By the time they reached Brindle, Kel's arm had started hurting properly.
Apparently whatever had happened in Split Pass hadn't made him immune to bruises. It had only delayed the complaining.
He rubbed the darkening spot while Puck and Mira carried the last crate into the settlement's storage shed. Doss was still arguing that he could've caught at least one of Harven's trainees if Kel hadn't kept grabbing him.
"You would've gotten shot twelve more times," Luno said.
"Clay pellets."
"They still hurt."
"I could've handled it."
Kel looked at the mark on Doss's shoulder. "You complained for twenty minutes."
"I was making an observation."
"You said your arm was dying."
"It felt like it."
Spark's voice slipped quietly from beneath Luno's hat.
"He complains a lot."
Luno snorted.
Doss looked over. "What's funny?"
"Nothing."
Kel caught Luno's eye.
They both smiled.
Spark was getting bold.
Harven stood near Brindle's well speaking with one of the settlement guards. He had barely said anything since revealing himself at the pass. That bothered Kel more than a lecture would've.
The captain had watched everything.
Kel knew questions were coming.
He just didn't expect Harven to wait until they returned to Durnfield.
---
They got back shortly before sunset.
Harven dismissed the squad at the gate.
"Mira. Good rear coverage."
She nodded.
"Toma. You froze."
Toma's shoulders sank.
"You still moved when Kel ordered you to. Work on the first part."
"Yes, Captain."
"Puck. Stop carrying crates like they're trying to escape."
Puck frowned. "How else do you carry a crate?"
"We'll figure that out later."
Doss tried slipping away.
"Doss."
He stopped.
Harven stared at him.
Doss sighed. "Don't chase people up cliffs."
"Good."
"They weren't cliffs."
"Go."
Doss left before Harven could add anything.
Kel started after him.
"Not you two."
Kel closed his eyes.
Of course.
Luno sighed. "Night training."
Harven looked toward the sinking sun.
"Eat first."
Kel paused.
That was unexpected.
Harven glanced at his bruised arm.
"And put something on that."
Kel looked down.
"It's fine."
"Didn't ask."
Kel stared at him for a moment before following Luno toward the orphanage.
Harven waited until they were gone.
His expression changed.
He had seen the pellet hit Kel.
More importantly, he'd seen what happened immediately before it.
Kel's Internal Qi had moved.
Not much.
But it had moved without instruction.
Again.
Harven rubbed his face.
"Damn kid."
---
Two hours later, Kel and Luno found Harven in a field beyond the western wall.
There were no lanterns this time.
No rocks either.
Kel checked.
Harven noticed.
"Expecting something?"
"You."
"Smart."
Luno sat in the grass.
"Can today's lesson involve less getting hit?"
"No."
"I had to ask."
Harven motioned for Kel to sit.
"Cores first."
Both boys groaned.
"Every day," Harven reminded them.
Kel closed his eyes.
Finding the sensation was easier than yesterday. He breathed slowly until the noise around him faded.
There.
Internal.
At least he thought it was.
It felt worn down compared to that morning. Not empty, but tired somehow.
He opened his eyes.
"Mine feels smaller."
"Not smaller," Harven said. "Depleted."
"From today?"
"Partly. Your body used Qi."
Kel rubbed his bruised forearm.
"I didn't tell it to."
"No."
Something about Harven's answer made Kel look at him.
The captain moved on before he could ask.
"Luno?"
Luno still had his eyes closed.
One hand rested on the insect jar.
"I feel… something."
"Useful."
Luno frowned. "You tell us to explain what we feel, then complain when we can't."
"Welcome to training."
Spark whispered, "He's annoying."
Luno smiled.
Harven caught it.
Again.
He was becoming increasingly certain there was something underneath that hat.
He'd deal with that eventually.
"Today you're learning the difference between sensing Qi and sensing a core."
Kel opened his eyes.
"There's a difference?"
"A big one. Your cores are yours. Qi sensing lets you recognize what other people are doing."
Luno immediately sat straighter.
"Like finding somebody hiding?"
"Eventually."
Harven picked a blade of grass.
"External first."
He held it between two fingers.
"What do you feel right now?"
Kel shrugged. "Wind."
"Exactly."
Kel waited.
"That was it?"
"That was the beginning."
Harven released the grass. The wind carried it a few feet before dropping it.
"External Qi interacts with the world outside the body. So stop staring at people when you're trying to sense it. Feel the environment."
He pointed toward the field.
"Air moving. Grass bending. Dust shifting. Water flowing. Heat. Cold. Whatever is around you."
Luno watched the grass.
Harven continued.
"Learn what normal feels like first. If the air suddenly moves against the wind, ask why. If grass bends when everything around it stays still, ask why. If the temperature changes without a reason, ask why."
Kel understood.
"Someone could be using External Qi."
"Or using Qi to affect the environment. Don't assume every strange breeze is an attack. That's how idiots spend their lives jumping at trees."
Luno nodded seriously.
Kel looked at him.
"You'd do that."
"I would not."
Spark said, "You would."
Luno slapped his hat.
Harven stared.
"Did your hat just say something?"
"No."
Kel answered immediately. "Yes."
"Traitor."
Harven held up a hand.
"I don't want to know yet."
That might've been the strangest thing Kel had heard him say.
Harven stood.
"Close your eyes."
Kel and Luno obeyed.
"Don't chase the wind. Let it reach you."
For several minutes, nothing happened.
Kel felt stupid.
Then he started noticing things.
Wind against his cheek.
Grass brushing his boots.
Cooler air moving beneath the warmer layer above it.
A faint swirl behind his back.
"Better," Harven said.
Kel opened his eyes.
Harven was standing behind him.
Kel jumped.
"When did you move?"
"Before you noticed."
Luno laughed.
Harven pointed at Kel. "That's why we're doing this."
Then he stepped in front of them.
"Internal is different."
Harven raised his fist.
"External changes what's around you. Internal happens inside the body."
Kel watched.
"Pay attention."
Harven slowly gathered Internal Qi into his fist.
Kel couldn't see anything.
But after a moment, something felt different.
Pressure.
Not in the air.
In Harven.
His fist somehow felt heavier without moving.
Kel leaned forward.
"There."
Harven nodded.
"When someone charges Internal Qi into a fist, leg, shoulder, weapon grip—whatever they're reinforcing—you can learn to sense the concentration."
He released it.
The sensation vanished.
"If we're fighting and I charge my fist, you may feel it before I punch."
Kel smiled.
"So I know where you're attacking."
"If you're good."
Harven punched him in the shoulder.
Kel nearly fell over.
"What was that for?"
"You were feeling proud."
Luno burst out laughing.
Harven turned toward him.
Luno stopped.
"Your turn."
His smile disappeared.
---
Harven spent the next half hour making them guess where he was gathering Internal Qi.
Fist.
Leg.
Shoulder.
Wrong answers hurt.
Not badly.
Enough.
Luno was better at noticing patterns.
Kel was better when Harven moved suddenly.
Neither liked admitting the other was good at something.
Eventually Harven stopped.
"Soul is the hardest."
He sat across from them again.
"You don't sense Soul Qi by watching the environment or someone's muscles."
Luno rubbed his shoulder.
"Then what?"
"The person."
Harven's expression became serious.
"Intent. Emotion. Feeling."
Kel thought immediately of Solara.
The strange presence around her.
The way people noticed when she entered a space.
Harven watched his face.
"You've felt it before."
Kel didn't answer.
"Someone walks into a room angry enough, sometimes you know before they say anything. Someone intends to hurt you, and something in you warns you."
Luno nodded slowly.
"That's Soul Qi?"
"Not always. Normal people read each other too. Body language. Tone. Instinct. Don't confuse everything with Qi."
Harven leaned closer.
"But train Soul sensing enough, and those impressions become clearer. Fear. Anger. Killing intent. Calm. Grief. Sometimes even the direction it's coming from."
Kel frowned.
"So you can read minds?"
"No."
Luno looked disappointed.
"Feelings aren't thoughts," Harven said. "Never confuse them."
He pointed between the boys.
"That's the problem with sensing Qi. If you trust it blindly, it'll get you killed. Your senses give information. You decide what it means."
For once, neither joked.
Harven stood.
"Now we're testing all three."
Kel sighed. "Here it comes."
Harven smiled.
"Close your eyes."
They did.
The field became quiet.
Wind moved through the grass.
Kel breathed.
External.
Feel the world.
Something shifted to his right.
He almost turned.
Didn't.
Internal.
There.
A concentration somewhere ahead.
Harven's arm?
Maybe.
Then something else touched Kel's awareness.
Not movement.
Not pressure.
Intent.
A sudden feeling that Harven wanted him to look left.
Kel turned right instead.
His eyes opened.
Harven's fist stopped an inch from his face.
For a moment, neither moved.
Harven's expression changed.
Just slightly.
Kel grinned.
"Got you."
Harven swept his leg.
Kel hit the grass.
Luno laughed so hard he fell backward.
"Never celebrate before the fight's over," Harven said.
Kel groaned.
"I hate training."
"No, you don't."
Unfortunately, Harven was right.
---
Later, Luno sat alone outside the orphanage.
He should've been sleeping.
Instead, his jar rested in his lap.
"Okay," he whispered. "Let's try something."
Spark shifted beneath his hat.
"You're supposed to rest."
"So are you."
"I live in a hat."
"Exactly."
Luno closed his eyes.
He tried what Harven taught them.
Feel the environment.
Wind.
Grass.
The tiny vibrations inside the jar.
Then his own Qi.
Warmth slowly gathered in his hands.
Without realizing it, Luno let it flow.
The insects stirred.
One by one, they moved toward him.
Luno smiled with his eyes still closed.
"I can feel you."
He didn't understand how true that was.
Spark went unusually quiet.
Inside the jar, the insects settled around Luno's hands as though gathering around a fire.
And across Durnfield, Harven stood in the command building looking at tomorrow's mission report.
Missing livestock.
Broken fences.
Tracks that disappeared near the northern grasslands.
He read it twice.
Then looked toward the orphanage.
Tonight, he'd taught the boys how to sense what their eyes couldn't see.
Tomorrow, Harven intended to find out whether they had actually learned.
End of Chapter 13 — Feel Before You See