I've only just started to dig into this one, but can you tell me a bit about the relationship between these two men? I found it slightly curious that Shama addresses Jabal as "Sensei", even though he is his son (adopted). Can you tell me more about this adoption? Is it more of a ritualistic thing than a family affection thing, or is there some other reason for Shama maintaining such formality with his father?
At some point, during Royal
At some point, during Royal Heritage, Jabal is persuaded by some of the wiser members of their party to take on a pupil. He spends the majority of the second half of the book searching before coming upon the orphan Shama, who already shows considerable swordplay prowess at the young age of twelve. Jabal takes Shama on as his pupil, and acts as something of a surrogate father, providing for his needs, teaching him in the ways of life as well as combat, and raising him.
Despite this and the deep affection between the pair, they are first and foremost master and student. And on normal terms, they tend to keep with the formalities that tends to imply. But, as Jabal is a knight and resident of Arc, and Shama was not, it fell upon Jabal to take responsibility for Shama's actions and keep him out of trouble until such time as he would be accepted as an adult citizen. So, under the laws of Arc, Shama would be considered Jabal's son.
my interpretation
Ok, from what you said, then, my interpretation is that the "adopted son" thing is really more of a legal formality slapped onto a teacher/student relationship (albeit a fairly close one).