11 Chapter 9 - The Importance of a Name

The first day ended in exhaustion, Ao Wen and her fellow students barely manifesting the energy to devour a bowl of spicy goat stew over rice before crawling back to their tents to collapse. Waking the next day proved immensely difficult but after yesterday's harsh lessons, no one dared to be late!

The second day set a pattern that would be followed for many days to follow. Mornings were spent on foundational techniques. Stances, movement, sword strikes and blocks. Ao Wen quickly learned that despite it's size, the long saber was a nimble weapon intended for close combat. While many techniques called for both hands to be on the hilt, this wasn't always the case. At times, one hand would move to the spine of the blade, guiding a stab towards its target or reinforcing a block. Other times, the pommel of the blade would be used for a strike, or the long hilt itself used to catch and pull at an opponent's body. The variations seemed endless.

When the sun approached its zenith each day, Teacher Xie brought the students to an open sided tent to take lunch in the shade. While the students ate, Teacher Xie lectured about fighting principals. Positioning, bridging the gap, angle of attack, broken rhythm, all of these and more became familiar concepts as teacher Xie lectured. "Warriors fight three battles," he said one day. "The simplest battle is the battle of techniques - strikes and blocks, attack and defense, the movement of the body to deliver a killing blow. The second battle is the battle of the mind. Like a game of chess, you must think several moves ahead. Deceive your opponent, hiding your true intentions. Drive them to a position that gives you an advantage. Make them believe that they control the fight while you lure them into your traps. Out think them and you can out fight even a stronger opponent."

"What's the third battle?" Jun Xiang asked between delicate bites of stew. Despite the harsh conditions, Jun Xiang never lost the temperment of a true Fairy, always poised, graceful and thoughtful in her actions.

"The battle of clashing will," Teacher Xie answered. "When your muscles burn, when your strength flows from your body with the blood of many wounds, when pain clouds your vision and death looms before you, it is your will to survive and achieve victory that cannot fail. Against the most challenging of foes, against the most dire of circumstances in the most unfavorable conditions, if your will falters, only death awaits you. Break your opponent's will and their death is assured. The day your will breaks, you can only hope for death."

"Hope for death?" Jun Ben said with a frown. "Even if I lose the will to fight, isn't it better to cling to hope to survive?"

"If your will is broken," Teacher Xie said with a disapproving stare, "the survival you gain may be far worse than a simple death. If your will is broken, will you give up your fellow clansmen to preserve your own life? Betray secrets? Become a tool of the enemy to sabotage? Will you spend your days as a tortured soul, reduced to a plaything for others? You think that only women have to fear being kept alive to be the plaything of men but I promise you, there are deviants in this world that would defile your body in ways that make you yearn for death. If you cannot obtain victory, and you cannot escape defeat, at least possess the will to die," Teacher Xie said forcefully. "After all, there are many things in this world worse than death."

Teacher Xie's lectures were often like this. Practical advice like how to step to gain additional reach blended with deeper insights about living a life of violence and were accompanied by stern warnings lest his students think that their sparring sessions were simple sport.

Lectures were followed by partner drills, putting the content of the lecture to immediate practical use, learning how to face off against an actual opponent. Some drills were simple combinations of attack and defense or moving in relation to each other. Other drills could be more punishing, peppering each other's bodies with bruises from blows that failed to stop short or scrapes from being knocked to the ground. Under the blistering sun, they sharpened each other as a stone sharpened knives.

The last hours of the day, as the air began to cool and shadows became long, they returned to the stone pillars, practicing the Rending Pincer. On the third day, Jun Ben humbled himself and asked Ao Wen for a stone to mark his pillar with. Meanwhile, Ao Wen turned to Jun Xiang, watching as she more perfectly emulated Teacher Xie's movements. It wasn't until the fifth day that Teacher Xie demonstrated the strike again. This time, each of them knew enough from their struggle to pay attention to the details they had been struggling with. The insights they gained were significantly greater than what they retained from his first demonstration.

As the days continued, everyone began to change. Jun Yang became even more massive, his body gleaming like sculpted bronze as his muscles worked through the motions. All of the young men seemed to be going through similar transformations, even the wiry Jun Ben had begun to show signs of developing broad shoulders on his slender triangular frame. The young women, on the other hand, had abandoned most attempts to maintain a gentle appearance. Robes had given way to men's tunic and breeches that were more practical to move in. Even Jun Xiang had given up wearing her hair in braided buns as they only trapped heat and sweat, opting with the rest of them for a high tail that kept hair both away from their eyes and off their necks that were slick with sweat.

Ao Wen tried not to think about how much time was passing as she had no idea how to wake from this dream, vision, memory or whatever it was. Was each day she spent here a day that passed in the real world? Was it like a dream that felt like it lasted for days only to find an hour had passed? She didn't know. All she could do was to focus on the lessons and hope that when she progressed far enough the dream would release her.

After a month, the students had all destroyed several wooden sabers. Ao Wen had begun to guide coppery earthen energy through her meridians along with the sword strikes, surrounding the saber with a faint earthen aura. Teacher Xie recreated the stone pillars every few days as they began to accumulate damage from the increasingly heavy strikes of the students. A second month passed, and then a third. Their practice area had become littered with broken stones and the pillars had thickened by hand a meter in diameter. Ao Wen and the others drew deeply on the power of earth as they tried to cross the ever shrinking gap between failure and successfully executing the technique. While no one had yet succeeded in rending a pillar in two, it no longer felt impossible. Instead, they had begun to compete with each other to be the first to succeed.

One evening, Teacher Xie called the group together after a familiar dinner of spiced goat stew and rice. "Tomorrow," he said, addressing the group. "Tomorrow we will be leaving camp for a few days. We'll head into the foothills of the mountains to hunt Goldsun Mountain Lions," he paused for a moment to let the students absorb the news that they would have to put their skills to a very real and very deadly test. "The beast core of the Goldsun Mountain Lion can be forged into a defensive treasure, whether a bracer, a helm or some other item, it will be a valuable addition to your arsenal. Before we set out, you'll be receiving a black bladed saber of your own. Think carefully tonight on what name you'll bestow on your blades."

"I thought only famous blades forged by master smiths carried names," Ao Wen said, confused by why they needed to name something that was surely an ordinary blade. "Besides, aren't the names of weapons conferred by their maker?"

"Names are important Jun Biyu," Teacher Xie said patiently. Ao Wen no longer felt dissonance at being addressed by the other name. Rather, lately, she had been struggling to keep her life as Ao Wen in mind.

"Your saber is your partner in battle," Teacher Xie continued. "You live and die together on the battlefield. A trusted partner deserves a name. Others don't need to know the name of your blade, but you must. While some makers will bestow a name, most blades are named by their wielders. Over time, as you and your partner cleave your path forward, your saber may awaken a will of its own. This is a rare thing that you shouldn't expect to happen more than once every thousand or more years, but it is virtually impossible for an unnamed blade to awaken. Treat your blade well and it will never betray you. You may outgrow it one day, it may break on you, potentially at the worst time, but it always deserves your care and respect. Now get some rest. We leave at first light."

Within their tent, neither Ao Wen or Jun Xiang found it easy to sleep. "Sister Biyu," Jun Xiang whispered from her bed. "What are you going to name your saber tomorrow?"

"I don't know," Ao Wen answered. "I have a few ideas but none of them feel right. What are you going to name yours?"

"You'll laugh," Jun Xiang said with a hint of a smile. "I know we're supposed to draw inspiration from the Obsidian Night Scorpion but I don't find that it resonates with me at all. I want to name my saber after something that will guide me to a saber art that belongs to me alone."

"Why would I laugh at that? I don't think this will be the only saber art I ever learn either," Ao said, thinking of the other techniques she'd find in her inner world.

"Butterfly," Jun Xiang said lightly. "The Rending Pincer doesn't feel like a Pincer to me at all. It feels like the rapidly beating wings of a butterfly. That's the path I want to follow."

"That's a very violent butterfly you've found," Ao Wen teased.

"See! I knew you'd laugh!" Jun Xiang pouted for a moment. "Now really. I shared. What about you?"

"Okay, okay, I guess mine is just as silly. I was thinking of Stonecutter. Or Dragon Fang. Or maybe Midnight. See? I don't know," she finished in a voice tinged with frustration.

"Better not use Stonecutter," Jun Xiang advised. "How often has Teacher said 'swords cut, sabers cleave' to us. If you say your saber will cut, I think he'd take offense."

"Yeah, probably," Ao Wen said. How could she explain that Stonecutter was in honor of her father? In this life she was living, her father was someone completely different! Still, she'd found inspiration in his words many times this past month. "Dragon Fang then," she said at last. "For a partner, I want the strength of a dragon at my side." After all, it had been a dragon at her side that helped her open the door to her Soul Palace to awaken. She couldn't feel the aura of dragon blood here, but the idea of a dragon fighting with her still gave her courage.

"Dragon Fang," Jun Xiang said softly. "Somehow, it suits you."

"You think so? I'm glad."

Having made their decisions, the two young women drifted quickly off to sleep. The next day, whatever happened, they felt they'd surely need the rest.