The School of Soft Knocks

Shadowing was mostly about learning the responsibilities of a Guardian, that's not to say I was just taking notes for future reference. Moonlight Guardian was committed to making sure that I was up to the task of protecting the village on my own one day, and at the bare minimum, this meant that I needed to keep pace with her.

With this in mind, we would continue running that route that had started off my initiation several times a day—I just started referring to it as the "route." By this point, even that second time frame she had set wasn't much of a challenge. I had really come a long way. Although I now found the route a basic conditioning exercise, Moonlight Guardian seemed to regard it as a leisurely stroll, appearing to float effortlessly across the platforms; she easily blew past and would pause for me before ascending to the next platform. I couldn't help but feel I was testing her patience by making her wait, so I would push myself harder to keep her from lingering long. In hindsight, this was possibly her intent. At any rate, I was glad that I hadn't called her out back then about her being unable to run it in the proposed time frame; I would have been eating some serious crow.

So the route was a contrivance—it was not directly related to her duties—but what wasn't a contrivance was scouting out the forest. Unlike in the village where Moonlight Guardian claimed she had no intent of being covert, the forest was a different matter. She actively worked to remain unnoticed. To achieve this, she would have us move through the trees like ninjas, jumping from branch to branch, which was not easy. For starters, just gauging the distance and the amount of force that would be required to stick the landing and doing it instinctively with no time to process was very difficult. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a physical limitation, I could make the jumps if given enough time to process the distance, though on the longer jumps fox magic would be necessary. But if forced to do it without time to think, well... I often over or undershot the distance. Overshots weren’t so bad, as I could hover myself back on course without much delay. No, the real problem was when I just barely undershot the branch and felt the tree limb slam into my midsection. Moonlight Guardian had to catch me a few times, as I was KOed.

The second difficulty in this means of travel was the staying covert part. While Moonlight Guardian's footfalls would barely, if at all, disturb the tree limb, mine hit with the force of an Olympic long jumper, that is to say, not subtle. It was because of these issues that I felt guilty for putting upon her. However, to her credit, she seemed to have nothing but an abundance of patience for my shortcomings.

The second part of my training was combat practice. This was what I had originally signed up for, though it seemed like only a minor corollary by the amount of effort that had been placed upon it thus far.

Combat training was how we would conclude the day, just before dinner—dinner was the unofficial end of the productive day, and people would just occupy themselves with whatever until they turned in for the night. As with anything, you need to start with the basics to form a good foundation and so we started with, wait for it, swing practice.

That's right, good old-fashioned rote and monotonous, swing practice. And despite being very mundane, there was actually a lot you could mess up. The arm movement, the footwork, the breathing, the level of your shoulders... I could go on, but you get the point. For over an hour, I would swing this wooden sword over my head repeatedly while Moonlight Guardian occasionally offered guidance. This would continue for some time.

After a while, however, I had apparently improved enough to be deemed worthy of learning additional maneuvers. I felt like I hadn't improved at all, but Moonlight Guardian insisted that I had.

"You have a good base and aren't tripping over your feet anymore. Your swings are much smoother than when you started, though you still have plenty of room for improvement." This was her assessment of me. She wasn't one to mince words, so I had to believe her, but I didn't see it.

So we added shadow striking at other angles and with different grips. Each strike had minor nuances to its execution, but they were all fairly intuitive and used many of the fundamentals I had already learned. Of course, combat consisted of more than just offense, you needed a good defense as well. Some might say the best defense is a good offense, but we are a slight people. Rendering onto an opponent a savage beating without any defensive maneuvers was probably painting too rosy of an outlook.

So you needed a defense game, and to this, Moonlight Guardian proposed 3 main defensive methodologies: blocking—you absorb the full force of the attack with something that can handle it; parry—redirect the attack; dodging—don't be there when the attack comes.

"Blocking should be used sparingly and only when no other defensive option is viable," Moonlight Guardian occasionally gave lessons on combat theory. As an engineer, I could respect this. "Parrying and dodging are far better options, as you will not sustain any damage or strain."

"Between the two, which is better, parrying or dodging?" I didn't often ask questions in class back on Earth, but here, one-on-one, I felt comfortable doing so.

"It depends, different options will be available in different beats. Parries can be good at creating openings, but they require redirecting your weapons too. Though you are the one directing this action, so you can ensure you leave yourself in a better spot than your opponent. Dodging is good for exploiting openings, and your weapons can be immediately employed. But you are limited to the opening they give you."

"So would it be fair to say, you would usually employ dodging tactics on an enemy who was attacking wildly, and parries for someone more patient and methodical?"

She brought a finger to the bottom of her mask, "Hmm... you could employ both with either, but I see your point. A wild attacker would have many exploitable openings, whereas a more cautious opponent may not have as many openings, so you would want to create them. But Indigo, wild attackers are the easiest to counter and are easily off-balanced; they are usually not much of a threat to the trained. It is with the methodical opponent in mind that we train." I nodded my understanding.

So I added blocks, parries, and dodges to my combat dance practice. Eventually, Moonlight Guardian must have thought I had made a fool of myself enough swinging at empty air and started holding a stick for me to strike at. She angled the stick to indicate the strike she was looking for. After so much swinging at shadows, this was a much welcomed reprieve.

She soon incorporated some slow deliberate swings herself to work my defense. Unlike the attack targets she held up, defense left more room for interpretation. After all, there were three ways to defend an attack according to Moonlight Guardian.

"Why did you block that attack, Indigo?"

"...Because I didn't want to get hit?"

"That is not what I meant. You could have parried that and had a nice follow-up." Sometimes she would ask me about my choice of defensive options.

"But it's more instinctive to block."

"Which is why we train, so we can make better options instinctively. You aren't feeling it now, but a real strike would hit much harder, and it will be something you will wish to avoid if possible."

I had a question and a request, but I felt like I might regret it if she actually granted it. "Would it be possible to feel a real strike?"

No sooner had the thought left my mind that Moonlight Guardian stick flashed above her head and she brought it thundering down like a crash of lightning. At least she deliberately telegraphed the attack, so I had time to get my sword up, but...

"OUCH!" Her stick had hit mine so hard that my hand stung, but what really sucked was how her attack caused my wooden sword to ricochet and hit me in the head. I was certain a nice welt would form in short order.

"Okay, that's enough for today." I was still rubbing my head. It hurt, but wasn't serious. At least I now knew about the perils of blocking. I would make a serious effort never to block again.

During our patrols, the Forest Guardian made a surprising number of cameos. He was a bit of an edgelord and liked to just call out from the shadow like he had been waiting for us, before disappearing again. It didn't take long for me to learn that these were not just chance encounters, one did not just "chance" upon the Forest Guardian, it took a concerted effort. And since Moonlight Guardian and I were not trying to find him, it was clear that he had sought us out. This was made more evident by the communications that she and the Forest Guardian exchanged.

"Were you talking to him?"

"Yes."

"I thought he didn't like people?"

"That is not entirely true, he just finds us annoying and a bother." I was about to follow up, but she continued, "Since we are both in the guardian business, we share information for mutual benefit."

"Oh, that makes sense. What did he say?"

"He said that he took out some of those looters." She must have caught my concern—I did have an unpleasant history with these looters. "They were far off and of no threat to the village... So long as they stay there."

"Are we going to help him with any other looters?"

"He has already resolved the issue, he was just informing me."

"But we should still keep an eye on the outskirts, right?"

"No, that is his responsibility, it doesn't concern us." That sounded cold. The Forest Guardian was aloof, but he saved my hide back then. Felt wrong to just leave him hanging.

"But it doesn't seem fair to leave all that to him..."

"He has his purview and we have ours." Moonlight Guardian casually looked around the forest floor from the tree limb. "His is to protect the forest and ours is to protect the village." I stared, I wasn't convinced. "For instance, if the village is attacked, he will not come to our aid." I frowned, this seemed cold-hearted on both sides. "There is some overlap in our duties, however, and that is why we share intelligence."

I guess I understood, but I didn't like it. "So what kind of information do we give him?"

"Not much, he roams much further than us." I tilted my head, so she elaborated, "The information he gives us might benefit him, for instance, if looters come into close proximity to the village, it will be both our problems." I thought back to when the two of them came to my rescue. Moonlight Guardian definitely intended to save me, but I now felt that the Forest Guardian just wanted help getting rid of those vermin. I guess, I still benefited from his participation, but felt a little let down that my well-being was probably of no concern to him.

One day, Moonlight Guardian exchanged the stick she had been using to train me for a wooden sword.

"Alright, Indigo. It's time you got a more realistic feel for combat."

"What do you mean?"

"Sparring." Oh, sparring. That sounded fun. But...

"So what should I do?" Maybe I was an idiot, but I wasn't sure how this sparring thing worked.

"Just come at me and try to hit me."

"Alright, but how much should I pull my attacks?" From what little I knew about sparring, it was usually friendly and nobody was trying to hurt the other.

"Pssh—" She turned her head away. Did she just laugh at me!? Well, she regained her composure quickly enough. "No need to hold back, just give it everything you got." Wait. Was she going to go all out too? I had to think not. Wooden sword or not, I was sure she could kill me with one swing.

At any rate, I decided to just go for it and charged in, going for an overhead attack, but just as I entered attack range and was about to swing... Bop.

It was just a tap, but there was still some nominal pain associated with it—it was a wooden sword, after all. However that was of no concern to me, what did have my concern was that I had no idea what just happened. It was like I just missed a frame, like time skipped a beat. It was so bizarre, that I thought it might be a one-time-off kind of thing, so I tried again, same result. I tried over and over again, but it happened every time.

Day in and day out, the result was the same. I tried different attack angles and different entry strategies, but I couldn't grab hold of that missing frame. Even when I went in with no intention of doing anything but catching that moment, I still couldn't see it.

Moonlight Guardian during this time wasn't cruel; I never got anything more than a light bop on the noggin. However, over time, I came to really resent those taps. Everyone, taunting me like a gnarled stick-welding boss from a souls-like game. It was frustrating and demoralizing.

As sparring was held just before I returned home for dinner, I always arrived back home at a low point. Father wasn't concerned and said that my poor spirits were just a necessary step on the road to growth. Mother was more concerned, but as there was nothing physically wrong with me and she knew the source of my downer mood—I didn't try to hide it—she eventually settled on the passive amount of worry that all mothers are want to have.

What really caught me off guard and got me thinking that I might need to address my low spirits is that even my sister took note, and she had just recently turned two—I think. I didn't broadcast my lackluster emotions, so that meant that they were so overt, that a two-year-old could pick up on them.

She would walk over during mealtime and pat me on the head while transmitting sympathetic vibes. Dusk was still a baby, and the kind of ideas she was able to convey were fairly basic. So this act amounted to an emerging instinct to comfort others she still wasn't able to rationalize yet. "Brother will be okay," she would say as she patted my head.

Now I felt like I was failing at my duties as an elder brother if I had my baby sister worrying about me. I needed to stop moping about and get my act together. I always ask Moonlight Guardian how I did at the end of sparring, hoping she would give some advice, but she just said I did fine. I always took that as her being dismissive, but maybe she meant that I was doing just fine. She wasn't one to mince words after all.

The main issue was I felt I wasn't getting any better. But maybe I just haven't gotten enough experience to make the leap to the next level, kind of like an electron jumping to the next energy level. That is to say, the amount of skill needed to see the attack could be so great, that it would take a long time to achieve it. I would just need to continue the grind until I leveled up.