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Post by Linyü on Mar 19, 2021 17:12:38 GMT -6
Only when he had worked himself to the edge of exhaustion did San remember that he hadn’t yet eaten. Hunger was a strange thing since he had awoken; on the ship he had been too nauseous for it, and had eaten food when provided as if it were merely a chore. And now after they had made landfall… It wasn’t that he lacked appetite entirely, but it was as if, having been deprived of proper nourishment for so long, his body no longer seemed to remember it. He didn’t feel hungry so much as he felt weak, and if hunger constituted a sort of discomfort, it was a constant one now, and one of many. In the midst of all of that, it was all too easy to drown it out.
Discipline alone drove him back down the stairs after his revelation, despite the weariness in his limbs.
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Post by Linyü on Mar 19, 2021 17:12:50 GMT -6
He wanted to regain his strength as quickly as he could, and starving himself was the surest way to undo any efforts he might have been making in other areas.
The man at the counter was a different individual than the one from the day before, but he didn’t give San more than a once-over as San took his seat. The back corner table was empty this morning too, and there was no reason not to simply return there. It was out of the way of everything, and offered him a comfortable vantage point. If the server was slow to notice him, he didn’t mind. Down here, at least, there was more to observe, and more to occupy him, for a time.
Eventually the server came with a plate of bread and meats, apologizing for not having spotted him earlier. San accepted with a smile, and although she hesitated, the server smiled back before she left.
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Post by Linyü on Mar 19, 2021 17:13:28 GMT -6
San ate slowly, and although it would have been a stretch to say he struggled with the unfamiliar cutlery, he did find himself wishing for Xin chopsticks instead. There was a lack of precision with the knife and tined implement that he didn't care for.
This time, he managed to finish most of the meal, though by the time he had finished, the hall was mostly cleared of other diners. The ones who remained were those who arrived later, and a few elderly sorts who were only nursing some beverage and a few dry baked goods over their morning papers. San watched them, but these were mundane people going about their everyday lives. There was nothing to note, except that they carried themselves with the innocence of that simplicity. San knew that they would have been caught wholly off guard by any violence that entered their lives, the way he had been when he was eleven.
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Post by Linyü on Mar 19, 2021 17:14:14 GMT -6
The child that he had been felt like a foreign entity now, for all that they shared the same memories. The boy who lived with his mother and father and sister, who spent his time thinking of nothing but lessons and games, felt like an alien figure out of a fairy tale he had overheard by chance long ago. He could no longer remember occupying that kind of innocence, knowing that kind of peace. If he allowed himself to dwell on it too long, it became suffocating, the sense that he was an outsider.
When he found that he could bear it no longer, he rose, and made his way back to his room.
Rei was waiting for him, sitting on the edge of the bed this time, her legs dangling over the edge. She had been looking out the window, but as he entered, she rose, flitting into the air on her gossamer wings.
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Post by Linyü on Mar 19, 2021 17:14:47 GMT -6
“Why didn’t you go down?” he said, but gently. “I saved the strawberry jam for you.”
Rei shook her head, and indicated the bed. Glancing over, San saw that there was a dark square sitting on the white sheets. A few steps closer, and he could make out its shape a little better: a book.
She knew him too well.
He picked it up, and read the title. It was some treatise about combat techniques, though it was written in Common, and the weapon depicted was of a different make than what San was familiar with. It was still clearly recognizable as a sword, but the shape of it was altered enough that the techniques associated with it were likely also different. It stood to reason that the weapon forms here would be strange to him too, especially if even their cutlery had required some adjustment on his part.
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Post by Linyü on Mar 19, 2021 19:07:17 GMT -6
Given more time to think about what he should do next, San would have arrived at the same conclusion: that he would need to have a better understanding of the local styles, so that he could prepare to defend against them if need be. Trying to find live practitioners to observe would have been best, but that posed its own challenges, not the least of which was managing to do so in an inconspicuous manner. Simply displaying an interest for the martial arts, while not by itself damning, was at least some cause for suspicion.
More importantly, however, reading was something he could do from within the confines of his room, per Roku’s orders. It wasn’t taxing on his physical state either, so he could sustain the effort, rather than becoming worn out and over-exerted if he carried on for too long.
He wished only that he had thought of it himself.
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Post by Linyü on Mar 19, 2021 19:07:31 GMT -6
But looking at the title, something occurred to him. “How did you know to choose this?” he said. As far as he knew, Rei couldn’t read. It was something that he had always meant to rectify, but never quite found the time - although back when they had still been Watchful, he supposed he would have been teaching her Xin, rather than Common.
“I listened,” said Rei. And although San didn’t ask aloud how she had managed to get it back here - no mean feat, given the fact that it was more than half as tall as she was - her next words answered that question too, to a point. “Roku helped.”
This last surprised San a little. He hadn’t thought that Roku would… what? Care? No, that wasn’t quite right, but this also didn’t seem like the sort of thing Roku would take the pains to do.
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Post by Linyü on Mar 19, 2021 19:07:59 GMT -6
The only real explanation San could think of was that the cat was merely taking precautions to reinforce his warning that San should stay put. Whether it was easy for San to do so wouldn’t have mattered to the cat, so long as he did it, but maybe Roku doubted that he would.
San didn’t know if Roku had consented to the disclosure of his involvement. Knowing Roku, San rather thought he probably hadn’t. If that was the case, then Rei had clearly overridden that directive. It wasn’t the first time that San had seen these small acts of rebellion on her part, and he doubted it would be the last. But he was content not to embarrass the cat any further by acknowledging it to him, and said merely, “You worked hard. I’ll read it well.”
She nodded, satisfied, and fluttered back down to land on the small table.
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Post by Linyü on Mar 19, 2021 19:08:20 GMT -6
Seeing her come to rest there, San moved to the chair at its side, settling into it and opening the book. Neither of them said anything, but there was no need; and if she didn’t wish to leave, then he certainly wasn’t going to force her to go. He was glad for her company - genuinely glad, and not merely because he needed a distraction, even an unpleasant one, which Roku would inevitably have provided.
If he thought about it, their current situation was not unlike a reversal of the circumstances under which they had met. Back then, the one who had been in a bad way was Rei, who had been nearly catatonic and unwilling, or unable, to speak at all. Following basic directives had been the extent of her function, and to this day San wasn’t sure why the higher-ups had seen fit to give her over to them.
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Post by Linyü on Mar 19, 2021 19:08:32 GMT -6
Perhaps they were meant to fail her, or her them, to make it easier to excuse disposing of them both.
It had taken a great deal of patient lessons and coaxing for San to teach her anything, but slowly over the course of their time together, she began to recover. Some of it had been acclimation on his part as well, learning to read her much subtler cues and how to check whether she knew something and simply wasn’t saying so. The hardest part had been figuring out what she was struggling with when she did struggle, since she couldn’t communicate them precisely to him at the time.
Compared to that, San’s current state was easier to deal with in a lot of ways. He was still able to communicate as well as he had been able to before, and the work to regain his physical fitness was something he would undertake on his own.
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Post by Linyü on Mar 20, 2021 20:44:14 GMT -6
But he remembered that he had been essentially comatose for most of the journey by ship. What Rei and Roku had gone through at that point, he didn’t know.
He owed the both of them a debt for this. He didn’t know how he would repay Rei, and he didn’t know what nature of compensation Roku would demand, but when the time came, he intended to do as much as he could for them.
The morning passed quietly, and Rei accompanied San down to take his lunch. She took her leave after that, and San did a little more light reading, alternating it with basic exercises in the afternoon. The book was written in older language, and San hadn’t had as much opportunity to practice with reading Common, so the book was slower going than he would have liked, but having to puzzle through the words gave his mind less room to wander.
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Post by Linyü on Mar 20, 2021 20:44:35 GMT -6
The descriptions of the forms themselves made him itch to try them, or at least to try dodging and guarding against them. But his physical state meant that such strenuous exercise was beyond his means, and he had to content himself with imagining them, and sketching a few patterns in the air.
San took his dinner alone in the hall downstairs, but in the evening, Rei appeared again with two new books, smaller and newer than the one that she had brought before. One was a book of riddles, and the other proclaimed in bold lettering, ‘Only YOU Can Help Yourself’. San wondered at her choice this time around, but she couldn’t read them for herself, and the mere act of stealing them was something of a feat given her size.
And, well, it was true that he was going to need more than one book to pass the time.
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Post by Linyü on Mar 20, 2021 20:44:50 GMT -6
He was already sick of sleeping, but with Rei present, he couldn’t bring himself to do anything less than head to bed as the evening wound down. She didn’t hum for him this time, but she must have stayed until he fell asleep. When he woke the next morning, she was gone, but this time his sleep had been restful, devoid of any dreams whatsoever.
The final day passed uneventfully, more or less in the same fashion as the one that had preceded it. San worked his way through more of the book on sword techniques, and then when he had exhausted that, picked his way through the book of riddles. The riddles themselves were infuriating at times, and the fact that he was not a native speaker of Common no doubt made it more difficult. But he found himself reluctant to read what was so obviously a self help book.
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Post by Linyü on Mar 20, 2021 20:45:00 GMT -6
When he grew too frustrated with the riddle book to go on, which was often, he did whatever small exercises he could or paced the room. His body was already feeling the effects of his exertions over the past two days; each morning it complained with new aches and pains, and it protested further when he forced it to go through the same movements again. But powering through pain had become a habit, and he thought nothing of it now, except to evaluate its quality to see if he had pushed himself too far.
In fact, now it was almost gratifying: a sign that he was making progress, and on some level, perhaps a punishment to himself.
And so three days passed, and if they passed slowly, at least they came to an end. The morning of their departure, San considered leaving the books behind, but in the end he decided to bring them along.
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Post by Linyü on Mar 20, 2021 20:48:48 GMT -6
They had been a gift from Rei, and he didn’t know how long the caravan journey would take either. It was possible, likely even probable, that he would need something to help him pass the time.
Roku was waiting for him when San exited the building, and led him through the streets until they reached the outskirts of town. It was a considerable walk, and he had to stop at several points to catch his breath. He was recovering, but not enough so to have seen significant improvement just yet - after all, it had only been three days.
Eventually they made it, though with not much time to spare. San approached what looked to be the leader of the caravan, a small woman with a wild mane of dark hair. She took one look at him, and said, "Aye, you must be Lewis. You're already paid for, so just take a seat where you can find one."
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