Tock tock tock.

“Come in.”

Yuriko pushed the door open to Master Alfein’s office, revealing a smallish room that was mostly bare except for a desk and three armchairs: one behind where the cat-eyed instructor sat, and two facing together in front of it. The window behind the desk was mostly dominated by broad leaves that were slowly turning red. A brown-spotted bird landed on a branch and started chirping.

“Good afternoon, ma’am,” Yuriko said after a moment.

“Ah, yeah. Good Afternoon,” Master Alfein yawned, hiding her mouth with a hand. “Come now, I’m sure you’d rather spend your Restday with your friends, so I guess we should keep this short.”

“Oh, of course, ma’am, though I haven’t made any plans for the day.”

“Really? You’d rather meet your instructor on a Restday?” Alfein grumbled. “I shouldn’t have added the Restday slots, swarming fool,” she muttered under her breath just loudly enough that Yuriko could still hear her.

“Er, if you prefer, I can pick another time slot…”

“No, no, you’re already here. Have a seat.”

“Thank you.”

As soon as Yuriko sat down, Master Alfein opened a drawer and pulled out a cube made out of translucent white jade.

“This is a skill cube,” Master Alfein said. “This contains a meditation and Animus resonance technique. You will memorize it for the week and return the skill cube when I ask you to.”

Yuriko reached for the cube, but before she could take it, Master Alfein pulled it out of reach.

“You’ll need to sign the release first.” She pulled out a packet of papers, while Yuriko idly wondered why they didn’t use the crystal screen instead.

She scanned the copy, finding it mostly couched in legal terms and phrases, but the gist of it was that the cube was the property of Kiyo Alfein and that Yuriko wouldn’t spread the knowledge in the cube to anyone else.

Tink.

Master Alfein placed a fountain pen in front of Yuriko. The pen had a green jade strip running down the side where she had to channel her Animus to imprint on the ink, Yuriko thought. Yuriko signed on the dotted line and in the left margin of each page of the five-page long contract. It was only when she had finished that Master Alfein gave her the skill cube.

“Good luck!”

“Er, thank you.” Yuriko gave a small bow before she left the office. She was in one of Sharom’s side buildings and it didn’t take all that much time before she found herself back at the Golden Willow. She brisk walked past the lounge before anyone could accost her and quickly made her way back to her room.

“Now, what’s this all about?” She murmured. With the cube placed firmly in the middle of her dining table, she channelled a bit of Animus into it. It took a few moments then the inside lit up with patterns. She could almost recognize the runescript but Yuriko thought she’d need a few more months before she would be proficient enough to read something this complicated.

With her fingers on the cube, it didn’t take long for a surge of Animus to return from it and shot straight into her mind. Yuriko closed her eyes to better envision her Anima. Knowledge transmission from a skill cube was similar enough to the Golden Silhouette’s dreamscape that she quickly adjusted to it. And it wasn’t as if this was the first time she used one.

However, unlike the one her Da gave her, the feel of this one was a bit colder. She shivered in reaction but the vision unfolded without any more prompting from her. A figure, that of a human body materialised in front of her, a pale shadow that she could see the inside of. The figure’s core was at the heart, a sphere quite unlike Yuriko’s bonfire flames.

A strand of Animus came out of the core, followed by another, and another, until there were five spinning around each other just outside. Yuriko’s mental eye was drawn to one of them. It wasn’t visibly larger, or distinct but something about it, perhaps the Intent invested into the strand, made it stand out. The other four strands spun around it, then in the next second, started to braid themselves together until the Animus strands were nearly indistinguishable from each other. One moment, there were five different strands, then the next, it was a single one, with complex, multifaceted Intents.

The image faded away and Yuriko heard Master Alfein’s voice in her mind.

“Yuriko, this technique will allow you to further strengthen your Animus control. Proceed with this exercise at least once a day for thirty minutes. The next set of exercises will be unlocked when you can create five braids of five at one time.”

The knowledge transmission ended and Yuriko pulled her fingers away from the cube with a frown. Just a couple of nights ago, the Golden Silhouette had shown her a similar technique. No, it was practically identical. How and why? Was this a common technique?

Well, there wasn’t anything else she could do right now. She reviewed the cube again, focusing on what kind of Intent was invested in each strand, but other than the central one, which had something like the need to balance, she couldn’t make out what the other strands had.

She focused on the Golden Silhouette’s version instead, the hot, cold, and balance, she realized. It was easy enough to braid three, and she retained control only of the central one. She left it circulating around her Anima while she pulled out another strand from her core. This one she kept Pure, absent of any Intent on her part.

She pulled the braided one closest to the Pure strand and slowly spun it even closer. The moment it touched one of the outer strands, the Pure one was tainted. In the end, two strands were of heat and the last was cold. The braided cord trembled and started to pull apart. It wasn’t balanced. She quickly pulled another strand from her core and invested it with a cold Intent before throwing it into the braided cord.

The cold one clashed with both the heat and even the other cold strand. Adding it to the mix seemed to make things worse. Before she could do anything else, the braided cord unravelled and the strands separated with the central one dissolving. The other four were ragged, tainted strands, with the Intents mixed unevenly. Even as she watched, the clashing Intents pulled apart each strand until they disintegrated in her mental hands.

Yuriko opened her eyes and grunted in annoyance. She rubbed her upper arms and plopped down against her pillow.

“Looks like I need to braid them all simultaneously.” She sighed. “I still don’t know what this is supposed to accomplish…”

Her eyes widened as she remembered the latest offering by the silhouette.

“Two sword dance Intents at once. Maybe I can braid all three at once.”

During her fights before, her major problem had always been switching between the three dances. It created a moment of vulnerability when she switched, and a savvy opponent could easily capitalise on it. Each sword dance only allowed her to attack in specific ways after all. On the second, especially, she couldn’t even initiate an attack without breaking the dance. Still, it was the dance she used most often.

Finding renewed vigour, Yuriko replaced the heat and cold Intents with the ones she used in the sword dances. She still used a Balance strand to keep control though, then braided the first and second. Her body spasmed as soon as the Intents braided together and they unravelled soon after.

She kept trying, eventually realising that using the sword dances meant she had to physically move instead of staying in a meditative pose. Her practice became smoother then, while she spun around in her bedroom. Still, the braided cord unravelled the moment she lost focus.

She kept up her practice until it grew late in the day and the call of her tummy broke whatever concentration she had. She wiped the sweat off her face and headed out to the cafeteria. Just as she was about to leave, her eyes caught the paracord lanyards she’d impulsively bought from that young girl in the Lower Ring.

She stared at them for a while, noticing how the cloth strands were braided together, with a loop around the whole every inch or so to keep the entire thing tight. She picked one up, noting the relatively simple but secure pattern. With a smile, she brought it along. It looked like the silver penny she paid the girl with had been well spent after all.

_______

Krystal held the wooden sword before her, keeping her eyes trained on Mikel’s weapon as they squared off in Agaza’s gymnasium. She waited for the boy to make a move, keeping a respectful distance, just an inch further from how far he could lunge and strike. The moment his foot moved, Krystal’s eyes darted to his shoulder and arm, where the slightest movement was highlighted in her vision.

Mikel took a shuffling step forward, paused, then lunged, weapon aimed high at Krystal’s headgear. Krystal shifted her stance sideways, thrust the wooden sword and struck at the base of his weapon, at an angle that forced his aim to shift far enough to miss her.

Mikel jumped back, but Krystal followed him quickly. She noticed his balance shifting from the rear foot to the lead, and she sidestepped in time to avoid a slash. Her counterstroke missed by several inches though, and they were back into neutral guard position.

They exchanged blows a couple of times more before Krystal lowered her wooden blade and nodded.

“You were…intense...” Mikel said while he gasped for breath.

“Yeah, but only ‘cause you’re not that good.” Krystal grinned.

“Well, duh, I’m not a melee striker.” Mikel grumbled, “Is it just me or are you getting a lot better lately?”

“Yeah, you’re not just saying that to butter me up, are you?”

“No, no, not at all.”

“Well, try sparring more against Yuri and you’ll realise how much she has outclassed us. Fine students of Agaza we are.” Krystal laughed.

“Yeah, well, she’s another kind of dedicated.”

Mikel nodded to a side where other students were sparring. Most of them were upperclassmen, and considerably more skilled than either of them. For her part, Krystal thought that Yuri could take any of them in a spar easily.

“Maybe we should spar with others? We’d get used to each other too much.”

“How about Heron.” Krystal pointed at their classmate. The tanned young man faced off against a few of the upperclassmen, wielding spear and buckler against similarly armed boys. He was holding his own but at two against one, he was slowly being worn down.

“Why’d he agree against a spar like that anyway?” Mikel muttered, “And with those boys too?”

“Oh, why?”

“Those are his roommates, I think. He picked a common room.”

“I’m surprised he did,” Krystal shrugged. Like her, Mikel had rented a deluxe room.

“Ancestors know.” Mikel shrugged, “I don’t think he’s lacking in funds.”

As they watched, one of Heron’s opponents managed to get under his guard and almost struck his guts if not for a quick application of his Facet.

“End!” One of the other boys yelled. “No using of Facet, Muryh, you’ve lost.”

The other boy’s shoulders slumped and he snorted angrily.

“Come on, you’ve lost the bet. Don’t be a coward!”

Heron dropped his weapon, took off his headgear then folded his arms. Krystal could see him visibly clench his jaw.

Plack!

A full armed slap struck his cheek and Heron staggered and almost fell, amidst laughter. Krystal and Mikel exchanged glances. What was that about?

The other boys left soon afterwards after they each gave Heron a slap or a punch on the cheek, all five of them. Krystal hurried up to him and held the other boy’s arm to help him steady his feet. She glared at the departing boys, one of them glanced back, saw her stare and returned a sneer.

“What was that about?” Mikel asked as they helped Heron over to a bench.

“No’ting,” he grunted, “‘ust a fool thing.”

“You’d better use Recovery or you won’t be able to eat later.” Krystal urged him. Heron nodded and closed his eyes, his cheek glowing blue with his Animus.

Krystal and Mikel continued their spar nearby, keeping an eye on him. He was a pain to Mikel and a nearly endless source of entertainment for Krystal but he was a part of their First Team in Shillogu Woods. They were far from being bosom buddies but they had gone through a lot together, making them more than mere acquaintances.

Half an hour later, he finished using Recovery. His cheek was a little puffy, but that was about it.

“I don’t buy that it’s nothing,” Krystal said drily, “now, what was that about?”

Heron shook his head and made to leave.

“Come on, Heron, you can tell me.”

“It’s really nothing.”

Mikel stared at him for a few moments, then tapped Krystal’s shoulder. “Leave him alone, he doesn’t want to say.”

Heron nodded at the other boy and repeated, “It’s really nothing. And it will be nothing.”

She could see the tendons along his jaw tighten when he gritted his teeth.

“Alright, Heron, but if there’s trouble, you can come tell us.”

He shook his head. “I’ve got this.”

“There’s five of them,” Krystal said angrily.

“I… Look, I can handle it. I’ll come to you for help if I need it. Thanks.” With that, he gathered his things and left.

When he was out of earshot, Krystal muttered, half to herself, “I don’t know about you, but I’ve a feeling that the root of this is Yuri.”

Mikel snorted a laugh. “You too, huh?”