( chapter unfolds:2 " Hidden lore " )
It could not be said that the peril had truly departed; rather, its malevolent gaze still held both the martial grounds and the village in a suffocating shroud.
Elsewhere, a humble peasant lay in deep slumber beside his kin. The silence of the night was shattered by a sudden, discordant chorus from the courtyard his cattle, goats, and fowl crying out in unison. Jolted from his rest, he sat upright in the darkness, straining his ears. The beasts sounded not merely restless, but struck by a primal terror, as if witnessing some shapeless horror. Steeling himself, he rose to investigate.
"What troubles the night?" his wife murmured, her voice heavy with sleep.
"Peace," he whispered. "I heard a disturbance among the livestock. I shall tend to it. Sleep now."
He ventured into the cool night air, circling to the rear of the dwelling where the beasts were kept. They were in a frenzy the fowl scattering blindly, the cattle trembling. Certain that a predator stalked the shadows, the peasant scanned the gloom, yet his eyes found nothing.
"Easy now... hush," he soothed them, his voice low and steady. Slowly, the panic of the beasts subsided, and as they calmed, the frantic beating of his own heart slowed.
He turned to retreat to his hearth, but as he moved, a silhouette caught his eye. By the bamboo fence that marked the edge of his land, a figure stood motionless. The darkness veiled the stranger's identity.
He approached with caution. "Who stands there?" he called out.
The night offered no reply. It was the witching hour; who would haunt a peasant's fence at such a time? He drew closer, his hand ready.
It was then that the moonlight revealed the intruder. It was but a lad a small child standing still, offering a silent smile directed solely at him.
The peasant's heart seized in his chest.
"Ray..." the name escaped his lips as a gasp.
Standing before him was the visage of his own son. The beautiful boy who had vanished without a trace seven suns ago.
"Ray... is it truly you, my son?" He rushed forward, falling to his knees before the boy.
"Where have you been these long days? Why did you leave us? Do you know the anguish your mother and I have suffered?" Tears streamed down the father's weathered face as he looked upon the child.
Yet, for all his pleading, the boy offered no words.
"Ray, why do you remain mute? Speak to me, my son," he implored.
The boy said nothing. Instead, he stepped forward and wrapped his small arms around the man. Overcome with the overwhelming joy of the returned, the father held him tight, burying his face in the boy's shoulder.
Alas, in that moment of blind relief, the father did not see the ancient malice that lay hidden within the boy's shadow.
**
Thus, the wheel of time turned to another sunrise. As was the custom, the steward roused the initiates at the break of dawn, sending them forth to their grueling trials.
Haru and Jinso rose and prepared to depart, yet Sai remained upon his cot. His injury had worsened; the flesh around the sprain had turned the color of a bruised plum, and a fever likely a venomous companion to the wound burned within him.
"Sai..." Haru called to him.
"Mmm..." Sai turned slowly, his movements heavy.
"He burns with fever," Haru noted, placing a hand upon his friend's brow.
"What shall we do?"
As they stood in hesitation, the steward passed by and observed their delay. "Have you not departed?" he inquired.
"It is Sai," Jinso replied. "He is unwell."
"Unwell?" The steward approached and felt Sai's skin. "Indeed, he is consumed by heat. Did he wander into the night air?"
"Nay, he has not left these walls. He fell during yesterday's trials and twisted his foot," they explained, revealing the swollen limb.
"I see. That explains the affliction. Very well, you must go. I shall tend to the fallen." The steward dismissed them and carried Sai to the infirmary.
Sai lay in a deep exhaustion, but after some time, he stirred. Across the room, the steward was busy grinding herbs.
Meanwhile, on the training grounds, the day's labor was a repetition of the last running whilst bearing the crushing weight of timber logs. The other students toiled, yet Izuma stood apart, his gaze fixed piercingly upon the dense thicket where Ani had vanished into the deep woods.
Haru and Jinso, passing by with their burdens, spotted him.
"Hey! Izuma!" Haru called out.
Izuma turned at the sound of his name.
"What are you doing there?" Haru asked.
"I merely stood... it is nothing." Izuma turned to lift his log and resume his march.
"Wait, Izuma," Haru pressed, unwilling to let the moment pass. "We have a moment's respite. Can you not speak now of what you withheld yesterday?"
Haru was consumed by a hunger for truth. He needed to know the nature of the Sapahanwhy was such a clan forged above the honorable Samurai? For what purpose did they exist, and what darkness did they seek to extinguish?
Finally, yielding to persistence, they ceased their training and sat beneath the shade of a great tree. Haru waited, his anticipation palpable.
Elsewhere, in the quiet of the infirmary, Sai pushed himself up.
"Oh, you have risen?" the steward asked, glancing over. "What manner of clumsiness befell your leg?"
"Have you come to be a Sapahan?" the steward continued, eyeing the injury. "His questions irked Sai."
"It was an accident, nothing more," Sai retorted.
"A Sapahan requires focus. You lack it," the man said, measuring out a powder.
"One need not be vigilant at every breathing moment. Focus wavers, it is natural," Sai argued.
The steward chuckled at the boy's insolence. "Your tongue is as sharp as your temper. Neither is a virtue."
"They are virtues if wielded correctly," Sai shot back.
Amused by the boy's spirit, the steward offered him a bowl. "Here. Drink this medicine." It was a draught made of crushed green leaves.
"What is this? Why must I drink it?" Sai asked, suspicious.
"It is to banish your fatigue."
"Oh." Sai drank the bitter brew. Moments later, the heaviness left his limbs, and his mind cleared.
It was then that memory struck him. Haru had once said, "If you wish to know of the Sapahan, seek the steward."
Now, the man stood before him, and they were alone. Sai realized the moment of truth was at hand.