A Warrior's Path (The Castes and the OutCastes) by Davis Ashura Page A

like that.  While he might have been similarly worn down by his time outside Ashoka, Nanna was still bright and cheerful.  Even with over twenty years of marriage behind them, Nanna could still make Amma smile with just a word and a glance; implying a hidden meaning only the two of them understood.  Mira wanted the kind of closeness her parents shared, and she doubted she would have it with someone like Rector Bryce.
    After the Guard patrol passed by, Mira was able to quickly make her way through the Kubar, exiting back into the warm sunlight. In the hazy distance, she saw the thin line representing the Outer Wall: the even more massive fortification bordering the very edge of Ashoka’s Oasis.  The Kubar Road continued on past the Inner Wall, still wide and true, and Mira continued on it for another few miles.  By then, most of the other travelers had already dispersed, and when she took a turnoff onto a narrow track, a path paved in gravel and barely wide enough for a single wagon, she traveled alone.
    She was out amongst Ashoka’s farms .  They took up all the space between the city’s two walls and were already verdant under the influence of the warm, spring weather.  The air was filled with the pungent smell of turned earth, manure, and hay. Gentle, rolling hills were etched in straight rows of green: wheat and soybeans, the first crops of the season, though it would still be a few months before they were ready for harvest.  The temperate climate of Ashoka allowed for three growing seasons.  One of the most important crops, though, wouldn’t be planted until well into the heat of the summer: the city’s famed spidergrass.
    Since metals of any kind were scarce in all the Oases, and any ore mines were inaccessible thanks to the Queen, people had to rely on other material s with which to make products requiring strength and hardness.  For the most part, they had turned to ironwood and spidergrass, a thin, reedy type of grass with a green blade so dark as to be almost black in color.  Despite its slender appearance it was tough and grew to over six feet in height, capped by a brilliant orange, feathery tassel.  Over time, the Muran farmers had developed several different strains of spidergrass, each one useful in a different way.  The mericene cultivar was used for tools such as wagon axles, nails, and hammers whereas the japchin was shaped into spears and arrows – shaft and tip – as well as armor.
    A very special and rare variety, the sathana , was used for swords.
    Mira had once seen the making of such a blade.
    It had been the work of a Duriah smith, which was only to be expected given their Talent.  Just as no other Caste could compare to Kummas when it came to battle, Duriahs were experts in their own fields: they were unmatchable artisans.  Through their ability to Cohese, Duriahs could work with various objects and substances, transforming them into something more useful.  They had developed an innate understanding of materials and manufacturing and had become experts in the creation of everything from wagons to fine furniture to retaining walls.  Even the alchemy needed in the careful mixing of various ingredients within a glass vase until it glowed like a firefly – the eponymously named firefly lamp and the most common means of lighting throughout the world – was a skill only the Duriahs possessed.
    In the case of the sathana sword, the Duriah smith had Cohesed hundreds of strands of spidergrass into a thick block, a spibar.  Afterward, he had hammered the spibar flat and folded it onto itself before gently heating it, using Jivatma to make sure it didn’t burn.  Then came more hammering and heating. More hammering and heating.  The Duriah had kept at it for hours, forcing out all air, water, and other impurities from within the spibar.  When he was done and had forged the spidergrass block into the shape of a blade, he had then carefully glazed it with a thin, translucent layer of