Chapter 60: Alden’s New Answer

Chapter 60: Alden’s New Answer

Alden was already stretching when Silas reached the lane the next morning.

He had reserved the one nearest the wall, where the morning light came in low through the high windows and turned the practice floor pale gold. Two padded shortblades lay on the bench beside a pair of chest panels, and Alden’s own practice sword leaned against the rack with its grip freshly wrapped.

"You’re early," Silas said.

"I wanted to warm up before you arrived." Alden straightened. "So I couldn’t blame my shoulders."

"That’s very organized of you," Silas said.

"I’ve been planning this for three days," Alden said.

Silas believed him. He buckled on his chest panel, checked the fit of his bracers, and picked up the practice blade. The weight was familiar now. A few weeks ago he had held a sword like something that might bite him. Now his hand settled on the grip without being told.

They took their marks. The duty attendant at the end of the hall glanced over, confirmed the equipment, and went back to his clipboard.

"Two touches?" Alden asked.

"Two touches," Silas agreed.

Alden raised his sword.

Silas saw the change at once.

Before, Alden had held his guard firm and still, the point steady on Silas’s chest, waiting for an opening. Now the point never stopped. It traced small loops in the air, never the same shape twice, and his grip had loosened so that the blade seemed to float in his fingers. His feet had changed too. He took short, quick steps instead of the longer ones Silas had learned to read.

Oh. That’s clever.

Alden was giving him less time to settle a grip on the blade. If Silas caught it anyway, those loose fingers could yield to the pull without dragging the rest of him along.

Silas smiled behind his guard. Alden had spent those three days well.

Alden came in.

The circling point dipped toward his shoulder, then slid away, then came back at his ribs. Silas didn’t try to grab it. He reached with Remote Grasp and pressed, lightly, in the direction the blade was already traveling.

The sword went a hand’s width farther than Alden meant it to.

That was all Silas needed. His own blade came up inside the extended arc, and he stepped through before Alden’s loose grip could bring the point back around. The padded edge tapped Alden’s chest panel with a soft thump.

Alden stopped. He looked down at the touch, then at his own sword, which was still pointing somewhere off to Silas’s left.

"You pushed it," Alden said.

"You were already moving it," Silas said.

"I know I was. That was the whole idea." Alden stepped back to his mark, frowning at his blade as if it had betrayed him personally. "I thought you’d try to stop it."

"I would have, a month ago," Silas said.

Alden nodded reluctantly and lifted his guard again.

The nudge had drawn a trickle of mana. Silas flexed his fingers, pleased by how much easier that small adjustment felt now. He hadn’t needed to wrench the sword away, or hurry to catch up with his own opening.

"Again," Alden said.

The second exchange lasted longer.

Alden had clearly adjusted in the ten seconds between marks. The circling was tighter now, closer to his body, and he kept his grip loose but not so loose that a push could carry the blade away. He came forward in two quick steps, stopped, came forward again.

Each advance offered a cut, then withdrew it just before Alden would have needed to plant his foot.

Silas let him do it twice. He kept his own guard up and his weight even, watching the point rather than chasing it. Some part of his attention stayed on his feet while the rest followed the blade, and he did not have to choose between them.

The third time, Alden really cut.

It came fast and low, from the circle straight into a line toward Silas’s hip. At the instant their weapons met, Silas pressed down on the flat of Alden’s blade with Remote Grasp, changing the angle of their contact.

Alden’s point slipped below Silas’s guard instead of striking his side.

Silas turned with the contact the way Renn had drilled into him. Lead foot, rear foot around, no crossing. His blade came back through the short inward line of Returning Edge, and at the end of that line was Alden’s chest panel.

Tap.

Silas finished with his guard raised and both feet planted, ready for a counter that never came.

The attendant at the end of the hall looked up, then made a note.

Alden stood very still. For a moment, he just breathed.

Then he lowered his sword.

They sat on the bench afterward, both of them sweating, the padded blades lying across their knees.

Alden didn’t say anything for a while. Silas let him have the quiet. He remembered how it had felt when Rovan’s staff came around and hit him from the end he’d forgotten about. It wasn’t pleasant, even when you deserved it.

"I really thought that would work," Alden said at last.

"It did work," Silas said. "Against what I was doing before."

"That’s a very kind way of saying it didn’t work," Alden said.

Silas laughed. Alden’s mouth twitched, and then he laughed too, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You’ve moved ahead," Alden said. "Haven’t you? Not just the cultivation. All of it."

Alden rubbed a thumb across the fresh wrapping on his grip. He hadn’t looked at Silas while asking.

"A bit," Silas said, gentler now.

"More than a bit." Alden turned his practice sword over in his hands. "I’d still like to keep doing this. If you don’t mind. I learn more losing to you than I do winning against people in my lane."

Silas looked at him. In the game, he had spent hundreds of hours making Alden’s choices for him. He had never once had Alden ask him for anything.

"I don’t mind," Silas said. "I’d like that."

"Good." Alden let out a breath, then reached for his water before Silas could say anything about it.

Silas hesitated, then decided the correction was worth offering.

"Can I tell you one thing I noticed?" Silas asked.

Alden looked up. "Please."

"The circling is good. It makes you hard to catch. But when you’re about to really cut, the circle stops for a moment first. You tighten your grip right before you commit." Silas mimed it with his own hand, the fingers closing just slightly. "That’s when I knew the third one was real."

Alden stared at his hand. Then he picked up his sword, set it circling, and let it stop. His knuckles went pale for an instant as his grip closed.

"Oh," Alden said. "I do do that."

"Everyone probably does that," Silas said.

"I’m not trying to do what everyone does." Alden frowned at his fingers. "I’ll fix it."

Silas didn’t doubt he would. Second Attempt or not, Alden had never needed a Talent to be stubborn.

They stayed a few more minutes, going over the exchanges. Alden asked how Silas had known to push instead of pull, and Silas explained it as well as he could without mentioning anything he wasn’t supposed to have. Alden asked about Returning Edge and whether Renn took students from outside the recommended list. Silas said he would ask.

When the next pair arrived to claim the lane, Alden was still testing the small circles with his wrist. He stopped only to let them past.

"Three days," Alden said as they gathered their things. "Do you think you’ll qualify?"

Silas considered it honestly. A week ago he would have hedged. Now he thought about how easily the second exchange had ended, and how much reserve he still had sitting under his ribs.

"Yes," Silas said. "I think so."

"Then I’d better too," Alden said. "I’m not watching the duels from the stands while you’re on the floor."

Silas grinned and held the door for him. They walked out together, Alden already explaining how he meant to change the first exchange next time.