Darkness still cloaked Northaven when Soren slipped from his quarters, the shard cold against his chest like a sliver of winter trapped beneath his skin. His body protested with each step, muscles stiff from yesterday's battles, cuts throbbing beneath their bandages.

Sleep had come in fitful bursts, haunted by Kaelor's warning: 'Trescan will have watched. Studied. He'll come prepared for chaos.'

The tournament grounds lay empty, abandoned after yesterday's bloodshed. Mist curled across the sand like ghostly fingers, catching the faint light of stars not yet chased away by dawn. The nobles' banners hung limp in the still air, Velrane's silver wolf, Trescan's crimson falcon, each a silent sentinel to the coming day's violence.

Soren moved carefully through the eastern gate, testing the lock with skills learned long before House Velrane had claimed him. The metal yielded with a faint click, allowing him entry to a place where he had no right to be. Not yet. Not until the horns called combatants to their appointed slaughter.

His boots left prints in the dew-dampened sand as he crossed to the center of the ring. Here, he had drawn noble blood twice. Here, Trescan would attempt to extract payment for that transgression.

The shard pulsed once against his chest as he drew his sword, the steel whispering against the scabbard. 'They come for you today,' Valenna murmured, her voice like ice forming on still water. 'The patient predator, who has watched and waited.'

"I know," Soren whispered, his breath visible in the pre-dawn chill.

He settled into the first stance of the Nine Petals, The Seed Awakens. His feet found their position in the sand, weight balanced precisely between them. His blade extended, point unwavering despite the tremors of exhaustion still running through his arms.

The first movement flowed into the second, then the third, a sequence that had once felt awkward now emerging with unexpected fluidity. His exhaustion forced economy where before he might have wasted energy on unnecessary flourish. Each cut cleaved the mist with precision, each step placed with deliberate care.

For a heartbeat, something changed. The sword no longer felt like dead metal in his hands but like an extension of his will, water flowing from muscle to steel without resistance. The sensation vanished almost before he recognized it, leaving him momentarily breathless.

'Yes,' Valenna whispered, her presence sharpening with interest. 'There. You begin to understand.'

Encouraged, Soren attempted the second form, Root Seeking Earth. His weight shifted forward, blade angling downward as he prepared the sequence Kaelor had demonstrated weeks ago.

But his balance faltered mid-movement, the sword slipping in his grip as the half-healed burns on his palms split open. Pain lanced up his arms, hot and immediate.

Blood slicked the leather grip, making the next movement impossible to complete. His blade struck sand as he stumbled, the perfect form collapsing into ungainly recovery.

"Damn it!" The curse escaped through gritted teeth as he straightened, frustration surging through him like a physical wave. How could he evolve when the knowledge ended in fragments?

The shard against his chest went from cool to freezing in an instant. Valenna's presence crystallized, sharp as a blade being drawn.

"Better one petal in bloom than nine in shadow," she said, her voice cutting through his anger with the precision of a surgeon's knife. "You grasp at techniques you barely understand while neglecting what you already possess."

Soren wiped blood from his palm onto his trousers, leaving a dark smear across the rough fabric. "Trescan won't fall for the same tricks that worked on the others. Kaelor said I need to evolve."

"Then perfect what you have," Valenna countered, her tone hardening. "The first petal, flawless. No wasted movement. No hesitation. No flaw for him to exploit."

Soren took a deep breath, the cold air burning his lungs. He resettled his grip, ignoring the sting as blood seeped between his fingers and the leather hilt.

Again, he moved through the first form. The Seed Awakens. Each movement deliberate, each transition examined for inefficiency. Where before he might have added force, he now sought precision. Where he once relied on speed, he now cultivated control.

"Even nobles fall to a single perfect cut," Valenna whispered as he completed the sequence. "Better to master one killing stroke than fumble through nine."

Soren's mind filled with the image of Ser Daven Trescan as he'd appeared in yesterday's matches.

Tall and composed, moving with the measured confidence of someone who had never needed to rush. His blade had traced clean, economical arcs through the air, each strike placed with mathematical precision. No wasted energy. No emotional displays. A wall of steel and calculation.

'He will measure you,' Kaelor had warned. 'Don't let him.'

Sweat dripped into Soren's eyes despite the morning chill, stinging as he blinked it away. His arms trembled with exertion as he moved through the first form again, then again, each repetition stripping away something unnecessary, each cycle bringing him closer to the essence of the movement.

Understanding dawned slowly, like the first gray light now creeping across the eastern sky. He couldn't overwhelm Trescan with chaos alone. The noble had watched, had studied, had prepared for the street fighter's unpredictable assault. Trying the same approach would be suicide.

His weapon must be precision, not desperation. A single perfect cut, placed where Trescan least expected it.

"Again," Valenna commanded, her presence cold and sharp at the edge of his awareness. "Until your body remembers even when your mind forgets."

The sky lightened from black to deep blue as Soren worked, his shadow stretching across the sand as the first true light of dawn crept over Northaven's walls. His palms bled freely now, the grip of his sword slick and warm. Sweat soaked through his shirt, plastering it to his skin despite the morning chill.

But the first petal felt different now, sharper, tighter, more lethal. What had been learned by rote had become something approaching instinct. Not perfect, not yet, but closer than before.

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