"Shouldn't I wait for Huo?" Wuyi asked timidly.
"I am Huo," she replied, her voice tinged with impatience. "Now pick one. I want to see what you're made of before the others arrive."
Wuyi went ahead and picked up a broad-bladed sword.
It didn't take long for Master Huo to establish that Wuyi was inexperienced and easily intimidated. After a few parries, she disarmed him with a swift strike, sending his blade spinning from his hands.
"Hm," she muttered, neither harshly nor kindly, as if inspecting a slightly wilted lotus root. Wuyi cautiously extended his Statue of Harmony energy toward her, finding her mind as quiet as the mare's had been. Relieved to find no hostility, he refrained from probing further.
"What are you called?" Master Huo demanded abruptly.
"Wuyi," he responded, standing a bit straighter and speaking louder.
She flinched slightly. "Typical of Boluo to call a bastard a bastard. Well, Wuyi it is. Now, let me show you why the blade you chose was unsuitable."
Wuyi wanted to defend Boluo, that it was not him who named him, but then decided against it. There was nothing to be gained from it.
Master Huo proceeded to explain the intricacies of selecting the right weapon, and Wuyi listened attentively. Just as they were finishing, the rest of her students arrived. There were four of them, all close to Wuyi's age but far more experienced. The new dynamic created an awkwardness. With an odd number of students, no one seemed eager to have the newcomer as a sparring partner. But Master Huo, ever the observant instructor, seemed to take it all in stride.
She then guided him through an exercise that initially for the first hour seemed complex but soon felt simple, not because it was simple to do so, but because his cheat started helping him. Whenever Wuyi practiced, the Valor Statue activated in the chamber, as if giving him support. The energy from the statue would seep into his muscles, helping him build muscle memory for the weapons training.
Wuyi survived the day's training. Even with the statue's assistance, his muscles ached as he limped back to the fortress, trailing behind the other students. The hall was crowded and noisy, and he was too weary to eat much. A bowl of congee and a steamed bun were all he managed before he thought of retreating to the warmth and quiet of the stables. Just as he was about to leave, Bangte accosted him.
"Your chamber is ready," Bangte announced.
Wuyi shot a look toward Boluo, who was engrossed in conversation and didn't notice him. Reluctantly, he followed Bangte up a wide flight of granite stairways adorned with intricate carvings into an unfamiliar part of the fortress. They paused on a landing where Bangte lit a lantern.
"The Lord's family lives down this wing; beyond that is the clan treasury. Never go near the treasury, even by mistake, or you will be punished," Bangte informed him, gesturing down a hallway. "The Lord has a chamber as big as the stable at the end."
Wuyi nodded, taking in the information. They ascended another flight of steps, narrower this time. "Visitors get rooms here," Bangte said, waving the lantern, its flames flickering. "Important ones, that is."
Finally, they reached another landing and went down a new wing. Three doors down, Bangte slid a latch on a plank door and pushed it open. "This chamber hasn't been used in a while," he observed. "But now it's yours, and you're welcome to it." He set the lantern on a chest and left, pulling the heavy door closed behind him.
Wuyi was left in the semi-darkness of a large, unfamiliar room. He took up the lantern and lit the wall-mounted lanterns, driving the shadows back into the corners. There was a brazier with a feeble fire, which he poked for more light than heat. In the beginning, Wuyi was surprised at the fact that people needed braziers in the desert where it was so hot, but the cold desert nights told him how important they were. The room was a simple square with a single window and stone walls. A scroll painting hung on one wall, depicting a nobleman in deep meditation before a dragon. It seemed menacing to him.
He turned away from the painting, contemplating his new surroundings. It was a lot to take in, this sudden change, and he felt a mixture of apprehension and loneliness. But this was his new reality, and he would have to adapt, whether he liked it or not.
Someone had made a cursory attempt to freshen the room. Fresh reeds
and aromatic herbs were scattered on the stone floor, and a plush bed looked inviting. Two good silk quilts lay on it, and the silk drapes had been drawn back. The room also contained a polished bench with a cushion and an intricately carved chest for storage. To Wuyi, who had only seen poverty in this world so far, the room seemed luxurious. The idea that all these furnishings were for his exclusive use made them seem even grander. He sighed; if it were the past world, he wouldn't even blink at them, but now they seemed like royal luxury to him.
He added a piece of wood to the brazier and noted the shuttered window with a seat before it, probably offering a view of the sea.
There was a chest, simple but elegant, adorned with metal fittings. Upon opening it, Wuyi found his limited wardrobe transferred from the stables. Two new sleeping robes and a blanket had been added. He took out a robe and closed the chest.
Setting the robe on the bed, Wuyi climbed up. Though it was early, his body ached from the day's exertions, and there seemed little else to do. He missed the familiar atmosphere of the stable room where Boluo would be sitting by now, mending harnesses and enjoying a drink. The room would be filled with the comforting scents of leather, oil, and wine, not the musty smell of stone and dust that filled this chamber. Whether he liked it or not, Boluo had become part of his habit; he could sleep in peace knowing that his ferocious guardian was there to watch over him.
Wuyi pulled the robe over his head and pushed his clothes to the foot of the bed. He settled into the bed, initially cold but slowly warming with his body heat. Every muscle ached, and he felt drained.
He knew he should extinguish the lanterns, but he couldn't muster the strength or the will to plunge the room into deeper darkness. Instead, he lay there, half-lidded eyes watching the flickering flames in the brazier.
As he drowsed, he found himself idly sitting in the sacred chamber, looking at the statue of Valor, which was glowing; it seemed the more he practiced weapons or martial arts, the more it glowed.
He had felt its power today.
Wuyi wanted to experiment to see what else the statue could do, but he was exhausted. He yearned for a restfulness he couldn't quite remember but felt he had once known. And so, enveloped in his thoughts and the semi-darkness of the chamber, Wuyi drowsed into the oblivion of sleep.