11th of Samaya, 991
Village of Kasgar
After sipping coffee with his brother-in-law, Blink spent the greater part of the early morning fetching water from the river and chopping firewood in the yard. By the time he was done, he was sweating all over from lifting and swinging down the heavy ax.
It wasn't the weight of the ax, which was quite substantial, that had him sweating. He was trying to work the ax blade along a little curve instead of a straight downward path. Doing so required some exquisite wrist control and added more pressure on the muscles of his forearm.
Blink figured that if he could do it with a huge heavy ax, doing the same with his quarter staff would seem even more natural. If he can master the technique of the curving downward strike, he should be able to successfully slip his quarter staff through any attempt to block it.
With the ax, Blink also tried to use the curving slash technique horizontally and diagonally. He then tried to adjust the point at which the attack starts to curve, sometimes doing it early on, at times in the middle and several times close to the moment of contact.
Blink was so engrossed with testing every possibility when he heard somebody clear his throat behind him. He turned around and saw his brother-in-law regarding him with a shrewd smile.
"Namgun, it's you," Blink said in the manner of a greeting.
"You're such a freak. If I didn't disturb you just now, you'd have kept trying out that technique forever."
"Oh, you've been there long?"
"Long enough to see you wave that ax in a thousand different manner."
"Sorry, I was just so engrossed with a new technique I had comprehended a while ago I hardly noticed the time."
"You comprehended that waving, curling, swirling technique just now?!"
"Yes, while I was playing around chopping firewood."
"No shit! No wonder you're the top disciple of Ragha Academy. You're probably the only martial artist who gets an epiphany while goofing around."
'Nah! I'm sure some of the others had their own epiphanies as well, Namgun. Everybody has a brain."
Jogr chuckled heartily. "That's true," he said. "Everybody has a brain; just not as monstrous as yours."
Just then Magra stepped out of the doorway. "Aren't you two coming in yet? The food is about to get cold."
"We're coming dear," Jogr replied.
Blink swung the ax down on a large piece of log then followed his brother-in-law to the kitchen.
"You took your time!" Magra glared at her husband accusingly.
Jogr could only scratch his head smiling sheepishly.
Before Blink could pass through the door, his elder sister stopped him.
"Don't bring that stink on my dining table. Go wash off your sweat first. And please change your robe."
Blink scratched his head smiling sheepishly. He obediently went around the back to do as he was told.
Realizing he had not taken a bath for days, Blink changed his mind and headed straight for the river for a quick bath. He was rather quick about it, mindful that his elder sister will be displeased.
As he was coming out of the water, a couple happened to pass by. The wife, who seemed to be around twenty-five looked at Blink's well-sculpted torso then switched her gaze to her thirty-something husband and the bulge in the middle of his torso. She had an obviously unhappy expression on her face.
Blink wondered what the wife was unhappy about but immediately ran off to the family house to change into his other robe. He was imagining his elder sister's impatient look and didn't want to impose on anyone's time at all.
When Blink arrived at the dining table, his Namgan Magra couldn't help gazing at his robe.
"Didn't I tell you to change your clothes?" she chided her younger brother. "What's the point of taking a bath and then wearing the same dirty robe afterwards?
"Take it off after you finish eating, so I can wash it along with the rest of the laundry."
Blink could not help but scratch his head.
"This is actually my spare robe," he explained to his elder sister.
"Spare robe, my foot. If you're ashamed to let me wash your clothes, don't be. I had washed your clothes for you even when I was close to giving birth."
Blink could only smile helplessly. His Namgan Magra was still as overbearing as he remembered. He gave his brother-in-law an accusing look telling him it was all his fault.
Jogr raised both hands, palms facing up, to his chest. The questioning expression on his face clearly communicated to Blink that he did not understand what he was accusing him of.
Meanwhile, a little boy's face peeked behind Magra. He has dark brown hair and light brown eyes, like his mother.
"Hey, isn't this little Hubr?" Blink exclaimed happily. "What are you hiding over there?"
Jogr chuckled merrily. "That boy had wanted nothing less than to become like you since starting his martial arts training two years ago," he explained. "You are sort of that great aspiration in his life."
"Is that right?" Blink regarded Hubr with a doting look. He tried to approach the boy to touch his head, but the boy retreated further behind his mother.
"Are you Nangku (uncle) Kraszad?" the voice of a little girl suddenly grabbed Blink's attention. He turned to his side to see a pretty little blonde-haired girl emerge out of the doorway he had just passed through.
"Yes, I am that Nangku Kraszad," Blink happily replied. He walked towards the girl and knelt in front of her. "What's your name?"
"I am Hegla. I am five years old. When I grow up I want to become a teacher and teach children to read and write."
Blink was pleasantly surprised and told everyone so. "That is indeed a great plan," he affirmed. "You'd be the first reading and writing teacher in all of Ragha."
The little girl extended her arms out to Blink to signify that she wanted him to carry her in his arms.
Without hesitation, Blink scooped her up while the little girl wrapped her arms around the back of his neck.
Magra freaked out slightly. She told her daughter to get down from her uncle immediately. "He stinks," she said.
"No, he doesn't. He smells good." The five-year old girl gave her mother a defiant look.
"What do you mean he smells good? He hasn't changed his robe after sweating a lot, of course he…"
Magra was about to say more but found herself surprised about something. "That's strange," she muttered under her breath.
"Is that Kraszad I heard speaking just now?" an old woman's voice called out, interrupting Magra's thoughts. In a short while, a gentle-looking woman emerged out of the doorway. She was not yet fifty, but she looked more like sixty. The lines of a tough life were clearly etched on her brow.
"Yes, Damma, it's me," Blink said. "I am home."
"You are home," the old woman repeated.
"You're just in time for breakfast, Damma," Magra told her mother.
However, the old woman did not pay her any attention. Her gaze was focused on the boy she had not seen for the past five years.
"You sure have grown a lot since last you were here," she said. "And you've become so much more handsome as well."
She turned to Magra, a glint of happiness in her eyes.
"You were right to suggest holding off on those engagement offers. None of those girls are worth a hair of our Kraszad."
Magra found herself stomped for words, a very rare occurrence in their household. Her mother never expressed verbal praise for her. She suspected that it was because there was a difference that day. That day her younger brother came home after being away for so long.
"Since breakfast is ready, then let us all be seated and eat," the family matriarch declared.
Everybody got seated except for Magra who had to serve them the dishes. Kraszad sat next to his adoptive mother while little Hegla sat comfortably on his lap.
"Hegla, you can take that chair beside your nangku," Jogr suggested to his daughter.
The little girl merely pouted at her father, a defiant look expressed in her eyes.
"It's alright, Namgun," Blink assured his brother-in-law.
When the food was served, the old woman picked from some of the dishes and put them on Blink's plate. She urged him to eat well even as she chastised him for having little to no fat on his body.
Jogr couldn't help but to smile. When he was still courting Magra, he was a wiry but actually very capable young man. He knew that the old woman did not favor him then. She even told Magra that a bachelor who could not feed even himself could not possibly be able to feed his family. This became a private joke between the couple and between the brothers-in-law.
Sitting at the head of the table, Jogr could hardly show traces of the wiry old him. He sat there looking like a man who had done well in life, with a bit of fat to show for it.
Blink picked up a piece of meat and fed it to his niece who gobbled it up happily. He had been feeding the little girl for a few minutes when he noticed his elder sister's figure beside him. Blink realized she had been there for quite some time, too.
He looked up to see his sister eyeing him and her daughter with a complicated look on her face. He smiled at her and, to Blink's surprise, she smiled back at him.