Ti retained her balance as she sat on the edge of the Caldera’s sail, watching the ancient Ignizian talk with grandmother Tiscian.
So this is who Zan said she sensed watching her, she thought. Flagrian, my oldest living ancestor.
She hummed one of her father’s songs as she saw how Flagrian was watching her siblings. To her surprise, she seemed to be watching Soot a lot, frowning occasionally.
What is she seeing? she thought, watching her brother chase after Mia, who was the last still to be tagged.
The two were rushing across the ship, and, for a moment, it looked like Mia would get away. Her sister made an insane jump from the edge of the top deck to grab the sail’s rim, and, holding on pure finger strength, began moving hand over hand towards the left side of the ship.
Portside, she reminded herself, recalling what her teacher had told them about the ships.
Soot had been seemingly ready to chase Mia, but he made one of his silly moves where he just did a handstand on the railing of the top deck, spun around and back, before running down the ladder. He stopped below Mia, whose dangling feet were a few feet above, jumped up, and tickled the sole of her bare foot.
“Gotyah.”
Mia let out a laugh before releasing her hold and trying to drop down on Soot. The lanky boy snorted and dodged below her, causing Mia to spin midair. For a moment, Ti feared she would slam into the deck, then Soot reached out and shoved her legs back under her. It was all the help Mia needed to get her feet back under her and land on them, even if slightly uneven.
Ti quickly turned to see what Flagrian would think of it, only to stare straight into two dark, glowing red eyes that seemed like coals in a day-old forge. One eyebrow rose, and Ti saw a smirk that reminded her a lot of how her Heatmother used to laugh. Well, she technically still laughed like that, but with how much her face had changed from becoming a Crathan, it wasn’t completely the same.
“Alright, little ones!” Flagrian called out, looking around. “How about you six come here so I can have a look at you?!”
Ti hesitated, then let herself slide from the edge of the sail down. The speed caused a tickle in her stomach that she ignored. Zan ran to her as soon as she walked forward.
“Do you think she is as strict as Tiscian?” she whispered, clutching onto her arm.
“I don’t know,” Ti said, her gaze still on Flagrian. “But I don’t think so. She feels more like Boom.”
“Really? That’s good!”
Ti nodded, her mind momentarily distracted as she thought of the old Granition that lived near their house in Eluathar. She knew that Glow still visited him every few days, and that her father was still searching for a card to restore his eyesight.
I wonder if instead of eyes we can get another type of sight card for him, she thought, thinking about her father’s steam. Many Ignitzians had something similar. Perhaps Flagrian knows of something like that, or has one.
She nodded as she looked up, finding that she was standing in a line in front of Flagrian with the others.
“Let me see if I have your names right. Miamore, Halifax, Zannia, Itirilla, Sootahr, and Galowil?” she said, pointing at them in order.
“Soot,” Soot said, shaking his head. “We don’t use our full names on Eluathar!”
Ti flinched, knowing exactly what Tiscian and teacher Nisziz would say about his outburst. To her surprise, Flagrian just grinned.
“Soot it is. Do you all do this… or?”
“Yes!” Mia exclaimed, while Flux and Glow were nodding happily. “We only use our full names if we have to talk with a lot of Ignizians.”
“I see,” Flagrian said.
She seems easier to get along with than some of the others, Ti thought, crossing her arms.
“Now, I am sure your heatmother told you about me. I am Flagrian Smokeblade, currently the oldest living Smokeblade around, and I love teaching people how to use bladed weapons.”
“I guess that means you can’t teach Dad,” Soot muttered with a grin.
“No, I can’t,” Flagrian said, causing Soot to blink.
Ti knew he was probably surprised that someone actually answered his mutterings.
“But, I can teach all of you, which I will. But before we do that,” she turned to Zan, and Ti felt her sister flinch and tremble.
“Little one, there is no need to be afraid. We spoke a little through my ability, remember?”
“I do,” Zan whispered. “You said you would like to see my Chakrams?”
“I do. But not just you. I would like you all to summon the weapons I was told you got,” Flagrian said with a nod.
Ti saw Mia, Glow, and Flux step aside to get some room, quickly summoning their weapons. Mia had a silver sword that was longer than hers, while Flux had a sword of dark gray material that was almost as long. Glow’s firesteel spear glowed dimly for a moment.
“A spear? Very interesting,” was all Flagrian said before waving at Soot, Ti, and Zan for them to get their weapons out.
Ti felt Zan hesitate before letting go and summoning her two chakrams. Flagrian’s eyes widened with interest, while Ti summoned her own Silfzeron longsword. Although it didn’t feel as unwieldy as it had long ago, she still didn’t like it as much as the others did theirs. Heatmother had said it would become much better when she became taller, but Ti wondered how much taller she’d have to become. She was currently the shortest by far.
Soot yawned, summoning a shorter, curved blade.
Ti stared at him, then rolled her eyes. Great, he is going to be annoying again. Why doesn’t he just summon both?
“Good, I see two of you have bastard-swords,” Flagrian said, pointing at Mia and Flux. “You have a normal sword, what some used to call armswords, and you have a scimitar.”
Ti opened her mouth, thought better of it, and closed it again. Flagrian, however, had seen it.
“What would you like to say, Ti?”
Ti hesitated, then decided it didn’t matter.
“My sword says it's a longsword in the card description,” she said. “The one Flux has says the same, while Mia has a hand-and-a-half sword.”
Flagrian’s eyes gleamed, and Ti saw something in them that she’d only seen in the eyes of other ancient beings.
“Ah, right. Well, those descriptions are ash-licked then,” Flagrian said, causing Soot to burst out laughing. “The sword you are wielding is only as long to you because you are yet to grow. A longsword is actually a two-hander, though slightly lighter than a claymore, and I am glad to see none of you has either of those, because they are hard to learn. Now, between a longsword and an armsword, you have something called a bastard-sword. I guess Mia’s description is about right, as those can be classified as a hand-and-a-half. Why are the other descriptions wrong, you ask me?”
We didn’t ask that, Ti thought with a frown.
“Well, that’s because of something I am sure your father can explain to you. The description on the cards is based on the knowledge of the one using the skill on it. So, the one who created the description on yours had very little knowledge about swords.”
“Hey! I know swords,” Ambraz shouted as he flew towards them.
Heatmother and dad stood a short distance away, smiling.
“Oh? I wonder about that,” Flagrian said, before waving him away. “But it doesn’t matter. I’ve been watching your six play around, and I want you to show me what you have learned so far. You were taught by a blademaiden, correct?”
“Why are you asking? I am sure that heatmother told you that,” Soot said, tossing his scimitar up, causing it to spin, before quickly grabbing it by the hilt again.
Show off, Ti thought.
“They barely told me anything about you,” Flagrian said, walking forward. “Do that again?”
Soot grinned, tossing the sword up, only for Flagrian’s hand to move at insane speeds and snatch the blade from the air.
“Hey!?”
Flagrian ignored Soot, inspecting the blade before looking at him.
“This is supposed to be one of a pair. Don’t tell me you only have one?”
Soot rolled his eyes, then snorted, and a second scimitar appeared.
Ti saw Flagrian’s eyes light up as she tossed the other blade back to Soot. The lanky boy caught it with ease, though Ti wanted to curse them both.
Don’t throw swords around, she thought to herself.
“Now! How about you all show me what you have learned?” Flagrian said as a long sword appeared in her hands. “I am going to-”
“NO! Definitely not!”
Ti was glad to see her heatmother shoot forward, waving her hands around.
“I know exactly how you work, and we are not going to have you test them that way,” Scintilla said, hands on her hips. “I remember exactly how that was.”
“Oh, come on,” Flagrian said with a smile. “It wasn’t that bad, and you did pretty decent.”
Decent? Ti thought, wondering how her heatmother had done.
She zoned out a little as her heatmother, and Flagrian kept arguing for a little while until they finally decided on something.
“Fine. You two spar, you two spar, and you two spar,” Flagrian said, letting out a weary sigh as her blade vanished again. “We can do a few more rounds after that, and I’ll just have to try and get the truth that way.”
The truth of what? Ti thought, noticing that she’d been paired up with Soot, while Zan had to spar with Glow.
Good, Glow will be careful with her, she thought, wondering how she was going to deal with Soot’s annoying tactics.
--
Flagrian watched as the last of the sparring matches finished, interested to see that neither of the two children looked all that winded. They had all done at least three sparring matches, and although she wished she could just push them a bit more herself, it had been good to see that some matchups were far more interesting than others.
Only she didn’t really get to do much, she thought, examining Zan. She’d had high expectations of the girl based on her soulforce senses, the fact that she could already reforge cards, and her odd weapons. Sadly, there was no way to see what she could actually do because each of her siblings held back during sparring.
She glanced at Scintilla, finding her descendant glaring a warning at her.
Fine, fine. I won’t push her then, she thought, crossing her arms angrily. Didn’t these fools know that you couldn’t baby a Smokeblade? It would cause her only issues later in life. She’d seen that firsthand with one of her daughters.
Ah well. I’ll find a moment eventually, she decided, focusing on the other five and barely able to hold back a wide grin.
The spear boy already has a good teacher, and I wonder who that is. I’d love to spar with them sometime. Same for Zan, she thought, nodding slowly. Ti has about the same potential as her mother, so I guess I should help her out some.
She hummed as she focused on the two bastard sword wielders who were still talking excitedly about their spar. Between all sessions, they had done the best in her eyes.
Mia and Flux… they both have more potential than Tiscian, she thought, rubbing her hands as she pondered how to train them. They were very similar in many ways, though Flux wielded a heavier sword and was slightly slower.
Which left one.
She glanced at Soot, who was laughing as he chatted with Zan, while Ti stood beside them, moving from glowering at the boy to examining Flagrian.
Dammit, I wish I could just check to be sure, she thought, feeling a strong itch to test the boy.
“Fine,” she said, unable to hold back anymore. “You. Soot! Why did you hold back in all of your fights?”
The conversations around her stopped, and she saw the other five children share confused looks before turning to Soot.
The boy stared at her, and the fact that there were three male Ignizians together still made Flagrian want to shout in confusion. She didn’t and watched Soot, trying to get a read of him. Did he just not like swordfighting?
Heathdeath, I hope that’s not it, she thought, feeling worry grow.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” the boy finally said, making Flagrian hold back a curse. She glanced at Scintilla, who seemed as confused as the children, showing that whatever Soot was doing, he’d been doing it for a long time.
“Fine,” she said again, turning to Tiscian. “Seeing as you all don’t trust me to test them, you will have to do so. Go and spar with the boy.”
Tiscian stared at her for a moment, her gaze as unreadable as it had been for the last hundred years. Then she just shrugged and looked at Scintilla and Irwin.
“It is fine,” Irwin said, before Scintilla could say anything. “Just be careful?”
“I always am,” Tiscian said, making Flagrian want to sigh.
I couldn’t hurt the boy by mistake even if I tried, she thought. But do they trust me? No.
Still, she didn’t say anything, watching to see how Soot would react. The boy was frowning, his hands twitching by his sides.
“Do I have to?” he finally asked, glancing at his father.
Oh, come on. I am curious, Flagrian thought.
“Just humor them,” Irwin said.
Humor them?
Soot let out a groan as he walked forward. “Whatever.”
I wonder if he’s in the first puberty already, Flagrian thought, frowning suddenly. What did she remember of the first puberty for the males… not a lot. Just that they had the same issues as the blademaidens.
She pushed that problem away and watched as Tiscian and Soot squared off.
“Tiscian, use the teaching style I taught you a hundred years ago,” Flagrian said. “Go for a rank two.”
Tiscian froze, turning to her in complete disbelief.
Don’t look at me like that, Flagrian thought, shaking her head.
“Just do it.”
Tiscian hesitated, then nodded as she looked at Soot.
“I’m going to be moving a bit faster than what you are used to, but I’ll stop as soon as you can’t keep up. No need to worry.”
Don’t warn him! How are you going to see how they react if you warn them? Flagrian thought, holding back a sigh. No wonder so few rank two Blademasters existed if they all taught like this.
Soot just nodded, and Flagrian watched as he held both of his swords to the side, one a bit forward, the other a bit back.
Okay, well, that’s something to work on, he thought, holding back her critique.
Tiscian let out a soft sigh, then dashed forward, her longsword flowing into a pattern that Flagrian herself had created. It was meant to be used by someone sparring with a person of much lesser skill, to train both the user and their sparring partner.
Not bad, she improved again.
Flagrian’s thoughts froze as she saw Soot shoot forward instead of dodging, one blade moving in a curling motion to block Tiscian’s longer blade, while the other flickered towards her ankle in a way that made her eyes widen. Tiscian pulled her foot up, which caused her balance to change ever so slightly, allowing Soot to deflect the strike.
Did that little dustbrat actually try to disarm her? Flagrian thought, stepping forward and feeling a wicked grin grow on her face as the sparring continued.
It became clear within four moves that Tiscian was stronger and faster, but that didn’t help her much. Limited to the moves of the training style she was using, it became even clearer that Soot was able to keep up by using moves that told Flagrian one thing.
The boy is two steps ahead of everything she is doing, almost as if he knows the style, which is impossible, she thought. And he definitely is enjoying himself this time!
The wide smile as the boy dashed around, using tactics that he was clearly untrained in and still managed to pull off in a way that worked for the spar, told her everything she needed to know.
Now do you understand? she thought, glancing at Scintilla and seeing a look of pure disbelief on her face. To her surprise, Irwin was just nodding and grinning happily. If you knew he could do this, why didn’t you train him properly? Flagrian thought, before focusing back on the interesting thing.
The spar lasted almost as long as all others combined, and when Tiscian finally put the edge of her blade on Soot’s neck, the boy was breathing heavily, the tips of his swords on the ground.
“You did great, Soot,” Tiscian said. “Much better than I had expected.”
Now you recognize it, Flagrian thought as she walked forward.
“Soot. Why did you not fight like this against your siblings?”
The boy blinked, then shrugged. “Oh, no rea-”
“Don’t lie,” Flagrian said, frowning as she crossed her arms. “Lying to others is one thing, but you are lying to yourself if you finish that sentence.”
Tiscian stepped forward, while Scintilla hissed from behind her. Flagrian guessed she would intervene, but anyone could, Soot snorted, then he laughed.
“I don’t lie to myself,” he said, crossing his arms just like his mother used to when she was angry. “I don’t use my tricks, because the others don’t like it if I do.”
“They don’t… like it…” Flagrian muttered, looking up to see Mia, Flux, and Glow look at anything except for her. Ti was rubbing her head, muttering something, while Zan seemed highly unhappy, hiding behind her sister.
I am going to have to help her work through that, Flagrian decided before looking back at Soot.
“I see. Do you like swordfighting?”
“I… I like it if I can fight like this,” Soot said, sounding weary suddenly.
“Like what?” Flagrian asked, suddenly confused.
“With tricks, and no brute strength or all those standard motions,” Soot said, suddenly sounding almost angry. “It’s always ‘move your feet here, and swing like this’. It’s boring!”
Flagrian stared at him, then turned to Scintilla. “Can you bring the one who has been training them here? I want to see what she’s been doing.”
“That was Nisziz, my bladesister,” Scintilla said, clearly still somewhat confused.
“Good,” Flagrian said, faintly remembering the name as she looked at Irwin. The cardsmith still seemed the least surprised by everything that was happening. “Can you bring her here later? I am not angry, but I need to figure a few things out before I train them.”
Irwin just nodded, and Flagrian turned back to Soot.
“What you just did, the tricks as you call them? Those are blademastery. Using brute strength or superior speed? Those are just crutches for if you are less skilled than your opponent. What you did? That is swordfighting, and if you want, I would very much like to train you.”
As she spoke, Flagrian saw the lanky boy's eyes widen before they began glittering with excitement.
“So I won’t have to do silly repetitive practice?”
“Silly? No. Repetitive? Oh, definitely,” Flagrian said, quickly continuing as she saw his eyes narrow. “That trick you just did?”
She summoned two smaller blades from her soulscape, stepped forward, and moved through one of the things the boy had done. Or tried should be the word. It was a variation of a technique she’d used many times when fighting Fiz’rin or other bulky opponents, and she moved through it in a way she knew he would be able to mimic with his current physique.
“That’s how you are supposed to use this trick,” she said, noticing his mouth had fallen open. “To learn it? Yes, you need to practice. A lot.”
Soot was watching her, eyes wide.
“I promise you, it will be worth it,” Flagrian said.
Both for you and for me, she thought, almost wanting to rub her hands.
Soot nodded, then looked behind her at his heatmother… or was it at Irwin? She didn’t know, but seeing as he was a boy, perhaps he was more connected to his father?
“I would like to learn more of those tricks,” he said, eyes glistening.
“Good, then I’ll be happy to teach you,” Flagrian said, before looking at the other children. Mia, Flux, and Glow showed clear signs of being jealous, which suited her fine.
“All of you,” she added, causing an excited whisper to move between the other three.
I guess I’ll have to see if I can recall some spear tricks, Flagrian thought as she glanced at where Ti and Zan were watching. The calm girl clearly had no interest, but sadly for her, she would need to practice too. If only because it meant Zan would join.
“No, let’s get-”
“Oh no!” Scintilla said. “You can train them later. First, they are going to look around, play a bit, and eat with us.”
Flagrian blinked, holding back from rolling her eyes.
“Fine. After dinner, then-”
“Tomorrow,” Scintilla said, sounding almost tired. “Tomorrow is early enough. That will allow me to explain to you exactly what I don’t want you to do.”
Ugh. I would have gone easier on her if I’d known things would be held against me, Tagrian thought with a sigh.
“Very well. Let’s go and eat then.”
--
Irwin watched Soot talking excitedly with the others, feeling a wave of pride.
“Did you know he could do that?”
He looked to the side, where Flagrian was watching him.
“I knew he could fight with the swords,” Irwin said, nodding slowly. “I didn’t know he was this good, though I guess it shouldn’t surprise me.”
“He has a very high potential.”
Irwin glanced to the side, where Tiscian and Scintilla were discussing something.
“How high?” he asked.
“High enough.”
High enough to become as good as you? Irwin thought as he glanced at the old Ignitzian.
“Did you give them special cards as their first?” Flagrian asked, leaning forward.
Irwin didn’t answer, and Flagrian hummed, surprising him as he heard one of his own that he’d based on the Chaos Whale songs.
“I take it you don’t wield a sword?” she asked.
Irwin held back a snort, knowing exactly how Ambraz would react to that. Using his soulforce senses, he felt the Ganvil back in his soulscape, going over cards, searching for those that would complete the set he would need for his worldcard. They had gotten a massive amount from Granvox during their second short stay, part of it from Brazardian, and the others traded for some he’d made.
Flagrian hummed again, then got up and walked away, leaving Irwin to stare at his family.
Half a day passed when Rindiri moved towards him, a grumpy-looking Blade with her.
“Captain, can we please try the sails now?” the Crathan asked before Rindiri could say anything. She cast him a glare, but Irwin nodded. He was rather curious what the new sails would do.
He’d barely nodded, or Blade rushed away, and in record time removed the massive salis from the Caldera as if it were the easiest thing in the world. The children were watching curiously, with Ti and Soot seeming interested enough to ask some questions that Blade answered while working.
An hour later, a new sail—swirling orange and yellow and reminiscent of molten metal—was stretched like a thin sheet, gleaming in the light from the distant barrier.
“Captain, can you get everyone in your soulscape?” Blade shouted, standing at the helm. “Just to be sure.”
To be sure of what? Irwin thought.
He ignored the complaints and pulled his family, Brecka, and a dozen others into his soulscape, leaving only himself, Rindiri, and Blade.
“Okay, Captain! It might be best if you power the shields as high as you can get them,” Blade said, rubbing his hands with a wide grin.
Irwin looked at the excited shipwright, noticing a frown on Rindiri’s face.
“This is safe, right?” he asked.
“It is!” Blade exclaimed. “Just precautions. Nothing else.”
Rindiri hesitated, then nodded, and Irwin began pushing soulforce into the ship’s sails. The Ancestral Coperion that flowed through the walls, hull, and inner linings of the ship allowed him to put far more into it than he usually could, but even then, he began slowing down when he reached the usual limit.
“Don’t stop!”
Irwin hesitated, but he didn’t sense the usual pushback as the sails rejected his soulforce, and he continued. Minutes passed by, and slowly his eyes widened in disbelief as the shield continued to glow brighter until it was like the sun hung above the ship.
“Why aren’t we moving?” he asked.
“Just had to be sure,” Blade said, his eyes gleaming. “You might want to hold on to something.”
Irwin reached out and grabbed the main mast, noticing Rindiri doing the same.
“Here we go!”
Irwin felt a jolt run through the Caldera, then it shot forward faster than he’d ever felt before. It was easily as fast as a small scout vessel made for speed, and as he sensed the soulforce continue to build up around him, the speed climbed even further.
“Woooohooooo,” Blade screamed.
Twenty seconds later, the acceleration finally stopped. By now, the water was swishing below them, and, looking back, Irwin saw that even though they were a few feet above it, they were pulling a massive V-shape behind them.
“How fast are we?” he muttered, using his soulforce senses to try and determine it.
“At least ten times as fast as we normally are,” Rindiri said, smiling widely. “Blade and the others really outdid themselves. I can’t wait to see the Golden Titan moving at these speeds.”
Irwin blinked, then slowly turned his attention to Rindiri.
“The Golden Titan?” he asked.
“Sorry, Captain, that’s what everyone has begun calling her,” Rindiri said.
Irwin stared at her as another part of what she’d just said became clear.
“It can go this fast?”
“Well, perhaps not exactly as fast, but if you can power the shields and the Ancestral Coperion? It will be close.”
Irwin looked at the water blurring below them, then up.
Well, I guess the Dismarintsia River is big enough for it…