Uncle was not their uncle in truth, but a general in their parent’s army who agreed to take care of them. When they were 10 years old the general told them that their parents were away on a mission, they were cultivators who had ascended beyond this world into the next; and their “uncle” had agreed to raise them until they were on their own two feet. Mom and Dad had left when they were two, and Uncle had hired helpers to take care of them.
Anna was born a few seconds before her sister Lucille, but Lucille knew how to communicate with everyone, in any situation. Anna felt more like a bulldog going through life.
In addition to all of the beauty in the garden, there were area of the garden for defined purposes. They were standing in the area they pursued their sports and outdoor recreation, and it was transformed.
Uncle had brought out two more tables, and filled them with weapons used by every sect they could apply to.
Mom had been one of the first women allowed to join the magic sects. There was a long staff leaning again the table.
The single-edged blade was the iconic weapon of the Blade sects. There were still some coed Blade sects, but for many people, Blades were for women and Swords for men.
There were two swords on the tables, but no sword of course. Anna wanted to at least try a sword, just for fun. Maybe one of the manservants would let her try.
Blade seemed like her likely choice, but she wasn’t sure about Lucille choice. They would each try the blade, hammer, staff and bow.
They laughed the night before about Fan sects. The fan was a way of cooling down, or looking fancy, why ruin a nice fan by fighting with it. But the Fan sects were a great place for women to go before getting married. Most graduates never even cultivated during their time at sect.
The other sects all required 10 years of service to repay costs, but the Golden Rose Fan sect was just 4 years.
Anna chose the Blade first, practicing a few light swords of the weapon. She had tried a blade weapon a few times before but this was really nice one.
“Definitely not a staff for me,” Lucille said, and they swapped weapons.
She wanted to follow mom’s footsteps but Anna was unable to use the staff. Supposedly a natural mage would immediately be able to channel power through a staff like this.
The bow was familiar to her from past days of target practice and overcoming their boredom. Not really her favorite choice for Sect though. There were both coed and female focused sects for bow, but it wasn’t really Anna’s favorite.
Anna watched as Lucille listened to some pointers about the fan from one of the maids. The fan truly was a weapon quite different from an ordinary one. The cloth was a tough durable material, and the fan was reinforced by spokes of iron. There were even little sleeves to start knives in.
It took only a moment to know that the Warhammer wasn’t for her, and Anna returned to the blade, while Lucille was still learning about the fan from Maria.
Anna practiced the motions of the saber, cutting, stabbing, moving her feet. Lucille approached, and they had a little sparring match.
At first Anna was worried about damaging the fan but when they sparred Anna realized the fan was tough enough. She lost the first point and focused on the fight.
The fan was an awkward weapon, but it wasn’t easily deflected by the blade either.
“Which Blade sect do you think you’ll chose?” Lucille asked.
“Whatever one focuses the least on turning us into wife material.”
“Maybe the Seven Blades Sect, the Honorable Blade Sect is something of a magnet for girls who want a quick path now. They’ve actually started charging for a five year membership, like the Golden Rose Sect.”
“So you’re ok with that sect?” Anna asked. “You look good with the fan but I know you could be a warrior with any weapon.”
“No you looked good Anna, but yeah one of us has to go the conventional route. I don’t mind.”
“I’m going to miss you so much. We could both go to a Blade sect?” Anna asked.
“Are you going to try the sword, after dinner?” Lucille asked.
“Just for fun.”
*
Uncle had kept around a number of junior officers from the old days as manservants and Anna was practicing with James, using an extra sword of his.
Wow was she good, Lucille thought. Anna was focused, determined but almost glowing in happiness with the weapon.
Was their mom the first allowed to join a mage sect or did she break the rules and set the new normal. Uncle would be completely opposed, but she should convince Anna to just go try out for a sword sect.
Her sister wasn’t particularly womanly in the hips and chest, maybe with a little makeup or some cultivation magic she could pass as a man and to learn the sword?
They sparred again, fan against sword and it was no contest. The sword belonged to Anna. Now how to convince her.
Lucille caught her sister and Uncle having an argument as she entered the dining room.
“There are no Sword sects for women. It’s a weapon of war! I promised your mother and father to protect you and I’m not letting you get drawn into that pit of death.”
Anna stopped, bowed to Uncle finally and said, “I’ll stick to the Blade then.”
“I’ve got everything ready for you two. We’ll travel to your sects next week. Both the Honorable Blade Sect and the Golden Rose Sect for your sister have given you elite placement.”
*
We had our last tutoring sessions that week, we went to the shrine dedicated to our parents one last time.
Lieutenant James and I cornered Anna two days before we were to leave.
All the manservants and maids were being let go as we were no longer going to be there. There was a lot of dissatisfaction, Uncle hadn’t offered any severance pay or anything.
Everything thought it would be great to irritate their Uncle by helping Anna to make her great escape, but James and I had to convince her.
Anna held her sword. “It’ll be hard now to chose the sword, but if you know deep down that this is your weapon, please don’t let go,” Lucille said.
“The ladies are preparing a solution to help you pass at the Heavenly Sword Sect. It was your father’s sect,” James said.
“Alright, let’s do this,” Anna said, “keep the sword for me until the plan is complete.”
*
They went to bed Saturday night but not before making sure Uncle was going to be asleep. The men leaving his service had brought booze, and three of the guys took one for the team ensuring that Uncle would have a headache in the morning.
The maids woke up Anna sometime in the night, and with James assistance they turned Anna into a gentleman.
Lucille woke up and went to find them gathered, recognizing Anna but only because they were twins.
“For now you will go by Ande. Come walk with me and I’ll show you how men should hold themselves and move.”
“We will meet again, Lucille. It’s going to be hard to be apart, but let all of those ladies in your new sect know you are the best.”
“Be a trailblazer,” Lucille responded and they hugged before Anna turned and left.
Her hair was short, cropped now, her face was not so soft, the traveling clothes made her look at first glance, a man.
“One of us has to ascend, so we can find out about our parents,” Anna said, smiling.
“Both of us.”
~~<~~
Chapter 2
Anna
The ocean pushed far south near their house forming a massive bay, and in the north on the other side of that bay was the Heavenly Sword sect.
There were others traveling on the great road, and I told them I was head to apply to the sect. I got some advice and assistance.
Enough food to get by and I was told to go to the village near the sect, and pass their trials first before joining the long line to apply to the sect.
I gritted my teeth and dealt with cold nights and rough places to lay my head. Flying pests bothered me by day, and prowlers seeking my food at night.
My first use of my sword in anger was warding of a coyote long enough for it to run off. It wouldn’t be my last use.
Lucille
Uncle wanted to chase after Anna, but we were on a tight schedule, and all of the household has fired, leaving no one to look for her.
He gave up the pursuit, Uncle was wealthy enough to hire a carriage to take them to the Golden Rose Sect.
They rode for 8 hours the first day but luckily their beds were comfortable in the inn that night. They had a big breakfast and then rode what seemed like all day.
They arrived at the sect late, and they were lodged in guest housing.
When she woke up the next morning, Uncle was returning from the office.
“I got you admitted into the Honors program. Do your old uncle a favor and make me proud. And your parents too.”
*
These girls were so far ahead of me. They trained for years to get into the sect, they planned to become a senior in the sect, and soon. None of them had begun to cultivate or train for using the fan as a weapon.
The Sect was like a training school, focused on training then in social courtesy and being a charismatic woman equipped with current fashions and the skills to operate in high society.
Mostly she and Anna had only interacted with the staff at home and the small town next door.
The entire sect gathered for morning assembly every day I was there. We were called out for bad posture, bad “walk” and especially anyone with a bad attitude. The older students joined the staff in correcting us, but even a second year student was corrected.
I was picked on the most, for being an Honors track sectee with so many flaws.
I am so thankful that the other girls in the Honors house helped. I got a whole new wardrobe, using up most of the money Uncle gave me. I learned about new beauty products that were better than my imperfect ways. A Perfectly hairless body, perfect eye lashes and eyebrows, the perfect shade of makeup.
I was frustrated with the lack of any focus on the traditional sect goals. Where was the attempt to hone our bodies, or master a weapon.
I had a great counselor and she got me into Fan Combat a year early. There were about a dozen people in the sect who had truly made an effort to refine their fan combat.
So I sparred with a fourth year girl, and learned to deflect both fan strikes and the daggers that flew at me.
The girls in the Honor house told me their goals, which gave me a pretty good picture of the organization of the Sect.
The sect gave a lot of authority to young sect members. The best amongst the third and fourth year girls viewed for the higher honor, the Queen of the sect.
There were always three duchesses and six countesses, and all of these positions were in conflict each year. Anyone graded in the top 20% could stay in the honor house, and the “nobility” had their own separate house.
As for me, I was struggling to just to stay in that 20% after my first week.
Emily and Josie were two first years helping me stay in the honor house. We spent time going over the topic of the week which was manners and maneuvers at the dinner table.
“For the year end, all first years host a dinner party together. It’s not just for sect girls, the Sect has a lot of friends and associates, and there’s a traveling regatta who’s stationed in Port Wallace for the winter, and they’re invited,” Emily said.
We had already reviewed the book of the week on dining do’s and don’ts and now we were drilling on it.
I asked the other two, “if a guest acts inappropriately, like putting their feet on the table or something gross like that, what response should we have as a host?”
Josie said, “if it’s not disruptive, it’s best to just remove them for the guest list for next time. But if they are interfering with other people’s enjoyment of dinner, then confront them with a smile. Leave them a chance to change and deescalate. If they escalate, then find one of your sisters, and escort the troublemaker out.”
I was going to fight hard to stay in Honor house, they were becoming good friends and I heard bad things about the housing got most of the Sect girls.
***
Anna
The small bedroom was to be my resting place while I stayed at the mortal village near the Heavenly Sword Sect. Master Oda trained newcomers every day.
I feel asleep, the pillow seemed an insane luxury after weeks of traveling rough.
The next morning, I found Master Oda in the town square. He had me stay in a sword pose, mid strike, and adjusted my feet. After a half hour he handed me off to train with a young boy. He must have been 10 or 11.
Liao was very straightforward and brutal in his attacks, he attacked with his sword even in response to my attacks. I was skittish towards attacks at my hands, and the kid punished me for that.
After two days of sparring with the boy in the morning, the old man send me to spar with an elderly lady who used a staff.
The staff was so much heavier than my sword and it was almost impossible to deflect away attacks.
The first time I was hit with her staff, I tumbled to the ground , knocked out. After that I became very cautious around the weapon. I had to learn to dodge her strikes, or go inside the comfortable range of her weapon.
They kept exposing to different villagers as training partners over the next couple months, they weren’t any stronger than that staff user, but they were a great variety of fighters with different strengths and weaknesses which I found was very useful in honing my sword skills.
