For the next while, Zhao Si kept teaching Irina the Flowing Sword.
He would teach Irina a sequence, then practice it himself. Master and apprentice both honed their Flowing Sword together. Although Irina could not see, her senses were exceptionally keen. She seemed able to detect changes all around her, even shifts in the air.
As Zhao Si guided her hands through the Flowing Sword, he discovered that Irina might be like him, able to sense danger and avoid it through her skin.
That seemed to be an important part of practicing the Flowing Sword, too.
Irina had been blind from birth, so whether she could see did not concern her. She had long since grown accustomed to perceiving her surroundings through hearing and touch, and had her own ways of sensing space.
The girl's delicate little hands held a thin wooden stick, wielding it like a sword, as though it were an extension of her arm. Every swing was both an attack and a way to probe distances and sense where her enemy stood.
Zhao Si deliberately fed her moves to help her grow more familiar with the rhythm of combat. Together, they performed a dance called the Flowing Sword.
With Blaidd? offering pointers from the sidelines, both Zhao Si and Irina improved quickly.
Those days spent practicing the Flowing Sword with Zhao Si were arguably the happiest of Irina's life. She did not find training tiring at all. Instead, she grew increasingly excited, especially whenever her skills improved, and worked all the harder.
Irina was lonely, or at least she felt that way. Blind from birth and unable to see things as ordinary people did, she always felt something was missing. Much of her understanding of people and objects came from touch and the descriptions of those around her.
Even so, she had no particularly clear concept of what was round or what was square. It was difficult to imagine something one had never seen.
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Fortunately, Edgar showered her with enough love for her to feel the warmth and care of a family. Her maids treated her very well, too, perhaps because they pitied her blindness.
But there were many things she could not do, all because she could not see. She could not play like ordinary girls, learn to read, or read storybooks. Everything had to be felt by touch. As a result, she had few friends, and others even thought being friends with her was strange.
Other children ran and jumped about, and Irina could not keep up. They simply could not play together.
Zhao Si and his companions were different. They treated her like anyone else and found ways to teach her swordsmanship. Even if she did not understand what that meant, it did not matter. In the child's heart, she had already made friends.
Grown-up friends from far away.
They patiently taught her to run and jump, showed her how to do all sorts of things, and told her about so much more. Alberich deserved credit for that, too. "Mad Tongue" did not merely mean she was mad and used a taunter's tongue. She was also an eloquent speaker who could describe things to Irina in great detail.
A sorceress really was different-she had a sharp mind. She even wanted to teach Irina Thorn Sorcery. After all, Thorn Sorcery had originated with sinners whose eyes had been pierced blind. In Alberich's opinion, it suited the little blind girl perfectly.
Zhao Si stopped her, though. His point was, "Don't teach a little girl magic that makes her hurt herself!"
"You're discriminating against magic!" Alberich shot back through gritted teeth.
"I'm not discriminating against magic. I'm discriminating against you," Zhao Si retorted without mercy.
"Getting too big for your boots, you little good-for-nothing?" Alberich discovered that Zhao Si was growing bolder by the day.
Zhao Si stuck his chin out. "That's right. My wings are strong enough to fly solo now."
Their bickering made Irina giggle, too. She thought they were such entertaining people. They sounded as though they were arguing, yet seemed so close.
The lord's residence in Castle Morne was rarely this lively. Irina rather disliked having everything around her fall silent. It did not help her perceive her surroundings, either.
Early in the morning seven days later, Zhao Si was practicing the Flowing Sword with Irina as usual.
Suddenly, an alarm bell rang out through Castle Morne, warning of an enemy attack. The Shattering had not even begun, so where had an attack on Castle Morne come from? Zhao Si was thoroughly baffled.
Helena was the one who explained it to him.
"The Demi-Humans from the forest to the north have gathered to attack Castle Morne. Edgar is sending out the Misbegotten to fight them," Helena said.
"Huh?" Zhao Si could not make sense of it. "Why would the Demi-Humans attack Castle Morne out of nowhere?"
Irina said, "The Demi-Humans sometimes attack Castle Morne over supplies. I heard Daddy say they sometimes block the Bridge of Sacrifice, too."
"Then why not wipe them all out?" Zhao Si thought these people were strange. Supposedly, feudal nobles were ruthless toward other races and never hesitated to drive their slaves hard, so why had they left the Demi-Humans alone?
"You don't understand, do you? Officially, the Demi-Humans are also one of the races of the Lands Between, with territory of their own," Helena explained to Zhao Si. "According to rumors, they even have the beastmen and dragons of Crumbling Farum Azula backing them, so you can't just go after them. Minor regional clashes like this happen all the time."
Zhao Si spread his hands and shook his head. "Looks like the Erdtree still doesn't know how to handle things. It gets softhearted when it should be ruthless, then lashes out when it should show mercy. Do you think Marika might just be a bit dim?"
Helena smiled. "If you ever get the chance to meet her, why don't you ask?"
Irina stood silently beside them. She had never expected anyone to mock the goddess Marika so openly, let alone a Finger Maiden.
"So what do the Two Fingers think about this? About what's happening at Castle Morne," Zhao Si asked.
"No particular instructions." Helena checked, then answered him.
After all, she was the only one who could communicate with the Two Fingers. If she said there was no problem, then there was no problem.
Zhao Si loosened up his muscles and joints. "Then I'll go stick my nose into this. Didn't Master Blaidd? say I needed more experience in actual combat?"
"What, aren't you scared? That's a battlefield, you know. The Misbegotten and Demi-Humans are fighting tooth and nail," Helena said.
Zhao Si sighed. "I've got to go even if I'm scared. You can't accomplish anything great if you chicken out."
Stagnation bred rot; retreating in fear would surely bring death.
He had passed those words on to Irina, too. Now it was time to lead by example. As her master, he had to show the way. He could not chicken out in front of his apprentice.
Zhao Si walked up onto the battlements and looked at the fairly small force of Demi-Humans. Honestly, he did feel a little nervous.
Demi-Humans were presumably different from Misbegotten. After all, there was an NPC specifically called Boc the Demi-Human tailor. He was an animal-like humanoid who could speak, possessed intelligence, talked about his mother, and worked as a tailor who could alter clothes.
The Demi-Humans below the walls were likewise somewhere between people and beasts. They even had a position called "queen," which meant they had a political structure. It was entirely possible that they were connected to the beastmen, but without a beastman or an ancient dragon personally confirming it, that was merely
a rumor.
The Demi-Humans were ugly and relatively small in stature, with hideous faces and violent dispositions. They were quite a nuisance, forever smashing things and looting.
They were now locked in battle with the Misbegotten, and the scene was utter chaos. Watching Edgar command from the battlements, Zhao Si suddenly realized that perhaps wearing down the Misbegotten like this was not such a bad idea.
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