When Yuriko returned downstairs, her eyes were puffy and swollen but her composure had returned and she felt ready to face the revelations of her Atavism. If she only knew exactly what it did, then it would be much easier to plan.

The aroma of lunch drew her to the kitchen where Virgil was carrying a rasher of bacon. A plate full of fried potatoes and a pitcher of lavan juice was already at the table, along with a woeful Rami, throwing hurt glances at his elder sister.

Yuriko gave him a wan smile and ruffled his hair. "Sorry."

That was all it took and her little brother was all bubbly smiles again. He didn't say anything else though and, instead, looked over at Virgil.

"Feel better?" Virgil asked with an eye at the crispy bacon and another at Yuriko.

"I guess."

"Well, let's eat first. Things won't seem as bad after you've had a full stomach."

Nodding, Yuriko noticed that the table was set for three. "Kato?"

"With his friends." Rami snorted. "Ever since he and Caera became 'friends', he began preferring his gang's company."

Yuriko blinked. "Who?"

"Dame Virra's daughter. It’s because Kato had such a sweet tooth that they're together."

"Don't say that, Rami," Virgil rebuked, "it's not polite."

"Yes, Da." But Rami stuck out his tongue with a grin.

Yuriko poured glasses of lavan for herself and Rami.

"Kaf for me, thank you." Virgil took some of the bacon and placed it on his plate.

Kaf was a stimulant derived from the leaves and roots of a shrub endemic to Rumiga. It was one of the town's chief exports. She mixed the ground leaves and roots shavings with freshly-boiled water.

Virgil usually drank a cup with every meal.

When she returned to the table, she found her plate with a heaping serving of bacon and potatoes.

"Finish your plate."

Rolling her eyes, Yuriko dug in.

The meal was finished quickly and in relative silence. Virgil filled a mug of kaf for Yuriko.

"Drink. It will help you with your Animus later."

Plate empty, Yuriko took a sip and blanched at the bitterness. She added a dollop of honey, tasted it, then added a bit more. Only then did the kaf become palatable.

The warmth from the drink spread from her belly to her core. Her Animus, half-depleted from her attempts at inlaying her Facet that morning, recovered slightly.

"Kaf can help recover your reserves, but it's only effective if you've gone through the Atavism Ritual." Virgil added, "don't drink too much though, otherwise, it will have the opposite effect."

Yuriko nodded.

"Rami, once you're done with the dishes, continue with your lessons."

He stood up and motioned for Yuriko to follow. They sat together on the porch. Father and daughter nursed a mug of kaf each and settled on an armchair facing each other.

"Care to tell me?"

Yuriko shook her head then hastily clarified, "I'm not sure. I can't seem to get the inlay process started."

"Oh? Is there anything in the pattern that's familiar?"

Yuriko looked at the kaf as though the muddy brown liquid held the secrets of Chaos. "I...don't know. I think it's closer to Mother's, but from the vision…"

"Before you continue," Virgil interrupted, "You don't have to tell anyone what you saw during the ritual."

"It's fine, Da." Yuriko sighed. "I've been trying since this morning and I can't make any progress."

Virgil grunted. "The difficulty of your first pattern inlay is usually proportional to the pattern's power. It's good that you're having a hard time."

"Really?" Yuriko perked up.

"It's not always true, but it's more likely so than not."

"My vision showed me mother's and your pattern. The one I have isn't even located in either of yours."

Virgil’s eyebrows furrowed in deep thought. "Hmmm."

Yuriko took another sip of her kaf, swirling the liquid in her mouth. The honey in the kaf blended well with the bitterness, adding to the flavour rather than overwhelming it.

"What's your problem with inlaying?"

Yuriko was startled out of her blue mood. "Uhm…I can't figure out which of the terminal points is the start. I've tried each of the ones I found at the edges of the pattern but none of them worked."

"That's troubling," Virgil muttered. "Where's the pattern located?"

"My head."

"Oh? Hmmm, your Heritage might be derived from your mum's line, then."

"It looked nothing like mother's."

"It may not, at the start."

Yuriko shook her head. "I'm sure it isn't, Pa. The feel of it was completely different."

"You're basing this on your visions? Be aware that they may not reflect reality. Either way, we're now faced with a rather thorny issue."

Yuriko fidgeted uneasily. "What to do?"

"Yes, what do you want to do?" Virgil shook his head, "I knew that the chances of you receiving your mum's Heritage would be more likely than you receiving mine. But I trained you in my path anyway. Why do you think so?"

"Because I asked?"

"Hah, yes well, that's one reason," Virgil grinned, "but the other is that most of the skills I had you practice are useful no matter the path you choose. Unfortunately, until you figure out your Facet, there's no way you can specialize."

Yuriko shuddered. "More basic training?"

Two years ago, when she had finally been allowed to train with Virgil--well, more like she pestered him until he gave in, really-- she had been subjected to increasingly intense strength training. Running in the morning followed by calisthenics, and sometimes weight training.

Weight training was done every two to three days but endurance running was done every morning.

It wasn't that she disliked it but the monotony was unbearable, especially when Virgil started her on Animus usage and marksmanship training the year after. Then she had gladly thrown herself to skills training, conveniently neglecting the original, foundational sets.

"More basic training." Virgil smiled. "There's also the training camp for you newly-awakened kids but that's a couple of weeks away. I'll make sure you're ready for it. None of this training will be wasted once we determine your Facet. You still want to join the Imperial Legion Vagaris?"

There were other choices available, if she really wanted. Virgil now served as the Watchtower’s Commander of the Militia but prior to that, he was part of Vagaris. The Imperial Legion’s mandate was to explore the Chaos and secure any habitable plane they found for the Empire. That was also where he had met their mum, who now served the Imperial Court in Realmheart.

Marron was in the militia but only until he gained enough rank and experience to transfer to a Legion. Kato followed a similar path and graduating from Agaza Academy was the first step. Rami could speak of nothing but destroying the Wyldlings that threatened their safety but since he was too young to attend the Atavism Ritual, his path was far from being set.

Yuriko wanted that life; she wanted to follow the same path her Da and brothers were following. She wanted to roam the Chaos Sea and discover new planes and bring them under the Empire’s protective light. And the first step towards that dream was to enter the Agaza Academy in Rumiga City.

Virgil remained quiet throughout her musing, sipping his mug and making contented sounds.

Yuriko met his eyes and nodded.

The fact that her Heritage wasn't the Davar Marksmanship would not stop her from fulfilling her dreams.

“I’ll write to your mum about your Facet. She may have an idea what it is and how to advance it.” He stared at her gravely. “Yuri, you still have the rest of the season before you can enter an Academy. You don’t have to rush, but needless to say, having a Facet inlaid is necessary to enter Agaza.”

Yuriko nodded as she finished her kaf. She felt better after talking with her Da. She felt the weight of his expectations, too; she had been lost after the ritual but now she could somewhat see what she needed to do.

The Atavism Ritual had been conducted during the 91st Day of Earth and lasted until the 1st Day of Fire. She ended up spending the rest of the day trying to inlay her pattern, but to no avail. There were eight terminal points at its edges, and none of them appeared to be the correct one to start with.

Depleted of Animus, she set about making dinner for her family. It reflected her state of mind perfectly: she overcooked the vegetables and undercooked the beef. Kato teased her mercilessly about it but as annoyed as she was, all she could do was throw a weak kick to his shin that he easily dodged.

*-*-*

The 2nd Day of Fire saw Yuriko up bright and early, making a breakfast of waffles with butter and honey. She left them on the kitchen table and left for her morning run. Kato, Rami, and Virgil were still in bed when she left the house. Yuriko’s days would flow in about the same way from this point on.

Her choice of clothing was a pair of loose cotton-weave pants, a brown sweater over a white tank top, and her most comfortable pair of running shoes. Her hair was in a tight ponytail, though some strands of hair swung free. She had wanted to have her hair cut short but not only had her brothers protested, saying that long hair looked great on her, Virgil had threatened to tell their mother.

Matron Rosie was already awake as well, sweeping her front porch when Yuriko ran by.

“You’re up early!” Matron Rosie yelled out, waving.

Yuriko waved back. “Need to run today!”

“Take care then!” The Matron yelled back. She was a bit hard of hearing but she had a heart of gold and a very discerning eye. She babysat the Davar children a few years back when Yuriko’s mom had first been stationed at the Imperial Capital.

After jogging past a couple of households, Yuriko slowly increased her pace. She was headed west for now but as soon as she hit the Farmer’s Market, she intended to loop around to the Children’s Park, then the Town Center, before heading back home for a proper breakfast.

She sucked her breath in sharply and groaned. She had forgotten to set aside any of the waffles for herself. By the time the ravenous horde got through with it, she might find herself without anything left to eat.

Yuriko sighed. Oh well.

She sped up to a sprint for a few hundred paces then slowed down to a jog for another couple hundred. The idea was to keep alternating between the two speeds for the duration of the run.

The Farmer’s Market was already bustling when she passed by. Her clothes were already damp with sweat and she found herself constantly wiping any that beaded on her forehead.

The start of the Season of Fire signified warmth and heat, with only the first few days of it still exhibiting some of the chill of the Season of Earth. As the Seasons changed, different parts of Rumiga experienced strong variations of weather, though it rarely snowed in Faron’s Crossing during the Season of Water.

With the Season of Fire came the Harvest Festival which was about six weeks away. The start of the Imperial Academies’ enrollment drive would come the week after.

‘I need to finish the inlay before then.’ Yuriko thought.

She waved to the farm hands who yelled out a crisp good morning to her while she ran on. She saw Ashley Gin among them holding a basket of greens. She noticed Yuriko jogging by and nodded in greeting.

Soon enough, she was on her way to the Children’s Park where she, her brothers, and other neighbourhood kids fought mock battles using the two forts on opposite ends of the park. Wooden swords and arrows tipped with bundles of cloth were provided and they spent many happy hours playing Knights and Wyldlings.

This early in the morning, there were no children in the park yet; instead, a middle aged woman wearing an orange jacket was clearing the park of litter and leaves.

The Town Centre was already busy at this time. Aside from the Temple, the Centre also had the militia’s command center and barracks where Virgil normally went on the mornings when he didn’t need to be at the Watchtower, and the town hall where Alderman Rivos, the nominal head of Faron’s Crossing, held office.

By this time, Yuriko’s path was over four longstrides long and the alternating sprinting and jogging had taken a toll. She was down to a slow jog the rest of the way home.

Her brothers and Virgil were feasting on waffles when she arrived. Someone had thoughtfully set aside a plateful for her which she was grateful for. She grabbed a glass and filled it with water from the tap.

“Flexibility today,” Virgil declared.

Hydrated, Yuriko nodded and trudged out to the backyard, a small, fenced-in garden with a covered wooden deck.

Yuriko began with doing a full split. On the deck, she extended her left leg forward and her right leg to the back until she was fully down. She bent forward, touching the tips of her toes and held it for a few seconds. She then bent backwards as far as she could.

She moved through several positions, grunting as she reached the limits of her joints and tendons and tried to push past them ever so slightly. She was ever mindful of what her body told her and never quite pushed beyond to what would definitely injure her. There had been mishaps in the past where she’d been overenthusiastic and wound up unable to train for weeks. More than anything, it was the regression of her abilities that she regretted rather than the forced idleness.

When she was done, she soaked in a tub full of hot water, allowing the heat to soothe her fatigued muscles. She would probably be so stiff the next day that she would barely be able to move. Still, Virgil had instructed her to push her limits as much as she could and she was determined to take his words to heart.

She found Virgil in the kitchen waiting for her. She’d caught a glimpse of Rami in his room, reading, as she made her way down to the kitchen. Virgil was sitting in the kitchen alone which meant Kato had already left the house.

“Eat first,” Virgil said.

Yuriko nodded, noting that it was past the time he usually left for the barracks. When she was done, he led her out to the backyard.

“I can see that you’ve pushed yourself, not quite to your limits, but more than you normally would.” Virgil smiled. “If we leave things as they are now, you’d be too stiff to do anything tomorrow, so I’m going to have you do something you weren’t capable of doing before the Ritual.”

Yuriko nodded, still a bit too exhausted to muster up a response.

“You will use your Animus to repair your muscles and strengthen your body. This is a pattern commonly taught to all soldiers of the Empire. You will be taught the same technique in the training camp but I think you’d want all the advantages you can get.”

He had Yuriko sit as comfortably as she could on the lawn chair.

“You need to visualize your Animus and coax it out of your centre. Imagine it spreading throughout your Anima specifically, on the parts corresponding to the aches in your body. Close your eyes, imagine yourself sitting in the dark. The only source of light is your Animus…”

Virgil’s voice droned on. It was a familiar sensation by now but the first time they did this, Yuriko could barely keep her focus. As before, she had to shove everything out of her mind, into a little corner where she boxed things up. Her frustrations, her aches and pains, the despair and mind-numbing exhaustion.

She quickly found herself in her Anima, looking at the bonfire that was her Animus. When she had tried to inlay the pattern of her Facet, she only coaxed a little bit of Animus to flow up to her mind.

Her body was fatigued from her sprinting. Her shoulders, hips, hamstrings, and quadriceps ached from the stretching. Her calves were numb, too. During her run, her lungs burned like they were on fire and now they felt ravaged as though a wild fire had gone through the fields.

“Draw out a bit of your Animus and direct it to your muscles…”

In a trance, Yuriko did as she was asked. She coaxed and tugged at the bonfire until a tongue of flame separated from the main body. The fire was bigger than she expected but this had been true since yesterday. She wasn’t quite used to the amount of Animus she now controlled.

She directed it easily enough to her leg. She focused on her left thigh first, planning to do her right after. Splitting the flame wasn’t something she had ever done before.

“Let your Animus seep into your body from your Anima. Focus on your intentions. You want it to soothe the muscle and aid in its recovery.”

She breathed slowly, repeating the intention. Heal, remove the pain, make it stronger, she said to herself. Her Animus seemed to pulsate and then with a bright flash, she felt like her leg was on fire.

“I said remove the pain!” she gasped.

“You said heal first,” Virgil chuckled.

Her thigh spasmed and jerked, pins and needles on every part of it. It was worse than muscle cramps, worse than when she had torn her muscles by running without warming up. She would have fallen off her chair if not for Virgil’s arm steadying her.

The spasms subsided after several minutes. Yuriko drew a ragged gasp as the pain faded away, leaving just a small fraction of what she’d felt before. The Animus she used was completely gone.

“Now, do the same thing with your other leg. The exact same thing, mind,” Virgil added. “You don’t want the recovery to be unbalanced.”

Gritting her teeth, Yuriko repeated the process, suffering the same amount of pain worsened by the anticipation and knowledge that she had to do it anyway. She tried her best to ensure the amount of Animus she drew from her core was the same but try as she might, this one was a little smaller.

When she was done, Virgil stood up. “That took you more than an hour for each leg and I’m guessing you didn’t complete the healing either. Don’t do that again for today. Tomorrow you may take it easy in the morning.

“I’m off to the barracks now. Do what you want for the rest of the day. And avoid doing more physical training,” he reminded sternly. “You may attempt to inlay your Facet, instead.”

Yuriko waved goodbye while leaning back against the chair. Once she was alone, she focused again on her Animus and attempted to inlay. Alas, after a couple of hours work, the only thing she accomplished was to deplete the rest of her Animus.

Mindful of Virgil’s instruction, as well as the long-standing rule of never completely draining her reserve, she headed back indoors to prepare lunch for herself and Rami.

In the middle of her meditations, Rami had watered the vegetable garden a few paces away from the deck, and since it was a bit overcast anyway, he had started weeding while humming mindlessly. It was a good thing that Yuriko had trained hard to ignore such distractions, otherwise she would have thrown her shoe at him.

She rummaged through the pantry and settled on stir-frying some greens with slivers of jerky.

“Rami! Come eat lunch!” she yelled out to her little brother.

He was now talking softly to the flowering plant in the front yard. He waved absently and continued. A purple coloured mist streamed from Rami’s lips and, when they touched the flowers, their colours seemed more vibrant.

After lunch, and without enough Animus to make another effort at inlaying her Facet, Yuriko decided to take a walk. After the exercise Virgil had her do, her thighs felt almost normal, the pain from the morning’s exertions nearly negligible. Of course, her calves, back muscles, and core muscles told a different story.

She threw on a pair of black tights, a white tank top, and a blue sweater. Rami had retreated to his room, and when she checked on him, she found him reading another book.

“See you later!”

“Where’re you going?” Rami protested.

“Just around. I need to think.”

“You don’t need to walk to think, you know.”

“Shush, you. Bye!”

It was late afternoon and with the turn of the season, the days lasted longer. She had a few hours before the sun touched the mists. Picking out a direction at random, she kept her hands in her sweater pockets and enjoyed the breeze blowing through her golden hair.