“Kill them before they start learning.”

Vas jerked awake, his entire body covered in sweat. The room was dark, but there was a faint glow. The sun would be rising soon.

He turned over, trying to calm down.

Jade was in a sleeping bag a paces away, looking at him.

Vas almost shouted in surprise.

Jade smirked at him as she held a finger to her lips. Then she took an exaggerated deep breath, held it in for a few seconds, and let it out slowly. She repeated the action. Then she gave him a glare.

Vas wasn’t sure what she wanted, but he started taking the deep breaths with her. After two or three he started feeling better.

She smiled.

She’d been trying to calm him down. He’d woken her up.

He hoped he hadn’t managed to hit her in his sleep or something.

Jade pulled herself out of her sleeping bag, and her naked body was covered in goosebumps for a moment. She grabbed undergarments and quickly slipped them on, then got up.

She grabbed her katana and Vas’s miaodao and stood over Vas expectantly.

It made sense that she would know he liked morning practice. He’d doubted it was very hard to figure out when he was missing from bed every morning, only to be found in a training room.

Vas slipped on his underwear quickly, and also slipped into a pair of pants and a shirt.

Jade gave him an exasperated roll of her eyes and put on her own pair of pants and shirt.

Vas and Jade nodded to the Scout who was on watch, and the man tiredly inclined his head to them.

Once they were out of the room, Jade led Vas across the hall and down the stairs. They found padded sandals in a locker near the base of the stairs.

Scouts kept a good amount of equipment in the barracks so that they could change into more comfortable attire after weeks in the snow.

Vas stretched and sighed.

Jade walked to a room three doors away and he followed. It was a gymnasium.

“Now let’s get moving. You made me wake up while it was still cold for this, you know.” Jade tossed Vas his sword, and he caught it easily. He clicked open his sheath.

“I’m sorry I woke you,” Vas apologized.

Jade shook her head and let out an annoyed breath.

She walked a paces further and fell into sword forms. She started in her ready stance and worked her way through multiple theoretical combos. Vas just watched her. It looked like she was dancing. How long had she been practicing those forms?

“I’m not naked anymore, so stop staring.” Jade said in-between swings.

Vas broke his gaze and started in his own stance. He moved a snail’s pace, drilling every bit of his motion into his muscles. It was far more difficult than going fast. “I don’t just look at you when you’re naked.”

Jade stopped her exercises and watched him for a couple minutes before replying. “Why do you go so slowly?”

Vas finished his set of forms and shrugged. “It’s harder. I figure if it’s more difficult one way I should do it that way until it’s easy. Then find another way to practice.” Vas switched grips and flipped his stance into a left-handed version of his regular stance and started slowly executing his combos.

Jade nodded and started imitating his pace. She was sweating after a few minutes of silent practice. “I’m not mad at you for waking me up,” she stated.

Vas thought it wise to stay quiet.

However, after a few minutes had gone by and Vas was ready to switch grips again, he tried being brave. “I’m sorry I slept next to Selene and Kara?”

Vas held his sword in only his right hand and started his combo from the beginning.

Jade snorted. “You are DULL!”

‘You are dull’? Really? That was what he got for trying? Anyways, who said that? ‘Dull’? Wasn’t it normal to call someone something more like ‘stupid’, or ‘idiotic’, or ‘dumba--’ “You should have told me.”

Vas stopped mid swing and looked at her and put his sword down.

Jade was practicing with her back to him, so he couldn’t see her face.

“I know we aren’t lovers or anything. That’s not what I meant. I thought we were friends. I consider you one of my best friends. You should have just told me what you were dealing with. I could have made Selene stop bugging you.”

Jade turned around and glared at him.

“I could have put pillows between us to sleep. I thought you knew I was here for you.”

She had tears in her eyes now.

“It’s not like you’re the only one who’s gone through all this. Joust cries through the night before he falls asleep.”

Jade was shouting now, but Vas was too stunned to say a word.

“Alex couldn’t draw her weapon for months when she first started training. Selene acts happy all the time because she wants everyone around her to be happy. Her parents committed joint suicide, and she thinks it’s her fault. Fem watched his family get butchered in front of him, and only survived because he ran. I’m. . . WE’RE all broken. That’s why we’re all still here. The normal people died a long time ago.”

Vas shook his head. He didn’t know how to deal with this. He had avoided people because of this. He was going to try anyways.

“I—”

“YOU don’t get to talk yet!”

Jade bellowed.

Vas shut his mouth.

“You are the best of us. You kill them like you were made to. You practice every moment you’re awake. You get left behind without snowshoes, so what do you do? You get down on all fours and start bounding after those who left you. We all look to you when we don’t know what to do! We don’t think you’re invincible! We know you’re not perfect! Maybe we thought you were perfect at first, but we figured it out the first time you sparred with Sun. You’re just as broken as us.”

Jade put her head down.

“The difference between us and you is what we did with our broken pieces. We all tried to fix ourselves. To make ourselves look normal. You just threw your pieces into some kind of fire. That crazy fire you use to fight.”

Jade was on the ground now, crying and exhausted. For the first time, Vas noticed the Scouts who were all crowding into the gym to see what was wrong.

“Well, we’re following you now. You can’t keep running from us. You have to trust us. We’re your friends. We’re. . .”

She trailed off.

She couldn’t talk anymore between sobs.

Vas put his hand on top of her head.

“Partners, Jade. We’re partners.”