Chapter 8

The track back to the cave took them a little longer than they thought making it just shy of dusk. Lysander's body felt on fire, even Lycurgus was fatigued to a certain degree. Lycurgus' arm bothered him most though, although he had relocated it, he was using a great deal of his Tarmata to strengthen and heal it. It didn't help that the weight of the fish seemed to get heavier as the journey continued to the point where in the last three hours, they stopped to rest five times. Shezira came out to meet them as they neared the cave, shocked at the size of the fish they caught.

"Is that the Red Lancer?"

Lycurgus and Lysander both gave tired worn-out smiles,

"The one and only mom."

Lycurgus said through baited breaths.

"Well, you guys place it over there against the wall, I'll get to work on cleaning and portioning out the meat."

There was a large leaf green mat on the floor against the wall that the boys rested the fish on. Lycurgus surveyed the cave seeing that their mother had been busy making clothes, garments, sheets, an unfinished door, and even a storage container to keep food fresh. He was amazed that she was able to make so much in just 2 days.

She already had a meal prepared for them when they arrived, some kind of lime green soup. Lysander stared at the soup for a moment before raising the spoon to his mouth. He could see different herbs and meat possibly a rabbit. Taking in the spoonful he was shocked by the freshness and overall flavor of the meal. His mother normally didn't prepare the food it was usually Le who was a phenomenal cook. So, to taste a dish this good from his mother caught him by surprise.

"I see my traps worked," Lycurgus said between mouthfuls of soup.

"Yes, but you'll have to show me how to set them for next time."

As Shezira said this she noticed Lycurgus' arm. She went over and inspected it. "You received this during your hunt?"

She asked the question but was already pulling out thread and needle. She gave him a leaf to place in his mouth.

"Put this Kurosaki Leaf in your mouth, it'll ease the pain and prevent you from making too much sound."

She was laser-focused on his arm, inspecting the tears and weak points in the muscle structure by enhancing her eyes to see. The needle in her hand began to glow a bright white color and she passed it through his arm. Quickly the needle passed in and out without producing much blood. Lycurgus and Lysander stared in amazement. It held a little more weight for Lysander as Lycurgus had seen this technique before when she used it to stitch his father. It was called Micro Thread and allowed her to stitch and thread on a much tighter level than normal. It took her no more than two minutes to go from his bicep to his shoulder. She inspected her handiwork and nodded her head in approval.

"You should be completely healed by either tomorrow or the next day." She said as she got up and headed towards the fish. Lycurgus went back to eating starting to feel the hunger in his stomach.

The boys stared at her as she carved away at the fish. Everything she seemed to do was with grace and finesse.

"Mom, how do you use your Tarmata like that?"

Lycurgus looked up from his bowl towards his brother thoroughly impressed he could sense his mother using it. Even he had difficulty telling whether or not she was using it, her mastery was like that of a fine blade while his dad seemed more like a crushing boulder. Shezira stopped craving for a moment and looked at Lysander.

"It's because I use it in my weaving; and when you weave as much as I do, well you learn tricks to adapt it in other ways." She said with a smile.

Lysander looked down at his near-empty bowl, frustrated at the lack of an answer, but he didn't have the words to make his thought clearer. Lycurgus studied his brother as he slowed his eating. His eyes focused on his hands clenching the bowl and spoon.

"I think Sandy wants to know how you learned to weave."

Lysander raised his head, eyes meeting his brother's gaze.

"Oh well it's been so long, but before I could weave my granny taught me how to shoot."

Lycurgus raised an eyebrow "You're skilled with a bow?"

She gave a slight nod "Not as good as Le or your sister Loka but I can hold my own."

She turned her gaze back to Lysander.

"Using your Tarmata must be linked to a feeling, the drawing of a bowstring was my first way of thinking when using Tarmata. Eventually, I began to freely pull up my energy and became more advanced, but that feeling of the drawstring is what helped me to connect."

"Was it uncomfortable at first?"

Both Lycurgus and Shezira nodded.

"It's like skinning a fish or using a knife for the first time; the feeling is foreign but over time through practice, it becomes easier."

Lysander seemed excited "Will you teach me?"

Shezira walked over to her sons and gave them each a kiss on the forehead.

"I plan to train you both."

The next few days were filled with cleaning and cutting the fish, laying out the prep work to upgrade Lycurgus' lance Weaver Spindle, and fetching materials to furnish the cave and make it a house. Finally, after those days of prep work, Shezira had a day available to train the boys. She had found two branches of Bow-wood and cleaned them up, and even set up a target practice.

"Ok boys before we ever shoot these bows, you must first notch the bowstring."

The boys each grabbed their bows, and Lycurgus instantly realized that it wasn't as simple as she made it sound. The string although thin wasn't elastic and was very tight. Lysander on the other hand hadn't quite realized this and when they attempted, he didn't even get close to notching his bow. Lycurgus struggled at first but when he tried the second time he pulled as he breathed in. Letting his Tarmata strengthen his body to its maximum strength allowing him to notch the bow with ease.

"As expected from Lycurgus but Sandy…"

Shezira looked at her son who couldn't even get the string to budge.

"I got it mom just let me focus."

Although it was Lysander who asked to train Shezira planned to train Lycurgus. She looked at her eldest son. He had grey stormy hair that hung in his face which was accented nicely with his dark green eyes. His coffee-colored skin was smooth, and his physical build was slender yet sturdy. He wasn't a complete clone of his father he favored Shezira more, but his aura was just like his father's. Shezira sometimes wondered if this would have been the male version of her.

"Look Lycurgus I'm going to train you hard for the Great Hunt festival, we only have about a month to get you stronger."

She pointed to the bow in his hand.

"If you can gain mastery of the bow your strength will double, but unfortunately that may not be enough. You'll have to train yourself on your weapon Weaver Spindle."

Lycurgus looked at the bow in his hand. He could see how it could control his Tarmata better but increasing his strength two-fold? He wasn't exactly sold on the idea, but he decided to trust his mother and got to training.

The next two weeks were grueling for both of the boys. In the morning Lycurgus was instructed to draw the bow at full strength and maintain it for long periods. It didn't take long for him to see results, at first, he couldn't even maintain it for a minute now he was nearing thirty. As for Lysander, he was finally able to notch the bow, and his morning routine was to constantly practice notching until it came with ease.

Towards noon Lycurgus would begin target practice, Shezira had him strengthen simple sticks to channel his energy to pierce the target. She told him eventually he'd need to practice on a boulder. While Lycurgus did that Lysander sparred against Shezira and was beginning to fine-tune his fighting skills, although he never bested his mother, he was making it more difficult for her. She hardly was a match for Lycurgus, who normally would overpower or outwit her.

Afterward, the brothers would physically train as Shezira prepared food and did some more crafting. Once it began to cool down Lycurgus would work on Weaver's Spindle becoming his favorite activity of the day. At the end of the day, they were both spent but they could feel themselves growing stronger. Lycurgus even had ideas of how he could use his growing strength, but he planned to make that a surprise.