The days that followed the transfusion were a period of awkward adjustment. The power dynamic in the small safehouse had been irrevocably altered.
Kiera, once the apex predator, now moved with a quiet, weary caution. Ryu, once the fragile victim, now possessed a nascent, stable power that hummed with potential.
Their training resumed, but it was completely different.
Kiera could no longer rely on her overwhelming physical and energetic superiority. When she sparred with Ryu now, she had to rely on pure technique, on her years of experience and her deeper understanding of strategy.
She was still the better fighter, by a wide margin, but she could no longer afford to be careless. A single, well-placed, energy-infused block from Ryu could now sting, and could throw her off balance.
For Ryu, it was a revelation.
His body was no longer at war with itself. The stimulant Joric had given him was no longer necessary.
He could access the calm 'center' with relative ease, and from there, he could begin to truly explore the 'river' of energy within him.
It was a small river, a mere trickle compared to the ocean of power he had once been drowning in, but it was his to command.
"Your foundation is Azure Dragon," Kiera explained, her voice tinged with a new, academic patience.
"You have my 'blueprint,' so you will learn our clan's methods faster than any outsider. But the energy itself... it's different. It's more... fundamental."
She was right.
When Ryu channeled his power, it was the color of her clan, but it felt different. It was wilder, more elemental.
He began to practice the simple energy manipulation exercises Kiera had once performed with ease. He learned to create a sustained globe of light, to project a small, kinetic burst of force, to create a thin, shimmering shield of energy.
Each success was a hard-won victory, each failure a lesson in focus and control.
The most unsettling part of their new reality was the 'echo,' the permanent link between them.
If Ryu grew frustrated during training, Kiera would feel a spike of irritation in the back of her own mind.
If Kiera's grief for her brother surfaced late at night, Ryu would feel a wave of inexplicable sadness.
They had become unwilling participants in each other's emotional lives.
It was an intimacy neither of them had asked for, and it was both a source of new understanding and profound discomfort.
One evening, as they were meditating, a core tenet of Azure Dragon training, Ryu spoke without opening his eyes.
"I'm sorry," he said.
Kiera opened her eyes, looking at him. "For what?"
"For your power," he replied. "I can feel what you lost. It's like a missing limb."
Kiera was silent for a moment.
"It was my choice," she said, her voice soft.
"And I did not lose it. I invested it. Now, stop talking and focus. Your control is still sloppy. The river is calm, but you are still splashing around in the shallows."
The words were sharp, but the bite was gone.
The dynamic between them was no longer mentor and student, or warden and prisoner. It was something new.
They were two warriors, one with immense skill but diminished power, the other with immense potential but limited skill.
They were partners, bound by a shared secret, a shared enemy, and a shared soul.