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Cold and snowy it was, it didn't stop Sonya from doing forms outside. Evening was her favorite time, seeing the sunset by the lake with the snow: the cold and beauty of it kept her mind off her thoughts.

The bar didn't provide her with army PT gear, but the black track pants, t-shirt and grey sweatshirt were close enough. She intended to just use the gym below Bar, but the woods called to her more-more alive even in winter, more at peace, the sound of 'natural' white noise a sort of reassurance.

Coming to a clearing in the woods, she came to a halt, breathing deep and stretching her arms. Of the martial arts she's studied in the army, Kung Fu was the one she studied more for the art and less for combat. In her line of work, the style wasn't a practical, but the forms, the focus on a person's breath and energy. Sonya kept it as a way to focus herself rather then defend herself: hung gar being a preferred style.

Arms out, pulled to her waist. Strike with her right arm, then left, pull in again. Pull back, jump kick. Retaliate with a forward palm strike and front kick. Her eyes were open as she went with the motions, once more careful of her feet. One wrong move would send her on her ass-and in a fight, one wrong move could be fatal.

Breathing deep, she felt the power once more. At the tournament, Liu took her training to the next level, and with enough focus she could channel it once more to her arms. Coursing through her arms like electricity, she both felt and saw it through her arms, the faint pink energy that she learned to harness.

Breath in, breath out: focusing, she focused the power to her fists, holding them to her center. A look ahead saw a large stone, worn with age and weather. Focusing her power, she thrust her arms forward, sending a pink ring of chi energy directly towards her target. The power caused the stone to shudder and split into two.

Only then did Sonya allow herself to break form, suddenly realizing that even in the cold January are she was sweating. Damn, how bad was she out of practice.

ooc: catch her anywhere outside, feel free to have witnessed her manifesting her chi. Will be on and off slowtime until tomorrow evening.

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Olivier is coming in from the forest, a satchel of herbs at his hip and a dusting of snow on his hood and hair. He arrives just in time to see her break the stone, the pink light rippling. He stands a moment, awed and aghast.

She heard someone near her, the snow not quite muffling their steps. Displaying the power wasn't exactly something she meant to keep hidden, but after not knowing of magic in her own world, and then only having used it for a few months, it wasn't exactly something she bragged about.

Taking her hat off a moment, she turned to face her brother. "Hey...something I learned from another warrior at the tournament." His expression only told her that he saw, she might as well tell him.

"It is... magic?" He looks to her with new respect and wonder. "You can do such things?"

She shrugged, blowing on her hands. "I don't know if it's magic, exactly. It's..chinese mysticism-okay, yeah, it's a sort of magic." She couldn't really put it any other way. "Elder Chinese and the monks believe in the concept of 'chi', the energy that flows through living things, and when a person becomes ill it's because their chi's unbalanced."

Sonya moved so he would walk with her. "What I just did, was channeling my chi into a physical energy. Now, Liu Kang, the monk I learned the technique from, he's been studying and training way longer than I have with the techniques, his chi manifests into actual fire."

He calls in at her side, offering her his cloak. "It is most wondrous, wherever such a gift comes from. And you are mastering this art."

She shook her head. "Keep it, I can handle the cold better then you can." There's slight teasing in her voice.

"It's a necessity." Much as she'd agree with him, she didn't like the idea of having to rely on magic. "When you're up against warriors with supernatural powers, you need all the help that's offered."

"Mind walking inside with me, or you still need time gathering supplies?"

He ducks his head, aware of his own weakness to cold. "I would be very glad to go in with you. I have all I need for now."

"You worry you will have to fight such warriors again?"

For a moment, she looked sharply at him. "Worry..I know I will. Half those warriors are loyal to the emperor and I was on my way to escaping when I arrived. Fighting them off is inevitable."

She had to make herself stronger for that, to try and gain some edge.

Sonya walked with him, heading towards the back entrance of the bar. From their angle she could see the stables: the horses were taken care of for the day, but she made a mental note to check up on them later.

"There are rumors going around. The outworld tournament is just a set-up..plans of invasion keep going back and forth, and the guards are loose lipped in the dungeons." Boredom she figured, and the idea that most in the dungeon wouldn't live to tell anyway.

"You will be safe, will you not? As safe as you can be, my sister? If my sword at your side will be of help, you will have it." He promises resolutely.

{ooc: sorry, having major notif problems. I lost a whole lot, including this one.}

"They don't want me dead, so I'm safe on that account." She didn't bother hiding the bitterness in her voice. "Much as I'd love to use your sword, if I'm caught, they'd only confiscate it."

She knew, they took her other weapons as well. "When I have a chance to get out, I'd like to train with the sword a lot more. Much as I love my rifle, I don't like just sticking with one weapon."

They offered chances at the SpecWar school to learn multiple weapons, something she took advantage of.

"Perhaps then we may spar? Here when it is safe and time is not a cost to pay."

Athelstan emerges from the trees, a basket filled with mushrooms hanging from his arm, and stops to watch her.

His eyes widen at the manifestation of power.

In the winter weather, working up a sweat left her feeling colder fast then it warmed her up. She was ready to go inside when she saw him, the expression on his face telling her that he saw the whole thing. That she hardly told anyone of the Power wasn't out of a need to keep it secret, more she just didn't see the need to tell.

"Hey..something I learned from another warrior at the tournament." She looked at the mushrooms he was carrying. "For home or for Olivier?" Though she couldn't see why he'd need them-unless he wanted to add halucinagens to his list of remedies.

"For home. They're all familiar, and have no properties other than being good to eat." He hesitates, then asks, "Can anyone learn to do that?"

She smiled, blowing on her hands: he knew her enough to answer her unsaid question.

His next question settles the smile a little. "Don't know. Didn't even know I could until the tournament, Liu taught me so I could have an edge and as an extension of my training." She tried a better way to explain. "Learned meditation and breathing techniques in Special Forces..how to center one's self to not be distracted from physical pain."

They couldn't totally block it out, but they could disociate themselves from it. "They teach you anything like that in England?" It would certainly be a start.

"It wasn't called meditation, but I did learn certain ways to ignore distractions. A monk's life is not meant to be comfortable, and any way to more easily endure discomfort - cold, fatigue, aching muscles - is to be welcomed."

She nodded. "Mind if we continue this talk inside-I can ignore cold and manipulate my energy, but I'm still human," She gave him a small smile, putting her hat back on and walking besides him. "Been outside for an hour or so already."

Time for her to go inside.

"Of course", he says immediately, turning back towards the bar. "It is a very chilly night, besides."

She hurried with him to the back entrance of bar, checking in the direction of the horses. The weather being as it was, she'd exercised them earlier that day, but she made a mental note to check on them later.

Once in the main bar, she picked a seat close by the fire, wiping the melted snow from her hair and ordering a coffee. "Want anything?"

"A hot chocolate?" he asks hopefully, having got in the habit of having that, spiked or not, at every opportunity.

She let out a chuckle, but ordered him a mug just the same. "You're developing a sweet tooth here." She wondered if anyone told him about brushing one's teeth.

"Back to outside." She held her mug in both hands. "Chinese monks and the more traditional of the country believe in the concept of chi, the life force in a person. They believed that when a person was sick, it was because their chi was unbalanced-getting rest, a change in diet, medicine or meditation were ways to restore balance."

"What you saw...some monks turned it to a way of defense. Martial arts that focused on using one's breath to channel into attacks, others took it a step further, actually channeled their chi into a direct attack. I had to learn on the fly, but Liu Kang, he's been studying longer than I have. His chi actually manifests into into the form of fire."

"Those sound like sensible things to do if you're unwell", he observes, "whatever the reasoning behind it. And if your limited power can break a rock in two, I dread to think what he could achieve."

She shrugged. "Actually a full blast of power will only leave you stunned and unable to move for a few minutes." Humans were more flexible then stone, she figured that accounted for it.

She tried to think. "He's not one to show off or brag of his abilities, and he only used them in his bouts if he had no choice, so I couldn't really say."

"Why would he be reluctant to stun his opponents? Or... no, you said fire. Which behaves like any other fire?"

She nodded. "The fire would behave as any other fire. Outside of the tournament bouts he was in, Liu's not a violent person by nature." He was good enough that he could've been, but he still considered himself as a monk. "During the whole time, I think he was the only one in the group who never finished off his opponent, not even after knowing that the guards would kill them otherwise."

"At least he'd know he hadn't killed them, even if they ended up dead", Athelstan says softly. "It must have mattered to him a great deal."

"In a sense. From what he told me, centuries ago, the tournament was headed by the elder monks of his temple. Those competing did so as a way to settle feuds and differences. Sometimes there was killing to 'settle honor', but it was rare."

"Tsung participated and eventually won his way to becoming grandmaster. He saw the tournament as a way to collect more souls, and the of course when the monks saw Outworld wishing to take over.." She already told him the rest.

"He accepted the invitation to try and win the tournament back for his brothers."

And look where it got all of them.

Athelstan shakes his head.

"Of course they'd want to stop Outworld's ambitions... what happened to him?"

"He won the tournament, but..I heard from others saying that in retalition, Tsung orchestrated the massacre of Liu's temple-both as a warning and to bait him to participate in the Outworld tournament."

And even monks couldn't fight against blood thirsty warriors, especially not when half the number was old men and children. "He accepted the challenge. When the Emperor ordered the tournament, I saw him with my commanding officer and Johnny Cage."

"And then you were taken away to your cell?" he guesses quietly.

"No, the 'tournament' still had to go on." She said it as a sort of aside, as though it wasn't something she was forced to watch and do nothing. "When I arrived here, it was the second day of Kahn's tournament, the emperor recieved word that my friends visited my cell. They didn't have time to break me out, but he still saw it as a 'breach of hospitality."

"Hospitality", he says bitterly. "That would punish you so badly for such a breach."

"That was his reason." It made her nearly sick to say it. "But taking it out on a prisoner also sends a message of what he's able to do should they step out of a line."

She'd studied such tactics. Kahn may've been a brutish emperor, but she didn't doubt he knew psychological attacks just as brutal.

"When'd you want to start learning?" She went back to the original subject. "I can't say for certain if I could teach you to manipulate chi, but it couldn't hurt to try."

"Whenever would be convenient for you." He's always eager to learn new things, but not if it would put her out.

She thought a moment: being Bound, she had a better sense of schedule than he did in this place.

"Morning," She answered. "After work in the stables." They would start with meditations and forms first. Not exactly exerting, but it would leave the rest of the day for his duties back home.

"When's the trip to Upsala?" He did say she could go with him.

"We're preparing for it now. Packing the necessaries, including the offerings the townspeople want given to the gods on their behalf... perhaps a few days more, and then a few days in the journey."

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