When Ruth stepped out of the warehouse everything felt different. How did Chance describe it? Oh, yeah. Everything was brighter. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The wild joy he felt was still making his heart race. His attempts to keep the excitement from showing on his face were mostly successful, at least he thought so, but sassy tail could not be contained. It whipped around back and forth, curling and uncurling every time he stopped consciously making an effort to keep it still.

He and Rush had briefly discussed their findings. The chain had fallen off, already slowly eating away at itself as it wriggled harmlessly near Chance’s liberated soul space. Already the small soul space showed rudimentary signs of experimentation without the chain strangling it back into a smaller space. Mana flowed into it and out of it, normal behavior for a soul space in the Elsewhere.

They had decided that they wouldn’t try destroying any other chains right now, as unfortunate as it was to leave the vile things on the rest of Rush’s ‘followers’. If the ability for Rush to devour aura extended to chains, then this was a big deal. It put Tamara’s strange behavior in a new light. They would have to be increasingly wary of her. Not just her, but others as well.

His eyes narrowed at the thought. New days, new hope, more enemies on the horizon.

The new goal was to test their newfound knowledge without giving themselves away. If Rush could eat the weaker chains off of smaller soul spaces, then it was possible that as he grew in power he would be able to deal with the larger ones. That meant two things. The first, that Ruth would have to start pushing to become stronger.

He already wanted to be strong enough to get away from Tamara. Now there was an urgency to the mission. He had to be strong, but just strong enough. He had to get strong fast, but pretend not to know about the deeper game. He and Rush would have to do that deception thing that he sucked at.

The second goal was to test Rush on Pipren and Merriweather’s soul chains. Rush was a bit vague on this part. Ruth had never seen the chains in question but the small lizard assured him that the chains were exceedingly peculiar, like they were constantly constricting and cutting into the soul space.

Rush seemed somewhat eager to give it a try after they increased their power. Ruth was… less eager. He liked Merriweather, that wasn’t the problem. She was strong and never lied. Well, couldn’t lie, Rush had mentioned the particulars of the soul space and shape in question. She also seemed to have a strange sense of honor and duty.

Ruth narrowed his eyes as he walked through Under Arch toward the castle training grounds.

He would have to try and establish some sort of friendship with Merriweather. That was another goal to work on. The thought of the future had hung heavy off of him this morning, but now he felt light and spirited.

Ruth considered the skills he’d received during the night and quickened his pace.

**************

Ruth didn’t greet anyone as he briskly walked through the field. That didn’t stop everyone else from trying to get his attention though. For some reason there were more and more people trying to gain his attention when he was here.

“Ruth! You’re early! I’m so happy you’re here!” Poppy fell into step beside him, making short hops as she quickened her small stride to keep up with his longer legs. In spite of the irritated look he gave her she just beamed back at him. “It’s gonna be a good day? Huh? I bet it is. Don’t you worry, no matter how many times that Lina cuts into you I’ll make sure you don’t have a mark on ya!”

Ruth grunted noncommittally, trying to take a subtle step to the side to put some distance between them as they walked.

Maybe it was too subtle. Poppy immediately pressed her hand to keep her hat on her head as she jerked to the side to move closer to him again. “You’re not already hurt are you?” Her eyes crawled over his body in a sort of hungry way. “Maybe I should take a look, huh?”

Ruth gave her another strained look. He knew from experience that if he started talking to her she would just get really excited and talk more. Even if he told her how she made him uncomfortable she would just laugh it off and take that moment to get even closer to him.

“Merriweather! Look who is here! Yay!” Poppy called out. Ruth tried to keep how happy he was that Merriweather was here from his face. He gave Merriweather a quick glance to the side at Poppy meaningfully.

Save me.

Merriweather shifted her burning gaze from him to Poppy, and then back to him. There was no circlet or helmet over her head today and her hair drifted down past her shoulders in long red rings. Her eyebrow lifted in a sort of silent question. Then with the slightest curl of her lips she turned away and started to walk to another sparring circle with her hands clasped behind her back. Her feet kicked out high in front of her like she didn’t have a care in the world.

Ruth immediately scowled, trying to decide whether or not he should say anything as he watched her back.

Jeanne must have seen him walking across the field because he was already in the sparring circle. The man was stretching lightly, leaning over and touching the tips of his toes. He had his hands wrapped in heavy cloth. Ruth had initially thought that the wraps on Jeanne’s hands were so he could punch harder. A few bouts had revealed that they were just to protect his hands. Jeanne had confirmed this at one point during their sparring when he’d confessed that hitting Ruth all day long was like hitting a granite wall.

It was a weird feeling, being compared to a wall.

Ruth watched Merriweather as she continued to walk away, and then his gaze turned on Jeanne. He tilted his head, noticing for the first time that Jeanne seemed stiff in his legs. The more he stretched the more Ruth noticed that the man’s shoulders were hunched in stress. The days of constant punching must have been taking a toll on the man’s physique.

Ruth briefly forgot about Merriweather as a number of thoughts all vied for his attention.

His eyes began to narrow as he considered how today was not like yesterday.

In his eyes, Jeanne had turned from insurmountable obstacle to very doable inconvenience. As the other man noticed his intense gaze he bared his teeth. The smile was shallower than it had been the last few days, looking tired and weary.

Ruth thought that today might be very different.

Ruth ‘smiled’ back at Jeanne as he moved purposefully toward him.

An old familiar thought started to take shape in his mind: moment of silence for Jeanne.

******

Merriweather didn’t look back when she heard the tell-tale sound of fists striking flesh. Sometimes Merriweather had dreams about that sound, she’d heard it so often. If Meriweather were to listen to ten different people getting punched in the pitch black she’d still be able to point Ruth out.

It wasn’t worth watching. Ruth was getting better, that was true. Jeanne had a headstart and it wasn’t like he was getting any worse. In a lot of ways beating Ruth was very good for Jeanne’s development. It was polishing him, removing some of the flaws and hesitation from his violence. It was a sad truth. The only way to lose the reluctance of hurting another person was to do just that.

Still, the sounds of flesh being hit behind her sounded off. It was probably time to give him a break. His body was starting to show signs of strain…

Merriweather felt her steps falter as she realized that Ibram and Sandral had stopped in their sparring and turned toward her. At first, she thought it was because they had something to ask her. Now she realized they were staring over her shoulder at the scene behind her.

Merriweather felt herself turning too, wondering what had snagged their attention. All the guards were quietly impressed with Ruth in their own way. Whether it was admiration for his attitude or just the sheer amount of punishment, she couldn’t say. Maybe they were just glad he got all of Poppy’s gentle ministrations when he was here?

She turned and immediately frowned.

Ruth had his arms tucked in against his chest, displaying the back of his forearms as a guard. Hunched in over himself with a fairly good defensive posture. This was a trick he had been picking up from Jeanne, learned from the few times when the Tiefling had gained the offensive. Jeanne usually picked it apart immediately, but this time he was stepping in and out in obvious frustration.

The reason was immediately obvious to her and the sparring duo behind her. They were both veterans and knew why Jeanne was now struggling.

Ruth was watching Jeanne from behind his guarded arms in a manner that suggested collected calculation. In the past, Ruth had never been quite fast or perceptive enough to keep track of Jeanne, allowing him to move in and out with relative impunity.

Now, though, every time Jeanne began to move in those eyes followed him without trouble. Ruth’s stance began to shift in anticipation, giving Jeanne pause.

It was a drastic change from yesterday.

One of the things that the guard really liked about Ruth was a flaw. They liked how he blew his cool and went into what they called ‘ruth states’. Some interesting things would happen. The tail would throw dirt, Ruth would try any manner of way to trade damage, Ruth would try to bite Jeanne…

That mentality was completely absent. With the relative size difference, today it looked like Jeanne was a smaller cat moving in under the watchful eyes of a larger and more dangerous predator.

“Skill, maybe?” Ibram wondered aloud. He cleared his throat and spit some phlegm behind him, causing Sandral to step away from that spot in disgust. She began eyeing Ibram’s back with a hint of expectation.

“Maybe.” Merriweather gave Sandral a look. A slight smirk and a soft nod.

“Ahh! Wait!”

Merriweather decided not to laugh as she turned away from the pair. Sandral having taken advantage of Ibram’s distraction by shoulder checking him to the ground from behind. She was starting to kick out his legs and get his arm into a classic submission position. Sandral might not break the arm, but Merriweather hoped she did. It would be a valuable lesson about keeping your guard up.

She slowly began to pick her way back toward the special dirt circle(a description that left her exasperated, honestly) to see if their ‘dragon’ had learned anything or if this was just a momentary insight.

The sounds of a punch hitting flesh came as Jeanne went in and jabbed twice.

Ruth took both blows on the same arm and then extended it. The casual movement ended with a soft fist to Jeanne’s face, snapping his head back. Jeanne stumbled for a moment, eyes widening in shock at the unexpected blow. He stepped backward in practiced fashion and found that Ruth had stepped forward, keeping perfect step with him, arms already raised in guard position. Golden vertical pupils stared wide from behind the arms.

Jeanne jabbed twice, then performed a crossover jab shortly after. As soon as the third punch landed on his right arm, that same arm casually dropped once again, the open hand clenching into a fist just before impact and snapping Jeanne’s head back.

Jeanne hopped to the side and started stepping backward, alarmed for real this time. His probing revealing that Ruth was trying something different.

Ruth side-stepped quickly and moved forward keeping perfect step with him. Jeanne paused and started to step forward to punch. The fist went high as Jeanne reeled. Ruth’s tail had slipped around from below and curled halfway around his forward knee, pulling.

Falling backward Jeanne’s eyes widened comically as he spread his legs to keep his balance.

Merriweather winced. Mistake. Should have just fallen backward and scooted back, as unsightly as that is…

Ruth stepped slightly to the side and hammered Jeanne’s exposed torso three times in rapid succession. Jeanne grunted, his eyes unfocusing as a result of the impacts. The slight delay in his reaction after being struck in the chest was enough for Ruth to stabilize his own feet as his right arm cocked back in the beginning of what was sure to be a heavy blow.

Jeanne looked up. His reward was taking the punch straight on the corner of the jaw. His body seemed to freeze for a moment before the follow through directly jackhammered him into the ground.

Stunned, Jeanne rolled slowly to his knees, lifting his head to look at Ruth. Jeanne jerked slightly, almost as if he was surprised that Ruth had stepped forward and was once again preparing a heavy punch.

The sound of Ruth’s fist hitting Jeanne’s face and the smaller man collapsing on the dirt was the loudest noise in the training area. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and was watching now.

Jeanne twitched twice, then a third time.

Ruth looked down at his own fist and then the twitching soldier. He slowly lowered his hand toward Jeanne’s still form.

Merriweather’s eyes widened and she started to take a step forward. She was too slow. Ruth would definitely kill Jeanne before she could make it there. All around her she felt everyone else stirring into action, beginning to take the first step that would take them toward that place.

Then Ruth grabbed Jeanne’s foot and straightened, pulling Jeanne toward the edge of the arena. Poppy began jumping up and down in agitation as he neared, but the usual smile was absent from her face. As she watched Jeanne being dragged closer there was almost a disappointed look on her face. It disappeared almost instantly as Ruth neared.

“Wow, good one! Yay for you!”

Ruth dropped the foot of the man and peered down at Jeanne with a confused expression.

Merriweather felt her alarm and sense of danger vanish as she studied Ruth’s expression. Finally, the Tiefling looked up and met her gaze, his face easily readable.

Now what? This is as far as I ever got before.

*************

Ruth watched as Merriweather sent someone to get Lina. He was early, and Lina was apparently in the barracks(wherever those were) sharpening her knives(because of course she was).

Ruth looked down at Jeanne as he tried to remember the fight. Everything had slowed down. The simple way that Jeanne had been coming at him was too easy to pick apart. The fists that had hurt him for over a month felt soft on his skin.

The Immortal and Deadly Text appeared as he slowly moved back into the center of the arena, surprising him. How long had it been since it had taken the initiative to show him his current status.

>New

Skill Learned: [Novice Boxing] [Perception].

Ruth stared blankly. It was this easy?

He scratched his head and turned to Merriweather who was now idling on the edge of the patch of dirt. “...is there a skill you get for being stabbed a lot?”

Merriweather blinked a few times… and then she smiled.