Teaching

The celebratory banquet went as most did, only with a focus on letting younger experts build connections within the kingdom.

They didn't plan to stay long. Takis had already spoken to most of the contestants earlier in the day, and Lucian had little interest in banquets.

He eyed Nil of the Mountain Movers, but the man was surrounded by flocks of contestants, nobles, and cultivators.

'Well, I suppose we'll meet in the Maelstrom.'

When Takis moved to leave early, Lucian followed towards the door before being stopped.

"Irina?" Takis asked, seeing the young princess standing by the exit.

The girl didn't respond to Takis, but fixed her gaze on Lucian behind him.

"I wanted to thank you." She said frankly. "Selene is a friend. What Faidon tried to do… thanks."

Lucian was confused at first, until she mentioned the Floating Rivers girl. "It's an honor, Your Highness".

While Takis had been upfront about not wanting too much formality, he rarely even spoke with the princess, and so he matched his distant words with a professional bow.

The girl nodded before looking exchanging a few words with Takis and walking back to the groups of contestants.

Then, still early into the night, the two of them left.

That night Lucian condensed more trueblood and confirmed that his second anchor was still quite a while from stabilizing. This wasn't a process he could do anything to speed up, he just had to wait, lest he damage his soul.

He did finally get to work his forms and exercise that night however, even sparring with Takis, blades only and no techniques. Takis could match him physically despite being a daoist, but if they each employed their techniques, he felt certain he could beat the prince in a close quarters duel.

If Takis could put distance and use his truer form though? He didn't dare say he would win against that.

The next day passed slowly as the prince submerged himself in research of those who would explore The Maelstrom with them. Lucian had leave to wander, train, or do anything he liked while Takis buried his nose in reports, and so found himself once again in that wide courtyard of the Third Prince's wing.

He was practicing the Unhindered Motion's dual sword forms while trying to trace complicated geometric designs in his mind. He was not very proficient in fighting with multiple weapons, unless one included a bare hand as a second weapon, but training like this helped patch that weakness while improving his ability to concentrate.

He heard footsteps approaching, but didn't turn, trying to stretch his mind enough to consider factors about the person while tracing the shape and practicing forms, all at the same time. He determined that is was a lighter figure, and that they were trying to walk quietly, but then lost where he was up to in tracing the shape.

'Sigh… The founder of Unhindered Motion said he could swap between dozens of trains of thought so quickly it felt simultaneous. How long did he practice it to achieve that?

'I need to stop slacking and push myself to maintain that state all day.'

He had done so when he first started practicing the art, but… perhaps he had grown a bit complacent.

Turning, he saw Princess Irina watching him. She was roughly 13 or so if he had to guess, and while wiser than kids off the street, she still had that lively light of immaturity in her eyes.

For whatever reason, Lucian felt that was the way it should be. Perhaps because he and the others had lost most of that light early on, he hoped that she wouldn't too.

"Can I help you with anything Princess?"

The girl had a puzzled expression as she eyed the two blades in his hands. Realizing this, he swiftly dismissed them into liquid blood that disappeared up his sleeves, and held his hands behind his back.

"I thought you used one sword?"

Lucian grimaced. He often trained at the same time that she and Takis sparred. If she was surprised to see him use anything but a single sword, then…

'Have I neglected the other arms so much in the past months?'

"I am best with one sword, or no weapon. But training in others has worth so long as you do not lose your focus."

The confusion left her eyes and she nodded approvingly, as if the answer satisfied her.

"You can make weapons right? Make a sabre." She said as she conjured a single-edged blade from a spatial item.

"Your Highness?"

"Takis is busy. You're going to help me train."

Cocking his head, Lucian formed a crimson sabre even as he questioned her.

"Do you not have royal instructors for this? I'm sure a master of the sabre will teach you better than I."

"Of course I do. But I only train with them at set times. Come on, I don't have much free time today."

Despite words that would sound haughty from the tongue of another, he heard only excitement and impatience in her voice, and so he nodded with a smile.

He did not need to heed orders from the princess. Only Takis and the King could order him, but if she was eager to learn, he would try his hand at teaching.

With a flourish of his sabre, he spoke.

"Come then, show me what you can do."

Irina was quick for a 2nd stage augmenter, and she closed the distance quickly, slicing rapidly, often incorporating all three directions in her strikes.

'That's good, if ever she's in a constrained space, knowing how to make the most of the forward direction with her sabre will make the difference.'

He remained on the defensive for quite a while to judge her capabilities, before suddenly and without warning, twisting his sabre around hers and using the tip of the curved blade to cut at her fingers.

She fought with a razor sharp blade, and while he was confident enough in his control to do the same, he had formed a slightly blunt sabre anyway.

The princess was a bit startled, but managed to avoid the tip of his blade, falling back to a defensive stance as Lucian began to attack.

He increased his speed bit by bit, starting to incorporate feints and tricky maneuvers to test her reactions and force her to perform at her best.

Once the spar reached its most intense peak, and Lucian pushed against Irina's best performance, a wide grin spread on the girl's sweat-matted face.

Lucian too smiled in response to that. He liked fighting, and felt an affinity for others who enjoyed it. While surely this young girl had never fought for lives, and would doubtlessly shy away from such stakes, that didn't change the fact that she enjoyed the crossing of swords in duels and spars.

With any luck, she would never need to learn the joy of fighting for lives.

Noticing her sword was slowing, and her her grip loosening under his assault, Lucian gave an intricate twist and flick of the wrist, disarming the girl and catching her sword that shone like silver.

With an exhale and a stifled chuckle, she fell to the ground, her legs shaky.

"You did well." He said. She was no master of the sabre, but with the skill that she did have, and the quality of her cultivation arts, he could see how she fought some 3rd stage cultivators, even if they were not standout members of their generation.

"So?" She asked through panted breaths.

"What?"

"What did I do wrong? What should I do differently?"

'Right…'

He stopped to think for a while. He should have thought about that as he was fighting her. Well, he did notice a few things.

"Okay, stand up and take this." He handed her the sabre she used and took his own in both hands.

"One of your forms, Wind Scaling The Mountain." He performed the curved, upward movement with his sabre to demonstrate, and then waited until she mimicked.

"The way you position your left foot after reaching the apex of this movement is cumbersome. You need to spread your legs more to allow freedom as you transition into the next form. You're unconsciously avoiding Painting The Horizon because your foot gets in the way and inhibits your balance."

Taking a step back, he displayed Wind Scaling The Mountain, followed by a seamless Painting The Horizon, a curved upward movement, followed by a sudden crouch, and a horizontal sweep.

He performed the two forms so quickly they appeared to be one motion.

"Try it, and be mindful of your left foot. You need to be able to maintain balance as you drop to a crouch."

Irina tried it once, and was a bit jerky, but then without his saying so, she tried it again, and then again, smoother every time.

Nodding, Lucian took the time that she spent practicing that to scour his memories for anything else he could instruct her on. Bit by bit, the flaws he'd noticed but not thought too deeply about throughout the fight began to surface in his mind and he took proper note of every one of them.

Like this, he helped the princess train for two hours before she returned to the buildings with a smile and tired legs.

"So this is what it's like to teach huh?

"It was kind of fun"

Raising the sabre, he decided to practice his own usage of it for now.

**

The next day Takis was still busy, doing as much fact checking and research as he could during these three days before they set out for The Maelstrom. The princess once again showed up to the courtyard, and again the two trained.

On the third day she appeared again, and they sparred without weapons. It was a bit awkward at first as he was so much taller than her, but soon he realized how to go about it.

Rather than sparring as if with an equal of the same age, he began to mimic the way in which helpers sparred with him back when there was such a drastic difference in height. He let Irina take the offensive as he used his hands to direct her assault and occasionally struck to throw her off guard and test her reactions and defense.

Surprisingly, when it came time to leave the capital and board a ship bound for The Maelstrom, Lucian actually felt disappointed.

Helping train another over just three days, and watching them improve with his advice, he felt that same gratification he did from improving himself.

'Perhaps one day, when I've repaid my debts and have little obligations, I could start a sect.' But then thoughts of all the burden, responsibility, and politics reached him. 'Or maybe I should just seek a few disciples? Oh well, that's talk for the future. Who is going to accept a 17 year old master.'

He didn't know his exact birth date. He thought he knew it once, back in Rehall, but there were no birthdays in the estate and he had long forgotten it under the constant pressure he'd endured through the years.

That said, he felt that perhaps it should have passed by now; his seventeenth birthday.

Packing his things, Lucian followed Takis out of the palace where a great deal of others could be seen waiting. Among them, David Ballas who'd been absent the prince's side the past few days, Sir Hunt, who had assisted in exterminating the Cinderheart sect, Captain Hugh Stone, who always oversaw the prince's escort, whether directly or not, and a few others he did not know.

The princess would arrive soon, and then they would leave.