Even by the time Yuriko made it back home, she was still flushed. The feel of his lips against her hand lingered oddly, and tingling waves went through her body. The heat seemed to focus on her chest, and even more embarrassingly, below her navel. There was a strange, tingly feeling, too. What had Finan done?

Oh. There was some lingering Animus on her hand. It faded away when she focused on it, along with the lingering warmth. Why didn’t she notice it before? Did her mind get so addled by the surprise? Ah, he actually left the box of chocolate truffles. So the entire thing was simply a ploy to get a rise out of her?

Huh, maybe she should stop overthinking. That was usually how he got her in Shatran. He somehow manages to have her think too many steps ahead and when she was distracted by the possible hundred or so advance moves, he’d find the gap in her thinking and slip a force through. She actually did better when she focused on the now and reacted to changes. Her intuition worked better and often gave her the path to victory.

With a laugh, she set aside her thoughts and focused on her Radiant Body Refinement. Soon afterwards, her mental equilibrium returned. Still, her thoughts sometimes touched on the sly prince and how she enjoyed their mental sparring.

_________

Given that Faron’s Crossing was a small town, gossip was its denizen’s lifeblood. Information flowed freely on the wagging tongues of the housewives, and even faster on a househusbands’ barside chatter.

For the town’s adult population, there were only two pubs of note. The first was the Moonlit Night Cafe, which was also known as the Moonlit tavern, just off the town centre was frequented by the town’s leadership and upper crust. The second, Sodden Riverbarge on the Eastern District, or more frequently called the Foreign Quarter, which was the watering hole of choice for the working man, the farmhands, and sometimes, the merchants who liked to go slumming.

Constable Tara Seoni Anderson knew both of the taverns well, and in fact, her in-laws owned the Riverbarge. As the primary lawkeeper of the town, she had frequented both. The Moonlit Tavern when she brown nosed the Alderman and his secretaries, and the Riverbarge whenever she felt the need for an honest day’s relief. Both were thick with gossip and her ears were often trained to listen to every little bit, while her Facet sorted out the truth from the embellished tales and lies.

She was also in charge of implementing the town’s defence plan, and from the news down south, she would need to be very meticulous indeed if she wanted Faron’s Crossing to survive a simple skirmish. There were less than a dozen stable Knights in town, and when she found out that the strongest one was actually young Yuriko Davar, she could scarcely believe it.

It didn’t help that she was now the most eligible maiden in Faron’s Crossing. Actually, she had anticipated more of a fuss from the boys. But then again, Miss Davar rarely frequented the east district, and the few times she did, she’d kept her head down. Still, beauty of that calibre could not be concealed.

And when the rumours said that she saw someone yesterday in the Moonlit Night Cafe and went home blushing red, an undercurrent of resentment could be felt. Who was it who dared take advantage of the town’s belle?

However, it didn’t take long for Tara to find out exactly who it was that was courting Miss Davar. She broke out in a sweat, but the next moment, she grinned in relief. If he and his entourage were here, then the town had hidden forces that would help them survive. She just had to adjust the defence plan to accommodate them. Ah, she needed to correspond with Commander Stuart. More sleepless nights but at least there was hope.

She stared up at the Dark Moon. The Chaos Streams flowed around a black circle in the sky. Superstitious belief said that the Chaos was stronger during these three days, but that was just something the elders said. Still, she had a dark premonition. Gulping down her ale, she shook off her nerves and returned to work.

___________

Yuriko was in the midst of her sword practice in her home’s backyard when a messenger crane fluttered next to her. She ignored it for the moment, as she continued with the Sweeping Gale’s 3rd Stance. The stance’s movement involved pressing forward while sweeping the blade to ward off multiple opponents. It could also be used as a sudden strike if she focused on a burst of speed rather than slow and even steps. The ambient Chaos around her Resonated and converted from its inert state into flurries of dust.

A shimmer ran down her arming sword and she could just make out a subtle edge where the air moved in opposite directions. The intersection of the two currents had the potential to be as sharp as a razor blade, but only if she took control of it. Unfortunately, wind resonance wasn’t something she could wield easily, and the most it could do was make her slashes faster. It didn’t even work when she thrust with the sword’s point as the convergence was all along the side. Still, if she fed her Animus into the arming sword’s runescript patterns, it would take in all of the wind elemental energy and channel it into a blade arc that would remain lethal at twenty paces. A bit short compared to her usual arsenal, but on its own, it was quite impressive.

She proceeded through the rest of the stances and finished with Sweeping Gale’s 13th Stance which was the return to a neutral position. The winds enveloped her body at this point and would remain for a few seconds. Only once she sheathed the sword did she receive the crane.

“...I would like to spend some time with you and would be honoured to host you for dinner tonight.

Heron Synka Muryh.”

A quick note from her friend, and suitor. Yuriko scratched her chin and nodded to herself. She used her Animus to etch a reply.

“I’ll see you this evening then.”

He’d invited her again to the Olde Sweet Shoppe and she had a craving for parfaits today.

Speaking of desserts…her thoughts returned to the chocolate truffles secured in the box in her room. The container had runescript lines that ensured the contents would remain at the perfect temperature and moisture, and it also contained preservation runescript lines. It would allow the truffles to remain fresh for as long as the box was kept closed.

She actually itched to examine the runescript lines. Most of the words were unknown to her and she wanted to figure out the patterns the box held. Not only did the runescript lines work, they also converted ambient Chaos into the denatured Animus needed to keep it working. And this was even without additional Animus input. She was sure that an initial charge had been used to get it started but from then on it persisted perpetually. Ah, but she’d have to disassemble the box, and then she wouldn’t be able to save the chocolate. She’s already had one and the thrill of pleasure that suffused her had left her in bliss for nearly half an hour. She wasn’t about to gobble the rest. Ah, saving it for when she could use the boost.

She released the messenger crane and watched it flutter away. Then she returned to her practice. By now, she’d managed to Resonate with all of the stances across all four phases. However, aside from Flowing Water and Jade Mountain’s 3rd Stance, as well as Roaring Volcano’s 2nd, she couldn’t achieve Resonance unless she followed the prescribed movements at a hundred percent accuracy. She was sure it was only a matter of more practice though, so she went through each stance half a dozen more times. Of course, she did this while under her training level Resistance aura, which increased the difficulty by a hundredfold. Still, the benefits to her Radiant Body Refinement were quite pronounced.

“Yuriko Mishala.”

She looked up towards the voice and saw a familiar figure floating in the air. She could see the wind elemental energy swirling around the woman as she hovered and slowly descended.

“Swordmaster Kinohara.”

Demina Kinohara was just above average in height and stood about three inches shorter than Yuriko. Her blue hair was styled short, and her skin had a healthy bronzed tone. She was clad in comfortable and loose clothing, though the cloth wasn’t long or unwieldy enough to hinder her in battle. She had her sword clutched in her hand and as soon as she landed, she flourished the blade and sheathed it. The winds subsided in a manner similar to the 13th Sweeping Gale stance. Her green eyes glittered as she grinned at Yuriko.

“Look at you! Well done on getting to basic mastery of Resonance!”

“Oh, thank you,” Yuriko said faintly. “Were you watching the entire time?”

“Of course. This place has few privacy wards, or even buildings tall enough to hinder Enhanced Senses.” Kinohara shrugged.

“Oh. So what brings you here?” Yuriko asked.

“Hie hie, I just didn’t want to see you waste your talent! “ Kinohara said brightly. “Also, there’s a distinct lack of skilled sparring opponents here. The people in the Watchtower are so stodgy and are too busy to have fun.” She pouted.

Yuriko blinked at the woman. If she remembered correctly, she had pretty much trounced her back when she got tested in Realmheart. Her expression might have given her away because Kinohara frowned.

“You aren’t thinking that I’m not your match, are you?”

“Ehehehe.”

“Oh please, I had to restrict myself to what a student could reasonably master. I’m called a Swordmaster for a reason, not an Armsmaster.”

“Oh? Armsmaster Trevor Byrne didn’t really tell me the difference,” Yuriko said.

“My skill with the sword is several levels over my other weapon skills. A Swordmaster, or any kind of weapons master, really, must qualify as an Armsmaster first before specialising. Also, I’ve touched upon the Ennoia of Swordplay.” She grinned.

“Oh, what’s it like?” Yuriko asked eagerly.

According to Damien, touching upon the Ennoia of Swords was her next step. Although, Swordplay? Did the nomenclature matter? She didn’t voice it out loud though.

“Chaos moves to the sword’s Intent. My Will suffuses the blade,” Kinohara stated.

For a moment, Yuriko could feel a ripple in the air around them. It washed across her and sunk into her Anima. But then, the Radiant lattice around her Essence flashed, and motes of Radiant light sparkled around her. The ripple vanished as though it never was.

Kinohara looked at her gravely, then sighed. “Your talent makes me wonder what if I’ve just wasted my life.”

“Eh?”

“I can feel you have touched upon an Ennoia too.”

“Oh, er, my friend Gwendith has, too.”

“She’s your age also?”

“Yup. Er, a bit older, I think.”

“Ancestors,” Kinohara muttered. Then she brightened up, “Ah, since last we saw each other you haven’t done so, is it safe to say you've reached it just recently?”

“Yes.”

“Good, good. So, shall we spar?”

Yuriko smiled. “Gladly.”

_____________

The night of the Dark Moon was always melancholy for Faline Millet. Especially now that her captain and squad had been captured. Or dead, for all she knew. Perhaps she should thank the sky spirits that she had been the one chosen to bring word of the strange phenomenon along the Zarek Mountain’s slope. But then again, maybe her presence in battle could have tipped the balance in their favour. She didn’t know, and that ate at her mind.

Cierra Village was tranquil even amidst the Haveenian and Kadrac muster of troops. As she was the only surviving element of her squad, she had been stuck with odd jobs to while away the time. Command was too busy to reassign her, so here she was in the middle of the night, playing as a watchman.

She got up to stretch her legs and walk a patrol. The northern side of the village was arguably the most dangerous side since it faced the rest of the Empire, but Verdanian policy had rarely been about proactive action when they had the lesser hand. Their habit was to hunker down until their almighty legions came to the rescue. Well, with the Chaos Channel closed, reinforcements would be slow in coming. Even if the western half of the country relied on the east for help rather than through the Tidelands.

Champa, her bound spirit, stirred in his dwelling. Faline frowned as she called up her eye techniques. The Chaos Streams provided light in the night but also coated everything in shadow. As Animus cycled inside her eyes, the shadows blended into each other and faded away.

Was that movement?

She squinted towards the copse of trees. She saw the branches and the bushes rustle. She drew her weapon, a miniaturized steam cannon that felt bulky in her hands. She could have used her skills through a crossbow or even a bow, but the hand cannons were stronger and didn’t require as much Animus to operate. Only enough to keep the water pressurized, really.

“Who goes there?” she called out tentatively.

A quiet moment passed. Then a blinding streak of red light shot out from the bushes and in the blink of an eye, it connected with her torso and flung her away. She landed heavily and was stunned for several minutes. But her armour had saved her life. She groggily struggled to her feet and ran for the watchman’s station, and with vindictive anger, she sounded the alarm.