Andy woke early, refreshed from a good night's sleep and ready to get going. The group gathered in the clearing around a table. There were hardly any scraps or litter from the previous night's dinner. The whole place was quite neat.

The group had woken up far before most of Bundybrook's other residents. Aside from a woman cooking oats and a man scraping off the smokers from the previous night, they were alone. For Andy, at least, it was a perfect situation. They could slip out without any complicated farewells. Andy, Kermit, Arlene, Morwen, Sven, and PL ate a nourishing breakfast of oats and berries and soon they were on their way.

"So, how much longer on this road?" Andy asked as they plodded along the forest path.

"Well," Morwen said, "we went a bit out of the way when we were captured, but not too far. We should be at our mission location by nightfall."

Andy nodded, walking in the front position alongside Morwen. Arlene followed, beside Sven who led PL. Kermit rode atop the boar's back, slingshot in hand, keeping an eye on the road for hidden dangers.

"How did you find your training?" Morwen asked.

"It was… really boring," Andy said, honestly.

"Good," said Morwen. "That's step one."

"What do you mean?" Andy said. "It felt like I didn't do anything at all."

"Yes," Morwen said, staring ahead through the forest trees as she marched with her hand on her katana hilt. "Otherworlders often have issues with boredom."

"People here don't?" Andy asked.

"Not as much," said Morwen. "Not in my experience at least. Otherworlders always feel like they need to be doing something. They can never just sit."

"So, what does just sitting have to do with being a fighter?" Andy asked, intrigued. He had seen his share of martial arts movies, many of which featured training montages of meditation and mental exercise. He had always been attracted to the idea of mental training, and those movies made it look extremely cool. But In reality, it wasn't cool. It was really boring.

"It's about learning your own mind," said Morwen. "You, like many, are addicted to doing. You need to learn how to simply be."

"I get that," said Andy, "but I still don't understand what this has to do with fighting."

"Fighting requires sharp, precise judgment. You have to make decisions very quickly. If someone pulls a knife on you, you need to be able to disarm them. You need to be alert. But whatever you do, you can't be nervous. Nerves will make you do things you regret."

"What do you mean?" Andy asked.

Morwen kept silence for a few strides, lost in thought.

"I mean that nervousness, fear… these attitudes can cause you to react quickly and irrationally. You may perceive something as threatening that, in fact, isn't."

"What do you mean?" Andy asked.

"Well, for example, a long while ago in Cresthaven, there was a peasant uprising. It happens every few decades. And every time, it is squashed. This particular time, though, the nobility hired the fighter's guild for defense. This uprising was particularly large. Unprecedented, actually. The nobility was afraid that their own guards were not enough to keep them secure, so they needed additional power."

"I thought that the fighter's guild was loyal to the peasants?" Andy asked. "Wouldn't they support a peasant's revolution?"

"Maybe these days," Morwen said. "But back then, times were different. The fighting guild agreed, they needed the funding, and they set up a perimeter outside the noble's palace. They didn't allow anyone through who couldn't be identified as a noble."

Andy and Morwen rounded a corner and off in the distance, the tree-line appeared, beyond which stretched a great golden field.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"We're making good time," Morwen said.

Andy nodded and paused. "What about the story?"

"Yes, so, the fighting guild set up a perimeter and no one was allowed in. That is, until one day, the peasants marched on the perimeter. They were led by a man named Cer Kan, and though he was not opposed to violent revolutionary tactics, his main concern was with claiming a moral victory over the nobility. So, instead of attacking, hundreds and hundreds of peasants lined up across from the fighters outside the palace, and they simply stood there, chanting, unarmed."

"So how is that a problem?" Andy asked. "If they were just chanting, you have nothing to fear."

"Well, you'd think so, but it all changed when one fighter, no one knows who, felt threatened and struck down the peasant across from him. Then all hell broke loose."

"Why did the fighter strike the peasant if there was no danger?" Andy said.

"Because the fighter was tense, afraid, and wasn't able to exercise objective judgment. The fighter was nervous. And his nerves precipitated one of the darkest days in the history of the fighter's guild… Cer Kan's Peasant Massacre."

"Wait, Cer Kan's massacre? I thought it was the fighters who did the massacring."

"Yes," said Morwen, "but you underestimate the nobility's predilection for propaganda and changing historical narrative. They tied the peasant massacre to Cer Kan. They called the massacre a blunder on his part, for being there and engaging in chanting."

"Is chanting a crime?" Andy asked.

"No," said Morwen. "The fighters slaughtered the peasants, and the peasants were blamed for it. That's how history goes when it is controlled by nobles."

Andy nodded, solemnly. It was upsetting to hear that the fighter's guild, for all their good intentions these days, did not have a spotless history. In fact, the episode that Morwen recounted was abhorrent.

"Had that fighter had more control, had he been able to exercise better judgment, had he not allowed his nerves to get the better of him, then things would have been very different. That, Andy, is why meditation is important. That's why boredom is important. You must allow yourself to be comfortable with ambiguity, with tension. You must practice nonjudgmental attention. As a fighter, you have more opportunities than most to do something that you will regret. You have to keep your attention in check."

"It's just so… I don't know… it's not fun," Andy said.

Morwen stopped suddenly. She held her hand above her head, signaling those behind her to stop as well.

"Excuse us for a moment," Morwen said, looking toward Arlene and Sven. She grabbed Andy roughly by the arm and walked him up a few paces, over toward the side of the wood. Her eyes narrowed into slits. "Listen, Andy," Morwen said. "Frankly I don't give a fuck if you aren't having fun."

Her words were suddenly charged with anger, venom even. Andy felt his butthole clench as he wished he could shrink into himself.

Damn, I should've just kept my mouth shut.

"That sword on your back is more deadly force than most Cresthaveners ever possess. If you truly want to be a fighter, then you must get better not only at using it, but also at knowing when and how to use it and when to refrain. I wish there was a quicker way, but it turns out that training is just a lot of hard, boring work. Do you understand?"

Andy nodded.

"Tell me you understand," Morwen said. She was nearly red in the face.

"I understand," Andy said.

Morwen relaxed a bit. "I'm sorry to be harsh with you, but you have to understand that your power is not just for you. It's not even primarily for you. Power has been gifted to you so that you can use it to defend the powerless. If you neglect your training, if you act lazily and irresponsibly, and if you end up causing harm against the powerless, I promise you, you will regret it. You won't be able to sleep for a long, long time. And you will cause many families to grieve. On the other hand, if you do continue your training, if you do continue to sharpen your mind and your attention, then maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to make an impact for the good."

"I will continue my training," Andy said meekly. "And I won't neglect it."

"Good," said Morwen. She walked Andy back to the path, giving the signal for the group to continue.

***

The group finally made it out of the forest and over several miles of rolling fields. They took a short lunch by a brook and continued for a few more hours until the sun began to sink onto the horizon.

"Up here," Morwen said, signaling toward a cluster of hills. "Let's get a vantage point to see how far we have."

Morwen and Andy climbed a hill. The view was stunning. Andy looked behind them. He saw the forest they had emerged from, and, way off in the distance, a small sliver of mountain range on the horizon, Mount Aurora, the place they had spawned.

Ahead of them about a mile or two, there was another forest.

"That's our destination," Morwen said, "just on the other side of that tree-line. We should be able to make it in an hour or two."