Rezkin furrowed his brow. “You do wish to be a soldier, do you not? You need to learn the sword. Ideally, I would start your training with other Skills, but the voyage will be short, and you have little time. Come. We can spend a couple of hours before lunch working on basic techniques.”

“You’re going to train me? Are you any good?” Tam asked. Obviously, he knew Rezkin carried swords, but he had never seen the young warrior actually use them.

Rezkin shrugged. “Compared to what?”

“I want to learn,” Frisha interrupted.

Rezkin was surprised but pleased. He appreciated that the woman wished to learn one of the important Skills that so many outworlders seemed to take for granted. If Frisha learned to protect herself, then it would make his job much easier.

He smiled in approval, and it somehow felt less forced than usual. “That is excellent, Frisha. You will come as well, then.”

“What? You can’t use a sword, Frisha,” Tam objected. “It’s dangerous, and you could get hurt.”

Frisha placed her hands on her hips and turned to Tam in challenge, “I can certainly learn to use a sword as well as you. Besides, I think the idea is that I can learn to protect myself, so I don’t get hurt.”

Tam frowned and turned to Rezkin. “Don’t you have some kind of rule about this? You seem to have rules about everything else.”

Rez nodded. “Of course, let me think … Rules 47, 96, 164, 233, and 239 should be sufficient,” he said as he ticked them off on his fingers.

“There, see,” said Tam.

Frisha pursed her lips and scowled at her young companion. “And, what are all those rules, then?” she asked irritably.

“Have the necessary Skills for the task, always be prepared, do not depend on others, you are the weapon, and protect yourself before others to the exclusion of Rule 1,” he recited by rote.

Frisha turned to Tam with a smug grin, “See? He supports me.”

Shocked, Tam exclaimed, “Rez, you were supposed to back me up!”

Rezkin shook his head. “If Frisha is willing to learn the Skills, then it is my duty to help her to do so. To actively try to prevent her from learning the Skills would mean that you are hindering her in growing to her full potential. Consider this. If you prevent her from learning to protect herself and she dies when she might have been able to save herself otherwise, then you have effectively killed her.”

Tam’s face paled. “I-I never thought about it like that.” He glanced back and forth between Rezkin and Frisha. “Very well. Just … please don’t let her get hurt.”

“If she gets hurt, then she will learn her lessons more quickly. But, since there are no healers aboard, you will both have to strive to adhere to Rule 6.”