The Sunrise Trade.
I did yoga stretches when I woke up before I left home. There was no reason to stop doing them now. Sometimes, I would postpone my stretches to watch Orca train. He may be considered old, but he is the only one on the island who still actively practices and teaches martial arts. He plans on teaching all the children once they come of age, assuming of course, he's still around.
I tried getting him to teach me, but for Orca, the fighting spirit is just as important as the skill. When he asked me about this, I told him the truth: I didn't have the fighting spirit. I'm a peace maker. If a situation gets too dangerous, I flee.
I know he wouldn't have outright refused to train me, yet… perhaps I was just too shy to push it any further. Or maybe I was to lazy.
However, in time, I started learning from him anyway. When no one was watching, I would take a stick and imitate what I saw.
"Thrust, kick, block, turn…" I muttered to myself as I practiced the kata.
Rustle. I didn't even notice, caught up in my training.
"Crah!" I didn't even realize what happened until I was already on the ground. "Your foot work is terrible," chided the tall figure.
"Orca?"
"If you're going to do it, do it right. Make your stance wider!"
It was an intense workout, and the morning's end saw me covered in sweat. "Thank you, teacher," I panted.
Orca remained silent for the moment, before I finally headed to my vegetable patch to tend. "Kita," he called, "How about a trade?"
"Orca, I have nothing to trade," I stated as a matter-of-factly.
"I've been watching you do some interesting stretches. Apparently they work. You may not be a great fighter, but you are an extremely flexible individual."
"Go on."
"Teach me your stretches, and I'll teach you the way of the sword."
"Hmm…." truth be told, I didn't see that coming, "It's a deal," I blurted out.
"Very well," my new teacher acknowledged, "Meet me at my house tomorrow at sunrise."
The deal was sealed. And sunrise training began.