- - -

Karp pushed back her chair as she rose and left a half-eaten breakfast of eggs and shredded, boiled potatoes. She turned to the stairs that led to her inn room and hustled to the second-floor landing. The door next to hers opened, and her eccentric neighbor stepped out. Barp had arrived several months ago and spoke with a strange accent, ended almost every sentence with “ha ha” or “ho ho,” and continuously read from a tattered old journal. His name was also a little unusual. Usually, Barp was a woman’s name and Borp was a man’s name. According to Barp, he was from a small village in the Creeping Ice where names were different, but Karp had never met anyone else from the Lush Forest, Arid Desert, or Creeping Ice whose name violated the rule. 

Karp entered her room and refocused on the task at hand. She pushed her furniture to the room’s edges to give herself an area spacious enough to warm up. Then, she punched the air and breathed out, holding her right arm fully extended, her left arm close to her body. When Karp finished breathing in, she thrust her left arm forward, drew her right arm in, and quietly breathed out. Karp continued until her arms loosened and she no longer felt resistance from her muscles. She lifted her knee and kicked out to an imaginary opponent’s stomach. She brought her foot back to the floor. She lifted her right leg straight above her head and swung back toward the ground. Karp twisted her hips as she followed through and returned her foot behind her. Then, her foot looped in front with enough momentum to spin her entire body to face the opposite direction. Karp planted her left foot, dropped down, and used the back of her right leg to sweep the ground behind her. She finished the spin facing her original direction and rose into a defensive stance. This practice continued until she could complete the sequence without feeling any strain in her legs or lower back. Sweat rolled down Karp’s cheeks, and her breathing was labored by the time she finished preparing to face the man who had invaded her storehouse.

After waiting a minute to catch her breath, Karp drew her steel dagger from its sheath. She slid her leg forward, raised her hand to intercept any punches, and moved the knife toward her chin. The blade faced the floor in order for her to quickly thrust it toward the man’s neck or eyes. Karp balanced on the ball of her back foot so she could withdraw the left side of her body and counterstrike with her dagger if the man attacked with a weapon. Mentally and physically, Karp finished preparing to confront the stranger. Then, she shifted to her storehouse. 

Karp’s eyes darted to the cabinet where the man had been standing. She moved her stance to be able to intercept anyone coming from that direction. Surprise halted Karp, and she felt relief. No one stood near the cabinet. Karp distributed her weight evenly between the balls of both her feet and flipped the dagger from facing the floor to facing the ceiling, a defensive stance that would let her block if the man surprised her. Karp then stalked through the storehouse, searching for the stranger. She stopped, stood silently, and listened for any clue that she was not alone.