by Pirateaba
“She says she’s been doing well. But I’ve heard her stories and I hear you have something to do with helping her out.”
“Just a few things here and there. Nothing much.”
Ryoka shook her head. Wailant stared at her, tapping his fingers.
“That’s not what she says. She came back with potions at her belt a few weeks ago. That was thanks to you. We offered her coin for it before, but she’s too proud—”
“She won’t let us buy her magical artifacts, or buy her things ourselves.”
That surprised Ryoka. She would have thought Garia would have taken any chance to get ahead, but her parents shook their heads when asked.
“My daughter’s as stubborn as I am. She wanted to fit in, not get ahead. I told her the best Runners have all the advantages they can get, but she thought it would make her too different, that it was cheating. I told her, on the sea you cheat if you can do it! Put a hole in the enemy’s hull, climb onto their decks and stab them while they’re sleeping! But Garia’s not like me.”
“She’s not a warrior, you mean?”
Wailant shook his head, looking unhappy.
“I’d have liked her to be. It needn’t be her class, but it would set my mind at ease if she could defend herself. Only, she’s got no talent with a sword.”
“Or magic.”
Viceria nodded as she traced around the rim of her cup.
“She can’t use a spear—”
“Or bow—”
“And I wouldn’t bet a Drowned Man’s eye against her hitting anything but a tree with a hatchet. Our daughter’s strong and tough, but she’s too clumsy to be a warrior, if she had the temperament for that class to begin with. Which she doesn’t.”
Wailant downed his cup, tossed it aside. Viceria gave him an accusing look which he ignored. He stared at Ryoka.
“You say she punched out a man in armor? That’s good. But fists aren’t enough against swords or arrows, let alone magic. A brawl’s one thing, but [Bandits]? How can I rest easy knowing she might be jumped by them? Sea’s wrath, she has been attacked before. Someday I’ll get a letter from the Runner’s Guild, and then…”
He trailed off, looking tired and worried. In that moment, he looked like every parent Ryoka had ever known. Like her parents. She felt something squeeze at her heart.
“Garia’s brave. She has people looking out for her. Fals, for instance, and I try when I’m in the area. If fighting’s the problem, maybe she can carry artifacts?”
“Maybe. But an artifact’s only good if you can use it. A Skill lasts, and there’s the instinct of a warrior as well. I could be sure of myself if I was jumped, but if someone took her by surprise—salt and shores, I’m not half as strong as I would be on a ship, but I wish I could give that to Garia. Some way to dodge arrows. Or a ring! But that costs coin and the farm doesn’t earn enough for us to buy an artifact that expensive…”
Ryoka stared at the fire. A girl who couldn’t fight and two parents who worried about her. It was a story for this world. In any other world, Garia could live while relying on law enforcement, but here the law ended at the gates, and sometimes didn’t even work within a city. What could you give someone who couldn’t use a sword? Without the ability to use magic?
The Runner girl stared at Wailant’s arm, and then at her hand. She made a fist, and stared at it.
“Oh.”
Both Wailant and Viceria looked at Ryoka. She blinked at her hand. It felt like forever since she’d…she stood up and threw a punch.
“Nice one.”
Wailant watched Ryoka as she punched and then threw a hook. She stood differently, moved differently than Wailant as she did. He’d punched like a boxer, but Ryoka kept her hands higher, at head-level, and further apart, bouncing on her feet. She was moving according to a style, and Wailant, used to fighting, saw it.
“Are you a [Fistfighter], or some kind of [Brawler]?”
“Not quite. I learned how to fight back home. Only, it’s not a Skill I learned, but a style. A way of fighting.”
Ryoka jumped and kicked. Viceria made a sound. Wailant stared.
“I’ve seen idiots do that when fighting. Jumping around before they get cut to ribbons. But that looked like it could have done damage.”
“Not to a monster. Not with my strength.”
Ryoka shook her head, remembering trying to fight a Carn Wolf. She punched and kicked, dodging back from an imaginary foe. Her muscles protested a bit. How long had it been since Ryoka had practiced?
“So why learn how to fight like that?”
“It helps. Against humans, people with knives. I could defend myself. But I’m not strong enough. If I throw a punch, it won’t knock down a Carn Wolf. Or a Minotaur.”
She paused, felt a pang and hung her head. Calruz. Wailant nodded.
“Minotaurs can’t be beat with bare hands. I’ve seen their black ships too many times. They’re deadly at sea and on land. No sane [Pirate] goes near their islands. But learning to fight like that…there’s some grace to it. Better than I do in a fight at a bar.”
“Yeah. Only it won’t save me from a monster attack. That’s what my legs are for.”
Ryoka turned to Wailant and Viceria. She tapped her arm.
“I’m not strong enough, like I said. If I punch with my…style, I can be sure I’ll hit someone. However, even with a good punch it won’t do enough. Not from me. But if someone else punched like that, someone who could knock an ox out with a punch…”
The former [Pirate] and [Green Mage] stared at Ryoka. Wailant sat up. Viceria smiled.
“You think Garia could learn to fight with her fists? She’s never learnt any other way of fighting. She doesn’t have the knack for it.”
“Yeah, well, martial arts isn’t just about talent. It’s something everyone can learn. It just takes practice.”
“Martial arts. Is that what it’s called?”
Ryoka shook her head, smiling.
“No. This is called Muay Thai Kickboxing. And this—”
She took a different stance, threw a different punch.
“—is called Karate. It might be better for Garia. I don’t know. I thought about teaching some techniques when I saw her in that fight at the inn. I never got around to it. But if you’re worried, I could give her some lessons. She could practice herself if she takes to it.”
She looked at Wailant and Viceria. It was just a thought, something to reassure them. The two parents looked at each other, speaking without words and then Wailant stood up. He cracked his neck, and then beckoned at Ryoka.
“Try me, then. Go ahead. I’ve a few drinks, but if you can knock me down…you don’t have a class, do you?”
She grinned at him.
“Not a one.”
“Garia said that. I couldn’t believe someone would be that stupid.”
“Really? Then let me show you—”
Ryoka twisted, kicked. Wailant dodged back. He laughed, surprised, as Ryoka hopped backwards. She grinned at him, beckoned.
There was something here. In this room, as Viceria told them to not damage the furniture and Ryoka tagged Wailant with a kick that sobered him up and he showed her how fast a former [Pirate] could punch.
In the end, they stopped with bruises and light hearts. Ryoka found herself being slapped on the back by Wailant, and talking with Viceria. She smiled, and carried Mrsha to a room upstairs to sleep. She thought, just for an instant, that it was strange. She’d expected awkwardness, dreaded meeting Garia’s parents, and gotten off to the worst start possible. But suddenly—
She was enjoying herself.
Fancy that. Then Ryoka slept. The next day, she began teaching Garia how to punch. And Ivolethe—
Began teaching her how to use magic.
—-
Ryoka Griffin stood on a hill, facing the wind. She breathed in deeply, and felt the chill of the morning’s air blow through her hair. She stared into the open sky and felt the world pressing down at her.
The clouds were impossibly high overhead. The wind rushed about her, invigorating Ryoka, filling her with quiet contemplation. Her breathing slowed. Her pulse settled. She cleared her mind, became still, meditative. Her mind grew tranquil as Ryoka absorbed nature—
“Not like that, fool! What are ye doing?”
Someone threw snow into Ryoka’s face. She spluttered, opened her eyes, and scowled at Ivolethe.
“What the hell was that for? I’m trying to sense the wind!”
Ivolethe buzzed around Ryoka’s head, an angry blue butterfly with attitude.
“What kind of an idiot does that with their eyes closed? I told ye, to learn faerie magic, ye must first sense the wind.”
“Right. And that’s all you said. I’m here for a lesson. So tell me, how do I sense the wind?”
Ryoka folded her arms and scowled. Ivolethe looked exasperated.
The two were standing on a snowy hilltop near the Strongheart farm. Ryoka had woken up to a very enjoyable breakfast, talked with Garia about learning martial arts and gotten the girl’s wary agreement. She’d taught the girl how to stand and punch and Garia had seemed willing to give it a try, even though she’d giggled and not taken it as seriously as Ryoka would have liked. But Fals had tried it as well, and that had made Garia grow more focused.
Everything had been going swimmingly, in short, until Ivolethe appeared and demanded that Ryoka start learning faerie magic. And that too was great—in fact, Ryoka was excited by the prospect.
Only it appeared Ivolethe’s methods of teaching weren’t as straightforward as Ryoka’s. She’d taken Ryoka to this hill and told her to sense the wind.
“How does it work?”
Ivolethe sighed gustily. She flew in front of Ryoka, folding her tiny pale-blue transparent arms and pointed.
“Ye see the wind?”
“Uh, maybe. I see air.”
Ryoka stared at a blank patch the faerie was pointing at, which was probably what Ivolethe meant. Ivolethe smiled.
“Good! Now follow it.”
She waited. Ryoka stared at the empty patch of air and then glanced at Ivolethe.
“What do you mean, ‘follow it’? There’s nothing to see!”
Ivolethe slapped a hand to her face, making a sound like breaking icicles. She flew to Ryoka’s face and punched the girl in the eye. Ryoka shouted and swung wildly.
“Did I tell ye to stop looking? Look at the wind, you bleeding idiot!”
“There’s nothing to see!”
“Exactly! So look at nothing and see where it goes!”
Ivolethe screamed in Ryoka’s ear. Ryoka opened her watering eye and glared at the faerie. The faerie glared back.
“Let me get this straight. You’re telling me to stare at something invisible.”
Ivolethe rolled her eyes.
“Of course. To control the wind, to know it, ye must see it. And it is invisible! Of course it is! Otherwise you mortals would have already seen it!”
“But how can I see if—”
Ryoka guarded her face as Ivolethe swooped at her again. The faerie flew past her and spoke into her ear.
“Look, fool. Look at what is invisible and see it. With your eyes. With your soul. Look and see. That is all I need tell you. Look. Ye have done it once, on the magic coach.”
Ryoka remembered. She’d seen Ivolethe flying, and seen the wind, followed it for one glorious second. She didn’t remember how she’d done it, but…she nodded.
“Fine. I’ll try.”
Ivolethe nodded, still looking impatient. Ryoka took a deep breath and stared ahead. Watch the wind. See it.
She saw nothing. The wind blew, and it went still. It blew again, but aside from some snow caught up by it, there was nothing to see. Nothing to look at. Ryoka struggled to look at the wind, but she always looked at the wind, didn’t she? It was always there.
Invisible. Unseen. How was she supposed to see it? Ryoka tried adjusting the way she looked at the world, focusing her eyes, tracing an imaginary path the wind took. Nothing worked.
Five minutes passed. Ryoka searched the air for something she couldn’t see, couldn’t imagine seeing, and Ivolethe floated in the air beside her, making discontented faces. She yawned hugely, and Ryoka gritted her teeth.
“I saw that.”
“Did ye? Good. Your eyes are working, then. Now see this.”
Ivolethe yawned wider, showing Ryoka the inside of her mouth, pale red ice and sharp teeth. She flipped one wing as Ryoka growled to herself.
“Hurry up! I’m bored!”
“I’m trying to learn. You’re supposed to be my teacher! Shouldn’t you have some patience and let me try to figure this out?”
“No, fool! Because if ye were going to get it, you’d have already gotten it by now! Magic isn’t something you can keep trying over and over!”
“That’s because you’re not giving me any instructions. If you want me to see the wind, tell me how in more detail.”
Ryoka snapped, but Ivolethe just flipped herself over so she was staring at Ryoka upside down. She spoke, suddenly serious.
“I cannot.”
“Why not? Because it’s secret?”
“No, because there are no words for it. It is magic, Ryoka Griffin. Magic. It is something you understand in here, not here.”
She flew over and tapped Ryoka’s chest, then flew up and tapped her head. Ryoka nodded slowly.
“Instinct? I have to get a feel for it, that’s what you’re saying. Then if I keep practicing—”
“No.”
Ivolethe sighed. She rubbed at her face, frowning hard. She shook her head.
“It is not instinct. You cannot learn this by practicing.”
“But you said—”
“It is grace, mortal. Grace and naught else. Grace and wonder. A moment. It is not something ye can learn in a book. It is not something you can keep trying to do. You will learn it in a moment of purest understanding—or never.”
The Frost Faerie looked at Ryoka in the eye. Ryoka felt a slight chill that had nothing to do with the cold. She opened her mouth, paused. What Ivolethe said spoke to her, but it made no sense at the same time.
“That’s not how magic works in this world, though. [Mages] study magic in books. They can write it down. They have to study.”
“True.”
Ivolethe nodded, frowning.
“How shall I explain? That is magic. Tamed, and bent for use, yes, but it is still magic. But it is not my magic. Not the magic of the fae. Not deep magic, which runs wild. If ye wish to study that magic, practice. Understand, by all means. But ye shall never see the wind if you think of it as something to be understood, to be learned. The wind is the wind. I ask you to see it, Ryoka. Not understand the why of it.”
Ryoka struggled to make sense of this. On one level she got what Ivolethe was saying. On another…how could you stare at something and not want to know why it was? But that was magic. Ivolethe’s magic.
A moment of grace.
“Back to trying. Try and if you cannot see it, we shall try later. But this is the first step, Ryoka. The only step. Learn to do this, and ye shall see all in time.”
See the wind. Ryoka tried. She really did. But she couldn’t keep what Ivolethe had said in her mind and just try to feel something naturally. And the Frost Faerie saw it.
“Stop. Another chance will come. Look for the wind elsewhere, Ryoka, but ye won’t see it here.”
And that was it. The lesson was done. Ivolethe floated past Ryoka as the girl sighed, disappointed. The Frost Faerie laughed as she pointed down the hill.
“Go back to your mortal friends. Look at the child!”
Ryoka turned and saw that her martial arts lesson had attracted more than just Fals. Mrsha was standing clumsily in the snow, trying to punch like Garia. She kept punching, and falling over by her own momentum.
It was very cute. Ryoka laughed and took out her iPhone as she descended the hill. She tried to turn it on, but
found to her deepest disappointment that it had run out of power! She cursed to herself. It was hard to remember to get Pisces to cast [Repair] on it. Erin would just have to imagine Mrsha’s antics.
“Ryoka! I don’t think this is right!”
Garia was complaining as she punched the air, blushing as Fals did the same beside her. She’d been willing to try learning, especially after her father had vouched for the effectiveness of Ryoka’s kick, but she was clearly feeling silly.
“Don’t worry, you’re doing good. Raise your arm a bit more. And like I said—each time you punch, breathe out. Like this.”
Ryoka demonstrated, bringing her fists up and punching slowly as she exhaled. Garia copied her, but complained immediately afterwards.
“I get that I’m learning to punch, but I feel silly. I’m just hitting the air!”
“Well, that’s the point. Look, you’re practicing, like you would with a sword.”
“Yeah, but—no one’s going to stand there and let me punch them.”
The girl rolled her eyes and Ryoka barely resisted doing the same.
“I know that, but you have to start at the beginning. Look, just punch like I showed you. You’re using the muscles in your stomach. If you can feel them as you punch…”
“But why would muscles in my stomach help my arms?”
Garia looked confused. Ryoka groaned. How could you explain hundreds of years of biological science to someone who hadn’t even heard of muscle fibers? Well, with martial arts, actually.