KEMAL

"Keep your footwork light," he instructed his Trainees as they practised on straw Derelict dummies. Others took turns on the outskirts to provide arrow supports, guided by magick as to not strike friend but their foe. "Focus on the call of the core." He brought his hand up to push into Elias' space, quickly unbalancing them back onto the grass. "If you let your guard down for even a moment, they will take it." He moved away from Elias to investigate Styge's footwork. "It's not about the strength you put behind the strike. You must be firm, assured, and aware." He sent a hand into Styge's back, who almost tripped when he went for a strike on his static dummy. "Including what's around you. The difference between life and death is that awareness." He kept on his regular tangent of training. Nevan had yet to give him new patrol routes to test out the readiness of the Trainees, near the end of their road until they took their oaths. He tipped his head when Kayal turned to him. "What is it, Kayal? We're not taking a break yet."

Kayal lowered his arm to his side. "I just have a couple questions, Trainer Tyronai," he said, turning his back on the Derelict dummy. "Things that got me thinking while I was doing some studying on Derelict types."

Kemal crossed his arms while his other Trainees continued on their work, out of breath, but not out of time. "Can't it wait?" he questioned with a handwave at Kayal's lack of damage on his straw dummy. "If this is about your patrol routes, it is up to Captain Lotayrin to work something out." If he'd stop moping in the basement surrounded by his maps and books...

"No, it wasn't about that." Kayal holstered his crescent blade with a thoughtful hum. "It's about what we saw in those ruins. That Derelict? Or was it a Corruptor? Though I don't recall that Corruptors were more Derelict than themselves. Does that make sense?"

"You are correct, so I'm assuming this can't wait." Kemal huffed out abreath, unable to stifle the questions Kayal had. "Corrupters oft retain their 'true' forms. Their body. All the damage the Derelict does is within than without. I..." Kemal rubbed the back of his neck. "I will be quite frank and say I don't know what was different about the corruptor save the obvious." After a couple seconds of mulling over Kayal's question when the younger Warden said nothing else, he asked his own, "What is this about?"

"There have been reports of intelligent Derelicts," Kayal said. "We've read up on them — or, at least, I have. I was just wondering..." He sucked in a small breath. "Seeing as we've never seen the portal to the Echo Obscura... has there ever been anyone who's seen it? Went inside it, even?"

Kemal jolted with the rest of his Trainees who found themselves unable to hide their eavesdropping. "I—That is a question I don't know," he said. "I don't think anyone would know that."

"But we know for certain the Derelicts started appearing a thousand Turns ago?"

Kemal shrugged while the other Trainees stopped to listen in. "Not for certain... but more or less it happened within that timeframe. If you can trust the accuracy of history books in that time that aren't Obscura texts."

"Is that what Captain Lotayrin was trying to find?"

Kemal stared at his questioning apprentice.

"Does anyone really know what brought them through the echo to our star?" Kayal continued. "How did we even figure out what their weak point was?"

"Trial and error, Kayal. Obviously." Elias sniffed.

Kemal pinched his chin and his lips as Kayal turned to Elias with a shake of his head. "In the face of an unknown threat, your best weapon is what knowledge you can gain from it," he repeated the first words Kemal taught his Trainees when they entered the Order. "We found their weak points but not their origins?" Kayal faced him again, expectant, needing an answer, and he saw a younger version of himself, confused as to why, betwixt the blood and suffering, why they had yet to rid the world of their apocalyptic fiends.

"I'm afraid there's still a lot we don't fully understand," Kemal admitted. "These are good questions to have, Kayal. There's a lot of mystery surrounding the origins of the Derelicts." He turned to his Trainees, young, unblooded, but closing in on their inner truth. "Many of you came from places with different ideas as to the origin of them. In Hanaka, our star is akin to a giant tree of magick, spreading its branches throughout the land. What we call the Echo Obscura is a 'broken' branch within the flow, pouring forth the festering infection within the tree of the world." He stopped at the curious expressions. "That is mythos though, not truth. Not all of it, at least. As I said, if you trust the accuracy of history books we can actually read..." And not drive ourselves into a rabid obsession for those we can't... "About a thousand or so Turns ago, the first Derelicts first appeared, and magickaekind lost half their number in the Great Crimson Dusk. In the south of our continent, further than Haneka, Rasii-Vehnlah, the desert, still bears many scars from that time, and it is where the Derelict are at their strongest."

Kayal snapped his head up. "So is the portal there?"

"We're not sure," Kemal said. "Only extremely experienced Storm Wardens are posted there... and that is also where most of our losses are incurred in trying to find the truth — which it hasn't deigned to give."

All the Trainees dropped their heads. All, but Kayal, who retained the sense of curiosity. Kemal waved his hands with a huff. "If that's all, I want you to keep practising. You may take a break in a bell, until then, focus on your magick energy into the dummies and try to make one strike into its core. Sometimes that's the only chance you'll get." He left his Trainees in the relative safety of the warded field to wander into his own thoughts. I should check up on Neven... make sure his own questions didn't get the best of him.

Elvkin townsfolk milled about the market stalls, reminding him of home as they bartered and haggled for their produce. He made his way up to the treelodge, where the standard of the Storm Wardens rustled with the wind from the ocean. Its boughs danced with the call of the sea, where waves licked at the marble harbours. Another flash of homesickness strangled his throat, and he resolved to send another letter to his lord brother when time permitted. "Neven?" he called when he entered the back area. Home away from home.

I don't hear Maria upstairs... she must still be at the apothecary with the other Healers. Kemal shut the door behind him, closing off the wind. Melodic notes filled the silence, and he followed its source to the hidden lever. He pulled it, and the wooden wall opened up to another stone staircase, and the music continued. His footfalls filled the gaps within the resonation of the air, and he reached the final level.

A huge map of both continents spread across the wall. Several books piled on the table. In the chair with his back to him, Neven leaned into its arm, propping up what appeared to be a Naveeran lute, its white wood to carry the music, with its ice-laden strings to create the sounds. Kemal leaned against the wall to listen, waiting for Neven's attention to shift.

"Are you going to start singing?" Kemal mused.

Neven lifted and turned his head with a frown. Heavy shadows dragged down his Oathbound's face. "I... don't feel like singing." He drew his finger across the taut strings, where whispered snow followed his movements to join the gentle chimes. "Besides." His smile returned. "You know I cannot sing."

"It's not about being good at singing," Kemal pointed out as he took a seat. "Does Maria know you've been trapping yourself down here?"

"You both said to keep away from temptation." Neven's fingers rested on the board, and the music stopped, but never within his own voice. "That is what I am doing. Keeping away." He hugged the lute against his chest, resting the side of his head against the pegs. "I would've had answers to so many questions, but I suppose it was not meant to be." He played one, long, forlorn, deep note.

"Right, I don't think keeping yourself in the ground is helping either," Kemal pointed out and rounded the table, and Neven lifted his head up, where his feathers drooped as well with his ears. "Do you need any patrols sent out?"

Neven pursed his lips and put the lute to the side with a careful hand. His ears perked up again as he shuffled through written papers. "I did have something I wanted checked out," he said with a bit more energy within his chiming accent. "It's along the regular route if you wish to add a Trainee among who I plan on sending out. Though I will want to talk to said Trainee before they do. Just to get a couple things straight."

"I might have someone in mind — if you stop moping," Kemal teased and punched Neven in the shoulder, though as expected, Neven stared at him as if he grew multiple heads. "No? I thought we had this conversation already."

Neven rubbed his shoulder and rolled his neck. "What is this Trainee, then, that you have in mind?"

"Kayal," Kemal answered. "He's been asking a lot of questions lately... in no small part to him watching you chase your tail around that text." He frowned when Neven shuffled on his feet, so he continued, "He's as ready as the rest of them, but I want to put him in the field to see if he gains a new understanding — or new questions to add."

"Oh no." Neven huffed and grinned. "Another you. I don't think I can bear it."

"That's better." Kemal nodded and prodded Neven as he lifted up the scroll. "This it?"

"Yes, it should have all the details for him," Neven said. "As I said, I'll want to have a chat with him before they leave."

"Consider it done." Kemal moved to the staircase, with Neven following him from the table, full of turns of work and searching for an answer to their questions. "If you're having trouble, Nev, you know you can talk to me."

Neven stopped on the first step across the threshold to the house proper. "I... I shall be fine," he insisted. "I have yet to hear from Yuven or Yusari, so after I send out the patrol, I'll be looking to see if there is anything within the post." His pale-gold feathers perked up. "After Fenrer's last note, I am keen to hear from Yuven." The two went their separate ways on the bridge, and Kemal rushed back to his trainees.

All of them took their break when he arrived, chatting among themselves as he headed up to Kayal. "Warden," he said, and held out the scroll. "Captain Lotayrin has a task for you." He smiled. "You can consider this your first patrol." He turned to the other Trainees as they rushed to examine the letter with Kayal. "I swear to you all, your time is coming soon. You've all improved leaps and bounds since you were handed off to me when you first arrived here. Come time, you will be sent back to Euros and take your oaths." He rested his hand over his little star, brimming with his magick.

All of them whooped at work which bore fruit and bounty. Kemal smiled at their energy. Nothing changes, I suppose. "Kayal, if you have any questions — Neven will be discussing particulars on the morrow. So, be up bright and early," he instructed as Kayal's fellow Trainees patted him on the back in shared pride. "That will be the time to ask them. Though keep them concise and focused."

"I will, Trainer Tyronai." Kayal bowed deep. "Thank you for all you've taught us."

"I'm not done teaching you yet," he said and pushed Kayal into his friends. "You never stop learning. Remember that as you head into the unknown." He sighed, and brought a hand up to his temple. "I suppose we can be done for the day. Enjoy the rest of it, Wardens." He slammed his fist onto his heart, and they repeated the motion of support and light. "Go on, and don't cause trouble. Kayal, I suggest you take some time to read over that letter without distractions."

All of them dispersed with deft footwork.

Maybe someday they'll put that effort from absconding my training days into fighting against Derelicts. Kemal folded his arms as the last stragglers rushed away. Sometimes it makes me wish I could pit them against Yuven. He's barely older than they are, and already Neven's rank and took down a Goliath right into his last Trainee days. Maybe not though, ghost midget would make it a game... and they'd see it as torture.