Gu Xu walked quickly along the stone path, the morning air still cool and fresh. The sun had already risen, and the village was awake, but the noble district was quieter than the lower parts of the settlement.
People here woke early, but everything moved in an orderly, unhurried way.
He adjusted his pace slightly, not wanting to arrive late.
By the time he reached Maki's residence, it was just a little before eight in the morning.
The large gates stood closed, but as soon as the guards saw him approaching, one of them nodded and signaled to the servants inside.
The gate opened smoothly.
Gu Xu still was not used to this...being expected, being let in, being welcomed into places like this.
A servant approached him and bowed slightly. "Master Maki is in the dining area. Please follow me."
Gu Xu nodded and followed the servant through the courtyard, past the stone basin where he had washed his hands the previous day, and into the dining hall.
Inside, Maki was already seated at the table.
Across from him sat another older man with grey hair tied neatly behind his head and sharp, lively eyes that seemed to notice everything at once.
The two of them were in the middle of a deep discussion, but they stopped when Gu Xu entered.
Gu Xu immediately bowed respectfully to both of them.
"Master. Elder."
Maki gestured to a seat. "Sit."
Gu Xu sat quietly, his back straight, hands on his knees.
The older man—Elder Qian—looked him up and down with a curious expression, then suddenly laughed.
"Maki," he said, "it has only been one day, but I can already see so much progress in your new student!"
Gu Xu was surprised at this saying. "Progress?"
He had only cleaned his house, studied, and slept.
Maki scoffed lightly. "Do not praise him too early. I expect much more out of him. I will squeeze him as though I were trying to draw water from a stone."
Elder Qian laughed loudly at that. "Then the boy had better hope he is not a dry stone!"
Gu Xu felt a small chill run down his back at Maki's words. He could not tell whether his master was joking or not.
Elder Qian lifted his cup and finished the last of his tea, then stood up slowly.
"Well," he said, stretching slightly, "now that your student has arrived and my tea is finished, I should be off to the elders' council meeting. I will leave you to your work."
Maki nodded. "Go. Tell them I will attend the afternoon session."
Elder Qian waved his hand as he walked past Gu Xu. "Study hard, boy. Anyone Maki personally trains will not have an easy life."
"Yes, Elder," Gu Xu said, bowing again.
Elder Qian left, and a moment later the servants entered quietly to clear the tea utensils from the table. Another group of servants brought in breakfast—bowls of meat, porridge, flatbread, and some juice.
Maki gestured. "Eat."
They ate in relative silence. Gu Xu noticed that Maki ate in a measured way, neither too fast, nor too slow, as if even eating was part of training.
After they finished, the servants cleared the table again, and Maki stood up.
"Walk with me," he said.
They left the dining hall and stepped outside into the courtyard. As they walked, Maki spoke.
"Outside of what you eat here in the morning, you should fast for the rest of the day."
Gu Xu looked slightly surprised, but nodded. "Yes, Master."
"You have too much fat on your body," Maki continued bluntly. "Fat makes you slow. Fat makes you tired. We do not have time to slowly change your body. We must do it quickly."
They continued walking toward the training grounds behind the house.
"If you find yourself too hungry," Maki added, "you may eat meat. Meat builds muscle. Do not eat sugary foods like fruit. Sugar will make you fat again."
Gu Xu nodded again, committing the instructions to memory.
They walked around the side of the compound and into a wide open area where racks of weapons stood under a long wooden shelter.
There, a boy about Gu Xu's age was crouched beside a large pile of weapons, scrubbing them carefully with a cloth and oil.
Swords, spearheads, and daggers were laid out in neat rows beside him.
As soon as the boy saw Maki, he jumped to his feet.
"Commander! You're here!"
He had a bright face, lively eyes, and an energetic expression that made him look like he was always on the verge of smiling.
Maki nodded toward him, then turned to Gu Xu.
"Gu Xu, this is De Qianfan. The third most promising elite warrior under my training."
Gu Xu blinked in surprise and looked at De Qianfan again.
This noisy, bright boy… was one of the most promising elite warriors?
Maki continued, "By the end of two weeks, he is the one you will begin sparring with. Keep that in mind while you train."
Gu Xu swallowed slightly but nodded. "Yes, Master."
Maki then turned to De Qianfan. "Your punishment is over after you finish cleaning this last batch. When you are done, you will begin training Gu Xu. Warm-ups, running, and core-building exercises."
"Yes, Commander!" De Qianfan said immediately.
Maki looked at both of them once more. "Do not waste time."
Then he turned and walked away, leaving the two boys under the weapon shelter.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then De Qianfan grinned widely. "Gu Xu! You have arrived!"
Gu Xu crossed his arms. "I thought you said you would come yesterday."
De Qianfan scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Ah… about that. I got caught."
"Caught?"
"By the commander," De Qianfan said, lowering his voice slightly and pointing at the pile of weapons. "This is my punishment. I was supposed to come find you yesterday, but I was stuck here all day cleaning weapons."
He leaned closer and whispered like he was telling a big secret, "The commander's wife is my aunt. So when I get into trouble, I get punished here instead of at home."
Gu Xu looked at him for a moment, then said flatly, "I wasn't waiting for you anyway."
De Qianfan laughed. "You're still angry!"
"I'm not angry," Gu Xu said. "We are wasting time. Let me help you finish these so we can start training."
Without waiting for a response, Gu Xu walked over, went down on one knee beside the pile of weapons, picked up a cloth, and started wiping oil onto a spearhead the way De Qianfan had been doing.
De Qianfan blinked in surprise for a moment, then his grin returned, even wider than before.
"Great!" he said. "Then we'll finish twice as fast!"
The two boys worked side by side in the morning light, wiping, oiling, and stacking weapons neatly into rows. The metal smelled sharp and clean, and the repetitive work made Gu Xu's arms slowly grow tired.
After a while, De Qianfan spoke again.
"You know," he said, "training under the commander is very hard."
"I know," Gu Xu replied.
"No, I mean very hard," De Qianfan said. "He looks calm, but he's scarier than he looks."
"I know that too," Gu Xu said, remembering the words about squeezing water from a stone.
De Qianfan laughed. "But if he agreed to train you personally, that means he thinks you're worth training."
Gu Xu did not reply immediately. He kept wiping the blade in his hands carefully.
After a moment, he said quietly, "Then I cannot afford to disappoint him."
De Qianfan looked at him for a second, then nodded seriously.
"I see!" he said. "Then from today on, I'll train you properly."
They continued cleaning the weapons together, the sound of metal and cloth filling the training yard as the morning sun slowly climbed higher into the sky.