Page 102 of Reforging Onyx

Today was no exception. If anything, it was more important than ever.

He wanted to be told he was doing well at things that he cared about — not sex, not lessons, not obedience, but magic and physical prowess — and he wondered what things would be like if he had Shane as an “owner” instead of Dominic.

He would never, ever voice that question to Dominic, who already wanted to kill Shane. That would cause Dominic to dismiss him, at best.

“Go through the first kata, and then we can start on a new one,” Shane directed.

Onyx nodded, going through the kata with careful motions, picking up speed as he went and gaining confidence while his body went through the increasingly familiar motions.

“Like that?” he asked. He was lightly sweating, slightly out of breath, but he was ready and eager to learn more.

Shane nodded. “Just like that,” he confirmed with a grin. “Okay, next kata.”

As he’d done before, Shane demonstrated the movements, going through each of the steps of the drill. Strike down, twist, block, counterstrike, block again, strike, strike, reverse, with each movement crisp and defined. “So we’re starting here with this strike, turn, block.”

Onyx’s eyes followed the motions intently, and he started to work them out in his mind as the patterns emerged.

By the time Shane had finished, he was itching to try it. He eagerly stepped into motion while Shane put his staff down in order to circle around Onyx and correct his form as he started to practice the movements.

Each correction was met with a nod of acknowledgment as he took them on board, and he went more slowly as it became clear he might be working with more enthusiasm than accuracy.

“I like this one,” he said at the end of it. It was a little more difficult than the first, but he thrived on the challenge.

Shane grinned. “This one is fun,” he agreed. “These in particular are all designed to flow from one straight into the next. There are five in total in this set. Want to see them all together?”

Onyx nodded eagerly, taking a step back to give Shane space. It was like poetry in motion, except Onyx liked this kind of poetry.

It wasn’t about tigers burning brightly, only being deadly.

Shane centered himself, holding the staff across his hands the way that he’d first shown Onyx how to begin. Then with a flurry of motion, he started in on the moves at full speed.

Strikes, blocks, turns and twists. As he flowed from one set of movements into the next, they got more complex. Onyx could almost see the opponents that were being fought off with each set of motions going from strikes and blocks in one direction, twisting to block again before counter-attacking with a series of moves before twisting again to another.

Onyx’s eyes were bright with curiosity and interest as Shane flew through the katas, and he itched to take up his own staff and mimic the gestures. But he’d be like a child trying to get through them without the same careful training that Shane was taking with each one. Still, he was going to learn, and he was going to be that fluid.

And he’d show Dominic that this was the only sort of lesson he really needed, because surely even the Bancroft witch had to see the beauty of it.

Dominic.

No.

He wasn’t thinking about Dominic here and now. He was only thinking of the exhilaration and pride that came with tackling something difficult with enthusiasm.

As he neared the end of the set, Shane started to slow, until he was coming back to the center with a final series of motions that brought him back to his original starting point. Shane grinned at Onyx and gave him a wink. “How’s that?”

“Amazing.” Onyx brushed hair back behind his ear. He really did need to have his hair cut; it had gotten far too long. “And you’re as good with knives as you are at that and hand-to-hand?” He was thoroughly impressed.

Shane chuckled. “Yeah. And I know a few others, once we get through all of those, but those are the ones I’m best with. I started doing martial arts when I was pretty young and I was a fast learner, like you are.”

“I was eleven when I started training,” Onyx offered tentatively. “I… wasn’t really a fast learner.” Not at first. He’d had to work and work hard. But he’d done it, and it had gradually gotten easier. “You’re a better teacher, though.”

Though he couldn’t deny that Paul and Marcos had been effective, that was for sure.

He hesitated, not sure he wanted to offer anything else. Every time they talked, really talked, something went south. But he sometimes wished he had someone who cared about him and his past. Because Dominic didn’t see him as a person; he saw him as his doom, or his pet, or something in between. He rarely tried to get information out of Onyx about who he’d been or what he’d been, and Onyx wasn’t going to volunteer anything that could make it easier for Dominic to manipulate him.

Not that Dominic needed extra ammunition, but sometimes…

Sometimes Onyx just wanted to talk about it.