31ish

Vedek spat blood onto the rock, and pushed himself up. The blow to the head was still ringing through his skull, and he shook his head to clear it. He rolled onto his back just in time to dodge the end of the staff that came crshing down on the stone where his head had been. He leapt to his feet and whirled around, delivering a solid blow to the back of his opponent. The breath was driven from the other boy’s lungs with a gasp, and a second blow to the back of his knees brought him to the ground in his turn. Vedek struck him a quick light rap to the skull, and his opponent lay unconscious in the dust.
“Alright, that’s enough. I think you’ve adequately proved your skills, Vedek. Go wash up.” Herl Odom’s voice cut through the dust that floated in the air, and Vedek turned to face the fighting master. “I can do more. Send me another opponent.”
“No, boy, that’s enough. Look at you, you’re letting your rage out. You beat Gonel because you are more skilled, but had you been equally matched, he would have defeated you easily. Keep yourself cold. You simply care too much. Let it be.” Herk turned to the other sparring novices, and called a halt to their exercises. “Enough for today! You’ll be late for your lunch if you don’t hurry and get cleaned up. Will someone make sure that Gonel sees a medic when he wakes up? Good.”
Vedek was halfway down the hill, but Herk caught up to him easily. “Hold up, boy, I think we need to talk. You’re going to get yourself killed before you take your first vows.”
The black haired boy stood seething quietly, and the novice master lowered his voice. “I know that you think this physical realm is deplorable, and that you wish to be free of it, but this is not the way. You give it power over you by caring so much about how much power you can have, how many of your fellow novices you can send to the medics. I told you earlier; you care too much. Let it go.”
“Like you?” The novice spat. “You’re out of breath in a ten minutes’ march, you’d never survive a battle. You go over to the women’s quarters as often as your can, and goodness knows how many of the brats running around are yours. You revel in this filth like a hog in a sty!”
Herk roared with laughter, as he grabbed the collar of Vedek’s tunic. “Revel in it? Why not? This is not me, this body is not my soul. Nothing of this physical realm can leave with my soul when it goes. You care far more about the food, the women, and the children than I! I do not even know if I have used the same woman twice! The dersires are part of this world, and they remain there. And you, you who care so much about your body, and where others’ bodies are, claim to be disconnected?”
The novice ripped himself away, and continued back down to the beach; his heart burned now with a secret joy. This was it. The records available to the Historians had mentioned apostasy among the priests at this time, due to increased interaction with the Astaldi, and here was the novice master admitting it! This could be the foothold he needed. The cleansing of the order was perhaps a year away, and he would make sure that he allied himself with the winning side. He cursed again the lack of reliable records from this period; he waded into the surf, and began splashing the salt water on his body to wash away the dust and blood.

Vedek was not in the habit of listening to the conversation of the other novices; he had, however, noticed that such conversation seemed to be more common in this age than in many of the others he had visited. But this morning, he let his own thoughts fall silent for a few moments and listened. The chatter in the hall felt deafening, thought it did not even compare to the noise in the market place in Leti. The only conversation he could hear clearly came form the two novices seated next to him.
“Did you see the new boatload of women brought over from Ersa? They’re almost all redheads.”
“Bestre took his final vows yesterday. He stayed awake for five days in the master’s hall before they finally gave him his rank. They were unsure about his commitment and wanted to be sure that he was ready.”
“I bet you ten setres that I could go six days.”
“you wouldn’t last more than three.”
“Did you hear what Herk said yesterday?” Vedek’s ears rpicked up at this. “I was standing on one of the cliffs, you know, where you stand with your back to the sea, and hang on with just your toes? I had been standing that way for about an hour or so when he came walking by. He stood there for a minute, just watching in that way that he does, where you’re not sure if he’s luahging at you or not, then he just said, ‘You care an awful lot about your body for someone whos going to be leaving it in a few decades.’ Then he just walked away.”
“I’ve heard him say things like that a hundred times when he’s trying to get us to loosen up and really fight. It’s just talk.”
The other young man shook his head and quickly swallowed a spoonful of broth. “No, I don’t think so. I spent a lot of time thinking about it yesterday. You know how it is, you crave something—say a piece of meat, or one of the new redheads in the women’s quarters—so badly that it takes up your mind, and almost brings you to your knees. We’ve always been told that the only way to rid ourselves of those desires is to separate ourselves form them. But if you had had that roasted piece of meat, say, or been with the girl, the desire would be satiated, and you would be calm and no longer troubled by it.”
The first young man shook her head slightly, ripping off a chunk of hard bread with his teeth and chewing loudly. “No, I don’t think so. You’re going to end up keeping your spirit earth-bound, and then where will you be?”
“What does the body have to do with the spirit? It’s not like I’m taking this thing with me.” The two young men finished their meals, and got up from the table, still debating the point spiritedly. Vedek did not attempt to follow them; he had heard enough. Herk’s influence was spreading throughout the novices, and beginning to corrupt them. He smiled inwardly as he pushed his bowl aside, and began making his plans. The reckoning would come soon, and he must be in a position to gain power, or he would find it difficult to capture the Suktisian girl. With every life her consciousness became more valuable; every experience increased its worth. It was worth taking time to capture.