Seeking Balance Betwixt Duty and Conscience
Twenty Fourth Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC
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Gold Dragon Hill, Chun Wu Kwan, Sorcerer's Deep
Dai Ken stared hard at the wooden post set out before them, fighting back a scowl, the pendulum swing that had been put up by enterprising tinker fey, and the other obstacles further away, of wind and chime and puzzles of a subtler sort, that might bid one to ruminate on the scores and scars upon a wall or patterns hidden within tile, each held back. These trials denied all but one alone, who even now, tireless, ground away each lesson ceaselessly, and one could not even claim harmonious balance was denied to any of they for lack of fortitude in anything but the mind, for none would tire enough to forsake all learning and training on the Isle of Sorcerers, not since the Dragon King raised his great tree, so long as in the normal periods of rest they forsook physical tasks and instead sought insight through mental challenges.
No, it was simply that the construct of dark-alloy forged was not impeded by such petty constraints as their fellow disciples walking upon the Middle Way. None so dogged perhaps than Chun Ting Lo, his most esteemed mentor, a warrior nigh beyond peer who had felled giants and foul demons alike. "This one presents himself to Mentor!" Dai Ken bowed, perhaps more than even his teacher deemed seemly, but he was the only one who shared a common tongue with him, something he used to pride himself on before learning of some of the deeds so-called 'savages' that his chosen exemplar deemed comrades had committed together, nor the mighty feats of the True Dragon Among Men, King Viserys, nor his noble Companions alongside him. Truly mighty and enlightened beings he hoped to one day match.
"You may speak, Disciple," Mentor spoke with a hint of exasperation, no longer bidding him to rise with haste. His fellow students were not well used to the display, though he grudgingly admitted once the proof of Mentor's methods had shown them results, they were much less as children tottering up the steps toward enlightenment where he himself sought to climb it like a ladder, swift and sure would be his rise if he did not tumble as some already had, turned away at the steps to this place of contemplation.
"Mentor, you turn Disciples away when they wish to train further, when less than half the day is devoted to toil at the posts, navigating obstacles or sparring. I feel this is stagnating my progress." He bowed again, at just as sharp an angle. "Already I beg forgiveness for questioning your methods, yet I must ask..."
Mentor smiled, untroubled unlike the first time he had asked to be taught more than the others, as he had already demonstrated the forms before they had even learned to walk. "Perhaps more a failing of mine than you would think, Disciple. I expect you speak of your fellow student walking upon the Path?" He bent his head toward the Man of Metal, who was now attempting to seek Balance, who despite the slowness to which they took to each lesson imparted, was the furthest along the path of all, simply because they were as unyielding in will as they were in form. "They are not formed as other men are, Disciple, and I fear they could lose less of themselves by wearing deeper treads upon but one path along the Middle Way, than by enriching themselves in art or craft, or else deepening bonds with others besides their fellow Disciples."
Mentor's smile dimmed quickly. "I fear I am inadequate as an instructor for one such as they. Like as not someone who understands their nature better than I could impart upon them further knowledge, but for now they make no mistakes, as it is in their nature to replicate each task in perfect order and harmony already, never erring from the first time they succeed, as they do not have the same instincts guiding them as we do, but must instead ingrain such instincts as men ingrain upon their bodies the forms. More time still devoted to learning
why one walks such a path."
"Mentor, already you demonstrate you are worthy for the task," Dai Ken voiced brashly, even though he regretted contradicting his Mentor so. "Such insight falls from your lips as easy as breathing or as gently as the rain falls in these Lands of Sunset." To think he would find someone with such genius to teach him even after the fools who scorned him and ridiculed him could do nothing to tear him from his own lofty perch walking upon the Martial Path. For it was true that talent would only bring one so far. "If I had a thousand years to learn at your feet, you would only gain further insight." Though not necessarily more quickly than Dai Ken could learn it, he left unvoiced, for was it not the way for the student to eventually surpass the master, something he fully intended upon?
"Pei," Mentor voiced as if mimicking another, though not going so far as rolling their eyes, "Such arrogance gains you distance from your peers, rather than elevate you further as you so desire. All men have the means to learn, but finding the best method is just as much in the hands of the wayward student who has found themselves stagnating as it is the teacher who lectures without resolving once to face the same challenges as their own students. When you can find a fellow Disciple who matches you in skill and determination, return to me and another lesson I shall impart. Do nothing else until then."
Dai Ken wanted to curse, as that would mean a halt to his already snail-pace progress. How was he to find a fellow Disciple with even an eighth of his potential?
***
Chun Ting Lo shook his head as he watched his brash student walk away, still unused to the feeling of lecturing others as he had been, mostly finding his own way forward like a blind man leading the blind, but he did have lessons imparted by a true Master of the Middle Way to lean upon, unlike many of these young men and women. Young Dai Ken was an exile by choice with few prospects as a child given the gift of middling attention and even less love from their parents, quite opposite of himself come to think of it.
He grew more troubled, spending many long hours where he used to sleep whenever they were not off traipsing about the Sunset Kingdoms dispatching monsters and uncovering ancient conspiracies, simply
thinking of ways to help his students continue their own advancement until such a time that walking more independently upon their own path, they might gain the same enlightenment he himself had found.
Too many devoted themselves to learning the forms before understanding their own minds, or else obsessed with the earthly things mastery of the body might gain them before aught else. It was almost a blessing no impatient missives had arrived from the Dragon King's court about his lack of real progress, but while many might have gained further insight if he had but chosen to teach them, most of them held onto the well-honed determination of men and women who sought to understand the world around them before they understood themselves, seeking first to craft the path they walked upon before even taking the first step.
These he suggested other opportunities, the Imperial Military Academy where one might become an Engineer, an Officer or even an operator of one of the King's flying weapon-craft. Or else for the more academic or charismatic, the Scholarum, where both might serve them well in uncovering the secrets needed to change the reality before them into one most pleasing.
"You don't look very happy, Ting." Ceria approached him, a sad look on her face that wasn't wholly faked from where he stood, given the sardonic smile he must be wearing it must take all of her considerable will to concede even that much wry humor on something that did deeply trouble him. "What's wrong?"
He sighed, "It is simply that, part of me feels I could be doing much more for the people the King's officials had been sending my way, and no longer do they do this at my own request, instead only the curious approaching to ask for the knowledge I seek to impart, but..." He shook his head. "There are more... methods, that one could use and achieve considerable strength, with which one might gain the insights necessary to continue advancing where others might shatter and break altogether, and indeed many would break upon this divergent path,"
deviant he wanted to say but could not force the word out, "yet proportionate to those attempting such trials and tribulations, more warriors would the King have access to, more men and women to protect his realm."
He turned to face her, grim countenance fully serious now. "I do not break those I take under my wing, and this passes for the limits with which I can attest to at this point, not without more skilled Adepts could I go further, and in order to train such Adepts they would risk much more than that, and would need one capable of guiding them along the 'proper path' to go further." His face twisted slightly, pensive. "I spent much time deriding my own Master's methods but I realize now much of what he was trying to teach, that this is not a way of life for one who wishes to change how men would live, only enough can any one being learn walking the path of the Silver Moon to maintain the world's balance, from the smallest methods to the largest single acts."
He stared off toward the distant shore, the rising sun better casting into focus the many mage lights of the city beneath them, the greenery grown into the fabric of the city and the hustle and bustle of such a place which never truly slept, business conducted at all hours with only noise ordinances enforced diligently that differentiated the hour from a busy afternoon. "He must have been so very lonely," he whispered, not quite believing himself capable of feeling pity for that ancient curdled form of a man, content to let empires burn around him so long as the world remained after them and life might find its way even in the ashes of such sorrow.
"Yet you yourself would not walk the same path as him, just as you teach just enough to help people rise themselves up and find their own place in the world... to 'maintain balance' as you put it doesn't require being callous. You're more than proof of that, Ting." Ceria squeezed him hard enough to make ribs protest, but Ting smiled perhaps in spite of the abuse.
"How unfair," Ting replied, returning the embrace much more gingerly, "I am the one used to doling out such sagely wisdom."
"Yeah, well, I had a good teacher," she huffed, pulling back to smile widely.
