Ruwen leaned away from the strike and sank into the First Step, dodging the blow and giving himself a solid base to ward off any other attacks. He felt a large disturbance in the air from his blind side. Likely one of Mist’s legs arriving to break his stance. He gave a silent thanks to Sift for the extra blindfolded practice.
Leaning forward, Ruwen placed his hands on the ground, relieving the pressure on his legs. Mist’s foot felt like solid terium as it struck his ankle, but without any weight, the sweep quickly broke his stance. Ruwen used the sweep’s momentum and added a hard twist of his hips, rotating his body around and aiming a kick where Mist’s head should be.
The kick met empty air and Ruwen funneled the energy into flipping himself upright. He kept his body relaxed and faced his attackers. Both sisters stood where they’d started, as if they hadn’t moved at all. Had he imagined the attacks? But his ankle throbbed from the brief contact with Mist’s sweep, so it must be real.
“That is true,” Mist said.
Mist appeared to be speaking to someone behind Ruwen. Was someone behind him? There was no way he’d look. That had to be the oldest trick in the universe.
“He moves like the warped one,” Thorn said to Mist.
Mist nodded. “A slight difference in breathing. This Adept’s focus is better.”
Ruwen wondered if the “warped one” they’d mentioned was Sift. The Addas had said he’d just completed his testing—
Thorn slapped Ruwen on the side of the head, just above the ear. “His focus seems to only last while in the Steps.”
Ruwen cursed himself for letting his thoughts wander. Rami would have made him pay for such inattention, too. But—
Mist slapped the exact spot on the other side of Ruwen’s head. “Yes, fascinating. Such focus in the Steps and then his mind becomes chaos, even in the second meditation.”
Ruwen focused on not thinking about anything. He vowed to himself he wouldn’t get slapped in the head again. It was embarrassing.
Thorn looked behind Ruwen, nodded and laughed.
Ruwen’s curiosity ravaged his mind, but he ignored it. It was likely a trick, and thinking about it would only get him slapped.
Mist stepped close to Ruwen, and Ruwen raised his arms a fraction to prepare to grapple.
Mist noticed the movement and studied him for a moment. “Your form is excellent,” Mist said. “Who is your Sisen?”
“Sift, son of Padda and Madda,” Ruwen said and bowed his head as Mist remained too close to him for an actual bow. Mist stepped back two steps, but Ruwen remained alert for an attack.
“Interesting,” Thorn said with a long look at her sister. She turned back to Ruwen. “Your Sisen appeared of similar age.”
Ruwen bowed fully this time. “That is complicated, but I can explain.”
“First, let us see what the Steps have taught you,” Mist said.
That was a weird thing to say. “Do you mean you want a demonstration of the Steps?” Ruwen asked.
“If that is what you have learned,” Thorn said.
Why did they keep phrasing it like that?
The two sisters stared at Ruwen and he didn’t know what to do. What had the Steps taught him? He had learned many things: discipline, focus, body control, confidence, beauty, a deeper appreciation for Rami. Unsure, he decided to just show them.
The area between the fountain and the pews provided enough room to demonstrate, and Ruwen bowed to each woman. He started with the Viper Steps, letting the hard and violent movements build up energy in his body. As always, by the end, he felt like he might explode.
Without pausing, Ruwen transitioned into the Bamboo Steps, letting the energy slowly seep away with each gentle and fluid motion. The final Bamboo Step brought him back to the exact place he’d began. He bowed to each woman again and remained silent, unable to read their expressions.
The sisters studied him but remained silent. Standing still felt like torture, but he knew better than to fidget. When it came to the Steps, respect for those further on the path was expected. Even Rami had demanded it.
Without an interface and its clock, Ruwen had no idea how much time passed. It felt like an hour, but had probably only been a minute or two.
Thorn broke the silence. “Which is the most important Step?”
Ruwen tried to hide his confusion. There were thousands of steps that made up the larger Steps. Did Thorn mean one of the small individual steps that combined to create the sequence or the sequence itself? Or maybe she expected some sort of philosophical response, like the first step or the step you don’t take.
Part of the problem was how Ruwen had learned the Steps. He had used Last Breath to shield his mind from the damage Rami caused by speeding up his thoughts in the Spirit Realm. They had trained together in Ruwen’s mind for over four and a half years without pausing to sleep or eat. It had allowed Ruwen to catch up to someone like Sift, who had spent his whole seventeen years of life immersed in the Steps.
Since Ruwen didn’t know the official names of many Steps, he decided to go with philosophical. He thought about what the Steps meant to him. “The most important Step brings me closer to my goal.”
“What is your goal?” Mist asked.
The truth was, Ruwen had lost sight of most of his own goals. In hindsight, they were trivial. He’d wanted to cast a fireball and strut around in a Mage’s robe. With a wince, he also remembered how he wanted to prove his parent’s innocence.
Now his path included the goals of others. Uru’s and Pen’s goals mostly, and they centered on the same thing.
Ruwen locked gazes with Mist. “My goal is balance.”
Mist nodded.
“Do
