The desert morning was colder than usual. Pale gray light stretched across the Badlands as the sun slowly climbed over the distant dunes, and the wind had not yet begun its daily march across the sand. For once, the training grounds outside Durnfield were quiet.
Kel stood near the center of the field with his bare feet planted in the cool sand. His body still carried the soreness of the past month, but the pain felt different now. It no longer felt like his body was breaking down. It was something he had learned to work through.
Thirty days under Dyrain had changed both of them. Kel recovered faster, his breathing stayed under control longer, and moving Internal Qi through his body had started becoming natural instead of something he had to think through every time. He still made mistakes, especially when he got frustrated, but he no longer threw all his Qi into one arm or leg simply because he needed more strength there.
Luno had changed too. His movements wasted less energy, his awareness had sharpened, and he had stopped shutting everything around him out whenever he needed to concentrate. The insects inside his jar no longer distracted him. Their tiny presences had become part of what he noticed naturally.
Luno stretched beside Kel, rolling one shoulder before turning his neck until a loud crack echoed across the empty field.
Kel looked over.
"That sounded unhealthy."
"It felt good."
"That doesn't mean it was good."
Luno glanced at him.
"You're giving health advice now?"
Kel thought about that.
"Fair."
Something shifted beneath Luno's hat.
Spark's quiet voice reached him.
"He's already here."
Luno looked toward the far end of the training field.
"So he is."
Kel followed his gaze.
Dyrain stood alone in the sand.
Three long lines had been drawn into the ground around him, forming a wide triangle. Smaller markings were pressed along each side, but unlike some of the other training formations Dyrain had used, none of them glowed.
Kel stared at it.
"Think there's more carrying?"
Luno shook his head.
"If there is, I'm leaving."
"No, you're not."
"Emotionally, I already did."
Dyrain's voice carried across the field.
"You two planning on joining me?"
Kel sighed.
"He definitely hears everything."
"You've known that."
They crossed the training ground.
There were no weights waiting for them. No resonance iron. No water barrels. No wooden staff.
Kel immediately became suspicious.
Dyrain without equipment usually meant Dyrain himself was the training equipment.
Kel stopped outside the triangle.
"What are we doing?"
"A test."
"Of what?"
"Everything."
Kel looked at Luno.
"I hate when he answers like that."
"I know."
Dyrain ignored them and stepped toward the center of the triangle.
"You've gotten stronger. Your breathing is better. Your recovery is faster, and both of you waste less Qi than you did when we started."
Kel's eyebrows rose.
"Was that a compliment?"
"No."
"There it is."
Dyrain looked toward Kel.
"You've improved your Internal Qi distribution. You don't immediately reinforce one part of your body with everything you have whenever you're under pressure."
Kel rubbed his leg.
"You kicked that lesson into me."
"You remembered it."
"Hard not to."
Dyrain turned toward Luno.
"And you've learned that concentration doesn't require shutting everything around you out."
Luno's fingers briefly touched the insect jar at his side.
Dyrain noticed but said nothing about it.
Instead, he stepped backward into the center of the triangle and clasped his hands behind his back.
"Endurance keeps you alive. Control lets you use what you have. Neither matters if you make bad decisions once somebody starts trying to stop you."
Kel rolled his shoulders.
"So what's the test?"
Dyrain looked between them.
"You strike me."
Kel blinked.
Luno tilted his head.
"That's it?"
"Three clean strikes."
Kel's expression slowly changed.
"We get to hit you?"
"If you can."
A smile spread across Kel's face.
Dyrain noticed immediately.
"You seem excited."
"You've been hitting me for a month."
"I've been training you."
"You've been hitting me while calling it training."
Luno nodded.
"He has a point."
Dyrain sighed.
"You need three clean strikes between the two of you. A touch doesn't count. A glancing blow doesn't count. It has to be something that would matter in a real fight."
Kel raised his fist.
"So if I punch you in the face?"
"If you manage it."
Kel smiled wider.
Luno was studying the triangle instead.
"You have to stay inside those lines?"
"Yes."
"You can't cross them?"
"No."
Luno's eyes narrowed.
"That makes it easier."
Dyrain looked at him.
Luno immediately reconsidered.
"Which probably means it doesn't."
"Good."
Kel pointed toward Dyrain.
"Can you hit us?"
"I won't attack unless you give me an opening."
Kel waited.
Dyrain didn't continue.
"And?"
"If you give me one, I'll take it."
"There it is."
Dyrain almost smiled.
"I won't seriously injure either of you. Everything else is allowed."
Kel and Luno exchanged a look.
Three strikes sounded simple.
Dyrain being trapped inside a limited space sounded even better.
But both of them had spent enough time training under him to know that anything sounding easy usually meant they hadn't found the bad part yet.
Luno found it first.
"How many chances do we get?"
Dyrain's expression changed just enough for Kel to know that was the right question.
"Three."
Kel frowned.
"Three what?"
"Three attempts."
The smile disappeared from Kel's face.
Luno stared at Dyrain.
"So if we both attack and miss, that's one?"
"Yes."
"And after three?"
"You fail."
Kel looked at Luno.
"That changes things."
"A lot."
Dyrain nodded.
"That's the point. Training lets you repeat mistakes until you understand them. Fighting doesn't always give you that luxury."
He tapped the side of his head.
"Sometimes one bad decision is enough."
The humor faded from Kel's face.
Dyrain continued.
"You choose when to attack. You decide how much Qi to use, whether you move together or separately, and how much energy you're willing to spend. I won't tell you when you're making a mistake."
Luno watched him carefully.
"You're testing our decisions."
"Among other things."
Dyrain returned his hands behind his back.
"Begin whenever you're ready."
Kel immediately lowered into his stance.
Luno didn't move.
Kel glanced toward him.
"What?"
"Wait."
"For what?"
"To think."
Kel looked toward Dyrain.
"He's standing right there."
"Exactly."
Luno studied Dyrain's feet, shoulders, breathing, and the position of his hands. Nothing stood out. Dyrain looked completely relaxed.
That alone made Luno suspicious.
After several seconds, he leaned toward Kel.
"He favors his left."
Dyrain answered from inside the triangle.
"No, I don't."
Luno frowned.
Kel laughed.
"You really need to stop saying the plan where he can hear it."
"I was testing him."
"No, you weren't."
"I could've been."
Dyrain sighed.
"If your strategy depends on me suddenly losing my hearing, you're already in trouble."
Kel scratched his chin.
"That is a problem."
They stepped farther away.
Dyrain let them.
Kel lowered his voice this time.
"You go first."
"Why?"
"He watches me more."
Luno glanced toward Dyrain.
"You noticed that too?"
"Hard not to."
Ever since Dyrain discovered Kel could sense External Qi but couldn't actually manipulate it, his attention had remained on Kel more than Kel liked.
Luno thought for a moment.
"So I attack while he's watching you?"
"That's the idea."
"That isn't enough."
"You got something better?"
Luno looked toward the triangle.
For several seconds he said nothing.
Then he looked back at Kel.
"We don't try to hit him."
Kel stared at him.
"That's literally the test."
"Not the first time."
"We only have three attempts."
"I know."
"Then why waste one?"
Luno's eyes remained on Dyrain.
"Because we've never attacked him when he wasn't teaching us. We know he's faster. We know he's stronger. What we don't know is how he reacts when we're actually trying to hit him."
Kel looked toward Dyrain.
Using one of only three attempts just to study him felt wrong.
Which was probably why it made sense.
Dyrain had spent the entire month beating one lesson into them in different ways: stop wasting energy trying to force the first answer to work.
Kel nodded.
"Fine."
Luno stepped to his right.
"But if we accidentally hit him?"
"Then we pretend that was the plan."
"That works."
They returned to the triangle.
Dyrain watched them approach.
"Finished?"
"No."
"Good."
Dyrain raised one hand.
"Begin."
Neither boy moved.
The training ground was quiet enough that Kel could hear his own breathing. He felt the warmth of his Internal Qi flowing steadily through his body, but he resisted the urge to gather more of it into his legs.
Across from him, Dyrain looked completely relaxed.
Kel focused.
His training had taught him how exhaustion changed the flow of Qi through a body, but that same training had also made him better at recognizing smaller changes.
Dyrain's Qi wasn't still.
It moved constantly beneath the surface.
Tiny adjustments passed through his feet, legs, core, shoulders, and arms. Nothing dramatic enough to reveal what he planned to do. Nothing wasted.
Kel finally understood something he'd been missing.
He usually moved Qi because something was already happening.
Dyrain moved it so he was ready before anything happened.
Kel breathed slowly.
Luno glanced toward him.
Kel gave the smallest nod.
Luno moved first.
He exploded forward, sand kicking behind his feet as Internal Qi strengthened his legs. Dyrain's eyes shifted toward him, but his body remained still.
Kel followed half a heartbeat later.
He didn't run directly beside Luno. He stayed behind him for the first few steps before breaking toward Dyrain's left while Luno approached from the right.
Two different angles.
Dyrain would have to acknowledge one of them.
Luno threw the first punch.
Dyrain tilted his head.
The fist passed inches from his face.
Kel was already underneath.
He drove his right fist toward Dyrain's ribs, keeping just enough Internal Qi in his legs to maintain his balance while reinforcing his arm.
For one second, Kel thought he had him.
Then he felt Dyrain's Qi move.
A tiny amount entered his forearm and hand.
Dyrain caught Kel's wrist.
The punch stopped instantly.
Kel's eyes widened.
Luno had already turned for another attack.
Dyrain stepped sideways.
One step.
That was all it took.
He pulled Kel forward just enough that Luno had to change direction to avoid running into him. Their spacing collapsed, and suddenly both of them were interfering with each other.
Kel tried pulling his arm free.
Dyrain released him before he could.
Two fingers tapped Kel in the chest.
At the same moment, Dyrain slipped one foot behind Luno's ankle and shifted his balance.
Both boys hit the sand.
Kel stared upward for a second.
Dyrain remained inside the triangle.
His breathing hadn't changed.
Luno slowly sat up.
"What happened?"
Dyrain looked down at them.
"You attacked together."
Kel pushed himself onto one elbow.
"That was the plan."
"No. You attacked at the same time."
Dyrain pointed between them.
"There's a difference."
Kel frowned.
"You each decided what you wanted to do and hoped the other person would create the opening you needed. That's not teamwork."
Luno rubbed sand from his arm.
"You used our movement against each other."
"Yes."
Kel got back to his feet.
"So that's one attempt?"
"One."
Kel looked toward Luno.
"We wasted it."
"No."
Luno remained focused on Dyrain.
"We learned something."
Kel followed his gaze.
Dyrain stood patiently in the center of the triangle with his hands behind his back again.
Then Kel remembered what he'd felt.
That tiny shift of Qi.
Right before Dyrain stopped his punch, Internal Qi had moved into his hand and forearm. Dyrain hadn't strengthened his entire body. He hadn't even strengthened his entire arm.
He had used exactly what he needed.
Kel's eyes narrowed.
Dyrain noticed.
"There."
Kel looked at him.
"What?"
"That face."
"What face?"
"The one you make when you stop thinking about hitting me and start paying attention."
Luno laughed.
Kel ignored him.
"You moved your Qi before you caught me."
"Obviously."
"No. Barely."
Dyrain's expression remained neutral.
"You didn't reinforce your whole arm. Just your hand and forearm."
Dyrain nodded.
"And?"
Kel thought about the exchange.
"You knew where I was going before I threw the punch."
"Better."
Luno stood beside Kel.
"You read him?"
Dyrain looked between them.
"I read both of you."
Kel frowned.
"How?"
Dyrain smiled faintly.
"Two attempts left."
Kel stared at him.
"You're not answering?"
"Figure it out."
"Of course."
Kel stepped back beside Luno.
This time neither of them rushed to prepare.
Their breathing had already returned to normal, and Kel realized he wasn't tired at all. A month ago, that short burst would have left his heart racing. Now his body had settled almost immediately.
That was when the real purpose of the test became clearer.
Dyrain wasn't trying to find out whether they had enough strength for three attacks.
He wanted to see what happened after the first one failed.
Would they get angry? Would they rush? Would they use more Qi simply because using less hadn't worked? Would they try the exact same thing harder?
Kel had done all of those things before.
He looked toward Luno.
Luno was already watching him.
The first attempt had given them something useful.
Dyrain could read their bodies.
If Kel gathered Internal Qi into his right arm before throwing a punch, Dyrain could notice it. If Luno strengthened his legs before moving, Dyrain could see what was coming before either of them committed.
Kel's eyes dropped toward Dyrain's feet.
Then toward the boundaries of the triangle.
An idea began forming.
Luno noticed his expression.
"What?"
Kel leaned closer.
"I think I know how he's reading us."
Luno waited while Kel whispered the rest.
This time they kept their voices low enough that even if Dyrain could hear pieces, he wouldn't get the entire plan.
When Kel finished, Luno's expression slowly changed.
Then he smiled.
"That might actually work."
"Might?"
"I'm leaving room for you to mess it up."
Kel gave him an annoyed look.
When they separated again, their positions had changed.
Luno stood closer to the triangle while Kel remained farther back. Dyrain's eyes immediately moved between them, but he said nothing.
Kel lowered into his stance.
This time he didn't gather Internal Qi into his legs.
He kept everything even.
Luno did the same.
No obvious preparation.
No warning.
The morning wind finally began moving through the training field, pushing thin streams of sand across the boundaries of the triangle.
Kel slowed his breathing.
Instead of watching Dyrain's hands, he let his awareness widen.
Harven had taught them the foundation long before Dyrain began pushing it further. Internal Qi could be felt inside another person's body. External Qi disturbed the environment. Soul Qi could reveal presence, emotion, and intent.
Kel stopped trying to see what Dyrain would do.
He tried to feel it.
Luno stood beside him.
The insects inside his jar shifted.
Spark's strange little presence remained beneath his hat.
And ahead of them was Dyrain.
Deep.
Controlled.
Waiting.
Kel felt something change.
Not movement.
Expectation.
Dyrain expected Luno to attack first.
Kel smiled.
Dyrain's eyes shifted toward him.
There.
Luno moved.
But he didn't attack.
He stepped directly toward the center of the triangle.
Dyrain's attention snapped back to him.
Kel moved at the same moment, circling instead of charging straight ahead.
For the first time since the trial began, Dyrain's feet shifted before either boy threw a strike.
Luno saw it.
Kel saw it.
They had made him react.
Kel felt a rush of excitement but immediately controlled his breathing before it could disturb his Qi.
The first attempt had taught them how Dyrain defended.
The second would be about making him defend the wrong thing.
Dyrain's eyes narrowed slightly.
He understood what they were doing.
Kel lowered his center of gravity.
Luno changed direction.
Neither of them had thrown a punch yet.
A faint smile appeared on Dyrain's face.
"Better."
Kel felt the warmth of his Internal Qi move through his body.
Not wildly.
Not all at once.
Exactly where he needed it.
He looked at Luno.
Luno was already moving.
Their second attempt had begun.