Azure Mist's Arc

Chapter 4 of 7

The next morning Azure stood in the clearing, blades ready. Jade came down from the cabin porch, but her green swords stayed in their sheaths. That was new. Every lesson before had started with steel. Azure lowered her own swords, unsure. "No plant today?" Azure asked. "No plant." Jade stopped close, closer than a swordmaster should. "You fight from far. Timing. Distance. Tricks." She tapped Azure's chest with one finger. "That works until someone gets inside. Then your tricks are gone." Azure stepped back on habit. Jade followed, not letting her open the gap. Azure's breath caught. She was the one who closed distance. Now someone had closed it on her, and she hated how helpless it felt. "This style has no room," Jade said. "You read the body against yours. His weight. His breath. Where he leans before he moves." She set a hand on Azure's shoulder and pressed. "Feel that. Which way do I fall if you push here?" Azure pushed. Jade rocked left, exactly as her hand had promised. Azure felt it before she saw it. A small thing, but real. "Again," Jade said. They worked without swords. Jade would lean in, grip Azure's wrist, hook a leg behind her knee. Each time Azure fell. Each time she got up angry. She was fast and small, and none of it mattered this close. Speed needed space. Here there was none. "Stop fighting my speed," Jade said. "You can't win it. Feel where I'm going. Beat me there." Jade grabbed her again. This time Azure did not pull. She let her body soften against Jade's, felt the shift of weight through the contact. Jade's hip turned. Azure turned with it, half a breath early, and slid free before the grip could set. Jade smiled. It was small, but it was there. They went again. Jade came in low to sweep her. Azure felt the pull of Jade's shoulder, dropped her own weight to meet it, and stayed on her feet. Jade tried a wrist lock. Azure flowed under it before it closed. She was not watching Jade now. She was reading her, skin to skin, guessing right. "Good," Jade said, breathing harder. "You stopped counting distance. You started listening." Azure's heart still pounded, but not from fear now. She understood. This was the style she'd been missing. Not how to strike from far, but how to survive when a warrior trapped her close, chest to chest, with no room to run. Jade stepped back and let the space open at last. "Two styles done. In the tournament, someone will get inside. Now you won't panic." Azure sheathed her silver blades. Her arms ached from falling. But she felt the change in her hands, a new sense she hadn't owned an hour ago. "Eight left," Azure said. Jade turned toward the cabin. "The next one you won't like at all."