Chapter 21: Chapter 21 Dodging Disadvantage

The Heirs exited the private training ground to find the other adventurers milling around in the open area between the training grounds, waiting to be picked up by individual mentors. Nathan spotted Artha easily and started walking in his direction, but was interrupted by Khachi holding out a hand to interrupt him.

“Today we’re having food with our families. Maybe another day you will share our dinner, but for today we will see you before bed. I have inscribed our meeting, Nathan.”

With that, he turned and walked away with the rest of the Heirs. Aarl and Sarah approached a wiry older man who was clearly their father, with the same coppery skin, dark hair and sculpted face. Khachi and Stella walked together, joking as they strode towards the familiar figures that Nathan had last seen incinerating the Grave Tangle.

Three of the five members of the Guardians of Gemore were standing together, a wide buffer of open space around them. Kia was in full plate armor with her helmet off, but it was hanging off her belt and in easy reach. Nathan watched Khachi approach and respectfully greet her, and she responded by jerking her head for him to follow. Meanwhile, Stella was greeted by hugs from both of the casters of the guardians of Gemore. Nathan remembered the spell he’d been pretty sure involved a fusion reaction, and eyed the soft-faced man who’d cast the spell. From here he seemed shy, even effacing, while the foxfolk at his side was more effusive, cupping Stella’s cheeks and asking a question.

Her response involved pointing at Nathan and all three turned to face him. He stopped watching them and sped up to meet Artha. He needed to keep in mind that the parents of his new ‘friends’ were able to beat the pants off a monster the size of a mountain. One whose attacks had broken the sound barrier.

No wonder they wanted to keep most people at arm’s length. That kind of power was bound to make nearly any social situation difficult. How did you talk to somebody when their parents were WMDs? Forget the trope of a dad threatening people with a shotgun, this would be like dealing with the daughter of a superhero. With that in mind, he went to meet Artha, who was to tutor him in the path of Rage.

Talking to Artha again was easy. He didn’t have to judge the effect of every word, or worry so much about how it would change his image. He’d fought for Artha, and Artha had fought for him. Back on Earth, Nathan wouldn’t have any idea what that meant. But here, now, it meant that he wasn’t quite so worried about how mere words would cause the big elk-centaur to think of Nathan. It was surprisingly restful, to have that feeling.

So, when Artha took him to a secluded glade among a small park on the side of the adventuring compound, he wasn’t restrained in his speech. “Did you see the team I was on? They’re so young, and exhausting.”

Artha seemed to think that was funny, chuckling as they walked. “Indeed. It speaks highly of you to be placed in such a team. But it has often been said that those born to greatness forever struggle to achieve it. I hope your team flourishes at their task. But now, we have training to do. Is there anything in particular you wish to do?

Nathan had been thinking about this. “I want to get some help from Emerald on something. Otherwise, whatever you think is best.”

Then, they spent a few hours talking of the path of Rage, and Artha ran him through a few exercises. Many of them had him focusing on what made him angry, and ways to control and channel that feeling. Artha had him feel for the anger, taught him to think of it as something that was always present and could be called on whenever necessary.

It was clear to Nathan that the Path of Rage was a balancing act disguised as a surrender. In order to truly embark on the Path you had to let your anger overwhelm you, uncaring of limitations. However, you could still shape the path that anger took, like guiding a raging torrent down certain channels. Nathan was glad he had Artha to teach him. There was an art to this not unlike his guided meditation. It was purpose without thought.

After some time they went to find Emerald, and Nathan asked them to run him through the footwork drill again. After a few repetitions, he asked both Artha and Emerald to throw some things at him and he’d try to use the movements from the drill Emerald had shown him to dodge.

It didn’t go great, at least at first. Artha had grabbed some random less-breakable things and so Nathan was dodging a rain of random chunks of wood and tools. He protested, pointing out they could be using pillows or clothes, but Artha pointed out that Davrar didn’t tend to respect non-hazardous training.

So, Nathan resigned himself to some bruises and got to dodging. At first, he was tempted to duck and weave, keeping his body weight low and stance even. But that wasn’t the point of what he was trying to do. He wanted to use the techniques that Emerald had taught him, to quickly shift position and allow for quick changes of direction.

After a few false starts and a couple of times where Emerald specifically pegged Nathan in the foot, he started to get into it. The trick wasn’t just to be light on your feet, it was to be careful and considerate of your momentum, and to be ready to change it at any time.

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