“And you have no such needs to fulfill by coming here?”

“No need to fish for compliments,” Jaime said with an easy grin. “It's not the same with us. We are brothers, no matter what, sharing the profession of arms as we do.”

“I share my profession with many people, but I would call few brother. Even friends among those rare men of true honor are uncommon.”

“Now you're trying to flatter me.”

“Certainly not. You need nothing to inflate your ego.”

“What!” Jaime raged, though his eyes showed the fury to be a sham.

“Calm yourself. A show of temper is uncivilized, but uncivilized you certainly are. That monstrosity of metal and plastic that you call a bow, for example. No civilizedman would use such a thing.”

Jaime was caught up in his friend's sportive mood. Years dropped away and cares were forgotten in favor of playful banter. “It's the product of the most advanced technology available to archers in the Inner Sphere. It's balanced, strong ...”

“It is dead.” Minobu dismissed the bow with a wave of his hand. “How do you feel the shot through all that lifeless hardware?”

“I don't have to feel it. The sighting equipment allows millimeter-precision in the aiming point. With this bow, an archer doesn't need any of your mystic nonsense about 'becoming one with the target.' And the pulley system will deliver more power than that bound bamboo longbow of yours.”

“Power? There is no power in that device.”

“Oh yeah? Watch this.” Wolf adjusted his bow's tension settings, selected an arrow, and sighted carefully on the target before releasing. The arrow buzzed through the air to bury its head more than seven centimeters into the solid backing of the target post. It stood out from the center of the inner ring, blue feathers gleaming against the golden shaft. Wolf turned to Minobu and grinned, clearly proud of his shot.

“A fine shot,” Minobu agreed.

Minobu selected one of his own arrows. He fitted it to the string, then stopped to concentrate for a moment. In that moment, he focused his ki,drew the bow and then loosed the arrow with a motion that was rapid but smooth. Stillness followed the brief flurry of motion; he held the release position until the arrow reached the target.

The arrowhead shattered Jaime's shaft and passed into the target's backing. Only the fletching remained visible in the target circle.

Jaime shook his head in disbelief. “Could you show me how to do that?”

“I have tried to show you the way, but you found the methods unacceptable.”

“You mean that business about shooting at a target only thirty centimeters away. That's pointless.”

“A man must walk before he can run.”

Jaime shrugged. Ignoring Minobu's disappointed look, he sent another arrow at the target. “At least you've had more success in teaching me Japanese.”

“You have the capability. It is simply a matter of focusing.”

“So you have told me often enough. Jaime Wolf, secret master of ki,”he said in mock seriousness, then laughed. “Guess I'm just too old a dog. You'll have to be satisfied being senseito Michi.”

Minobu took the time to loose another shaft before speaking. “Michi is a good aide, always trying hard to please. He has the heart of a fine samurai and shows great promise as a ‘MechWarrior, but his kiis as yet weak.”

“He will come into his own. The new generation always does.” Wolf selected an arrow for another shot. After he loosed, he said, “Kelly tells me that the Draconis Command has assigned you a BattleMech for a command vehicle.”

With his friend, there was no need to hide behind the impassive face a samurai must present to the world. Minobu let his pleasure at no longer being Dispossessed show in his smile. “It is true. A DRG-1N.”

“A Dragon!That's not your type of machine at all.”

“The type seems very unimportant to me right now. I have a 'Mech again and I have been restored to honor under Lord Kurita. I cannot be ungrateful by disputing the model selected for me.”

“Have you tried it out yet?” asked Jaime.

“Yes. It is very different from my old Panther,but then my position now is also different. I am adjusting.”

“Having problems feeling the shots through all that 'dead hardware'?” Jaime asked, waving his pulley bow for emphasis.

“A BattleMech is different.”

Minobu paused to consider. Jaime was a strategic and tactical genius, with the intuition and understanding of people required of a successful general. He was also a magnificent warrior, honed in the hard school of the Succession Wars for over twenty years. Despite all that, he was unable to grasp the core of the spirit of bushido,to appreciate the spiritual nature of the samurai's code.

“In the old days, a samurai's sword was his soul. It was a part of him, a channel through which his kicould flow. Today, we samurai of House Kurita carry the swords as symbols only. The BattleMech takes the place of the samurai's sword as the channel for a warrior's ki.A ‘Mech Warrior enters his 'Mech and almost literally becomes one with it. It is a symbiosis that an ancient samurai could never achieve with his sword.

“Not all warriors are samurai, to channel their kithrough their 'Mechs. Of those who are samurai, not all have 'Mechs that would seem to be the best match for them. Most often these assignments are arranged by unenlightened bureaucrats.

“The type of machine does not really matter. What really matters is the warrior who pilots the BattleMech. The warrior's spirit is the real strength, not the technology.”

Minobu looked into Jaime's eyes. He could read the lack of true comprehension, but a flare of appreciation showed. If Jaime could not understand, at least he respected the code and those who followed it. Jaime's own code might be different, but he still walked a path of honor and that was something Minobu respected. On that mutual respect, they had built their friendship. Devotion to honor had bound the two warriors, despite their different backgrounds and all that they could not know or understand about one another.

“As to a 'Mech matching its pilot,” Minobu said, “look at yourself. An Archerwould not seem the best choice of BattleMech for the commander of the largest and most successful mercenary unit in the Inner Sphere.”

“You might be right on that. Certainly, there have been times when I would have liked something tougher or faster. It's a matter of prestige. The Dragoons have a lot of Archers,all of them our special model. It's almost a signature machine. Seeing me pilot one gives the troops an identification with their commander.

“That's something to keep in mind now that you are a commander.”

“So ka.Now you become the sensei.”

“No,” Jaime said, shaking his head. “No, I'm not a teacher. I'm a doer. There's too much action out there. Too much to be done. Maybe you'll get a little friendly advice from time to time, like just now, but I can't be your teacher.” Something had entered Jaime's voice, a hint of yesterdays passed. “The battlefield is the real sensei,the only way to learn to command.”

“If you truly believed that, your Dragoons would not maintain the Training Command with the regimental instruction programs.”

“Not so. Some things can be learned in practice. Mustbe learned. Your own kyudoart demands constant practice. So do any warrior skills.

“Command is more than just another skill. You can't train a man to make command decisions in split seconds and live with the consequences. A man has to learn that for himself. If he takes too long to learn or he fails to see that he never will learn, good people die. And he still has to live with that.” Wolf stopped and took a deep breath. He seemed to come back to himself and to the present. “Touche, Minobu. You got your lecture from senseiWolf. But by the look in your eyes, I don't think I told you anything you didn't already know.”