by J D Astra
“You’re incredible!” I screamed at her with the others, and her eyes sparkled. She made me feel alive, and hopeful. She made me feel wonder. She made me remember the beauty in a world of pain.
Chapter 28
“JUN, HANA, WINS THE second round!” Sung-ki shouted over the noise.
The third-year instructor lowered her hand to the crowd, and they quieted. “Round three, zo. Sparring. One minute to prepare.”
Oh no. While Hana had been pouring her heart out into that dance, Lyjin had been preparing for the zo round. She must’ve been able to fill her reservoir in the time Hana’s dance took, and there was no way that Hana had been able to cultivate any zo during the performance. She was empty.
Hana’s smile faded, and I could see she came to the same realization as me. She’d been lost to the dance and had forgotten about the third trial.
“Cycle!” I shouted, and she snapped from her stupor. She closed her eyes and breathed deep. Her shoulders heaved as she clumsily gulped down as much air as she could. Lyjin kept her eyes locked on Hana, a sly grin playing on her lips. She knew the same truth we did.
“Ready!” the instructor yelled what felt like far too soon. My hands balled to fists as my nerves gathered in my throat. Hana opened her eyes and assumed a simple fighting stance. She could do this. I had to believe in her.
“Begin!”
Lyjin exploded from the spot five meters away from Hana. Her left foot touched the ground once, and patchy yellow turf blasted from the ground. She sped even faster toward her target, fist pulled back to deliver a massive attack.
Hana caught the blow between crossed wrists and deflected it up. She lifted her knee, twisted her body, and snapped out her leg in one fluid movement. The kick landed heavy on Lyjin’s chest, and black zo blasted from the spot. Lyjin fell back three meters and rolled, coming up to her feet with a cough. Hana could’ve pressed the advantage, but she didn’t. She waited for Lyjin to come at her again, and I wondered if she was conserving zo.
Lyjin dashed forward, throwing wild punches full of rage. Hana deflected, but I could see her energy was waning. She was sluggish and sloppy with her blocks. But even exhausted, I knew she was better than this.
The first hit from Lyjin landed against Hana’s side. She folded in on the spot, and Lyjin took advantage, swinging a heavy left hook toward Hana’s temple. Hana squinted before impact. Black zo exploded out from the spot with the wet smack of fist on face. I cringed as Hana dropped to the ground with gritted teeth.
“Just give up!” someone shouted from behind me.
Hana opened her eyes and looked up at Lyjin, who smirked as she asked, “Do you surrender?”
Black tendrils licked at Lyjin’s feet, and she pulled back for a kick.
“Fight! You’re stronger than this! Get up and fight!” I screamed, and Hana found me in the crowd. Time slowed as I watched the powerful blow sailing toward Hana’s gut. Her face shifted from resigned to determined, and with a snap, time resumed.
Zo surged around Hana’s arms, and she caught Lyjin’s foot, twisting it hard and fast. There was a sickening snap, and Lyjin howled in pain. She stumbled back, her howl of agony shifting to a snarl of anger. Lyjin shot in low, throwing herself at Hana.
Hana caught her and pulled into a roll that landed Lyjin on her back. Hana straddled her stomach and raised her right fist as her left hand came down on Lyjin’s neck.
The rose-haired girl twisted and landed a hit against Hana’s side. The blow sent black sparks dancing away from Hana’s gut, but she didn’t flinch, as if the strike hadn’t landed at all. Hana’s fist plummeted toward Lyjin’s face. Lyjin threw up a faulty, one-armed block that couldn’t divert Hana’s punch.
The hit landed with a snap, and red trickled down Lyjin’s upper lip, then down her cheek. Her eyes rolled shut, and then her high-pitched scream pierced the air. Lyjin kicked and bucked, then pushed Hana away with panicked, zo-less strikes.
Hana pulled her fist back for another strong blow. “Surrender.”
Lyjin twisted and arched her back, doing anything she could to get away, but Hana pushed down on Lyjin’s collar bone even harder. Wisps of black slipped up Hana’s chest and then surged down her arm. She hammered her fist down in a blow that would surely end the duel, but the hit missed.
Hana punched into the earth beside Lyjin’s head, spraying loose dirt and turf into her face. Lyjin trembled, her eyes shut tight. Blood coursed down her face to her neck from her crooked nose. She raised her hands, lip quivering. “I surrender.”
“Jun, Hana wins the third round, zo. Hana wins the duel with two points, Lyjin with one.” The third-year instructor tapped at the glowing images in her palm, then deactivated the device. “This concludes the duel. Everyone return to your normal activities.”
Hana lifted herself from Lyjin and stumbled a few steps into the dispersing crowd. Lyjin’s friends came to her aid, and the students gave Hana congratulatory slaps on the back as she made her way through them. I circled around the outside, moving to meet her where she emerged.
“You were incredible, that dance—”
She cut me off with a glare, and the joy I’d felt evaporated as I realized why I’d been chasing her in the first place. I’d upset her somehow... perhaps I could start with an apology.
I scratched the scar on my scalp and shuffled my feet. “I don’t know what I did, I mean I do, but I apologized for—”
“Do you know how long I’ve been hiding my zo skills from my parents?” she cut me off with a cold whisper.
I shook my head.
“I’ve been studying since I was five. I have kept it all a secret for ten years, until today, in front of every first year, and my family rival. Now my parents will be hearing about my lovely ry performance, I’m sure,” she sneered. “But the only thing they’ll care about is how I won a zo trial. How could little delicate Hana throw a powerful punch?”
“So what?” I shrugged. “They should be proud of you.”
She shook her head and crossed her arms. “They didn’t want me coming to Bastion. They wanted me to go to a ry dedicated school so I could take over the business. When they see I’ve been practicing and excelling with zo, that their life path for me could be altered, they’ll pull me out of school!” Tears sparkled in her purple eyes, and her cheeks flushed with color. “This was my one chance to escape them and their business.”
I scowled. “What was your plan? Were you going to live your life from the shadows for the next five years and then abandon their empire to someone else when you graduated?”
The muscles in her jaw tensed, but she was quiet.
“I’m trying to understand why you’re so mad at me. What have I done?”
She threw her arms down, fists clenched. “You exposed me! I could’ve taken the blow and lost, but...” She trailed off, her brow pinching. I couldn’t tell if she was thinking through what she was saying or if she was so angry she couldn’t think.
She looked back to me with a scowl. “It doesn’t matter now. I was going to tell them when I was ready. I was going to tell them when they couldn’t pull me out of school, or when I’d got an apprenticeship so I could afford to live on my own. I was going to tell them when they couldn’t ruin my plans!”
She turned away, and I followed her. “I’m sorry. I’ll do whatever I can to help—”
“You’ve already done enough!” she screamed, her lower lip trembling. Then her face softened, revealing how exhausted she was. “Just leave me alone, Jiyong.”
A lump bulged in my throat, and I swallowed to keep it from strangling me. I took a deep breath and bowed. “Thank you for all your training,” I said, and though I didn’t want it to, I could hear the spite escaping through my words.
I turned away without looking up at her. I didn’t want to see what look she had on her face. Would she be angry? Sad? I couldn’t handle seeing it and knowing it was for me.
I walked across the courtyard without an aim until I saw the post st
ation. It had been a while since I’d received a message from Eun-bi or anyone else, and I needed something to take my mind off Hana’s injustice.
“Law, Jiyong?” I asked of the postmaster behind the counter.
He scrolled through his digital list and stopped at my name. There was a blinking “1” next to it. “Just a moment,” he said as he retrieved a device from under the counter. He loaded the message into the small disc and passed it my way, then cleared the notification from my name.
I clenched the message in my fist as I walked toward the yard for Zo Strengthening I. There were still twenty minutes before class, so I decided to read it.
Brother,
I could sense by the opening line that this message was not from Eun-bi. I scowled and read on.
It’s regrettable that I must write this to you, but things are not well. Mother’s medical treatments have surpassed the guli your friend sent weeks ago and Eun-bi has dropped out of Primary. She’s working in a rice mill and I have just discovered a debtors note among her things. She is behind on returning the advance, and the debtor is threatening action.
My pulse pounded in my eyes, and my periphery darkened. Hana said she’d taken care of everything, so how was it that she didn’t know about this? Why had I trusted a kingdom girl to care about my family?
I stopped that line of thought and took a deep breath. I knew Eun-bi. She wouldn’t even ask Se-hun for help if she needed it... Hana likely didn’t even know. This wasn’t Hana’s fault. My mother’s illness wasn’t Hana’s fault.
Despite my attempts to convince myself otherwise, I couldn’t negate the resentment for Hana. It was irrational, but it kept bubbling up no matter how much I pushed it down and told myself it wasn’t valid.
I blew out all the air in my lungs in a heavy sigh and read on.
They have given her two weeks to produce the money to cover her advance, and after that I fear she’ll be sent to the mines—or worse—to compensate for the rest. Brother, I don’t want to pull you from your studies, I know how important it is... but what can we do? Mother’s illness is in remission and she’s well for now, but it could turn overnight. The advance debt is five hundred guli and the debtor is Gwaim, Li-sung in Boja-nu.
We love and miss our big brother. Please be safe.
- Do-hwan
I read the message again as dread pooled in my gut. How could it have been so much? Eun-bi must’ve taken an advance with high interest since she was a risk. Why would they let a twelve-year-old take out a loan in the first place? Unless she lied about her age...
I closed my eyes and pinched my nose bridge as I tried to make sense of everything.
“We can fix this without you dropping out, Jiyong,” Mae whispered and broke through my thoughtless trance.
‘Another fight won’t cover that advance and the remaining debt. We’ll have to do a gauntlet,’ I said in my mind as I raced through everything I would need. Scrap metal, some electrical components, perhaps some plastics if I could find any. How was I going to pay for the materials? Hana had sent everything to my family from my winnings. I cursed myself as I thought of the gold coin I handed to the gateman at the fight. That one coin could’ve purchased everything I needed.
“Woong-ji might have these at her disposal,” Mae offered, and I tapped my teeth.
‘But would she let me have them if she knew what I was doing?’
“Planning on more lies?”
I grumbled and stuffed the message in my pocket. I still had a few hours to figure it out. Maybe exercise and a cold shower would snap the answer from my weary head... or I’d have to lie to my favorite instructor. I felt Mae’s disapproval, but I shook it off. I would do whatever was necessary to protect my family.
Chapter 29
ZO STRENGTHENING I had not jostled loose any fresh ideas. On the contrary, seeing Hana for an hour and a half only distracted me from working on a solution to my more important problems. I cursed myself for thinking about her at all. She’d dismissed me, and I should do the same.
The cold shower didn’t help reveal new solutions either, but it did help me to stop thinking about anything except the icy water coursing over my body. Mae had told me cold showers could improve circulation to the muscles and give my shoulder the needed blood flow to repair itself. The added benefit was banishing thoughts of Hana from my mind.
Until she sat next to me in Core Foundation. I gritted my teeth at her nerve and refused to acknowledge her presence. I kept my thoughts focused inward, but it was all I could do to visualize my core. Woong-ji was guiding us through the process of starting the second band, but I wasn’t ready to move on.
A single band around the core seemed like a waste of space when there were several other directions that layer could loop in. So, despite her instruction, I decided to start building a second band wrapping the opposite direction around my core, while still connected to the first. It was in its infancy, but the general shape of a polyhedron was coming through.
Mae commended me. “I think this design will be superior as well, but it will take more time to build the concentric rings.”
I shrugged. ‘Once I graduate, I’ll have all summer after work.’
The thought of earning an apprenticeship with Woong-ji floated up to the surface. Since starting the one-on-one sessions with her, I felt I had the best chances of earning an apprenticeship under her if I could prove myself capable. Despite that being further from the Guild of Historians than Mae needed us to be—since I assumed I’d be cleaning classrooms and tending school gardens all summer—it would give me the income I needed, and I would be working with someone I knew and respected.
But if I lied to Woong-ji, would she want me as her apprentice? Would she understand the truth? Would she get me kicked out of the academy? Fighting wasn’t outright illegal, and the fights running at the Rabid Rabbit were paying appropriate taxes—as far as I knew—and so there was nothing wrong with what I was doing outside of sneaking out of school at night... which was probably grounds for expulsion.
“Suspension at minimum,” Mae chimed in my ear. She’d probably read the rules and regulations more carefully than me.
The gong rang for lunch, and I was grateful that Hana was quick to leave. Cho chatted about something as we stood in line. I gave him a few encouraging hums as he went on and I thought about my plight. What if I could borrow the materials from Woong-ji’s lab and then leave her some guli for it when I won the gauntlet?
“Stealing? Really? That’s better than lying?” Mae said, her tone judgmental.
‘It wouldn’t be stealing if I paid for it.’
“But what if you lost? How will you pay her?”
I gritted my teeth. ‘I don’t lose.’
“You okay, Jiyong?” Cho asked and knocked my shoulder. We’d made it to the front of the buffet line, and I was staring at my tray, doing nothing with it.
“I’ll tell you about it when we sit,” I said, remembering Cho wasn’t aware of the message from Do-hwan.
His forehead wrinkled with worry. “It’s really bothering you?”
I nodded as I loaded my rice bowl with a heaping portion. I grabbed everything that Mae called out as I moved along, then found a table far from Hana’s. Cho gestured to Hana’s empty table and cringed, but I shook my head. He nodded solemnly and followed me.
“What’s going on?” he asked as soon as we were seated.
I closed my eyes and prayed, then took a deep breath that did nothing to calm me. “My sister has taken on debt to pay for my mother’s treatments, which Hana said was all taken care of.” There was venom in my words, and I felt sick for saying them.
Cho winced. “What if she didn’t know?”
I tutted. “That would be a first that she didn’t know something.”
Yuri approached our table but didn’t sit. “Hana is over there.”
“We know,” Cho said, then tried to make a covert gesture to Yuri.
“Oh, you guys are still fighting?” she asked
me.
I sucked my teeth. “She dismissed me from her life.”
Cho grimaced. “I’m sure she’ll get over it.”
Yuri shuffled her feet. “I’m going to see if she needs to talk to someone. Sorry, Jiyong.”
I waved her away. “It’s fine.” Just because Hana was mad at me didn’t mean she didn’t deserve friends, or someone to talk to. Hopefully talking with someone as straightforward and blunt as Yuri would help Hana realize she didn’t need to be mad at me. It wasn’t I who would get her pulled from school or I who would berate her for knowing how to use zo. It was her selfish parents she should be upset with.
I told Cho about all Eun-bi’s debt, when it was due, and what I was going to do about it. He nodded along, concerned creases forming in his forehead. “There’s really nothing else you can do?”
I shrugged. “If you can think of anything, tell me. I’ve been wracking my brain all morning.”
When we finished eating, I walked Cho to his class. En Manipulation I went by too quick, and before I knew it, I was sitting face to face with Woong-ji for our one-on-one class of the evening. She was quiet, studying me it seemed.
“I’m ready to begin, Master,” I prompted, and her gaze peered through my skin like glass. It was like she was seeing everything inside me.
She pulled in a deep breath and straightened on her pillow. “You seem distracted today. Is something the matter?”
“Now’s your chance,” Mae whispered.
I groaned under my breath, and Woong-ji raised a brow. Realizing how that sounded to her, I bowed. “Apologies, Master. I am dealing with some difficult things.”
“Should we work on calming meditation tonight instead of recycling?” She offered, and I shook my head.
“I don’t want to fall behind the other students.”
She laughed. “You’re well ahead of most of the others by now. I’m concerned for your wellbeing.”
I held my hands out. “There’s no need. I have everything under control.”