What could the Academy teach someone who had handled a blade across two lives?
Lucavion let the question remain with him as students left the lecture hall around him, carrying Arcten's terminology into smaller arguments about household forms, regional methods and whether commitment deserved a more dignified name.
'A blade across two lives.'
The phrase flattered itself through a small dishonesty.
As Bruce, Lucavion had handled steel, and few people in his first world had understood its measure better. Years of fencing had refined his control over distance, timing and intention until fractions of movement separated a clean point from a wasted opening. Olympic competition had demanded discipline that most practitioners never approached, while victory required him to read an opponent, construct pressure and act within margins too narrow for conscious correction.
The rules had never made that skill false. They had made it precise within circumstances this world did not share.
