Before Seyun could walk to the eastern pillar to pick up his practice staff, Mina stepped down from the stone supply bench with her leather test roll already unlatched under her arm. She didn’t raise her voice across the seal court, nor did she look to Soran or Daro for permission to interrupt their morning schedule. She simply pointed two fingers at the low granite mounting block beside the western steps.
“Sit,” Mina said. “Unbutton the top three frogs of your jacket, and don’t try to slow your breathing before my fingers touch your wrist.”
Seyun obeyed without argument. He crossed the flat stone slabs and sat on the cold granite block. Meanwhile, his chest still worked from the aborted pivot. Behind Mina came Pera, the older caravan defender who had been the first tester disconnected from the Hollow Summit pillar. Pera carried a flat wooden tally board, a stick of charred willow charcoal. A small brass sand glass tuned to fifteen-breath intervals. Pera’s left foot still warmed slightly whenever cultivated pressure rose in the yard. Even so, her step was brisk and steady.
Mina knelt on one knee in the frost, laid two warm, callused fingers over Seyun’s left wrist blood vessel. Then she pressed her right palm flat against his bare skin just below the chest bone. The contrast under her hand was immediate and clear. Beneath his left and right collarbones, the two active rivalry marks radiated a steady, responsive warmth like banked forge shop coals. Beneath…
