Cultural Exchange Ch. 03

That's how my lessons about the basics of this world started. I learned things that surprised me just for how similar they were to the common knowledge of the Earth. We were talking about this kind of thing when the biggest surprise of the day came. Ralya was explaining about the cycles of certain things in the world when she said, "The number of days in a month come after the number of days that take the two Moons to join completely. By the way, my sisters Nera and Melfa were named after the Moons."

I interrupted her without any bad will to say, "That's why yesterday Nera was dressed in green and Melfa in pink, right? Like the moons. By the way, how does their relationship with your brother work?"

Ralya sighed before answering, "I suppose there is no point in delaying this lesson about protocol. Remember when I told you about the influence my father was about to gain through our marriage? Well, each Household in the nobility of this world gains political, economic, military and sometimes even religious influence through marriage. More often than we'd like, there are Household Wars that can't be supported by the government because it might lead to favoritism suits or international conflicts. To answer your question, my brother is married to both Nera and Melfa, because this way he gets double the support from their family in case his Household is attacked in any way."

I was so surprised that it took me some minutes to speak again. Even with her obvious nervousness, Ralya waited for me to swallow the new information. "So... Polygamy is legal in this whole world? And you are telling me I have some kind of obligation to perform it?" I know it would be the dream of many men to have a harem of their own, but I stopped to think about it the other way. If one wife can drive you crazy, what happens when you have three or more? Also, I remembered my conversation with Ralya in the balcony the night before. Taking not one, but several women as wives because of political and economic reasons? Can a family be happy like this?

"It is not only legal, it is a widely accepted fact in the Nobility of all the Seven Races. I know you have your doubts about this, I have them too. I already think of myself as your woman, and I don't like the idea of sharing you. But if we stay this way, anyone bold enough to make a move on us can use threats or any other tactic to force us into using our resources on their benefit. For example, if we lost a Household War they could..." Her voice started to quiver. "They could force me into bearing a child from one of their men." She was on the verge of tears. " So their blood would mix with my father's and they would gain advantage from your position in one fell swoop." She drew a deep breath and continued, "It would not be the first time someone has gained access into a ruling family that way." She cast her eyes down and could not look at me.

I stood up to go hug her, but Merita stepped forward. I don't know what kind of face I was making, but she stepped back and lowered her head. I brought Ralya's head to my chest and stroke her hair to calm her down. "We'll build a strong Household so nobody will touch you or our loved ones, but the thought of marrying other women besides you makes me feel like I'm being unfaithful to you."

When she heard that, Ralya sobbed against my chest and said, "Thank you for always thinking about me first, dear." I just held her tightly while Merita kept her eyes cast down and allowed it. After a moment, she pulled herself together and looked up into my face. "What do you think about leaving this topic aside until the day after our wedding? After all, the unbreakable rule is that no one can attack our Household until one year after you've taken your First." She pinched my butt playfully and said, "That's me, in case you were wondering."

Then we went onto Geography lessons to keep our minds off from more bitter topics. Luckily to my memory, the landmarks were not as much as I had expected. This wasn't the Lord of the Rings, where every mountain, river, hill and almost every freaking stone had a proper name.

Ralya was fighting to get into my head the list of the mountains around the city when the doorbell rang (literally, it was a bell by the door) and Merita went to open it and came back followed by Zirilla. The first excused herself and went to the kitchen to bring drinks and the second walked to me when I went to greet her. That's when I noticed she was bringing a staff crossed at her back and a long package in her arms. She presented it to me and said, "My husband asked me to bring you this as a token of apology for his behavior this morning. It comes directly from his collection of war trophies. He says that its previous owner would have been no match for you, but you'll have to torture him to get these words directly from his mouth." She said that last part chuckling and Ralya went to greet her sister before excusing herself to let us alone based on some urgent task she had to finish within a pair of days.

Zirilla giggled while I unwrapped what at first sight looked like a common steel scimitar, but then I unsheathed it and noticed the glowing symbols on the blade that surrounded the green crystal embedded near the hand guard. "The details you are admiring prove that the sword has already been synthesized, so this present also serves the purpose of equipping you for our lessons. Anything you want me to clarify for you before we start?" She sat down keeping a hand on her staff, which had a head shaped as a spider made of bones with a purple jewel at its center.

"Well, there are so many things that I don't really know where to start. How about we start by talking about a way to overcome my main problem, my small Spirit reserve?" I offered.

The pale Elf leaned forward and asked back at me, piercing me with her red eyes, "Why do you think there is no one who excels at both physical and magical combat? You can be either good at both or a master in one, not a master of both at the same time. The reason is simple: the time you spend mastering one is time when you lose practice in the other."

I took a sip of the tea cup Merita had brought and answered, "I suppose it makes sense. I had hoped there would be a fast way, like when I used my Spirit to the point of fainting yesterday. You know, when you exercise a muscle for the first time and you get cramps the next day but later it gets stronger."

She sighed and said, "Yalgir told me about that, and I can't say you are totally wrong, but don't ever try that again. That way you strain the physical channels that move your Spirit through your body to the point you may even end up breaking them. If that happens, not only you will be unable to use Magic again, but you won't be able to put your force of will into physical efforts. The base of this problem lies in your total lack of knowledge about magic, it is like..." Zirilla left the phrase unfinished.

"Like teaching someone from a different world where Magic doesn't exist?" I finished for her.

Zirilla answered angrily, but in a way it was obvious she was just playing. "You don't have to get sarcastic. For example, your people don't even understand the Tower of the Worlds. Don't you find it odd that you could send your big vehicles through the steps of the tower? You may think that those flying machines could fly along the outer wall of the tower, but what about the others? The answer is that once you cross a Gate, everything is just energy. The tower is a 'Concept', an image that provides you with every stimuli needed to convince you that you still have a material form in order to prevent your energy from dispersing, what would amount to death. You can even use tools or weapons. Drivers of big, terrestrial vehicles saw another Concept to guide them, and those who guided flying machines saw yet another different one. This illusion can go as far as providing you with physical sensations to keep you on the right path. You felt exhaustion and pain, but you can even fall asleep or lose consciousness. The biggest fail of the concept is that it makes violence and even killing people possible."

She shrugged her shoulders and drank from her cup of tea. "Well, that is more general history or theory than usable Magic. After all, I've been called here to teach you Summoning Magic. Call your Familiar, we are going to start from the 'Silent Link'. That is a passive ability that will give you access to the five senses of one of your Familiars at a given time, as well as allowing you to speak to them and give them orders even if they are away from you. When you gain your second Familiar, you will notice that it's impossible to use Silent Link with both of them at the same time. You can only focus your mind on one of them at a time."

That's how my Magic lessons started. Under Zirilla's guidance, I started to practice the most basic exercises for the most basic skill of my branch of Magic. After three hours, I got under control the basic hints to speak telepathically with Turak. The next step was the synchronization of our senses, though it wasn't at all an easy task. I was supposed to close all of my senses and send my mind to the body of the Familiar I had chosen as my target. After more than an hour, I got a black and white glimpse of the reception hall where Zirilla was looking at me. I didn't like at all my own appearance with that strange look of concentration I was making. I kept trying, with few and slow improvements, until my teacher called it off for the day and excused herself to go back to Errom's house.

We had a light dinner and Ralya and I sat down together at the tea table in the reception hall of the house to have a tea and talk until the time I was "imprisoned" in my room. We just spoke to each other about our respective childhoods. That's how Ralya learned about the lonely kid I had been and I learned about how she had been separated from others by her father's position. She told me that at that time she was apart even from her brothers and sisters because she was born from one of Errom's Seconds and her mother had died giving birth to her. She had the choice to decide which one of them would be saved, and she made the decision to give her life for her daughter. The way I see it, Errom's other wives saw him suffer that loss and vented their resentment on the small girl Ralya was at that time. A kid should never be submitted to hardship for the decisions taken by her parents.

Sitting in her corner, Merita had started nodding, so she stood up and said, "Master, it is time to get going to bed. I know you two are getting to the interesting part, but even lovebirds have to go sleep, right? Hu-hu." She must have been very tired to just cut to the chase instead of speaking endlessly as she always does.

As I entered my bedroom I heard the lock closing behind me. I hovered my hand over the crystal embedded on the wall and the lamp of the room lighted on. Yes, in this world there were many kinds of devices that were similar or equal to the ones we use in our everyday life, but made with Magic instead of technology. For delicacy's sake, I'll say that there are sanitary installations, but I don't see the point or need for describing them in-depth.

I started to undress to go to bed and I vaguely noticed that my training clothes had been washed and were waiting for me on the chair, and my new sword had been deposited under the bed, in a point where I could easily reach it. I had an idea and just before going to sleep I sent Turak to Ralya's window and tried again that thing of peeking through his eyes. I could more or less see Ralya still awake... sewing? She was working on a piece of black cloth with focused intent. "Whatever you're doing, don't strain yourself too much, honey," I mumbled, and then Ralya looked at the window, screaming and hiding her work. I noticed too late that Turak had cawed to her trying to relay my message.

At this time of the year, night was longer than any span of time I had spent sleeping in one go, so I had no problems with waking up in time for breakfast. The drawback was that I had to withstand Ralya's scolding for using Turak to peep on her the night before. This time, she was the one who guided me to the training grounds, where we went our separate ways to train with our respective groups. Just like the day before, I spent hours practicing different moves, Power Thrust and Power Slash included.

I was doing the exact same poses endlessly when I decided to stop for a minute and ask my teachers, "Why the same basic moves all the time? I think I have them well enough to start practicing movements in two steps or combinations."

Oner patted my shoulder and told me, "I understand your eagerness, little brother, but you must learn to stand firmly on your feet before you try to run."

I raised an eyebrow and asked, "I think I have a slight idea of what you're talking about, but could you be clearer?"

He said with a smile, "I mean that you can't learn advanced material before you practice thoroughly the lessons they are based on. To ease your eagerness a little, today we are going to increase your repertoire of choices by having you decide which will be your 'Battle Stance'. There are three basic stances: Defensive, Offensive and Evasive. I think the names are self-explanatory, so I will just tell you that later on, they divide into stances that focus on more specific types of combat."

Yalgir added to the lesson, "Also, for every warrior comes a time when they chose their inclination, or better said, the way they manage their emotions in combat. Well, I say 'choose' but the truth is that most of the times it depends on your basic nature. What I'm talking about is the moment you start learning skills to take advantage of that nature. The two possibilities consist of becoming either an 'Inner' or an 'Outer' warrior. Outer warriors, like me, are those who let their rage explode in controlled outbursts during combat to gain physical proficiency and Inner warriors are those who make their rage implode to gain upper concentration and reaction speed. Oner is a dangerous opponent because he is an Inner Defensive fighter. That makes him almost a walking fortress. I am an Outer Offensive fighter. Very dangerous too, but the other end of the stick, so to say. Something even more dangerous than me is an Inner Offensive fighter: someone who fights all out keeping the wits to strike the weakest points of his enemy without losing awareness of his surroundings."

After considering the choices, I thought that if I had been on the defensive the day I arrived I would be dead, so I decided to choose the Offensive Stance. That made a strange glint shine in Yalgir's eyes. Thinking about my theory that he was training me to fight me, just like a farmer fattens a pig to eat it, I think he was expecting me to become one of those 'Inner Offensive' fighters he admired so much. Yalgir took again the turn to teach me because he was the perfect choice: he also used a curved sword in Offensive Stance. He was as harsh as yesterday, beating me to correct my mistakes until Oner told him half jokingly that he was going to kill me before I could improve enough to have a decent spar with him.

After that, I was able to escape and have a time of relaxation before my final sparring session with Oner before the time to leave. I drank from the fountain close to Ralya's training zone and took out my shirt to inspect the points where Yalgir had beaten me the hardest. I had many bruises, although some of them where small and they were fading already because I had suffered them the day before.

Ralya came to greet me and "suggest" me that I put on my shirt again, and promised to have a serious talk with Yalgir about his lack of self-control. Then, after a moment of silence, she asked, sort of hesitatingly, "That was a good move you taught us yesterday. Do you know any others that might be useful in our training?"

I had already considered it and answered, "Most of your moves are upper body attacks. Would you like me to teach you a pair of leg moves?" She nodded with a smile and I took the basic defensive stance and explained to her, "This move is called 'Kao loy' and basically, what you do is grab your enemy's head or neck and jump with all your strength to hit your enemy in the face with your right knee. It is very useful, for example, if your enemy tries to grab you." I jumped two or three times to show her the right form and then went on to explain to her the other move. "This one belongs to the same Martial Art, and is called 'Yan Erawan.' When an enemy rushes to you, you receive him in an unguarded stance to blow a knee-kick on his chest, where the heart is located. Combining the force of this strike and the power behind the opponent's speed, this attack is powerful enough to stop an unarmored person's heart on impact, even without adding Spirit to it."

"Hmmm it sounds like something useful, dear. I will try it as soon as possible, but... I see that the starting stance for these moves is different to that of the one you taught us yesterday." Answered Ralya with a doubtful look.

"That's because the move yesterday was from Karate, the ones today belong to Muay Thai. This style is different in the point that it wasn't intended just for self-defense, it uses mostly knees and elbows because it was devised to kill enemies on the battlefield." Before she could answer, I kissed the tip of two of my fingers and touched her lips with them, saying, "Sorry, but your brother is calling for me. We'll meet again at lunch time, sweetie."

Oner was merciful with me and in consideration of my state, he passed from actual sparring and taught me about tactics and strategies. One of the things he tried to make me understand was the cold feeling you have when you realize you are fighting someone you can't overcome. He tried to teach me that nobody is perfect and, even if my enemy is better and more experienced than me, I can always find a way to surprise him or exploit even the tiniest opening in his guard.

Back at home, Ralya and I had lunch without any inconvenience and went to the hall to retake my lessons. To my despair, this time it was a lesson in history, with a long list of dates, battles and names of kings and queens. I learned that curiously, all Elves practiced retirement, even the governors. The custom was that if an Elf had a successor, the Elder would retire when their hair became white. With Oner being an adult man, the direct successor and the son of his First wife meant that Errom had a dozen of years or so before his son took his place, unless the Hierarch died or someone overturned him.

We were having a conversation about the different kinds of governments in my world (she found Democracy strange and Communism outright stupid) when the doorbell rang like the day before. Instead of Zirilla I found a messenger who handed me a small package and excused himself. I opened it to find a book and a letter. The letter was from my teacher in Magic and basically it said that she wasn't able to give me lessons today because she had to attend a political meeting with her husband. It also said that the book was a present for me: a copy of her first manual of Summoning Magic, and that I had to read the introduction and the first chapter to prepare for our class the next day. The note emphasized that I wasn't allowed to try anything on my own, I could only read it. There were also some simple exercises to improve my ability manipulating the Silent Link with Turak. I invited Ralya to stay with me and work on whatever she was doing while I did my "homework" but she refused, mumbling some excuse I wasn't able to hear while she went upstairs.

Many of the terms in the introduction were completely alien to me even with the help of the linguistic treatment, but the first spells in the book were pretty easy to understand. Later, Turak and I played something similar to a game of riddles: he had to stare at something out of the reach of my senses and I had to find out what it was through our bond. It got so frustrating that I ended giving up and picked a History book from the shelf. Maybe I could memorize it better if I thought of it as a fantasy novel.