Shadow Dancing chap 2

-Celesta SunStar

I don't own the Ronin Warriors. I make no profit from this.

*

Tonight his partner was Seckmet. He used two swords like Ryo did, but there the similarities ended. The footwork, the bladework, even the swords were different, longer and double-edged. This bout was not silent as well, since Seckmet was relating all the current events during their frequent breaks after a point was scored. They would then review the move that scored the point, until the other warrior could defend against it.

"...So as far as we can tell, the Dynasty is inherently unstable. Under Talpa's reign it grew too large to support itself and Talpa's answer was to annex more and more territory. The ties holding the different lands together are collapsing and as the lands heal, they break away to renew their own, independent existences. We are finding ourselves needed less, and though it is a gradual process, the day is coming that the Dynasty will not be our home any longer. It will still be there, and we could live there, but it would not be 'home' for us. Lady Kayura thought that we should use this time that we have to become more acquainted with the modern world. We did think about asking you guys, but it was... hard."

Sage nodded thoughtfully as he retrieved a bottle of water for them both. Seckmet frowned a bit as he watched Sage unscrew the top and then did the same. Sage tipped his head to look sidelong at the green-haired man, "Why approach me?"

Seckmet didn't look up at Sage; instead he focused his attention on the cap of the water bottle. "Well, Cale pretty much focused all of his attention on you during the war, and except for that one little incident with Torrent... ah Cye, he never damaged any of the other Ronins. We thought that if you accepted him, he would find an easier welcome then I or Dais would; so he could help the rest of us when the time came."

"Hmm," Sage nodded slowly and his eyes focused on the middle distance. Some moments passed and Seckmet reluctantly abandoned the cap to play with the label. "How about a trade of sorts?" The tension in the Warlord's shoulders tightened and then relaxed a bit.

"Like what exactly?"

"Well, books, I'll bring some and you and the other Warlords can read them. And then I'll try to answer any of the questions that you may have about them. That will do for a start; there is still going to be culture shock, but at least it will be... removed a bit."

Seckmet blinked and looked at Sage. "That is a good idea. I would not have thought of that. But you mentioned a trade?"

"I'd like to pick your brains, for one." Seeing Seckmet's confused glance, he lifted a shoulder in a move too precise and graceful to really be called a shrug. "You're the Warlord of Venom, I doubt there is anything you don't know about poisons and toxins. And I'm a Healer. It's much easier to heal something if I know exactly what's wrong. Also you are bound to know other uses for all the different herbs and minerals found in nature, and that's something that would be very useful for me to know.

"Cale and Dais... and Lady Kayura probably have knowledge or... avenues to explore things that would be interesting or useful to know. Plus you guys have been around for... what, 450 years? You have to have learned things about the armors that's we haven't thought of yet. Not to mention that there are fighting tricks that you guys know that I have never learned or even heard of. Also, what if the armors are called on again? That would be a hell of a time for our two teams to have to learn to work together and trust each other."

"Wow," Seckmet was speechless for a moment, eyeing the younger warrior beside him with a new respect. "I thought that Stra- Rowen was supposed to be the smart one?"

Sage blushed and looked down, a small, embarrassed smile on his face. "I just like knowing how things work together, it helps to take a long view on things."

"Well I guess I know why your armor virtue is Wisdom, huh?" If anything Sage blushed a bit more, and Seckmet smiled to see it.

It would be good, he decided. Hard, of course, since forming new partnerships and companionships always required a lot of work on everyone's part, but in the end, everything would most likely turn out very well.

*

TBC

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