*Xue*

"Hey, Xue, have you seen An? Dinner is ready," Vermeil said, running over.

I turned off the silver sink knobs and shook my head. "No, but I think he's probably out training.

Vermeil sighed. "By himself? Alex, Kun, and Jude are here."

"Want me to go find him?" With my earth magic, I could easily do so.

She nodded sheepishly. "If you do not mind."

I dried my hands in a white towel. "I do not." Plus, I was curious about what that guy had been up to. As his teammate and rival, I wanted to know how his training was coming along.

"Thank you."

"That said, I'm surprised you haven't done so yourself."

"I have been asking around. But I figure he might be in the forest."

"Are you afraid of the forest?" I asked.

She looked down. "Do not share this with anybody, but a little. Following the war, the forest unsettles me. I feel as if I might be attacked at any moment."

"I understand. My lips are sealed," I said, turning around.

She smiled sheepishly. "Thanks, Xue."

Poor girl. No wonder she had been working hard to become stronger in so little time.

I touched the pommel of my sword.

The war must've made her realize how truly lacking she was. Just as fighting that Hierarchian woman and my possessed liege did for me. Hopefully, Sera would be able to regain its independence one day. My father would often tell me stories about how we were once a great nation before being conquered by a foreign kingdom. He also told me about our people who fought bravely against those invaders until they finally won their freedom back.

"No need to thank me," I said, striding forward.

Once outside, I laid a hand on the cobblestone floor and closed my eyes. Waves radiated from my fingertips like the sonar of a bat. A black-and-white image of my surroundings appeared in my mind's eye. Several people were in the dining room right now. Their every movement echoed against my fingers.

"Need to lock unto An." I sent the waves into the forest, getting an image of all the wildlife in it. Finally, I reached a flat rock. An was there, swinging what appeared to be his sword.

I stood up and rushed forward. In a few strides, I covered most of the space between us. I came to a halt a few meters away from him, causing a strong wind to ruffle the leaves on the trees.

I drew closer. The air around An glistened thanks to the moonlight hitting all the sweat. His hair and clothes were drenched by all the perspiration he'd just produced while swinging his blade who knew how many times.

An stopped his sword as soon as I got nearer. I leaped to the side as he swung his sword at me.

"Xue?" he said, stopping his sword in mid-swing.

I tapped his sword with my index finger, moving it aside. "Nice to see you taking the time to practice your sword skills," I said, smirking.

He rubbed the back of his neck, blushing. "Sorry about swinging at you."

I laughed lightly. "You don't need to apologize. It was fun watching you train. You're really good at it!"

His cheeks reddened further. "Uh... thank you... Uh, want to train alongside me?"

"I would love to, but we should be heading back. Dinner is about to be served."

He turned aside. "That's fine. I'm not hungry."

I sighed. "You need food. Your weight is still lower than before your coma."

"It will take more than a few days of eating to get back into shape."

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, An. We can practice after you eat."

A smile appeared on his lips. "Sure." He walked away, leaving me alone again in the forest. I chuckled softly to myself; maybe it was time I started doing some training too. Maybe then I wouldn't lose to either him or Adela.

With that thought in mind, I followed after him. Hopefully, he wouldn't get lost. The boy had a pretty bad sense of direction for someone who grew up in a village surrounded by forest.

We continued walking until we reached the girls' dorm. After going inside, I took off my shoes, washed my hands in the restroom, and headed toward the kitchen where dinner awaited us.

Hal, Kun, Lei, and Adela were already there. They greeted me with smiles when they saw me and An approaching.

"Seems they finally found the lost boy," Hal said, chuckling.

An blushed. "I wasn't lost! I was practicing my swings!"

Hal snickered. "No need to get all worked up. I was just joking. It's as obvious as day by how drenched you are."

"Come to think of it, you haven't been wearing your Aiefian armor since you lost to me," Kun said.

An lowered his head. "That armor is the symbol of a warrior's pride. Having lost to you, I am not worthy of it at the moment."

Lei raised an eyebrow. "Oh come on now..."

Adela sighed. "I suppose that makes sense. Guess that means you've decided to return to the basics?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I want to perfect Father's Yao style."

"I can teach you some parts of my style if you want," I said.

"Really? Wait. I'm not sure if I should do that. It might alter the Yao style forever. I don't want to ruin what my father left me."

"I understand that sentiment," Adela said. "But, you can be inspired by other styles. Make what you learn your own."

I nodded. "Wise words, as expected from the heir of sages."

Adela's cheeks turned as pink as her hair.

Lei chuckled. "Can't take a compliment, can ya?"

Adela looked down. "Even as a kid, praise has felt weird. Maybe it's because most of it felt insincere."

"I'm the same. Not that I get it often," An said as he picked up a chicken drumstick from his plate. Fried chicken. Not something I had expected Nyima and Vermeil to know.

"That's because you kept all of your talent hidden. Although, such modesty is to be applauded. A warrior who conceals his power is more worthy of their sword than a braggart who swings it around, telling people how strong he is," I said.

An smiled slightly. "Thanks."

"So what do you plan on teaching him first?" Kun asked, smiling.

I shrugged. "How about we start simple? Like basic stances?"

"Sounds like a good place to begin," Vermeil said as she came in with a plate of food. Nyima and Arima accompanied her as well.

"Where are the others?" An asked, glancing around.

"They decided to take their food on the go," Arima said, sighing.

"Well, it is finger food," Hal said, grinning. "Put it in a bucket and you're good to go!"

Nyima chuckled. "True."

Adela sighed. "Making chicken is a bit awkward, isn't it?"

Vermeil laughed. "Sorry. It was my suggestion. Flaming bird made me think of fried chicken."

"Kind of morbid, don't ya think?" Hal asked, grinning.

"Indeed," Nyima said. "But, we are lacking ingredients."

"Didn't Yen go buy food the other day?" Lei asked.

"They didn't have much money to spend. But they did land a great deal on flour," Nyima said.

Lei sighed. "Then why aren't they buying anything today?"

"Perhaps they ran out of funds?" Adela suggested.

Lei frowned. "Maybe. Though I doubt that. If that was true, they would have bought enough for a week's worth of food instead of only three days."

"Food costs more than it did last year. It could be because of the ongoing war effort. War is resource intensive," Vermeil said, eyeing the chicken.

"Wonder if it's that Ogre's fault too. He might've slashed our food funds again to get back at us."

"We should talk to Koukyuu," I said. "She's the one who controls the funds."

"We also need to take into account that the size of our group is bigger. Yuzuki and the others used to have their own dorm," Nyima said. "And we have more first years this year than we had third-year last year."

"Wait. I remembered something. Koukyuu said that the funds came from our governments back home, right? With Sera out of commission, that also means less money," Kun said.

"You would think that they would make up for the loss of funds, though," Hal said, leaning on his seat.

Arima grumbled. "Maybe Mr. Bruno is at it again..."

"Bruno?" I asked.

"Yes, our president. Last year he kept all of the money that he and Qing got for selling our original dorm rooms out to some rich brats."

"I guess that explains why we're having trouble finding a solution to this issue," Lei said.

An scratched his head. "I know that I'm not the most politically nor financially savvy, but why not arrest the guy for corruption?"

"Our country is full of guys like him," Arima said. "All of the ones who aren't are too afraid to speak out or have longed died in mysterious 'suicides'."

"Wait, are you implying that he's having people killed?" Kun asked.

Hal sighed. "A murder made to look like a suicide, a classic trick."

Had he ever done something like that? Killed an official and passed it off as something else? That seemed likely.

"What's wrong, Xue?" Lei asked, frowning.

"Nothing. Let's continue eating," I replied, trying to hide my worries.

"Say, what did you name the little chick anyway?" Nyima asked.

Adela scooted closer to Lei. "Uh, I named her after you."

She sighed. "Should've guessed."

I covered my mouth.

An smiled at me.

"What?" I asked, blinking.

He turned away. "Uh, it's nothing!"

Hal chuckled. "That just makes people suspicious, ya know? Although, think I know what's going on."

"Please tell," Vermeil said as she glared at An and me. Did we make her angry?

"Xue is more open than before."

Vermeil laughed. "True."

Adela smiled. "She used to be a lot like Huo. Uh, minus the temper."

Did she mean to say that I kept to myself?

"In the past, you probably would've taken the chicken and gone off to train or something," Hal said.

I picked up my drumstick with a fork. "Suppose you are right."

"Means you've warmed up to us," Kun said, grinning.

"Say, why are you here and not with Sarah?" Nyima asked.

Kun grumbled. "Come on, I'm not around her all the time! Gotta give a girl some space!"

Nyima turned away. "True."

Was she thinking of my possessive liege? If only Iah had understood that. He might've been in this room with us, eating.

***

After finishing dinner, An and I went straight to the forest. Vermeil had followed us part of the way but quickly returned. Did she suspect that there was something going on between An and me?

Once we arrived at the spot where An practiced earlier, I took out my sword.

"Sit and watch," I said, lifting the sword an inch out of it sheath.

"Okay," he replied.

I gripped the handle tightly and drew it out rapidly as I surged forward. The momentum carried me along with the sword. In one fell swoop, the tree directly in front of me fell, hitting the ground with a loud thud.

The sound startled An so much that he jumped backward. When he regained composure, he approached cautiously.

"You okay?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

He shook his head. "I almost fainted."

I burst into laughter. "Don't worry. I won't kill you."

He smiled. "I wonder how I kept up with you when we fought now that I think about it."

I sheathed my sword and turned to look directly into his violet eyes. "You're like a different person when you fight."

He scratched his head and smiled slightly. "Guess it's what Iah called 'the zone'."

I blinked. "My liege said that?"

He nodded. "A few months before the games, we saw me training. He said the same thing you did. Said that I could get into 'the zone' relatively easy."

"Well, he was not wrong. You lose track of yourself, focusing only on the fight on hand."

"Huh... So that's what happened. Say, why did you decide to become a knight anyway? I mean, you must have known that the life expectancy for knights was low."

I smiled at him. "Haven't I mentioned it before? Tradition. I come from a family of knights. However, that's not the only reason. If it were, I probably would've considered alternate options by now. No, I chose to join the military because I wanted to protect those who couldn't defend themselves."

"Why did you choose to become a soldier over being say a scholar?"

I smirked. "Because I love fighting."

"Is it really that fun?"

"It's exhilarating. It's hard work and tiring at times, but it's still satisfying once you accomplish what you set out to do." I looked at my sword. "Although, that love for combat is counter to the style I use."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

I smiled slightly. "Iaijutsu is a style meant for self-defense. The one who loves fighting is deemed to be a fool. Its purpose is to take life to protect life, not to be a fun pastime."

"But you seem pretty good at it. And you don't even mind getting hit by the opponent's attack. Does getting hurt not bother you?"

I shrugged. "Of course, it bothers me. But getting hurt doesn't ache as much as I thought it would. Maybe because I've gotten used to it."

"I see. Well, at least you have technique. Father used to say 'if you keep swinging your sword without any technique behind it, you'll eventually run out of energy and strength.'"

I chuckled. He sounded all gruff as he said that.

He blushed. "W-what?"

"Your imitation of your father."

"Ahh... yeah." His smile faded. His eyes grew distant and sad.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

He nodded slowly. "Yeah. Just thinking about things."

An was a lot like Kun and Adela. At times, they seemed to be draped in a cloak of melancholy. Yet, they hid it well. Only showing it to those closest to them.

"How about you try to use what I showed you," I said, stepping back.

"Uh, think you could do it again, but slower this time?" An asked, scratching the back of his head.

I reached for my sword. "Alright. I did say that I would go over the basics with you."

"Great! Uh, but please spare the trees this time."

"Will try."

**Solar Note: Hope you enjoyed the chapter ^^. Wrote it quickly thanks to the use of A.I. (using module I made some months ago using the material from another of my stories, Gaiden of Darkness). Although, that was only 10% or so, it helped grease my creative wheels. Decided to have the ch. focus on An after I had a dream early in the morning yesterday. Made me want to write something involving our shy psychic boy. Went for Xue's pov as I wanted to give her some more attention too.*