ALL NOVEL Book 3: 59. Stealth
"However it may be," Fatima started, "a single bottle is not enough for me. Tell me, how many bottles do you have at your disposal."
"Currently, counting the one in your hands, ten of them," Aloe responded.
The sultanzade's eyes opened like plates, though instead of bewilderment, they shone in greed. And lust.
"Oh, those are good news indeed." The woman embraced the aphrodisiac bottle, tightly clutched in her bosom in glee. "Such an amount of aphrodisiac will last me for months if I only use it on myself. Ah~" She moaned, "how many reapings may I perform with such quantities… the estimations alone make both of my mouths water."
The scribe chose to ignore the princess' casual debauchery. "May we talk about the payment?"
"Oh, right." Fatima snapped out of her… moist trance. "Previously I paid you a fajatun for three bottles, but that number is not round per single bottle, which does not stand well for me. Let us make it two drupnaruns per bottle, what do you think?"
It was Aloe's turn to open her eyes like plates. TWO DRUPNARUN? A single drupnarun was equal to a hundred drupnars, meaning that with a single bottle, the princess was paying her more than the average monthly income of a commoner.
"I-I am more than pleased with that price, Princess Fatima." Aloe bowed in fake submission.
"Please, call me Fatima, I have seen how you call Rani."
"I… understood, Fatima." The scribe was momentarily paralyzed as she recalled having this conversation before back on Asina. "This will make the batch at my disposal a grand total of two drupnarea. Are you pleased with such an amount?"
The question was more of courtesy than anything else as they had already agreed on a per unit price tag, but Aloe's mind still staggered at the total sum. Two drupnarea. Two gold coins. Oh heavens… She hadn't forgotten how the princess had gifted her a drupnarea the first time she had met her, but in reality, the coin sat in her purse – metaphorically speaking, she wouldn't dare walk around with gold in her person – as not many people accepted gold. Or at least the type of people she dealt with.
There is a use though… but not yet. Not here. Only when the time and play are right. If she ever needed funds, non-Ydazi funds so to speak, then drupnarea and fajatea were her best chance as they were one-hundred-percent pure gold. The fact that they were totally pure made them way more valuable than if they just were ninety-nine percent pure for the right people.
"I suppose you would like to be paid in silver like before." Fatima snapped her out of her golden trance.
"That would be for the best, yes." Aloe nodded. "A person of my stature has difficulties trading with gold. If you do not have that much silver at your disposal," she doubted the sultanzade had brought coffers of silver with her, "I am willing to accept electrum. The smaller the coin the better, though."
Dealing with fajatun would only be slightly easier than drupnarea. That was to say, not a lot.
"We will refine the payments later, for now, we train." The princess stated.
"Right now?" The scribe was perplexed at the offer. "Would it not be better to be at a more suitable location?"
"What location would be more suitable than your very own private office?" Fatima snickered. "I am only going to teach you the stances you have yet to learn, training them will be your responsibility. And as for the suddenness… I will not be able to remain in Sadina for long, and I will not be able to return soon either, so let us better complete your stance repertoire as soon as possible."
"Understood, teacher." Aloe appealed to their tutoring relationship as the princess seemed to get a kick out of it.
"Refresh my mind, pupil. What are the stances in your repertoire."
The scribe held a sigh but nonetheless complied. "Strength, defense, speed, sense, regeneration, and charm."
"Yes, yes. Now I remember." She scratched her scalp in a pensive manner. "That leaves us with stealth, agility, and flowing." Aloe nodded. "It will take a few days for flowing as it is the most unique of stances, so let us begin with stealth. If there is time, then I will also show you agility today."
This wasn't the first time Fatima had presented the flowing stance as a difficult stance, yet the commoner wasn't worried about it. If her intuition was to be trusted, then the flowing stance should be what she called Infusion.
"First, we begin with a bit of theory and an introduction of what the stealth stance even is." You have assimilated the role a bit too much. The scribe, of course, didn't say that to the sultanzade's face. "Stealth is a misleading word, truth be told. The stealth stance focuses on camouflage and making oneself adapted to the blind spots of the would-be observers."
Aloe frowned at the explanation. "How does that work?"
"How does any of the stances work?" Fatima laughed at her. "How does vitality work? How does Nurture work? How do the heavens work?"
"Enough, I get the point." The scribe added with exasperation.
"You do not ask how it does work, but when it does work, how to control it." The pretentious teacher continued. "You only need to know that it works. And having said that, the effects are similar to charm in that sense. The stealth stance works on others, rather than yourself."
Once again, Aloe wanted to ask how that worked but refrained herself. Instead, she opted for another question. "Charm has effects on me, though."
"Of course, you are the one donning the stance, after all," Fatima explained as a matter of fact. "The charm stance not only makes you more attractive but also boosts your fertility. The changes you feel when wielding it is your body readying for baby-making."
More excuses to not use it, then. The commoner's body itched at the princess' lecture, the word 'baby-making' sending shudders down her spine.
"I guess stealth is also similar to charm in that way as when you are using it, you intuitively know how to move without making noise, or at least, have a better comprehension of it. This is subconsciously, of course, it is just your body becoming more used to subterfuge."
Too many similarities, is that a coincidence, or maybe… "Is the stealth stance the opposite of charm?"
It was Fatima's turn to frown. "What do you mean by that?" She added in perplexion.
Right… this was just my theory. "Well, I have noticed that stances tend to have a counterpart regarding their feeling when I don them. Regeneration is cold and charm hot; defense is calm whilst speed is more bombastic; and so forth."
Those were, in fact, the only two pairs Aloe had identified.
"I get where you are coming from…" Fatima mentioned in a tone that implied she thought Aloe was high on some hard drug, "But if there were to be a counterpart to charm, you already mentioned regeneration."
"Uhm…" She now felt stupid. "Well… it is just a theory, maybe regeneration is not charm's antonym."
"Most likely not." The experienced cultivator instantly shut her down. "If stances were divided into opposite pairs as you have suggested, I would dare to say the counterpart to stealth is sense."
"Sense?" Aloe inquired.
"Indeed," Fatima nodded. "You will see why once we start with the stance itself, but for starters, sense boosts one's senses whilst stealth – sort of – dulls other's senses. Emphasis, one more time, on sort of."
The princess stopped playing with the aphrodisiac bottle and the date bowl and stood up, walking up to Aloe.
"Now, let us start with your inner vitality." The woman commanded; her burly fingers set on Aloe's forearms. "Close your eyes."
The scribe complied, but a sudden fear took over her. She's touching me! She had been beaten too much to react to simple skinship, no, what worried her wasn't embarrassment but subterfuge. If I don't get this stance soon… she's going to detect my increase in vitality! It was impossible for her to infuse and shift stances at the same time, so if she wasn't already pressed to learn the stealth stance, now it was in her best interests to do so.
"What are you waiting for?" Fatima added with a hint of annoyance.
"Sorry." Aloe apologized and closed her eyes.
"As I have mentioned, sense is the counterpart of stealth, so firstly, focus on the sense stance and how it feels." The woman's hot breath struck the scribe's left ear, but she didn't let herself reflect the caress.
The inexperienced cultivator took a deep breath and started shifting into acuity. That was the internal infusion that confused her the most just because of how weird it felt. There was a sleekness to it, a lack of traction to the flow of her vitality when she used it. But the problem wasn't the sleekness, but how it felt like. It wasn't comparable to how oil would make everything slippery, but it was more akin as if she – her vitality – was soaring through the skies without meeting any air resistance. A foggy night devoid of obstructed gazes.
Beyond speed, sense was the most liberating of stances.
"I get the feeling." Aloe voiced out.
"Alright," Fatima's voice was mellow, too mellow. It made Aloe wonder if the princess was bolstering charm. "What would you believe to be the opposite of that feeling?"
"Hmm…" The scribe mussed. "I would say… resistance. As if every step was heavy like lead as if I was walking in water."
"Good, good." The sultanzade's words crawled into her ears like vines. "You need to make yourself scamp. Not invisible, but hard to find. You are in a party hall, everyone is dancing and feasting, and whilst no one pays attention to you, they can still acknowledge you. We cannot have that." Fatima moved a finger up her forearm, sending a hot shiver down Aloe's spine. "Make yourself one with the background. But you need to move slowly, for the partygoers' vision is based on movement. Be not hastier than the clouds advancing in the skies."
The words made no sense by themselves, the analogy was all over the place, yet her body knew what she meant. Her mind was at a loss for words, but Aloe's body instinctively knew what Fatima was telling her. The commoner let out a small and warm exhalation as her mind pictured the scene and her body followed the commands. At plain sight, yet unacknowledged.
The princess kept pouncing at her skin with light charm-laden touches, but Aloe ignored them. It was hard for the scribe to act out the scenario that had been set out for her, so she divided the tasks. Whilst her body was now occupied with becoming one with the background, her mind focused on her flow of vitality. The opposite of sleek isn't slow, but resistance. Trudging through difficult terrain filled with obstacles. So that was what she did, she put resistance to her own flow of vitality.
Her body pranced through a party, the guests unaware of her presence even as she feinted around them. Her mind locked on her deposit, holding her vitality back so it had to fight to flow.
There she stood locked between the two scenarios, acting them at the same time. At some point, Fatima's taps became background noise, and after even more time, finally faded. The princess' charm no longer tried to snake into her brain. She had truly become one with the background.
That was when she knew she had reached it.
Stealth stance.
This is the most carnal - in every sense of the word - training arc I've ever writing, and probably will.
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