reloading' but I have not heard much of Samadhi as I am not someone who follows the Law, so I do not know what this means."

"Samadhi... one-pointed concentration meditation." Akazha tapped her chin. "So that essentially means that reloading is done with such concentration that you do it as meditation."

"Yes, that is likely what it is. But again, I am no faithful woman." Ampalila smiled and shrugged. "This reloading motion actually makes Gun Oracle System very viable even in the frontlines. If you notice..." Ampalila performed the motion. Hand sliding down the barrel, opening the chamber with the back of their hand, flick to toss the firedrug in, another flick to pull the jamming tool between her fingers, ending with Ampalila's hand holding a bullet with two fingers, placed at the end of the gun.

The second movement had her putting the bullet in, kicking the jamming tool so that it circled, maneuvering the gun so that the jamming tool inserted into the barrel, followed by pushing the gun's barrel against that same foot so that the jamming tool would jam the bullet in.

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As that was done, her hand slid up the barrel again and closed the chamber, flicked to pull the matchlock, and that was the gun reloaded. All this time, the other hand maneuvered the long gun so that it was where it needed to be for the movements to hit.

Watching it in motion, Akazha saw the movements of a martial art kata.

"See?" said Ampalila. "That movement, if you dance it, is also an attack and defensive form. The foot for a kick, the offhand for defenses, the loading hand for flicks, parries, and punches. So you can perform it while you are in front of an opponent, reloading while striking with your fists and kicks. More expert wielders of this art have gone on ahead and fitted their feet with blades and worn rings that had magick charges of concussive force to maximalize these movements."

Then, Captain Ampalila took on a battle stance with the arquebus' barrel against their shoulder. "Also, if you are wielding a Gun Oracle Long Gun in particular, you will find that they have hardy barrels that can persist against repeated strikes. Therefore Gun Oracle System also has techniques for melee striking with the gun." She performed circular strikes with her arquebus. The movements vaguely reminded Akazha of the strikes of mace-oriented styles and other martial arts that had applications for warhammers and maces.

She did notice too that the strikes had a strange hitstop in the middle of their movements. "Master, why do you stop in the middle of that diagonal swing?"

"Ah! I am surprised you noticed. Oh, then you will be a good student after all. The stops mid-swing are shadowings. That stopping point is usually where you would pull the trigger if your gun was loaded to unleash a bullet deep into the target."

Understanding lanced through Akazha. "Ha, right. I get it now, of course!"

"There's even more to it," said Captain Ampalila. "Adepts of the style must learn how to make their own long gun. And these long guns are magickally modified and augmented, so that one can fit them with rolling chambers, or make it so that the shots that leave the barrel become scattershots or lobbed grenades through the use of magick yantras upon the barrel. But those are too advanced for you right now."

Akazha asked: "Have you any magick yantras upon your arquebus, teacher?"

Ampalila nodded and pointed at a yantra of a mantra written continuously until it reached the dragon mouth of the barrel. "This is a yantra for long-reach and destiny. With an imparting of my Will, I can shoot a bullet much much farther than a normal arquebus can, and I can make it as accurate as possible if I intend to hit a particular part. Though, I must be able to visualize it clearly."

"It is almost a magick spell," said Akazha, pondering.

"Very closely so," said Ampalila. "But the difference between magick art and martial art is, in truth, arbitrary. Both use physical movements and meditational states to achieve a desired outcome, after all."

Akazha nodded in another point of understanding. Knowledge blossomed from her heart-mind. That was a perspective that Akazha hadn't entertained before, despite having felt it all this time. She bowed low to Ampalila and thanked her for the perspective.

"Now that you're my student, and it seems like we still have a bit of daylight to burn, I suppose teaching you the basic applications of melee-striking will suffice for now. If you'd like?"

Akazha bowed deeply and performed the triple reverences.

"I'll take that as a yes," said Captain Ampalila, smiling.

They set to training. Trading blows. Switching advice. Learning how to wield a gun and how to strike with it as one would strike with a longstaff.

With the sun halfway down the horizon, the doors opened. There entered two beautiful women with hibiscuses in their hairs, clad in kemben and sarong, arrived at the pavilion. Their faces were intricately painted with almost ceremonial beauty. Eyebrows shaved into thin crescents, red paint upon lips, long swirling eyeliners. Their lashes seemed lengthened. Their eyes were the same dark browns of anyone living in the isles. Their skins also were that yellow-brown of those that did most of their work under a roof. Both women were accompanied by two girlservants each. One carried a plate of the things she needed, the other carried around a golden parasol.

"Damned ostentatious," said Akazha, watching them walk up to the parasol. They did not bow nor perform any of the triple reverences. That was not the protocol of those that live above you.

"Be joyful," they began, speaking at once. Rehearsed, canned speech. "The High Chief Trasan of the Southern Winds have called thee to his presence. Follow upon our steps."

Then, they turned and began walking. Two extra girlservants beckoned for them to start walking after the two noble-ladies. Raxri, Sintra, Akazha, and Ampalila all acquiesced. It was time to meet the lord of this land. The two girlservants took up the rear guard, walking with them from behind as their entourage.

This coterie took them past the Prime Minister's longhouse, up another small hill, and then eventually upon a walled off section of the city. The walls were made of stone, a common feature of port cities at the time, and the walls had scenes of a great king and his great army fighting against an enemy king and an enemy army depicted in bas-relief. At certain points along the wall were bowmen, crossbowmen, and gunmen.

They walked through the high stone gates that led into a beautiful courtyard filled with flowers of several different species and styles, all cultivated from both within Pemi and from the other islands. Giant trees created a canopy that shielded form the sun that led directly to the front door of the great longhouse of the High Chief. More importantly, the path was a stone path. A mark of true royalty in the present time.

The longhouse at the end of it was beautiful, seemingly made out of black wood. The pillars were thick and cut rectangular, and seemed to be four times as thick as the already thick pillars of the Prime Minister's longhouse. The veranda had railings, an uncommon trait that only the wealthy could afford, and these were painted a bright red. Two guardian dog statues upon pedestals flanked the wide stairs that led to this veranda. The longhouse had at least five roofs; it pierced the sky with its height. Multiple-roofed houses only belonged to kings or monasteries. And even then, monasteries do not bother with such pomp unless they are the centerpiece of an urban center.

The four of them followed after the two noble ladies as they shuffled upon their parukas toward the longhouses wide stairs. The stairs were beautiful, made of polished wood, unlike the simple ladders that most other commoner houses in the Utter Islands would employ. They walked up the stairs and arrived upon the raised veranda, whereupon were pillars of redwood carved with depictions of great mountain warriors wrestling with sky serpents. The floor in this veranda was lacquered and blackwood, as if to stand the test of time.

The noble ladies moved forward and removed their paruka. Two girl servants each picked up the two porcelain jars that stood on both sides of the grand door. They poured it upon the noble ladies' feet, allowing the water to sift thorugh the slits upon the floor. Then they walked upon a drying cloth inside, and then walked in. They did everything in concert and in sync, as if they were twins. Even though, from their facial features, they did not look like twins. The right lady also looked older than the left lady.

The group walked in as well, fully expecting to have to reach down and pour water upon their feet themselves. But the two girlservants stood there waiting for them all. They poured water upon their feet immediately after they removed their footwear.

Once they were all inside and had dried their feet, the noble ladies guided them through the grand vestibule where paintings and wooden sculptures of ancestors of the High Chief surrounded them from all sides, carved upon the hardwood pillars, the walls, the beams that held up the first roof, the edges of the floors. It was ostentatious, but ostentatiousness was required to solidify one's name and claim as a leader of the people in Pemi.

Past the vestibule led to a wide rectangular space. A beautiful crimson cloth carpet upon the floor. Various candleholders. On each corner of the throne room was an altar to an ancestral god. At the back of the house was the high-backed throne. Thrones in the Utter Islands were not simply chairs, they were an entire platform in and of themselves. Raised from the floor, for the king was above his fellows. They sat upon a thick cushion. Weapons criss-crossed the wall behind the throne, which was circular so as to give the High Chief a halo. A radiance.

Sitting upon the flower-embroidered black silk cushion was the High Chief Trasan himself.