Fitting In, Part II
Kurgm met Master Ekla in one of the training rooms the next day. His stomach churned at the thought of another lesson in pretending he’d be able to defend someone one day.
“Before we start on combat and defense, we’re going to practice using ki,” Master Ekla said. She motioned to a corner of the room. “You can put your gear down over there, you won’t need it yet.”
Kurgm did as he was told, then sat down where Master Ekla indicated.
Today’s already shaping up to be better than yesterday.
“Close your eyes, and concentrate on your hearing. Feel the energy flowing through you. Breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth. Every breath connects you to the world.”
Kurgm felt the troubles of the past slipping away. With each deep breath, more sounds came into focus. He heard people in other rooms walking around, soft footsteps echoing from far away. Even Master Ekla’s light footfalls became clearer. He listened to her walking to the other side of the room as she brought her voice to a whisper.
“Can you still hear me?”
Kurgm nodded, afraid to hear what his own voice would sound like.
“Good. Open your eyes.”
Kurgm did as he was told. The world didn’t seem as bright as it had when he’d closed them.
“Your vision won’t be as good now that you’re focusing your ki on your hearing.”
He nodded. He already knew that, but Master Ekla tended to talk about anything to keep testing him when they did this.
“Stand up.” When he had, she continued. “Walk slowly around the room.”
This was something he hadn’t completely mastered. One day, he’d be able to channel his ki with minimal effort on his part, even through his weapon in times of crisis. For now, he settled for being able to walk and channel it at the same time.
Master Ekla walked around, staying on the opposite side of the room, still talking in a quiet voice.
“Stop. Turn around. Walk the other way.”
She continued to give him instructions, telling him to walk faster or slower, to turn around, anything to verify that he could still hear her.
“You’re doing well.”
He winced when she drew her sword. The sound of it unsheathing sounded like someone had rung a bell next to his ear.
Panic started to set in. She wasn’t about to attack him, was she?
His eyes darted over to the other side of the room where his gear lay. He’d never reach it before she got to him. He’d have to figure out how to get around her.
His attention returned to Master Ekla as she ran at him, sword raised.
Kurgm ran to his left, trying to get around her. He stumbled and fell, then scrambled to his feet. His foot caught something, and he went tumbling back down. Before he could get back up, Master Ekla planted her foot on his chest.
“If you’d kept up your hearing,” she said, “you would’ve heard me say ‘Don’t move, I’m not going to hurt you’.”
She removed her foot and offered him a hand to get up.
“I couldn’t hear after you unsheathed your sword. It was too loud.”
“There will be times when you’re escorting a shipment and people attack you. People who know how ki works, and know that if they hide in the woods, you’ll have to listen for an attack. Banging something together is a good way to throw off someone who isn’t used to it. You’ll have a split second to react before the attackers press forward to take the shipment from you.”
Kurgm thought about it for a moment, then shook his head.
“I don’t understand what the lesson here is. Was I supposed to have stopped listening?”
Master Ekla shook her head. “You did exactly what I’d expect you to do. What you should do is use your ki to recover. While it can augment your hearing, it can also repair them after a loud sound like that. That’s today’s lesson. Let’s start over.”
After a few painful tries, Kurgm began to pick up how to fix his hearing after Master Ekla tortured his ears.
“Like defense, channeling ki doesn’t come up much in a knight’s daily life,” she said as he gathered his belongings for class. “Most of what you need it for is listening for a lost or hidden child, or helping carry something. Within these walls, our responsibilities are mostly resolving disputes or providing a helping hand.”
Kurgm nodded. Once again, he already knew it, but Master Ekla liked reassuring him that he wasn’t a complete failure.
“Can’t defend anyone,” he muttered. “Can’t talk right, can’t make friends.”
I’m going to be a horrible knight.
“Stop being hard on yourself. This isn’t easy for anyone, but you’re doing fine with ki channeling. You’re actually good at it. Also, you have friends, but judging by your tone, something’s going on with them.”
“It’s nothing.” He wasn’t sure he wanted to get into it with Master Ekla. Although, she had a solution for every other problem in the world.
“If it turns out to be something,” Master Ekla said, “tell me after class. If you don’t leave now, you’re going to be late.”
Kurgm dropped of his gear in his room and grabbed his pack. Hoping he hadn’t forgotten any of his books, he trotted through the corridors. He passed through the door into the school, the feeling that he was running late already driving him on.
I wonder if this is how Aonva feels all the time.
He put her out of his mind as he reached the classroom. The bells tolled to announce the start of another lesson just as he sat down.
“Right on time,” Demndun whispered from the seat next to him.
He smiled at her, struggling to catch his breath.
“Told you he’d make it,” Zifor said to Muwen, the pair of whom were sitting in front of Kurgm and Demndun.
“Today we move onto the port city of Zensin,” the teacher began. “Despite being on the opposite end of the continent from Skwyr Court, Zensin was the ninth city to become part of the kingdom. As we have discussed in previous lectures, progress continued south, heading toward the coast. The goal was to establish trade routes with other kingdoms across the sea, and to allow travel between them all.”
Kurgm adjusted his glasses and watched the teacher point out each point in the route down to Zensin on a map in front of the class.
In front of him, Muwen muttered something to Zifor.
“Sh,” Kurgm hissed.
Muwen glared at him for a moment, then went back to trying to talk to Zifor. To his credit, Zifor was trying to ignore Muwen too.
“The only one who I’ve ever seen get him to stop talking is Cremwa,” Demndun muttered as she copied down notes. “You just have to ignore him.”
Once again, Kurgm found himself not understanding his new friends, and wondering if he ever would.