Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters and places; (except for the ones I made up and the plot – all mine) they belong to Tamora Pierce.

2. Hard Times

The first few weeks were tough on everybody. They were all young, and a few were noble children used to being looked after by a Nanny in the nursery every day. There were no luxuries at Shang. The instructors weren't cruel – of course they understood that these were only children, but they knew how far that children could be pushed before they would fall for good, and pushed them to that limit every day. If you couldn't keep up this wasn't the place for you. Ilane kept up. She tried hard at everything, and learnt quickly. She body soon started to change as it became used to a different way of life, and she became fitter. She started to stand out in her initial class of new trainees, and kept going while others faltered and left for home. She wasn't going anywhere – she knew that this would be her place.

For the first few days after reaching the compound, they just ran. They would be woken before dawn after sleeping the night outside, and taken on long runs. Sometimes it would be boring – running around and around and around the training yards. Other times they would go cross country, up hills and over rocks by the lake. They ran through the forest dodging trees and other obstacles, and they kept on running. Ilane came to love it – her feet found a rhythm and kept to it by themselves. She would unconsciously count her steps and keep half an eye on where she was placing her feet and half an ear on the instructor, but she mostly allowed her mind to wander. It soared free and she thought back to home, wondering about her parents and her brothers. She mapped the countryside in her head, remembering as much of it as her little mind could. In even a few days her endurance built, and when the training pattern started for real she kept up better than she would have done before.

They started on basic hand to hand combat skills: how to fall, for starters, and then how to block a punch. They drilled on that one block for two weeks, in between more running. They started different running exercises: changing directions quickly and weaving in and out of trees. A Shang warrior had to be quick on their feet. After a month you wouldn't have recognized the gumby little kids that had arrived earlier that year. Most of them had settled into a routine of training, with the occasional weakling giving up and leaving. But there were many that stuck it out, and Ilane was one of them.

Ilane held the staff, carefully balanced in one hand. Her eyes were focused straight ahead, and she was lightly poised on the balls of her feet. Her mind was intently focused, and her whole body was in tune with her surroundings. Nothing moved in her line of vision in the dirt training yard. No breeze stirred the dust, and no other person was in sight. The instructor was somewhere behind her. Every nerve ending in her body quivered and strained for some sign of him. But she waited. Suddenly she whipped her staff behind and to her right, spinning as she did so and lowering her centre of gravity as she met and deflected the blow the Horse had aimed at her back. Both hands steadied the staff as she circled to follow his path and block another strike. She was not quite fast enough, and the thick wood landed a glancing blow on her wrist. She sucked in a breath, but did not cry out as pain shot up her left arm. A quick check assured her that it was nothing more serious than a bruise. At a curt nod from the Horse, she set up the exercise again – staff carefully balanced in one hand, eyes focused straight ahead, lightly poised on the balls of her feet.

Ilane had come a long way in the bit over a year she had been at Shang, but there was still an awful long way to go. This was the first time she had successfully blocked his initial blind blow, and she could feel numerous bruises on her back and shoulders. She frowned in determination – nothing was going to beat her, not this exercise or any other. She had been working hard. Not everything came easily, and this was the third week of drilling on this one focusing exercise. But she was still here. Ilane had looked at many others who had arrived when she had with scorn as they left, preferring to go back to the easy life at home. The easy life was the last thing Ilane wanted. She had attacked the combat training with a will, learning hand to hand combat quicker than anyone. The staff had been a bit harder, but she kept going. It was focusing she was initially having trouble with – all the training her mother had taught her from Yamini was only just starting to come back. Until now, she had been a red-hot fighter, full of ferocious energy that was always bursting out. Everything was a challenge, and the quicker it was completed the better – there was no time for patience. To focus all that raw energy down to a single point was just too hard. But it was another obstacle to overcome, and Ilane was nothing if not determined. She attacked this like the other problems.

But that in itself became her problem – the intensity with which she had previously solved her difficulties became the obstacle. So she found another way to go about her life.

This was a strong-minded five year old. Every night she sat down in the small amount of spare time she had and meditated. She drenched up the breathing exercises taught her by her mother years ago, and started refining her most powerful weapon – her mind. She worked at clearing her head and focusing on a single thing. She didn't let passion and adrenaline rule her actions any more – she locked all her emotions behind a tight barrier, and began to show the world a blank face. The change wasn't instant – she still struggled and fought herself, trying to revert to her old, fiery character. Every time she tried the exercise with the staff, she allowed something to distract her and failed. But not this time.

Ilane felt a small flush of pride as she started the drill again, but quickly buried it in order to focus. The trick was to become so calm you were one with your surroundings. She slowed her breathing and kept it rhythmic, feeling the air around her and melting into it. Any movement started to stick out like an ugly sore, and when she moved it was by instinct, not conscious thought. This time she managed it almost perfectly. She stopped the initial blow and a second one as they continued sparring for longer than before. She started to attack as well as defend, and only gained minimal ground because the Horse let her, before being forced back once again. She maneuvered to put the fence behind her back, and her mind started spinning out of control as she fought harder than ever before. To her surprise she was keeping up, but in the end realized, to her chagrin, that she had lost her focus. As they both stopped at a call from the Unicorn, Ilane realized she had no idea how long the graceful Shang master had been standing there, watching. If she had kept her focus, she would have known. A warrior had to be alert and in tune at all times. It was no use defeating the opponent in front of you if another snuck up at your back.

The unicorn was smiling. 'You are doing well Ilane. It is time for us to move on. For now.' Ilane knew they would be coming back to this exercise. But what the Unicorn unwrapped from a bundle of cloth made her draw a breath and forget about the trial to be returned to. She had not touched a sword yet, and longed for the time to come. But the Unicorn had not said she was ready, and Ilane had learned the hard way not to ask. But now the Unicorn was holding a plain wooden practice sword. It was made of supple, thin wooden stakes bundled together and bound with leather to form a rough hilt, but it was the most beautiful thing Ilane had seen. She held it reverently as the Unicorn passed it to her hilt first, and the woman laughed openly at the look on Ilane's face.

'I am glad it pleases you so, little one. You will not be so pleased to see it in a week.' But at the moment Ilane did not care.

Please review! Do you think I should bother continuing with it? If no one likes it, I won't. Any suggestions you might have would be gratefully received. Please review!

Liss