Chapter 399: Book 6-20.1: Enemy at the Gate

Yuriko staggered out of her bedroom and saw Gwendith glaring at Desire. She was trembling, biting her lower lip with her eyes ablaze.

“Gwendith?” Yuriko asked, interrupting the staring match.

The other girl had regained much of her presence and somehow, managed to return her hair into her signature corkscrew curls. She was still a bit thin but whatever the healers had done, as well as the drops of Ambrosia she fed the other, had done much to return her to her former beauty and elegance.

“Oh, Yuri.” Gwendith broke away from her staring match and smiled at her. “May I come in?”

“Please.”

Desire stepped back and gestured for the other to enter then moved towards the couch and sat.

“What’s she doing here?” Gwendith muttered in a low voice.

“Oh, since she's bound to me, they allowed her to attend to my quarters.” Yuriko shrugged. “I thought she might help with the healers but they didn’t want a stray Chaos Lord’s help. Shortsighted, if you ask me.”

Gwendith nodded, then looked at her. Her eyes went from meeting Yuriko’s eyes then down to her body.

“Er, shouldn't you put something on?” Her cheeks were slightly pink.

Yuriko arched an eyebrow. Since she didn’t want to wear the nightgowns Ryoko had left her, she had just stripped down to her underwear and a chemise. They were all women here anyway.

“It’s fine. I’ll throw on a bathrobe if you’re bothered.”

“Not at all,” Gwendith said under her breath but just loud enough for Yuriko to hear. “Ah, please do.”

“Alright.”

Yuriko went back into her bedroom, took one from the wardrobe and put it on. Honestly, it wasn’t much better than her chemise since the hem only reached just below her hips. When she came back out to the living area, Gwendith had taken one of the dining table chairs and had resumed her staring match with Desire. She had a pile of neatly folded clothes set on the table.

Oh, those were hers!

“Thank you for lending these to me. I wasn’t sure if you preferred to have them laundered since you said your backpack had cleaning runescript weaves.”

“Yes, that’s fine,” Yuriko assured her. “Thank you.”

She picked up the clothes with her kinesis, did the same with her backpack, stuffed them inside the laundering runescript and fed it enough Animus to cycle.

Gwendith stared at Yuriko’s face the entire time, then reddened when their eyes met. “So, uh, what are your plans now?”

“Now? Well, I originally planned to head towards home, Faron’s Crossing. My youngest brother is there. I don’t know where Kato wound up since he graduated. Er, I didn’t know that Marron, my eldest brother, was stationed here, though we just missed him according to his…er, girlfriend.” Yuriko shook her head. “I didn’t think he’d have one, honestly.”

“You disapprove?”

Yuriko blinked in surprise.

Did she? She’s only met Niamh back in the Watchtower and barely knew her… But then again, she was quite bubbly and perky, quite the opposite of Marron’s dour looks. They complement each other. Right?

Shaking her head, she muttered. “Not really, just that I don’t really know her.”

“Huh. Well.” Gwendith shifted her stare towards Desire, frowned then asked, “What about her, though? Why did you bind her?”

“Desire is…was, Ashley Gin, one of my friends from back in Faron’s Crossing. She was taken while we were at Rumiga City.”

“Pardon, Master, but I don't remember any of this,” Desire said while she fidgeted.

“I know, dear.” Yuriko sighed. “But I’m hoping by bringing you to your family you’ll recover your memory.”

“If you say so. But, what happens then, Master? If I don’t recover my memories? Or even if I do?”

“Surely you’d like to return to them?”

Desire shook her head. “I’m bound to you, Master. Unless you release me.”

“And how do I do that?”

Desire smiled. “You can devour my Essence.”

“Ah, alriiight,” Gwendith coughed. “Let’s not speak about devouring anyone. Ahem.” She tapped her fingers on the table. “I’ve never heard of humans being turned into Chaos Lords before. How sure are you that it is really your friend Ashley?”

Yuriko gestured at Desire’s face. “She looks exactly like her?”

“Yes? And didn’t that Chaos Lord, the one you fought a couple of years ago, look exactly like you?”

“Oh, uhm…” Yuriko felt her cheeks redden. “She just feels like it?”

Gwendith’s eyebrows almost disappeared into her hairline. “You must really trust your intuition.”

“Er, yes.” Yuriko coughed. “Well, the Seeker’s words also matched up with the circumstances. She said as much while she taunted me in battle.”

“You believed her?”

Yuriko shrugged. “It didn’t matter until I met Desire.”

“Oh,” Gwendith cleared her throat. “I came here to, well, to share with you that I’ve finally advanced to Journeyman last night.”

“Congratulations!” Yuriko said with a wide smile, “I think you would have achieved it earlier if you hadn't been…”

“Yes, I think so, too. It’s funny, but I’ve always taken Zoi Elixirs to increase my Animus cap, but for some reason, my reserves had increased without taking any.”

“A natural increase. That happened to me, too,” Yuriko said easily.

“You…you are an excellent swordswoman, aren’t you?”

“I practice.”

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“Do you mind teaching me?”

“Huh? Didn’t you practice the quarterstaff before?”

“Yes, but that didn’t really do much for me.”

“I see. I shall endeavour to help you transfer your skill then.”

“Today?”

“I, yes. Let us have breakfast first, then let’s train,” Yuriko muttered. “I forgot to do my morning training.”

“Oh?”

“Ah, ehehe, I usually don’t when I travel, but now that I’m back in civilisation, I normally train before breakfast. But, well,” She looked pointedly at the windows which showed the morning sun well above the Veil.

“Mind if I join you?”

“Not at all,” Yuriko said as she stood up.

She was half tempted to just use her kinesis to call her clothes to her. Her Anima could reach the entirety of the suite after all. However, the convenience would eventually make her lazy so best head that off. She went inside the bedroom but left the door slightly ajar so they could still speak comfortably.

“Do you want to learn the sword or would you rather I adapt the Four Phases of the Sword to staffwork?”

“The Four Phases?” Gwendith asked curiously.

“Flowing Water, Jade Mountain, Roaring Volcano, and Sweeping Gale.”

“Ah, like the one Kale Kinnock used.”

Kinnock? Hmmm, ah! Senior Kale, of course. She hadn’t thought about that boy since she left. How was he, she wondered.

“That’s part of it. During my brief time in Realmheart, one of the Armsmasters there, Swordmaster Kinohara, insisted that I should learn the Four Phases. I thought it had been a waste of time, but it actually meshed well with the sword dances my Facet taught me,” Yuriko explained as she doffed her robe and her chemise.

She’d taken off her breastband for the night as she’d heard the saleslady who sold her the garment give her some advice on caring for her bosom. Unsolicited advice, honestly, but no less interesting. Her bosom had grown enough that they bounced uncomfortably when she moved too quickly. She could probably prevent that from happening by using her kinesis, but it would take some of her focus. The breastband helped with the tenderness too.

“Your Facet? Ah, yes, I remember.” Gwendith said from the living area. “I’d like to learn what you can teach. And what do you recommend? You’re the master swordswoman.”

“Hardly a master,” Yuriko said.

Well, she only really had one outfit. In three style variations, yes, but the third one was still out on loan, and the one Gwendith gave back was still being cleaned. Thankfully, the one she’d been wearing had already gone through the laundry cycle. She fiddled with the runescript weaving and changed the colour of the overcoat from grey to light blue with gold highlights. She brushed her hair with her fingers. It was smooth and silky, easily bound by the forceweave ribbon. She kept the colour a close match to her hair, to hide it.

“I can teach you the forms. And perhaps help you apply it in battle.”

“That would be wonderful,” Gwendith said with sparkling eyes when Yuriko returned to the living room. Desire came out of the bathroom, having changed to her usual dress, which honestly looked too light for the cold even if it did cover her from her neck to the tips of her toes.

The three of them left their floor and entered the southern barrack’s dining hall, where a breakfast of ration bar porridge was served along with weak tea. At least it was warm.

Even at this early hour, or perhaps despite it, the courtyard was full of drilling centuries. Yuriko watched with some interest while Gwendith observed them with a rather critical eye. They were drilling in squads, and from what Yuriko could determine, most of the five-person teams weren’t the complete circle. Most had two or three Warders while the rest were either Strikers or Destroyers. Very few had Scouts or Controllers included in them.

“The Scouts are probably outside doing their jobs,” Gwendith said when she asked. “And Controllers aren’t really all that common.”

“Your designation was Controller, wasn’t it?” Yuriko asked.

“Yes, it was.” Gwendith sighed. “All of the Sharines were designated as such due to the nature of our Heritage. Cold slows and freezes, after all.”

“I see. Well then,” Yuriko changed the subject, “attend with the forms.”

She handed Gwendith a training side-blade. She wasn’t able to find a proper training blade, so she had to create one of her own with her Animus. It was the proper length and weight, but the edges were blunted.

Yuriko cycled through forms one to thirteen of Flowing Water at a sedate pace, though the blade moved quickly enough that the wind whistled with its passage. After Flowing Water, she cycled through the next thirty-nine forms, then settled into a neutral stance, with her hands by her side and blade pointed down. From that position, she could transition to any of the forms across all four Phases.

The ambient Chaos around her quivered with her Resonance and it was only when she stopped that the elemental conversion neutralized. “Any questions?” She asked, turning to face Gwendith, only to freeze when she realised that the whole courtyard was staring at her.

As soon as she stopped, the courtyard was filled with whistling and applause.

“Wonderful, Yuri,” Gwendith said with a smile. “That was a rather mesmerizing dance. I, uh, I couldn’t look away, and er, I’m ashamed to say I was too distracted to remember the sequences.”

Yuriko rolled her eyes and waved off the admiration. Before she could say anything though, one of the Centurions, someone who was in the conference room during her debriefing, approached.

The woman was a few inches shorter than she was, had short brown hair and charming grey eyes. She offered a salute, with fist over her heart. “That was a wonderful display, Knight Yuriko Davar. Ah, Centurion Riona Lleufer, Colossi Core Pilot.”

“Nice to meet you,” Yuriko said as she returned the salute, side-blade in hand, the protocol differed slightly. The blade was held in a fist and brought over the heart, with the edge of the blade pointing to the left and the tip pointing straight up.

“I imagine you don’t remember me,” Centurion Lleufer said. “In normal circumstances, our passing acquaintance would have been quite forgettable too, but we met during an attack by Stonetoises in the Zarek Mountains. You were still a Novice then.” She shook her head, “A prodigy and a genius, is what you are. I could scarcely believe my ears when I heard the Commander proclaim that you were a Knight, already. But from your skill, well, it’s not hard to believe now.”

“Oh, uh, thank you,” Yuriko said, flushing slightly.

“No, thank you for such an elegant showing. Do you mind if I observe? I’m not well versed in the sword myself, but being a Colossi Core Pilot is a cross-discipline. Every other bit of knowledge and skill serves us well.”

“I don’t mind.”

Yuriko repeated the forms, but at a much slower pace. She had Gwendith going through them after an hour, just the first three Flowing Water forms though. The other girl was a bit stiff, and Yuriko suggested she include flexibility training in her morning exercises.

Soon enough, quite a few of the militia followed along. Yuriko couldn’t resist giving instruction upon seeing most of them fumbling through the forms. She spent the few hours until lunch teaching, giving a few of them some personal attention.

But she was sure that they had their own schedules, right? Well, since this was an outpost instead of a training camp, other than morning fitness and drills, and unless they were designated to patrol, most of them were rather free. Not that there was much to do here.

They continued to train in the afternoon, and Yuriko saw marked improvement in both Gwendith’s and the other militiamen’s forms. Perhaps a few more weeks of training would result in even more improvement?

Dinner that evening was quite pleasant. Yuriko and Gwendith shared more ration bar stew, though at least this time they added enough spices to give it a proper taste. They were just finishing up when there was a commotion outside, and just as they exited the building, the alarm was raised.

Attack imminent.

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