Harry and Sean woke up at first light and began their warm-ups. When they reached the outdoor area, Harry reached for the katana, but Sean stopped him, "get the straight sword first" he said.
Harry obeyed without question, wondering why there was a slit in the blade of the sword. He had come to address Sean as master now, because he revered him as such. Harry unsheathed his sword and waited for Sean.
"I am going to be teaching you a few moves with the sword that are very effective and lethal by nature. You must never use these except in a true life and death situation."
"Yes master" Harry answered to his trusted friend and mentor.
Sean picked up his sword as Harry got into his fighting stance, with the sword held above his head with the right hand and the blade pointing towards Sean.
"I don't know if you have wondered why there is a slit in the straight sword," Sean waited for Harry to nod in response before continuing, "well now I will show you…I call this move the slit thrust."
Sean instructed Harry on how to hold the blade so that the enemy's sword would go through it and then he could swing the straight sword. He showed how this would disarm the enemy, and then leave an open lethal shot to the throat. He and Harry practiced this until Harry could perform it to Sean's satisfaction.
Sean also showed Harry the reason for the slits in the knife that Harry had thought looked like teeth. He showed him how capturing an enemy's sword in the space between two of the "teeth" enabled him to disarm the enemy…and then slit their throat.
"I call that move the bite of death," Sean said to Harry. Sean then showed Harry the move he had used back at the creek some time ago.
"I call this the wand slit," he said.
Harry practiced grabbing his wand, as Sean held it in his hand, bringing the wooden knife up as if to slice it in two, and then slitting Sean's throat as he moved around behind him. Sean was satisfied with Harry's ability at this after a few tries. He then paused and told Harry to get the swords. Harry obeyed and brought his teacher the wooden katana and the straight sword.
Sean told Harry to bring the katana over his own head and then bring it down as if to strike him on top of his head. Harry did so, as he did Sean brought his sword up to block the strike and then moved it so his sword was behind his head with Harry's sword on top of it.
"Pay attention," Sean said to Harry, "it would seem that you have the advantage…but appearances can be deceiving."
Sean then pushed his sword up a little so that Harry's sword moved up a fraction, Sean then spun around to the side where Harry's sword was as it came down. Harry realized in an instant that Sean could have decapitated him without any trouble.
"When properly executed," Sean began "this move is unstoppable…which is why I call it the unstoppable." Harry could instantly see the usefulness of this, and picked it up quickly.
Afterwards, Sean stopped to talk with Harry. "You have to remember not to make it a point to go for these moves, because that will get you killed. But, you need to be able to recognize when the opportunity comes."
As Sean finished talking, he and Harry were planning on retiring for the night. However, the Priest approached the two of them. Sean turned around and performed his usual bow, which Harry followed. The Priest motioned for them to rise and they did so.
"Sean" he said, "may I have a word with you?"
"Can this wait until morning?" Sean asked wit a respectful tone.
"No," the Priest responded, "you will come with me now."
Sean nodded and then turned to Harry, "go on up and go to bed, I plan on having full days everyday until you have gone through the woods and completed the task."
"Yes master." Harry responded by making his right hand into a fist and bringing it into his left palm before making his way to Sean's room.
The Priest brought Sean onto the balcony of his quarters once again. "The boy has been making enormous progress" the Sagart began in the usual Irish Gaelic that he and Sean spoke in their private conversations, "you have been doing an excellent job."
"The boy was already in good shape before I ever taught him anything" Sean stated.
"Give yourself some credit" the Sagart interjected, "you have earned it. When do you think he will be ready for the final challenge?"
"I have taught him everything he needs to know," Sean began to answer the Sagart, "all there is now is for him to master the teaching and I think he will have that in no more than two weeks."
Sean continued without pausing "Is this what could not wait until morning Sagart?"
"No," he answered, "I remember the day you began training the boy, you were up early washing your covers. And since then I have noticed that ever since you returned here, you have changed."
Sean could sense where this was going, and who better to confess to than a priest?
"There is something that I should tell, it hasn't interfered with the boy's training, or with the mission coming up, but I feel it necessary to confess nonetheless."
Sean then told the Sagart about the wedding and the beautiful young girl who fancied him.
"My friend Bill's sister, sixteen years old, and I was told by him and his wife that she fancied me. I shared a dance with her at the wedding celebration, and when she came to say goodbye to me before I left, she hugged me …nothing wrong with that I hope."
"Not at all," the Priest responded with a voice that showed compassion and concern.
"I didn't think anything of it," Sean began again, "but then the night before I began to teach the boy, I had a dream."
Sean then told the Sagart about the dream in great detail, leaving nothing out in hopes that he could explain something, anything, to him.
"…Then she started putting her hands up my shirt and touching my bare skin underneath and I shot up on the mat" Sean ended.
"Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" the Sagart asked.
"When it wasn't recurring or disruptive, I didn't think it merited taking up your time" Sean answered.
The Sagart paused; he was beginning to grow concerned about the young man he had raised as his own from a boy. On the one hand, he was glad that Sean, considering what his life had been and that Molly, Ginny, Fleur, Hermione, and Tonks were the first women he had met that he hadn't been sent to kill, had even been able to become infatuated.
On the other hand, he realized that these were feelings that normally run their course during adolescence, and that Sean was emotionally a thirteen year old in a twenty-one year old body. He spoke to the young man who was visibly worried and would have wanted a cigarette if he smoked.
"Sean, you remain a worthy young monk and knight, you have done nothing wrong. You are merely experiencing something that most people go through when they are teenagers…this is what others went through when you were in Japan learning ninjitsu."
Sean was still scared at what he had confessed, "why do I feel this way, this isn't normal or acceptable for one of the Order!"
"Listen to me," the Sagart began saying to Sean with a firm but caring tone as he placed his hands on the young man's shoulders, "this is completely normal, the only abnormality in this is that you are experiencing these feelings for the first time at your age."
The Sagart was now trying desperately to calm Sean, who was breathing heavily and felt as through he would be damned for his impure dream and thoughts. The Sagart brought Sean in for an embrace, like one that a parent gives their child when they do something wrong to let the child know that the parent still loves them.
"Know that you haven't done anything wrong, in the sight of God or man, and that if you survive the upcoming battle you will have to talk to this girl and sort out your feelings…especially since your destroying the head vampire will most likely merit being relieved from your oaths to the Order."
Sean did not hesitate before answering, "I don't think I will survive, but I will kill Raiganzi. In any case, I don't want to be relieved from the Order."
"It is good that your commitment runs that deep," the Sagart began, "but you should have a mind that you will survive, there is so much more for you to accomplish and to become...and much of that lies outside of this monastery."
The Sagart put his hands on Sean's shoulders and looked deep into his Prussian blue eyes.
"I have seen you at your worst and at your best my son, and I want you to know that regardless of what happens, I am proud to say that at any point I have been your teacher," the Sagart would say the last part almost pleadingly, "please believe my council now and do your best to survive."
Sean performed his customary bow to his Sagart, the first person he saw after Raiganzi took his childhood…the one who gave him life after the part that mattered had been taken away. The Sagart bid him rise and informed him that he was dismissed, Sean thanked the Sagart and made to leave, but said one last thing.
"Sagart, after the battle, may I come back here for purification?"
"Of course" the Sagart answered with a smile noting Sean's confident wording of the question.