The training began before dawn the next morning. Sarhita woke him from his guest quarters—a comfortable room carved into the stone near her father's dwelling—while the settlement still slept and the desert air held its brief coolness.
"Come," she said simply. "We begin."
She led him to a training ground near the river, a flat expanse of packed sand surrounded by natural rock formations. The space was clearly ancient, worn smooth by countless feet over countless years. Weapons racks lined one side, holding an array of blades, staves, and implements Jorghan didn't recognize.
