“Hup! Now that’s the last thing I need to bring.” Her hands forcefully pushed her items inside the bag she had, the pouch’s seams were struggling to contain the bursting insides. Herbs, old second hand clothes, and other such trinkets were contained inside the crude backpack by what seems to be by fraying threads and pure will.
‘Fuh, this bag is heavy. But, all these clothes will be worth it by the trend I’m seeing, my clothes from before got ripped by those wolves. Still…. M- my my money, its all gone. I only have 30 copper coins left. Huhu….’
Tears leaked from the edge of her eyes as she sighed internally. Slugging the heavy backpack onto her shoulders, she started to walk sluggishly, the weight of knowing all these spare clothes would be destroyed anyway.
“*Thwack!*”
“Hey! What’s that for!?” ‘Thou must keep thy head up, much more shall be gained by us in the future, more than a couple measly coins.’
“Yeah, you’re right! Come on Apita, the troupe is waiting for us at the gate.” Today they would leave this mud filled place, and head to their next location. She skipped her way through the town.
“They said we’re going somewhere north called Sinclair? I’m not sure…. Ah! It’s the metal town!.... I think.”
‘Sinclair? I see, remember to be careful there, it isn’t called a slum for no reason.’
“I know! But still, it’s awesome that were finally going to see one of the scars of the old war! And they say that the magical stuff they sell there is suuuuper cheap too!”
‘But thou now is not but a poor girl for now.’
Mud splashed as she passed the houses, waving to a couple people she knew. After only a handful of days she had already become friends with most of the villagers, like an orange cat, she was friendlier than most.
She kicked a ball back into a field of playing children, a sprinkle of thanks rang out from them.
“Do you think I could find a new treasure or two while we’re over there? I mean, they say the mine are chock-full with all kinds of ores!”
‘Don’t be so dreamy, opportunity doesn’t fall onto the paws of a monkey so easily.’
“Hey that’s mean!” Her voice was mad, but just like a goldfish, within mere seconds of that insult her attention was turned elsewhere.
‘I wonder if mana ever gets bored, they never actually get to do stuff except when we cast spells’ The little human thought, when other people only saw the boring colours of their surrounding world, she saw different. Hundreds of clouds boasting colour of every single kind danced in her view, her eyes amazed at the epilepsy inducing scene.
She could not stop it being shown to her, not without a good chunk of focus and mental stamina. They danced rhythmically, giving her a free performance every day, all the time. Her ears filled with the song of incomprehensible whispers and wonderful tunes.
‘Pay attention, we are arriving at the gates.’
“Ah! Thanks, well we shouldn’t make the troupe wait too long, and I need to put this down, this bag is killing my back!”
Running faster than before she headed for a specially patterned carriage, each vehicle was fashioned by the troupe’s members. One were bright red and had grimacing skulls, a couple were dotted with cartoonish facial expressions, and one was even made of living wood.
She headed for her transport that she shared with the tiefling lady, it was coloured bright yellow akin to a dandelion, pastel drawings of animals were littered on its surface; some were beautiful and detailed (made by professionals) while other cartoonishly laughable.
“Heh,” She chuckled when she spotted a simple sketch of a cat face on the bottom corner of the carriage door. She walked up the steps separating her from it.
“*click.*” The door opened with a single push, she took a step in.
“*Shiing!*” Suddenly, a slim and sharp object stopped in front of her nose bridge a mere hair’s breadth away. “W-woah! *Thump*” She fell backwards hurting her bottom once again. Looking closer at the suspended object she finally recognised it, it was a feather made from a pure shiny metal.
“Oh! Hehe was that you Etta? Hehe, sorry my vision is kind of blurry right now, *Yawn* gosh I’m soooo sleepy. You know, miss pres really need to stop putting me in night guard duty, don’t you agree?” A voice came from the top level of the bunk bed.
The tiefling woman’s hand motioned her inside, her face was wearing a happy grin only somebody insane would own. She often giggled randomly, even during her sleep; usually spooking Etta and disturbing whatever task she was doing.
‘Haha! Thou truly makes for great comedy material.’
‘Oi! You have no right to laugh at me when you always fall too!’ The little girl shot her thought to her familiar with a threatening glare.
“Haha, it’s fine.” She said with a smiling face. ‘AAAAH!!! I almost died!’ Outside she was just a bit shaky, but inside was a room of panicked screams.
She placed her bag besides the bunkbed, then she looked upwards she saw dozens of metal feathers stuck to the ceiling, each acting as drawing tools for the doodles the woman likes to draw when she bored; which was most of the time.
So many drawings were carved that they were overlapping with other drawings, its looked like more of an unrecognisable mess of lines, but still, you could see the clear artistry inside the ones that could be recognized.
She unpacked her clothes from her bag and arranged them inside the under-bed drawer. Now the bag was inhabited by a couple of items;
a sachet containing weak healing herbs, a waterskin, a loaf of dry bread, some fruit jerky, her 30 coppers and a simple low quality but durable small-knife.
“Ah hehe, Etta you need to go see Henry. He told me to tell you to go to the backmost carriage. Hehe that sentence really had a lot of the word ‘to’. Be quick, he’s been waiting for a while. Hehe good luck.”
“Uh oh, that’s bad news. Mr. Henry reaaally hates people being late.”
“Hehe, you better get going then!”
“Come on let’s go Apita!”
She rushed out of the door, quickly jumping on her companions back.
‘This is clear disrespect’
‘Pretty please Apita, we are dying if we make him wait any longer.’
‘Fine, I am still not used to such disrespect, thou must first ask permission next time.’
‘Okay-okay, I’m sorry.’
He ran following the trail of carriages to reach the last wagon, fur billowed in the wind mimicking flames. As if he gained the ability to partially ignore air resistance they sped by the troupe’s transports, going from the twelfth to the fortieth coach in a relatively short time (for a fox).
A trail of flying mud was left in their wake. Finally, with an exhausted sigh from the Canidae they reached their intended target.
The last wagon was made of hard oak with a cover made from cloth instead of stone, wood, wriggling metal or one of the many living wagon beasts.
Sitting on the backside of the vehicle was Henry, the teacher of Etta.
“There you are! How long are you going to keep me waiting! Come here!”
“Yes sir! I’m sorry for being so late.”
“Haih… Just get here, I heard you made a so called ‘footwork art’ from my teachings you modified. I want to see it, what’s the name?.”
“Yes sir! Well I named it the autumn steps. Since well.. you taught me the leaflet steps that used water and earth mana, but I modified it to be ‘better’ and I switched it to use earth and fire mana instead.”
“Show me.”
“O-okay. *clear throat*”
She went into her stance that she created, focusing her mind and remembering the sequence she modified. Fire and earth attribute mana flowed in her body, not just in her legs, but her body too. Just as her coach taught her, the entire body was needed for a proper stance.
The leaflet steps had 27 steps in its sequence, the user would flow like a leaf in the wind, it would flow so smoothly that they could ignore the terrain. Smooth, gentle, and no truly sudden moves; ensuring no momentum shall be lost and that they would only get faster.
The so called ‘Autumn steps’ she had created by modifying the leaflet steps had instead 31 steps, instead of a leaf, they would imitate instead the wildfire that burnt those leaves; the leaves that wilted and dried during autumn.
It would follow the wind, but sometimes would lash out spreading the fire, it would take advantage of the terrain. Flowy but aggressive, some momentum would be lost; she traded speed for dexterity.
Creating an art wasn’t an easy task, you could never create one accidentally. But somehow instinctively she knew what was better for her, she had compiled her prior knowledge and new found knowledge together. And it somehow worked, despite all odds being stacked against the furless monkey.
Even if she doesn’t realise it, going into flow with an instinct like hers was also an unfairness to other people. It seems the world plays favourites, and one of them is a cat-monkey that looks human.
Her tracks were imprinted on the mud, vapour rose from then; coming out of the mud after the flame mana leaked out of her. Beads of sweat was also turning into steam from her body heat.
“Hah, ha, hah... Ehe, Its still hard to do for me I guess.” In her mind the desire to maste— no, to devour and conquer this technique consumed her mind, reverberating inside. The technique even though she created it was still difficult for her, the muscle memory hasn’t truly formed yet. Still, her soul itself screamed for improvement; her instinct told her to.
“*Thunk!* Ouch! What was that for!?”
“You call that the ‘Autumn Steps’! That’s more like ‘Burnt leaves steps’! It’s an insult to the four-season series footwork arts! I thought it would be something impressive if you wanted to take the place of the true ‘Autumn Steps’.”
“Hey it’s still incomplete! Go easy on me I’m still a child y’know.”
“I cant go to someone as arrogant like you, already trying to make a replacement for the Autumn Steps. Your new thing is just a modification of my teachings, not an upgrade… for now. Hell, you can make an argument its worse right now!
Your understanding of footwork, no— moving itself is incomplete! How do you expect to create a complete technique without knowing what makes the technique. So from now on, this technique of yours will be named ‘Burnt Leaves Foot’”
“At least give it a better name.”
“NO! And I will not change it till you show me it in a better form, only when I acknowledge can the name be changed.”
A proverbial hand struck down any complaints she had or could give. In the background, a certain velvet fox was dying of laughter.
The impassioned speech although insulting, contained valuable advice. Her technique was incomplete, and further understanding of moving itself was needed to finish it. She recognised at least that.
She needed to move more, use it more, and see other peoples’ usage of footwork more. Reasoning and most importantly instinct, would guide her after that, just like it had guided all the people before her.
“*WHISTLE!!*” In fact, one of those things could actually be done right now.
“Perfect timing.” The green hair exclaimed, smiling in delight. The whistle signalled the troupe’s departure from the swamp, an order to the beasts to start moving together.
“Etta! For this entire day! You will run following the carriages to learn more about moving, make sure to use that flawed footwork of yours. Constantly. Every approximately thirty minutes you will be given a fifteen second break. Get moving!”
“W-What! Wait a minute I haven’t gotten ready yet!”
The girl ran after the already moving wagon, it started going faster; threatening to leave her behind. Her summon quickly jumped aboard the wagon with the teacher.
“Agh! Fine! I’ll just have to do it!” She began to run after it, using her technique to move as per the man’s instructions. Like a cat she was stubborn, too proud to just give up.
“Good! That’s the spirit.” In his mind he felt a tiny bit bad. But the guilt will go away after seeing her talent bloom, the sin of letting it wilt should never happen.
Never. Not like how the elder’s made his brother wilt.
Later that night:
“My legs hurt so much! Argh noo! Not another cramp! AAAHHH!”
