Something wasn't right with Hann. She was abnormally irritable whenever I made a mistake and despaired when I didn't show a gift for fighting. I knew the principles of the four forms. High guard, a reactive stance focused on parrying and retaliation. Mid guard, the most versatile and flexible stance. Low guard, a mobility focussed stance that wasn't well suited to a large weapon. No guard, a highly aggressive stance that left you wide open to attacks. I understood them as easily as any other topic but putting them into practice wasn't easy.

The bare basics of sword fighting were almost instinctual for most people once they started training but I found it a real struggle to move my body right. I had many problems but edge alignment was the hardest thing for me by far. Keeping the sword completely in line with the motion of the swing was easy to mess up and it could cost the cutting strength of the strike dearly. My father's flamberge clashed against Hann's axe but my poor alignment twisted the sword in my hand. I slapped her weapon with the flat of the blade and Hann yelled out in frustration.

"I don't get it! You've got so much potential, so much power in those swings. Why can't you do this? Look!"

She adopted the mid guard stance again. I tried my best to mimic her but she looked fed up.

"It's all wrong. Your left foot is too far forwards, your hands are too low and you aren't standing up straight enough. If you swing with a stance like that you'll fall over. We're done for today. Go straight into the wagon, I'll get us some food."

The original plan was for me to learn some basic sword fighting and then help her with hunting but I wasn't ready and it was getting dark. Something about what the cryptic thing said was worrying Hann, I needed to know what was wrong. Even if it meant disobeying her. As soon as she ventured out of sight, I slipped out of the wagon and spoke to it,

"Excuse me."

It didn't even look in my direction.

"You'll incur her wrath if you speak to me. Besides, you are of little interest."

Its chittering voice was grating to hear but I pressed the issue.

"What are you? What did you do to Hann."

"One: An exclusive trader and two: nothing. I don't appreciate baseless accusations."

It shifted its whole body and let out an awful laugh as soon as its veiled face saw me,

"You're walking the precipice's edge? What changed? Such a volatile existence, I pity you."

"What are you going on about?."

"Whatever Hannibell is teaching you, get her to stop. Now, Information isn't free. I'll take a favour, for my service."

"Favour? She's teaching me to fight, why do you want me to stop?"

Another cackle escaped it,

"Taught to fight? Not very well, it seems. My advice is golden. Take it or leave it, matters not to me."

Hann trusted the cryptic thing to secretly take us to a new kingdom and it sounded like they were familiar with each other. Even if it was a dubious person there must be some reason why she put faith in it. I crawled around the side of the wagon and slipped back inside. It wasn't too much longer before Hann returned with a kill. A fresh crackle-boar, its hide was tough and plated with rocky growths but it was extremely tasty. We ate the meat around a simple fire, slicing off thin pieces and using the heat of the flame to flash cook each bite.

We ate in silence for a while until I decided to go for it,

"Hann the sword stuff, I'm just not getting it. Can't I defend myself some other way? In Fleur we were taught a few hand-to-hand techniques, I wasn't too bad at those maybe…"

She kept eating without paying attention and my words dried up. If she wouldn't listen to me then I'd try a more risky approach.

"The driver told me to stop training."

She went from Passive to furious in an instant. She leaned past the boar and grabbed my shoulders hard.

"How much did it cost?! You stupid girl! Why can't you just listen for once."

"A favour! They wanted a favour."

I responded. Hann massaged her forehead.

"Okay, good. You're not that short-sighted. Fine, I'll get more details from the dirty roach. Keep eating and do not follow me. If you're going to keep a low profile you need to stop disobeying me. If I say run, you run. If I say jump, you jump. If I say hide, you hide. Fleur is a well-established guild if you stand out too much you risk being identified. Now stay put and eat."

I wasn't going to push my luck any further, that had already gone better than expected. I was anxious about whether I did the right thing so I sought distraction. I continued slicing bloodied strips from the boar and let the heat of the flames lick at the meat until it was turning brown and curling a little. I chewed another greasy piece and let the rich and fatty meat juices coat my tongue before swallowing. I chewed through strip after strip without restraint as I thought of the Karkarin path once more.

Continuing my training would be hard from now on. Without the potions to regenerate my shredded muscles, I would need to do things the normal way. Olma mentioned that it could take years for someone to finish the adaptation step, there were even some who couldn't complete it ever. Though training took years, most of that time was spent healing. I had a head start but there was no way to tell how much longer I would need. I would only be able to train a couple of muscles at once so that I wasn't left bedridden. The only issue was how much it would slow down my progress. I kept eating away until Hann came back.

We talked for a bit about the events inside the fleur guild, my training in the Karkarin path, the various lessons I participated in and my final attempt at saving the kids. Until she'd heard enough,

"Would you trust me to make a deal for you?"

I wanted to respond immediately but she shook her head when my mouth opened.

"I'm serious, this isn't something I want you to decide lightly. I'm going to haggle for the best deal but I can't guarantee a fair trade. You might end up losing a lot if I screw this up. Will you trust me?"

I trusted her enough to take me from the only home I ever knew. Even when she was acting strangely I was more worried about her than I was about myself. I trusted her. I wanted to know about everything she'd kept from me, about her past with my parents, about the situation we were in right now. But like my mother, I would be happy to hear all about it when she was ready.

"Yes, I trust you."

I heard the cryptic thing call out from the front of the wagon,

"Hannibell is to be your stand-in for our dealings? Fantastic, this makes things easier."

Hann shouted back,

"Not so fast! I don't care about what happens to me but you're an idiot if you think I won't haggle for Jo!"

She dragged the short and stick-like person from its seat and off into the distance. I wanted to follow them but just before leaving Hann gave me one more specific order not to. I was never one for staying put, especially if I was curious but that was a childish habit I'd need to break. I pursued my mother to her "night job" and I regretted it. Maybe once I was done eating I'd try tending my father's sword again. I thought that I might be able to get more out of it, I had more stamina and my lung capacity was incomparable to the first time I tried tending.