Gus still had not acclimated to his alarm clock firing off one hour earlier than he was used to. It brought him out of a deep sleep, and he rolled over in bed to give the source of the noise a firm whack with his hand. The clock shut off in reaction to the hit, returning to a silent state.

  He rubbed his eyes and sat up, mentally preparing himself for another torturous ice bath. It had been a whole week now since he had begun Marin’s two-week priming course. Today marked day eight, and he was officially halfway done with the ordeal.

  Knowing that he would soon be outside the castle, walking in the stinging cold 4 am winter air, Gus intensely longed to stay in his warm bed. He shook away the thoughts, though, as his drive to receive the ice element thwarted the desires of failing Marin. That, and he knew this difficult period would only last several more days. He could do it. Gus got out of bed, and began gearing himself up.

  At least Marin was with him through all of it. Gus knew his King got very little sleep as it was, but wondered if he too was also waking up an hour early with him to help him through the challenge.

  It wasn’t long before he made his way through the stables, gazing at the sleeping horses as he walked by. Even the work horses didn’t have to wake up at this stupid hour. He cursed his situation, but pressed onward as he headed out of the castle’s west side entrance, and into the familiar pain of the outside icy wind.

  Gus was growing a resentment for ice – anything cold for that matter – yet here he was, yearning to have such a close relationship with it. For a long time the cold would rule him, but one day, he would rule it.

  “Morning, Gus!” Marin cheerfully said while holding a lantern. It was the only light source in these dark woods at this hour.

  “Yeah, hi,” Gus responded, taking no time removing his leather gear. It was snowing outside, and Gus thought that being unclothed in the blizzard air would be good enough for anyone, but for Marin, not so.

  The pain of the ice water had become familiar, but it had not waned a single bit in intensity. As always, Gus counted the seconds with Marin, but he could almost swear Marin was counting slower than he should. By the time Gus hit two minutes, it was still moments before his King gave the okay.

  Marin might be purposely leaving him in there longer just for assurance, but Gus believed he himself was most likely counting too fast. Anyone would if they were subjected to what he was going through.

  Eight out of fourteen done. He only had six more to go. Gus dried himself off with the towel Marin had brought out, and got dressed again.

  “How are you feeling?” Marin asked his student as they walked back to the castle.

  “It doesn’t get any easier. This is all necessary, eh?” Gus responded.

  “Oh yes. When I get you to travel to the power plane, that terrible stinging feeling of these baths will cause you to bridge a connection with the ice element,” Marin explained.

  “The power plane?! I’m going there? How do I get there? Where do I go?” Gus frantically asked, wondering if Marin was sending him somewhere – maybe even somewhere off-world.

  “Calm down, its a mental thing entirely. Your physical body will stay put here,” Marin assured him.

  Gus blinked hard. What did that mean? Would he be induced into a dream-state? Was there a realm he could enter through his mind alone? Before he could follow up with more questions, Marin spoke out.

  “Try not to think about it,” Marin added. “I’ll explain all of it when we get to that hill. I don’t need you worrying about it while we work on priming you.”

  Gus swallowed as he tried putting it all out of his mind. He had to trust Marin, he knew that his King would be sure to keep him safe. No matter how scary this entire process seemed, it would all be okay with the master guiding him.

  “How did the inspection go?” Gus asked, switching the subject. Aside from the ice bath, this was the only time he could speak with his King before his busy day.

  Marin shrugged. “As well as it could have gone, I suppose. A director showed up, I’m sure you heard. He was fierce. He has good intentions, but comes off as ruthless. After I thought about it for a while though, I suppose nothing less could be expected from the rulers of the world.”

  Gus had heard. Word had spread throughout the whole castle of a Director’s unexpected showing. Hearing the words from Marin though, it had confirmed he was as scary as everyone thought.

  “Are we gonna pass?”

  “It’s looking good. I sure hope so,” Marin tried.

  Back inside the warm castle, Marin and Gus said their parting words before heading in different directions. As always, Gus found an active fireplace, and sat in front of it for several minutes, trying his best to regain feeling in his digits.

  Gus tried to imagine Marin doing the same priming process he was in the middle of. Was there really a time far back enough that Sullivan was also dipping his body into ice baths? Or did Arkana have him do something entirely different. Marin had mentioned that he was doing the easiest method. If ice baths were the easy way to prime, he worried what terrible methods Arkana administered for their element acquisition program.

  Gus bet they had a 100 percent success rate, if the student wasn’t elementally inept. Apparently that was an unfortunate matter that Marin had mentioned earlier. Gus prayed that would not be him.

  Back up, Gus made his way to the dining hall for breakfast. Afterwards, he returned to the barracks where he would get his daily briefing from the nightwatch. During his shifts guarding the castle, Gus couldn’t help but think about how his life would be once he finally grasped the skills.

  He pictured spikes of ice erupting from the ground at the wave of his hand. He would point at someone, and they would freeze in place. He would close his palm, then open it to allow ice cubes to fall into his warm mead. He would be able to do it all.

  Then, he would find himself in Marin’s office. Marin would be promoting him from lowly castle guard to an elemental defender of the kingdom. He wouldn’t be under anyone’s watch. He would personally escort his King around, freezing the next red bandanna covered rogue who tried to attack them.

  He would be strong – he would be great. He would eventually get to Marin’s level of mastery. Then he would craft his own swan ice sculpture for his wedding.

  “Hey, Gus!” Corey, a fellow guard snapped at him, getting Gus to leave his day dream. “It’s lunch time. Let’s go eat.”

  Gus shook his head. “Right. I’m hungry.”

  Gus and his friend Corey were relieved from their positions for thirty minutes to eat lunch. It was always a highlight for Gus, since when he got back, there would be just two hours left in his shift.

  Lunch was the most chaotic time for the dining room, and kitchen, since there was no perfectly set time for it. It just kept running until dinner. When Gus entered the room, castle dwellers were sitting down to eat and getting up at the same time to go back to work.

  Gus and Corey went to the table on the side near the kitchen, to load up on a spread the kitchen kept churning out.

  After they had loaded plates, they sat at the center table with other guards, who all talked as they ate. These days, ever since Gus returned home with Marin, he mostly just listened to other guards tell stories as of late, not choosing to speak so much himself. His mind was constantly preoccupied with the element he would be acquiring soon.

  His eyes wandered away from the guards immediately around him, as he glanced at the other people at different tables eating.

  Eventually, he looked towards the end of the far right table, where he saw a woman eating alone. She had on a plain gray robe. It was a dress style he had never seen in his life before. She even had a sheathed sword tucked to her side.

  “Hey who’s that?” Gus suddenly spoke out, shocking the fellow guards around him, and halting their stories. Corey glanced to where he was looking.

  “That girl over there?” Corey asked, confirming.

  “Yeah!” Gus said. He couldn’t recall ever seeing her.

  “That’s that new samurai Loid recruited,” a burly guard said under his breath. “I don’t trust her.”

  “Samurai?” Gus responded, not knowing what that was.

  “Those blademasters from Ocusomer,” he explained.

  Gus shook his head. “Why is she eating alone?”

  “I heard samurais like being alone,” Corey said. “I heard if you insult them even in the slightest, they come to your bed at night and slice your throat open. They’re ruthless, that’s for sure.”

  Everyone at the table agreed. Everyone, but Gus, that was. Who was shaking his head.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I mean, look at what she’s wearing! I’ve never seen anybody dress like that,” Corey added.

  “I think they’re called kimonos,” the burly guard explained, who seemed to know more about them than anyone else.

  “I had an uncle,” Rudolf started, “who knew a samurai in Navaren. The tales he told me about how he went around killing people left and-”

  “Alright you guys, I’m gonna go sit with her,” Gus said, hearing enough crap from his coworkers.

  He knew well enough that if Loid or Marin vetted her, she couldn’t be capable of anything they had been claiming. Gus knew that they knew that too, and were rejecting her due to either her culture, or the fact that she could probably own all of them at once in a sword fight.

  “What?! Gus, sit back down! You don’t know what she’s capable of!”

  It was too late. He was up, and grabbing his plate. “You can all be scared of a bunch of fake rumors. I’m not. I’m gonna go talk to her.”

  Gus didn’t even turn back to look at them as he walked around the center table, and over to Ester, who was all alone in the corner.

  She raised her head in response to Gus placing his plate of half eaten food down on the other side of the table, right in front of her.

  “Hello,” Gus tried.

  “Um… Hi?” She said back, wondering what was happening.

  “Do you mind if I eat with you?” He followed up with.

  She glanced around him, looking to see if he was being accompanied by anyone. When she saw he was alone, she allowed him to sit with her.

  “I heard you’re a samurai who lives here now. I’m Gus, a castle guard.” He extended his hand to shake hers.

  Gus worried if he was being overwhelming. He locked eyes with her, and the crystal blue color of hers dazzled him. She had a reserved look on her face though, as if she wasn’t fully trusting yet.

  After leaving him hanging for a few seconds, she reached out and shook his hand.

  “I’m Ester,” she finally responded.

  “Good to meet you,” Gus said, starting to feel a great desire to leave a good impression on her.

  After a moment, they began eating again.

  “I heard that samurais are pretty cutthroat. I bet no one messes with you,” Gus tried making conversation as they ate.

  “No, we are a peaceful people. Our skills are only used to defend, never attack. We don’t hurt anyone unless its absolutely called for,” she explained.

  God, they’re idiots, Gus thought to himself about his fellow guards.

  “That’s very honorable,” Gus responded. “As you can see here, I’m a sword wielder myself.” He reached over his shoulder and grasped his claymore handle for a moment. “Though I doubt I could hold a candle to your skills.”

  She took the compliment fairly well, but seemed adverse to praise.

  “We’re all just here to defend the kingdom. That’s all that matters,” she humbly spoke.

  “Do you have an element?” He asked her.

  “No. Samurais focus exclusively on mastery of the blade.”

  That answer kind of scared Gus. That meant she was probably really good at sword play, if that was all they focused on. He tried imagining what kind of skills she might have that went beyond regular human capability. Marin had told him about secret skills, and figured there must be a dozen or two that pertained to using a sword.

  “That’s impressive. Is there any chance you could teach me a few tricks?” It was a long shot, but Gus tried asking anyway.

  She lowered her head, and shook it.

  “We’re not allowed to teach our abilities outside of the Isle. I’m sorry…” She looked somber suddenly, a worried look that Gus didn’t like seeing on her face.

  She probably thought that was the only reason he came to sit by her. Learn who she was and demand to be taught what she knew. Now she was worried Gus would get up and leave upon being denied.

  “Don’t be sorry! I get it! Actually, I’m sorry for asking! It was not my place,” Gus tried undoing what he had requested. “I think that’s really cool, or uh… respectable. That you keep those skills away from those not proven…”

  That was a much better response than she thought she would get. She nodded in approval and agreement.

  They continued to talk for a while, as people came and went from eating.

  “It was nice to meet you, Gus,” she finally said as she stood up. Gus looked down at her plate. It was empty. Had that much time already gone by?

  “You too! Hey, uh, maybe we can duel some day,” he tried in an attempt to see her again.

  She chuckled. “Maybe.”

  With that, she took her plate and walked away. Gus caught another glimpse of her katana tucked into her waistband. It was sheathed in a very decorative scabbard. He wondered if he could ever get one of those.

  Gus still had food on his plate. He should probably finish up soon. He looked over to where his fellow guards were sitting to see if they had been staring at him.

  They were gone, not a single of them still sitting there. Instead, other castle citizens were eating and talking. A wave of realization washed over Gus as he checked the time. His lunch break had ended over ten minutes ago.

  Gus cursed as he flew out of the chair and ran out of the dining room.

  The rest of his shift went well. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice that his post was unmanned for the gap of time he had lost track of. Eventually, his shift was over, and he headed down to the barracks to turn in his claymore and kingdom tabard for the day.

  As he walked down the brick hallway, he tried to tiptoe past Max’s office, the captain of the guard. If he was in there, Gus didn’t want him noticing him walking by.

  Not a chance.

  “GUS!!” Max called out.

  Damn, he was so close too.

  “Yes, captain?” Gus said, entering the room, trying to put on a false sense of confidence.

  “Your fellow guards have reported an absence during your shift,” he thundered out.

  Gus scratched the back of his head. Had they seriously reported that? He had only missed out on ten minutes or so. “Oh, yes… Well, I got held up during lunch… and…”

  “It better have been for a good reason!” Max exclaimed.

  “Not exactly…” Gus said with honesty. It was most likely that the guards had told Max exactly why he was late. He wasn’t going to risk beating around the bush.

  Max was surprisingly receptive at the ownership of the mistake.

  “Well, just don’t let something like that happen again. You know, we’re the castle’s first line of defense in case of an event. Whether from an outside force or a civil matter…”

  Max was very good at lectures, Gus knew. He hoped that he wasn’t at the beginning of a new one he was cooking up.

  “Yes sir, I understand,” Gus said, while slowly stepping away.

  “Hmmm… Oh! One other thing!” Max declared.

  If it was something other than a lecture, Gus was all for it.

  “Can you drop this letter off at Marin’s quarters on the top floor? He has a table near the door you can leave it on.” Max opened a desk drawer and produced an envelope. “I could drop it off at the office and have it delivered that way, but I want it delivered directly to him. Can you manage that for me?”

  Gus was intrigued. He nodded yes, taking the letter from Max.

  “You know where it is, right?” Max asked with concern.

  “Of course! I’ve walked by it more times than I could count.”

  “Right, right of course. Okay, be off then.”

  Gus had planned on heading towards the barracks to unload, but with this new letter in his hands, he had to turn right back around and start climbing some stairs. As he traveled, he wondered what Max could possibly be petitioning Marin about. Maybe it was something personal, as Max didn’t want to risk it being read by Helva or Loid in the main office first.

  Gus made it to the top floor, and walked down the hallway that would lead to the King’s quarters. This top floor was the nicest area of the castle, with the most expensive items on display. It reminded him more of a museum than anything else. He passed several other doors that led into guest rooms for individuals with status who might visit.

  When Gus finally made it to Marin’s fancy cherry wood door, it suddenly opened.

  Rocko walked out. He turned to see Gus, and jumped in shock.

  “Rocko?” Gus said.

  “Oh, hey,” Rocko greeted, quickly slamming Marin’s door shut.

  “What were you doing in there?”

  “Just uh… Talking with Marin, you know,” he nervously said.

  “Oh, is he in? I have a letter right here that needs delivered-”

  “No! Ah, just leave it on the table here, he’s not really in a mood to see anyone, that much I could tell,” Rocko explained, sounding smarter than he normally should.

  “Oh, okay… That’s fine then.” Gus placed the envelope on the ornate table by the door. “Well, anyways, see ya later.”

  Rocko stayed put, watching Gus walk away.

  When Gus rounded the corner, he didn’t continue on. Instead, he waited a couple seconds, then peeked around the corner to Marin’s hallway.

  Rocko had vanished.

  “Hmmmmmm….” Gus thought.