The Brightest Shadow, page 18
Once she leapt to the top of the house with the Soaring Feet, Tani felt as though she could finally breathe again. Yomeri didn't like her being on the roof, but it was one of the only ways she could clear her mind. Even the Yevee and Lanoo Rhen in the city seemed to be talking of nothing but the rumors. It had been worse early on, when everyone described an event so different from the one she experienced, but it still left her suffocating.
In the center of the roof, with a breeze moving around her, Tani felt a little better. She sat down and crossed her legs, tried to find peace within herself. Given how much practice she'd had lately, it took only a short time for her to clear her mind of such thoughts.
For a time, her flow was perfect. She smelled the mint, tasted the spices, let the sein move within her. Gathering together in a core near her heart, then spreading out through her entire body, to the very edge of her skin, before flowing back. The very first exercise warriors learned as children, deepening with them as it grew over their entire lives.
This was pure.
The Yevee texts had spoken of a form of meditation that intrigued her. Instead of her sein gathering only by her heart, it could simultaneously pool in her head and low in her stomach as well. She had yet to grasp how to draw it inward to three points simultaneously, but it felt natural and matched some of the advanced teachings of her master.
Thoughts of the text brought her back to reality, to memories of what had happened. Time had accreted into a layer of numbness as she thought about Kanifor dying in front of her. Which led to remembering everything falling apart, which was somehow even worse. In one moment the world had made sense, and then in a matter of heartbeats, so many died.
Tani opened her eyes, accepting that she would not be able to meditate for much longer. Since the incident, she had focused almost entirely on her fundamental sein training. Though she had managed to progress with the Soaring Feet to a degree, training specific techniques almost always brought her thoughts to troubled places.
Besides, the violence she had seen could not be stopped with any new technique. She doubted that she could stop it with her fundamentals, either, but at least those lightened the burden.
After checking the sliver of the sun on the horizon, Tani closed her eyes again. If she couldn't meditate traditionally, at least she could dwell within her sein instead of worrying about what was going to happen later in the day.
No more thoughts of that, or of the tension in the city, or of the talk of a Hero or Legend. Only the flow of herself, memories of her home and her master. Was it her imagination, or did the memories feel richer than they had before? The better she knew her sein, the deeper she knew herself.
At that moment, Tani realized that she was so busy knowing herself that the sun had mostly risen and she was going to be late.
Hopping up, Tani leapt off the side of the house and landed on the street. Though she still needed to focus carefully to avoid twisting an ankle, she was confident enough to jump without pausing. Then she was off at top speed, dodging around the workers who were beginning their day as the sun slowly bathed everything in light.
Even at her full speed, she didn't make it in time. Eraes stood on the street corner, waiting for her with a sour expression on her face. When she saw Tani approach she at least switched to a smile and said nothing about her being late, at least directly.
"Do we have time to eat? I thought they were leaving at dawn."
Tani smiled and gestured for Eraes to follow. "Don't worry, when Corans say 'leaving at dawn' they really mean that dawn is when they'll start thinking about leaving. We have time."
"I guess they wouldn't leave without you. Me, I'm not so sure."
Eraes followed her as they moved into an alleyway, ducking under some early laundry strung up on a line. Though Tani had been trying to convince the other woman to experiment with more food instead of sticking to her rations, this was the first time she'd accepted. Right before they were about to leave, but that was better than nothing.
The entrance to the bread shack was still covered, but Tani felt confident enough to push through the curtain. She stayed there, holding it open for Eraes, and looked for the Coran owner. Gornoyo emerged, beaming at her. He was one of the roundest men Tani had ever seen, with a smile that seemed to split his shaved head in half.
"It is my little Rhen friend! And she has brought another friend! Come! Come and eat!" Gornoyo gestured wildly to the seats in front of the bar, then hurried off to bring them food.
Examining the seat skeptically, Eraes waited a long time before sitting down and raising an eyebrow at her. "This is the place that's going to change my opinion of Coran food?"
"Change your opinion? Probably not. But it's better than what you'd get in the shacks near the river, and you can't eat rations all the time."
"I don't think it's worth taking a chance on these... street shops. And those food wagons are completely unsanitary. But I suppose I trust your judgment."
At that moment Gornoyo returned, bustling everything into place in front of them. It was a combination she was used to by now: a large blob of bread, a bowl of noodles, and a smaller bowl of dags. What kept her coming back to Gornoyo's shop, other than his friendliness, was the fact that the sauce for the dags was excellent and he added extra flavor to his noodles.
"Eat!" Gornoyo patted the bread in front of her happily. "And who is your friend?"
"Sorry, Gornoyo. We need to talk about a few things before we leave."
"Ah! Yes, yes, of course." He tapped his lips in a strange gesture and disappeared back through the doorway to his house. Another advantage of eating here, not that they were going to talk about anything critical.
First, though, she watched Eraes. The other woman experimentally pinched several of the dags and popped them into her mouth. A moment later she choked violently. "All... all of you... will kill yourselves... with salt..." After recovering, however, she licked off her fingers. "But you were right, the sauce is good. Almost makes the salt on the fish worth it."
"Salt is dangerous?" Tani began eating her bread first, getting it out of the way.
"Not dangerous, but bad for one's health in such quantities."
"It helps preserve food, though. Can it be worse than rancid meat?"
"Probably not, but that doesn't mean it's healthy." Eraes took a blob of the bread, tasted it, and then put the rest back into the main mound without expression. "But it might not actually be a problem for you. I understand that warriors who train as hard as you do need to eat more than normal, so no doubt you need more salt as well."
Tani didn't answer for a while, mixing bread and dags and appreciating what she could from both. After swallowing, she spoke again. "What do people eat on Teralanth?"
"Oh, a thousand things. All kinds of game, properly cooked and seasoned. Candied lemons. Dumplings of-"
"What do poor people eat?"
That made Eraes pause, though only for a moment. "It's called rice. I'm not sure if it can be grown here, but I haven't seen it. It's the backbone of the Teralanthan diet, whether you're rich or poor. Like this bread, I guess... I can't quite believe it, but even wealthy Corans I've met with still eat bread alongside more expensive things. With rice you can prepare it in so many ways, or cook meat or vegetables in with it..."
"That sounds delicious. I'd like to try it."
"You don't have the faintest clue what it tastes like, how can you call it delicious?"
Tani had expected that objection and waved it away with her spoon. "I think that people spend so much time cooking their central food, they always find ways to make it delicious. We may not like Coran bread, but they obviously like it, so does that matter? Anyway, this 'rice' sounds very flexible, and more flavorful than bread. I think I'd enjoy it."
"You really have thought this through." Eraes ate some of her noodles and her eyes widened. "Oh, these are good."
"I thought so." Tani started eating her own, savoring them slowly. It had seemed rude to her to suck the noodles into her mouth, but Corans seemed to take that as an appreciation of the flavor. After she'd fully appreciated it, she looked back to Eraes thoughtfully. "Why are you spending more time with wealthy Corans?"
"Two reasons, actually. First, Kolanin sent me to try to negotiate some trade deals - it won't work, but I have to earn my keep. Second, I'm hoping I can find someone who runs ships far down the river. If I can make my way to Nol, I might be able to find a real ship back to Teralanth."
"You wouldn't get in trouble?"
Eraes rolled her eyes. "I bet they've already forgotten they exiled me. Considering that all Aryabaus wanted was the munitions, I doubt he's given me a second thought. I might not be able to go back home, but I'm not going to let my talent go to waste here."
"Kolanin can't use you as a tactician?"
"I hoped so at first, but I don't think it's really possible. Combat is too different here." Eraes began toying with the bread, shaping it into little balls on the table. "You do have siege warfare, but the Corans seem to try to avoid it."
"It's hard to support an army in the Chorhan Expanse, I think."
"That was my conclusion too. Anyway, aside from that, too many of the battles seem to boil down to each side just running at each other. It's too chaotic to give instructions, and even if I had a method of communication, I couldn't give much good advice. What can I say, 'fight better'? Too much comes down to raw strength here."
Tani was about to respond when she noticed that Eraes wasn't simply playing with her food. She was putting the balls into rows and columns, forming little squares. Perhaps it was an idle game, but Eraes seemed focused on what she was doing. "Are the balls... soldiers?"
"That's right." Eraes smiled appreciatively, though she didn't look up. She moved the balls into two opposite sides. "A normal Teralanthan army fights in large blocks like these - each ball would have to be many soldiers, of course. They're trained to move together, respond to orders given by horn, and so on."
"Oh, how strange..."
"Rhen don't fight like that?"
"No, not at all. Even if warriors fight on the same side, each fights for themselves. Traditionally all battles are between two warriors, though of course that tradition isn't often followed in wartime. It would be strange for everyone to just... become part of one body." Tani considered adding an apology for judging Teralanth, but Eraes rarely apologized and didn't seem to expect one.
"That might work in some contexts, especially forests, but on a plain? I'll take a disciplined formation any day."
"But what happens if one of the squares includes someone truly strong?" Tani shaped a blob of bread into a larger ball, then after a pause, drew an angry face on it. Eraes grabbed it immediately, surprisingly eager.
"That's where a tactician is needed! Well... even with basically trained soldiers, it's important to choose good ground, not to send cavalry against archers, and so on. But where things become truly interesting is when powerful individuals are considered." Eraes gestured with the larger ball. "Say that this is a warrior with unusually strong defenses, like a Catai. What happens if they go up against a formation of soldiers that are trained only in basic discipline?"
"He smashes through, I'd guess." It had been Tani's primary question ever since she realized the balls represented soldiers, though she also wondered about extremely fast warriors.
"Exactly. Their weapons do nothing, so poorly trained troops can be broken by one warrior. Even those with better training will become focused on him, leaving themselves more vulnerable. We call a warrior powerful enough to face no harm from an entire enemy troop a Bastion. They can break a formation or hold a line on their own."
"But what if one of the soldiers in the formation has more sein training? If the strong warrior just charges in, they could take injuries."
Eraes raised a finger directly at her, smile growing. "Exactly! That's a well-known trap, though it's included in enough stories that it's risky now. If the tactician knows what she's doing, she isn't going to risk a Bastion like that. And in any case, unless you are very certain how your opponent will act, you risk wasting the stronger warrior in a unit that will mostly just hold a line."
"I think I see now." Though Tani didn't feel the excitement that Eraes clearly did, she could imagine Eraes commanding soldiers on a strange battlefield half a world away. "You called someone like that a 'Bastion' - I guess there are other special names?"
"Oh yes, and many different names for troops with specialties and more than basic training. But the most important names are for individuals strong enough to turn the tide on their own. For example, a Cyclone is someone too fast to be harmed by the average soldier. They can't hold ground, but they're very valuable offensively if used at the right time."
As she spoke, Eraes was fashioning more balls. She set one behind the square of soldiers and stuck a dag into it pointing up.
"Say this is a commander. The third kind of notable soldier is a Fareye, someone who can threaten from a great distance. Normally the leader is protected behind the army, but one Fareye could shoot an arrow or throw a knife..." Eraes knocked the leader ball over with a finger. "Some tacticians always keep an elite of their own nearby to protect against a Fareye, but can you afford to hold back a valuable asset? The trade-off is-"
Someone cleared their throat loudly, making both of them jump. Tani looked up to find Gornoyo standing over them, frowning with his arms folded across his chest. "You are having fun with Gornoyo's bread, I see."
Tani swallowed and immediately lowered her gaze. "I am sorry. We meant no offense, we were merely speaking o-"
"No matter, no matter!" His frown broke into a loud laugh. "I am glad to see you have such fun. But you should not go hungry!"
Gornoyo scooped out a chunk of bread and dropped it down in front of Eraes.
"Eat! Eat and grow strong!"
With that, he moved back into the house, leaving Eraes staring flatly at the massively increased pile of bread. She looked up at Tani with such a disgruntled expression that Tani couldn't hold back a snicker. Eraes looked upset for only a moment before she laughed as well. Her laugh was quick and high, almost a giggle. It made Tani laugh more, though they quickly brought themselves under control. It was quite foolish of them to be playing with their food like children.
"I suppose that was childish," Eraes said.
Tani shook her head. "Thank you for the lesson, honored tactician."
"But... do I have to eat this? I'll cause offense if I don't, right?"
"Yes, most likely." Tani began eating some of it for her and focused back on Eraes. Though the moment had passed, she was still curious. "So... if I was Teralanthan, what role would I play? Not now, but assuming I was fully trained."
"That is a good question." Eraes sat back and considered her. "You have the talent to be either a Cyclone or a Fareye, but you're somewhere in between. There are always some who take their own paths, of course, but that's rare in Teralanth. Most are part of a major school with a highly developed training program."
Very different from Rhen training, which might draw on the tribe's traditions but was otherwise directed between master and warrior. They chatted lightly while Tani finished their food, then paid and left. The sun was high enough in the sky now that Tani thought the expedition might actually be leaving.
For some reason, as soon as they started walking back, her good mood evaporated. Maybe because they were no longer alone, or maybe because they had no choice but to think about what they were facing. In theory it was a simple hunting assignment, but the last time she had gone far out of town...
"Eraes..." They had talked about what had happened to them - there had been no choice - but Eraes had always seemed especially uncomfortable with the subject. Slaten was willing to talk plainly of the Hero, though he said he had no insight, but Eraes rejected the entire Legend as superstition. "The man who attacked us with the Yevee... where would he fall in the tactical system?"
"I don't know." Though the mornings were rarely cool, Eraes rubbed her arms as if for warmth. "He might not fall into any system. But it reminded me of those masters who spend their lives improving their sein, so much that it seems to have an effect around them. Perhaps someone who trained like that, without any guidance from a formal school..."
Tani wasn't sure. She knew what strength felt like, and though she wasn't confident in evaluating warriors far above her, she had some idea. During a Confederation of Tribes she had actually met the East Wind and felt the atmosphere of pressure around the man. Her master had told her that was something true masters could obtain, that it was impressive but not shocking.
The Hero had not been like that. That had not been sein, it had been... a force of nature.
Putting the thought into words clarified her thinking somewhat, but it didn't actually help. Tani swallowed and tried to take things in a less grim direction. "Well, they say that he's targeting mansthein soldiers. Hopefully we won't run into him."
"You never can tell what a madman will do." Eraes muttered under her breath in Teralanthan and didn't seem inclined to talk for the rest of the way out.
Outside the western gate, they found the caravan gathering in a grassy area before the road began. The wagons were empty now, ready to take back the many animals they were expected to hunt. She was glad to see a wagon with a tent-like cover - she had seen a few Corans in such wagons on the way to Bundlin and discovered that they were designed with space on the floor for easier sleeping. So the trip wouldn't be entirely uncomfortable.
Most of the group, Tani didn't know. Given that they were allegedly all well-trained, she was a bit nervous looking over all the Coran faces. To her surprise, she recognized one of them as a Coran warrior she had met when she first arrived at Bundlin - he had been the first to hold back the warrior who was still trying to attack. Tani smiled at him and he smiled back, but didn't seem to recognize her.
