The square had been cleared by dawn. Where children once chased each other with sticks, lines were now drawn into the dirt, circles etched for sparring, and baskets filled with stones to serve as weights. Hurukoya no longer laughed in the mornings. It trained.
Envelon stood at the center, staff digging into the earth. His cloudy eyes swept over the young ones gathered before him. "If you think your Enso is yours," he rasped, "you are already dead. Enso is the river. You are the vessel. Learn to shape it, or be drowned by it."
He raised his staff, and sparks of pale light gathered at its tip before bursting outward in a sharp beam that shattered a clay jar on the far side of the square. The explosion made the younger children flinch.
"That," Envelon said, his voice like gravel, "is what discipline can do. Now, your turn."
The children spread out, trying to focus their energy. Some managed small flickers, glowing threads of light. Others coughed as their energy sputtered out. A few beams cracked into the dirt, weak but promising.
Rei tried. His palms burned with unstable fire. He willed it to focus, to tighten into a beam. Instead, the air cracked violently, and the dirt beneath him split open in a jagged line. The children gasped and stumbled back.
Envelon's gaze fixed on him, heavy. "Wild. Wasteful. A flame that does not listen consumes its own master."
Rei lowered his hands, shame rising hot in his chest.
Across the square, Enid stepped forward calmly. His father Reganu watched from a shaded bench, pale and coughing but eyes sharp. Enid closed his eyes, breathing deep. His Enso flared, not violently, not erratically, but smooth, like water drawn into a single stream. He raised his palm, and a beam shot forth, striking a stone target with perfect precision.
The square erupted with murmurs. Enid didn't smile, didn't bow. He simply stepped back as if it meant nothing.
Kaien clapped him on the shoulder. "Show-off."
"Discipline," Enid corrected quietly. "That's all."
Mira helped one of the younger girls steady her hands, whispering encouragement. Tosa barked at two boys sparring too sloppily, shoving them back into line.
And through it all, Rei stood apart, fists clenched. He couldn't steady himself. He couldn't focus. Every attempt made him look more like the "curse" they whispered about.
Later, when the sparring ended, Reganu himself rose despite his sickness. His frame shook, his breath rattled, but when he lifted his hand, Enso bloomed around him like a tide. It shaped into a perfect sphere of light that hovered in the air, then split into four beams, each striking a target without missing.
The villagers fell silent, awe heavy in the air.
Reganu let the light fade, coughing hard into his sleeve. "Strength is not power. Strength is restraint," he told them, voice hoarse but firm. "A river carves stone not because it rages, but because it never stops flowing. Remember that."
His eyes lingered on Rei, then moved away.
Training ended by dusk. The villagers dispersed slowly, muttering about Enid's precision, about Reganu's mastery, about the need to be ready when the Elders came.
Rei walked alone toward the river, shoulders heavy. Every failure echoed in his head, drowning out even Kaien's usual jokes.
Footsteps followed him. Enid appeared, hands in his pockets, gaze calm as always. He stood beside Rei without speaking at first, just listening to the current.
Finally, he said, "You're fighting yourself."
Rei frowned. "What?"
"You force it. You push. That's why it breaks apart. Enso doesn't care if you're angry, or scared, or ashamed. It just flows. When you stop swinging at yourself, it will answer you."
Rei looked away. "Easy for you to say."
Enid's tone didn't change. "It's not easy. It's just mine. Yours will come when it chooses. Until then, stop bleeding yourself dry trying to catch it."
The words sank in heavier than Rei wanted to admit. He didn't reply.
Enid finally gave a small nod and turned to leave, his cloak catching the fading light.