"… and now I don't know what to do. Increasing my intelligence to make better use of my fourth ability feels wrong. On the other hand failing to make full use of it is also a big problem," Marcus said with a red head. "Hmmm," was all that Shen said, after Marcus' explanation. "Keep your balance," the old man said, as Marcus' legs started to sway. Easier said than done, Marcus thought. Marcus was currently performing a handstand to improve his sense of balance. He had no dexterity crests, he had to talk and in addition Shen pushed against his legs from time to time to make things 'interesting'.

It was his second day in Mihr Jhel, they were in the training arena and the midday sun put the shadows in stark contrast. It was boiling hot. In spite of that more than a dozen ginghi were training and occasional tremors from abilities shook the sturdy arena. "You need to make your own choices, but what I am hearing from you is that your only priority is power, once again. Has your new ability not already given you great power? Why are you so fixated on making your fourth elevation a weapon?" Shen asked, and pushed against Marcus' legs again. Marcus tried to keep his balance, but eventually he crumbled and fell on his back.

He stayed there until Shen gave him a hand to get up. Removing some sand from his sweaty body, Marcus thought about Shen's words and came up with an answer. "I am hitting a wall. My fighting style can't keep up with class holders on my level. They get faster and faster and soon I wont be able to even hit them. I had hoped Impulse Wave would gap this distance," Marcus said, and Shen shook his head. "You already have a great weapon and yet you believe another weapon will solve your problem?" The ginghi asked, and Marcus felt called out.

"How exactly did you imagine this new weapon would look like? Don't be tardy, go again, Marcus," Shen said, and Marcus went down on his hands again. How? How indeed. Some kind of aoe ability maybe? A super fast shock wave would be nice, Marcus thought and realized how specific his wishes were. Shen pushed and Marcus fought gravity, and for now he was winning.

"I know very little of your class, Marcus, but from what you told me, you treat your powers like a coiled spring or a muscle. It is all very explosive. Are there no other options to use your abilities?" Shen said, and gave Marcus another push. Shen's question made Marcus think, and that meant less focus on keeping his balance, which led to his second fall. A bright and melodious laughter appeared next to Marcus and he could see the impressive figure of Uela from his 'down to the ground' view point.

"Why don't you let me take care of Marcus for a bit, father? I think you have tortured him enough already," Uela said in English, and Shen shrugged his shoulders. "Make sure to work him hard, Azaa will be angry if we cuddle him too much," the old man said. With a last grin to Marcus he walked towards other warriors in the arena. Marcus jumped up to his feet and looked at Uela with a good amount of worry. "Please be gentle," he whispered, and the woman laughed. "Don't worry… you heal quickly, right?" She said, and Marcus already saw an afterimage of Grace in front of him. If she is as reckless as Grace, I am dead meat, Marcus thought.

After half an hour Marcus could say with confidence that Uela was the opposite of Grace. They spent time working on his technique and discussing combat maneuvers instead of high stakes sparring. She was surprisingly gentle and approachable, the opposite to the way she acted when she had fought with Azaa not too long ago.

"I still don't understand you and Azaa," Marcus said, in a moment of carelessness. To his surprise Uela smiled, "How could you? Over a century of life and relationship can hardly be understood in a short time or be compressed into a few sentences." Marcus nodded. "Still, if you want to know more, I don't mind telling you about my dear sister and me. After all, you are going to be a permanent part of the family soon enough," Uela said with a wide grin, and Marcus got the feeling Azaa had already told her about yesterday's events. "I would like that," he said honestly, and she nodded.

While Marcus was going through basic movements Uela guided him with signs and started to talk about the past. "When I was very young the most important person in my life wasn't one of my parents but my older sister Azaa. I loved her with all my heart and no day went by without the two of us spending time together, exploring and having fun. Azaa was so full of knowledge and ideas. Her mouth rarely stopped talking and I soaked it all up. At that time I didn't know that I was different from most people. That mastering most tasks on the first try wasn't normal or that everybody calling me pretty was more than just passing remarks. Azaa… she was brilliant and compared to her I felt rather normal. My childhood was blessed, I can say that in hindsight, and much of it was because of her," Uela smiled, but then her face slowly darkened.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"But we all need to grow up and when Azaa grew into a woman she started to talk less, and her smile started to fade. I didn't understand why, at the time. For me she was still the beautiful, brilliant sister I knew all my life, but people were treating her differently. Things turned for the worse once I started to mature and became all of this," She said, and pointed at her body and sighed.

"I was no longer pretty, now I was beautiful, gorgeous, the second coming of our mother. That was what people said… and men said far more. It was like my sister no longer existed, all eyes were on me and all men, old and young, approached me." She made a pause and corrected Marcus' stance again.

"I don't blame the men, Marcus. I am well aware how attractive I am and that it is only natural for men to desire me. But did they have to compare Azaa to me all the time? Azaa was suffering, I knew that and I was the source of it. I had become her curse, my very existence made her miserable. Over time the distance between us grew more and more, and when she finally was courted by a man we were too far apart for me to intervene. I knew he wasn't right for her, she deserved much better. What happened next you have already heard, but it made everything a thousand times worse. Azaa completely vanished into her own head, hid her body under heavy clothes and avoided me whenever possible," Uela said, and Marcus could see a lot of emotions in her beautiful face.

Uela took a deep breath and continued. "That was when I cracked and beat her up," she laughed and shook her head. "We got into a bad fight and all kinds of pent up feelings got out. After a whole lot of screaming and crying, I vowed to her I wouldn't take a bond until she would have found hers," Uela said, and Marcus' jaw dropped. "But would this not make everything worse? If you had a bond…," Marcus said, and Uela stopped him. "What then? Do you think Azaa would ever trust a man again after all what happened? The only way for her to ever trust a man was for a man to choose her over me. To outright prefer her, even if I was an option. If I had bonded with a man, Azaa would always suspect any potential suitor would in truth have chosen me instead of her. This deep is the wound in her heart," Uela said with a harsh voice, but her emotions weren't directed at him, Marcus saw that.

Uela stayed silent for a while and showed him a new set of foot movements. After Marcus had started the new training she continued to talk, "Time went by and over many decades I managed to grow closer to her again. But it was never the same as before, because Azaa had changed too much. She was distant and cold and her whole life was her endless work. Without her saying so we all could tell she had decided to commit her life to her duties. No man, no children, a stale and cruel life." Uela reminisced and Marcus felt a strong pain in his heart. A sudden urge to run to Azaa and hold her tightly overcame him, and he stopped his training. After a moment Marcus said, "I can't believe that in a hundred years not one good man approached her."

Uela nodded, "Of course, several did. But the walls that Azaa had built to protect herself from further harm also made her blind to potential good mates. To be honest, we had more or less given up hope she would ever open herself to a relationship again," She said.

A second later, a grin decorated her face, "But then, without warning, you showed up in our lives. I remember the day when Azaa pulled you into that room completely agitated about your age. The way she cared and the way she held your hand… I nearly lost it." Uela laughed and Marcus got red ears for some reason. "From that moment on I observed the two of you from a distance and gave advice whenever she looked for it. The first time she came to me to talk about you was like a long winter had finally ended. Today… my beloved sister is returning more and more to the person she once was. Lively, brilliant and utterly breathtaking." Uela finished and smiled at Marcus, who completely agreed with her.

Marcus thought about the tale and watched clouds wander over the blue sky. "Why did she react to me, when she ignored the other potential candidates?" Marcus said more to himself than to Uela. "Well, it helped that you are her type. She secretly craves well-built men, I blame father for that. Besides that, I think you two are just a good match when it comes to personalities and the circumstances forced her to interact with you in an intimate way," Uela said, and shrugged her shoulders. Marcus nodded and smiled to himself, maybe it was really just circumstance, he thought.

"Too much talking, not enough training. If we don't exhaust Marcus by the end of the day, Azaa will think we are going soft." Shen was returning to them and the wild grin on his face made Marcus shiver. "Enough technique training Uela. Push him to his limits," Shen said, and Marcus turned to the woman, who suddenly looked more like the Terminator. When night fell, Azaa found Marcus utterly exhausted in her home. Uela had completely destroyed him and he was sure he would never be able to beat that woman, even if he lived a thousand years.

Lucky for Marcus the next day had no training and he spent most of his time with Azaa exploring the city and the land around it. The whole day moved like a slow river, filled with gentleness and moments in the sun. It was a magical time, away from all the craziness that waited for Marcus on Earth.

In the evening Marcus left the city together with an entirely drained Rian. While Marcus had a tough time keeping up with his training, language studies and game sessions, Rian looked like he hadn't slept in three days. As it turned out, this was actually the case. "I have learned enough for three lifetimes in the last… how many days?" Rian said, while he staggered next to Marcus.

"Three," Marcus said helpfully. "I will need time to think about all of it. I might need years of thinking…. But first, sleep. The potions that kept… awake were str...,but eventually you have to pay... price," Rian said, and fell flat on his face. When Marcus lifted him up, Rian was sleeping like the dead. "I really do hope Azaa does never get her hands on those potions," Marcus muttered under his breath, and walked towards the portal with his friend on his back.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.