Kel discovered why the next morning. Hiroshi shook her roughly awake the
next morning two bells before dawn - and it was summer so dawn was
horrendously early. She dressed quickly and followed the others down to
the training yard. It was still dark, but torches had been lit around the
surrounding walls to give enough light to see by. Then began a full bell
of fitness and stamina work under the steely eye of Nariko herself. Kel
was very glad she'd kept training throughout the long sea journey. When
she collapsed after her fiftieth press up, Nariko came over.
"Are you hurt?"
"No sir."
"Then give me another twenty." Kel stretched out again and managed it. By this point, her arms were aching. A bell rang at the top of the tower. The sakuros got up with relief and filed out. Nariko followed them at a distance.
"How was that then, Akio?" Hiroshi asked good-naturedly.
"Okay, thanks," Kel said, not quite truthfully as her aching arms justified.
"You were doing really well. Usually new sakuros wash out half way through the first session. Of course, that means punishment work, but they just can't keep it up. Have you trained like that before?"
"Sort of, but it wasn't nearly as hard, probably because we were all younger." The pages, of course, were nearly all between the ages of ten and fourteen, whereas the sakuros all seemed to be much older.
"You are young for it, you know. The youngest sakuro I've heard of before you was practically thirteen, and most of us are at least fourteen or fifteen. You are only just eleven, aren't you?" Kel discovered that they were now going to breakfast. They were in a mess hall similar to that of the pages, except that all of the sakuros (not that there were many of them) shared a single table at one side. The next one over was that of any takuros at the palace, and the full samurai took up the other three. The meal took place in a formal silence. Before they began to eat, everyone had to have assembled and a solemn prayer was said to the Yamani gods by the general of the palace regimental guard. The food was excellent: there were freshly baked bread rolls, fresh fruit and porridge. Kel tucked in eagerly, piling her plate high. After she'd eaten, Kel had to wait for the others to finish and another prayer before they could leave.
Now the surakos took her back to the practice court. Each boy took a staff from a pile by a wall and they lined up opposite a samurai instructor. Kel hefted hers experimentally. It was heavier than those she'd used in Tortall were- it probably had lead weights in it. It would certainly take some getting used to. The instructor glanced along the line.
"Zinan, lace your shoes tighter. Koji, straighten your tunic. None of you have combed your hair. How are you meant to become takuro with this level of physical appearance. A samurai must always be exemplary in appearance, manners, loyalty and weapons skill. Take an hour in the armoury for all of you. You, boy, who are you."
"Akio sir."
"Has no one taught you how to report to an officer?"
"No sir."
"Well that's blatantly obvious. When you answered me, you should have
said 'sir, Sakuro Akio sir. We'll try again. Boy, who are you?"
"Sir, Sakuro Akio sir."
"You are new?"
"Sir, yes sir."
"How old are you?"
"Sir, eleven sir."
"Gods, babes go to fight. I am Samurai Umeko of the palace guard. Let us begin." The trainees bowed, and the lesson in staff fighting began. They ran through drills slowly on their own, then faster, then against each other. It was basic for all of them, even Kel because she'd done it as a page, because they had all begun training with a glaive by this point. One bells later, Nariko returned to give them a lesson in fencing. She corrected Kel's Tortallan grip and replaced it with the standard Yamani one. That made it awkward, although Kel had always found sword work easy enough. Fencing was followed two bells later by two bells of glaive work, mostly pattern dances, and then an early lunch, which was another solid meal.
After lunch, Koji took Kel out to a grassy area behind the palace, near the stables. There they worked for a bell on archery. Kel hated this because she'd only just managed to unlearn Yamani archery in favour of the Tortall bow, and now she was going to have to do it all again but back to front. Needless to say, she didn't do well, although most of the others could hit the gold every time and were working on different ranges and different styles of arrow. After that, they fetched horses from the stable and split into two groups. Kel's group was working on riding style; the others were learning to use weapons on horseback. She suspected that she would soon change groups, as she was a competent rider, far better than the common born trainees who made up the group. Two bells later, they took huge long reeds and Kel had her first lesson in pikes. This was impossible- a spear she could manage, but it seemed like her pike was twice as long and controlling it was a nightmare. It looked like she'd have a lot of work to do before she caught up with the others. From there, they returned to the training yard to do unarmed work with Nariko herself, who, as Kel already knew, was as good as a Shang at this. Thanks to her Tortallan training and her work among the Yamani ladies before that, Kel was perfectly happy with the basics of this style. The last thing they did before supper was to practice their formation work. It was oddly satisfying as Kel learned to march in a unit in formation and nothing like anything she'd done before. It was also much less effort than the other activities she's done.
From there, the sakuros went to wash and change out of their sweaty uniforms before supper. After they'd eaten, Koji took Kel to a classroom where the sakuros of all ages were to take their lessons. They took desks near the front, and stood up as the teacher came in. He was an older man than most of the samurai Kel had seen around the palace. He bowed slightly to them and in perfect unison they bowed back. He quickly waved them back into their seats.
"We have a new sakuro today, do we not Hiroshi?"
"Sir yes, he's called Akio sir."
"Thank you. Akio, would you stand up?" Kel stood uncomfortably. She felt rather intimidated by this small man, who obviously had great skill and experience, and a kind character to match. He looked mild tempered, but who knew really? "I am Samurai Cheng, your academic master. Every evening you come to me to gain a modicum of learning. Can you read and write?"
"Sir, yes sir," said Kel, glad her father had encouraged her to learn the complicated Yamani script.
"Just yes sir will do, thank you. Have you studied mathematics?" Kel nodded. "Can you speak and write Tortallan? It is important with the marriage of Princess Shinkokami to Prince Roald coming up." "I'm fluent, sir, and I can write it too," Kel said, hiding a grin. "Excellent, what about etiquette? With that in addition to your other subjects, we appear to have a scholar in our class. History?"
"Not much sir."
"I'm glad you have one weakness. If you would change places with Anzu, we will begin. Hiroshi, I'd like you to continue helping coaching your companions in their reading, and if Anzu would help with the writing? Akio will join Yukiko's group and we will do some mathematics." Samurai Cheng carefully divided the ten sakuros into three groups, with the two most advanced students taking two and he himself taking the other. Kel discovered that since many of the sakuros came illiterate, the first thing they learned was how to read and write, however long it took. To her surprise, Kel found herself dozing long before the sun began to set, and when they were dismissed at sunset she was all to happy to follow the others' example and collapse gratefully onto her bed.
"Are you hurt?"
"No sir."
"Then give me another twenty." Kel stretched out again and managed it. By this point, her arms were aching. A bell rang at the top of the tower. The sakuros got up with relief and filed out. Nariko followed them at a distance.
"How was that then, Akio?" Hiroshi asked good-naturedly.
"Okay, thanks," Kel said, not quite truthfully as her aching arms justified.
"You were doing really well. Usually new sakuros wash out half way through the first session. Of course, that means punishment work, but they just can't keep it up. Have you trained like that before?"
"Sort of, but it wasn't nearly as hard, probably because we were all younger." The pages, of course, were nearly all between the ages of ten and fourteen, whereas the sakuros all seemed to be much older.
"You are young for it, you know. The youngest sakuro I've heard of before you was practically thirteen, and most of us are at least fourteen or fifteen. You are only just eleven, aren't you?" Kel discovered that they were now going to breakfast. They were in a mess hall similar to that of the pages, except that all of the sakuros (not that there were many of them) shared a single table at one side. The next one over was that of any takuros at the palace, and the full samurai took up the other three. The meal took place in a formal silence. Before they began to eat, everyone had to have assembled and a solemn prayer was said to the Yamani gods by the general of the palace regimental guard. The food was excellent: there were freshly baked bread rolls, fresh fruit and porridge. Kel tucked in eagerly, piling her plate high. After she'd eaten, Kel had to wait for the others to finish and another prayer before they could leave.
Now the surakos took her back to the practice court. Each boy took a staff from a pile by a wall and they lined up opposite a samurai instructor. Kel hefted hers experimentally. It was heavier than those she'd used in Tortall were- it probably had lead weights in it. It would certainly take some getting used to. The instructor glanced along the line.
"Zinan, lace your shoes tighter. Koji, straighten your tunic. None of you have combed your hair. How are you meant to become takuro with this level of physical appearance. A samurai must always be exemplary in appearance, manners, loyalty and weapons skill. Take an hour in the armoury for all of you. You, boy, who are you."
"Akio sir."
"Has no one taught you how to report to an officer?"
"No sir."
"Well that's blatantly obvious. When you answered me, you should have
said 'sir, Sakuro Akio sir. We'll try again. Boy, who are you?"
"Sir, Sakuro Akio sir."
"You are new?"
"Sir, yes sir."
"How old are you?"
"Sir, eleven sir."
"Gods, babes go to fight. I am Samurai Umeko of the palace guard. Let us begin." The trainees bowed, and the lesson in staff fighting began. They ran through drills slowly on their own, then faster, then against each other. It was basic for all of them, even Kel because she'd done it as a page, because they had all begun training with a glaive by this point. One bells later, Nariko returned to give them a lesson in fencing. She corrected Kel's Tortallan grip and replaced it with the standard Yamani one. That made it awkward, although Kel had always found sword work easy enough. Fencing was followed two bells later by two bells of glaive work, mostly pattern dances, and then an early lunch, which was another solid meal.
After lunch, Koji took Kel out to a grassy area behind the palace, near the stables. There they worked for a bell on archery. Kel hated this because she'd only just managed to unlearn Yamani archery in favour of the Tortall bow, and now she was going to have to do it all again but back to front. Needless to say, she didn't do well, although most of the others could hit the gold every time and were working on different ranges and different styles of arrow. After that, they fetched horses from the stable and split into two groups. Kel's group was working on riding style; the others were learning to use weapons on horseback. She suspected that she would soon change groups, as she was a competent rider, far better than the common born trainees who made up the group. Two bells later, they took huge long reeds and Kel had her first lesson in pikes. This was impossible- a spear she could manage, but it seemed like her pike was twice as long and controlling it was a nightmare. It looked like she'd have a lot of work to do before she caught up with the others. From there, they returned to the training yard to do unarmed work with Nariko herself, who, as Kel already knew, was as good as a Shang at this. Thanks to her Tortallan training and her work among the Yamani ladies before that, Kel was perfectly happy with the basics of this style. The last thing they did before supper was to practice their formation work. It was oddly satisfying as Kel learned to march in a unit in formation and nothing like anything she'd done before. It was also much less effort than the other activities she's done.
From there, the sakuros went to wash and change out of their sweaty uniforms before supper. After they'd eaten, Koji took Kel to a classroom where the sakuros of all ages were to take their lessons. They took desks near the front, and stood up as the teacher came in. He was an older man than most of the samurai Kel had seen around the palace. He bowed slightly to them and in perfect unison they bowed back. He quickly waved them back into their seats.
"We have a new sakuro today, do we not Hiroshi?"
"Sir yes, he's called Akio sir."
"Thank you. Akio, would you stand up?" Kel stood uncomfortably. She felt rather intimidated by this small man, who obviously had great skill and experience, and a kind character to match. He looked mild tempered, but who knew really? "I am Samurai Cheng, your academic master. Every evening you come to me to gain a modicum of learning. Can you read and write?"
"Sir, yes sir," said Kel, glad her father had encouraged her to learn the complicated Yamani script.
"Just yes sir will do, thank you. Have you studied mathematics?" Kel nodded. "Can you speak and write Tortallan? It is important with the marriage of Princess Shinkokami to Prince Roald coming up." "I'm fluent, sir, and I can write it too," Kel said, hiding a grin. "Excellent, what about etiquette? With that in addition to your other subjects, we appear to have a scholar in our class. History?"
"Not much sir."
"I'm glad you have one weakness. If you would change places with Anzu, we will begin. Hiroshi, I'd like you to continue helping coaching your companions in their reading, and if Anzu would help with the writing? Akio will join Yukiko's group and we will do some mathematics." Samurai Cheng carefully divided the ten sakuros into three groups, with the two most advanced students taking two and he himself taking the other. Kel discovered that since many of the sakuros came illiterate, the first thing they learned was how to read and write, however long it took. To her surprise, Kel found herself dozing long before the sun began to set, and when they were dismissed at sunset she was all to happy to follow the others' example and collapse gratefully onto her bed.