Chapter 3.3: Training

Fa fa fa. Fingers thudded into the leather cushion. Shu shu shu. Hands whistled through the air. Kan kan kan. Feet shifted on the gravel. They moved through the pattern of 64 forms, fighting a battle with an imaginary opponent. The forms expanded into a great chrysanthemum flower, and then contracted into a circle of eight steps as the sun sank down the sky. The figure performing them staggered, stumbled; he bit his lip and moved on. At the end of that evening, when he could practice no longer, he collapsed in the center of the rings he had paced out, surrounded by a whirlpool of red---the marks from his ravaged, bleeding feet.

Innkeeper Lance was learning kung fu.