She stumbled horribly, but she heard her mom scream out in surprise. Bon’sinne fell to the mat. OK, so Bon’sinne wasn’t some overpowered super weapon of a woman; she could be beat. By extension, so could Soror Valide.
Hopefully.
Bon’sinne chortled and said, “Someone is being inventive. Someone has also been practicing her forms.”
They both got up and resumed another stance each. Zoey took in a deep breath and lunged forward with a flurry of punches, not a single one of which was meant to land. She watched for an opening in her mom’s defense. There had to be one. Her mom, too, was trying to watch her and see what she was doing.
Zoey then kicked with one foot, thrusting straight out with it, towards her mom’s lower torso. Her mom caught the leg, but coughed. Zoey’s foot managed to lay some impact in her flesh.
“I’m so sorry, Mom,” Zoey lipped at her.
“Keep this up,” Bon’sinne said, “and I may have to use third level techniques before we’re done.”
“Oh God.” Zoey tried to pull away, but her mom really had her foot in her clutch.
“So about the other day.”
Again, Zoey tried to pull away, but this time she used the limited motion to spring against her free leg and throw a punch in case the movement alone didn’t push against her mom. Zoey bent her knee at the last second.
Then her mom caught her arm and Zoey found herself swinging through the air. Even after she hit the mat Zoey tried to place which direction was which.
“Are you sure you were at home with Dasos, and not in the woods?” Bon’sinne asked.
“I’m positive. Why?” said Zoey.
“Perhaps I was seeing things. Never you mind.”
Sensei Su-Jin clapped his hands again, and Bon’sinne helped her daughter up off of the ground.
“She was far, and she was behind that glass,” Bon’sinne said. “Maybe the light played tricks on me. Maybe I didn’t sleep very well.”
Had her mom seen Soror Valide in the forest? There was a lot that Zoey didn’t know or realize fully, but she was glad that neither woman was hurt. She also noted the irony as Zoey was here to try and defend herself against her sister.
“Why Martial Arts, dear?” Bon’sinne said. “You could have picked anything.”
“Could I, though?” Zoey said. “Being here is sort of a family thing.”
“I suppose you’re right. We can talk more later. Why don’t you go join your classmates?”
Zoey bowed to her like she had seen done so often in film while growing up. Her mom raised a brow, cracked a smirk, and then returned the bow before Zoey walked away.
The instructor chuckled, his deep voice carrying through the dojo. He said, “Last chance for you all. Do you still claim to be first levels or better?”
Only then did Zoey realize the level of alarm or anxiety in the eyes of the other students on one side of the room. A third of them returned to the rest of the class, and Bon’sinne’s wicked smile returned.
So, Zoey deduced, that was the ploy all along.
I think I see where Dasos and Il’lyse got it from.
The remainder of the students were tested and either sensei nodded in approval of most of them. Two of them, it turned out, weren’t quite what they claimed to be. Yet no one called them a liar. No one accused them of never once setting foot on a practice mat before this day.
Sensei Su-Jin said, “First and foremost, and this will be true of any study, you can know many things. You can think you know. Until you put it in practice, and continue to train with it, your knowledge will not matter. Some of you may well have picked up a level of technique in your minds, but your bodies will tell another tale. The true purpose of this class is to keep your body fit, and to hold you to this discipline. The best of all knowledge is tested, and the worst is merely accepted. In this room, your ability to learn and perform is your only test. That will be all on that lesson. You now have fifteen minutes to change if you are able. I have decided to move the stretches afterward.”
That was a rough introduction to the class, Zoey thought as she pulled her head back, eyes closed, and ran both hands across the top of her hair. If this was how it all started then how was it going to end?
She knew what to expect a quarter of a second before she opened her eyes again. Her mom was waving a bottle of water in front of Zoey’s face, the sound of it now sinking in.
“Thanks,” Zoey said as she took the bottle.
Bon’sinne sat next to her with a bottle of her own. She said, “I was surprised when you told me you were taking this class.”
“I was surprised to see you here. You never said anything.”
“Didn’t I? Perhaps I only told Dasos, or maybe I thought I did, like I thought I saw that girl’s face. I wanted so much to know why she was at our house. Aerak wasn’t too happy either that I ran after her like that.”
“Maybe she was scared. I know this will sound strange, but I’m glad she got away, as much as I’m glad that you weren’t hurt.”
“What if it was Soror Valide? No, scratch that. Someone like her would have used the stiern-boat’s weapons on me as she flew away.”
Zoey stroked her shoulder with one hand. Her mom really wasn’t ready to know the truth. It didn’t even make sense to Zoey, for that matter.
“So,” Zoey said, “is this where you and Dad met?”
Bon’sinne laughed. Then she said, “No, not here. We were in the university on Elysium VIII when that happened. This dojo does look like the one we both trained in, however. The two of us were bitter rivals back then.”
“Indeed you were,” said Sensei Su-Jin as he approached. “I remember two promising students, a young man in his first revolution and a woman in her second. The young man was there at first because of family tradition. The woman picked it at random.”
“Who knew we would take the second class the following semester, or the third when I returned from my field credit?”
“I also remember you both showing up hung over one morning. Exactly half of your friends set you up with the same hotel room the night before.”
“Oh, don’t remind me.”
“This isn’t going where I think it’s going, is it?” asked Zoey, trying really hard not to connect the dots.
Sensei Su-Jin said, “I often assign pairs at that level to train together, with a different body part joined by a cord per lesson. Pairing the two of them together was always fun to watch. This, of course, ended when the two of them finished the class.”
“That night was the first time he topped me in anything,” Bon’sinne said casually.
“Mom, no!” Zoey said.
“Naturally my father wasn’t pleased that I started dating Aerak, or that my mother was making wedding plans behind all of our backs. That was a fun surprise, visiting Elysium VII’s Grand Amphitheatre and finding our families there. The sunsets on that station were stunning, despite the sun being fake. I tried to argue with my mother over it, but failed to find any good reason not to marry him if the man wanted it, himself. Aerak then told me, within moments before the sunset, that he had planned to propose to me as the false sun passed the threshold overhead.
“We married that evening. Rather, I asked him to put on the most outlandish disguise he could find and steal me away from the large crowd. He did, in a way. I pictured Aerak swinging in on a rope and taking me to a more private chapel, but he swung in and gave his vows, putting me very much on the spot. Fine, yes, I really adored that man then, and I still do now.”
“I must admit,” the instructor said, “I was expecting the same from the both of you. That you both stayed made the event my first time witnessing Aelfen ceremonies. Then again I also expected to see Il’lyse or Das’ithrios in here when you moved to Elysium IX after they were born. Your family tends to enjoy proving me wrong from time to time, ever since the first time I taught a member of the Thalassas bloodline.”
“You never did tell me what Keft’aerak’s grandfather did.
”
“No, I didn’t. So now you have a second daughter that has managed to fill the role of my fourth generation teaching the martial arts to your family. I look forward to more surprises.”
* * *
Das’ithrios patted down the uniform he was wearing with an adhesive roller. He didn’t own any pets, but animal hair still managed to get on it on occasion. However did feline hair get all over the place?
He walked into the kitchen to grab his water bottle when the door opened as swiftly as it had unlocked.
Zoey came inside looking like nothing was wrong whatsoever. She spotted Dasos and dropped her bag before striding over to the rectangular counter and setting her hands down upon opposite sides of one rounded corner. Her eyes and pursed lips told Dasos that he, or someone he knew, had some explaining to do.
“Das,” she said.
“How was your first day of class?” he asked, wondering all too suddenly if he should make for the door as it was closing behind Zoey or for one of the shut windows behind himself.
“Did Mom tell you that she picked up teaching Martial Arts at the university?”
“If she did, then I missed it.”
“I ended up sparring against her in front of the whole class.”
“Did she go easy on you?”
“Now I’m special when I wanted to live a simple life. What am I supposed to do with that?”
“No offense, sister, but you were special to us since we first met you.”
Zoey threw her hands up and grunted before walking off to her room at the end of the hallway. Dasos sent a wry smile her way and left for work.
[ 37]
Soror Valide sat in the comfortable chair and propped her head up on one of her arms. Her mind was going numb from listening to the old human rant and ramble for too long to even try to count. The man went on and on about theories and quantum mechanics and other things Soror Valide couldn’t catch.
One of his devices on the table popped, sparks flying out in a sharp arc. The old man groaned when he saw it. He hurried to it to stop the sparks.
“Bah!” he said. “It would be nice if I had an assistant who understood your own technology better than the lot of you do. I could finish this and go home, maybe. Bah! Maybe I’ll find somewhere else that’s even better.”
“Yeah right,” Soror Valide said. “The Lord and Lady said they were working on it. They found someone promising, but the mystery person got away from us while my team was out.”
“Promising, yes. I heard from the Lady herself about it. Promise alone doesn’t do me a whole lot of good in aiding both of our interests.”
“Maybe my team can help if I knew who we’re going after. I should ask Lord or Lady Tunderek.”
“That I can help you with. It was some Ginserei woman who goes somewhere called Elysium University. Tong-Chang, I believe her name was.”
“Tonny? Where did you hear that name?”
“From them; I told you that. Here I thought you were one of the smart ones.”
Soror Valide hammered the side of the chair and stood up suddenly. She charged at the man and punched him, knocking him down on the ground.
“You do not lay a finger on her. I . . . I . . .”
Cold, infinite beyond, she still cared about anyone in her old life. How could she possibly do that? It made no sense to her.
She crouched with a sigh and helped the old man up. She said, “I’m sorry. I don’t even know why I did that.”
“Do you even know why you do anything? Like sit around here listening to me go on about every little thing that goes wrong?” he said.
“Not lately.”
“You remind me of a woman who tried to kidnap me and use me as her husband at some rich person party in a golf club resort. I was just stupid enough to go along with her scheme. I almost wound up in prison for that stunt, and hoped to never to see her again.”
“So you do have a fun side.”
“Please. I found out eleven months later that she had a son while awaiting trial for several cons, and I was expected to try and raise the boy. That didn’t go very well at all. On the bright side, at least that woman can’t bother me from out here, not unless she finds my old lab and figures out how to do what I did.”
“Are you sure you want to go home, though?”
“At this point, what even is home? You lot seem to want to know how I got here, and so do I. Meanwhile, what’s waiting for me back on Earth? Bah! Nothing but trouble and mediocrity, I say.”
* * *
Her next two classes were back-to-back, with half of an hour in between. Zoey grabbed a quick lunch afterward before heading for the trolley.
Tong-Chang caught up with her and held her hand, saying, “Look at you, wearing your nicer outfit.”
Indeed, Zoey was wearing the semi-casual dress that her parents bought her on Natt Grans. She didn’t often wear this one despite actually wanting to. Once she had picked it out that day, she wanted to wear this blouse and skirt, but never had a reason to do so until today.
“I have a job interview in a bit,” said Zoey.
“Oh, where at?” said Tong-Chang.
“It’s that Super Cake place near our condo.”
Tong-Chang inhaled sharply. A smile spread across her face. “The Super Cake Pros? Stars beyond, they make the best muffins ever.”
“Do they?”
“Their cupcakes are good too; amazing even. Please tell me you know what cupcakes and muffins are.”
“Yeah, Earth has those too. I once made chocolate cupcakes with powdered sugar on top, and brought them into class. The teachers freaked out about the sugar, and I was suspended from school for a couple weeks when they realized what it really was. They told me I was too careless. I was six, and the lady babysitting me thought those cakes were a good idea, which was why she helped me make them.”
“What did your teachers think it was?”
“Something dangerous. I don’t even want to talk about that, or what my uncle did when he learned about it. The thing that shames me most about that memory is wishing he’d fall into a wood chipper at work.”
“Oh, Zoey.”
“I’m so glad that I’m no longer there. I’m glad I got to become someone better than him. It’s let me meet someone as beautiful and wonderful as you are. It’s given me a family that I can call my own. Now, hopefully, this job will let me enjoy giving back to the world that has taken me in, you know?”
* * *
The interviewer was a handsome young man. He was half Aelf and half Ginserei, so his ears were centimeters shorter and pointier, but still as fuzzy, compared to others among the Ginserei race. Zoey mused how this was not the case with the admiral, but she put it out of her mind as best as she could.
Halves get less hair on their body, including their chest, Tong-Chang’s voice echoed from back when she had told Zoey about the emblematic lines of hair that her kind get.
“Carrot cake, really?” said the interviewer.
“You’re not the first person to ask me about that,” Zoey said. “I wish I was able to retain a recipe after all these years.”
“Years?”
“Sorry, revolutions. That’s an old habit of mine from where I grew up.”
“That is fascinating. I don’t think any of us thought to try and put carrot in our cakes. Perhaps you will have to figure that one out while you work here with us.”
“Wait, do I get the job? That seems a bit too fast and easy.”
“Of course you get it if you want it. Yours is probably the best application we’ve received in the past couple revolutions, and I have no doubt that you came here from a faraway land.”
“I’m not too sure how to take that.”
“It was meant as a compliment.”
“Where I’m from, it sounds like another way to tell someone they’re way too bizarre to handle.”
“Bizarre makes the best art.”
Zoey and Brach’geros looked at one another for a moment
, the latter doing so with seemingly closed eyes and a smile while Zoey gave him a plain expression.
“I didn’t exactly help, did I?” said Brach’geros.
“If you weren’t cute and endearing I would have walked out by now.”
“Please don’t do that. Finding someone to fill this spot is difficult as it is. Also, I’d feel really sorry if you did that.”
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