that. I was almost overpowering you for a while there, and then you just…”
“Technique is more powerful than muscle,” Sasha said simply. “If my technique is superior, my strength of muscle is irrelevant. Even Jaegar can't touch the svaalverd.”
Andreyis frowned. “So no non-svaalverd fighter even has a chance? Then how did the Saalshen Bacosh armies even take any losses in all those wars the Larosa launched against them?”
Sasha shook her head. “That's a different kind of fighting. The Bacosh wars are all armour and shields, huge formations of men with no room to swing. I wouldn't last a heartbeat in that kind of fight. You'd do better than me, probably. The Saalshen Bacosh armies are so formidable because they combine the best of human tactics and mass formations with serrin fighting technique and serrin steel and craftsmanship in weapons and armour.”
Andreyis just looked at her. It was a face that might have been handsome, were it not so familiar. Despite his eighteen summers, and the new strength of his jaw and brow, she could not help but notice the boyish ears that stuck out, or the reluctant nose. With his dark hair and funny dark eyes, he continued to look…well, puppyish. Sadly, many other girls in Baerlyn seemed to think the same. Those girls only flirted and giggled with the rough-and-tumble lads, and regarded a quiet, awkward, thoughtful boy like Andreyis with cool disdain or worse.
“Are you going to Petrodor with Kessligh?” he asked finally.
Sasha stared at him, incredulously. “And abandon Lenayin? What does Krayliss do when he arrives in Baen-Tar and discovers I'm not there? At least if I'm there, I can…I don't know. Try to keep him under control somehow. The man's only a hairsbreadth away from open treason.”
Andreyis stared at his boots. “I don't understand,” he said quietly. “I don't understand why Kessligh would leave.”
“That makes two of us,” Sasha said darkly.
“Is there…is there something in the Nasi-Keth beliefs that…I mean…” He seemed at a loss for words. Sasha knew how he felt. “So much of what the serrin think is so strange and…I don't know, maybe he has his reasons. Reasons we can't understand.”
“I'm Nasi-Keth,” Sasha retorted, “and I don't understand.”
“Aye, but you're not really Nasi-Keth.” Sasha frowned at him. Andreyis blinked. “Well, you are Nasi-Keth, but…but you're Goeren-yai first, aren't you?”
“The serrin don't think like that, Andrey. They can be many things at once, not like humans who can only be one thing at a time. The Nasi-Keth aren't a religion, they're just a collection of ideas and none of them are exclusive of other ideas. So most of the Petrodor Nasi-Keth are Verenthanes too—they practise serrin teachings, yet they pray to the Verenthane gods and hold temple communion like any Verenthane. So there's no reason a Goeren-yai can't follow serrin teachings…hells, a lot of Goeren-yai already do, sort of. Serrin have been coming here for centuries, they've left a lot of knowledge behind.
“But serrin don't have a religion. They don't believe just one thing. They…” Damn, she'd tried to explain this to various Baerlyners before, but it was difficult. Now, it seemed important to try…for herself, as much as Andreyis. “They have a way of thinking; they try to be rational. It's not that they don't believe in anything, they do…but that's the problem, they believe in everything. They don't go around saying this is impossible or that's impossible, like humans do. They accept everyone's beliefs because they know they can't disprove them. And anything you can't disprove is possible, right?”
Andreyis frowned for a moment, thinking that over. Proof. No Goeren-yai, and no Verenthane, ever thought of proof. The spirits, or the gods, didn't need to be proven, they just were.
“So if Kessligh's just being rational,” Andreyis ventured, “maybe…maybe he's right to go to Petrodor. Maybe he's just smarter than us, maybe he can see things we can't.”
“Aye,” said Sasha, nodding. There was a slow-burning fury inside, now that the shock had worn off. And it was building. “He's being a general. In the Great War he had to make nasty decisions—liberate some towns, leave others to die; keep some men in reserve, send others to die. Nasi-Keth teachings make him good at that. He's a rational commander. He didn't believe he was going to win a battle because the stars were in alignment, or because the priest gave him a holy blessing—he knew that it was up to him, and him alone, and he didn't just leave it to faith. That's why he