153 Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Three – Scut’s Destiny (1/2)
Scut didn't know quite what to think of Mama at times.
Oh, she was a good cook, always cheerful, smelled like old herbs and honey, gave great hugs, and wasn't afraid to cuff him on the head if he was being rebellious.
The fact she was blind but always seemed to know what he was about was worrisome, too.
And then Hazé brought home the Red Widow that had been Amber's mother, and he watched wide-eyed as with the same cheerful smile as always, she carved it up with Hazé.
And then she brought him in there to help out, keeping up a cheerful commentary about poison glands, silk glands, barbed hair, suction tips, the multiple eyes, the magic in her blood, some of the organs unique to shapechangers, pointing here and there as she had him cut and pull and he stared at all of this, wondering how this woman who made such good chicken soup could do all this so cheerfully...
He had to admit his days were very good. While Hazé and Mama didn't take any shit from him, he had new clothes from head to toe, he bathed daily, he was stuffed with food, they tossed spending money at him to use in town, and told him to make up a go-bag, of stuff he needed to take if he needed to leave quickly.
He'd done enough petty thievery for food and clothes to find it plenty strange to be paid to think like that.
Finding out Hazé was a kid no older then him had been jarring. Finding out she was a hideously smart girl with a paranoid streak a mile long was even worse.
She wasn't a Chi-user, but she had a fair handle on the basics, and was able to guide him in his cultivation on internal power, reaching out into the shadows and drawing the energy of the world to him. His bed didn't get much use, because he was out there in the pavilion, in the drifting shadows filtering through the beams and the trees, feeling the power coming to him.
He was getting stronger every day. It was a glorious feeling.
Of course, he wasn't allowed to laze about when he wasn't sitting there meditating. There were lessons to be had, and he was getting a brutally effective education.
Hazé was utterly dismissive of his whining. ”Hard? HARD? You scramped and survived for how many years without a home, and you call this HARD? What kind of total and utter wimp are you? I thought you were a survivor! I thought you were gifted? Are you really the trash everyone thought you are? Whining, slinking, sulking, instead of working to be the totally freaking awesome Powered bastard you can be. ARE YOU?!”
He never complained to her again. Every time he was about to, her words rang loudly in his head again, and he shut his mouth and did what he had to do.
All four of them did. He didn't know if he considered them classmates or a substitute family, but he was the man of the house, and was utterly amazed that they treated him that way when it was appropriate.
At others, they treated him like a punk kid, so it never went to his head, of course.
There were always chores to do, and the reason behind the chores was carefully explained to him so that if he whined, the first thing he had to do was recite why he was doing it.
He stopped whining.
He had to learn his letters, an astonishingly fast process when Hazé used telepathy to help them all along, and since he couldn't stand the girls learning them faster than he could, he learned very quickly.
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Then, he had to learn poisons.
Oh, sure, it was only part of the herbal and alchemical knowledge he had to learn. Crushing, boiling, tinctures, mixes, preserving, drying, grinding, separating, storing, cutting, harvesting, cleaning... alchemy and chemistry were such huge, broad subjects, and what could be done without magic, just using the natural laws of the world, was so astounding.
But of course, the poisons had everyone's interest and caution. It was all disguised under the point of making anti-toxins, as the best ones were made from multiple toxins, but when Hazé was lecturing about the effects of poisons, how they killed, how they were used, how to apply them, the care to take in mixing them, and then had them test them themselves in light doses to feel the effects...
Yeah, she was showing them how to make and use poisons, not just defend themselves against them. He was ecstatic when he made his first anti-toxin, delighted when he mixed up his first successful batch of alchemical fire, overjoyed when he drew his first Healing Potion out of the centrifuge... and deeply, grimly satisfied when he drew an invisible coating of blade venom across his knife, which he knew from personal experience would cause searing heat and convulsions to his opponent's nervous system, if he hit in the right areas.
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Fighting lessons were twice a day. There were katas, early in the morning, to greet the Sun, limber them up for morning chores, and remind them of the movements they had to take in a fight. They paired up, and literally danced around one another, punching, kicking, blocking, moving correctly, changing partners to get used to changes in reach.
Even little Veis had to participate. As Hazé said repeatedly, if hyn could fight, she could fight, and she proved to be pretty wicked with a knife, too.
Afternoon was full contact sparring. Hazé had all the healing magic they could need, so it was full contact, stopping only short of killing... and when Hazé Mercied their weapons, not even them.
He very quickly learned the girls weren't going to hold back against him. He had seen all of them go through the Ritual, he had held Verd's hand, and she had held Veis', and both of them had held Amber's.
That experience had harrowed them like nothing he could imagine. They'd burned away something of the Dark, so profoundly evil that even thinking about it roiled the chi inside him defensively.
They had to learn to fight Powered, so him having Shadow Chi was a boon. The ability of a Shadow stylist to grip and cling was immense, and Hazé was happy to bring in some of the guards from the vineyard estate nearby, looking to earn some extra cash, to show them what it was like to fight someone bigger, stronger, and more experienced.
There was blood. He was knocked, stabbed, kicked, punched, throttled, and beaten into unconsciousness many times. He did it to all of them in return. Hazé healed them back up, and showed them how to focus, and leave the emotions of their little dojo in the dojo, that the fighting was to make them all stronger, and they only personal thing about it was the desire to both beat the other person, and force them to get stronger, too.
It was about bonds. It had been so long since he had bonds.
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The middle of the day was about trades. He had to be able to do something to make him money, that was a given, so an apprenticeship was a thing.
”I want to learn how to make music!” he blurted out, after being asked what he'd like to learn.
Verd nodded eagerly, as Mama and Hazé looked a little astonished. ”I want to learn how to cook like Mama!”
”I want to make sweets!” Veis waved her little hand.
Amber lifted her nose. ”I will make clothes!” she stated firmly. She had firmly taken over the t-shirt cuts for everyone, and her 'Mama' surrounded by a dozen hearts in different colors was definitely eye-catching. She found the simple combination of a t-shirt and all the images it could have, and tight jeans to be just perfect, and was always talking about different cuts, folds, stitching, cloth, and accessories, as Hazé was more than happy to fit out a room for her with stuff to play with, and local women were easy to convince to come in and show her different techniques to use... and buy her latest creations.