Chapter 22: In the Forest

I was a little unsure where I should start. Figuring that it was best to be safe, I decided to walk Lorraine through the process I had followed to get to where I had. I started out by explaining a little bit about my background and how I had gotten to War World, just in case there was something there that was important, and then talked her through the process I had followed. Lorraine picked up on it pretty quickly. It took her four attempts, but she managed to get a Sword Dance of her own started on her fourth attempt. She didn't keep it up for long; just long enough to be sure that she could do it.

"That's pretty amazing Cy," Lorraine said as she flopped down onto the grass.

"Ja. I thought so too," I answered with a smile. "I really wasn't sure that what I had done was anything really out of the ordinary, then everyone made a fuss, and now you picked it up within half an hour ... so I am really not so sure."

"I had a quick mental chat to Hand Evans after your demonstration earlier and he told me that I can explain some things to you that you couldn't know."

"That sounds intriguing?"

"Yes," she smiled, "it's not that interesting. Just that you are comparing your abilities to the people you have interacted with the most, your finger members and the various leader types. Not everyone is as talented. You and other members of your finger were identified by Marek and his crew as having a high aptitude, which is why you were grouped together."

"An aptitude for what exactly?"

"Maybe potential is a better word. Potential or aptitude for leadership, which in this place implies mental ability more than anything else. The physical is easy enough for the Sidhe to rectify."

"OK. So what exactly does that mean?"

"Just that there are not very many leader types. Very few have the mental aptitude. You've been taught about the structure we use. Why do you think we have no Officers and NCOs?"

"I had wondered about that. It seemed very strange to me. The Finger/Hand/Fist leaders seem to be a strange combination of the two. Half Officer and half NCO. Finger Roberts wouldn't go into much detail about it at all."

"Yes. In your second phase training you will learn a lot more about the practicalities of how things work at the levels above a Finger. The problem is that people with the ability to lead are scarce. Contrary to what you would know about a traditional army, we have only warriors. Everyone fights. What support we need we provide ourselves. The 'tail' functions are generally provided for us by the Sidhe in training, and by the local population out there in the world. You should know that everyone in your finger has been ear-marked for a leadership position. There are another two or three fingers in this group marked as well, although your finger has the members with the highest potential. The rest are most probably going to be warriors only. I think you will find that it is a lot more difficult to teach the Sword Dance to those without the same potential, and pretty much impossible to teach them what you have taught me today."

"That bears some thinking about. Do you think that someone without the mental aptitude could have the pace of their fighting training speeded up by the Sword Dance?"

"I think so. That we will have to find out."

I was thinking about this when I noticed Lorraine was looking at me slightly differently. it felt as if she had switched mental gears.

"What is it?" I asked her.

"Do you remember I made you a promise when we were in the shower?"

"Umm. Yes. You said that you would teach me about the more private aspects."

"Exactly." Lorraine stretched and it drew my attention to her body. "The finger you are in," she said, "is like family. Sex within the Finger is absolutely taboo. Worse than incest. We have found that it decreases a Finger's effectiveness and cohesion almost without fail. Other than that, there is no limit. No taboos except ones that squick the individual." Lorraine moved closer to me and reached out to touch my leg.

I found my body was reacting involuntarily to Lorraine. I had not been with any other woman since I had married my wife over twenty years before. Before I could say or do anything about what she was doing, she kissed me. I started to relax and return the kiss and brought my one hand around to caress her back and run my fingers through her hair.

"[{Amusement}]