Chapter 30: Training Montage

The next day, before dawn, I was woken roughly by Cort and summoned to Gleeson’s office. As we walked through the almost completely black halls of the arena substructure, I tuned out his threats and bragging about how I was about to be thrown out to the streets for insubordination and assaulting a superior officer and, instead, I focused on praying, quickly, to Bambinae. The power I felt flow into me was stronger than ever before. Letting it build up over a day or so without using more than a trickle seemed to allow the Goddess to flood my ‘batteries’ more easily and, I imagine that the pledges made by the Firespit clan were also helping on that note too. I felt better as we ascended the tower which overlooked the arena floor because, with Bambinae behind me, I could handle whatever Cort had planned.

Gleeson was sitting in an office with the door open, reading some documents by rush light as the sun had yet to rise. It was clear he was still settling in to his new space as various boxes of reports were spread around in the process of being organised. The dwarf waved us in and I was surprised to see he was already in his armour, which still looked to me like someone had carved the dwarf out of a solid block of steel.

Cort saluted and I followed with my own as the dwarf slowly finished reading before moving the parchment to the side.

“Blade Warden Cort. You have an induction report for me.”

“Yes, Sir.” The man had the discipline to maintain a neutral expression towards the Platinum Blade who had taken his job but, instead, glanced hatefully at me. “The recruits are soft, insubordinate and unsuitable for our company. I have already had to discipline recruit Mathew here for assaulting an officer. The recruit Lauraphine was seriously injured from a mere light sparring and the two elves didn’t have the constitution to withstand our basic induction.”

I was not surprised Cort was spinning the situation to paint us in a bad light. But once again, he didn’t know that I wasn’t just a kid. He also didn’t know Gleeson and I had history.

Gleeson, for his part, raised an eyebrow at the Blade Warden’s accusations. “He struck you? During training?”

“He grabbed me from behind and threw me to the ground as I was encouraging Initiate Asha. I provided him with seven lashes as punishment.”

I bit my tongue at that. He was a sadistic marksman with the whip, managing to strike the same place with brutal, well-practiced accuracy. Out of the thirty lashes, he’d only left seven marks; of course he’d claim it was a lesser amount.

Gleeson looked at me with a raised eyebrow, as if he knew that it wasn’t the full story. But I was thinking about repercussions. As a younger man, I would have sought revenge, leveraged my favour with Gleeson and exposed Cort as a sadistic bastard. But that came with its own problems and I didn’t need more enemies. Cort would never be a friend, but I could do without him wanting me dead.

“Recruit? What do you have to say for yourself?”

I took a breath.

“The Blade Warden is correct about everything he has reported regarding my insubordination. I acted rashly and without consideration for the harsh combat conditions he was trying to simulate. I will trust his training in the future. However, it is my humble opinion that we can be taught to fit into this command and with the Blade Warden’s expert instruction, can become useful assets to the Blades of Mondarin.”

Gleeson stared at me with a sort of smirk, surprised that I would capitulate after such an erroneous description of our first day. He took a moment to think, and then moved on.

“Hmmm, well then, what about the recruit Lauraphine? She was injured in basic training? What do you have to say in defence of that?”

I nodded. “The injury seemed worse than initially feared. I believe that only a day’s rest will be required; then she will be able to fight again.”

Cort snorted. “That’s wishful thinking at best.”

Gleeson shot Cort a look, who immediately snapped back to attention. The dwarf looked over the two of us and then sat back in his chair.

“Blade Warden Cort, your new recruit here seems to be remorseful and desires to continue under your ‘expert training’. Lauraphine can have 24 hours of infirmary rest, and if she can fight tomorrow, then she can stay. Boy, you and the other three recruits will be given the rank of Initiate and this is the last time any sort of insubordination will be tolerated. Do I make myself clear?”

I nodded and saluted. “Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir.”

Gleeson looked at us both with a tired expression. “Blade Warden Cort, I will personally discuss the expectations of our company with Initiate Mathew here. I did not get the opportunity yesterday, for obvious reasons. He will meet you for the start of training by seventh bell, properly reprimanded and appropriately re-educated. You are dismissed.”

Cort saluted Gleeson and left, shooting me a malicious smile as if Gleeson’s statement had triggered some sort of expectation within him. I relaxed considerably as he left the room.

Gleeson motioned to a chair that sat opposite the desk and I took it gratefully, sitting gingerly to protect my wounded back.

“So…?”

“Cort is a sadistic bastard who used his position of power to demean the girls, beat them and deliberately injure them. He actually broke Laura’s collarbone, AFTER she had yielded to him in a sparring match. I’ll need to heal it properly after we speak here. I took thirty lashes, not seven, and that was because I stopped him from punching Asha in the face when she collapsed from exhaustion.”

Gleeson nodded. “I expected as much. I’ve never met the man before yesterday, but Thorpe told me there was a reason he was holding off promoting him to his second. Until two nights ago, he didn’t have any other options.” The dwarf took a deep breath in. “It seems that I have broken my vow to protect you from harm…”

I shook my head. “I released you from that oath, and swore I would not be paid twice for the same work. And, you had no way of knowing that a man like Cort had joined the company since you left.”

He nodded appreciatively and that gave me the chance to ask a question that had been bugging me for a few days.

“Can I ask why you left the Blades? You obviously command Thorpe’s highest respect and, correct me if I’m wrong, I recognised his shock when you called him ‘Sir’. You once commanded him, right?”

The dwarf chuckled to himself. “You know, I know you’re an older man, but it’s strange seeing such insight in such a young body. You can understand why I’m jealous? I can only imagine the ability to have the strength of my youth with the knowledge and wisdom I possess now. It’s almost as big a boon as your blessings from Bambinae.”

I agreed with him, then realised the deflection. “Nice try, Sir, but you didn’t answer the question.”

Gleeson sighed. “Mathew, you’ve heard about what Arnias is doing. When things started going south, I was the Commander of the Blades here. I was awarded the position due to some particularly harrowing campaigns I led in my younger days. But after a good career and integrating the Blades here into the judicial fabric, the local Iron Shield chapter began pressing for greater control. Lord Secondus was sceptical about the Iron Shield’s intentions, but his son Arnias shared their hatred of mages. When Secondus died, Arnias started changing things and making decrees that I couldn’t abide. I pushed back hard against the injustices to the point that my position became politically untenable. There were several unsuccessful assassination attempts from Arnias’ wet boys that I simply put up with, but after one that missed me and claimed the life of a young recruit, I resigned. I disappeared into obscurity to protect the Blades and avoid any claim that I was controlling things from the side. Commander Thorpe was my second at the time and made an excellent successor.”

I thought about this. “So that’s why he came at a moment’s call? Because you had vanished without a trace?”

“He begged me to stay. We were good friends, the best. But for him to lead properly, he needed to be out from under my shadow. I had to make a clean break.”

I chuckled, “And no-one knew you were making food in the Steel Flagon all this time?”

He rolled his eyes. “It’s not hard to blend in when you work from dawn till dusk in a kitchen. Theran made sure the Blades didn’t know where I was.”

We sat for a moment as I absorbed this information. I didn’t ask about his platinum blade; I could guess that it was an uncommonly high rank above gold. At last, I asked the only other question I needed to.

“So how did yesterday go?”

He sighed. “Well, we caught two men wanted for the rape and murder of a young woman a month back. It caused great anguish in the city at the time; she was well liked. They fought their arrest and were killed in the scuffle. News of their deaths appeased the population somewhat, made them feel the checks were worth it. Before that, there was a lot of grumbling, but nothing else came of the paper checks. The Watch Captain argued a lot with an Iron Shield Knight who seemed in charge of the whole thing. Your old ‘friend’ Gregory, I believe. There was a fair bit of heated back and forth, but they obviously…” he looked at me pointedly, “…didn’t find who they were looking for. Apparently, they are leaving an Iron Shield Knight on gate duty for the next week. Paper checks for all incoming and outgoing traffic for the duration.”

“At least there won’t be a caravan tomorrow.”

Gleeson nodded. “Checks on their own are fine. It’s standard practice for when you have the need to shut a city down. But doing it on a caravan day is just daft.”

I stood. “Well, I don’t want to give Cort a reason to act against us, I’d better get to training. I’ll heal Laura’s shoulder and get the twins onto the field.”

The dwarf nodded and stood. “I can see you pandering to Cort. He thinks you’re just some weak kid and I see the wisdom in not upsetting him. But, there is something wrong about that man. It’s clear he despises you four, so it’s not going to be easy.”

I shook his hand. “I understand. Nothing in life is.” And, with that, I was dismissed to return to the infirmary.

I got back before seventh bell, woke the twins and Laura, and healed the knight’s shoulder without much effort. I’d set her clavicle yesterday, so I only needed to promote the bone growth and knit the muscles back to it properly. And due to my prayers earlier, I had the power to do it with some to spare. Asha and Erica also got their wounds mostly healed and I aided the muscle tears that they had sustained in the previous day’s training. Considering how their muscle density improved with the healing, I could see them becoming very strong, very quickly if I repeated this process every morning. Of course, they would need protein to convert into muscle, but if they could eat well, they could gain returns for their exercise daily. As for myself, my wounds on my back were painful, but weren’t bleeding anymore, and my joints and muscles were back to 100%. The wound in my shoulder from the bandit’s arrow was almost completely healed. I was good to go. So, after a quick breakfast and wash, we were back out on the arena floor, minus Laura.

The training was gruelling. Not just for us, but for all the Blades. The focus required to train for so long was insane. Of course, my musical training at the University back on Earth had required long focus and discipline, with hours of repetitive and almost nauseatingly boring repetition, but the physical requirement here added a layer which I’d only experienced the previous day and I was glad of the discipline I’d fought to build as a young man. Even my martial training on Earth never got to this level. Our induction training had been overwhelmingly severe, but Cort’s treatment of the other white blades wasn’t too far off the way he had treated us. The men were worked hard, but it was clear he had a particular dislike for women. The bastard held everyone to the same physical standard but when a man didn’t meet it, he was yelled at. When one of the women didn’t meet it, the slurs and sexualised language came out and he degraded them in front of everyone.

When we were finally allowed a respite for lunch, we were led into the mess and the blades all ate together, except for Cort who took his food elsewhere. A woman and a man, both in their twenties, took their seats opposite me at the table where I sat with the two elves either side.

“Brendon and Rio,” stated the man. He had long brown hair and dark, almost jet-black skin, very different from the humans that I had seen around here, who mostly seemed to be a mixture of fair-skinned and olive-tanned. The woman was the same, and they bore a striking resemblance to each other. I figured they must be brother and sister. Both bore a wide, friendly smile which was instantly endearing and, reading their body language, they were genuinely happy and interested to meet us. Each of them had a copper sword sewn on their shirt sleeve, which I had seen others wear, but only copper and silver. It seemed you only bothered stitching your clothes after you graduated from white.

“Asha, Erica and Mathew,” I responded, indicating each of us in turn. “We’re new.”

“We gathered,” said Rio, smiling. “I noticed you coming in the night before last, but there were four of you then?” Her accent emphasised the second syllable in each word and her ‘th’ sounded more like a ‘d’. I was reminded of an eastern African accent, which at least paired logically to my Earth-based experience with their appearance.

Erica nodded. “Our friend Laura was injured during her induction training. Platinum Blade Gleeson gave her 24 hours in the infirmary.”

The siblings’ faces darkened. “Cort?” the brother spat, making his disdain for the man well known.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “But she’s tough, she’ll be ok tomorrow.”

I saw the look that passed between them; it was one of concern. Rio spoke quietly, “He is going to be a mkundu to everyone in training for a long time. He was convinced he was going to be promoted to Thorpe’s second.”

I wondered if there wouldn’t be a better option. “He’s not even the highest-ranking Blade here.”

Rio shook his head. “The Blades of Mondarin are specific in their promotions and rankings. There are some Gold Blades who are exceptional swordsmen and swordswomen, but they aren’t leaders or managers. Cort has experience in strategic resource management. He already co-ordinates the bounties, guard rotations and city watch substitution roster. And his battlefield strategies are exceptional. The mpuuzi is actually good at it. From a purely strategic point of view, he was the obvious choice.”

Her brother continued, “Then came this dwarf out of nowhere. A platinum blade! No-one has ever seen a platinum blade here.” His voice was full of wonder and surprise. There was obviously a reverence there for what the rank represented.

An older man stepped over the bench seat and took a place beside Rio. “Not quite correct.” he whispered as he leant forward. “A few of us are old enough to remember when Platinum Blade Gleeson ran the Blades in Westfall.” He nodded to a table of older men and women who sat together in the corner. It was then that I realised that they were mostly silver or gold blades and all of them had some sort of markings around their swords. I’d not noticed any of the others salute this man, and he didn’t look like he expected it, so I just gave him a nod of acknowledgement as the others looked on, stunned.

At their astonished faces, the grey-haired veteran looked conspiratorially around, but the sparkle in his eyes told me it was in jest.

“It used to be Commander Thorpe who was Gleeson’s second. The two were long-term comrades in arms. But shortly after Lord Secondus died, Gleeson disappeared. Just like that; one day he said he was leaving and that Thorpe would be our new Commander.”

I examined the man closely as the four others registered the new information with varying levels of surprise. He had silvered hair, white and grey in places, with portions of bronze and copper coloured strands poking through, even a touch of almost gold-blonde from what I imagined would have been his younger years. He was human, but I couldn’t tell whether his apparent age was due to his weathered face and scars, or because he was actually old. I studied his face as he enjoyed the reaction he was getting from the others; he had old eyes. I would have placed him easily in his mid-fifties and, were it not for his bulk and frame, I would have added twenty years to that.

The brother and sister looked on in shock. Brendon whispered in an awed voice. “What did he do to be awarded the platinum blade?”

The older man shook his head, grinning. “I don’t know for sure. But rumours were he single-handedly killed a dragon, whilst being turned to stone by a gorgon and poisoned by a purple-worm.” 

The twins and Brendon were speechless and Rio could only sneak out a gasp. “Jamani! Really?” gasped the dark-skinned young woman.

“And it all happened whilst they fell through the sky into the caldera of an active volcano?” I added sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

“…underwater volcano,” added the man, raising a finger in correction, “in the elemental plane of acid.”

The others chuckled, finally getting the joke. I extended my hand. “Mathew.”

“I know.” The older Blade nodded, taking my hand but not introducing himself. “Good job yesterday. From what I hear, you survived Cort’s childish tantrum and ingratiated yourself with the command structure. Wish Laura a speedy recovery for me.”

There was something there. I saw it, and knew it was a hidden message, but I couldn’t tell what this message meant. Luckily, Asha asked the inevitable question so I didn’t have to.

“Wait, how do you know Laura? How do you know Mathew?”

The man smiled and winked at her knowingly. He met my gaze and we shared an understanding as he stood to re-join his table. The message was clear; the old guard did their homework on the new recruits. A sort of mentorship or unofficial quality control and support system that the older members ran to ensure their order was how they liked it. At least, I thought I understood him; I thought that was what was going on.

Until he clapped a hand on my shoulder and spoke softly so only I could hear.

“You’ll blend in better if you stop acting your age.”

What the actual fuck?

The next week was spent in equal parts agony and exhaustion. Cort worked all the white blades half to death in training. His go-to tactic was to destroy everyone with intense cardio and conditioning before picking apart their sword work and formation drills that he made us practice whilst exhausted. As a teacher, I knew that this kind of training worked; deficiencies show clearest when you are exhausted. My old sensei did the same thing back on Earth and it yielded great results. Where they differed was their attitude towards the students’ successes and failures. I remembered one belt grading on Earth, when I was in my early thirties, where my instructor had worked me to the point of physical and emotional break and, at the end, when I was too tired to stand or speak, the man held me up as I cried in pain from the training he’d put me through. His eyes were proud and blinking back his own tears as he knelt and put on my new belt, discarding the old one that was covered in blood and sweat. We were brothers in this. He had pushed me to my limit so that he could show me what I could become and he supported me when I was nearly broken by the experience.

There was no such camaraderie here. Cort’s aim was to simply break us every day. No care for the ones who fell to the sand when muscles wouldn’t continue. No rest days to allow tissue to regrow. No encouragement to push a little further. Just day after day of verbal abuse for success and physical abuse for failure.

The newest white blades had been formed into their own unit. There were ten of us, ranging from recruits with a few months’ experience to the twins and me, who had merely a few days. We stuck close to each other, sharing meals and sleeping in the same area of the barracks. The copper and silver blades were organised into their own training routines and led by a combination of high silver and gold blades overseen by Gleeson. And when Gleeson was on the sand, it was hard to concentrate on anything else. The man fought silver or gold blades four at a time and never lost a bout. He moved with grace that far exceeded the expectations of his stocky build. The dwarf was a machine. But most importantly, he never belittled his opponents or abused them when they failed. He gave instructions clearly and corrected little pieces of technique and then gave encouragement and praise when the blades applied the instruction correctly.

As a teacher myself, I could appreciate the pedagogy, and the difference between him and Cort was palpable. Speaking of Cort, he never took the opportunity to spar with the Dwarf like the other silver blades. Not even once.

Whenever Cort disappeared, Brendon would take time away from his training to give us tips and advice. He was also a constant source of encouragement when we got smacked down. I got used to picking myself off the arena floor, thanks to one of the many more-experienced Blades, to find Brendon there with a cup of water and a hand to help me up, grinning his wide grin with bright, white teeth.

“Get up, rafiki! You’ll get it next time!” It wasn’t just me either. Whenever a white blade looked on the verge of giving up, Brendon would be there, offering encouragement and advice. 

Laura had joined us after her day in the infirmary. She’d been given a white blade in spite of deserving something much higher, another little piece of pettiness from Cort, so she’d been added to our unit. But that had worked out well for us all as she could give us advice for our sword work when Cort would only give us abuse. When Cort was elsewhere, she quickly became the de facto sword instructor for the unit. The training I’d had for a few days under Iron Shield knights, before their sudden betrayal, was continued by Laura and I found my skills improving slowly. It was remarkable how much faster skills build when you train them ten hours a day instead of maybe five hours a week.

In the evenings, I was giving Erica and Asha massages on their shoulders and necks as a cover for healing their muscles and promoting their muscle growth. It was also nice to be close to them both, as there was literally no other time we could share any contact. The massages for the elves served two purposes; both healing and intimacy. We weren’t supposed to openly fraternise with the other Blades, so this was the only way I could physically show affection for the two women. It seemed that Erica had finally accepted the idea that I wanted to take things slowly, and this was nice. It was intimate without being overtly sexual.

It wasn’t long before the girls realised the muscle bulk they were gaining, and they suggested that Laura get the benefits of a ‘massage’ too. The proud knight had resisted at first, but after we quietly told her the benefits, she agreed. It was awkward at first with Laura. Of course the massages were purely about healing her muscle soreness and improving bulk, but they were undeniably intimate too. You just couldn’t escape the closeness that it created, though neither of us acknowledged it to the other. The end of the first massage was met with a short “thank you” and a curt nod. But each additional evening, the knight seemed to relax a little more and soon I even received a small, dare I say it, shy smile as she thanked me and returned to her bunk.

After about seven nights at the Arena, Rio came up to us as I was finishing Laura’s ‘massage’. She quietly observed Laura as she stretched and rotated a shoulder to loosen the joint and when the knight smiled and moved back to her bunk, Rio plonked down in front of me, pulling her dark, curly hair around over her shoulder.

“My turn,” she stated simply, sitting there expectantly.

I didn’t know what to do. I looked across to Brendon, her brother, who was in conversation with a white blade. He met my eye, grinned and nodded, and then returned to his conversation, apparently giving me his blessing.

“Are you going to start? Or do I have to look like a love-struck kulungu, like the other three?” the ebony-skinned woman teased.

I didn’t know the word, but I picked up the gist of what she was implying.

“I have no idea what you mean,” I scoffed nonchalantly.

She snorted. “You know if Cort catches you in bed with any woman here, he will kick you out and he’ll be well within his rights to do so. You need to be more careful.” She grinned back at me over her shoulder. “If you rub all the women’s shoulders, it will be less suspicious.”

I pushed my thumb beside her shoulder blade and ran it up the muscle where I knew there would inevitably be a knot, rolling my eyes. “We all sleep in the same dorm. Cort works us to death every day. I couldn’t lay one of the women here if I tried, let alone do it without everyone knowing.”

Rio groaned in pain, yet pushed her back harder into my fingers as I worked through the knots in her other shoulder. “You don’t really… inauma! No, keep going, it’s good, just ow… You don’t think he actually needs to catch you, right? If he suspects, he’ll make up something. The four of you arrived together, the only reason he hasn’t accused you of something is that he probably doesn’t know which one of these three girls you’re with.”

The two elves giggled nearby, having heard the conversation. “I don’t think he would want to admit the truth anyway. It might hurt his fragile ego.” Erica pouted mockingly, emphasising the last two words as if she were talking to a small child.

Rio snapped her eyes to Erica’s in realisation and the elf nodded, grinning. Then Rio looked to Asha, who also nodded shyly and finally Rio’s eyes flicked across to Laura who shook her head and held up a hand in protest. “Don’t look at me. I’m just trying to keep everybody alive.”

“I’m not in bed with anyone,” I clarified carefully, shooting the elves a stern look. “…but the twins and I have… an understanding.”

Rio frowned and when she spoke it was quiet and serious. “That is extremely dangerous. Cort is a predator. There are 12 women in the company, not including the three of you, and every one of them has been forced to find a way to protect themselves from him. I have my Ndugu, my brother. The other women are older, have years of experience to help them put up with his ujinga,” she looked at our confused faces “sorry; bullshit, or they are just old enough that he doesn’t desire them. But if you’re under 30, you’re a target.”

“Why doesn’t Thorpe do something about this?” asked Erica, “He didn’t seem like a bad man?”

At this, Laura shook her head. “I can almost guarantee Cort has a way of making sure the complaints never make it to the Commander. And if it’s anything like the Iron Shield, most women won’t complain anyway for fear of it making them look weak. A woman in a military unit is already trying to make up for natural differences. Men are generally stronger and bigger and that puts us at a disadvantage straight away. And most men, current company excluded, won’t respect us unless we can meet or beat them.” She looked at Rio for support. “And so we keep quiet in order to prove something to them, and ourselves, that we can endure anything that they can. Am I right?”

Rio nodded. “Oh yes. You don’t want to appear weak for running off to the Commander every time Cort or some other mkundu creeps you out. Thorpe knows something, but didn’t have a replacement for him until recently. He was stuck without a better option, and Cort has always been able to hide his abuse behind ‘necessary training’ and ‘she threw herself at me.’”

She paused, thinking.

“If he suspects that you are sleeping with Erica AND Asha, he’ll find a way to kill you in ‘training’ and take them. He’ll order them to his quarters.”

Laura chuckled grimly. “He'll find that difficult on so many levels.” This prompted a confused look from the young woman, so she continued. “If push comes to shove, Mathew is more than Cort’s equal in combat. Sure, Cort is an excellent swordsman; almost my equal. But in a fight to the death, Mathew wins every time. However, you are correct; we should be more careful.”

I dropped a small bit of divine magic into Rio’s muscles to aid her recovery as she slept and then dropped my hands into my lap. “All done.”

Rio looked at me with curiosity, her curly black hair flicking around to her back as she turned quickly to me.

“You are a white blade. I have seen you train. You are good for a beginner, but a long way from Cort’s experience and skill.”

I just nodded politely. I was happy for an air of mystery to remain. “I hope you enjoyed your massage.”

She thanked me, still frowning slightly in confusion, then stood and stretched. Pleasantly surprised, she returned to her brother and I looked at Laura inquisitively.

“What are you playing?” I asked in a low whisper, “I thought I was keeping a low profile?”

The knight smiled. “Trust me. She’s the type who will let her imagination run away with her. She’s seen the kind of person you are. She knows the kind of man Cort is. If there IS a confrontation between you and him, and I can’t imagine it will be long before there is, she’ll side with you now, which will bring her brother with her. Numbers protect you.”

I shook my head. “I’m not looking to fight Cort.”

But Laura simply shrugged, hopping into her cot and settling down for the evening. “You may not have a choice. You are a man of principles; there are lines that you won’t cross. Lines we won’t cross. I know that I won’t let the man live if he crosses those lines. Therefore, I know that you won’t either. And he knows it too. Eventually, he’ll force the issue to prove his power and authority.” She rolled away from us to face the shadow of the wall.

“Thanks for the ‘massage’. Sleep well.”

I bid her goodnight, then kissed both the twins goodnight and turned into my cot as well, thinking about what the impressive woman had said. Lauraphine had been in this type of situation before, that much was evident. And with my own understanding of Cort, I could agree with her analysis.

I shifted in my cot uncomfortably.

If he found a reason to attack me, I’d have to defend myself, which would mean being exposed and I’d have to find another place to hide from Arnias and Gregory.

Hopefully, maybe, I could avoid giving Cort a reason.