Erik Otto - Detonation

Talon’s Shinogi master was waiting outside for her. His head was mostly stubble, not completely clean-shaven, and he had only a short goatee. He lacked the green circles of makeup worn by most disciples in Grand Caverns. Otherwise he had an Asian disposition, wore loose-fitting attire, and had a face closed to emotion, like most other Shinogi she’d seen.

Flora did a small bow, just as she’d seen others greet Shinogi masters. “Mr. Nobura, I am terribly sorry for all of this.”

He nodded and simply said, “come,” then turned to enter the dojo.

They sat on the floor of the training room and he offered her a mint tea, which she accepted. Two young girls were across the room from them. They were scrubbing blood off the floor, presumably blood Talon had spilled.

“What has Talon told you?” Nobura asked.

“Only that he lost control and someone was injured, and that you wanted to see me. I really hope no one was hurt badly.” She again glanced over at the young girls scrubbing diligently.

Nobura drank from his tea and then sat quietly. Flora wondered if perhaps he wasn’t satisfied with her response. She decided to elaborate. “Talon has had a tough time recently. I blame myself. I give him too much responsibility. Reed and I both work, so he ends up watching our daughters. He is also very… closed to me. It would be helpful if I knew more, so I could talk to him about it. Either way, we will accept any consequences you think are appropriate.”

“I can tell you what happened,” Nobura said, as if it were a great gift to her. “We were having sparring matches. Talon was to contend against one of the less advanced students. Talon was rapidly defeated. Another challenged him—one who dislikes Talon, one who has been taunting him. His name is Redfern Greenwood. Again, Talon was rapidly defeated, this time with some humiliation. A third challenge was issued to Talon. Ordinarily, I would not let such a challenge occur, but I suspected Talon was not giving everything he had. I wanted to see him push himself.”

Nobura took another sip of tea, an indelicate man holding his delicate porcelain cup.

“The third match lasted longer,” Nobura said. “Talon was putting forth more effort, but something was missing. His focus was not fully on the match, his desire to win absent. He was put in a particularly painful hold, and then something changed.”

“Is that when he hurt his opponent? Did he cheat in some way?”

A fleeting frown crossed Nobura’s brow. “No, he did not cheat. Yes, he hurt his opponent. And like I said, he did change, but not in the way I expected. He summoned an intense rage, a rage that is not easily controlled. It was more of a whirlwind or a yurei , indecipherable of intent. His actions seemed to blend in with the space around him, such that they could not be seen, such that his motives were not clear. He used moves I have not yet taught him, known only to a few masters. In the end, his opponent lay beaten with a bloody nose and sprained arm, among an array of bruises.”

It didn’t sound at all like Talon. Although it was true she’d seen him get into a rage like that once before. When he was young in a wrestling match he went wild, his arms flailing, much like Nobura described. “I’m terribly sorry, Mr. Nobura. If you tell me the name of the student, I will get Talon to apologize…”

Flora trailed off. Nobura had put his finger up as she was speaking.

“I was not finished,” Nobura said. “Upon besting the third challenger, Talon challenged his prior opponent, the one named Redfern Greenwood. The challenge was not accepted. Ordinarily all challenges must be accepted, but since Talon had already been beaten by him, I accepted the declination. Then Talon challenged two others who had been taunting him in class. They accepted and fought Talon together.”

“He fought two at once?” Flora asked, trying to imagine it.

“Yes, and he defeated them. Near the end the student who had declined his challenge joined to help his friends. Talon defeated him as well. One of those has a broken arm, one a broken nose, one a broken rib.”

For a moment Flora didn’t know what to say. She was lost in shock. Eventually she managed to speak. “I… I’m so sorry. I will withdraw Talon from the class immediately and make reparations to the students and their parents. Please. Please tell me what I can do to fix this.”

“Not that.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Mrs. Clearwater, I did not call you down here to report on Talon’s malfeasance.”

“You didn’t?”

“No, because there was no malfeasance.”

“No malfeasance?” She was trying hard not to show her surprise. Her son had hurt four people. How was that not malfeasance? But she knew better than to challenge the word of a captain and master Shinogi.

“So why did you call me down here?” she asked.

“I believe Talon has an unusual ability to channel his emotions. There are forms of martial arts where this can be an important asset. A crude analogy in your culture is that he has an ability to be what you might call a berserker . This is something that, if harnessed, can make for a formidable warrior. I would like to increase his training time so he can exploit his gift.”

Flora was getting more and more regretful for agreeing to have Talon take these classes. It sounded like the Shinogi wanted Talon to become even more violent. “I’m not sure that’s—”

“There is another thing. If this inner demon, this yurai , is left untamed and unfed, it could cause great harm to its host, and to those around him.”

Now Nobura was sounding mad. What inner demon? Sure Talon had some pent up anger but this was absurd. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. I will talk to him but—”

“I insist,” Nobura said.

Perhaps seeing her reticence, he proceeded to explain further. “Mrs. Clearwater, we are not the same as people from your continent. We view the martial arts as an important part of anyone’s daily ritual. Its goal is not to bring violence, but rather inner peace. It has been… hard to foster this understanding in your clans.” His face showed a flash of annoyance. “With Talon, given his internal yurai , I think we may have an opportunity to change that. He may even be a Shinogi master someday.”

Flora held her tongue for a moment. If she declined, Nobura might force her hand. The Shinogi had tremendous power in Grand Caverns, and the ear of both the clan chief and curator. Yet she couldn’t quite say yes. “I see,” she said, trying to think of a way out of it. “I will speak with Talon to see what his feelings are on the subject.”

Nobura’s nostrils flared. “I trust you will make the correct decision for Talon, and for the Essentialist community.”

She nodded slowly. “Thank you, and…” She almost apologized again for Talon, but caught herself. “Good-bye, Master Nobura.”

She fumed as she marched back to the infirmary. Talon had a fragile disposition. Who knew what could happen to him if he was forced to turn into some kind of violent warmonger?

The sound of bells rapidly pulled her out of her frustrated contemplation. These weren’t the noontime bells or end-of-day bells. They were the acute cacophony signaling an emergency. Healer Stormwind had told her that morning she might expect the bells, and here they were.

Her stomping turned into a light jog, then a run.

The infirmary was located in the older part of the settlement, closer to the river, and so it was an easy downhill grade to get there. As she came closer, tents gave way to circular stone dwellings with thatched roofs and A-frames, the main dwellings used by the original Essentialists of Grand Caverns.

The infirmary was one of the few buildings in Grand Caverns that used Old World structural materials. It was built on the foundations of a large warehouse whose steel columns and trusses remained strong. This skeleton allowed for the massive warehouse to be refurbished by replacing any Old World panelling with large, roughshod wood trunks.