The combat part of Susi’s adulthood trial was about to begin. She sat in meditation with her legs crossed upon a large boulder opposite to Grand Speaker Averal with her quarterstaff resting upon her knees. The two had been seated there for the last five hours.
The sun glimmered through the green oak tree leaves from directly overhead.
A strand of her long black hair tickled her eyebrow with a gentle breeze that whispered over the waterfall beyond the trees behind her.
Susi could feel everything: every cell in her body, every bend of the grass surrounding her and the Speaker, every shake of the tree leaves in the wind. She could feel the tension of the skin upon her teeth, the resting frown between the pout of her cheeks, and curvature of her chin beneath her lips.
Beyond all of this, there was the constant pain of her malleolus—the ball-like bone on the side of her ankle—throbbing against the stone beneath her.
This was an important test, but Susi tried to bite back the recollection that it was important in an effort to avoid jinxing herself. Reaching adulthood within the Talea religion was crucial for every monk of the enclave.
Susi had turned nineteen the day prior, and that qualified her to request her trial from the Grand Speaker.
If she succeeded in disarming the Speaker of his staff, she could stay with the enclave for the rest of her life. She could also choose to leave and start a new chapter in some inhospitable place if she wanted.
Unfortunately, Grand Speaker Averal had not expressed positive emotion toward Susi during the few times they had encountered one another during ceremonies and hearings within the community.
He was of the mountain chapter, and she was of the forest. The two groups were able to live comfortably side-by-side, but they had different temperaments, different philosophies of their religion’s philosophies, and most importantly: different cooking styles.
Somehow it made combat a more competitive sport between the two sides of the same faction, and Susi had little doubt Averal was preparing to mount a heavy assault upon her.
Throughout the clearing next to the river, dozens of Talea monks in navy blue robes of differing rank and clothing tier waited for the combat trial to begin.
Susi’s teachers, Grobeche, Helgus, and Neto stood with them, watching the testing. Each had taught her a different philosophy within the Talea Macto when Susi was an apprentice.
They weren’t worried about Susi being able to pass. The concern was just how much damage would be caused in the process.
So far, however, Averal might outskill Susi without even moving into the next round. Remaining seated in meditation for five hours and counting was taxing enough.
Averal moved instantly.
It was difficult to see who struck first. Averal had thrust his quarterstaff at Susi to which she reacted perfectly in kind.
The tips of their staves clacked with such force, Susi and Averal were knocked off the boulder they’d been seated upon.
The Speaker cartwheeled to his feet, landing upon his toes as he flicked himself back and out of the way of Susi’s strike through the brush.
Susi parried a flurry of strikes from Averal in succession while moving back between the gnarled oak trees surrounding the two of them.
Averal bore his teeth as he cracked his staff into hers, overbearing her with his combat macto. Susi leaned back and drew their staves into a grinding pushing and pulling that ended when Averal deflected her away from him.
Susi skidded through the brush and ducked aside as Averal swiped past her to the grassy ledge alongside the river. The group of monks in blue followed the two contestants up the river as they effectively tried to do as much harm to one another as possible.
A pair of pedestrians on the road beyond the waterfall, each with a travel pack slung over one shoulder, stopped to watch the fight.
Most native Aallandrons know about the Talea monks, but they aren’t normally privy to an adulthood test.
The cliffside above Gohorn Falls was Susi’s choice of location. The initiate can choose the place they feel most comfortable for their trial.
Susi and Averal sparred along the ridge to the pinnacle of the hill next to the falls.
Averal was getting up in age. He was Grand Speaker for now, but he wasn’t as quick as he once was.
Susi could feel the give in his hands when she landed a heavy strike. He reacted well enough, and used skilful tricks to keep the upper hand.
She decided to test a theory that could force Averal to concede. She lined up her parries to connect with his cross strikes harder than would have been expected in a normal sparring match.
She executed this a few times, but upon the third strike, Averal maneuvered his parry so that he could snatch her staff from her grasp.
Susi’s fingers closed upon the tip of the quarterstaff in a desperate hold before Averal could fully take it from her.
Losing it would mean she failed the test.
She flicked the staff into a spin that caught Averal’s temple. Susi shouldered Averal away from her, and then whirled the staff to tuck it into her armpit beneath her navy blue koromo robe.
She stepped back into Ulkindar.
Averal touched his brow to see that he was bleeding. He looked over his shoulder to see the rush of the river below. He looked back at Susi, who believed she had him cornered.
If one were to blink, they couldn’t see it.
Susi didn’t blink. She saw it, but she could do nothing to avoid the Sevold maneuver that darted Averal’s form past her out of danger.
Regardless, she had to maintain Ulkindar. Susi dropped to one knee on the cliffside ridge. She felt the wind, felt the trees, felt everything connected in between.
She waited for Averal to return as he darted between the trees. Every upheaval of dust, movement of wind, and mashing of plant life underfoot gave evidence of Averal’s location.
Susi got back to her feet and swished her quarterstaff ahead, gripping it in both hands as Averal connected without warning.
The two exchanged defense and offense, Susi holding Ulkindar—barely. There was Ulkindar and Yulkindar. The former is a total dominance within battle, and the latter was an absence of all control within it.
Awareness and presence ensured she didn’t lose Ulkindar.
The two connected staff for staff in a battle of skill and intuition. If Susi were to miscalculate a single strike, the blows would be hard enough to break bones.
Their staves connected and the two skidded away from one another.
Averal executed the Sevold once more, but Susi was ready as he tried to swipe her on his way past. Their staves clacked, and she flipped upside down over Averal before chasing him up the ridge.
Catching sight of Averal’s face, Susi could see him grinning from ear to ear.
All Susi had successfully accomplished so far was providing a fun sparring match for the Grand Speaker. It just went to show that the Talea monks were a bunch of masochists.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
But if Averal had lost himself in the enjoyment of battle, it meant he may have lost Ulkindar.
Susi performed her own Sevold maneuver, zipping past Averal within a fraction of a second. Averal grabbed the middle of Susi’s quarterstaff in the instant of their contact, and whirled her into a tall oak tree.
Susi’s dirty, bare feet landed upon the wood. She pushed off the tree to drop back into combat.
Susi spun her staff between both fingers and arms: clacking the tips against Averal’s as each contender tried to land a strike upon their target.
Nothing was working. Averal could go on like this forever.
There was a reason he was Grand Speaker. It meant he had no care of anything in the world. He was relaxed: riding the wave of reality effortlessly.
She decided to ride the edge of Ulkindar and Yulkindar. If she was going to lose this to attrition, she would make Averal pay for it.
Without losing focus, Susi increased the rapidity of her strikes. She subtly doubled the strength at the end of her connections.
The two became entwined in a blur of staves that could be considered nothing more than a stalemate.
Susi was about to lose Ulkindar to her frustration. She was going to lose this after all the work she had put into passing the test.
In that moment, she irritably slammed the staff with both hands into Averal’s.
He staggered. Susi was about to engage, but held back.
Sweat glistened from Averal’s temples. His knuckles were bloodied and bruised.
Averal took a deep breath, put his staff under his arm, and pressed his right fist into his palm before bowing to her.
Susi thought she was dreaming. Had she really completed the test?
Exhilaration filled her chest as the dozens of monks surveying them broke into cheer. Everyone’s face fell as Averal put a hand to his chest and was helped to a log by several others. Susi hurried to him and dropped to one knee at his side.
“Thank you, Susi, for a truly wonderful battle.” Averal took a deep breath with his hand still holding his chest, and relaxed.
“Are you all right, Speaker?” Rever asked. He was one of Averal’s students, and only a little older than Susi.
The two had always enjoyed one another’s company even though he was in the mountain chapter of the Talea. Mountains and forests can get along, but they don’t stay together forever.
“I’ll be fine.” Averal nodded and tapped his chest with his old hand as he reclined upon the log with his staff. “I don’t know why you’re all around me. Susi’s the one who is now an adult, and no longer an apprentice.”
Dozens of hands began clapping Susi on the back as she got to her feet. The feeling of excitement began coursing through her once more.
“Nice work, Susi!” Helgus pulled her into a bear hug and lifted her off her feet. “I knew you could do it.”
“I knew after how you started with your Achi-Barl, there was no way you’d ever give up until you became Grand Speaker.” Neto clapped her on both shoulders.
“Grand Speaker is a bit excessive,” Susi beamed. “After all, you’re next in line to become Grand Speaker.”
“Not if I have to face a Multus like yours.” Neto said.
A cool twilight met the evening sky as the monks threw a small celebration for their newest adult member.
Gutren boiled his signature vegetable soup for the group, while Kirin brought a satchel of bread loaves she had purchased from Scerasa to the north. They all sat in meditation position within a large circle, and ate while chatting with one another.
Rever reclined on the rock next to Susi, smiling at her as she tried to ignore him.
He pulled a piece of bread from his loaf and soaked it in his onyx cup of vegetable soup. He was three years older than her, and he had kissed her three nights prior.
It was a secret. No one knew, but now that Susi was of age within the chapter, she could choose to elope with Rever and leave the clan.
She would still believe in the Talea as a religion, but the two would need to leave the sanctuary of the Talea and be forced to pay taxes to the Narcuss government.
“Did you think about what we talked about the other day?” He asked.
The Talea monks had been everything for Susi. They were her teachers, her parents, her friends, her close and extended family. They had been there for her when no one else was.
She remembered the Convent of Omne, how the sisters there had taken her in—of Tharsa.
Susi thought of how Grobeche had taken her under his wing as she cried in the streets of Scerasa, of how hard life was with the monks once she became accustomed to their ways in the wilderness.
It was refreshing to be content with so little. That’s what made it so difficult to tell Rever that she desperately wanted to leave, but was terrified of losing the comfort of the order.
“I still haven’t decided.” She answered.
Rever’s voice dropped to a whisper. “The longer we wait, the more they’ll try to keep us around.”
Susi was a very introspective and quiet person. She didn’t like speaking so she didn’t. She knew it frustrated Rever when she didn’t respond, but in this situation she genuinely didn’t have an answer for him.
The two had been close friends when they both started training with Grobeche at seven and ten years old.
When he was thirteen, he told her for the first time that he loved her. Susi’s response was to punch him in the stomach. She was only ten years old then, so she naively thought that if she punched him he would associate her with pain.
Rever was the only boy close to her age so he didn’t know what he wanted. She was only a convenient option because kids don’t join the Talea monks.
Older people going through their identity crisis: those were most of the demographic. There were a lot of failed former business owners, men who had gone through multiple wives, and several people who had murdered or fought in wars.
The Talea was one of the few religions that taught one how to work their way back to themselves, back to the joyous innocence they once knew before becoming enlightened to the true nature of the world.
People become hardened and set in their actions, but the Talea teaches them that they don’t have to. They could be who they were always meant to be by ceasing and reversing the negative energy being put into their universe.
Susi got up and went to Averal’s side to sit next to him. He looked haggard after their fight. He put his arm on her shoulder.
“You are the model student, Susi,” spoke Averal in a feeble tone. He sounded horrible.
“I was supposed to represent us in the Grand Tornetum tomorrow. I don’t think I’ll be able to go. Grobeche or Garrey: perhaps one of them can go in my place.”
Grobeche had been sitting on Averal’s other side, and looked over when he heard his name. “What did he say?”
“He said he needs you to represent us in the Grand Tornetum because he can’t go—you or Garrey,” said Susi.
“It’s only an observing position.” Grobeche put a hand on Averal’s forehead. “You can’t stand there for four hours while the champions kill themselves?”
“I don’t think I can stand at all right now,” Averal’s voice quavered.
“So we have no representative for the Tornetum?” Helgus asked from the other side of the circle. Everyone paused their conversations to listen.
“Averal isn’t going to be able to go.” Grobeche said so that the whole group could hear.
He looked to Susi and lowered his voice. “As usual, you took things too far.”
“It was a test of skill and endurance.” Susi glared at her teacher. “He didn’t have to keep going until he couldn’t anymore.”
Grobeche met her eyes and pierced through her defense. “You know you’re stronger—”
“They won’t allow us our tax exemption status if we don’t have an attendant for the Tornetum.” Neto’s voice filled the circle. “If Averal cannot attend, then someone must go in his place.”
Helgus had gotten up and met with Grobeche and Susi.
He spoke lowly so that only the two of them could hear. “Neither you nor I can go because we’ll be recognized, and Garrey will probably say something foolish and get himself executed.”
“What about Rever?” Grobeche asked.
“Criminal history. He’s been arrested twice, so it wouldn’t look good.” Helgus said.
“I can go.” Susi said. Silence filled the group as everyone stared at her.
“They’ll just see her as a woman and dismiss her.” Helgus waved.
“But it’s also a really smart idea.” Grobeche stroked his chin. “It will show the world that we have young practitioners, that even a young woman can choose to become her true self behind the facade that society places upon us.”
“You’re imagining that the Aallandron governance in its current state is capable of progressive thinking,” said Helgus.
“I think Susi representing me in the Tornetum is a grand idea.” Averal said.
“This is a really bad idea.” Helgus shook his head.
“Says the hermit that lives alone in the mountains.” Susi said.
He cocked his brow at her. “Someone’s finally getting a little snap in her.” Helgus ruffled Susi’s unkempt but straight black hair.
Grobeche cleared his throat to address the circle. “As many of you know, Averal was to represent our small religious clan at the Grand Tornetum tomorrow in Narcuss, but due to unforeseen circumstances, he will not be able to attend. It has therefore been concluded that Susi will go in his place.”
“Susi only became an adult an hour ago.” Garrey said.
“But an adult she is,” continued Grobeche, “and it has been determined that she is the best candidate to send in his stead. Unless anyone is interested in volunteering their position for the Tornetum, Susi will remain our representative. If there are any objections, please state them now.”
As usual, silence filled the Talea circle. If there were objections, they were not spoken as everyone continued eating their bread and soup.
Susi finished hers and placed her onyx bowl with the others next to the cast-iron boiling pot.
As she was leaving, Rever grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the trees outside of the circle.
“What do you think you’re doing? The way you talked to me the other night, you were ready to leave. But if you go through with this, Susi,” Rever whispered, “they’ll think you’re one of them forever. It’ll be harder for you to leave later when we’re ready to leave right now.”
“I—I didn’t have time to think through what we talked about the other day.” Susi said. “I want to do it.”
“What?” Rever looked genuinely confused by her statement.
“I want to represent the Talea Macto to everyone because the Talea Macto is the only constant thing that’s made me happy throughout my entire life.”
“Oh Omne.” Rever shook his head. “They really got to you, didn’t they?”
“It’s not just a religion to me, Rever.” Susi said. “It’s my whole world.”
Rever stared at her without speaking for a long time.
At last, he shook his head and returned to the circle with the others.
As Susi was going back to the circle, Grobeche and Neto were helping Averal back to his horse that was hitched by the road beyond the treeline.
Susi hurried to thank him for the trial and then said goodbye for the night as he was ready to get home to Lerick Mountains.
Rever saddled up as well to go with him along with the others from the mountain chapter. He made certain not to meet her eye on his way out with the group.
Grobeche saw them off, then walked back to where Susi was still seated within the circle. He looked more exhausted than usual as he gathered his things and made for his horse.
Susi followed him. Her horse was tied next to Grobeche’s.
“Is something wrong?” Susi asked.
“Not wrong, but the council will hear of it, and likely disapprove.” He untied his gray mare and led her to the road.
“Because I’m a woman?” Susi glowered at him.
Grobeche put his pack over his shoulder. “Probably.” He mounted the horse. “See you back home, Susi.”
He gigged his horse into motion, leaving Susi alone in the clearing as night was beginning to take hold of the evening. Susi untied her horse, climbed onto its back, and gigged it to hurry after her teacher.
Try as she might, she could not keep up with him all the way back to their hut in Gohorn Forest.
He was already in meditation position on the porch when she arrived. Susi joined his side and tried to stay focused, but couldn’t.
When the task of remaining in the moment became too unbearable for her, she resigned to resting on the cot in the corner of their hut.
All she could do is listen to the night bugs yammering as she stared silently at the small wooden logs that composed the ceiling above.
In the morning, Garrey came down from the mountain to let them know that Averal had passed during his evening meditation, presumably absorbing himself into the universe where he would never be reborn again quite the same.
It’s always a choice with the older monks, when they want to die.
No one could hide the depression everyone felt the night before. Averal had made his choice to move on long before he told them he wouldn’t be capable of attending the Tornetum.
Unfortunately for the Talea clans, both mountain and forest, the Tornetum and their unlikely representative would consume Averal’s mourning process for Susi and Grobeche.
Susi was just finishing her Keuteu Sequeo—a prestige version of Vuhd Mans’s personal exercise regime—when Grobeche stepped out from their home in the forest with a travel pack slung over one shoulder.
The sun hadn’t even fully filled the sky with light when the two set off on horseback for the capital city of Narcuss.