Training began at dawn.
Not physical dawn—consciousness didn't track solar cycles. But metaphorical beginning. Fresh start. Point of transformation from Kaine-who-decided to Kaine-who-trained.
Tessern met her in neutral consciousness-space. Empty region. No distractions. No observers except Archive consciousness documenting everything for future reference.
"First lesson isn't about killing," Tessern said. "It's about boundaries. You need to understand where weapon-self ends and person-self begins before you can maintain separation between them."
"I thought they weren't supposed to be separate," Kaine said. "Thought the goal was integration, not separation."
"Integration requires first understanding what's being integrated. You can't combine things that aren't clearly defined. So we start by drawing lines. Mapping your consciousness. Identifying which aspects belong to weapon-function and which belong to person-function. Then we practice moving between them intentionally."
