Caste stood taller, clasping his arms together behind his back. Keoni watched and copied him, a bit sore.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Caste asked her.

Keoni had woken up early, feeling much better. There were still aches in her body, and her head hadn’t been completely cleared, however, she could stand on her own and felt that the anger that had consumed her yesterday had left.

Today, she finally asked Caste to start teaching her some self-defense and several attacks. They’d moved to an open field in the Mirae, where Keoni could see a lot of other people practicing magic on the horizon. Ryley had stayed behind, very groggy from staying up too late.

“I am.” Keoni eventually answered. “And if I’m not, we can always stop.”

“Alright.” Caste looked a lot more intimidating than he usually did. “Hold your hands together, and make sure your spine is straight. Good form is good conforming.”

Keoni did so, raising her head and ensuring she didn’t slouch. Despite the almost stiff feeling, it almost seemed as if she was stronger.

Caste walked closer to her. “Most everything comes naturally. Harnessing your potential and using it in your will, well, will favor you.”

Almost like how I was able to so easily attack Caste. She pushed the thought out of her head.

“Think fast.”

Caste immediately created something in his hands, and threw it. It flew towards Keoni.

She gasped, holding her hands out and flinching. A jolt of energy came from her arms and surged through her body, and when she opened her eyes, the orb that Caste had thrown was in her hands.

She brought it down in front of her, gazing at the simple little orb that had seemed so harmful. Keoni looked up, seeing Caste give her a smile of approval.

“What do I do with this?” She asked, still staring at its puzzling light.

Caste shrugged. “Go with whatever comes.”

Keoni tossed it back, watching as Caste stopped it mid-air. “Two options here.” He paced over a bit, then using his hands in the air, split the orb in two, and returned to where he was. “Defense.” He released one of the orbs, and it shot towards him. A field of magic formed around his hands as it hit, shattering on the forcefield. “Or offense.” He released the second orb, but as it hurtled to him, he conformed a blade in his hand and sliced the orb.

The impact launched it towards Keoni. She clenched her teeth and tried the shield thing, but it didn’t form.

Keoni ducked and covered her head as a last resort, but the magic had stopped, and she could see Caste controlling it.

It returned to his palm and disappeared. “Don’t let your fear overcome you.” He said reassuringly. “You’re not going to get hurt. I promise. Now, when I say Noahkup, I need you to return to the same position I had you start in.”

“One second.” Keoni rubbed her back, stretching.

“Noahkup.” Caste said a moment too soon. Keoni quickly fumbled up to the right position, earning herself a concerned glance from Caste.

“Relax.” He let go of his hands, motioning for Keoni to do the same.

“Noahkup.” Keoni quickly sat up, though Caste didn’t.

“Do anything you like.” Caste said. As Keoni looked at her hands, still standing tall, her own orb formed in her hands…

“Relax.”

Keoni released her position, and immediately, the small orb vanished. Hmmph. Not exactly worthy of enlightenment.

“Noahkup.” One more time, Keoni recorrected her posture and the light came back.

I knew you had it, my beautiful.

This strength was much, much better than what had been given to her earlier. It settled in gently, not harshly. It awaited her move.

Before she even had the thought, a quarterstaff formed in her hands.

I’m not trying to harm Caste. I’m preparing myself for what’s to come.

Caste threw something at her. It sped through the air, making a small wailing sound. Keoni cleared her head as fast as possible, thinking only what she could do to stop it from hitting her.

She moved out of the way, still stable on her feet. It felt like the right thing to do. It sliced into the ground, making her heart pound. If it hit her, it would do the same thing to her flesh.

“I’ll say it again. You won’t be injured.” Caste called out. Keoni calmed her breathing, settling herself and returning to position. A weapon she felt familiar with slowly formed in her hands. The quarterstaff fit her hands perfectly, better than anything she’d ever held before.

Caste copied her weapon, forming one of his own and holding it in front of him, awaiting Keoni’s first move.

“Close combat is a bit different,” Caste mentioned. “It’s a lot less natural and a lot more trained. It can take years to master even just throwing a simple punch. With a weapon, it is often even more difficult to learn.” He spread his legs to a wider stance, and raised the quarterstaff he was holding to point at Keoni. “With a quarterstaff, a wider stance is typically used when defending. It gives more stability, control, and power in everything you do. Now come at me as best you can.”

Keoni did not feel ready to get anywhere near Caste with a weapon, she knew he would just defeat her in a few seconds. She approached more cautiously, trying to copy Caste’s stance. She moved more to his side, but he just turned to keep facing her the whole time.

You don’t have to be gentle with this one. He’ll be fine.

The magic channeling through her strengthened, giving her more energy. As she moved, she could tell her physical abilities were enhanced.

Keoni gave a hard throw towards Caste, swinging the staff toward his side.

As predicted, Caste immediately deflected it, knocking her back and waiting for her next action. His calm approach was fascinating; the way he held a normal expression and returned to his position, watching Keoni.

“Most of this is practicing until you get better.” Caste nodded. “Also taking in information and figuring out for yourself how you think you should fight.”

“Would I count your challenge?” Keoni asked, thinking of how bad the second round had gone. She’d tried to forget the disturbing way Caste was just rendered helpless.

“As a bad example, yes.” He sighed. “I was not myself in that first fight.”

“I wouldn’t notice.” Keoni added. “Only you and Qaye did.”

Caste laughed nervously. “Everyone noticed: Qaye was the only one with enough guts to point it out immediately. Rouh even came to me after a while to ask if I was okay.”

Impulsively, Keoni tried hitting him again while he was distracted. She moved swiftly, aiming for his unprotected side again. Caste moved his body out of the way and hit her staff away, causing the staff in her hands to reverberate hard from the impact and her to flinch. “Playing dirty never works.” He said smoothly, still showing little emotion on his face.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

He shifted to a calmer stance. “I realize now that this may be pointless, just training you blindly. Have you had any experience in martial arts at all?”

“None.” Keoni said while shaking her head. Caste immediately made his staff dissipate into nothing. “Then I will teach you.” Keoni in turn released her staff. Caste started coming closer to her, looking like he was thinking deeply about something.

Once he got close to her, he continued to ask her questions.

“Do you know how to dance in any way?”

“Not very well.”

“Anything is something.”

He circled around her, clearly analyzing something.

“What physical activities do you regularly do?”

This one was easy for Keoni. “I go on walks, do gardening, sometimes I have to climb trees to prune branches and hang from them for a while. I occasionally go on a jog or run with Ryley to stay in shape.” Caste seemed pleased with this amount of normal exercise.

“That’s a very well-rounded routine. You also have the naturally huge amount of stability, stamina, size, and flexibility of a wolf, perfect for a quarterstaff. You may not be aware of it, but you’re incredibly gifted in the physical aspect of health.”

Keoni didn’t know what to say. Well, she did, but she didn’t exactly want to tease Caste right now. Was he flirting with me!? I swear, this little man just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

He stopped, standing in front of her. He had to look up quite a bit to look at her face.

“There are multiple ways that I could teach you. Based on what you know so far, I think it would be better for you if I taught you more defense at the moment.”

He stood next to her now, facing the same direction.

"The first thing that will help you is learning a martial art that pairs well with your weapon, which is the quarterstaff." He adopted a stance with his hands semi-close to his upper body, and his legs in a spread-apart stance. “This is the common stance for most swords and staffs.”

Keoni copied him again, allowing him to help her with a few minor adjustments.

This would be a while.

…

“I believe what I am teaching you is more important than what Caste covered.” Kaedin paced back and forth. “The only concept I’d like you to understand in this given moment is splitting your being into two versions of yourself.”

Keoni had just come back from an hour of a break, where she rested and read after a couple hours working with Caste. She’d summoned Kaedin while Caste was helping Ryley with some more of his Miraen.

“Sit, you.” Kaedin snorted, ushering Keoni onto the grass. “You’re not fighting me, for Venge’s sake.”

Keoni half-sat, half-fell onto the ground. If she wasn’t sore then, she was sore now.

Kaedin joined her, settling down and holding their hands on their lap.

“Light and dark have always been the balance necessary to keep both worlds in one piece.” Kaedin began, kind of starting from scratch. “If one is torn away, the other dies. A plant needs water and nutrients, not one or the other. If only given one, you know very well what happens to it. There’s a solid fence between the two, but they can be mixed together. What would happen if you watered the soil, or the plant’s food?”

Keoni immediately could answer with something she was familiar with. “The roots need to access both at the same time to take in all the nutrients it needs without an overbalance.” It seemed Kaedin was trying to prove a point more than trying to learn.

Kaedin nodded. “So let’s say the water is your tears, and the soil is your calm demeanor. The two need to mix together to make things easier, but when needed, you must separate them. That is the art of combining light and dark. Just try it now. How much light would you need, and how much dark would you need to strengthen your Mir-Link enough to trigger a Cognate’s secondary nerves?”

What an odd metaphor. It… it makes sense though.

“Secondary nerves?” She asked, looking for clarification.

“Cognates all have nerves that they call Nokgoj. They use them mostly to detect magic around them. Try what I told you to, and I guarantee you will startle the feathers out of Caste.”

Keoni calmed herself, imagining the amount of soil she’d put in a new pot, and how much she’d water this new plant. Slowly, her emotions leaked in and mixed through her peace like… like…

Like water in soil.

“Get ‘im.” Kaedin whispered.

Caste suddenly jumped, startling Ryley in his surprise. Keoni was far enough away to not hear what they were saying, but she could clearly see Caste trying to hide what had happened.

She giggled.

“That was excellent!” Kaedin exclaimed. “And also all I have for you. I just want you to keep practicing. Maybe don’t practice on Caste, but you did perfectly what you needed to.”

Kaedin’s new idea indeed did work quite well. Keoni would have to try later to figure out what their change of heart was.

Caste stood up, with Ryley following. He started walking towards Keoni.

Kaedin tensed. “I’d like you to return me, please.”

Last time, Kaedin had said Caste had some sort of interference… but it still didn’t make any sense. “Why?” Keoni asked.

“I would appreciate it if the things I taught you remained private between you and me. Caste and all the other Mir-Cognates don't need to see or hear me.” Kaedin answered sincerely.

Keoni sighed. “Oh, alright.” She pressed the Rune to her head and watched as Kaedin dissolved.

Caste spoke up as soon as he could be heard. “I’m assuming that was you, and I’m also going to assume Kaedin told you specifically to do that.”

Keoni nodded, holding in another giggle. Again, foxes were not good at looking mad.

“Ey, that mischievous little vegpin.” Caste muttered. Ryley smiled at Keoni, who smiled secretly back. It was funny, whether or not the Mir-Cognate agreed or not.

“I’m very impressed how you did that. I’ve never understood how light and dark combining worked, but I’m glad Kaedin could help you understand.” Caste said. “Not impressed by how you startled me. That was rude.”

Ryley laughed, causing Keoni to laugh too. Caste rubbed his head.

So you seriously can just feel magic?” Keoni asked after calming down, sounding a bit like Ryley.

“Basically, yeah. It’s to protect us from anything harmful, such as light and dark contacting and imploding.” He seemed to think of something very specific, but brushed it off before Ryley or Keoni could point it out. “It’s an evolutionary thing, too. We’ve seen Phys-Conidae start to develop some. It won’t be long before you’ll sense the same things we do.”

“How do you define long?” Ryley asked jokingly.

“How do you define evolution?” Caste countered, also with a teasing tone. Before Ryley could continue their jokes, Caste flinched again. “Speak of the devil,” he muttered. “Feels like a huge Mir-Gate was opened for a split second.”

Someone nearby yelled out to Caste. Keoni had forgotten there were other people around. They were yelling in Miraen from up on a pink grass-covered hill, staring out on the horizon.

Caste called something back, all sounding like gibberish. Ryley seemed to pick up parts of it, as he was nodding his understanding.

“You don’t want to defend Jefu?” Ryley asked, to which Caste sighed.

“I can’t. I’ve realized how much I tense up around Quuarks. I couldn’t control myself, and I’d make things worse.” He said worriedly.

“I rnef htoch noox cheak topm, Quujhok!” The Mir-Cognate exclaimed. “If you want me to repeat myself in Physcia, I’ll be happy to do that!”

“That’s quite alright.” Caste said, a bit quieter. “I don’t want to Yengokh novuhigo.”

“Oh.” The Cognate responded. He vanished, presumably headed towards Jefu.

“What is Yengokh novuhigo?” Ryley gave Caste a concerned look.

“What happened to Keoni yesterday, more or less. Also the Cognate version.” He responded. “Let’s get out of here. We’re in danger this close to Jefu if there’s another raid.”

“You have to at least want to help them.” Keoni begged.

“Oh, of course.” He opened a Mir-Gate below them, dropping them into Limbo. He started navigating to Keoni’s apartment. “That’s how I was taken. But I wouldn’t be helpful if I tried to help. My personal conflict with the Quuarks would get in the way.”

In a very unspecific area in the black void, Caste stopped, opening another gate and landing the three of them right on Keoni’s rug.

Keoni was about to ask if Caste was going to be fine. He had some horrible things happen to him, and was brushing it off, it seemed. He stretched before sitting down and rubbing his temples.

Ryley took the question off her tongue, phrasing it better than she would have. “Is there anything we can do? It shouldn’t be that easy to not go and help.”

“Thank you, Ryley, but I think it’s best if I just had some time alone.” Caste answered gently.

Ryley nodded, motioning for her to head to her greenhouse on the roof.

If Keoni were in his shoes, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself. She had learned so much, yet so little, about fighting, and would use it in any way just to protect the Mir-Cognates in danger.

She stepped inside, soothed by the smell of humid air and growing plants. To be honest, she didn’t know how he was able to handle it.

She didn’t know how anyone could.