Without Rhythm (The Lament) (9 page)

"I do
not
believe this! We came under
attack
last night and you three went sneaking off into town to get wasted? Worse, you let Dovish go along with you!" She pointed to the large slow looking man, heaving a sigh.

"I can't believe that. Did you let him drink too? Dovish, come here..." She waited for the big man to move in, sniffed his breath and winced a little, but did it again.

"Berry juice? At least you all had that much sense. Fine. I'll cut you some slack then. Two weeks no liberty in town. If you have to leave the ship you need a keeper and by crap you better have cleared it with me or the watch first, or I swear I'll set you off at the next port. Understood?" They all nodded except the big man, who just stood dumbly.

"Go, get some coffee, you all have the long day watch now. You too Dovish. Get with engines. I want that place so sparkling I can eat off the floor by mid day meal, understood?" her voice was considerably less harsh with him than the others.

When he spoke it was clear as to why. He sounded young, like a child. His face was attractive enough, but it was clear that something inside his head just didn't work right.

"Sorry ma'am. I weren't trying to cause no trouble."

"I know, but you left when we might have needed you. Don't do that again, alright?"

"Yes'm"

Then, as a group the ship crew went inside, leaving Mara to smile about the whole thing.

"Not always a solid bunch, though decent over all. People can get lazy over time, but this is a dangerous watch. People try to do something to the ship at least once or twice a year. Since we can never know who will be doing what, we need to stay ready all the time. You've dropped out of state by the way. You can tell when it happens, because the eyes focus differently. I'll have you practice that in a week or two, so you can see the difference for yourself."

Pran sighed and tried to get back into the right mindset as soon as possible. They spent the rest of the morning running. They'd dash for a bit, then walk, jog for a while then stand and watch. There was no real pattern to it, which was, Mara assured her, on purpose.

"Don't let yourself move in a rhythm. If you do people can anticipate what you'll do next. Work without any pattern at all and people can't understand what you're doing. Many won't even be able to see or hear you at times. It takes a lot of practice to master, because we're all creatures of habit. I'd like you to hold that in mind as well as trying to stay alert and focused all the time. Use patterns when you want to interact with others, and break them when you don't." Then the woman waved toward the far side of the airship.

"Take that side for a while. I'll be trying to sneak up on you, so don't make it too easy. It's an open space, so you should be able to spot me three times out of five, if you really try."

It was harder than it sounded and Pran managed one in four to start with, feeling a little frustrated, until she realized that it might be harder to sneak up on her if she tried to be a little random too, like she'd been told, instead of standing in place and waiting.

She spun suddenly and crouched down, then shuffled in this awkward state to the right two waddles. There was no Mara, so she jumped and ran for a bit, realizing as she did that the very act of running was a pattern, slowing to a walk she fought to make it irregular, her breath feeling tight inside as she did, the staggering, limping and scattered movement hard to maintain even for a couple of steps. She just wanted so badly to make it into a pattern that it moved back into one on its own. That was nearly a constant thing.

On top of that, trying to break her natural rhythm was making it too hard to pay attention to anything else. She struggled for it, seeing Mara as the woman stepped up alongside her, having closed a lot of ground before being noticed.

"This is harder than it sounds like. A lot." Pran tried not to sound grumpy about it, but that didn't work very well. "I keep losing focus while trying to do it. Plus I look like I'm drunk, instead of like you do."

"It takes practice. We'll work on this every morning for the time being. Right now we probably don't need a ship watch, since the crew can do that in the daylight. I need to get some sleep soon, so I'll put you on early watch with the Judge. She does her own exercises early, so follow along with her and make sure she doesn't have any problems. Stand guard, and come get me or Clark if she needs to leave the ship for any reason. We sleep in shifts, but if we go into town, given the recent activity here, we all go. Armed too. I noticed that you didn't arm yourself? You need to do that before your next duty. I'd suggest a cudgel for now, since you don't have training and should be on the ship. You get the idea, right? If you have to protect the Judge, you hit people in the head with it, over and over again. It lacks elegance but most people can't defend against it if you really try hard." She didn't mention how to find such a thing though. Or where to find the Judge, so Pran asked, hoping it wasn't a stupid thing to need to know.

"The Judge's chambers are at the back of the second floor. The weapons are in the weapons locker, I'll get that for you before I turn in. You don't have a key for it yet. That means that if you need anything from it for now you either get Clark or I to help, or if we're incapacitated for some reason, you break in. Remember, anything can be used as a weapon. From now on I want you to think about that with everything you do. Find a way to turn every object, even other people, into something you can use to fight."

"You mean while I move without a pattern and keep to a highly focused and alert state?" She meant it to be a smart comment and a bit sarcastic, but it came out sounding matter of fact for some reason. Like it made sense and wasn't too much to try and do at once.

"Precisely. You know Pran, I have to say I'm surprised at how well you're doing so far. Keep this up and maybe there's hope for you yet." Then she turned and jogged into the ship, not saying anything else.

Pran struggled to keep up, tired already, even though it was barely mid-morning.

It turned out that her job of guarding the Judge wasn't what she expected at all. The woman had her own exercises and such to do indeed, but the second she saw Pran standing outside her door she called her into the suite, which was about eight times larger than the little room she and Roy were sharing. Plus she had her own bathing chamber and restroom, which meant she didn't have to leave to take care of those things.

"We can lock the door and you can exercise with me. The Guardians have a very similar ritual, so I think it will be fine and not interfere with your training." Then, without waiting the woman started telling her what to do.

"Align the spine and allow the bones to carry the weight of your form, head up at all times, since this is how the body is designed to function best. Don't let yourself vary from this, unless it is needed for your work. Always sit and stand thusly." She demonstrated, her body shifting a tiny fraction backwards, allowing her to look a bit taller suddenly.

Then there was instruction in how to breathe, which was familiar to Pran, since they did the same things for singing exercises. The stretching that came next was peculiar, but her body was ready enough for it, having done similar things for years. The hard part was that breathing and body carriage exercises were added to it as well as meditation. This time she was supposed to focus on feeling only the single form within herself, instead of everything. The whole thing was a regular pattern, not random at all.

"And now exhale and return to a ready state, body upright and balanced."

The woman in front of her was wearing loose white clothing, but not her full robes at all. Without waiting she moved to a low cushion and got a cup of coffee, offering some to Pran without hesitation.

"One of the best things about being on ship, we always have coffee." The woman smiled peacefully and gestured for Pran to sit, clearly suggesting another pillow.

"Um, I don't think I should, ma'am. If I'm sitting I don't think I could protect you fast enough if something happened. I don't have any skills to speak of that way, so, you know, I guess if we do come under attack while I'm on duty you should try to run away? I'll be busy trying to hit people with a stick. Poorly." She said it with good humor, but still in a decently focused state. Not aware enough by half, of course. It was hard to hold it all, standing correctly while trying to think of how a coffee cup could be used to thwart an attack and working to make her breathing irregular just to keep practicing as she went, even holding still otherwise.

"Very well then, I don't want to tell you how to do your own work. Especially since what you said is exactly what every Guardian I've ever talked to on the subject has suggested as well. The first part at least." Sipping at the cup the blond woman closed her eyes and then smiled broadly.

"So, we have only sketchy information on you Pran. Would you tell me a bit about yourself? We should be friends after all. Don't you think?"

That got her to blink and shrug, which threw her spine out of perfect alignment.

"I'm an orphan, and never knew my parents. At nine, or at least close enough to that age, I was sent off to the art school here. Yesterday, the day before that really, I tried to switch out the statue of the first councilor with one that I made of a horse. It was a prank, but shouldn't have been that big of a deal. We were working in the dark and I misjudged the whole thing, so both statues fell and broke. It was four stories nearly, so it made a mess. The head of the horse, it came off and hit my friend Bard Sollen in the leg. It broke, the leg I mean, and the school council kicked me out. I was supposed to be off getting my apprenticeship right now." She sighed, wondering what kind of rebuke would come from the woman now, since it was her job to sit in judgment of others when there was wrong doing. She was, in a very real sense, the law.

If she thought that someone needed more punishment than the rules called for on paper, she could do that without blinking. Or she could let people go without anything being done to them at all. It was all up to her.

"That seems a bit harsh. A waste of government funds too. Was there more to the story that you didn't share with me?"

"Not really... I mean, that's what happened. It seems pretty hard to me too, but they didn't stop to ask my opinion of it all. If they had I could have tried crying and begging, instead of just being kicked out with only the clothes on my back." It came out sounding angry, like she wanted to harm someone over it, which wasn't exactly showing her to be in total control or anything like that at all.

"Sorry, still a little raw on the point."

There was silence then for a long time, the woman simply sipping at her cup, not mentioning the whole thing again. When she spoke the topic was totally different.

"This afternoon we need to move the prisoners back to town and see to the trial. It must be public, and those that know the situation will be required to speak. Since you were the arresting Guardian you'll need to explain all your actions and why you took them. Don't hold anything back at all. Do you understand? Even if it makes you look bad, you must tell the whole truth. If you don't I'll be required to mention it and that can influence the minds of those listening. I know that there will be reasons for you to hedge or to try and seem brave, as others will be watching, but you must do it." Her voice held an extra quality of sincerity, the words pushing out of her mouth a little, her frame leaning forward as if to press the idea closely.

"I'll do that." What was she going to say, that she wanted to lie to everyone and protect herself? She clearly didn't have that right now, did she?

Not as a Guardian, at least it didn't seem like she did. Part of the commitment thing.

"Very good. Would you be so good as to find Bard Benjamin for me? I'd like to speak to him about some matters." The woman seemed content enough to wait with her door locked from the inside, while Pran went to get him. It didn't seem very "guardy" but it was, supposedly, normal enough Claire assured her.

It took a while to do, since the Bard was still in bed, his small room turning out to be next to Doctor Millis. The man came out to look, hearing the knocking.

"Ah, the young apprentice! Are you well dear? I can see to health related matters, or we can just talk if you like? I'm always here for you all, even if people forget that half the time." He pushed up his wire rimmed glasses and straightened his fine looking black coat. His old face smiling and friendly seeming.

"I'm feeling... decent actually. Physically at least. My leg is a little sore, but the wound isn't bad and hasn't opened again. I've kept it clean." The injunction from the Judge to tell the truth influenced her to say more than she might have normally. It was a strange thing, but it rang out to her clearly.

"Emotionally... Well, things haven't been going perfectly. I'll live, but thank you, for the offer. I might have to take you up on that in the future."

"Anytime. Don't hesitate to call on me. I have an oath you know, to serve those in need. I take it pretty seriously too."

He pointed the way to the Bards room, and only about five minutes of banging later Ben came to the door, dressed in a plain nightshirt, hair rumbled and face creased by the pillows.