Li’s Master

########### Meetings

Looking out upon the hills that rolled off into the horizon like a choppy sea, a man in a yellow-trimmed military uniform sat in a white steel chair drinking steaming tea from a plain, square, steel cup. He placed the cup down on a small, round table made of the same material but with intricate floral patterns making up the surface. The cuff of his sleeve was yellow, with an embroidered wisp pattern wrapping around its entire circumference. The cup sat next to a tea pot, the pot still dripping from its last pour. The man sat in front of a squat, wooden house, thick bushes flanking either side of it, and looked from his vantage spot on the highest hill in any direction.

The wind shook the grass on the hills in the distance. A wave of wind blew from the horizon and drew over the landscape shaking plants back and forth. The wind hit the man’s hill, detaching leaves from the spate of rustling trees behind him. The bushes shook, and the man took particular interest in their movement, momentarily breaking his view of the surrounding land. The cup and teapot rattled, and the man’s uniform rustled. His uniform was navy blue with a metal chestplate segmented into two columns of small rectangular plates of metal. Strips of yellow trim ran along his legs and arms, with the trim on his arms terminating at his shoulders where two golden epaulettes rested.

Two figures, battling against the wind, marched up the hill. One kept a dignified head up, her uniform was the same as the man at the top of the hill with silver epaulettes with no tassels, while the other kept his head down fighting for his life, a much more plain uniform without any trimming of epaulettes. The man smiled as they approached within audible range.

“Delighted to see you, Fennec,” The man said,

Fennec bowed. The man behind her spotted this and hastily bowed just as low.

“My Lord General Francois,” she said, still bowing.

“You may arise. How’s the camp?”

She stood at attention, hands folded behind back.

“You may arise too,” Francois said, talking to the man who only then stopped bowing, “No need to hold me in such reverence.”

“Sorry,” he said, growing redder as Fennec glared at him.

Francois nodded, first at the man to make him feel better, and then at Fennec to begin.

“There has been no update on the movement of Republican forces, we still have enormous trouble getting a trail to follow, but I think we may have more success if we send out scouts en masse, rather than responding specifically to what other towns tell us, we won’t need to rely on them at all.”

“It sounds an awful lot like you are questioning my judgement,” Francois said, putting down his cup and staring down Fennec.

The assistant shrivelled up ever so slightly looking between the two. Fennec, hands still behind back and now bowing slightly, said “My Lord…I…I apologise. I just…”

Francois broke into a smile.

“It is okay, Fennec. I did not mean to upset you at all. I just wanted to make sure what I was hearing was correct. It is entirely okay to ask for more clarification, but I will not be changing course. Our town networks are the bedrock of this army. I will not let it go the way of Alfred’s army and let a mass of scouts expose us. Scouts that often get carried away and begin harassing locals for information. No, this is what we will keep with. If another event like the Undergrowth assault could happen again, then it’s not worth it.”

“I understand,” Fennec said, “You want to avoid black marks against the Royalists.”

“I want the people we encounter to not treat us as a black mark on the Mainland. Our army must demonstrate hygiene in this regard. Cooperation and communication.”

Fennec straightened up.

“About that. Some of the soldiers are beginning to get antsy about the lack of fighting. They don’t seem to be too thrilled about sitting about and hoping that a town sees a Republican force before they are taken over.”

“I see,” Francois said, leaning back. “I understand their frustrations, I really do. But I must insist that they remain patient. All will be made clear to them in time. They will learn the virtue of patience.”

Fennec opened her mouth to talk, but thought better of it and closed it again.

“Is this the end of your report?” Francois asked.

“Yes, my lord. I will let the camp know what you have told me.”

“Thank you. I know that this is a difficult time but I simply must ask that you wait for me as I prepare.”

Fennec paused for a moment, and Francois immediately picked up on this.

“You still have questions,” Francois said.

“I simply don’t know why we’re being kept in the dark here, my lord. I think a lot of these issues will be greatly alleviated by just telling us what it is all for,” Fennec said.

“Unfortunately, we would be trading one issue for another. The plan is a delicate creature, and enough of our people who disagree with it could become troublesome.”

Fennec looked disappointed at the answer.

“I wish I could go into more detail, but alas…there is the problem. I must simply ask that you trust me while I organise everything. Please trust me.”

The expression on Fennec’s face, while remaining a professional flat, grew the hint of a bitter scowl.

“I should get back to the camp. The sparring sessions should be beginning soon.”

Fennec bowed one last time, this time the assistant immediately doing the same. The moment she turned around to walk back down the hill, Francois turned his attention back to the view, trying to gain a sense of centre.

The wind picked back up, blowing a warm breeze across Francois as it did the trees. Francois peeked over the hill, watching the two battle back down the hill; the man still fighting to keep his footing, and Fennec fighting to keep her head from exploding, grumbling her way down.

Francois leaned back and sighed. He closed his eyes. Breathe in, breathe out. His senses, before being drowned in the view of a picturesque sea of hills and the fresh scent of a wind that carried with it the smell of grass, now dulled. What was formerly a bright sky became the afterimage that had been burnt into his retinas.

Breathe in, breathe out. In the middle distance, the faint outline of a man stuck out in the afterimage that was rapidly fading behind his eyes. A man wearing robes. But that was not the only nearby presence. He opened his eyes again.

“You’re welcome to come out, now,” Francois said, turning his head to face the bush.

There was a moment of silence, the wind lightly rustling the bush he was talking to. It suddenly rustled far more and out popped a young man, covered head to toe in leaves.

He stood awkwardly, hands clasped down in front of him and a sorry look in his eye. He wore a simple grey set of clothes, one inner and one outer layer, that draped down to his knees. This was all tied together with a simple piece of cloth rope wrapped around his waist.

“I think when one surprises someone in a bush they are commonly expected to speak first,” Francois said, scooting his chair slightly around to see the kid better. He couldn’t have been older than nineteen.

“Uh…I…I…” he said.

He fell silent and the silence grew between them; even the wind had quietened down to listen to them. Francois scanned the kid up and down, noting how scrawny he was.

“You know,” Francois said, causing the kid to perk up, “Trespassing in the presence of the Lord or the Lord’s representatives is a capital offense.”

The kid cringed at hearing this. He took a microscopic step back.

“I figure if you were an assassin

“I’m not an assassin!” the kid blurted out, “I’m not here to hurt you.”

Francois smiled and slowly rose to his feet.

“At ease, I’m sure you’re not. And if you were, you’d have an entire army’s wrath to contend with. If they like me that much, that is,” Francois said, laughing. He stopped when he saw the kid begin to shake as another warm breeze rolled through.

Francois continued.

“I simply want to know why you are here. If you require something of me that I do not possess, then I will tell you so and you may leave in peace. Though I would advise that the next time you want an audience from Lord Yenli or a Lord’s representative, you should probably do it without hiding in a view. So, why are you here?”

The kid remained coy for a moment, struggling to meet Francois’ eye line.

“I want to you to train me.”

Francois raised an eyebrow.

“Train you? Why, the Royal Army is always looking for more people to fight for them. If this is a petition for personal wardship then the answer is no.”

“I don’t want to be simply trained to hit people with a sword. I want to be able to do more than that. I want to learn the art of war. I want to learn, not just how to fight, but how to fight using others as a sophisticated weapon. And I figure there’s no better place to do it than with you.”

Francois sighed, stepping a bit closer. They were now a body’s length apart from each other.

“Rather persistent, aren’t you. If you think that’s what war is about…” He trailed off and thought for a moment, looking off to the side.

“Actually, come with me,” he said, waving him over and walking past the bushes around the back of the hut. The kid paused for a moment but bounded over, keeping a respectful distance but a grin growing across his face.

***

The two walked for minutes longer, descending down into the thin forest behind the hut. The light handily flowed through the light green and yellow canopy, bleeding rays of light onto the ground.

The smell of dirt and decomposing leaves punched through the air. With every kick up of the breeze, another handful of leaves dropped on the ground to add to the detritus. However Li maintained his focus on Francois, deftly stepping over roots and sidestepping bright beige tree trunks with the carelessness of someone who has done this a million times.

Soon this gave way to a clearing, Li having been in the forest for so long, however bright it was, the full light of day still dazzled him momentarily as they entered a small grassy valley.

To his back was the forest, but surrounding them on all sides were hills so steep that they formed an effective wall around this circular flat plane of grass. One could climb up the side of the hill, but it would require grabbing fistfuls of grass per step.

By the time Li had fully readjusted, Francois was poking around the perimeter, looking intently at the ground. Li watched as Francois scanned around, raised his eyebrows with an unsaid ‘aha!’ and shot his hand out to grab a mound of grass and flipped a perfect square of terrain over with a thud. Under the top layer of sod, from where Li was standing and what he could see, was a wooden trapdoor. Francois rustled his arm around under the trapdoor before yanking out two simple thin swords.

Francois tossed it like a javelin at Li, giving Li only a moment to step back before it stuck in the grass in front of him. It wobbled from the inertia of its landing, heavy round semicircular hilt bending the pipe-thin blade.

“Pick it up,” Francois said, “Let’s see what you know of combat.”

Li studied the blade a moment longer, as if a meteor had landed at his feet. He, with a not insubstantial amount of effort, tugged on the sword a few times until he pulled it out, sending him back a few steps. He continued staring at the sword in awe, rusted but clearly had seen its fair share of combat. He only noticed at the last minute a figure in the background getting rapidly closer.

Li instinctively raised his sword up like a horizontal bar in front of his face. Francois slashed down, colliding with Li’s sword and knocking the dirt off in every direction. Li stumbled away.

“What the hell?” Li said, damn near dropping his sword on the ground in protest.

“If you want to be my ward, if you want to learn from me, you have to show me that you have the willpower to be a soldier. Now, defend yourself,” Francois said, throwing another blow his way.

Li strained his aching muscles to bat away the hit, but he was only strong enough to keep his sword from flying out of his hand. Volley after volley of blows came after him and Li’s only concern was holding on without twisting his wrists.

He had gotten up and was blocking slash after slash, walking back around the perimeter of the arena, but any attempt from him to raise his sword in any direction to hit was met with a careful swipe from Francois.

While Francois was working him, Li sneaked in a blow from the palm of his off-hand. Not enough to hurt, but giving the merest amount of room for Li to duck away to the other end of the arena.

Francois wheeled around and charged, sword raised, a charging bull.

“Don’t hurt me!” Li shouted, throwing his hands up and his sword falling behind him.

There was a skidding sound in front of Li, and he felt the hot sting of dirty tears sliding down his face. Francois sighed and allowed his own sword to clatter to the ground. He went down on one knee to look at Li, though Li could not do the same through the haze of tears in his eyes.

“I’m not going to hit you. There’s no shame in crying, I would never remove somebody from my army for crying; better that than a repressed warrior that only feels violence and hatred. But you aren’t cut out for this.”

He quietly got up, leaving Li to stare at the ground with a face beet-red. He grabbed both his sword and Li’s and solemnly went back to the trapdoor, placing both back carefully in their respective places and he closed the door. He walked back towards Li and tapped him on the shoulder. Li looked up at him.

“Don’t be despondent. No doubt you went through a lot just to see me. One does not get past an entire army of soldiers without some effort. You took a great risk coming to see me, and that’s worth a great deal.”

Li seemed to perk up at that last sentence, the tears drying up a bit. Francois nodded in agreement with himself and made his way to the mouth of the forest.

“I can take you back to the hut, but from there you will have to make your own way out. I will write a letter guaranteeing safe passage so that your trip home is less stressful.”

Li smiled.

“Thank you.”

Francois began walking in and Li followed, this time closer. What Francois said rattled around in his head. An idea was hatching.

---

(Meetings ver 2)

“You seem a bit distracted by something” (Not revealed yet but distracted by Li)

########### Going back home?

Vines wrapped around Li’s leg. He didn’t even notice until he took another step through the patch of trees he had been journeying through and the tug of it almost forced him to his knees.

He was caught in the clearing of a tiny patch of forest on the side of a hill. The slope certainly wasn’t helping Li keep his balance as his leg was pinned down by what seemed like the bark tendrils of the tree. The forest was much more dense than what had been out the back of Francois’ hut, being like a tiny island of canopy. However, the hole of the clearing let light flow through in thick rays.

He muttered curses as he gave his leg a few more tugs. Each pull seemed to tighten it further, as if the land itself refused to let him go. He felt the rolled up piece of paper begin to slip from his waistband. He stopped pulling to tap it back down and retie it, taking a breather before trying again.

Before he had spent too much time yanking, his leg beginning to sting with scratches as he did so, he heard the faint back and forth of two voices in the distance. He ducked down around the tree whose vine had so cruelly ensnared him, and he stepped in another vine pile which dutifully wrapped around his other leg. He cursed but listened closer as the soldiers’ voices became clearer.

“I don’t know how he can expect us to do this for much longer. I have no idea what ‘plan’ Francois has, but I don’t see how checking out sleepy, dead end towns can help in any way,” a gruff voice said.

“I don’t know,” a much lighter, squeakier, and oddly familiar to Li voice responded, “I mean, why wouldn’t Francois be doing this unless Lord Yenli had given him the okay.”

“I wouldn’t put it past him to eschew the wishes of Lord Yenli in order to pursue some strange peace agenda.”

Their footsteps, a loose march of two which had been growing louder, suddenly stopped.

“What?” the same soldier said.

”…Nothing.”

“Alright, let’s get this meet and greet done, then.”

Their pace picked up, and…they began strolling right through the patch of forest. Right towards Li.

Li’s heart pumped hard. It would be seconds before---

“What the hell?” The gruff soldier shouted, the sliding of metal behind Li.

“Wait, wait, we don’t need to leap straight to violence,” Li said, trying to contort his scraped body around to see the soldier.

The soldier, from what Li could see in the dim light, wore a ratty uniform that looked like it had seen far more owners than just this man. He had tanned skin with a deep stubble, black hair that draped in a curl over his ears, and eyes so dark it looked like one big pupil.’

“What’s going on?” The other soldier asked in his higher voice.

“There’s somebody here.”

The other soldier caught up with his colleague, but Li couldn’t quite see him. He continued focusing on the soldier with the blade.

“I have a letter from Francois. It’s in my waistband. I’m not here on purpose, I promise.”

The solder with the sword stalked a bit further, and Li felt something snatch the paper from his waistband, causing it to feel a bit looser. Li stood silently, listening as comfortably as one could while being forced to hug a tree.

“This is from Lord Francois? How can we be so sure?” the gruff voice whispered.

“That’s definitely his handwriting.”

“How can you tell?”

“Trust me,” the higher voice said.

Li heard another sword scrape out of its scabbard, causing his hair to stand on end.

“Ah,” the voice said, poking around the base of Li’s vines, “Sweet Tea Snare. Don’t worry, you’re not the first. Stay still and I’ll get you out.”

Much closer the voice was far more familiar, and as the figure raised its sword to hack away at the vine Li got a clear view of his face.

“I remember you!” Li exclaimed, “You were with that Fennec lady when you had that meeting with Francois.”

The assistant stumbled back, staring at Li with astonishment.

“What…how…how did you know about that?” he said.

“I was in a bush,” Li said, smiling.

There was a moment longer of stupefied silence before the assistant raised his sword again, bringing it down and slicing through the top of the vine on Li’s right foot.

“It should be fine, that’s all you need to get out of it,” the assistant said, grumbling more than he had earlier.

“It’s alright,” Li said, “I think you did good during the meeting. What’s your name?”

The assistant paused before swinging. He slammed the sword down on the top vine, avoiding Li’s leg expertly.

“I’m Lucky,” Lucky said as he helped Li get his leg out of the trap, “I have so many questions. Why did you think I did a good job?”

“You seemed to hold your own. There was some serious tension between those two, it couldn’t have been easy to keep your cool.”

“You got all of that from a bush? What were you even doing there anyway?”

Li looked away and blushed, “I, er, was trying to do something.”

“Oh, well, since whatever you’ve tried has blown up in your face, did you want to walk with us? We can at least escort you to the nearest village. You should be out of the royalist-only area there.”

Li smiled half-heartedly. He glanced over to the other soldier who looked around uncomfortably. Li bounded over, the soldier stifling a startle.

“Sorry I spooked you, I was a little tied up there. What’s your name?”

”…Rei,” he mumbled.

“Nice to meet you. I’ll make sure to come back when I become a mighty warrior and invite you into my army.”

Lucky tip-toed out of the forest and Li followed, Rei, bewildered by what he had just heard from this kid, followed them in tow.

As they stepped out of the hole in the forest, the afternoon light shone into their eyes and Li got a better glimpse of his surroundings. Patches of forest more frequently lined the sides of the hills, and the dramatic peaks and dips of the hills surrounding Francois had given way to a more gentle ebb and flow of land. Li could see, far behind him in the upper distance from where he had come from, a little speck in the distance on the tallest hill. He looked at it forlornly.

“You alright?” Rei asked.

Li looked back at him. Lucky had already walked on ahead and Rei was standing next to him. Li breathed deeply in and out.

“Yep, let’s get this convoy moving.”

Li dashed on ahead, hearing the beginning of a sigh from Rei behind him.

Li walked silently with Lucky. He looked back and forth between where he was walking in front of him and at Lucky. And in a few moments, Li couldn’t stay patient much longer.

“Your boss seems kind of mean,” he said.

Lucky glanced down, raising an eyebrow. He seemed to be fighting himself whether to respond or not.

“It’s still weird that you’re making these observations based on what you heard from a bush. You realise I’m going to have to check bushes every time I’m having another meeting?”

Li blushed and looked down as they approached the edge of the patchy forested area. Trees looked more and more chopped down as they approached. Some had even, straight cuts; some looked so ragged they looked chewed away. Lucky sighed and sat down on a stump.

“I don’t think she’s mean, she’s simply trying to stand up for the army. She’s the army’s representative to the Lord, so she has to be a little confrontational sometimes.”

Li stared, boggle-eyed.

“Francois is the Lord of the Royalists? Is that who I talked to?”

Lucky laughed.

“Oh, if he was king then this war would have ended a long time ago. No, he’s a general. But every general is meant to be the representative of the Lord in all but their physical presence. So, not the lord. But technically, yes.”

“Wow,” Li said, stars in his eyes.

“Uh, Lucky,” Rei said, prodding him.

“Right, we shouldn’t dawdle. Let’s get you back to where you came from.”

***

As they walked, Li continued asking a million different questions with all the patience of a dog of their lead. Lucky answered all of them without hesitation, even if Rei was looking more and more worn out with every subsequent question.

They walked past the patchy forests and chopped down trees into a more broadly covered blanket of tree skeletons. They were far apart and there was not a leaf on any branch, allowing the afternoon sun to stream in unimpeded. The decomposition of leaves in the grass and mud filled the air.

“So, you didn’t even want to be in the Royalist army?” Li asked.

“Nope, at least not at first. But you would be surprised how little fighting we do.”

“It’s a damn waste, too, that,” Rei chimed in, crunching leaves on tree roots and hopping around mud patches.

Li was swinging around branches, entirely aware of the stinging in his legs. The scratches were at this point welting up, and occasionally Li was feeling them to see how big they were getting, grimacing slightly as he did so.

“But the work we do isn’t all bad,” Lucky said, “At least we still have things to do. Better this than dying in a battle that won’t be won anyway.”

“You call it that, I call it fighting for a cause,” Rei said, grumpy.

“What work is it, exactly?” Li asked.

Lucky glanced back at Rei, who shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it. Why did you even want to see Francois, anyway? Why were you even in a bush to begin with?”

“Uh,” Li said, not for a lack of words, but because the actual explanation was embarrassing.

“I, uh, didn’t want to freak him out.”

Lucky raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“I mean,” he said, “He didn’t chop you in half, so I suppose you weren’t entirely wrong.”

“Wait, is he known to do that?” Li asked.

“No,” Lucky said, “But I think anybody could be capable of great violence when caught by surprise. I think I meant more why were you trying to scare the man.”

“I wasn’t…I was seeing him about becoming his student.”

Lucky again looked in shock and Rei started laughing.

“You what?” Rei said. “No offence, kid, but I don’t see a Lord General taking on a no-named student in a million years.”

Lucky shot him a dirty glance, which soured his good mood a bit. But he still had that smirk. In a downward part of the journey, Li saw in the distance the tiny sprawl of a village. He couldn’t see a single soul, and the sound of a light, whistling breeze drowned out any potential life he could have heard.

“Sorry about him,” Lucky said, “But it did seem like a bit of a far-fetched plan. Why did you want to be taught by him so bad. And presumably sneak past all of our patrols.”

Li’s face grew red at that last sentence.

“I wanted to learn about being a mighty warrior. I didn’t want to just learn how to smack things with a stick, but I wanted to be one of the greats. I want to, with the snap of my fingers, be able to ensure peace among rivals.”

“Oh, is that all?”

Further walking and down at the foot of the long hill, the village was more plain to see. Li looked in awe at the packed snow that had accumulated in clumps, in spite of the sun bearing down on them, around and underneath the huts that rested on stilts that lined the village haphazardly.

The silence from the top of the hill extended to being at the foot of the village, with a frosty energy that matched the weather. A single bald, short man pulled a cart that was empty, save for a few small bundles of dried Sweet Tea Snare leaves wrapped in Banana Leaf with twine. Li frowned at the contents, his legs stinging just at the thought of it. The man turned a corner, only glancing at the three of them with a cold look.

As the three of them walked in, Lucky and Rei having a far more confident stride than Li, Li noticed that they were being watched.

An old lady, sitting in a wooden chair on an elevated porch, stared down at the three of them as they walked past. Li noticed her shake her head slightly at the soldiers as they continued marching.

“Damn,” Rei muttered, withdrawing his boot from a dirt-hidden snow pile with a slick squelch sound. “Do we really have to do this? Can we just say we talked to these people and leave.”

“Sure,” Lucky said, “Feel free to disobey your superior if it makes your life easier.”

The reached atop the hill and turned to face the ‘grandest’ of the huts in the village. Unlike the others, it had a roof with edges that curved upwards in a dark wood spiral design. They moved to the front door at the balcony, suspended on stilts and overlooking the dirt street below.

“So, where are you headed?” Lucky asked.

“Uh, it’s okay I can make my own way. You don’t have to know where I live. I know where I’m going, you don’t---”

“Okay, okay, I get it. You know where you’re going,” he said, banging on the door. “Renlo! I’m from the Royalist army. Francois said to talk to you.”

“Go away!” He shouted.

Lucky continued banging on the door.

“Seems like he doesn’t want to talk to you,” Li said, matter-of-factly.

“Certainly seems that way. But,” Lucky said, straining as he hiked his pants higher on his hips, “If you’re a soldier long enough you pick up on a few things. If you can’t achieve something through violence, then superhuman patience will have to do.”

Li was taken aback.

“Patience? That’s really a soldier thing?”

Lucky stopped banging and seemed shocked.

“Patience is a skill that is worth its weight in gold, mister Li. Being a soldier isn’t just about smacking things with a sword or ordering people around. It’s not about striking, it’s about KNOWING when to strike. About persisting in striking the right points.”

Li looked over at the way he came; at the path that the three of them had carved through forests and hills to the village. His eyes were alight with a new fire.

“Well, I’d better be off.”

Lucky looked over and smiled. He nodded and Rei rolled his eyes, taking over knocking duties.

“It was nice talking to you. Word of advice: Make sure you don’t spook people in bushes anymore. You know where you’re headed?”

“Don’t worry, I have a perfect idea.”

########### “Fine”

The crack of a stick against a surface shot Francois awake. He sat up, bleary eyed, and listened. Outside, the patter of rain seemed to confirm to Francois that the crack was a bolt of thunder.

He sat, more than a bit confused. Despite the rain, the temperature in the hut was well-regulated courtesy of a dim coal fire which was, at that time, warming a uniform draped to the side. Not only was the temperature comfortable, but Francois had slept through chanting armies and cannon fire. A clap of thunder in amongst the hiss of morning rain was nothing.

He shrugged and rolled over, but sleep would not come easy. Once he was awake, he was awake. He sighed and sat back up, reaching for his toasty uniform.

Another crack, echoing through the hills. Francois frowned.

He slapped on his uniform, doing the bare minimum to make sure it was on but not making sure it was neat, and he walked out the door, ignoring his sword that was leaning against the door frame. He waited, rain and wind giving him cold reminders of his presence outside.

“HA!” a voice shouted out, another crack ringing out. It came from behind the cabin through the forest.

Francois rounded to the back of the hut and through the forest. In there, the constant droplets getting in his eyes and forcing him to keep one hand on face wiping duties was reduced down to the occasional drop down the back of his neck. On the other side was a familiar figure, twirling in a faux-dodge and smacking trees with a stick.

The boy gave a few sharp inhales and exhales, screaming a yelp and slashing his ‘sword’ in a downward arc. Francois stood at the edge of the arena with his arms folded.

“What are you doing?” Francois asked.

Li screamed unfortunately loud and the stick he held in his hand almost flew from his grasp. He sheepishly held it behind his back. The kid was soaked head to toe, his hair a wet mop on his head.

“I, uh, was practising.”

“Looks quite a bit like trespassing to me.”

“I’ve actually been thinking about that,” Li said, tossing the stick to the side. “I’ve been getting advice, and I was told that the mark of a true warrior is not their ability to fight, but their ability to be persistent.”

Francois stared in disbelief.

“So,” Li continued, “I want to show you again what I’m truly capable of,” he said, moving to be opposite Francois, “I’m not afraid. I know what I can do, you just need to give me a chance. I won’t let you down. Take me on!” he shouted, triumphantly.

“Come with me,” Francois said flatly.

“Wait, what, why?” Li asked.

“Because I don’t particularly want to be out here in the rain; I just dried off my uniform.”

Francois waved him over and, in a barely concealed fit of joy, Li bounded over. He still maintained a professional distance from Francois. Francois snuck a glance back and caught Li standing upright, his hands grasped behind his back. Much like Francois had done. Francois gave an incredulous smirk and marched out of the forest back into the drink.

The rain had let up but there was still a light spitting, with muddy puddles formed across the landscape, being hidden by the grass like brown landmines.

They rounded the corner of the hut to the table, Li shaking the water out of his outfit. Francois motioned to his chair and Li sat down eagerly. Francois disappeared inside and emerged with a dust-coated chair, wiping it out and sitting down opposite Li.

“Why are you here?” he asked.

Li was taken aback.

“Why am I here? Because I want to learn from you.”

Francois shook his head.

“Why do you want to learn from me.”

Li’s face grew red.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Interesting. You’re getting shy now of all times. I would have thought this is when you want to most impress me.”

Li said nothing.

“Nonetheless, I will accept you as a ward.”

Li stared in wide-eyed shock.

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“But what about what you said? About me not being ready?”

Francois couldn’t answer that, because the answer was the most hurtful thing he could say. He wasn’t going to teach Li how to be a great warrior. He was going to completely scare the kid off of fighting entirely. To make the idea of being a soldier truly repugnant.

########### Learning

“Lesson one,” Francois said, “How to hold a sword.”

Li was taken aback. He stared at Francois, swords akimbo standing a few steps opposite him. The wind blew over their little arena, the forest to his back and the hills covering every other side.

“How to hold a sword? Seriously?” Li said as Francois handed him a sword. Li felt the edge carefully. Dull, but definitely real metal. “Shouldn’t you be teaching me something more real, like how to hit things with the sword?”

“You have no idea how many new warriors I’ve seen who come in, ignore all of their training, and…” he said, batting his sword from Li’s unready grasp and launching it away, “End up getting cut down.”

He smiled and lowered his sword as Li stared in awe. Li walked over and picked up his sword, as if it had been imbued with some kind of power. Francois walked over, paused for a moment, and swung again. Li was able to get a second hand on the handle in time to block the hit, forcing him down to the ground. He looked at it. He was still holding it.

“Nice work,” Francois said.

The strike was still reverberating through his arms, his hands tingling, as he glanced up at Francois extending a hand.

“Ugh, when are we getting to the actual lesson?” he said as he hauled himself up.

“This IS the lesson. As much as I could give you little tips and tidbits here, this is something that as unique to you as your face and your voice. Not only that, but your wrists need work. We need to give them practice in…” Francois once again batted away the sword like it was nothing. “That.”

Much of the rest of the day progressed like that. The clattering of steel on steel, the dull thud of a hunk of metal hitting the ground. What was once a light aching in Li’s wrists had become a gnawing, shooting pain as the sun lay much lower in the sky.

“Please, Francois,” Li finally said, “I’m a few good whacks away from my hands falling off.”

“Right, now, how much do you know about sword combat?”

Li perked up.

“Uh, well, one time I had to fend off a boarite with a sharpened stick. Does that count?”

“No. Unless that boarite has some kind of tusk swordsmanship the experience is very different. An animal is predictable, an animal can be fooled by a rope tied to a tree and some bait. That’s what separates us from them. We need a more complicated rope. A more compelling bait.”

Li looked uneasily at Francois.

“And,” Francois continued, “This is something I can actually teach you. At least the basics.”

Francois raised his sword and Li hastily did the same.

“You get the rope now, the bait comes later,” Francois said, Li swallowing louder than he meant to.

***

Li hit the ground, almost letting the sword fly from his grasp. He rolled over before a strike from Francois’ sword could be driven into him. He got back to his feet, Francois withdrawing his sword from the ground.

“Can we take a break?” Li said between frantic inhales, “I can barely feel my hands.”

“Would you say that if I was actually trying to kill you?” Francois asked.

“I think you actually are,” Li muttered.

Francois raced forward and Li held his sword up to the barrage of attacks. Some broke through and gave Li a rough rap on the arms. The sword, while dull, was still a hunk of metal, and it left behind a series of red marks running up Li’s arm. The strikes felt like a series of light, sharp scratch, like that of a tree branch hitting him over and over.

Step by step he was being pushed back, further and further towards the forest trees. His back slammed into the trunk of a tree, another hit, desperation, another hit, he took one desperate hand off of the sword and instinctively touched the tree, grit teeth, sweat, another sting on his arm, pain, pain, pain.

***

He awoke. He was in the same position. Back against the tree, he looked around. The landscape was the same, but everything around him seemed to not so much be visible as give off a visible aura, as if the grass and the trees and the wind was drawn with a floating chalk outline. Li brought his hand up to his face and marvelled at how it looked much the same as everything else. A glowing, scribbled outline. There was form, but not in a way his mortal eyes could necessarily comprehend. Despite the wind swirling around and tracing a cold path over his skin, Li felt that this was a place where things moved slower.

He began to withdraw his hand. As soon as he did, the colour and texture began to bleed back into every object, as the aura began to dissipate. The faint, blobby outline of someone attacking him came into view, and he launched himself back at the tree. He became one of them.

Over to his right, two figures fought into view, clashing pointed outlined objects against one another. Li listened close to them, but no sound emanated from anything they were doing. The taller one, the one who was dominating the fight, had a cool exterior but contained within him a pit of blackened matter surrounded by a red glow. As Li focused on it, he felt a sheer rage latch on to him. As he did, he made to step forward, but once again the world faded away and he was detached enough to remember where he was and go back to his position.

The shorter figure, a much duller aura, defended with a languid passion, as if he was eagerly blocking these blows while covered in molasses. The shorter figure’s ‘sword’ was knocked out of its hand, and Li felt a pulling sensation in his own hand. He looked at it in amazement and back at the figure. When he looked back, the figure locked a stare directly at him, and the taller figure stopped for a moment in seeming curiosity.

Li didn’t move, didn’t breathe. There was nothing to breathe. He couldn’t inhale, but he wasn’t choking either. The figures ran towards him, and he flinched as the hit the nearby tree in the same position that he and Francois had been moments earlier. The taller figure slashed down in a wide arc, but the smaller figure dropped its sword, wrapped around to the side of the taller one, and guided the sword into the tree. The tree’s aura shuddered, pulsing and warping until it returned to normal, a good deal dimmer. Li stared in amazement; the David had slain the Goliath. Or, at least, trapped Goliath’s sword. The figure wrenched and twisted but there was no way it was getting the sword out.

The smaller figure stared at the larger one, truly and utterly stuck. As a silhouette, it gave no explicit emotion. However, Li could sense the satisfaction emanate from it. And then it turned its attention to Li. Picking up its sword again from the ground, it pointed it menacingly at Li and speed-marched to him. Li’s eyes widened and his blood froze. The figure bore down on him. Li withdrew from the tree just as the blade was about to make contact with his head.

The world seeped out, and he felt his firm grip back on the blade, and the smacks of a hunk of metal on his skin as he defended. Li could barely defend himself before when he had nothing else to think about, and his experience was dividing even more of his attention. Francois noticed this and caught Li’s sword, swinging around and launching it halfway across the arena. Francois, in a careful, practiced motion, swiped his sword down. Li, in a state of deja vu, wrapped around and helped the sword on its way, his eyes closed.

He heard the dull thud of a blade chopping into wood and flecks of bark spraying on his face.

“H—” The sound of Francois’ voice snapped Li into action. He rolled over to his sword and pointed it at Francois. He had him. They stared a moment, eye to eye.

In a flash, Francois jerked the sword to the side, bending it to a sickening degree, and it snapped. Li shielded himself from the little shards of shrapnel that blew from the sword. When he opened his eyes again, Francois was pointing the jagged end of a half-sword at Li. This time it was sharp. Francois lowered his sword and Li did the same. He looked at Li inquisitively.

“How did you do that?”

“I, uh, I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? You don’t know how you just moved like a wraith and almost bested me? That you engaged a move I’ve never seen before?”

“I really don’t. I touched the tree and, and I was panicking, and everything I could see turned black. All the colour was

Francois took a step back.

“This place. Did you sense that it had a kind of ‘outline?’”

“Yeah, I think so. I remember an aura around everything. And people who looked like us were there, but they didn’t look the same. I don’t know how, but they felt the same as us. I could feel both of their energies. And then…”

Francois, enraptured, studying Li, said, “And what?”

Li shook his head.

“It was a lot. It’s hard to keep it all straight. It’s like being back here is mixing it all up like a soup. I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay, I’ll call it for today. I need to get back to the camp and explain that I accidentally snapped a training sword. But I’ll meet you here tomorrow.”

Li smiled and bowed. Francois uneasily did the same and disappeared into the forest. As soon as Francois wasn’t looking, Li’s smile dropped. What did Francois know?

########### The Outpost

• Meets with Lucky and there’s a fight going on?

• Francois goes to unseen shrine or something that hides who he’s truly talking to, and talks aloud about how he met a kid who can travel to the spirit world

########### Something Else

Li awoke to cannon fire. He shot up as fast as the blast. He looked around, there was nothing but the inside of the banana leaf tent. He sighed, stretched, shook off the lingering afterimage of the thought, and got dressed.

Climbing down the tree as if he was leaping down in increments, he hit the ground and let leaves fly up around him. Using his mental map that he had captured after studying the other soldiers from afar, he took an avoidant route through the trees. He brushed past one after another, trying to feel something, anything. He stopped, looking around at the surrounding clearings for patrolling guards, and placed a hand on the bark of the tree.

He felt it, truly felt it. The roughness of the physical form, and he closed his eyes trying to see its other form. He tried, only seeing the inside of his eyelids. He felt nothing, not from the tree, not from anything.

“Hey!” a voice behind him said.

Li jumped back and put the tree between him and the voice. The owner of the voice was Francois, holding two steaming bowls.

“Sorry about that. I brought food.”

He handed the bowl to Li and Li, consciously steadying his breathing, took it. As Francois thoughtlessly chomped away, Li spooned some of the gloopy, semi-solid material and studied it.

“Spiced barley,” Francois said, noticing Li’s reluctance, “Not exactly a full meal, but you get what you can during a crop shortage.”

“A crop shortage? How can you have that when the Royalists have so many villages to get help from.”

“Well,” Francois said, mouth full of food, “Funny thing is that, for such a tightly knit empire, there’s a spectacular lack of cooperation. If you’re looking for competition, though…”

He shovelled some more food in, as if eating it faster will make the texture more tolerable. Li, still not touching the food, looked around at their little forested eating quarters. The canopy above blocking any light from entering and forcing it to come in through the sides. The roots rose up so high from the grounds they doubled as little retaining walls. Francois sat atop one of the roots while Li was sunk between two roots in the dirt. Li looked at Francois, who was studying his surroundings much as Li was doing.

“You have something to ask?” Francois said. Li’s face went red. Francois stopped studying and looked at the kid. “It’s alright. I’m not going to stop teaching you now. What’s on your mind?”

“With all due respect,” Li said, “Do you even do anything here? How can you spend so much time with me and not be off fighting or doing drills or something. It doesn’t seem like there’s much danger from the crop shortage if soldiers like you can mill around doing nothing.”

Francois smiled, amused by the optimism of the kid, and shook his head.

“We’re not here to fight. We’re not here to do much of anything, frankly. I can disappear for hours on end because all we’re here to do is be a presence. Not to fight or advance, but to remind the nearby villages that we are here. That’s actually quite the point of contention in the camp.”

“That they want to fight and risk death?”

“Better that than waiting for it to come to you. While the insubordination isn’t explicit, Lord Fennec sees to that, without her this whole outpost would turn into a warlord camp in seconds.”

“Do you believe that? Truly?”

Francois thought about that, pausing midway through spooning a lump of barley into his mouth. He placed it back in the bowl and looked into space.

“Honestly? I have no clue. It’s been a long time since I’ve thought like a soldier. I simply keep my mouth shut and follow the once in a blue moon order I get. I don’t want to cause trouble.”

“What about me? Am I not trouble for you?”

Francois laughed.

“I suppose that’s true.”

He absent-mindedly brought another spoonful of sludge to his lips, considered it for a moment, then tossed it over his shoulder, holding onto the bowl.

“Come,” he said, standing up, “I have somewhere I want you to go; you can bring your food with you.”

“Great!” Li said, leaving his bowl on the flat root to his right, “So, what will we be doing? Swordplay? Tactics? How to not be afraid when the enemy charges at you full force?”

“Drinking tea. You may partake if you wish.”

”…Drinking tea?”

Before he could answer, Francois had already stood up and was disappearing into the forest.

“Wait!” Li shouted, running after him.

***

Li huffed and puffed as he leaned on a tree for support. In the clearing ahead, Francois calmly sat and pulled out a ratty, scorched kettle. He sat on a little stump, with coals of burnt wood

---

“Wow, how do you know about all this spirit stuff?”

Francois looked away, a dark expression rolling over his face.

• They drink tea, Francois encouraging him to sense the world around him

• Interrupted by Lucky

• “You really aughta see this”

########### Leaving Undergrowth

“Argh, damn it!” Li shouted as the light of the day fired past his retinas into his neurons. He slapped his hands onto his eyes.

“Oh yeah, careful when you’ve been in there a while.”

---

He batted away branch after branch. Some came back and smacked him in the face or the back of his neck, but he kept going. He could smell the pungent iron of blood in the air. If he just kept this up a bit longer---

He stopped. At the edge of the forest, atop the hill looking down, there was an absence of activity

########### After

Li frantically beat his shoes to the ground, kicking up dirt and debris as he did. The sky grew into claws of red breaking through the cloud cover.