Emeralds and Enemies

Chapter Twenty-three

While he was out running, Junseo decided he would just ignore the watchers and explore more of the city. Over the next few days he also made himself useful to a couple of stone cutters and had been rewarded with a few crystal fragments. He was slipping out a side door with his new treasure in hand when he bumped into Go Me Yan.

"Oh, Hello. We have been hoping we would cross paths again," Go San Jin said as he joined his brother. Junseo glanced at their distinctive attire and guessed the brothers were on their way to practice fencing.

"If you are not doing anything special, why don't you join us?" Me Yan gave Junseo a shy smile. "It's my first day back on the practice court."

Me Yan's expression convinced Junseo that he should make the time.

"I hope you're going try another qualifier. It would be a shame not to." San Jin said as he led the way down the street and unlocked an ornate gate. Inside were well arranged practice courts edged by a mixture of cherry, plum and apple trees. The Go brothers dug padded cloths out of chest on the porch. 

San Jin tossed a set over to Junseo. "See if these will fit while I find you a practice sword."

The pant legs and jacket sleeves were a bit short but otherwise the set seemed fine. When he emerged, Me Yan took one look giggled. "How could you grow so much taller since the last time we met?"

"Yan-sie stop trying to throw him off. We haven't even warmed up yet." San Jin called while he set up the practice dummy.

They worked through a standard practice set and each took a turn against the dummy. San Jin worked primarily with his left hand and kept an eye on the others. He stepped in and offered position corrections and seemed satisfied with the result. He then let Me Yan and Junseo spar with blunted foils.

Me Yan was very quick but Junseo could tell his knee was not one hundred percent. "You will only train yourself to anticipate the pain if we keep this up," he told his disappointed opponent.

"But it was feeling so much better," Me Yan complained.

"You have only given two weeks to something that should take two months," his brother said with a sigh. "If Junseo is willing, I might still get in a bit of a workout after coming all this way."

"I will try to keep up," Junseo promised and took up the foil again.

The young men tested each other slowly then picked up the pace. Me Yan did not know who to cheer for. His new friend who was surprisingly holding his own or his brother who was so beautiful to watch. Junseo had speed and size in his favor but not a lot of finesse. San Jin managed to disarm him after a double feint.

"Oiye," Junseo shouted his surprise then grinned widely. "Can you slow it down so I can see how you did that? It was so cool!"

San Jin was surprised by Junseo's positive reaction. Even if this was just a friendly, get-to-know-you match, it had gotten pretty intense. Few opponents could dial down the adrenaline and stay so upbeat after being disarmed. He patiently walked Junseo through the move and then watched this unknown country boy take each element apart in front of the mirror then improvise variations for a solid defense.

The brothers could see the effort Junseo put into breaking down the move and bringing it back up to speed. When he realized there were watching he apologized for getting so absorbed then said, "I can't thank you enough for the tip. I would never have figured it out on my own."

"It is great to have someone different to practice with, don't you think?" Me Yan looked squarely at his brother who did not need the prompting.

"Do you think your training masters at school would let you come spar with us?" San Jin asked.

"I'm sure it will be fine with my uncle and his master-at-arms but I will need to check in with Knight-Master Lie and probably the Sun Temple."

"Do you mean Knight-Master Lie Wen-Hou? As in Field Commander Lie Wen-Hou, Hero of the Hua-Lia pass?" Me Yan's eyes were wide.

"I don't know. He said he had retired from his Majesty's Royal Engineers and has me training at his forge. He and his friends are trying to build up a new training league but we are really just using this time to get to know each other." Since it was a registered agreement, Junseo did not think any of this was confidential. The intense look he was getting from the Go brothers suggested they found it newsworthy.

After a long pause and a couple of false starts San Jin said, "We didn't know he was interested in taking on trainees."

"He is an old friend of our uncle." Me Yan added and then explained, "This is actually our uncle's yard but he is out of the city too much to put it to use."

"That might make it easier to get Knight-Master Lie's permission." Junseo grinned.

"Oh, there is one more thing we forgot to mention." San Jin looked meaningfully at Me Yan.

"I am sorry but my Healer insisted we tell you that you have to report to him at the Medical Academy. I didn't want to say anything but he knew I had been treated." Me Yan bowed his head.

"It's alright. I half expected the guild would be interested so just give me his particulars and I will stop in on my way back so he knows you kept your promise."