Statera: The Balance of Yin and Yang

Affinities and surprises

"My thighs are killing me," I groaned as we trudged up the stairs to the hall that held the Cermin, two hours after our Sento training had ended.

Advisor Lokni might have seemed mild-mannered and reserved, but his training was the exact opposite of his restrained demeanour. He had put us through a series of plyometric exercises, making us leap from one end of the mat to the other and then holding a squat until our muscles quivered with strain and threatened to give out. Afterwards, he pushed us into painful stretches. I'd trained on my own before, but not to that level.

After those, which were what he called "warm-up" exercises, he'd led us through a series of simple Sento forms to build our foundations. And, he'd called all that basic training, for our "introductory lesson". All the while, he simply maintained an amiable smile on his face, hardly even raising his voice.

The man was nuts.

Elora nodded, grumbling tiredly - the girl was more athletic than me for sure, but even that training had taken its toll on her.

"I just want to know my Affinity, so I can go home and knock myself out." Enki muttered, dragging his feet. "My peg's killing me."

Elora and I gave sympathetic glances to Enki. We were twenty, near the peak of our physical ability and we were exhausted, I could only wonder what Enki felt. His "peg", as he called his prosthesis, must be chafing uncomfortably.

Advisor Darnall was waiting for us at the doors, his face pinched with annoyance, his long black hair plaited in a traditional fashion.

"Alright, I understand Advisor Ramiel has once again managed to render you new congees utterly boneless. But we've got to get you guys in with the Cermin and then I'll let you off this time. You lot will probably be wiping the tables with your faces and drooling before I get any of the properties of Yin and Yang energy into your head. There are tonics at the Healing Ward that can help recovery if this is going to be a recurrent theme. I would appreciate if you take them as needed, as I do have important things to teach you." Advisor Darnall said snippily, wrinkling his nose in displeasure.

If I wasn't so tired, I might have laughed at his comical expression.

"This is done alphabetically. We'll start with Aletheia Leigh and end with Xue Shin. Aletheia, if you would please."

A sudden rush of fear gripped my chest. Already? What was I supposed to do? Advisor Darnall hadn't explained how to prepare for the Cermin viewing. What if I wasn't ready?

Elora mouthed 'Senno be with you' and crossed her fingers.

What can Senno do for me anyway? I snarkily thought to myself, but nodded my thanks to Elora - she meant well after all - and followed Advisor Darnall into the hall.

The perfect balance of the room allowed congees to discern their Affinities, as the congee's own energy would unbalance the Cermin, which was the locus of the hall, temporarily. It also meant that it couldn't be used too frequently, because that would disrupt its finely calibrated balance. Thus, the limited viewings each year.

Advisor Darnall had not explained what the exact procedure was though.

"Come here, Aletheia. Advisor Maeve must have taught you lot how to direct your energy yesterday. I believe all of you had success with it?" Advisor Darnall beckoned me to approach the large round metal saucer engraved and coloured with the ubiquitous Yin-Yang symbol, as well as some less frequently seen trigram imprints - this was the Cermin then.

I nodded at Advisor Darnall's question. Some of us had had more trouble than others, but I was pleased to note that I had taken to it quite readily, and by the end of the three hour class yesterday, we had all achieved some basic proficiency.