Moonstones and Madness

Twenty-nine

            Junseo could easily understand why his fellow trainees, instructors, and assigned guards all vetoed him attending the crystal rounds but it did not make him any happier about his confinement at the forge. He might have protested more vehemently if the cumulative impact of his injuries and crack stone were any less. Watching the rest of group get ready in their finer robes reminded him that San Jin had left his team headband in the dormitory so he rushed to be able to send it along. He passed it to Song-hee who handed it to In-Yeon. It was only then Junseo understood he would not be spending the whole day on his own.

"Bro, I have been waiting all week to check my designs with you," Song-hee said with a sly grin.

"Right," Junseo's doubt was obvious but he soon relented and said, "In return, I suppose you could give me a hand setting up the isolation tables."

"Deal," Song-hee said while miming a fist bump. It turned out that Song-hee's project, adding gears to make a grinding stone more efficient, helped with Junseo's tasks and they happily worked together. Song-hee held things steady while Junseo re-shaped the cracked quartz but he nearly dropped everything when the loose chips started shining.

"I was starting to wonder how long it would be for you to start tuning," Junseo said with a broad smile.

"What do you mean?" Song-hee stared down at the stones.

"You have discipline, know the mantras, and help with energy work. If you were at a regular dojo, you would have stones from tournament wins by now but you keep yourself wrapped up so tight here." Junseo's voice faded in the face of Song-hee's scowl. "Not to disrespect, it's just you are so self-sufficient at times" he plunged on more quickly trying to explain the internal door that needed to open to allow stone connections.

"I'm not sure its safe to count on crystals for strength. Look what happened to you. Even a crack can knock you off kilter," Song-hee muttered.

"We train without them for a reason," Junseo added, "Not that fractures are at all common. You are far more likely to break a bone than a crystal." He turned his attention back to the tasks at hand and the pair were soon absorbed in adjusting the gear ratios for the grinder. Junseo was not at all shy about asking for help holding things when the bandages on his hand got in the way but Song-hee could see it was past time for taking a break so dragged the younger boy out of the workshop.

"So how bad is it?" He asked before going on the hunt for some new bandages.

"I have had worse," Junseo shrugged. "Loosing some of my calluses is inconvenient."

"I bet. Especially, since you still went through with your matches," Song-hee set down the supplies and looked around hoping a healer might show up. He was ready to signal for a guard to send for a messenger when he spotted one of the healers who had tended to them at the competition trying to talk their way into the compound.

The healer looked the boys up and down. "Do you want to explain how you got those stains on your robes from resting?"

"We haven't gone any further than the workshop and aren't planning to do more than a couple more patterns today. The guards aren't letting us out for our usual run." Junseo stuck out his chin.

"Yeah. Not ever over to the archery range," Song-hee agreed but winked behind the healer's back.

"You want to go running with those stitches?" The healer shook his head then went ahead to change the dressings on Song-hee's side before turning to Junseo. "I thought with your training you would know the importance of rest."