Volume 2 Chapter 7

  Tan was dancing.

  He was the wind.

  He was unstoppable.

  He was everywhere at once.

  And, with the sword his father had given him two years ago, he was dancing.

  He slashed and cut his target in two. The water avatar splashed to the ground, its icy weapon falling limply next to it. He danced around the thrusts of another avatar and slashed the one behind it before spinning around and dispatching the one he had just slid past.

  He felt a sliver of intent, and he turned just in time to parry an icy speartip aimed at his back. He followed through on the parry and turned the entire spear aside, piercing the water avatar in the chest.

  Another whisper of intent, even less than before, and he dodged as an arrow landed where he had been seconds before.

  He dashed and he dodged and he danced among the endless waves of avatars that his mother was conjuring to challenge him. A mortal fighter would barely be able to see the boy as he moved, let alone keep up with him.

  Through it all, he felt occasional whispers or suggestions from his sword itself. “Move your hips like this when you dodge,” “A flourish like this is partially a feint, distracting the opponent while you adjust your feet for the next move,” “keep your stance wide here, and be ready to move your back foot forward,” and many others.

  He’d originally only been able to sense feelings and subtle ideas from the sword, but now he could feel the hidden spirit’s guidance more directly, as though a senior was quietly tapping his form to bring it into line.

  Between his mother’s ability to supply an endless field of enemies and the guidance of his sword, he was swiftly becoming a master of the blade.

  Then the Shen family farm was struck by lightning. Tan jumped into the air, hovering ten feet above the ground, and he finally took off his blindfold to look at the place where the lightning had struck.

  “Uncle Renton!” he called out, and he flew off to investigate, leaving the water avatars behind. His mother tsked in annoyance, but it was directed at her brother in law rather than her son, who was scheduled for another ten minutes of sparring. But she didn’t blame him for being excited at the unexpected visit.

  She allowed her avatars to dissipate, splashing to the ground where they would water the grass, and she followed behind her son at a more sedate pace.

  She found the uncle and nephew embracing. Or the Emperor and his heir, depending on how you look at it. She grinned, glad at this new version of her brother in law. The jealous, power-hungry version that she remembered from his teenage years had been so … tiresome.

  It had taken nearly sixty years, but Renton had turned out alright.

  “Sorry if I’m interrupting something,” Renton said, nodding to the sparring field. Tan’s sword was still wet, but he’d sheathed it anyway. Wensho frowned at her son’s treatment of the imperial treasure, but she’d wait until later to remind him to take better care of it. It was a blessed weapon that would never rust, but that didn’t mean that he could disrespect it.

  “It’s fine, I was just sparring with mom,” Tan said. “I wish you’d come three hours ago instead. Lady Lokari was instructing us all on etiquette.”

  He said ‘etiquette’ like it was a curse word.

  “Sparring, huh? How much time is left?” Renton asked.

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  Tan glanced at the sun, putting his thumb up to shield eyes from looking at it directly. “Um, about ten minutes?”

  “Draw your sword. You should know better than to sheathe it wet. And let us see what you’ve learned since my last visit,” Renton suggested, and he snapped his fingers.

  A dozen fire avatars appeared.

  Renton grinned.

  Tan grinned.

  And then Tan began to dance once more.

  ~~~~~~~

  That evening, after dinner, Tan was sitting with his shirt off as his mother applied fresh burn ointment to the three wounds he’d taken during his sparring with Renton. While they were light burns—the flame of the fire avatars didn’t burn hot enough to really hurt—they would remind the boy of his openings and failures for the next few days.

  Tren Shen, Tan’s father, and Renton were in the room, chatting about the happenings of court. Now that the distance between the brothers had been closed, Renton found a sympathetic ear in the former emperor, his brother, who had abdicated in his favor decades before in order to elope with the beautiful and powerful Wensho.

  And, eventually, the couple brought forth Tan and Safron Shen into the world together.

  Renton regretted the years that he had thought that the abdication was some sort of ruse, and he regretted more that he hadn’t reached out sooner. But when word had finally reached him that his brother might have had children, he had decided to investigate.

  Which had led to the great reconciliation between them, and they had finally put the specter of Renton’s prior immaturity to rest forever.

  “So, the subject of my heir has come up again,” Renton said, loud enough to make it clear that he was including Tan in the conversation. “There are those who are concerned about continuity of government or some such nonsense. As if anything could kill me short of one of the other emperors.”

  “Or one of the hidden emperors,” Tren reminded his brother.

  “Yes, but how many of those are there, really? I only know of the two of you for certain, and several other rumors and that’s it,” Renton said dismissively. “But honestly, if anyone of our stature emerged and wished for land or rights or whatever...well, I’d negotiate with the other emperors to see that they got a fair share. Perhaps not an entire empire, but I wouldn’t mind carving out a kingdom or two and handing it over.”

  “And if they weren’t satisfied by that?” Tren pressed.

  “That’s not the discussion I’m here to have,” Renton said. He turned to Tan. “I had to announce to the world that I have an heir, and that he’s the thirteen year old son of my older brother. It caused a few waves, as most of the court thought that Tren ascended, but, well, that’s not your problem. They don’t know who you are, but they know that I have a nephew now.”

  “Okay,” Tan said. He looked at the adults. “So what? Is that a big deal?”

  “Yes and no,” Renton said. He sighed. “It means that the court will begin looking for you. It’s more of a headache for me than anything else. The privacy of the imperial family is sacrosanct, and prying into the private life of the imperial heir is a major faux pass. But that won’t stop them. If anyone connects you to me, then they’ll swarm this little paradise that your father has set up. It will … complicate the simple life that you live here.”

  “Okay,” Tan said. “So what do we do about it?”

  “The easiest solution I’ve found to keep people from prying into matters that are better left alone is to distract them with something else,” Renton said. “They’re presently searching for the location where I’ve stashed my nephew. If he were to show up at court for an official visit, perhaps dance with a few pretty noble girls, and spend a few weeks being pampered like an imperial brat is expected to be pampered, then when he vanished again the people who were wondering where he came from would have forgotten about their search.”

  “Oh,” Tan said. “You want me to come stay with you for a while?”

  “I was thinking after the harvest?” Renton said, turning to the boy’s parents. “I mean, if it’s okay with everyone. The other children are welcome as well, we can say that they’re Tan’s retainers. Which, if I’m not mistaken, is the stance that they’ve taken for themselves as well.”

  “Yeah, it’s weird, but even though we’re friends, they say that too,” Tan said, frowning.

  “If Tan’s okay with the idea, then I am as well,” Tren said, shrugging. He glanced at his wife, and Wensho nodded as well.

  “Perhaps its time for Tan to see exactly what it was his father and I were escaping when we came to this little paradise,” Wensho said, a subtle grin on her face.

  ?

  I've also dropped System Antithesis, lol. It just isn't meshing with me like I thought it would but I'm glad to have gotten it out of my system.

  It's titled "Enkindled Resurrection" and so far it's patreon exclusive. The first chapter is available for free here.