The Purple Jade Palace: The Hummingbird's Plan

A Trip To The Forest

Despite his cleaning chore, Teal enjoyed his second week. Satner captivated Teal from the first day. Not in the same way Jale captivated him but in a sheer respect for his skills and abilities. He had such a friendly, youthful face, but as soon as he held a sword in this hand or moved to hand-on-hand combat, Satner's face altered to a different calmness. Poised, alert, swift and fluid in movement, Satner's body was amazing to watch when he fought.

The nature and cause of Teal's training, caused a different dynamic to what Satner typically held with his students. While addressing the other soldiers, he was strict and authoritative. Towards Teal, he was demanding while in the training square. Outside of the training square, Satner showed Teal respect and spoke with caution. Teal liked him and strove to make Satner his friend.

"To be honest," Satner said in the middle of their fourth session - they had stopped to have a drink, the morning sun was unbearably hot, "when Jale told me what I was going to be doing for the next two months, I was worried that I had done something wrong. Babysitting one of the Emperor's concubines is not what I'd call proper work," he said with a laugh. "I'm happy to say that my first impressions were wrong, but then I have to say, I didn't really know what to expect with you being a Lombock and all."

"Thanks, I think," Teal replied. "You know, the whole Lombock thing doesn't really matter. I've lived with people from the empire my whole life. I don't know anything about the real Lombocks and apart from being able to run fast and climb through the trees, I'm no different from anybody else."

"And the glowing eyes."

"And the glowing eyes," Teal repeated, bemused.

"Don't worry," Satner assured him. "I'm starting to see you're just like us."

Teal rose to his feet and began to practice some of the hand movements Satner had shown him earlier. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but you seem very young for being an instructor in the Emperor's army. How have you managed to be in your position?"

"I began training at a very young age, when I was five," Satner responded, and Teal's eyes went wide with surprise. "I specialized in hand-on-hand combat. I teach and oversee training and assess the hand-on-hand combat for Galton."

Satner rose to his feet.

"Here," he said, stepping into Teal's space. He moved behind Teal and pulled his shoulders gently into place. "When you're moving into this block, keep your elbow relaxed, and this arm," Satner's other hand came to rest on Teal's other arm. "Keep it out for balance."

Satner continued to move Teal's arms from behind showing the fluidity of the motion. After several moments, he let go of his hold and took a step back. Teal did the movement one more time before turning to give Satner a happy smile. He paused when he saw who was walking towards them and how the rest of the men and women on the balconies above and in the small courtyards, had fallen in a silent kowtow. Satner spun on his heels and upon seeing the Emperor with Galton and Jale, he dropped to the floor to kowtow as well.

Teal looked around, and his mouth dropped at the sight of all the imperial men and women, their fighting and training forgotten. His knees began to buckle, and Teal went down in a kowtow as well.

"Rise, Teal," the Emperor stated.

The Emperor eyed him closely, and Teal was pleased to see that the look he gave Teal, was much softer than the last time they had spoken when he had been punished.

"Satner," the Emperor said, casually waving his hand for Satner to stand, all the while never taking his eyes off of Teal. "How is the training going?"

Satner rose to his feet. "Good, Your Highness."