It was well into the night when Tiso finally returned from his excursion into the City of Tears

He and gold split up some time ago, upon their parting she expressed disappointment at the fact that they didn't run into any more 'problems' on their way back, as she would love to see his newly repaired shield in action once more.

He promised her that she wouldn't have to wait much longer for that, he was looking forward to their next sparring session himself

But for now, a greater challenge awaited him, he had to sneak into Oro's hut without rousing his master and catch at least a few hours of precious sleep. Before he ventured to what was once the capital of Hallownest, Tiso promised that he would return in reasonable time but hadn't exactly managed to uphold that promise

The ant was dreading whatever crafty punishment his master had prepared for tomorrow, but for now, he just wanted to hit the hay and catch a few z's before he'd have to deal with that. He tried to be as quiet as possible when entering the main room, it took a few seconds before his eyes got used to the all-encompassing darkness inside.

Gently, avoiding anything that could make even the softest sound, Tiso made his way inside and gently rested his weapons on the floor, when he was sure they wouldn't fall over he glanced at his master's bed to see if Oro was still peacefully sleeping

And froze in utter terror

The giant form of his master that usually took up the entirety of his bed was absent, Tiso began to feel the cold shivers of fear creeping up his exoskeleton, shivers that increased tenfold once he heard a voice behind his back

~ Took you long enough ~

Ever so slowly Tiso turned around, and sure enough, the immense figure of his master towered over him like the Watcher's spire over Hallownest. His face couldn't be seen in the shadows, but Tiso had a pretty good idea of what emotions it might be displaying right now. He started mentally preparing himself for the verbal, or not, beating he'd have to endure and squeezed his eyes shut

A moment of total silence passed

~ Well? Are you going to show me it or not? ~

Tiso looked up stunned, his master didn't sound angry, maybe a little impatient if anything, a few more seconds of silence went by

~ Your shield Tiso ~ Oro's voice was definitely sounding impatient now

This broke the ant out of his confusion and he rushed over to pick up his shield and show it to his master.

Having correctly guessed his Oro's next request, he pressed the mechanism and the hidden blades came out with a metallic sound, Oro took the shield from Tiso's hands and examined it carefully

He weighed it in his hands, his fingers passed over the edge of the blades, carefully as to not draw blood, as he took note of their sharpness. Eventually, he was done and passed the shield back to Tiso

~ I'm glad that at least your journey was successful ~ and with that, his master walked past him, ending the conversation. Tiso headed for his own bed, wondering how did he manage to weasel out this time, but more than content to leave this question unanswered for now

Tiso yawned heavily and attempted to rub the sleep from his eyes, he slowly raised himself into a sitting position and stretched his limbs, lazily scanning the room around him. As the morning grogginess started wearing off his mind, Tiso noticed a few things were different than what he was used to in the morning

First of all, he noticed the absence of the rude awakening, graciously provided to him by his master every morning, secondly, the absence of Oro himself, as his giant form was nowhere to be found, which meant that Tiso didn't awake before his master did. All of those facts combined led him to the most improbable conclusion.

Oro has allowed him to sleep in, even in his head it sounded ridiculous, yet it was also the only answer that came to mind. Tiso found his Master outside, doing chores of all things. It's not like Oro made his student do everything and just lazed about all day himself, but the ant was sure that replenishing their water supplies was something that usually he was supposed to do, which convinced him that whatever punishment Oro cooked up for him, it will be memorable, and not in a good way

It wasn't long before Oro spotted him and started coming closer, the water sloshing in the heavy buckets, Tiso took a deep breath and mentally steeled himself for whatever was about to come.

~ I see you're finally awake, are you well-rested? ~ Oro asked, no particular emotion detectable in his voice, for some reason this was even more unnerving to Tiso, but he didn't let it show and instead nodded in a deadpan manner

~ Good, get your gear and go warm-up, I'll be with you in a few minutes ~ having said that, Oro once again lifted the buckets and disappeared inside his hut, Tiso dutifully gathered his nail and shield and went into the training ground's direction

It was just him and the training dummy there for a short time, and while Tiso was warming up, he had some time to ponder on just when will he receive his punishment for not keeping up his promise, when he was caught last night, the lack of punishment could be attributed to Oro being tired and not wanting to deal with him right now, but today? It was something different

He wasn't usually very subtle in the past, but perhaps this time he was trying to develop especially imaginative punishment or dispraising speech? Whatever it was, Tiso just hoped it would be soon, and then both of them can be done with it, this uncertainty was almost worse than the chastisement itself

Finally, footsteps could be heard and Tiso turned his head to see his master, Oro walked up to his student and without wasting time got down to business ~ I want you to show me how well can you wiled that shield of yours so I can judge your proficiency and think of ways how to improve upon it

Tiso kinda wanted to say something, but Oro motioned for him to start right away, so he took his shield and got to work

The training grounds were then filled with sounds of whacking, as Tiso used every move and trick up his sleeve to mercilessly assault the poor training dummy, he pounded, sliced, and whacked it with his shield, blades sometimes of full display, sometimes not.

It carried on for a good while, the ant attacking from left, from right, and sometimes from above until the dummy was swinging violently on its stick like an overburdened swing.

Finally, Tiso finished decided to finish the show with one of his most spectacular yet dangerous moves, he took a great swing, and with one swift motion send his shield spiraling towards the dummy, with blades whistling as they cut the air in their path.

The impact proved too much for the abused training dummy, as the stick, it was stuck upon could take no more, it bent further than ever before and snapped in half with a mighty creak, splinters flying everywhere, the dummy itself landed a few good feet behind it, with the shield firmly embedded in its torso

The cave fell quiet for a few seconds, neither bug knowing what to say next, finally, Oro complemented his student for the effort and commanded him to go retrieve his weapon. With no little effort Tiso yanked his shield out of the dummy, he didn't aim to bring it down, this would not help his case in the slightest, although Oro seemed just a tad bit impressed for a second

He promptly apologized for breaking his equipment, but his master told him it was okay ~ that dummy was old and had seen better days ~ he said ~ getting a new one wouldn't be a big problem ~ heavily implying that it would be Tiso who'd be 'rewarded' with this task. The ant had no choice but to accept this 'honor', it was he who broke the dummy after all

After that, both of them started walking back towards the hut, Tiso forgot about his worries when he was busy maltreating the dummy, but now the stressful anticipation returned twice as strong, and for the entire journey back, but it still didn't come

When they returned to his hut, Oro gave his student a bit of free time to get a moment of quietness for himself, he attempted to figure out just how he could help Tiso improve upon his skills with the shield. The ant's abilities were already impressive, from what he demonstrated, and Oro himself never used shields much, and obviously, never in an offensive style either

From the looks of things, it would be Oro who will be learning from the ant

A bit frustrated, Oro decided to put away his attempts, for now, he would come up with something eventually. In the meantime, he would show Tiso a different lesson, one that he'd put off for too long perhaps

~ May I know what is the purpose of this?

Both bugs were sitting on the floor next to each other, Oro brought out a couple of comfy velvet pillows for them to sit on. After both were comfortable, Oro began explaining his plans

~ I am going to show you something that my own master valued greatly back when I was still his apprentice, namely, the art of meditation ~ This earned him a curious glare from his student, clearly not expecting anything like that

~ Personally, I don't think as highly of it as my master used to ~ Oro continued ~ but I cannot deny its usefulness. Meditation can help clear your mind and sharpen your senses before the battle, it can also supposedly help you improve your character and such. I've never paid much attention to the latter ~ He made a dismissive gesture ~ So we'll be focusing on the former

Tiso was now listening intently, meditation was not something he would've thought of by himself, but if Oro said it was worth a shot? Why the hell not

Oro then began explaining the process, most bugs really didn't have an idea about what meditation was really, or they only had a general idea, but nothing more. Most only thought about it as some cryptic, secret, impossibly hard to attain state of mind, devoid of any thoughts whatsoever.

The truth was much more mundane. Any bug could try meditation, and you needn't be a Nailmaster or even an apprentice of one to do so.

The 'thoughtless' state of mind was the desired destination, but indeed hard to achieve. However, one could meditate in different ways. Oro instructed Tiso to relax his body and mind, as a beginner, it would be troublesome for him to 'not think' at all, (even if sometimes it seemed as if he didn't).

Instead, he should allow his mind to wander, let thoughts flow from one to another like water, and try not to focus on anything particular.

Without wasting any more time, the student and the master delved into the depths of their minds, it came easily to Oro, he had years of practice after all, but Tiso wasn't faring so good.

Even putting aside his lack of experience or the fact that minds had a natural tendency to focus on every little detail, he was also stressed out. The long-anticipated punishment still didn't come, and by this time, Tiso was really starting to lose his marbles, expecting it to drop at any second, he couldn't bring his mind, or body, to relax.

So he was just sitting there all tensed up, the exact opposite of this exercise's purpose. The minutes dragged insufferably long, each felt like an hour to the poor ant, until his master spoke again

~ You should at least be able to relax your muscles, if not your mind. You are either really bad at this, or something's troubling you, anything I should know about? ~

This question made Tiso freeze with fear, slowly his head turned and he looked up at his master's inquiring expression. An excuse? No, no he couldn't possibly make up something believable on the spot, deny everything, and hope for the best? No that also wouldn't work.

There wasn't really a way out now, huh? Well so be it then, at least they could end this charade at least. With that thought in mind, Tiso took in a deep breath and steeled himself for whatever came next

~ Well it's about last night you see, I was quite late. I was just wondering if you were ever gonna bring that up ~ He tried to sound as nonchalant and composed as possible. Rule number one! Don't ever let them know how you really feel

Well maybe not 'ever', but right now certainly

Oro had to suppress a chuckle, so that's how it was. The ant has seemed weirdly put off by something the entire day, but the Nailmaster didn't suspect it would be this.

If he knew earlier, oh what fun it could've been

Maybe he could still squeeze a few frights out of Tiso

~Well, the truth is I've spent a long time yesterday planning out your sentence, so long in fact that I ended up staying late as well ~ Tiso tensed up, even more

~ But then you gave impressed me a bit with your shield prowess, so I've been considering letting it go ~ the ant visibly deflated

~ Until you destroyed my dummy, that is ~ Tense again

~ Then I have to admit I kind of forgot about the whole thing ~ Relaxed

~ Until you reminded me just now, thanks for that!

Oh, it was precious, Tiso tried to keep his poker face on, but the mask of indifference kept slipping off more and more with each turn. Finally, he looked as if he was going to have a heart attack any moment, and Oro, in his mercy, decided to stop teasing him at last.

~ Relax Tiso, relax. The truth is I wanted to give you a proper punishment, but when I saw you returning yesterday I decided against it, you looked like you've been three days worth of training already. That's also why I let you sleep longer this one time

Tiso for a moment looked as if he was expecting Oro to turn his words around once more, but eventually, he realized this time it was sincere he loosened his joints and slumped to the ground with a relived sight

But it wasn't long before he jumped back up with an accusatory look in his eyes

~ Well you could have told me this sooner you know!

~ Don't push your luck ~ Oro retorted ~ Now since you got all worked up again, how 'bout we try this meditation thing one more time?

Tiso looked like he still wanted to argue but sat back down on the pillow obediently, closed his eyes, and tried to quiet his mind. Oro looked at him somewhat fondly, he really enjoyed teasing the ant, even if just a bit. It reminded him of the times when he would bicker with-

…

Well, perhaps some 'quietness of mind' would do him good too

And with that, Oro sat motionless beside his apprentice. The air around them fell silent, aside from the wind whistling outside, as the two bugs attempted to banish unwanted thoughts from their minds