I nodded. It made sense. I didn’t want to jeopardize Faryn’s position with Xilarion, and while she was happy to bend the rules here and there, I was content to leave her to the gardens and her superb potion-making.
“What about you, Kumi?”
“There’s barely a drop of water around the monastery,” Kumi pointed out. “I’ll continue to train as I have been. I can’t drag waterskins out to train with you if you’d like to keep things quiet. They make too much noise.”
“Fair point,” Mahrai said. “What about you two? You going to come out with us?”
Vesma shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I think it’s too risky.”
Kegohr shrugged. “I’ll follow you, Effin. The training is great and all, but it’s been ages since we’ve been able to train together. So, I’m happy either way. If you head out, then let me know. I’ll be right there alongside you.”
Vesma muttered a curse. “This won’t end well.”
“Oh, stop being such a model student,” Mahrai said. “You’re just as keen to show off all your flying. You just won’t admit it to yourself. And you won’t let us go by ourselves. Airs or not, you want to get out of the monastery just as badly as we do.”
Vesma looked to me for support, but I just smirked at her.
“Come on, Ves,” I said.
“Fine,” she huffed. “When do we start?”
“Let’s give it a couple of days,” I said. “If I still can’t make any progress with Environmental Augmentation, I’ll knock at your door early in the morning.”
“Why then?” Kegohr asked. “Wouldn’t night be better?”
“Sure, but we’re less likely to be attacked by spinedrakes,” Vesma said.
“Ah. Right. Well, I’m for bed,” Kegohr said. “See you all for breakfast tomorrow.”
I laid awake that night and stared up at the ceiling as I worked my way through my meditation exercises. The meditative practices usually helped to clear my mind for sleep, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss in Flametongue Valley. The missing monks still hadn’t returned. Why had Tymo sent us out in the first place? Why hadn’t the Hierophant re-emerged from his meditations after the better part of a month?
They were all questions I didn’t have the answers to. But I’d find it out, sooner or later. For now, I needed to dedicate all of my energy toward my training. I was close. I could feel it every time I stretched out to touch the Vigor of the world around me. But I was missing something.
I mentioned it to Tymo the next morning. “It’s like there’s a wall around my mind, and I can’t push through it. Every time I try, I feel like I get a little closer.”
“Then you have begun to understand the difficulty of true Augmentation,” Tymo answered. “To cast techniques from your own body is a simple, straightforward method. To use it to power your physical form is simply an extension of that.”
He prowled around me and waved a hand. “Enough talk. Reach out again.”
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and let my senses crawl outward to the smooth floor of the monastery hall. Vigor throbbed within it, hummed in the air around me, and sat tantalizingly just out of my reach. I lifted a finger and tried to cast the smallest Untamed Torch I could. But, as before, the energy I needed flowed from my body.
“No,” Tymo said sharply. “Do it properly.”
“How?” I challenged him.
“There is no easy, simple path,” Tymo said. “Those of the Straight Path seek such power. You, as the next Swordslinger, cannot have any such inclinations. Again.”
I bit back a reply and tried again. Over and over.
But it was simply out of reach, and I couldn’t figure out why.
Tymo muttered something under his breath as I rose for dinner hours later.
“What was that?” I asked calmly.
“I am deciding whether or not to separate you from your companions to speed the process,” Tymo replied. “It’s obvious that they’re a distraction from your learning. You took to Physical Augmentation like a fish to water, but this is beyond you. A contributing factor may well be your conversations over dinner.”
“They’re a huge part of why I’m here,” I said. “It would have taken me much longer to get this far without their help at Radiant Dragon, and on my travels.”
“You will reach a point where you stand alone, Swordslinger,” Tymo snapped. “As our great teacher, Eresin, did. You will stand at the precipice, without your allies. Your reliance on them may very well be your undoing. And I will not allow you to fail in such a manner.”
“I’ll deal with it when I get there,” I told him. “The least you can do is to let us discuss our training together over meals. They might learn a strategy in Augmentation from the other brothers that could help me. Would you deprive me of that knowledge?”
Tymo's gaze met mine, and his eyes narrowed. “Do you trust to my teaching?”
“Do you think I’d be here if I didn’t?” I countered.
He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”
“You called them here along with me,” I reminded him. “Let us talk, at least, if you’re going to be so difficult about everything else.”
Tymo's jaw tightened, but he gave me a simple nod and left the hall without another word. I trailed along behind him with a grim smile and threw myself even further into the practices of Augmentation over the next two days.
“You need to do better,” Tymo told me at the end of the two days.
I opened my eyes, fought off a growl, and looked at him. “Any suggestions, then? Your earlier lesson for Physical Augmentation worked a treat. Is there some strategy that will make this easier?”
Tymo shook his head. “This is the way it has been done for
