Deilan made his way to the gates of the manor, pulling slightly at his uncomfortable shirt. His mother had been overjoyed at the news that he had been offered a job at the estate, and had insisted on him wearing his best outfit to his first day on the job. Unfortunately, his best outfit wasn’t one he had had a chance to break in just yet, and wasn’t really made for long walks through the city. Despite the chill in the air, he could already feel himself sweating. His head felt slightly itchy as well, his father having given him a clean cut and a ‘proper shave’ to help him prepare.

Standing just outside the gates was a familiar figure, chatting amiably with the guards on duty. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the familiar figure he was expecting.

“Damn, I was hoping you’d be late. As long as I’m out here waiting for you, Lethel isn’t making me run with the other new recruits to keep them motivated.” Demaric gave him a crooked smile, reaching forward to shake his hand. Now that he was a little less slumped, Deilan could see that he was a tall man, clearing him by almost a full head. His dark hair had been shorn short, and it was obvious that the chain mail he wore covered a rather imposing frame. I’m not the tallest guy in the world, sure, but this place is going to make me feel small really quickly.

Demaric patted him on the shoulder before guiding him inside the grounds. “I was sorry to hear that the guard interview didn’t go well for you. Lethel is pretty big on the physical fitness aspect of the job, which is why most candidates spend a few months getting in shape beforehand. If I had realized you hadn’t been prepared for it, I would’ve warned you off. Speaking of being unprepared,” he gave Deilan’s outfit a once over, “are you sure that’s what you want to wear for the first day on the job?”

Deilan glanced down, looking for something out of place on his outfit. Malia did mention darker colors would be preferred. “Should I go home and change?”

“Nah, too late for that. Maybe Lethel will go easy on you since you’re just a courier. You must have had something special, for both he and Malia to go out of their way for you like this. I knew something about you was interesting.”

Shifting uncomfortably at all of the attention directed his way, Deilan attempted to change the subject. “So, what exactly will I be doing as a courier? I mean, I know I’ll be delivering messages to people, but anything beyond that?”

“Beats me. Way outside my wheelhouse there, I just guard things. I do know you’ll be going through some training with Lethel and myself, as well as working with Trentis. He’s in charge of managing the affairs of the house, which will include your services. His official title is Seneschal, so I’d be sure to pick that one up quickly. He’s going to be handling bringing you up to speed on your daily duties, so most of your questions will probably be answered there.”

He led them along a path along the side of the manor until they reached a small courtyard. He could recognize the form of Lethel standing over the three recruits, as they performed some kind of jumping exercise. His barking voice cut through the morning air as he instructed them on proper form. I guess I was the only one cut. Well, good for them, I’m glad they all made it.

Demaric led him up behind the group, continuing to chat amicably. “I’ll be working with you as well, along with Malia, in training you to defend yourself. I’m guessing she decided it was better to sweat a little than to be stuck on door duty, so she’s sharing these shifts with me. It will help split it up, as you’ll be much less focused on weapons, and more to hand-to hand combat.”

Deilan paused in his walking, a spike of panic halting his steps just shy of the group. “Wait, why do I have to learn how to fight? I thought I was just running messages?”

“Because if you’re going to be carrying messages, you need to make sure they can actually reach their destination even if someone is trying to stop you, son.” Lethel had stopped his instructions to approach them. The three recruits began to settle, but with a quick glare Lethel had them back on pace.

“You have a good mind and a decently developed fractal for your age, but what I saw of your endurance and strength is abysmal. I doubt I could get you to the level of handling a weapon, but there’s no way I’m turning you loose as you are now. Go ahead and join the others.”

Deilan felt the panic of a moment before shift to dread at the idea of more of Lethel’s exercises. The feeling only intensified as he looked down at the clothing he was wearing. Oh no, this must be what Demaric meant. How am I supposed to do any kind of exercise in this? Looking at the other three, he noticed that they were all wearing matching clothes.

“Is there a uniform I could change into first?I don’t think I wore appropriate clothing for today’s activity.”

Lethel eyed him, but there was a twinkle there that made Deilan think he was being messed with. “I suppose we have something that could fit you. Just be sure to wear appropriate clothing going forward. Did you think you were going to a dance today? Probably not, I’m not sure you could dance in those either. Demaric, show him to the laundry so he can get an outfit.”

Deilan sighed in relief, allowing Demaric to lead him towards the manor. Maybe this won’t be as bad when I’m dressed for it.

Deilan collapsed on a bench in the courtyard, barely mustering the energy to bring the waterskin to his lips. Okay, the clothes don't make any difference. That was the worst experience of my life. He was grateful that the others seemed to be worn out as well, if not quite as much as he was.

The woman with the short hair turned to him with hands on her knees, panting lightly. Eleth, I think. “I’m surprised to see you back, glad they found a job that fit you better though. Sorry for not reaching out to you before, you just seemed a little too soft for a guard in my experience. No offence.”

He managed to sit up slightly, groaning as his muscles protested. “None taken, I guess. I’m glad too, and happy to see you all got the job.”

Tomen and Arelia sat on the ground stretching, but both smiled up at him at the comment. Arelia stood up, and walked over gingerly to shake his hand. “Thanks, I wasn’t really expecting it. Between these two, I was feeling a tiny bit outclassed. Maybe we should all hit a tavern after this to grab drinks to celebrate.”

Lethel seemed to notice the group beginning to stir, as he chose that moment to walk back up. “Glad to see you all catching your second wind so quickly, that makes this next part easier.” At seeing their groans, a huge grin split his face. “Come now, you’ll be fine. This next part is all about external fractals. Let’s keep exercising your minds while your bodies recover.”

Deilan perked up at this, as he hadn’t expected to do any runework at all today. Maybe I can show them I’m not so useless after all. My ego could certainly use it, I’ve never felt so outclassed in my life.

“Out next exercise,” Lethel continued, “will be using your fractal fo self-defense. Don’t worry too much about technique, I just want to see how your instincts are, and we can go from there.” He seemed to mistake the crestfallen look on Deilan’s face, because he appended the statement with “Yes, Deilan, I mean you too. Trust me, this will help you too.”

Eleth was directed to go first, with a gesture from Lethel to stand in the center of a circle of bare dirt, several paces across. Once she was positioned, he began to speak. “What’s going to happen is that Demaric is going to try to tackle you. He’ll use only internal patterns to get close, while you will use only external patterns to try to stop him. Stop him, not injure him. If you manage to knock him out of the circle, or immobilize him, you pass. If he pins you to the ground or you leave the circle, you fail. I suggest not failing, as it means I need to exercise you harder to help clear your mind of distractions.”

Eleth shuddered at that, to surprisingly reassured him. At least I’m not the only one who hates the drills.

Demaric took his place outside the circle, locking eyes with Eleth. He had removed his chainmail and tabard, leaving him in only his undershirt, pants, and a heavy set of boots.. For one tense moment, the intensity built, before Lethel shouted “Begin!”

Demaric flew across the ground, almost too fast to follow. Deilan watched his movements, noticing they lacked the finesse of air-attuned movement. Instead, it seemed to be all explosive action, indicative of a fire attunement. A lot of power there, but no maneuverability. He’s going to be all straight lines. Eleth reacted immediately, sending a gust of wind shooting at him, strong enough to blow him out of the circle.

Unfortunately for her, he kept low, and the combination of momentum and low profile greatly reduced the effect of the gust, and his speed was barely reduced. Before she had a chance to readjust, he was on her, taking her to the ground. He was back up in moments, helping her to her feet.

“Damn,” she said, brushing dirt off of her clothes, “that would have never happened if I could’ve used an internal pattern instead. You would’ve never caught me.”

Demaric chuckled a little bit at that, walking back to the edge of the circle. “I’m sure we’ll get a chance to try that at some point. For now, it’s good practice to try with things you aren’t as comfortable with.”

She nodded consideringly at that, taking her seat. Tomen stood next without prompting, entering the circle. He set himself on the ground, legs spread wide and bracing for Demaric. Once he was settled, Lethel gave the signal again. Demaric was once again flying across the ground, building momentum to take down the large youth.

As he drew close, however, a chunk of earth lifted just as he committed his weight to it. With a lift, Demaric found himself being catapulted through the air. He somehow managed to twist himself as he flew, bleeding a large chunk of his forward momentum, but the damage was done. As he came to rest, it was outside the dirt circle.

Lethel clapped heartily, a smile on his face. “Very good Tomen. Defy your opponents expectations, and take advantage of it when they overcommit to a feint.”

Tomen seemed to preen under the praise before heading back to the others. Deilan eyed him consideringly as he settled, and Arelia stood. I don’t know why I assumed he would be straightforward just because he was big. A good lesson, I guess. Arelia spoke to Lethel briefly, who gestured to a nearby shed. She walked inside, and emerged a few moments later struggling with a barrel of what he assumed was water. Water is a tough one if you’re forced to use nothing but external patterns. I know mother said she only chose the attunement originally because they lived so close to the river.

Once she was in position inside of the circle with her barrel, and she had caught her breath, Lethel gave the signal. Demaric was once more charging across the ground towards his intended victim, with a careful eye on the barrel. He suddenly began cartwheeling his arms as he lost his balance, and his body hit the ground with a splash of mud. He began dragging himself to the edge of the mudpit that had formed beneath him, but he appeared to be struggling. A wave of water burst from the improvised pit he was treading, locking him in place. The water splashed harmlessly outside of the circle, and Arelia dropped to her knees.

What in the hells just happened there? From context, he could see that Arelia had exhausted herself pulling water out of the mud to harden it. It was extremely taxing to remove water from anything, and was essentially impossible on anything as complex as a living organism. It was impressive enough that she got it out of the mud, but where did the mudpit come from.

Lethel walked up to Arelia, stopping to tip over her barrel. From the angle it landed, Deilan could see that the bottom had been knocked out. “Very well done drawing his attention to the barrel and then setting a trap with the water. I wouldn’t recommend doing that in a live environment until you’re a lot more experienced, however. It doesn’t do much good to incapacitate your foe if you’re incapacitated yourself. If he has even one friend, you’re done for. Tomen, give me a hand extracting poor Demaric here.”

Tomen walked up to Demaric, grabbing one of his hands and pulling while focusing on the ground. Demaric slid out easily and quickly scrambled to his feet. Tomen gave Arelia a hand back to hear seat while Demaric attempted to dust himself off. After a few swipes, he seemed to realize the futility of the action and simply glared at Arelia’s back. He then gathered the pieces of the barrel and moved them out of the circle.

“Deilan, you’re up.”

He started at the call, having been caught up in the small drama playing out before him. He scrambled to his feet, making his way to the center of the circle while his mind raced. Oh crap, I have no idea how to even approach this. Make a wall of force? No, he’ll go around it. Try to fling him in the air? No, he’ll be expecting it after Tomen, and even he barely managed to get him out of the ring. Wait, what about the new rune?

He locked eyes with Demaric as time seemed to slow down. He prepared the pattern in his mind of force external flow across and prepared to shift his focus on a spot just a couple of steps in front of the man. As soon as he heard the shout from Lethel, let the pattern flare through his fractal, making no attempt to restrain it. Demaric flew across the ground towards him, legs pumping powerfully across the ground. Please let this work.

Demaric shifted his gaze down as soon as eye contact was broken, eyes locking on the slight shimmer in the air. As soon as his foot touched down on the plane of force, he tucked into a roll as if to avoid a sudden lifting force. Wrong move. Deilan couldn’t help but smile as he watched Demaric’s back roll across the flowing plane. He was immediately flung across the ground as the surface area of his back gave full traction for the flowing force to grab onto.

Deilan’s triumph was short lived, however, as Demaric shot toward the other seated recruits. Thankfully, Eleth reacted fast enough to throw up a cushion of air, slowing his tumbling considerably. Tomen managed to push partially to his feet and catch the man, preventing any serious injury.

All eyes turned to Deilan, who had completely locked up at his starting point. The tableau held for several seconds until the sound of a clearing throat brought eyes to Lethel.

“Can’t say as I’ve seen that one before, but good job. You managed to turn his expectations against him, with whatever it was you just did, and used his own force against him. That kind of thinking will serve you well in unarmed combat as well. Don’t look at where you plan on striking though, it telegraphs your intent. A little less force while training would be appropriate as well, we’re not trying to cause any injuries here.”

Deilan found himself flushing slightly, and left the circle. The group was eyeing him warily, all except Demaric who was giving him a wry grin.

“I deserved that one, you’ll have to show me how you did that.”

Deilan returned his smile, feeling the tension in his shoulders relax slightly. Well, I did want to make an impression.

“Okay everyone,” Lethel exclaimed, “Next up we’ll be pairing off and trying that exercise with each other. Once Eleth gets back from her five laps, of course. Trade off between attacker and defender, then trade off between partners. Demaric and I will be giving feedback and tips as you go.”

Eleth gave a quiet sigh as she pushed herself to her feet, but began her laps without complaint. The other three continued sitting, enjoying the brief reprieve before they had to get back to training. Arelia abruptly turned his way, curiosity blatant in her expression.

“Was that a flow rune? I didn’t think that worked with a force attunement?”

He smiled, face coming alive with the chance to share his work. “Yeah, it is! I found a way to integrate it into more rigid fractal attunements by focusing on the connector patterns, creating a more stable manifestation structure.”

Tomen had begun to pay more attention as he began his description, but their faces made it clear that they didn’t quite understand what he was talking about. Not surprising, so few people really dig into the theory, preferring to stick to established patterns. Neither of the two guard trainees seemed put off by this though, and they sat with rapt attention as he began rattling off the process that led to his discovery.

It’s nice to know I’m already making friends at work.