We stood in a yard behind Chem’s home as I tried to understand the balance of the wooden training blade I’d been given. It looked like a pretty typically standard sword. Longswords, or whatever they called them.

“It’s lighter than a true sword, but the balance is true to a good sword,” Chem said.

I nodded, still trying to balance it on my finger. It kept tilting one way or another. 

I was getting closer, though. Hopefully success would be mine soon, so I wouldn’t keep embarrassing myself in front of Aara and Chem’s daughter. At least the latter seemed to be paying less attention to me, working on cleaning rather than watching me with hopeful eyes like Aara.

Though she did glance my way from time to time. With a look that left me a little flustered.

“Focus,” Chem said.

Right. I nodded, trying again. 

“I—I’ve got it!” I said, realising I’d finally succeeded.

Maybe I’d been overthinking it before?

“Good. Now we can begin. I’ll run you through some drills.”

“Drills?”

“Mhm, what you said about your strength tells me sparring isn’t a good plan just yet. Especially with my knees not being what they used to be,” Chem replied. “You need to learn control before I can teach you anything with direct dueling.”

I nodded, and waited as he explained the basics of the drills. It was pretty basic, a step forward and a swing. 

Or, well, it had seemed basic. Chem had a lot of corrections to give. He had comments for every minor motion of my body. Things I’d never even thought about. Still, I remembered that old quote about the move practiced ten thousand times and figured I’d gotten a good chunk of the way by the end of the day, as the sun dropped below the horizon.

My muscles were aching when Chem finally told me I could rest. Though I then had to push myself to do a few cool down stretches before I called it fully quits.

“You have good endurance, I’ll say that,” Chem said. “Not asking for a break at any point.”

“... I was allowed to ask for a break?” 

Chem simply smiled and pulled me back to my feet, offering the promise of food. A promise I couldn’t resist. Even with the divine nature I’d been given I’d worked up an appetite.

The food itself was quite exquisite, cooked by Chem’s daughter, who I learned was named Sukura. I was left wondering, though, about where her mother was. Chem didn’t seem that old, so it seemed odd for her to have passed away. I did suppose olden times were dangerous for mothers, which this basically was.

Though, also, this world had magic, so shouldn’t that have helped?

Maybe they were just divorced?

I didn’t really know what marriage traditions were like in this world. Or this part of the world more specifically.

Aara and I were both given hammocks to set up in a small room on the ground floor. It was something of a storage room, but I wasn’t about to complain. we’d shown up unannounced, after all. Aara, likewise, was glad to have something better than her tent.

Having changed into something loose for sleeping, Aara and I were both left to lay in the quiet of the small room. There were cricket-like noises come from outside, and, more rarely, a few sounds that seemed to be from birds or mammals I couldn’t hope to identify.

“What are they having you do?” I asked, not able to sleep.

“Oh… I’m helping Sukura around the house, mostly. Also, with the garden,” Aara explained. “Though, apparently they make most of their money for gold panning in the river nearby. It flows down from the Dwarven mountains, so there’s lots of gold. Not worth as much as it would be elsewhere, but still worth something.”

“Huh. I suppose that’s a good way to earn some extra cash,” I replied, staring at the ceiling for a little bit.

I had to wonder how magic changed the way people lived compared to Earth back in the Medieval era. Though, thinking about it, I didn’t really know much about how people lived back then. So, maybe I wouldn’t be very good at guessing what was different here. 

As I thought it over, Aara began to snore in a soft and quite cute way.

The next day was more drills. I did some warm ups, then a bit of a review of yesterday’s move. Followed by the rest of the morning spent on a new technique. Chem was a perfectionist once again, breaking down every tiny aspect of how I moved.

He decided to let me take a break for a small lunch, brought out by Sukura and Aara both. The half Gnoll girl made sure that I knew which parts she’d prepared. I thanked them both before returning to further training.

This time I was learning to block, Chem providing a slow moving strike for me to stop. And then giving me critiques on every tiny movement my body made as I swung my training sword in slow motion to meet his.

“I know it seems like I’m nitpicking,” he said, after I let out a sigh. “But you have strength already. You have more power to your swings than a giant, let alone any normal swordsman. So you don’t need to work on that. You need to work on control. Well, control and speed, but speed training will be hard before you have control.”

I gave a nod. Then I went back to practicing the swing he’d shown me.

Which, in large part, defined the rest of my next two days. By my fifth day I had apparently learned the absolute basic building blocks enough for him to teach me some more complex forms. Multi step drills with footwork. Nothing fancy, but he assured me they were a foundation from which to build actual skill.

It still didn’t feel like much progress. Not for the timeline I was hoping to work on. But it was something. A first step.

So I was in a better mood when he called it a day, Chem heading off to rest. He was muttering something about his joints and the rain clouds rolling in as he did so.

“You’re making good progress,” Sukura said, as she offered me some water.

“Really?” I asked, not sure I really believed her.

I was glad to have gotten somewhere today, but I couldn’t imagine this was the pace I was supposed to learn at.

“Mhm. Father’s… never been the best at compliments. Or positivity in general. But he’s said you’re ahead of schedule,” she replied, offering a soft smile. 

I felt my heart flutter a little at that smile. Sukura was rather beautiful, with her warm dark brown complexion and large kind eyes. I was sure anyone who liked women would feel the same.

Though, I also felt sure I was probably off the mark with my wondering if there was more to her smile than simple kindness. Not only was I presenting as a woman now, but the new body I’d been given in this world passed completely. I really needed to remember that sapphic women were a minority.

“There you two are!” Aara said, hurrying out. “Dinner is ready, and it’s about to rain. You should come inside.”

With that, Aara grabbed my arm and began pulling me inside. Sukura let out a quiet laugh before following us in.

That night I stared at the ceiling in silence again. Wondering once again about Lena and Kris. How they were doing. If I would see them again.

And, also, how they’d react if I mentioned thinking Sukura had any sort of interest in me. I’d probably benefit from them teasing me about it a bit. Bringing me back down to earth…

I’d really like to be back down to Earth.

The next morning I was surprised when Chem said we were going for a walk. Aara and Sukura both followed along, Sukura containing a slight sadness in her eyes. I wasn’t quite sure where we were heading, as all Chem would say was that it was to a ‘reminder’. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I followed.

Chem seemed somber, after all. So it was surely serious.

After a reasonably short walk to the top of a nearby hill we reached a tree with two small piles of stones. 

It wasn’t hard to guess what they were. Especially as Chem bent over to dust them off.

The only question was whose graves they were.

Looking at Sukura’s eyes, I had a guess.

“Your wife?” I offered.

“Sukura’s parents,” Chem replied. “Both of them.”

I blinked, having not expected that.

“Chem adopted me when I was a baby,” Sukura explained.

“I was working as a mercenary for a Dwarven campaign out in the brushlands,” Chem said. “Orcish warlords had taken over the area and were leading raids towards the river towns. The usual stuff in these parts. It’s either the Orcs or the Gnolls. Sometimes the ‘taurs.”

He let out a sigh, gaze drifting out into the distance. “They tell you it’s a battle between civilized folks and wild folks when they hire you, but it’s really a battle between the people who control the rivers and the people who need more water.

“We were ordered to clear out a town they’d captured. The Dwarf in charge hadn’t told us there were still any townsfolk there… The fighting was messy… I…” Chem paused, taking a moment to gather his center. “I was trying to check the houses for Orcish soldiers and a man attacked me when I stepped in to check one. He was human, but… I thought he was just a mercenary. A pair of mercenaries when I spotted the second figure… it wasn’t until they were both dead I heard the cry of a baby.”

He paused, to give the implication time to sink in. Aara and I both felt drawn towards Sukura, though she seemed less emotional than Chem was.

“I was too young. I don’t remember any of it,” she replied softly.

Chem whispered something to the memorial mounds before standing up and turning towards me. “I took her out of there and left the army. I have done everything in my power to avoid fighting since…”

I nodded, eyes drifting back to the memorial stones. I was sure I didn’t know enough of war to understand everything it meant to Chem, but I could understand enough. To remember that there were lies, omissions, and misunderstandings to be found on the battlefield.

And that I was surely going to end up hurting people I didn’t mean to. No matter how much I tried.

“I would hope that, as a goddess, you might be able to be better than me, but that seems a fool’s hope considering what the gods we’ve had are like,” Chem said. “But… get out of fighting as soon as you can. That’s the best advice I can give.”

I nodded.

That fit my plans after all.

After that it was back to training. After a few more days of practicing the basics, Chem moved on to testing my reflexes. A test that he pulled both Aara and Sukura into.

The three of them would move in circles around me, throwing small… well, they were basically bean bags. I was tasked with detecting a deflecting them. 

The first day there was a pattern, at least. By the second day they would just throw them each whenever. And both the other girls had better throwing arms than I’d realised.

At least my enhanced durability from being awoken as a goddess made getting hit when I messed up hurt less than it probably should have. But it did nothing to help with my embarrassment over missing as much as I did.

Especially when I thought I’d try being mystic about things and close my eyes, trying to feel the energy of the world around me. Trying to see if I could sense things. All space knight like.

And got pegged in the face by Sukura. Who then burst into giggles with Aara while asking me what I was doing. Their laughter was infectious, at least, and I found myself joining in as I explained.

Chem let out a sigh as we laughed, and reminded us to focus.