LITTLE MOTHER

Growing Up With Companions

Chapter 7: First Raid Battle

Tessal was excited. They'd been training hard enough over the last several months that the teachers had all decided that it was time for a practice run outside the wood. A few of the boys in her group were a little nervous, not wanting it to turn out like the last one had.

Tessal wasn't worried. That had been because they were all being brought together and because the adults had needed to learn something. This time it was just the students that needed to learn, and the adults were being very cautious and careful in deciding just what would be done and where they'd be going. She knew because she'd listened to their meeting in the main room of the head house while she was supposed to be going to sleep in her bed in her room. They'd actually been talking about it for about a week, planning it out.

When the signal was given for them all to gather together, Tessal could hardly keep herself from bouncing on her toes. Tadesse put his hand on her head gently and Claus took her two little fingers in his two first fingers to help hold her down a little, but they smiled. She grinned back widely.

"We need to be calmly respectful for the meeting. Just that long, Okäsangwä," Tadesse scolded gently. They'd taken to calling her by her nickname when they were being kind. That wasn't all that often, but she didn't mind it then.

Tessal gave a nod, took a deep breath, and tried to hold still. Tadesse took his hand back. She held on tighter to Claus' fingers and he didn't make her let go.

Su Dou and Sensei came out of the main room to stand in their places on either side. Shikun and Obäsan followed them out, holding hands like they often did. When they were in place, Shikun leaned over to give Obäsan a kiss then let go of her hand.

Shikun grinned at them all, his eyes sparkling like they did when he was having fun. "Is everyone ready? We'll begin with teaching you how to properly be when going new places or into unknown situations.

"We always divide into three groups. Within each party, we pair up in twos and sometimes threes. That's always done to make sure everyone has someone to watch their back, but you already know that having trained in pairing until now. In the larger party, each pair has a specific role to play. You'll learn how that works beginning with today's lessons.

"The back-line monitors the entire proceedings from a hidden location. They let everyone know how things are going and when someone is needed. Those in the back-line have defenders just in case they're found or are needed as the fall-back to the fall-back. We call that line the insurance and retrieve-and-revive party.

"The back-line is my line, as I stand as the battlefield monitor. Mattias, you're my partner so that you can tell everyone, or the specific someones, exactly what they need to do right when it needs to be done, like we did the first time." Everyone nodded, remembering how that had been essential.

"The rest of my party in their pairings are: Tanov and Yasuke, who are the retrieval and healing pair. Abeh and Adi. Korin and Gregor. You two pairs will be the back-line defense."

Su Dou folded his arms. "The front-line party is the party that goes into the situation, learning about the place that's new. They have to be focused and alert so that if attack or retreat is suddenly needed, they can, knowing how to pull out smoothly rather than routed and scattered. You'll remember we used that also in a smaller degree last time." Everyone nodded wisely again. It would be very good to practice doing that to really know how to do it properly.

Su Dou continued. "Arin, you will be my partner. We are the ones who will be the friendly face to the people we interact with to keep things calm. The rest of the party should direct anyone who gets upset to us so we can calm them down if at all possible. It is preferable to not have a conflict to begin with."

Everyone relaxed a little at that, to know that there would be a defensive front to protect them all. They all knew it would work best to have that pairing, too, because Su Dou was already a calm adult and Arin was very good at calming situations with light humor and a friendly face.

"Luka and Josey will be our back-up front-line, to stay with the wagon and be interference with people who pass by when Arin and I need to be gone purchasing and negotiating." Those two gave nods of understanding. "Kadek will be with Samir, and Tadesse with Randi. You will help us load the wagon and defend it from the village thieves." Those four straightened, becoming determined at being told they would also be part of the front-line.

Tessal was a little disappointed to not be in either group talked about so far and wondered just what the third group would do. Sensei, already her teacher, leaned on his staff as he shifted. "The mid-line stands as the first back-up to the front-line, should they get into trouble and need to retreat quickly. We will make sure that who- or whatever is being troublesome is distracted sufficiently. This is the role Tessal, Korin, and Blake played to allow us all to escape in the end."

Tessal drew in a breath and held it. She did know how to do that very well already, or so she felt. Shikun's instructions to her on practicing learning to hold her attacks until the precisely right timing would be part of that for sure.

"Tessal and Claus will stand by my side and will be the first distraction should it become necessary, then return to my side immediately so that whoever has become angry with them will see an adult as well, and thus be unable to attack them back directly." Tessal squeezed Claus' fingers in her excitement and drew herself up proudly. They'd already done a lot of practicing for that.

"While our party will remain completely hidden while things are going well, Boab and Shokin you'll hold a position behind the front-line party if they get into trouble and call them to you. Once they pass you, then you'll stand to defend them until you must also retreat. DongTang, Forjal, and Cahyo will stand at the back to defend everyone from a distance as we all flee. You'll hold that position until Shikun calls you to retreat, with his party defending you until you're clear.

"We'll practice on the way to the village for our supplies, but in the best cases only the front-line party ever engages. The rest of us wait, watch, and are bored. We will hope for that in the end." All the adults gave firm nods of agreement to Sensei's final words. Tessal decided she wouldn't mind being bored while they were at the village as long as they did get to practice on the way there and back.

They began practicing right away, with Su Dou and his party getting the three wagons full of logs for fires moving forward. The donkeys they kept for pulling them were obstinate, but Gregor could tempt them with a soft hand and treats. He wouldn't be walking with them, but that much was sufficient to get the animals willing to go to work.

When the front-line party walked out of the compound with the wagons, Tessal was up in the trees where she and Claus could keep an eye on each other and on Sensei. They'd been really surprised the first time Sensei had looked up at a tree branch, then was suddenly in it. He "stepped" instead of "flew" like the rest of them. That wasn't too surprising for a venerable man like him, they'd just been surprised he'd left the earth at all. He seemed to be made of the dust and solidly attached to the firmament.

When he'd looked back at them that first time, it was also the first time they'd seen a glimmer of tease on his face. As if he knew they couldn't believe he could do such a thing, yet was prideful of the fact he could, laughing at them for their surprise. It had been a grand chase then, of his young students trying to catch him.

They'd failed, but not for trying. Just as they would reach him, he would disappear again. Their lessons had been to both become as good as he was at going to unexpected places without telegraphing where they were going, and to learn how to pen him in and hold him so he couldn't escape. That was harder and they were still working on learning that.

Sensei, Tessal, and Claus were all near the front of the front-line below them. Boab and Shokin were behind them watching rear-guard. Tessal had been surprised when Sensei had sent their own rear-guard to the very front to scout ahead. Forjal and Cahyo had been pleased to be sent ahead with DongTang. It was already expected that they would stay very hidden.

All of them were practicing hiding in the shadows up in the trees, actually. Tessal was so strong in that now that she already instinctively went to hidden as soon as she was going to be practicing. No one could find her unless they went looking in the spirit realm. Her current personal goal was to figure out how to make it so they couldn't see her there, either. If they couldn't see her there, the demons wouldn't be able to either.

Early on, Kishi-Mujin had wanted to play with her during her practices, like she had played with her and Claus that first night. Tessal had done her best to explain to the little sprite that if she flew around Tessal as sparkly as she was, she gave Tessal's position away. That wasn't good.

Eventually, Kishi-Mujin had seemed to understand and had worked hard to find a different way to play with them. Now she rode with Tessal and even Tessal couldn't see her. Instead, she could feel Kishi-Mujin with her, like she'd felt the hopeful timidity that very first day.

Sometimes Kishi-Mujin would just sit on her shoulder. Sometimes she would float and fly around Tessal's head, excited and happy to be able to play. Today Kishi-Mujin was serious and just as focused as the adults. Today was important lessons and the sprite seemed to understand.

Tessal was a bit suspicious that Obäsan had scolded Kishi-Mujin and made her promise to watch over Tessal. Obäsan knew when Kishi-Mujin was visiting with Tessal and often gave the sprite stern looks, as often as she smiled to see the two of them playing together.

Tessal thought it was funny that Obäsan mothered the sprite just like she mothered the rest of the shinobi clan. She even mothered her husband who would sigh and humbly take the scolding. Or if Obäsan was being playful, he'd swoop her up in a hold and kiss her, or tickle her until Obäsan's laughter filled the compound with happy feelings and smiles.

Those were good days, indeed, that made Tessal grateful that Korin had made her come with him to be in this place that was so much better than where she'd been before. Here was work to learn to become what she was even better. It was good work that helped her sleep hard at night.

Here was a warm place with a roof over her head and a soft bed. Here was food each day so she didn't have her stomach pinching and her body weak. Here were companions, even if they did pick fights, tease, or whine and complain. When it was time to be serious, they got serious and all worked hard together. Yes, it was a good place to be.

Sensei gave his call asking on the status of things from the scouts of their party. They each sent back reports that all was clear. It was important that each member of the pairings answer so that they knew that all of them were okay. They didn't expect things to be troublesome here in their own wood. People from outside the wood didn't come into it very often at all.

Tessal had her own calls so they would know if she was okay or not. Even if they tried to keep their eyes on their partners, it wasn't always possible as they moved through the trees. She gave her little cluck to Claus just because and he responded with his tweet and smiled at her before moving to the next tree he was headed for. Because that was five out of their seven, Boab and Shokin gave their sounds next saying they were also okay, as were the surroundings behind the group on the ground.

The wagons were full of wood for fires that they traded to the village for supplies. The weather was turning the cool of early fall, so people would be wanting wood for fireplaces soon. They would make another trip out in winter when people would be wanting lots of firewood for warmth.

They only had one run early in summer since people only wanted firewood for cooking during that season. That had happened when the smaller clan had left to go find the rest of the clan at the port city. They'd only had one wagon and donkey then. On the return, with so many more mouths to feed, and backs to cut firewood, they'd purchased two more wagons and two more donkeys and all the stuff they would need to eat. That was mostly gone now, so it was time to trade again.

Tessal looked ahead, doing her best to keep up with Sensei. While they'd been learning to hide from each other to get better, they'd learned that each one of them had a ..."flavor" was the best way to describe it. Claus' flavor was like that of a puppy begging for scraps in the back alley. Yasuke's flavor was like that of the night moth that scattered wing-dust around the faint lights in the village streets. Very faint, but dusty and with a lot of energy.

Sensei's was surprisingly salty-tangy, like the water they'd sailed in the boat had smelled, as if he were a sailor himself for a long time. That had been unusual because everyone expected his flavor to be that of the dust that always coated his sandaled feet and the hem of his robe.

Tessal hadn't scented Shikun's flavor very often, but the few times she'd caught it on the wind as he and the oldest had passed the younger class at speeds they couldn't keep up with, it had always made her close her eyes. It made her think of when he'd held her close in his strong arms on the ship to comfort her, just the real smell of him. It made her wonder if it was the scent of "father", the more she watched him.

Once she'd learned to taste the flavors, she'd learned that even Obäsan had one. It was like Shikun's, in that it made Tessal think "mother", but it included hints of woodland animal. She'd heard the boys whisper back behind the sleeping houses that one of them had first seen Shikun holding a foxtail. It had sounded that first afternoon at home like Shikun had said that it really had been the same person both times. By the flavor, Tessal could almost believe it.

She'd been told her own flavor was like that of an afternoon storm almost upon one, just before the rain began to fall to wash the air and feed the land. She couldn't tell her own flavor but most of them couldn't. It was just being what one was, working and acting normally.

As she thought her almost non-thoughts, she kept Sensei's scent close to her path at the distances they'd been taught meant safety while at the same time covered enough territory to make sure they saw everything to keep everyone protected. The quiet voices of the boys with the wagons rose up into the trees, letting her know they were okay, too.

Tessal knew some of the boys who were in the hidden groups didn't like to have to be quiet, but she didn't mind at all. Just being able to listen to the sounds on the air and dance with the wind in the trees was sufficient for her. She was soberly attentive as best she could be today to Sensei, Kishi-Mujin, and changes to the environment.

This stayed normal until they reached the edge of the shinobi wood. They stopped far enough inside that Sensei and Shikun could teach their parties what to do to stay hidden out in the fields they would pass through. That was the most difficult. They'd be able to hide as just more children in the alleys and rooftops once they got to the village.

"We're going to detour a bit," Shikun said to all of them. "There are a few places between here and the village that still spawn monsters. It's good practice for what we're trying to teach you, to have you face actual opponents of that sort to get the real feel of it under your belts."

There were a few protests and a few who made surprised sounds, but they were ignored. As Tessal worked hard to stay hidden out in the fields and hills, she thought hard about that new twist, then decided that practice in real battles that wouldn't get them thrown in prison, kicked out of town, or conscripted would be better than failing for not knowing what they were really doing.

Once she'd decided that, she could seriously focus again on what was going on around the full party. They weren't going to be told when monsters would appear. That was part of the practice - handling surprises.

The first monsters to appear did surprise most of them, as they'd walked almost two hours so had relaxed again just a little much perhaps. They were small ones, though: Briar Weasels and Johnny Jump-Ups, a plant that popped out of the ground unexpectedly to let loose a poisonous all they were small, they surprised and spooked the donkeys. As the four oldest took up defensive positions between the wagons and the monsters, the four youngest did their best to keep the donkeys from bolting.

"Samir, make them doze with your light sleep spell," Su Dou called over his shoulder. While Tadesse, Kadek, and Randi held on to the donkeys as best they could, Samir walked from one to the next, casting his Sleep spell. It was still low enough that it did only make the donkeys drowsy, but it was enough to get their panic to stop.

Samir took the lead of the donkey that Kadek was holding so Kadek could have his hands free. Kadek's bow came out, but he held his arrow for now. The four of them watched as the older four worked in their pairs to attack the Briar Weasels.

Su Dou had managed to attract two thirds of them, and they were attacking him. He held his position well, of course, swinging his elegant hand-and-a-half sword. Arin was already casting his Assisting Hand spell, which boosted the attacks and increased the defense of Su Dou.

Luka was holding the rest of the Briar Weasels, and three Johnny Jump-Ups. His broad ax had been a surprise to him it looked like, since his expression was one of, why is this in my hands and why do I know how to use it? He was using it very well against the Briar Weasels, actually, except that after every swing he had to recover from the forces that wanted to make him spin in place. It looked like it was a little too heavy for him.

Josey had a knife in his hands and was doing the clan's blinking walk to appear next to a Johnny Jump-Up that he'd gotten to appear. He managed to kill it before it disappeared into the ground again. He was next to Luka again, drawing out the next Johnny Jump-Up.

Mattias' voice came to everyone's ears. "Can you leave the donkey, Tadesse?" Tadesse gave a nod, but didn't say anything. "Go call out the rest of the Jump-Ups not being held. Just enough that Kadek can take them out." Tadesse cautiously let go of the lead he was holding, but the donkey didn't move.

Tadesse disappeared to reappear to the side of the stand of Johnny Jump-Ups. Four popped up and Kadek was immediately firing. Tadesse moved quickly to be out of range of the poison, appearing next to his partner Randi.

"Tadesse, see if you can draw them away each time," Randi said. "When you've got them far enough from the others, I'll come forward and hold them."

Tadesse gave a nod and moved to draw the Johnny Jump-Ups away from the older four, but not directly towards the wagons. That gave Kadek more target practice as the monster plants moved. Samir watched over all three donkeys and wagons while casting helping spells on the arrows Kadek was firing so they had a higher damage rate.

Kadek was already rather good at hitting his targets from before. He'd practiced hitting swinging targets a lot. Having them dig into the ground, then pop back up farther on wasn't too much different. It saved on arrows to have each one do more damage, though.

Once the monsters were far enough, Randi let go of the lead he was holding and walked in one magic realm step to where Tadesse was headed, then cast his spell to hold them there. With three groups now working on the total monsters, it didn't take too much more time.

The middle-line and back-line only watched the front-line that time, to learn how to work in partnerships and as a party. As the final Briar Weasel went up in bubbles, Mattias passed on the call for all of that party to retreat to the wagons to rest.

Sensei quietly called to his students and party, "We'll move up now, to stand as the defense while they rest. Because a monster can come up from behind, we'll circle them. Claus, Tessal, to either side of me at the center front, at our watch distance." That meant the same distance they'd been apart in the trees.

"Dong Tang, take center back, watching our backs. Cahyo and Forjal to either side of him. Boab and Shokin, you'll take the opposing openings, but Shokin you'll move to Boab when an enemy comes and we'll close in to fill that space as needed."

Tessal moved when Sensei did and went to her proper position. She stayed hidden, knowing that the surprise the monsters had given them could be turned back on them if she was the surprise.

"Two Triffids, centered on Sensei and Boab," Mattias said nearly as soon as they were in place.

Tessal was a bit concerned to see just how tall the pitcher-like plants were. "Don't let their vines catch you," Sensei instructed. "They are both poison and electric, thus expected since that's what we just faced." The Briar Weasels were electric, the Johnny Jump-Ups had been poisonous.

"If you're injured, fall back to be healed by Shokin," Sensei instructed Claus and Tessal. He cast a fire spell. In the distraction of the damage, both children were immediately moving to attack with their swords.

These swords weren't the thin purification swords, which were rather long. (Tessal had one, too, to her amazement.) These were their swords that had appeared in their hands when Sensei had made them attack things, rather than had attacked them himself. He'd told them to, "Just attack it," - the dummy he'd set up - and these swords had appeared in their hands.

Claus actually had two of them, one for each hand, but Tessal liked her short sword best. It was well balanced and small enough for her small body to not lose to its weight. Like Luka's new ax, Tessal's sword was still too heavy and long for her, and she was having to work hard to have the strength to attack with it, but it felt like a familiar companion by her side.

Sensei had also taught them not to worry about how much damage they seemed to do. "Any enemy will go down eventually. Every attack does damage. Sometimes we have to learn what damage works best, and sometimes they can heal in ways we have to learn to prevent, but every enemy goes down eventually. Just do your best each time."

Boab had the attention of the other Triffid that wanted him. Cahyo was casting support spells on him while DongTang was firing attack magic spells at the Triffid. "Where do you want me, Sensei?" Shokin asked.

"Stay in the middle. Watch to see injuries. You may have to run between both groups. Kadek, make sure he's not attacked when he moves and keep your eyes on the space behind you, which is now open. Never leave our backs unwatched and thus unprotected." Both boys gave unvoiced sounds they'd heard and would be obedient.

They worked at whittling down the Triffids for a while. Eventually Mattias' voice came again. "Samir, reinforce Boab's sword, then shield. Tessal and Claus, on your next attack, land behind the Triffid and hold still for a count of four, at least. Forward party, take over watching so Kadek can go help Boab."

Tessal wrinkled her nose. It would have been better if their party could have done their job without help. Still, she was obedient and landed behind the Triffid next to Claus. They held still for the count of four, during which time one of Adi's protection spells went off. That meant Shikun had sent him in for just that much.

It helped a lot, actually, particularly since Shokin was looking tired. He'd not been able to heal them as well the last time he'd come to help them. Tessal felt for him. Her sword arm was getting tired and she could feel her shoulder already become sore from swinging her blade so frequently.

It was frustrating. So frustrating that she focused hard on what else she could do to help make the Triffid go down faster. As she focused that hard, she suddenly had a vision before her eyes of an attack, one that somehow seemed familiar even though she'd not done it before.

Tessal paused when she landed again, focused hard on that attack, setting it into her body. Then she told her body to go, with the Triffid as the attack point. She was suddenly in the air over the Triffid and her sword was slashing down with a strong, firm blow.

The blow had more of an affect on the Triffid than her others had, but she could feel she wouldn't be able to do that same attack right away again. She held still until she felt like she had that attack understood, then a little longer for her body to say she could do it again.

She took a deep breath, asked her body to do it again, and was once again over the Triffid, her sword flashing down strongly. "This way," she was called to. With a sudden turning flash of spacial walking, she was behind the Triffid again instead of next to Sensei.

This time it was a spell of healing that fell over Tessal. The air had the flavor of Tanov this time, a strong spell from a strong healer. Again Sensei's party had been used. "Thanks," she said and was about to move when Tanov's hand came on her shoulder.

"Wait. Shikun says that's the most powerful simple attack of yours, but you can't use it too often yet. This is an attack to be careful with, he says. Only use it when necessary, at the precise timing."

"But...!" Tessal protested. "It's taking too long! Shokin's too tired."

Tanov shook his head. "They're almost dead. Use your smaller attacks from now, unless Shikun tells you to use it."

Tessal frowned and wanted to fight and complain more but Tanov's hand tightened down on her shoulder. She worked hard to hold her tongue, then to relent. Only when she nodded that she'd be obedient did Tanov let her go.

Tessal took a deep breath, then moved to attack with her lesser attack again, landing next to Sensei again. Claus was now opposite her attacks and had been called to be healed by Tanov. Perhaps with one strong healing spell for each of them they would have the strength to finish the fight.

Tanov didn't make it over to Boab in time. There was a cry as Boab was finally too slow to dodge one of the vines of the Triffid against him. Tessal, worried, glanced that way to see. In that moment of distraction she was also caught.

Tessal heard Claus' sharp intake of breath, just as she felt a tingling around her middle where the vine had wrapped around her. She was more worried about Boab. In the next instant, she wasn't in the grasp of the Triffid's vine. Instead, she was over the Triffid that was pulling Boab towards it's round maw surrounded by very long sharp teeth.

She focused hard, remembering that she had to be obedient while at the same time distract the Triffid enough to get it to let Boab go. In the next instant, she was suddenly in many places at once, all around the Triffid. She focused even harder and her sword came down hard on the vine holding Boab around his legs.

As the other vines of the Triffid hunted for her in all the places she appeared to be, but wasn't really, the vine that she'd attacked writhed in pain, waving Boab in the air. He didn't like that too much. Tessal attacked that vine one more time and it let go of Boab and he fell to the ground.

Tessal also disappeared to reappear next to Boab. He was already crawling, pulling himself with his arms, his legs damaged by the electric charge that had stunned them. She grabbed hold of the back of his shirt and had them behind the Triffid and next to Tanov.

She was surprised to find herself slumping in exhaustion and was relieved when Tanov's healing spell worked on both herself and Boab. Even so, she wouldn't have much more in herself to give to the rest of the fighting. She wasn't sure Claus could do his part if she wasn't there to help him. He was getting tired, too.

Boab didn't look much better. He rolled over, but just lay there looking at them about as dejectedly as Tessal felt. It was probably worse that he was out, really. The back half of their party didn't have someone to stand out front and protect them now. Tessal squeezed his arm in her hand, understanding completely.

Suddenly there was a sound. It was someone singing. Tessal looked around to see. It felt like Cahyo. She was surprised to see it was. He was singing with a very determined look on his face, although it looked like he wasn't really seeing the present.

When the song ended, Cahyo slumped, but the song had done something. It took a minute for Tessal to see what. The Triffids now looked like they were moving in slow motion, the vines whipping out at half the speed they had before. That was well and good, but without any strength for the attacks, she wasn't sure but it was rather late.

There was a low whistle of appreciation from the forward party. "Did you see Claus?" was asked there.

Tessal looked. She had to wait for a bit, but when Claus moved where she could see, her eyes went wide. Apparently Cahyo's spell had not only slowed down the monsters, it had sped up his allies. Claus was doing the work of both him and her.

Tessal frowned as she considered that and the tenuous position of those on the second Triffid. She might have one or two more in her. If each attack was twice as fast, even if she only did half as much damage it would be about the same in the end.

"One more," she said aloud. "All of us all at once. One more." She looked down at Boab. "Can you do an attack from here that will damage it, even at half damage twice?"

Boab sat up and looked at the field, then gave a nod. He pulled himself to his feet and set his ax. It looked like he was like Tessal there, too. Like his shoulders and arms ached from using the weapon so much at one time.

"One final attack with what you have. I'll count it down," came Mattias' voice. Tessal gave a nod. That's what she'd wanted, was for him to tell Shikun and for them to coordinate it.

She crouched and prepared her sword. On "two", Tessal disappeared. On "three", Tessal appeared behind the Triffid and her sword struck out. She immediately hit it again a second time, then was gone again.

She appeared next to the Triffid she was supposed to be hitting and did, twice again, then plunged her sword into it wishing it dead with all her heart. Something surged through her, then through her sword, and into the Triffid. With a loud explosion, the Triffid was suddenly bubbles. Then the area was still and quiet.

With a battle cry, Boab ran from where they'd been towards the other Triffid. Tessal could see he'd already hit it with distance attacks. This time he ran right up to it and hit it with all he had. Light poured from the ax-head into the wound it was causing on the Triffid.

Like the one she'd finished, Boab's Triffid exploded into bubbles that shone briefly, then disappeared. Boab dropped to the ground and Shokin cried out, appearing next to him shortly after. Boab raised his hand, though, preventing Shokin from casting a healing spell.

A sparkle was in the corner of Tessal's eye and she turned to look. Kishi-Mujin was sitting on her shoulder smiling and patting her on the head. "Did you help us?" Tessal asked in surprise. Kishi-Mujin nodded, feeling very proud of herself and them. Tessal slumped. "Thanks." She got a little kiss on the side of her head, a happy feeling coming along with it.

"Mid-range party to the middle, fast," came from Mattias. "Shikun says there's always one big one at the end, but you need to rest."

Tessal went, but she went worried. The front-line might have rested now, but their group wouldn't be able to do anything at all for a while. The back-line wasn't set up to do much real damage. If something bigger than Triffids showed up, how would they all survive?

She was a little surprised as she reached the central area that all three wagons were gone, as were half of the front-line party. She was even more surprised when Shikun showed up in the middle of them, his arms crossed.

"We'll be practicing retreating now," he informed the mid-line party. "We can come back another day and work our way up to fighting the boss. I've cast a protection spell like I did at the port. This position is safe for now. The rest of the back-line is setting up to be the distraction for the retreat."

Tessal's brow furrowed, but Boab beat her to it. "Is it okay? That we aren't helping with that like was said before?"

Shikun gave Boab a little smile from over his shoulder. "It's fine. Sometimes things change from the ideal. It's why we always have three groups, to be able to handle changes like that."

They could see that kind of wisdom with today's lesson, but that didn't mean they really liked it. Until the very tall Savory Cistern showed up. The poison held within it was vaporous enough to make Tessal's tongue burn slightly as she breathed.

"Now that we know where it is, we know which way to run," Shikun said and pointed the opposite direction from it. "We'll begin with Tessal, Claus, and Boab. Head that way, then rejoin the forward party."

An arrow from Abedúl was already hitting the Savory Cistern from a direction oblique to where they were hiding in Shikun's shield. Korin's vines were coming up from the ground to wrap around the monster and Gregor's flying Fire Lizard appeared to singe it with the small flame it had. None of those things would hurt it much, but it could be enough if they retreated fast enough.

Tessal's hands were caught up by Claus and Boab and they all three disappeared in the direction they should go. As soon as they were far enough, they stopped moving through the spaces and just ran. Each was about as exhausting as the other method of transport, but they'd all used up a lot of energy. Running was all that was left. They knew how to hide that way, too.

They took turns calling with their calls of hunting until they were finally answered, distantly. They turned and ran that way without using themselves up too much. When they reached the front-line party, a few of the ones they'd left behind were already joining them as well. That wasn't surprising. Claus and Tessal had some of the shortest legs.

They were immediately put up in one of the wagons and Luka was healing them. That was much better, to get to ride for a bit. "Good job," he said to them with a smile. While they were disappointed to have worn themselves out, they were proud that they'd ended their turn satisfactorily, and were still living.

They spent the next little while anxiously watching the direction they were walking away from. When Gregor showed up with Korin, Tessal slumped in relief and called for them. She made Korin come close enough to the wagon she could wrap her arms around his neck and hold him tightly for a bit.

"Thank you both for covering so we could get away," she said. Claus and Boab echoed her thanks. Gregor grinned and waved it off.

Korin put his arm around Tessal. "You were very brave, and did very well. I'm glad you're okay."

"I was fine," Tessal said, sitting up to look him in the eyes. "Korin, I've done all this before. I'm little now, but someday I'll be older like I was then and you won't have to worry so much. I don't have the visions like Josey does, but I remember every attack as if it's a very old memory when I need to remember it, and my body already knows how to do it and tells me when it can do it again or not."

She looked down, a little scolded, "I guess I still need to practice when it's the right time to use them, but I'll get better at that, too."

Korin looked at her, then put his hand on her head and sighed. "Okay. I'll try to not worry. I know you're always trying your best." Tessal looked him in the eyes and nodded soberly. She was - always.

Luka had to heal some of the back-line party when they all finally arrived with the wagons, but it didn't look like they'd fought the Savory Cistern long enough to kill it. That was good, that they'd practiced running away, too.

When they were all back together again, Shikun spent some of the walking time going over the battles with everyone. He and the other two adults took turns explaining what had been done well and what could have been done differently. They never said anything could have been done better.

Tessal finally decided that was because in the middle of a battle things often were sudden, surprising, or changed so that a battle could only be what it was. If things could be learned from it later, then next time things could be faced with more knowledge. Even then, surprising things would happen, but maybe each practice, each lesson learned helped one to be that little bit better each time.

She'd already learned that was true in her lessons with Sensei. It would make a lot of sense to have it be true in real battle as well. She spent a lot of time mulling it over until she, somewhat unexpectedly to her, fell asleep while the wagon under her rocked her.

They made her wake up and take her place in the mid-line party when they got close to the village. That was a fun practice, and it was indeed far less exciting. Now that Tessal could hide in a village with her brothers and teachers, they weren't dangerous lonely places any more. She was happy to get to chatter on with Claus as they played in the street together near Sensei as he sat as the old man on the bench by the well.

They made sure that the thieves sent away from the wagons by the back line of the forward party stayed away. They listened to the gossip and village news that residents came to tell Sensei because he was a stranger traveling through. And they worried with him as the villagers here even had heard news of the army being called up by the king of the land.

There wasn't anything they could do about that yet, except keep practicing and grow up a little more. They would do their best to get there still living, still strong.