"As for points of improvement, my cycling technique has always been a little unusual. I have different instincts for what helps grow one's core than many people, I think. It seems to work well but the rhythm of it is somehow off, and I don't know what's causing it. If you would be willing to offer advice..."

He's not going to ask her to stop calling him Honored Jade so soon, for all that he finds himself wanting to. Something about her manner is soothing. But no, he has a role to play that's expected of him, and if he insists on informality too quickly that's liable to be make people nervous. He learned that a long time ago, he's not going to shift from what people expect of him now. 

"Dabbling in techniques? My, that's actually very impressive while travelling like your family does. You can't have more than a few days to pick up the basics and learn the madra flows."

He pauses for a moment.

"Hmm, cycling... could you perform the cycling technique for a few cycles and then describe what you're doing for me?" That order because then he sees what she's actually doing before hearing what she's trying to do. His Jade sense aren't so sharp that he can be sure hearing what he's supposed to be seeing won't blind him to what's actually there. 

"Of course, Honored Jade." 

She sits (at the table since she is apparently invited) and tries to focus. 

She settles herself as best she can, closes her eyes, and cycles madra, her breath rising and falling slowly. 

Out, out far to the edges of her fingertips, almost far enough to form her madra claws, then hold it there for a long moment, then draw it in and compress it into her core. Out, then hold, then in. She's been told by some people she's pushing the madra out too far and for too long, but that just seems wrong to her. This way feels natural. And she's not going to argue with results. 

She does a dozen slow cycles like that, trying to give Terem a good look at her technique, and then at last opens her eyes. 

"So there's my technique," she says. "It feels to me that — the further out I can push the madra while being able to return it to my core, the better it feels instinctually as training. The longer distance the madra travels seems to matter somehow. I've been told that I'm risking losing madra through my fingertips, but I'm good at the technique and have very little bleed when I do it properly. It's like... the further distance is a heavier weight to lift than most people are training with, or something like that."

Hmm. That's a little familiar, actually. It's not so similar, but a bit of the movement in her madra is faintly reminiscent of how she did it, how he does it, how they would cycle together when they were young, holding hands just to be close-

He clears his mind of the memories and pays close attention.

"I would agree on the risk of madra loss, but as far as I can tell you really are losing none which just makes it into an excellent way to train control. From what I know of things it isn't so much the distance itself that's helping your cycling technique work better than most, although the analogy of heavier weight is a very good one. Rather, it's the amount of time you have a large portion of your madra out of your core, and the fact that you're moving such a large portion at all. I could of course be wrong, I don't know everything, but I expect the distance is primarily useful for training your control and for- making the movement of that much madra and the time it spends away from your core natural."

He pauses for a moment and thinks, treating her cycling technique and the Enforcer's shield in the centre of her badge as a puzzle. How to combine those, what would be best as the foundation for an Enforcement-focused technique set...

Meresankh nods, and waits patiently, allowing him the time to think. It would just be rude to interject when he's clearly working the problem. 

"I think the most obvious thing is to extend it, actually. Move it out to nearly in your skin, all along your hands like gloves, and see if you can make it work to eventually perhaps cover all of your skin. That would help your practice your control even more, and make it more natural to move even more of your madra from your core. Moving that much away and then stuffing it back in is likely training your core for capacity quite well. Although to be clear trying for full-body coverage like that immediately is likely a bit unwise and may end up taking more time than just cycling to more of your body with each cycle."

Another, much briefer pause.

"If I had to guess, your current enforcement technique involves your hands acting like icy claws, and perhaps something like gauntlets? I think a cycling technique like I suggest would help you expand that to making your skin act a little like armour. The madra motion to do that wouldn't be so different from your standard cycling technique, and a similarity like that can help support techniques and make them quick and natural to use."

"Thank you, Honored Jade. I will try your suggestions, for certain. Extending the cycling technique so it is almost one with Enforcement seems like an obviously good idea, and I thank you for your insight."

Should she ask or should she not ask, it's tremendously rude of her but she is deeply curious.

"I have another question. Please feel free not to answer, as I believe it to be somewhat nosy. I've heard rumors that you are a Forger, and rumors that you are an Enforcer, and... the occasional rumor that you've ruined your spirit by doing too much of both. But from the armor you wear today, it seems unlikely that you are anything but Forger, given the density, fineness and extensiveness of your armor. Do you have some — way of emulating Enforcement techniques with Forging? Is that even possible? Or are the rumours I've been hearing mere hearsay?" 

"Ah, I do not, I'm simply incredibly reckless. I have the assuredly brilliant and certainly not staggeringly unwise plan of mapping out exactly when the degradation sets in and stopping there, thus allowing myself more general capability than allowed to those more cautious. I focus nearly half as much on my Enforcement as I do my Forging. I would not, strictly speaking, recommend you try the same thing. The Heaven's Glory elder I met seemed certain the degradation had already set in and I was simply failing to notice. I consider that unlikely, as if he were correct his Forger techniques should have been noticeably better than mine rather than simply a hair greater than their equal. I consider the rumours I've ruined my spirit to be helpful, frankly, they keep any school from finding me a threat and barring me from their territory."

What he's saying is even mostly true.

She can't help it, she stifles a little laugh. That's just so ridiculous and yet it seems to be paying off for him. Clearly he's got some advantage or some knowledge — a master from one of the schools who knows the boundary better? A clever trick to be able to notice the degradation sooner? Something like that. But it would just be rude not to play along, so she nods and smiles. 

"Thank you for the information, Honored Jade. I promise not to follow your reckless example until I figure out how precisely you're getting that boundary so accurately. And of course, if you would like to tell me more about your Enforcement techniques I'd love to hear it."

"My theory is that I'm simply innately better than nearly anyone else at noticing the exact point something begins to change in my spirit, a belief which is certainly not suspect at all or the sort of thing a proverbial fool would say moments before receiving his deserved comeuppance."

A momentary pause again. And then, "You know, I think ice and sword madra in fact might get along somewhat with my Enforcer technique. Not well but enough to perhaps give you a few ideas. Why don't we head outside, it will be easier to demonstrate with a bit of space to move."

"Of course, Master Terem. You are beyond a doubt the most skilled sacred artist in this whole valley." 

She puts a teasing lilt into her tone, so anyone who overhears can tell she doesn't mean it seriously. One has to be careful as an unclanned artist. 

"But yes, I would love to see a demonstration!"

She gets to see a real life Jade in action! Not only that, she gets to see Terem in action! 

(And she might also learn something but that's honestly kind of a footnote.)

She takes a moment to center herself, and then stands and walks to the door at a normal and dignified pace rather than skipping, bouncing, or otherwise giving any sign of excessive excitement. 

(She knows she's not really fooling anyone after how excitedly she said yes, but it matters to her that she does not make a massive nuisance of herself to Terem. And a sacred artist must have her dignity.)

She's really cute but he absolutely does continue to have too much to do. Leaving her behind would be sad.

He thinks Yu would have liked her.

Would like her if they met. Not would have liked her. She's not gone, she can't be gone. He just has to keep looking.

He follows behind her, the little surge of emotion kept off his face. Outside the door is the village green, an area of fresh grass in the centre of town. He calls up his enforcer technique. In Meresankh's copper sight it extends a good few inches past his body, a diffuse cloud. But it's thick like a layer of thin water around his skin and armour. That's a bit more complicated than is typical even for an actual Enforcer, but then again he is a Jade.

"I think the way it works is best demonstrated rather than explained." He holds up an arm. "Try to punch my forearm?"

"Gladly!" 

And she settles into horse stance and throws a proper punch at Terem's forearm. He's a Jade, if she can punch him and have it actually hurt him that's probably because he messed up.

And the strike starts to deflect away inches from his armour as soon as it impacts the edge of that few inches of haze, a light touch shifting the direction of her fist just enough that the punch strikes his armour at a bit of an angle. When her fist comes into contact with the thicker madra surrounding his armour it deflects like it's hit something hard and slippery.

"And that's what it does defensively. Offensively it speeds my motions and reinforces my strikes. I don't know how well your madra will serve for speed or for the subtle deflection my technique provides farther out, but that harder deflection is likely something you can imitate. Ice is slippery and hard, after all, and what does one do with a sword defensively if not parry?"