Kel continued complaining long after they left the remains of the triangle behind.
He followed Dyrain across the training grounds with sand stuck to his arms, sweat running down the side of his face, and one hand pressed against the spot on his chest where Dyrain had knocked him backward during the trial.
"We passed."
Dyrain kept walking.
"I heard you the first four times."
"So why are we training tomorrow?"
"Because passing one test doesn't mean you're finished learning."
Kel looked toward Luno.
"You hear this?"
Luno was still laughing.
"I heard."
"You're supposed to be on my side."
"I am. You're just losing."
Kel shook his head.
"That makes no sense."
Dyrain stopped.
Kel almost walked directly into him.
Luno caught Kel by the back of his shirt before that could happen.
Kel looked up.
Dyrain had turned toward them.
Something about his expression made the joking stop.
"Actually," Dyrain said, "we aren't finished today."
Kel stared at him.
"You just said we passed."
"You did."
"And now?"
"Now I want to know if you understood why."
Kel looked toward the nearly erased triangle behind them.
"We hit you three times."
"That tells me you solved the trial."
Dyrain turned and walked back toward the center of the field.
"It doesn't tell me whether you can do it again when the situation changes."
Luno's smile faded.
Kel sighed.
"I knew there was a bad part coming."
Dyrain stopped where the triangle had been. The morning wind had already blurred most of its boundaries, leaving only broken lines in the sand.
He rubbed one sandal through what remained until the shape disappeared entirely.
"No boundary this time."
Luno looked around the open training ground.
"So you can move anywhere?"
"Yes."
Kel frowned.
"That makes it way harder."
"Yes."
"Great."
Dyrain faced them.
"One strike."
Kel blinked.
"That's all?"
"One clean strike between the two of you."
Luno narrowed his eyes.
"What's the catch?"
"You can't plan it."
Kel looked at him.
"What?"
"No stepping away to whisper. No deciding beforehand who attacks first. No repeating the strategy from the triangle."
Dyrain folded his arms.
"I want one strike created during the fight."
Kel glanced at Luno.
Luno was already thinking.
Dyrain pointed at him.
"And stop doing that."
Luno frowned.
"Doing what?"
"Trying to solve the entire fight before it starts."
Kel laughed.
"He caught you."
Luno looked annoyed.
Dyrain's attention shifted toward Kel.
"And you."
Kel's smile disappeared.
"Don't assume the answer is hitting harder."
"I wasn't."
"You were."
Kel hesitated.
"…Maybe a little."
Dyrain nodded.
"One clean strike. No time limit."
Kel looked around.
"No boundary. You can attack us?"
"I can."
"And we're tired."
"You're tired."
"That wasn't a question."
"I know."
Kel exhaled and rolled his shoulders.
The soreness from the earlier trial immediately reminded him just how much energy they had already used. His legs still worked, but they didn't feel fresh anymore. His Internal Qi remained steady, although the warm current inside him seemed heavier now.
Luno wasn't in much better condition. His breathing had recovered, but sweat darkened the collar of his shirt, and his legs still carried traces of the strain from the trial.
Dyrain looked completely fine.
Kel hated that most.
Dyrain stepped backward.
"Whenever you're ready."
Kel lowered into his stance.
Luno did the same.
Neither spoke.
That was the first problem.
They had gotten better at working together, but most of that teamwork still started with a plan. Even their successful third attempt had been built around something they had already discussed.
Now they had to create the plan while Dyrain was moving.
Kel watched him.
Dyrain watched them back.
Then Dyrain disappeared.
Kel's body reacted before his thoughts did.
He reinforced his left side.
A palm struck his forearm.
The impact spun him halfway around.
Luno moved toward Dyrain, but Dyrain had already stepped away.
Luno stopped himself before committing to a useless chase.
Kel recovered and looked toward him.
Neither said anything.
Dyrain nodded slightly.
"Better."
Kel frowned.
"That wasn't even an attack."
"It was a test."
"Can everything stop being a test?"
"No."
Dyrain moved again.
This time he approached Luno.
Luno felt the movement before Dyrain reached him.
His awareness spread around himself instead of narrowing onto Dyrain's body. He could feel Kel several yards away, the shifting air, movement through the sand, and the tiny lives scattered throughout the training ground.
Dyrain's hand came toward his shoulder.
Luno turned.
Too slow.
Two fingers tapped him between the shoulder blades.
Luno stumbled forward.
Kel charged.
Dyrain pivoted.
Kel didn't punch.
He stopped short.
Dyrain's eyes sharpened slightly.
Kel smiled.
"You thought I would."
"Yes."
Kel backed away.
"Good."
Dyrain almost smiled.
They reset.
The difference was small, but something had changed.
Kel wasn't trying to force Dyrain into an opening anymore.
Luno wasn't trying to predict an entire sequence of movements.
They were reacting.
Learning.
Listening.
Dyrain moved between them again, changing direction often enough that neither could settle into a comfortable rhythm. Every time Kel gathered too much Internal Qi somewhere, Dyrain attacked another part of his body. Every time Luno focused too heavily on Dyrain, he appeared from an angle Luno had stopped monitoring.
Several minutes passed without Kel or Luno coming close to hitting him.
Kel's frustration started rising.
He felt it in his breathing first.
Then in the heat underneath his skin.
His Internal Qi stirred.
Dyrain noticed immediately.
"Control it."
Kel exhaled.
"I am."
"No. You're containing it. That's different."
Kel almost answered, but Dyrain attacked.
Kel blocked.
The impact pushed him backward.
Dyrain followed.
Kel expected another strike and reinforced his chest.
Dyrain swept his leg instead.
Kel fell.
Again.
He stared up from the sand.
Dyrain stood over him.
"You're still deciding where your Qi should be based on what you expect me to do."
Kel sat up.
"Isn't that what you taught me?"
"I taught you to move Qi where you need it."
Dyrain stepped away.
"Not where you guess you'll need it."
Kel frowned.
There was a difference.
A frustrating one.
He got up.
Luno had moved toward the edge of the training field.
At first Kel thought he was just creating distance.
Then he noticed Luno wasn't looking at Dyrain anymore.
He was looking down.
A small beetle crawled across the sand near his foot.
Luno could feel it.
Not just see it.
Feel it.
The sensation had become more noticeable over the past month. At first it had been little more than instinct, the strange feeling that the insects around him were trying to get his attention.
Now there were impressions.
Movement.
Fear.
Curiosity.
Simple wants.
Simple thoughts.
He still wasn't sure whether calling it talking was completely accurate.
But it was getting close.
The beetle changed direction.
Luno felt the decision before it moved.
His eyes widened slightly.
Another insect shifted underneath the sand.
Then another.
Their movements created tiny disruptions around him.
Luno stopped concentrating on them individually.
Instead, he let them exist inside his awareness.
Spark shifted beneath his hat.
"They hear you."
Luno kept his eyes ahead.
"I know."
"No. More now."
Luno felt it too.
The insects weren't simply responding to stray Qi anymore.
They were aware of him.
A fly passed near his shoulder.
Luno thought about Dyrain.
The fly turned.
Luno froze.
He hadn't spoken.
He hadn't moved.
He hadn't consciously pushed Qi into it.
The insect had responded to what he wanted.
Kel noticed Luno staring at the fly.
"You good?"
Luno slowly smiled.
"I think so."
Dyrain watched from several yards away.
His expression gave nothing away.
Luno looked toward Kel.
"I can talk to them."
Kel blinked.
"To who?"
Luno gestured toward the sand.
Kel followed his hand.
Several tiny desert insects moved around the training field.
Kel looked back at Luno.
"The bugs?"
"Yeah."
"You're serious?"
"I think."
Kel grinned.
"How long?"
"About five seconds."
"Good enough."
Dyrain sighed.
"I specifically told you not to plan."
"We aren't," Kel said.
"You're discussing abilities."
"That's different."
"It really isn't."
Kel looked toward Luno.
"Just do whatever you're doing."
Luno nodded.
That was all they said.
---
Kel moved first.
Not because Luno told him to.
Because Dyrain was watching Luno.
Kel reinforced his legs at the last possible moment and crossed the distance quickly.
Dyrain sensed the change and stepped aside.
Kel expected it.
Instead of trying to turn immediately, he continued past him.
Dyrain looked toward Luno.
Luno hadn't moved.
The flies had.
Three of them circled through the space around Dyrain's head.
Not attacking.
Not swarming.
Simply moving.
Dyrain ignored them.
He should have.
They weren't dangerous.
Kel came again.
Dyrain blocked his first punch and avoided the second.
Luno moved closer.
Several beetles crawled across the sand.
Dyrain felt Luno's approach but also noticed something different.
His Qi wasn't stretching outward the way External Qi would.
It wasn't forcing the insects to move.
It was closer to communication.
Connection.
Dyrain's attention remained on Luno a fraction longer.
Kel attacked.
Dyrain turned.
Kel's fist passed beside his shoulder.
No contact.
Dyrain stepped toward him.
Something shifted beneath his sandal.
Not enough to trip him.
Not enough to change his balance.
Just enough that Dyrain felt it.
An ant trail beneath the sand had suddenly separated.
Kel felt the change in Dyrain's movement.
He attacked.
Dyrain blocked.
Luno came from the opposite side.
Dyrain turned and caught his wrist.
Luno didn't fight the grip.
A beetle crawled onto the hem of Dyrain's clothing.
Dyrain looked down.
Just briefly.
Kel came in.
Dyrain released Luno and redirected Kel's punch.
Still nothing.
Kel stepped away.
His chest rose and fell harder now.
They weren't getting anywhere.
Then he realized that wasn't true.
Dyrain was moving differently.
Not much.
But he was reacting to things he hadn't been reacting to earlier.
Not because the insects were dangerous.
Because there were more signals now.
Kel.
Luno.
Movement underfoot.
Buzzing around his head.
Tiny shifts in the sand.
Dyrain could process all of them.
But processing wasn't the same as ignoring them.
Kel remembered the trial.
They didn't need to make Dyrain slow.
They needed to give him the wrong thing to notice.
Kel closed his eyes for less than a second.
He felt his Internal Qi.
Warm.
Steady.
The heat had risen again, but instead of fighting it, Kel let it move with his breathing.
In.
Out.
The warmth spread evenly.
He opened his eyes.
Dyrain was already coming.
Kel didn't decide where to reinforce.
He waited.
Dyrain's shoulder shifted.
Kel felt the intent.
His Qi moved automatically into his forearm.
Dyrain struck.
Kel blocked.
For the first time, the reinforcement happened at almost the same moment as the attack.
Kel's eyes widened.
Dyrain noticed too.
Kel didn't have time to celebrate.
Dyrain attacked low.
Kel's Qi moved into his leg.
He absorbed the kick.
Another strike.
Shoulder.
Block.
Kel wasn't guessing anymore.
He was responding.
The warmth inside him flowed wherever his body needed it.
Not perfectly.
Not as smoothly as Dyrain.
But differently from before.
Kel smiled.
Dyrain stepped back.
"What?"
Kel followed.
"Nothing."
"That smile means something."
"Thought you could read me."
Dyrain's eyes narrowed.
Kel charged.
Luno understood immediately.
He didn't know what Kel had discovered.
He didn't need to.
He let his awareness spread.
The insects moved.
Not in a perfect formation.
Not like soldiers.
Some crawled through the sand.
Others lifted into the air.
Luno didn't try controlling every movement.
He gave them something simple.
Near him.
They understood.
Flies circled Dyrain.
Beetles moved through the sand around his feet.
Tiny desert ants changed paths beneath him.
No attack.
No danger.
Just life moving everywhere.
Dyrain's senses took it all in.
Kel came straight at him.
Dyrain watched his shoulders.
No obvious reinforcement.
His hips.
Nothing.
His breathing.
Steady.
Kel threw a right punch.
Dyrain moved to block.
Kel's Qi shifted only after Dyrain committed.
The punch changed.
Faster.
Dyrain caught it anyway.
Kel expected that.
His left hand came up.
Dyrain blocked that too.
Luno approached from behind.
Dyrain sensed him.
One of the flies crossed directly in front of his eye.
He didn't flinch.
But his attention split.
Luno didn't attack.
He stepped past.
Dyrain realized it a fraction too late.
Kel wasn't watching Dyrain anymore.
He was watching Luno.
Luno's eyes shifted left.
That was all.
Kel understood.
He dropped.
Dyrain expected a body strike.
Kel swept his foot through the sand instead.
A burst of dust rose between them.
Dyrain stepped through it.
The insects moved with the disturbed air.
For a heartbeat, everything around Dyrain changed at once.
Sand.
Movement.
Qi.
Life.
Kel felt Dyrain's rhythm shift.
There.
He stepped inside.
Dyrain's hand moved toward Kel's wrist.
Kel's Internal Qi flowed into his shoulder instead.
He changed the punch midway.
Not stronger.
Shorter.
Tighter.
His fist struck Dyrain squarely in the chest.
The impact made a dull sound across the training ground.
Dyrain moved back one step.
Everything stopped.
Kel remained frozen with his fist still raised.
Luno stared.
The flies scattered into the morning air.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Kel slowly lowered his hand.
"That counted."
Dyrain looked at him.
"Yes."
Kel's face broke into a grin.
Luno raised both arms.
"Yes!"
Kel turned toward him.
"You saw that?"
"I helped with that."
"You definitely helped."
Kel started laughing.
His legs gave out.
He dropped into the sand.
Luno made it three steps before sitting down beside him.
Neither tried getting back up.
Dyrain looked at them.
"You realize you've already celebrated once today."
Kel lay backward.
"That one was better."
"Why?"
"I actually hit you."
"You hit me earlier."
"Yeah, but this felt better."
Luno looked toward the insects slowly returning to the training ground.
"I talked to them."
Kel turned his head.
"You really can?"
Luno nodded.
"I think it's getting stronger."
Dyrain's gaze settled on him.
"What did you tell them?"
"Nothing complicated."
Luno watched a beetle crawl over the sand.
"I just wanted them near you."
"And they listened?"
"Yeah."
Dyrain crouched and extended one hand toward the beetle.
It immediately changed direction away from him.
Luno laughed.
"They still don't like you."
"I've noticed."
Dyrain stood again.
His attention shifted toward Kel.
"And you."
Kel pointed at himself.
"What?"
"You stopped deciding where your Qi needed to go before the attack happened."
Kel sat up.
"I felt it."
"What?"
Kel thought for a moment.
"You."
Dyrain waited.
"Not exactly you."
Kel struggled to explain it.
"When you moved, I could feel where it was coming from. My Qi just… went there."
Dyrain's expression became more serious.
"Did you force it?"
Kel shook his head.
"No."
"Good."
Kel frowned.
"That's it?"
"For now."
"Why does every important answer end with 'for now'?"
"Because you're sixteen."
Kel looked offended.
"That doesn't answer anything."
"It answers a lot."
Luno laughed.
Dyrain looked between them.
The final strike had shown him more than the original trial.
Kel's Internal Qi was becoming responsive in a way Dyrain had expected eventually, but not this soon. His body wasn't simply accepting Internal Qi more easily.
It was beginning to treat Qi like part of its natural movement.
And Luno's connection to the insects had crossed another line.
He wasn't merely sensing them.
They were responding to him.
Dyrain looked toward the small movement beneath Luno's hat.
Spark had gone completely quiet.
That interested him even more.
Kel lay back in the sand.
"So now are we done?"
Dyrain looked down at him.
"For today."
Kel immediately raised one fist.
"Yes."
"Tomorrow—"
"No."
Dyrain paused.
Kel pointed at him without sitting up.
"Don't ruin this."
Luno laughed so hard he had to lean forward.
Even Dyrain smiled.
The moment didn't last.
Something moved beneath the Badlands.
A deep pulse traveled through the ground.
This time it was stronger.
Dyrain felt it through his sandals.
His smile disappeared.
Luno's insects reacted immediately.
Every beetle stopped.
The ants beneath the sand changed direction.
The flies scattered.
Luno sat upright.
Kel noticed.
"What?"
Luno didn't answer immediately.
He could feel fear.
Not his own.
The insects.
Hundreds of tiny signals around the training ground had changed at once.
Spark shifted beneath his hat.
"That."
Luno's face tightened.
"You felt it too?"
Kel looked between them.
"Felt what?"
Dyrain stared toward the distant southern Badlands.
The pulse was already gone.
But this time, he was certain he hadn't imagined it.
Something far beneath the desert had moved.
Not awakened.
Not yet.
But moved.
Dyrain looked back at Kel and Luno.
Their training suddenly felt less like preparation for some distant future.
"How tired are you?"
Kel frowned.
"You just watched us collapse."
"Answer."
The change in Dyrain's voice made Kel sit up.
"Tired."
"Can you move?"
Kel nodded slowly.
"Yeah."
Dyrain looked toward Luno.
Luno stood.
"My insects are scared."
That confirmed enough.
Dyrain turned toward Durnfield.
"Training's over."
Kel got to his feet.
"What happened?"
"I don't know yet."
Dyrain started walking.
That answer bothered Kel more than anything else he could have said.
Because Dyrain usually had an answer.
Kel and Luno followed him back toward Durnfield while the morning sun continued climbing over the desert.
Behind them, the insects remained unusually quiet.
And far beneath the Badlands, something waited for the next pulse.