The Slime Farmer

"Watch your breathing," called the lad. "Steady and stable. Or your movements will not form properly."

When Defi had informed him that Markar, that Arac had asked for lessons in swordsmans.h.i.+p and requested him moved to the afternoon cla.s.ses at the school, Lergen had expected Renne, Mureil and Saston to follow.

Renne, Elen was only too enthusiastic about learning to wield weapons. Lergen advocated everyone knowing how to protect themselves, but the look that sometimes appeared in Elen"s eyes when talking about subjects that touched on the three siblings" past had him concerned. 

Aire said that as long as Arac and Bree were doing well, Elen would too. Lergen"s wife was better at gauging people than he was, so he put his concerns away.

Elen might be following Mureil to the military, if her questions to the older girl were not just sheer curiosity.

Mureil had been determined to enter the military since she was eleven and found out that the town gave money to the orphanage for every orphan that entered the army as tribute soldiers. Lergen and Aire had not been able to dissuade her.

Lergen"s jaw clenched as he thought about the housekeeper who had told Muriel that. Said housekeeper had been booted out of the house without a recommendation letter.

He and Aire would have preferred apprenticing the children to trades where fatality was not so imminent.

Saston wanting to learn how to fight was no shock either. His father had been killed by bandits; he talked at times, fiery and fierce, about wiping out bandit lairs. Lergen did not think Saston understood exactly what exterminating bandits meant, but the boy was determined in his path. Joining the town guards would likely be good for him, to dampen the anger with responsibility and exhaustion.

Alvis and Orlet were a surprise, however. Alvis had only ever voiced dreams of being a chef, and Orlet wanted to join a trade caravan to travel all over the empire.

Lergen sighed. 

He had encouraged them to learn to fight, but was this really alright? He was a Flame Shade, and by nature he was more attentive to "fire" within the body. Shades were not all related to fire and heat, of course, but Flame was the most common Shade in Ascharon.

Of the thirteen youths that were Defi"s students, five were Red Flame and three were Orange Earth. One each of Yellow Sunlight, Blue Water, Indigo Air, Violet Moonlight, and Green Healing.

Air and Moonlight were the rarest of the shades, followed by Healing, but all were present here.

Normally he would not be able to tell what their Shades were, apart from Flame and Sunlight. The "fire" of others was banked until their Shades were strong enough to manifest externally.

But these "Guiding Forms" that Defi was teaching, Lergen could feel them stimulating the vitality within the children, and flashes of Color showing in the senses granted to him by his Shade.

He glanced at the oldest of the students, someone he had seen running deliveries for the docks. The young man had gained his shade-ability and could control the heat of his body. It had taken Lergen years after that initial activation before he found he could sense the "heat" in others" bodies as well.

If the young man continued with these exercises, his shade-ability would strengthen and grow faster; it would not take years to evolve.

He was both impressed and envious. If he had known these Forms when he was younger, what heights might he have reached before he retired?

His lips twisted as the answer came to him.

He would never have been allowed to retire. He was only pensioned off eight years ago, at the relatively young age of thirty-six, because of extenuating circ.u.mstances.

If they could say being a.s.signed to Ash Island too long was "extenuating".

That cursed, G.o.dforsaken island. He and Aire had been planning for children after he had been promoted to magistrate. The island had taken that choice away from them.

He shook his head free of old grudges. Most of the people who were responsible were now dead or punished for other more overt crimes.

Aire said once that Defi was trained from a young age, and Lergen had caught a glimpse of his swordsmans.h.i.+p. These Guiding Forms, however, were not something taught to ordinary soldier"s children.

Lergen had been told that there were techniques to make Shade manifest young, but they were the sphere of ancient clans and the children of elite forces who have proven loyalty to the emperor. 

The latter were restricted from teaching those techniques. Of ancient families, there were many who called themselves that, n.o.ble and commoner alike.

Possibly Defi was a scion from one of the more secluded war-like clans. It would make sense. Lergen chuckled under his breath; really, the things that the boy did not know sometimes.

Aire had floated the possibility that Defi was from beyond the Gate, noting that his skin color was natural and not the result of long days in the sun. The Gate merchants had similar coloring, if darker by far.

Lergen argued that he could just as easily have blood from across the southern seas, as many people in the south of the empire did.

If he was, Aire retorted, Sarel would have refuted the gossip that said he was her nephew. That meant the rumors that Defi was Sarel"s relative from the south had no substance other than Sarel"s unspoken allowance.

Lergen knew Sarel"s only relative had no male children and that she was careful to stay away from said relatives, so Aire"s supposition could not be refuted easily. It would also fit the peculiarities in the young man"s behaviour.

"Worried about what he"s teaching them?"

Lergen glanced at Karles, who had stopped at his side. "I look worried?"

"You would not have come here if you weren"t." Karles leaned against the stone wall of the kitchen courtyard. "The boy does not seem like someone who would defraud others."

Lergen could not help the smile growing on his face. "Karles, are you defending an outsider to me?"

The younger man sent him a half-hearted glare. "There are outsiders, and then there are outsiders."

"From the one who advocated, in a council meeting no less, that the lands of the lake be closed to all who were not born in the Lowpool?" Lergen continued, despite the other man"s scowl growing ever more p.r.o.nounced.

"I know the difference between unredeemable trash and trash that can be salvaged," Karles snapped. "We suffered for unredeemable trash. That one," he jerked his head toward the group of children, "I"m not sure if he"ll leave or stay, but as long as he"s strengthening the blood of the Lowpool I got no objections."

"Spoken like a true child of the lake."

Karles eyed him, snorted. "You came because you were worried the boy was making his own army."

Lergen"s smile faded. "I looked so worried?"

"Boy"s lost," Karles said, echoing Lergen"s own thoughts. "But he"s got no ambitions like that. Don"t know why. If someone betrayed me enough to look like he does, I would raise an army to destroy them."

"You"re sure?"

"He"s put too much into the homestead, I think. He might think of revenge yet, but not today. And not with catspaws."

Lergen felt a part of him, the suspicious part that needed to always satisfy the smallest concern, slowly relax. 

Karles was one of Aire"s friends, and she said he had good eyes when it came to people. He"d recommended the current orphanage housekeeper to them. Lergen had many times in the last few years been grateful for Gran Lari"s presence.

He turned his attention to the group again, watched Defi correct movements and demonstrate again and again until they were absorbed to near-perfection.

"Raise your elbow a little more."

"I"m doing it, I"m doing it!"

"You are not. If you were, sweeping your arm in the next movement should not tremble like it did."

"Because you had me do it a hundred times already," complained the younger boy.

Mally, Lergen thought his name was.

"Then do it a hundred times again until you get it right." Defi had him do the movement again, hand under Mally"s elbow. "Like so."

"Does it have to be perfect?" Mally groaned. "This way is even more painful than the last time."

"Because you have been doing it wrongly all the times before and now you have to correct the habit. A good foundation is important." Defi watched as Mally did the movement on his own. "The Guiding Forms give a solid foundation to any arts you may wish to learn in the future."

"I just wanted to learn how to use a sword!"

Defi shook his head. "None of you are ready for the sword yet."

"How long before that then?"

Lergen chuckled as Mally didn"t give up. He saw Defi pause at the question, then dark eyes sweep over the group that were doing movements that Lergen still saw as an oddly intense dance.

"Take the time to master what you can today. I am not going to be here on Moons-day. If all goes well, we will see each other on Thunders-day. If you practice the Guiding Forms everyday until then, we might be able to start on staves."

"Really? Yes! I"ll practice every morning and night."

"Oh? So diligent. Excellent idea. Everyone should do it."

There were more than a few ugly glances sent at Mally when Defi dryly announced that. 

Mally laughed boisterously. "Of course! If I can rate an officer"s uniform, then more girls will fall for me. Isn"t that something to work hard for?"

The girls closer to his age shot him murderous glares at that. Oddly, Mureil only looked like she was smothering a laugh. 

"I"ve heard worse reasons to join a war," Defi finally said, after a moment.

Lergen heard something under the light words. He"d been witness how the young man had slowly warmed up to people over the course of months, but it was still undeniable that Sarel"s pseudo-nephew"s light-hearted quietness was half a mask.

The kid was slowly opening up to Sarel and those she trusted, and under all the pa.s.sive sociability was a cautious and determined boy that Lergen was coming to like.

Lergen hoped he would stay in the Lowpool. He was good for the little ones.

He and Karles watched the lesson until the lesson ended.

"We will be picking fruit today, instead of digging holes," stated Defi to the group. "The fruit-pickers from the last time should show the others what to do."

Cheers sounded loudly from what Lergen surmised was the part of the group that had been digging holes. The smaller ones started in the direction of the porch, where there had been baskets stacked, dragging the others with them.

"Are they really ready for actual weapons?" Lergen could not help but ask. Their next meeting would only be the third lesson after all.

Defi nodded. "If they continue to practice the Forms throughout the basics, then by the time they are ready for the next stage they"ll be ready to wield a halberd in ways it should be wielded."

Lergen blinked. "You"re rus.h.i.+ng them?"

"All of the older ones are planning to enlist. Then, if I recall correctly, the deadline for enlistment as tribute soldiers end one month before training begins in Snowfall. Mureil turns fourteen in two months, just before the recruitment period ends. I have one year and three months to get them to competence in halberd and sword before half of them leave for the battlefields."

"You know Mureil"s birth month?"

Karles looked at him, as if questioning why that was what he asked about.

"We talked about many things," Defi said. "Her determination to join the army cannot be shaken at this point."

Once again, Lergen felt a spike of helpless anger that was threaded with unashamed pride. 

He and Aire created the orphanage to protect the children of the Lowpool. The orphanage was doing fine. It had never needed nor will it ever need the tribute subsidy provided by the town.

But this was also Mureil"s way of claiming a place for herself in the world. He could caution her to be careful, recommend another path, but how could he stop her if she had already made up her mind?

She was as stubborn as Aire.

"Thank you."

"What?" Defi took on the stoically interested look he took on when he was confused or uncertain. It did wonders to get others into talking, giving the boy information for free. Lergen only managed to know that much because his beloved keen-eyed wife pointed it out, impressed by the tactic.

But there was no need for it here.

"Thank you for teaching them."

"It was I who made the offer to Renne and Markar. They only took it."

"You had no obligation to teach the others."

"The orphanage has helped me greatly, and an additional few did not unduly bother me."

Defi"s words started heading into the more formal language, so Lergen left it at that. 

"I hear you are going to Ecthys?" he asked instead.

"Yes. Did you need anything from the city? I"d be happy to play courier."

Lergen chuckled. "You"ll be sorry you offered. Aire will have a list."

Defi shrugged, unconcerned.

"Shouldn"t you be looking after that?" Karles nodded at the ma.s.s of basket-carrying youths heading west of the house.

"They"ve done it more than once by now, and there are some very responsible children there. I"ll be joining them in a moment." Defi waved away the concern. "But before that Karles, you don"t come here every day. Is there a matter?"

"We"ll be done with everything by the end of this week. We need to talk about final agreements. What are you doing this afternoon?"

"Digging holes, I thought."

"Holes?" Lergen could not follow.

"I"m planting trees on the homestead. Since today we"re going to pick zaziphos at Sarel"s, I planned to get more holes dug this afternoon."

Oh. Karles was right. The young lad was investing himself into the place.

"With the group?" Karles motioned to the west.

"By myself. I can"t monopolize their whole day with farmwork when they came here to learn combat."

"Then we"ll talk now."

Defi nodded, then paused. "I nearly forgot, I bought wine."

"My people thank you. It was good wine." Karles smiled a little.

"Adan said to buy for you as well." He waved both of them indoors. "I"ll go get it. You can wait inside until we come back. With the baskets they have, we"ll be back within the hour."

Lergen grinned. "What do you think of him now?"

Karles was silent.

Defi really was a good influence, Lergen laughed inwardly.