Chapter 477: Learning to Stand on Her Own

On the third day, Neria fell.

It wasn’t a serious fall.

In fact, technically speaking, Damon wasn’t even sure whether it should count as one.

She was repeating the weight-shifting exercise when she tried to correct her balance too quickly, placed her foot in a bad position, and ended up sitting on the ground.

Damon looked at her.

Neria looked at him.

Ester, on the other side of the courtyard, raised her head.

Neria spoke first.

"I’m fine."

Damon took a deep breath.

"That statement has no clinical validity."

She narrowed her eyes.

"You stole that from her."

"I learn from the best."

Ester was already walking toward them.

Neria sighed.

"Traitor."

"I didn’t even call her."

"You looked."

"She can sense when someone does something forbidden."

Ester stopped in front of her.

"Pain?"

"No."

"Dizziness?"

"No."

"Did you hit your head?"

"No."

"Then get up."

Neria looked surprised.

"That’s all?"

"You landed on your backside."

"So I can continue?"

Ester looked at Damon.

"How much time is left?"

"Seven minutes."

"Five."

Damon grimaced.

"I wasn’t the one who fell."

"You’re arguing."

"That’s not a medical criterion."

"Four."

"Five is perfect."

Neria began laughing as Damon helped her stand.

Ester returned to her bench.

Neria adjusted her clothes.

"Again."

Damon pointed toward the spot where she had fallen.

"First, figure out why you fell."

"I overcorrected."

"Exactly."

"My weight shifted backward."

"Yes."

"And I tried to recover using only my right leg."

Damon nodded.

"Your body still trusts that leg more."

"Because my left leg was worse during captivity."

"Probably."

Neria returned to her stance.

Damon approached.

"This time, when you lose your center of balance, don’t try to recover everything at once."

"Let it happen?"

"To a certain extent."

"That sounds wrong."

"That’s because you spent so much time having to prevent anything from getting out of control."

She fell silent.

Damon realized what he had said.

He didn’t try to correct it.

Neria looked down at her feet.

"So I let myself fall a little."

"That’s it."

"And recover afterward."

"Yes."

She tried again.

Damon lightly pushed her left shoulder.

Neria leaned to the side.

She didn’t immediately correct herself.

She waited half a second.

Moved her foot.

Regained her balance.

And stood still.

Damon smiled.

"Better."

Neria looked at him.

"Again."

"Now you’re really addicted."

"It works."

They did it again.

And again.

On the fourth attempt, Damon switched sides without warning.

Neria nearly fell again, but managed to shift her hips and take a short step to absorb the force.

When she recovered her stance, she smiled with such satisfaction that Damon didn’t even need to say anything.

"My face?" she asked.

"Your face."

"I earned it."

"Yes."

The five minutes ended.

This time, Neria stopped on her own.

Damon noticed.

So did Ester.

Neither of them commented.

After training, Neria didn’t immediately return to her room. She sat on the same bench where she had watched Jian Yue during her first visit and observed the activity in the courtyard.

Damon sat beside her.

"Tired?"

"A little."

"Going to rest?"

"In a bit."

"That sounds far too reasonable."

"You’re a bad influence."

"I was told otherwise recently."

"By whom?"

"Me."

Neria laughed.

For a few seconds, they simply watched.

Jian Yue was training with Xue Mei farther ahead. Xue Lian was correcting the stance of a young man holding a spear as though he were trying to strangle his own weapon. Chen Mo crossed the courtyard carrying something Damon preferred not to ask about.

Neria spoke.

"I want to learn swordsmanship later."

Damon turned toward her.

"Later when?"

"When Ester allows it."

He looked suspicious.

"You really are learning."

"Don’t ruin it."

"Why swordsmanship?"

Neria thought about it.

"Because it’s simple."

Damon burst out laughing.

She looked at him.

"Isn’t it?"

"No."

"You hold a blade and try not to get hit."

"That’s a criminally oversimplified explanation."

"Then a spear?"

"Not that either."

"A bow?"

"Are you choosing based on appearance?"

"Yes."

"Excellent method."

Neria smiled.

"I want something that’s mine."

Damon understood.

Not a technique implanted by the Order.

Not a defense Eir had constructed.

Not a reflex developed to survive a machine.

Something learned afterward.

"A sword works," he said.

"Will you teach me?"

"Jian Yue is better."

Neria raised an eyebrow.

"You admitted it."

"Don’t tell anyone."

"Now I have to choose."

"Between me and her?"

"Yes."

"Her."

Neria began laughing.

"You gave up quickly."

"I’m efficient."

That afternoon, Aria appeared with three maps.

Damon saw them.

"No."

"They’re not for you."

"That doesn’t make it better."

Neria immediately approached.

"The sea?"

"Possible routes."

Damon closed his eyes.

"I said we weren’t going now."

"We aren’t going now."

Aria opened the first map.

"I’m just showing you the possibilities."

Neria looked at Damon.

"You said possibilities were good."

He fell silent.

Aria smiled.

"I like her."

"Naturally."

The three routes led to different coastal regions.

One was nearby, with an easy road and a busy port.

Another passed through rougher terrain but ended on a coastline with almost no settlements.

The third led to a small fishing village farther away, where a tall cliff offered an unobstructed view of the ocean.

Neria stared at the last one.

"That one."

Aria asked:

"Why?"

"Fewer people."

"You don’t like people?"

"I do."

"Then?"

Neria slid her finger along the coastline.

"I want to see it first."

Damon understood.

She didn’t want her first encounter with the sea in a hundred and seventeen years to be accompanied by merchants, ships, crowds, and questions.

She just wanted the sea.

"That makes sense," he said.

Aria nodded.

"It’s also the longest route."

"How long?"

"With a Transfer to a safe point, a few hours by road."

Neria looked at Damon.

"Are you still coming?"

"I said I would."

"Even though it’s farther?"

"I survived Veyra."

"Did you complain about walking?"

"No."

"Then perfect."

Aria continued:

"We can go once Ester approves longer journeys."

Neria became serious.

"How much longer?"

"Ask Ester."

"She’ll say many days."

"Probably."

Damon pointed at her.

"Don’t negotiate before hearing her answer."

Neria looked at him.

"You do that."

"I’m teaching you through my mistakes."

"Convenient."

Ester said ten days.

Neria tried eight.

Ester replied twelve.

Neria accepted ten.

Damon watched from a distance.

When it was over, Neria approached him.

"This was your fault."

"I warned you."

"She increased it."

"She always does that."

"Why do you people keep negotiating with her?"

Damon thought about it.

"Hope."

"That’s stupid."

"Yes."

The ten days weren’t meant to keep her confined to Mirath.

Neria would return to the Valley after the planned seven days and continue her recovery. If everything remained stable, Ester would allow the trip to the coast a few days later.

Neria accepted.

Not happily.

But she accepted.

That might have been the greatest sign of progress of all.

On the fourth day, she began walking around the base without anyone constantly watching her.

On the fifth, she spent almost half the morning alone at the market.

She returned with two bags.

Damon noticed.

"That looks dangerous."

Neria raised one of them.

"Food."

"The other?"

"Clothes."

"How much money did you spend?"

She remained silent.

Damon narrowed his eyes.

"How much?"

"I learned from Liora."

"That doesn’t answer my question."

"Then I learned correctly."

He closed his eyes.

"I should’ve stopped that first coin."

Neria smiled and continued walking.

On the sixth day, she requested the key to one of the small, empty training rooms.

Jian Li handed it over without asking many questions.

Damon found out afterward.

"What for?"

Neria opened the door.

There was only a mat on the floor.

"I want to practice getting up."

Damon stared at her.

"Getting up?"

"From the floor."

She sat down.

Then lay on her back.

"If I fall, I want to know how to get up without help."

It was such a simple thing that Damon hadn’t even thought of it.

Neria rolled onto her side, placed one hand against the floor, tried to bring her knee beneath her body, and lost strength halfway through.

She stopped.

Breathed.

Tried again.

Damon stayed close.

He didn’t touch her.

On the third attempt, she managed to kneel.

On the fourth, she stood up.

She was breathing heavily.

But she was standing.

"Again," she said.

Damon smiled.

"Naturally."

For almost half an hour, Neria deliberately fell.

Onto her side.

Onto her back.

Onto her knees.

She learned where to place her hands.

How to protect her head.

How not to try using too much strength all at once.

How to stop before becoming too tired to perform the movements safely.

When she finished, she sat on the floor.

Damon did the same.

"This is strangely humiliating."

"Learning usually is."

"Did you fall a lot when you were learning swordsmanship?"

"A lot."

"Does Jian Yue know?"

"No."

"I’m going to ask."

"No."

Neria smiled.

"Then definitely."

Damon fell silent.

She leaned her back against the wall.

"I didn’t know how to fall."

"Now you know a little."

"In the Order, there was always something holding me."

He looked at her.

"Straps?"

"Sometimes. Supports. Fields. People."

Neria looked at her own hands.

"Even when I lost control, they controlled the fall."

Damon didn’t respond.

She continued:

"It’s strange to think that even this can belong to me."

"Falling?"

"Getting up."

He smiled.

"Better definition."

On the seventh day, Neria packed her bag.

Damon appeared at her room shortly before the Transfer.

The door was open.

The key rested on the table.

Neria was folding a piece of clothing with excessive care.

"Going to miss the lock?"

"Yes."

"You can take it."

She looked at him.

"The key?"

"No. The door would be difficult."

Neria laughed.

Then she picked up the key.

"Jian Li said I can keep it."

"Then your room is still yours."

"Even when I’m not here?"

"I imagine so."

Neria stared at the small piece of metal.

"My mother will find that strange."

"Your mother slept under the bed."

"Good point."

She put the key away.

When they reached the Transfer room, Ester was already waiting.

Aria was preparing the passage.

Damon stood beside Neria.

"Ten days."

"I know."

"Then the sea."

"If Ester doesn’t increase it."

Ester looked at both of them.

"I can hear you."

"That was the intention," Neria replied.

Damon smiled.

The passage opened.

On the other side lay the forest.

The roots reacted immediately.

This time, they advanced only a little.

They stopped before Neria even crossed.

She noticed.

"She’s getting better."

"Or she’s suffered a lot during these seven days."

"Probably both."

Neria stepped through.

The roots waited.

She took three steps.

Then opened her arms.

The forest responded.

Roots wrapped around her waist and wrists without restraining her, and Eir’s voice emerged from among the trees.

"Neria."

"Mother."

"Seven days."

"Seven."

"You came back."

"Yes."

A pause.

"You’re going to leave again."

Neria smiled.

"Yes."

Eir took a moment.

"Sea."

Neria turned toward Damon through the passage.

"Did you tell her?"

"No."

Liora appeared among the roots.

"I told her."

Damon nodded.

"Naturally."

Eir spoke.

"I want to see."

Neria stopped.

So did Damon.

"You’ve seen the sea before?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Then?"

"I want to see Neria seeing it."

Neria froze.

Then smiled.

"You can’t come with me."

Eir took a moment.

"I know."

Damon noticed.

That was new too.

Eir wanted to participate.

But she understood that not every experience needed to include her.

Neria touched one of the roots.

"I’ll tell you about it afterward."

"Yes."

The Transfer began losing stability.

Aria warned them:

"We need to close it."

Neria looked at Damon.

"Ten days."

"I’ll be ready."

"For walking?"

"Unfortunately."

She smiled.

"See you."

"See you."

The passage closed.

Damon remained staring at the stone for a few seconds.

The trip to the sea finally had an approximate date.

No prophecy.

No secret.

No enemy waiting.

Just Neria wanting to see something the world hadn’t managed to take away from her.

Damon realized he was looking forward to it.

In a good way.