Kel woke the next morning still thinking about Dyrain Stonesborn.
There had been something strange about the way the man looked at him yesterday. Not threatening exactly, but uncomfortable enough that Kel had noticed. Dyrain had barely known him for a few minutes, yet his eyes had stayed on him as if he were trying to solve something.
Luno had noticed too.
Of course he had.
By the time they reached the orphanage training yard, Luno had already brought it up three times.
"I'm telling you, he knew something."
Kel rolled his shoulders as they walked through the gate. "You think everybody knows something."
"Most people do."
"That doesn't even make sense."
"It does if you think about it."
"I'm not thinking about it."
"That's usually your problem."
Kel gave him a sideways look.
Luno grinned.
The morning sun was still climbing over Durnfield, but the Badlands were already warming. Wind pushed through the cracked fence surrounding the training yard, carrying dust across ground scarred by years of drills and sparring.
Harven was waiting for them near the center.
So was Dyrain.
Kel slowed.
"There he is."
"I can see that," Luno whispered.
Dyrain had traded yesterday's cloak for simpler traveling clothes, but somehow that made him look more dangerous. He wasn't carrying a weapon Kel could see. He didn't seem like he needed one.
Harven folded his arms.
"You're late."
Kel looked toward the sun.
"By what, two minutes?"
"Three."
"That doesn't sound late."
"It does when I'm waiting."
Kel muttered something under his breath.
Harven's eyes narrowed.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, Captain."
Luno immediately looked away, hiding a smile.
Dyrain watched the exchange quietly.
Then his attention returned to Kel.
There it was again.
That stare.
Kel finally frowned. "Do I know you?"
Dyrain's expression didn't change.
"No."
"Then why do you keep looking at me?"
Harven answered before Dyrain could.
"Because you're ugly."
Luno burst out laughing.
Kel turned toward him. "Why are you laughing?"
"Because he's right."
"Both of you can shut up."
Even Dyrain smiled slightly.
The tension broke, but Kel noticed something else.
Harven and Dyrain exchanged a quick look.
It lasted less than a second.
Kel still caught it.
Before he could question them, Harven stepped forward.
"You already know who Dyrain is. What I didn't tell you yesterday is why he's still here."
Kel looked between them.
Harven continued.
"You two have improved. You've led missions, kept your squad alive, and learned enough about Qi to stop walking blind into every fight."
"That's a compliment coming from you," Luno said.
"It wasn't."
Luno nodded. "There it is."
Harven ignored him.
"I've taught you what I can while handling this town and everything happening around it. Dyrain can take you further."
Kel's expression changed.
"You're not training us anymore?"
"I didn't say that."
Harven walked toward him.
"I said he's taking you further."
Kel understood the difference.
Harven wasn't replacing himself.
He was adding someone.
Dyrain stepped into the training ring.
"Harven says you've learned to sense the three forms of Qi."
"A little," Kel said.
Luno answered differently.
"We can identify External Qi through environmental disruption, Internal Qi through changes inside the body, especially during concentrated movement, and Soul Qi through intent, emotion, and presence."
Kel stared at him.
"You practiced saying that?"
"No."
"You definitely practiced saying that."
Dyrain chuckled.
"Good. At least one of you listens."
Kel pointed at Luno. "Don't encourage him."
Dyrain motioned for them to enter the ring.
"Show me."
Kel's joking disappeared.
He and Luno stepped forward.
Dyrain stood across from them.
"Close your eyes."
They obeyed.
Kel breathed slowly.
Harven had drilled this into him night after night.
Don't search for everything at once.
Separate it.
The wind came first.
External.
He felt it brushing against his arms and face, moving naturally across the yard. Dust rolled along the ground. Dry branches scraped together outside the fence.
Nothing strange.
Then Internal.
His attention shifted inward.
Heartbeat.
Breathing.
Heat.
That familiar current inside his body was easier to find now. It wasn't the wild thing it had been weeks ago. He still couldn't fully control it, but he could follow it.
Then Soul.
That was harder.
Kel reached outward with his senses.
Harven was familiar.
Heavy. Controlled. Guarded.
Luno was easier. His presence always seemed busy somehow, as if even his Qi couldn't stop thinking.
Then Kel touched Dyrain's presence.
His eyes snapped open.
Dyrain hadn't moved.
Kel took a step backward anyway.
"What the hell?"
Luno opened his eyes too.
His face had changed.
Harven watched them carefully.
Dyrain smiled.
"What did you feel?"
Kel stared at him.
"I don't know."
"Try."
Kel hesitated.
"Big."
Luno shook his head. "Not big."
Kel looked at him.
Luno continued staring at Dyrain.
"Deep."
Dyrain's smile widened slightly.
"Better."
Kel frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"It means you're still thinking about Qi like it's a number."
Dyrain walked between them.
"A person with more Qi isn't automatically stronger. A lake contains more water than a river, but a river moves. It pushes. It cuts through earth. It changes depending on where it travels."
Kel remembered Harven using a similar comparison.
"Captain said Qi was like a river or ocean."
"He's right."
Dyrain glanced toward Harven.
"For once."
Harven didn't react.
Dyrain stopped in front of Kel.
"The amount matters. But so does control."
He placed two fingers against Kel's chest.
"And your problem is control."
Kel looked down at his hand.
"You figured that out already?"
"I figured it out yesterday."
That caught Kel's attention.
Dyrain stepped away.
"Harven."
Harven sighed.
"I know that tone."
"Hit him."
Kel turned.
"What?"
Harven moved.
Kel barely saw it.
His arm came up instinctively as Harven's palm struck his forearm.
The impact knocked Kel backward.
He slid several feet through the dirt before stopping.
"Damn!"
Harven remained where he was.
Dyrain pointed toward Kel.
"What did you do?"
"Got hit."
"I saw that."
Luno snorted.
Kel ignored him.
Dyrain continued.
"Before the impact."
Kel thought about it.
"I reinforced my arm."
"With?"
"Internal Qi."
"How much?"
Kel hesitated.
"I don't know."
"Exactly."
Dyrain walked closer.
"You reacted correctly. Your body knew danger was coming, so your Internal Qi rushed toward the point of impact."
He tapped Kel's forearm.
"But you sent too much."
Kel blinked.
"How can using more be bad?"
"Because that Qi had to come from somewhere."
Dyrain suddenly kicked Kel's leg.
Kel's knee buckled.
He caught himself before falling.
"What was that for?"
"You protected your arm and weakened everything else."
Kel looked down.
That hadn't happened during Harven's earlier training.
Or maybe it had, and he'd simply never noticed.
Dyrain crouched.
"Your Internal Qi moves quickly. Very quickly."
His expression became more serious.
"But you treat it like a flood."
Kel frowned.
Dyrain dragged a line through the dirt.
"A flood has power."
He drew another line branching from it.
"But it wastes water everywhere."
More lines followed.
"A master doesn't flood his entire body every time something happens. He sends exactly what he needs, exactly where he needs it."
Kel studied the lines.
"Like pathways."
"Exactly."
Dyrain stood.
"Harven taught you to find the river."
He looked at Kel.
"I'm going to teach you how to control the current."
Something about the words made Harven's expression tighten.
Dyrain noticed.
Kel didn't.
Luno did.
Before he could study the reaction further, something moved beneath his hat.
Luno froze.
A tiny voice whispered near his ear.
He feels strange.
Luno's eyes widened slightly.
Spark.
The voice had been getting clearer over the past few days, but every time it happened, Luno still needed a second to remember he wasn't imagining it.
Very strange.
Luno glanced toward Dyrain.
"You feel it too?"
Kel turned.
"Feel what?"
Luno immediately realized he'd spoken aloud.
"Nothing."
Kel stared at him.
"You're doing the bug thing again, aren't you?"
"They're not bugs."
"They're definitely bugs."
Rude.
Luno pressed his lips together to keep from laughing.
Dyrain's attention shifted toward his hat.
For the first time that morning, genuine surprise crossed his face.
Only briefly.
But Luno saw it.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
---
Hundreds of miles south, Welther was already roaring with life.
Caravans rolled through its wide streets while merchants shouted over one another beneath cloth-covered stalls. Frontier Arms, Qi beast hides, medicine, preserved food and traveling supplies filled the market district.
At the center of it all stood the Mission Hall.
Roku studied the wall of contracts.
Solara stood beside him, reading another row.
"Bandit patrol. Caravan escort. Missing merchants. Border watch."
She moved to the next notice.
"Nothing about the Hellfire Rebels."
Roku didn't look surprised.
"They wouldn't write it plainly."
"Then what are we looking for?"
"Things that don't belong."
He pulled one contract free.
Unidentified movement near western trade routes.
Another.
Abandoned caravan. No bodies recovered.
Another.
Unknown symbols discovered near border settlement.
Solara's expression slowly changed.
"You think they're connected?"
"I think somebody doesn't want people asking why they might be connected."
She looked at him.
"You're scary good at this."
"Patterns."
Solara smiled faintly.
"That sounds like something Luno would say."
Roku paused.
Then reluctantly nodded.
"Yeah."
He didn't seem happy about agreeing.
Solara laughed.
Roku grabbed the three contracts.
"We start here."
---
Back in Durnfield, Kel was exhausted.
He sat in the dirt with his arms resting across his knees while sweat ran down his face.
Dyrain hadn't taught him a new attack.
Hadn't shown him some legendary technique.
He had simply made Kel move his Internal Qi again and again.
Arm.
Leg.
Chest.
Back.
Fist.
Feet.
Every time Kel used too much, Dyrain hit somewhere else.
Every time he used too little, Dyrain hit the exact spot he had failed to reinforce.
Kel hated him already.
Luno had spent most of the lesson trying to predict Dyrain's movements.
That hadn't gone much better.
Dyrain hadn't repeated the same pattern twice.
Harven leaned against the fence.
"You two look terrible."
Kel glared at him.
"You knew this was going to happen."
"Of course."
"You could've warned us."
"Wouldn't have changed anything."
Kel couldn't argue with that.
Dyrain looked down at him.
"Again tomorrow."
Kel groaned.
Luno adjusted his hat.
Spark whispered again.
He knows.
Luno's expression changed.
Knows what?
Spark didn't answer.
Across the yard, Dyrain looked directly at Luno's hat.
Then his eyes moved toward Kel.
For just a moment, something old and troubled crossed his face.
Yesterday he had sensed it.
Today he was certain.
The boy's Qi wasn't merely unusual.
Dyrain had felt that heat before.
A long time ago.
From people who were supposed to have disappeared.
Harven stepped beside him.
Quietly enough that Kel and Luno couldn't hear, he said, "Don't."
Dyrain glanced at him.
"I didn't say anything."
"You're thinking loud enough."
Dyrain looked back toward Kel.
The boy was complaining while trying to stand, completely unaware of the conversation happening behind him.
Dyrain lowered his voice.
"You can't hide this forever."
Harven's jaw tightened.
"I don't need forever."
Kel finally got to his feet.
Harven watched him.
"Just long enough for him to survive finding out."