I had a hard time drawing my focus to the training. The new guy, Dyson, prattled on so much it had become like static buzzing in my ears; noise with no meaning.

He and Kalysta both held training staves, and had spent the last few hours trying to land blows on me. Both had been unsuccessful. Kalysta was coordinated and fast, but she lacked any actual skill. Dyson...was a mess.

The young man tried every move he had seen in martial arts films, and was quickly beaten down for it. They both stood before me, leaning heavily on their wooden sticks, panting.

"Are we done yet? I don't know how much Crouching Tiger I have left in my Hidden Dragon." Dyson joked. At least I think that's what he was doing. Kalysta chuckled breathlessly.

"We'll begin tomorrow with the foundations of meditation and breathing. It is clear that I must start from the very basics with you." I told them.

"I know how to breathe!" Dyson said loudly.

"Don't you have a hard time staying alive?" Kalysta smirked. Dyson raised an eyebrow and cackled.

"Fair enough." He said, putting his staff back on the rack of training weapons.

"You were not dismissed." I reminded him. He stared at me to see if I was serious. My eyes bore into him, unblinking and he slowly reached for his staff again.

"You may go." I told him, waiting just long enough to make him think about it. He let out a loud sigh and threw his arms behind his head. He waved at Kalysta as he disappeared from the training room. Kalysta moved to do the same.

"You were not dismissed either." I told her, this time, managing a grin. She turned to me and smiled. It was a surreal feeling. It felt like someone had kicked me in the gut. I hadn't noticed much while we were all moving around.

She looked almost identical to Serena.

"Are you okay?" She asked me, and I realized that I was wearing my shock on my face.

"I'm fine. Suddenly found myself tired." I told her. She patted me on the arm as she passed.

"From the sounds of it, they found you in pretty rough shape yesterday. You should take a rest." She said. I simply nodded. When she left, I gasped. I must have been holding my breath.

~*~

Later on, I found myself training Ethan and Amelia. Both of the O'Bryne twins had a surplus of energy.

I found myself double blocking, as they both parried out of my attack and swung back into me at the same time. Their coordination was truly commendable. I found myself pressed again, as Amelia came on high with her wooden staff and Ethan went low with his wooden sword. I broke my owm staff in half, and blocked both attacks.

"Whooa!" Ethan exclaimed, stepping back to admire my handiwork.

Amelia slammed the end of her staff into the training mats. "That's cheating!" She cried.

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"You must use all techniques and weapons available to you if you wish to succeed." I explained. "Your enemies are unlikely to have honor or respect for you and will work to kill you by any means necessary."

I spun the two broken pieces around in my hands. I felt in my element here, training the next generation of Chosen. Part of me even regretted leaving, but I would never admit that to Anders.

Amelia and Ethan trained hard even while bickering at each other, as siblings do. Although not legacies to this Branch, the O'Bryne family had been part of the Order for a long time. I remember hearing stories about mighty monster hunters and legendary treasure seekers all with the last name O'Bryne. I wondered how Anders had convinced their family to let them join the Toronto Branch, when they would have done much better somewhere more...prestigious.

As the twins finished up, my next appointment arrived early.

"Konnichiwa, Tadashi-san." I bowed.

The boy stopped in his tracks and looked at me stunned. "Sensei-sama." He said, bowing much lower. Ethan and Amelia gave me a strange look as they left.

Tadashi and I trained hard. He was very skilled and clearly had previous training. His feet always seemed to be moving and I found I had to give very little instruction. It felt like sparing with an old friend.

We conversed mostly in Japanese and he had to correct me on many mispronuncations.

"Are you finding the language barrier difficult?" I asked. He shook his head.

"No, I understand and speak English well. I am, instead, finding it hard to relate to my friends here." He told me. He frowned, choosing his next words carefully. "I am thankful for my father's upbringing, but I was not allowed a lot of the freedoms the others had. I find that I do not understand the pop culture references and cannot relate to their experiences. And they are all so loud."

"I take it you had a very traditional upbringing then?"

"Very. I was made to study very early and was training to fight since I could hold a stick. My father is very high ranking in the Order. He oversees a lot of what happens at the Tokyo Branch. He had expectations set for me before I was even born." Tadashi said, tugging on the bandana around his head.

"That sounds very stressful. You would be surprised to know that a lot of your fellow team members were raised very similarly. Erik's father was very strict and had high expectations for him in the Order. Both of Orion's parents were Order members. And the twin's family has roots very far back in the Order's history." I told him. His eyes widened with surprise.

"Talk to them more. You might find you have more in common than you think." I patted the young man on the shoulder and he bowed low, before he got up to leave.

~*~

My next appointment was late. Orion stumbled into the training room almost a half hour after his set time. I regarded him with a raised eyebrow.

"I got caught up in a match and sometimes they can go for like forty minutes and you know how online games are, you can't really pause them. But I was doing really well and I thought I had more time. I got super carried away...wait, where is Erik?" He rambled.

"He didn't show. I was starting to think you wouldn't either." I said. I chucked a wooden sword at him and he fumbled it a few times before dropping it on the floor.

"Oh, uh, I don't fight with a sword. I'm more of a backline guy." He said awkwardly. I stared at him blankly until he picked the sword up.

"Then now is the perfect time to learn. You may be bonded to one particular Artifact, but in the field you never know what you'll have to fight with. Besides, rounding out your skills is good for you." I stepped toward him and swung my staff and he flinched.

"I dunno. Couldn't I just practise shooting in the range until Erik gets here?" Orion looked around nervously.

"You and I both know Erik isn't coming." I said and he sighed.

Orion held up his sword with both hands. He had an awful stance. I whacked my staff off the sword and it clattered to the floor.

"You're coming to my morning beginner class. You can't be out in the field like that." I told him. Orion opened his mouth to protest.

"Honestly, Andrea would be very disappointed. Your mother was a very efficient frontline fighter." I told him.

"I'm not like my mom. I take after my dad. I like video games and books and learning about mythology. I'm a nerd with a bow." He said, moving slowly to pick up his sword. He wasn't admitting total defeat, which meant there was hope.

"We'll start from the top then." I put my staff down and moved beside him.

"Put your feet like this, and change your grip on the sword..."

It was going to be a lot of work.