"move slowly feel the melody flow through your body, move in the way that will make it grow stronger then let it burst with dynamic movement." the instructor spoke slowly watching her news pair of students. okay, she would admit she was watching one more than the other, but it was the first time she had a male student in her combat dancing class. it was very new and strange, not strange how he threatened to break bones if she went easy.
'i'm still not sure if I want him to meet my son or not?' Amira thought of the boy's strong will, and a boy he was to her, not to mention his confidence. she wanted her son to be happy and that was a bit hard with how stifling some people's intentions to protect could be. her parents were on the worst side, so intent to protect her brother he was unable to truly take care of himself for years after he ran away.
men and boys running away from their families weren't as rare as people would think, partly because they didn't run far, just to a friend's house in the same village and people didn't gossip about the fact. they probably should and people would notice more of the pattern like she was pretty sure it would help.
'but who going to listen to me!' sighing she turned back to her class and instructed them how to move, directing the power of the melody through their bodies. it would make combos easier to do using the power of a melody, an example would be a fire melody moving it from one hand to the other.
'i'll probably get a lot of use of this technique,' aero thought lifting his leg above his head." that's impressive, but not practical in combat, let's stick to things that will likely happen in combat for now." he glared at the teacher but couldn't find a leg to argue with, lowing his leg to his average kick height he switched to the other leg. before springing to land on his hands, the class was a lot easier than he expected, mostly because a lot of fighting motions could be applied.
the rest of the class went nicely well and aero was able to head home to the room he was renting at a nearby inn with little problem. though many people stared at him on the way, apparently a male traveling alone was a rare sight in this small city. aero ignored it and closed himself in his room to practice the dance movement and speak to the helper. who was running the data they gather.
'yes dancing with definitely cut down on the number of notes you need to play,' they had only gotten through the first third of the lesson and the helper had very high expectations. of course, their simulations were mostly speculation based on previously gathered data. but still, things looked good, a good part of the dancing seemed to let the power of the melody move through their bodies or stall it so it can reverb and grow.
the second part had plenty of use for their lord, 'oh my lord the transport will be arriving in the 17-24 flowers'
'so it will be here in as little as two days,' aero paused and pressed his lips into a line. though he has tried he made little progress in making creating a message to store his pride energy. it was kind of annoying how complex the process was. he was going to get it, just might take longer than he originally expected.
'i guess I should prepare," which meant clothing the covered more. 'good things I packed it,' when his self-esteem was weakened he couldn't wear his usual clothes. it was kind of annoying but he understood it, he dressed as he did for freedom of movement and to say 'I'm not afraid! nor ashamed!' to all that looked.
the next class was in three days, 'i have a day to recover the best I can before going to go back to class.' he didn't want to see how lowered self-esteem would affect the classes how he did in class. it didn't seem like fun to him at all, nor did it seem safe. he did some daring movies today, 'hesitation might break my bones, or at the very least hurt a lot.'
ending his after-class practice he cooled down with some yoga before deciding it was time to eat before the sun finished setting. it wasn't hard to find a good place to eat, the only place he's been going for the last few days. the food was decently priced though he wasn't sure how he felt about the slightly spicy and sweet taste of the food. he knew that people liked it but he wasn't sure if he did.
the next day they did a lot of spinning in class, he would admit that was harder than he expected. it also left him very dizzy and with a sore core, 'i didn't know they were so many methods to spinning around.' but I'll make sure to lead with my hands and feet from now on,' he liked increasing his chances of landing safety.
the following day was getting rhythm in their movements as it a very important when you wanted to increase the power of a melody. they practiced to the drums beating out a melody that made the air dance with them. 'this is fun,' aero realized as he moved his limbs to the rhythm, 'i'm having fun!' he felt the melody flow through him and bounce though his bones until he guided it out through his feet. a small gust was born from his actions but aero barely minded he was having fun.
aero continued to dance throughout the rest of the class, letting the melody guide him and him guiding it through his body causing gusts of air the puff out. he might have been putting too much power into the movements as the gust were growing pretty strong. 'that's something I should keep in mind,' he didn't want to lose control of a medley and raze a part of the forest. ' I don't know the fine rate for that,' yes he could get fined for it.
the next morning the helper was able to assure him that the storage device would be arriving today, sometime after sunset. 'so I guess I won't have much time to recharge afterward,' he sighed before getting ready for class and continued onwards. he pushed the matter out of his mind before he arrived at class.
this lesson was intense though the teacher was definitely going easy on them, both students had to adjust to the changing melodies. they were pretty weak in effect but she pulled out some many that he couldn't keep track and it kind of became a blur as he focused on matching the rhythm of the changing melodies.
'i'm sore alright,' he rolled his limbs before heading for the forest. the storage devices would be arriving soon and he had to get there for that, man I hope I can get home without a problem.' the biggest problem he could imagine was someone spotting him and his changed body langue, they would probably offer their help to him. he wasn't sure how much luckier he was to accept another help when his self-esteem was weakened and he wasn't looking forward to finding out.
arriving in the forest he set his staff against a tree and prepared to wait, feeling the prideful power that flowed through him. it reached his toes and his head came from every pore of his being, he was already begging to collect the energy he had to give to the device, he wouldn't be able to give it all now. but the sooner he did it the sooner he recovered and the sooner Xoqax got to work studying it.
he centered the energy in his right arm as the helper sensed the transport entering the planet's atmosphere only petals later arriving before Aero. sitting up he tilted his head as the small size of transport was only the size of his head, maybe a little more. "why is that helper?"
'this one is more specialized, without any form of knowledge on the lord of greed sent a transport capable of holding maybe a dozen forms of energy. now with more data, a smaller and more special container can be used.'
"well at a lot less licky to draw someone's attention," still replaced his right arm on the device directing the energy into it. he could feel it begin taken into the device, it took less than a petal before he parted with all the energy he was willing to at this time. of course, in the following moment, he could feel his self-esteem and pride drop. which affected his courage. "my desire to stay out here has dropped greatly," grabbing the container he lead it back to his room.
he spotted several people on the way back, but thankful for his currently frail heart they didn't try and approach him. so he made it back to his room without trouble, he locked the heavy door behind himself before dropping into his bed, pulling his quilt over him. 'i should try and recover my energy,' but would it be enough for class tomorrow he didn't know and thought about how he could mess up in the class.
'would they laugh at me?' he's rarely been laughed at and in the past, they didn't get to laugh long before he attacked. he wasn't sure he could follow that pattern, not only was his trying to change his reputation, he was also lacking the pride that gave birth to his anger. but clinging to the quilt he stood up and practiced going over his dance lessons. taking pride in what he learned and how well he has learned, was soothing and he could feel the confidence returning.
sadly he could practice long as he had class in the morning so he went through his nightly routine before heading to the Zalt of slumber's embrace. that night was colorful and much better than his dream of the beast as it tried to manipulate him.
the next morning he tried to recover as much of his pride as he could, but it still felt like it wasn't enough as he got dressed in the clothing that cover a good amount of skin. 'at this level I should be fine,' it was only a small seed of doubt in his heart and it was buried under layers of pride. it wouldn't be easy to make it grow.
"well welcome, today's lessons were going to practice maintaining a melodies power inside yourself. now this technique is much harder than expected as it can be very draining..." the first flower of the class was filled with a lecture about what they were learning. the women when into great detail about it, then 15 petals were spent with demonstration. which was followed up by her slowly building them through it herself one at a time. then the remaining two flowers were for them to practice.
the first two-part went well for the young lord but when it came to being guided through the technique, the helper unhelpful informed him that this technique could do a lot of damage to his bones. it scared him, 'which is pathic! I have much more painful things than this why can't break my bone.' even if he lacked pride he still had a stubborn streak.
so he did it, he was scared and unsure but even with that hesitation, he did it again and again. the teacher applauded him as he held the notes inside his bones for 3 petals, 'it aches! something might be cracked! but I still did it!' he could feel his pride swelling from this. he wasn't 100% percent but he was definitely feeling better, 'too bad I plan to put more energy in the storage device tonight.' he could almost cry. but for now, he was going to enjoy the current state of his mind for the time being.
later a few flowers before he usually went to sleep he poured a great deal of power into the device. which had him huddling in his bed for a bit before enough memories gave him the strength to leave his bed. but that was followed by a few hours of working out, not too hard he had class in the morning so it could be too much.
the next day at class he was hesitating again but that was okay, it didn't interfere with his learning as far as he was aware. though unfortunately, his teacher noticed his nervousness. "I'm alright and I don't wish to talk to you!" she hummed for a moment before making a new move," would you like to speak with my husband instead. he's very good at listening and keeping secrets!" then she started talking about more of his traits.
'she bragging about her lover,' he was stuck between rolling his eyes and blushing. so he did both but not in the order. he was listening to her brag for five petals before she realized what she was doing and shy apologized before offering the chance to talk to her husband. "I don't drop my problems on people I haven't neve met yet." he plainly told her acting like he was looking her in the eyes.
'my lord you don't dump your problems on people you do know!' this comment was completely off guard.
"then why don't you come over and meet him?" aero blinked toward the women, putting the helper's words in the back for the moment. "I have no desire to impose on you or your family." nor was he going over to a stranger's house, she may have been teaching him for the past couple of days but that didn't mean he knew her nor trusted her.
"it's no problem, having guests is great and you won't impose on anyone. At your age, you don't eat much." aero twitched, she was right he was still young and didn't eat much because of it. a single gell was more than enough to fill him.
In the end, he couldn't come up with an excuse or argument that pushed the woman off. 'i've been outmatched!' that annoyed him more than anything, of course, it didn't stop him from rushing to a store and buying some kind of treat. 'but I haven't given in!'