Li’s Master

“I can hear you in the bushes,” General Francois said, still reclining in his garden chair but putting down his tea cup. “I imagine you’re an assassin wishing for an early death.” Francois walked over to the bush that grew next to his little house on the hill. He rested his hand on his sword and a girl no older than 15 popped out.

“Wait, wait, I’m not here to hurt anyone!” She shouted.

Francois was taken aback and let his arm fall to his side. “Well, I can’t say this has happened before. You’re much too puny to be any kind of murderer.”

“That’s actually why I’m here,” She interrupted. “I want you to make me a warrior.”

“No,” Francois replied with no hesitation. “Now, unless you want to stay for tea, I would say our business here has concluded.”

As he strode back over to his white painted stone chair and picked his tea back up. He looked over and saw Li still standing in bewilderment. He raised an eyebrow, but perked up at seeing a few figures hauling themselves up the hill. Their armour and gear clanged together in a symphony of noise and Francois turned back to Li. “Best you go back to your hiding place. Other Royalist soldiers aren’t as welcoming as me.”

Li dove back in and was trying unsuccessfully to control her breathing. In amongst the clattering, however, it wasn’t hard to stay hidden as the three men passed by her unaware. The man up front hauled off his grey, scratched helmet and unfurled his long blonde hair. He then dropped to one knee dramatically and said with fake passion, “Greetings, my lord!”

Francois sighed and put down his tea, “How many times have I asked you to stop calling me that?”

“It’s gonna take many more times than that to get me to stop.”

“And if I order you to have your head struck from your body?”

“For addressing you as the king wants me to? That would certainly be a difficult sell,” He said, grinning. He moved closer to Francois and pulled him in for a hug.

“What’s the report from the field, Jamie?” Francois asked. Jamie sat down at the other chair and left his two bodyguards to wander around in boredom.

“I like the place the king set you up with. Really nice, really gels with the environment.

“I think they repurposed an abandoned shack. I highly doubt even the fastest builders could get this place done in time.”

“Well lucky for you because the front line has all but stalled. The further we push the more resistance we’ll get from the local cities as we get closer to their capital. Looks like you’ll be able to call this place home for at least the near future.”

Francois nodded. “Thank you, Jamie. Send word to hold our positions and see if we can talk to the town leaders. Make sure nobody does anything rash. Provide them supplies and pledge our protection to them. If they refuse then move on. It’s not worth getting emotional about this.”

Jamie stood up and bowed. “Thy will be done…” Francois instinctively winced, “…my lord.”

He whistled and called his two men over to him. Li saw Francois briefly glance at Jamie, then Li, then returned back to his tea and vista viewing. Jamie stopped a few paces after the shack and whispered in the rightmost bodyguard’s ear. Without hesitation, he nodded and whipped out his sword, pointing it at the bush.

That got Francois’ attention.

“I never took you for a man who could be snuck up on so easily,” Jamie said. He walked over to the bushes and reached absent-mindedly in. Li avoided the grasping a few times, but there’s only so far you can move while being stabbed by a million different branches. Soon enough she was hauled out, adding a few dozen more scratches to the tally, and stood sheepishly.

Francois rose to his feet and walked over to them. “Nephew!” He shouted, “What are you doing following me so far out here?”

Jamie and the guards looked at each other trying to figure out what the hell was going on. “Wait, is this little Xue you keep talking about?” Jamie asked.

“Why of course, what other nephews do I have?”

He still held his grasp on the child. “Would you like us to repatriate him to his family as per the code?”

Francois stared intently at Li, trying to read her like a book. He momentarily stared at the sky and said, “No. I will send her off in two days, before the engagement.”

This didn’t sit well with Jamie, who promptly let go of Li in shock. Li herself was just as shocked “But my l— Francois! I don’t care how close she is to you, the code is the code and this mission is too sensitive for any outsiders to be let in. We abide by the code in these matters.”

“Jamie,” Francois said, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “I let you get away with the insubordination of five men. Would it be so improper to let me have my first?”

He looked down at the kid, who was now absolutely bewildered by everything, then back to Francois. He sighed, made a circular gesture and all three men walked away. “If I find you dead in the morning I’ll make sure your spirit gets an earful.”

Francois smiled until Jamie was out of sight, and dropped it when he looked at Li. “Why are you training me?” She asked.

Francois turned and walked down the other side of the hill. “Because, I want at least someone to leave here a better person than when they arrived. Now follow, we’ve only got two days to do this.”

Li ran to catch up. “How did you know I was hiding there?” She asked.

Francois said, without breaking his stride, “Generally, bushes don’t tremble when there’s no wind.”

***

The trek was arduous after the downhill section ran out and gave way to rolling hills. All of which needed to be climbed with some effort. Francois always stayed at least several steps ahead of Li, who was presently sore and out of breath. The summit of every hill showed the vast grassy landscape only occasionally broken up by the lone gargantuan dark brown tree or broken down carts rotting into the ground.

Along the way, Francois was finding lone sticks and halting the entire journey to inspect them. Li didn’t mind, it was the only time they were stopping the entire journey. Francois would swing it a few times, grumble, chuck it out, and continue on. Li wanted to ask but asking would require spare air for talking, which was a luxury right now. There were a few times where Francois made a more pleased grunt and chucked the stick back to Li to carry.

Eventually the landscape levelled out into a more flat plane. The subtle sounds of rolling waves meant they were close to Spirits’ Rest Bay. Francois stopped, hopped up and down a few times, and smiled. “We’re here.”

Li immediately dropped the sticks and fell to the ground in exhaustion. Her legs were on fire and every inhale felt thick and soupy. Francois plopped a waterskin next to her and when she was less exhausted she popped the cork and took the longest drink she ever had.

“Show me what you’ve got, then”

Li looked around like a gang were about to jump out from behind the hills. “What, right now?”

“I should think so, unless another day would fit better into your busy schedule.” He picked up one of the sticks lying next to her, waved it a few times, then plunged it into the ground. He leaned on it and stared intently at Li. “I await your choice of weapon.”

She scanned the pile of ‘weapons’ all variously curly or otherwise useless. It seems like nature couldn’t do Li a solid and give her a decently straight stick. She picked up the longest one she could see and hauled herself up into the closest thing she could think of to a fighting stance. Francois effortlessly batted the stick away and rapped Li on the arm.

“OUCH, what the hell?” She shouted.

“If I were a swordsman who meant you genuine harm, you wouldn’t be able to curse me out in between the screams. If they don’t wait for you, I don’t wait for you.”

As Li readied herself again she felt strange. It was like the stinging pain in her arm was radiating out into the ground, being absorbed. She hoped the pain would at least bring out some berserker rage within her. She screamed and charged at Francois, weapon by her side, only to be deftly sidestepped and slapped across the back. Out came a yelp and she fell back to her knees.

Francois shrugged. “You said you wanted to be a warrior.

“Come on. There’s no way you were trained like this,” She called out from the ground.

“You’re quite right. My initiation was with real swords.”

Li was in too much pain to be shocked. This place was doing strange things to her. It felt like her essence was melting into the ground, and Francois was observing this. Not just her inept fighting, but he was observing her like some kind of experiment.

Once more she, with the help of her ‘sword’, got back to her feet. She felt at least forty years older. She stumbled over to Francois, making maybe a token swipe at him before slamming into the ground and a ball of puffing and pain. She slammed into the ground and her pain coalesced and exploded in front of her. For a second, she saw a different world. She could barely make out the contours of the hills but it glowed vibrantly. A figure faced her bathed in a luminescent white. It cocked its head and emanated what could only be described as a verbal feeling.

It lasted for a moment, however, as the human voice of Francois brought her back. “Still want to be a warrior? You’re welcome to leave at any moment and we can enjoy some tea back at the house.”

Li tried to ignore him. She had just entered a new world, and she wanted to be there again. She crawled to the edge of the circle and grasped the grass of the barrier hill to get up.

Francois sighed and bowed his head. He didn’t enjoy dealing out punishments to this child. And yet he raised up his ‘sword’ ready for another attack. Li couldn’t stand for long as she fell back against the hill. The vibrations of this reverberated through her and she could see parts of the landscape reverberating in turn. The contours of the world before and the colour of the physical world were flashing back and forth in overwhelmingly rapid succession.

The figure that was once Francois was now flitting back and forth between a scribbly ball of energy and his body. This white body advanced a step, then the physical version did. Li studied this, and as soon as the white body stepped in range, Li swung out and clocked Francois as he did the same.

They both slammed into the ground. Francois looked at Li, bewildered, as she rubbed the back of her head. “I suspected as much” He said, rising to his feet and holding out a hand for her.

“What are you talking about?” She asked, getting quite annoyed at this whole ordeal.

“That sudden bout of skill. I have rarely seen it outside of a few villages, but I suppose this is one more time.”

“But, I told you I’m a warrior. I’m just a faster learner than you give me credit for.”

Without warning he slapped her across the arm.

“OW! What the hell?”

“Fighting prowess is not something you simply turn on and off. Especially not against your will. Tell me, did you come from a village in the southern mountains?”

Li widened her eyes.

“Uh huh. You see, as a general rule of thumb, the further you reside from the ground, the farther from the spirit world you are. I suppose everything looked different for a moment.”

She was still in shock, but was able to nod her head.

“Curious. You managed to connect with your spirit.”

“Is that good?”

Francois laughed. “Well that depends. I imagine you’ll either learn how to control your ventures into the spirit world, or go crazy as the walls between the worlds collapse around you.” Li swallowed loudly. “You’ll probably be alright. You don’t strike me as the unmanageable terror type.” He began walking back where they came from, still holding on to his stick and swaying it idly.

“Wait, did you know I was like this?”

Francois stopped at the hillside. “I generally only beat children when there’s a particularly good reason. You managed to sneak around columns of soldiers who are bound to protect me and were only spotted by a man who’s job is to make sure I’m alive. I suspected since Jamie was unable to spot you for so long, you either had assassin levels of concealment or you could read something the rest of us couldn’t. You wouldn’t have known you were doing it, it would have just been a ‘feeling’.”

Li frowned as the feeling of being a lab rat washed over her. As Francois climbed out she tossed her stick aside.

“Don’t get rid of that,” He called out from the top. “I’ll be making us a fire later.”

***

“What in the world are you doing?” Francois asked.

Li opened her eyes. The crackle of the fire waxing and waning with the orange glow of the flames, being the only thing illuminating them.

“You look like you’re about to be ill all over my fire. I fixed you that meal, I expect you don’t waste it.”

“Should you even have a fire if you’re an assassination target. Isn’t that like sending a beacon to them?”

“There are about ten lines of soldiers-come bodyguards who would stop any serious attempt in seconds. I have to reiterate how extraordinary it is that you made it here in one piece.”

Li sighed and took another mouthful of ‘food’. The grey mash didn’t sit well but she was so hungry she didn’t care. “I was trying to contact my spirit again. It said something weird and I wanna talk to it again.”

Francois let the realisation wash over him. “Ah,” He began. “Well there’ll be your issue. I pushed you rather hard on purpose in order to elicit some kind of reaction. I figured either you’d give up and go back to your village or have some kind of awakening. Despite my suspicions I was sure it would have been the former.”

“And I assume you already know that’s a terrible thing to do to a kid?”

“Yes.”

“Well, what do I do?”

Francois didn’t respond and looked away, but Li could read the response on his face. I have no idea. “There’s no single answer to that question, if there was then people wouldn’t go insane and maroon themselves in distant lands for the sake of the spirit. For people I know, for example, it took years of dedicated meditation and trials by fire. For others…” He stared directly at Li, ”…It comes more naturally. But no matter who you are, it takes time and effort. Don’t think you’ve hit the jackpot, young miss.”

“Don’t you have to renounce your spirituality to join the Royal Army?” Li asked.

He nodded. “Yes indeed. Some against their wills. But with a life lived closer to the physical world, one can be more prosperous and happy.”

“Tell me, how do you know so much about spirituality?”

Francois stood up and dumped his drink into the fire, the roaring flame registering it momentarily with a crackle. “Get some sleep. I expect to rise early tomorrow and ask you do the same. I don’t have any bedding besides my own but the grass is rather soft and it’s going to be a temperately cool night.”

He headed off into the shrouded darkness of the house and closed the door. Li laid her head on the softest tuft she could fine, but her sores and the excitement would never let her get any sleep. What was he going to teach her? He had already made it clear how much contempt he had for inducting people into the military, then what? It couldn’t possibly be about training her to connect with the spirit world. How deep could his knowledge possibly run.

***

Li awoke to cannon fire. She shot up and scanned the landscape. The morning light trickled over the crest of the furthest hills and bathed everything in a pink shadow. She stood up and rapped on the door of the shack. The door flung open and Li had to fly back to avoid being brained. Francois emerged already clad in his yellow armour.

“My apologies. Were you looking for some tea? I’m brewing a pot now,” He said.

“What was that?”

“I said I’m brewing---”

“No! I mean that cannon fire.”

Francois peeked his head out and scanned the horizon, much like Li did albeit less panicked. “I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

Li rubbed her eye with her palm. “Never mind. Must have been a dream.”

“I’ll get you a mug,” Francois said, disappearing behind the door. Li felt awkward standing at the doorstep, but she wasn’t sure if she would get shouted out if she went in. Experimentally she creaked the door open a crack and peered in. The room was as spartan as it got. A cot, a table and a kitchen made up the entire house. Behind the counter Francois was tending to the pot rested over hot coals, adding leaves where required. The hot air from the coals blasted Li in the face immediately, like a warm embrace.

Francois turned around and spotted her immediately. “You’re rather timid for someone who wants to be a warrior. Come in.” He motioned her over. As soon as she entered the shack proper the musty smell of someone who has been living somewhere for too long attacked her. She fought through it and awkwardly leaned over a kitchen counter made for someone much taller than her.

“What is it with you and tea?” She asked.

He didn’t turn around but she could feel the contempt coming off of him. “I can’t believe you would ask me something like that.” He whipped around, smiling, and presented two identical cups. She picked one at random and nursed it.

Francois leaned over the counter. He took a pause to think, then said, “My wife, Émeline back home, grows tea in our back garden. She had done since even before we met.”

“You’re married?”

“Well of course. What gave you the impression that I wasn’t?”

Li tried to think but that was a good point. While he was sipping his tea, muttering swears as he burnt his lips, she said, “That’s why? I thought you just liked the flavour.”

He put down his mug on the counter. “Well, that’s partly true. Certainly if Éme farmed manure I wouldn’t love it any more than I do now. Tell me there isn’t a loved one who has made something wonderful even more so.”

Li thought about her mother’s berry pie that she only made during special celebrations. It was so vivid in her mind. “Sure.”

“To tell you the truth, up until a few weeks ago I was unfazed by the stuff at best. But she is razor sharp, and the second she found out about that she made it her mission to make me fall in love with it. There was a mug here and a cup there, every time something ever-so-slightly different, but I stayed belligerently nonplussed. Later, I was promised by the king that on completing this campaign, we would be moved into a larger home with a larger garden. When I told her, of course, the existing garden was brought up. We got in a bit of an argument, but eventually, when I went back into the house to cool down, she came out holding a bag, enough for the whole campaign. She told me if she finds any leftovers then she’ll rip up the garden herself and let me ‘Sit on my throne of mockery’.”

“Where’s the bag now?” Li asked.

He smiled, reached over to the other side of the kitchen and dumped a bag on the counter, which promptly sagged to nothing. “She is quite evil,” he said, smiling. He suddenly perked up and moved hurriedly to the door. He looked out and said to Li, “You should stay here. Jamie’s back, and I imagine he hasn’t quite forgiven you for embarrassing him.”

She nodded and he closed the door behind him. Soon after he opened again, walked over to the kitchen, and carried his cup of tea out. Li pressed up against the door to listen. She reckoned that she had irritated this Jamie enough and learning state secrets would be a bridge too far.

“My lord.”

Li couldn’t hear the groaning, but she knew it would follow.

“I would rather you simply tell me the front line news.” Uncomfortable shifting. “All alive, Jamie, I’m not going to chop your head off. Not for that, anyway. What’s the news?”

“Well, there isn’t any.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“This has been the biggest issue of this campaign. We’ve stretched out so far but after every major attack, it seems like their army just disappears.”

“Mm,” Francois said in contemplation.

“Everyone in the ranks is starting to get antsy about all of this. We haven’t won a battle in a while, and that can start to take a toll on someone who’s job it is to do exactly that. We’re well fed, well clothed, and well housed. But, as the intervals between battles increases we start

“Ah,” Francois interrupted, “I remember all too well my younger days and those early fights. I vividly remember men and women of my own section roughing up locals to let off some steam.”

The two bodyguards were snickering. “Really?” Jamie asked, sitting down on the other seat. “What happened to them?”

“Pottery.”

A pause. “Pottery? What, buying or making?”

“Both! I immersed them in a different world. One in which combat was a distant, fuzzy memory. Everybody was buying and selling, even to the locals they had fought with before. I was so proud of everyone for making up with them before…”

Jamie heard the slight upward tick of that last inflection and knew to change the topic immediately. “I’ve got a letter from Émeline, by the way.”

Li had peeked her head out from behind the window, and could see a sight she had never seen before. A once in control Francois had turned a pale red and snatched the envelope. “And you have done your due diligence in reading it?”

Jamie smiled. “Absolutely not. I am insubordinate.”

Francois breathed a sigh of relief and patted Jamie on the shoulder, returning to his view of the now-risen sun. “I know you will do right by the soldiers. Give them all something to do that doesn’t involve training to kill. I hear many of the nearby trees make for good basket-weaving materials. If they are not keen on that, the bay is ripe with fish.”

Jamie stood up and gave a halfhearted curtsy before leaving. “That girl,” He said. “I don’t care what your feelings are toward the little one, she cannot be here. You must understand that even family can be destructive.”

Without a word more, he left. Once he was out of sight, Francois turned towards the house having already felt the eyes on the back of his head. He got up, leaving his cup on the table, and walked to Li. “I’m sorry about him. He really is a good person. He is just caught up in a conflict none of us wants. And babysitting me is rather difficult when I slink off like clockwork. Speaking of which, come with me.”

***

It looked like the side of a volcano, with its crags and sharp changes in elevation, but coated entirely with grass. The edge of a lip was prominent at the summit and ran around far into the distance. The two had been walking for about an hour and the journey was far more arduous for Li. She seemed to have gotten some strength from the last time they had gone for one of these trips, but an hour is an hour.

She had been staring up at the vastness of the grassy wall she was facing that she had failed to notice Francois beginning to scale the side. “What are you doing?”

“Getting to the top. This is where your next lesson is.”

She grimaced as she scanned the side once again. “There’s no way I can climb up that, I’m going to fall and enter the spirit world a lot more permanently than I’d want.”

Francois dropped back down and knelt down to her eye level. “Okay, what about this: You stay ahead of me and I can catch you by the scruff of your neck if you fall.”

“Couldn’t you just catch me normally?”

Francois smiled. “I suppose that could work too.”

Li began climbing up and, to her surprise, it was as if the mountain wanted her to climb it. Handholds and footholds were abundant and the tufts of grass seemed to be holding her in place as she climbed. She glanced down at Francois, who seemed to be having a much easier time despite all of that. She wondered in amazement how she could get in on some of that military training, because damn.

The summit approached fast and she rolled over. A short yell from Francois was not fast enough, and what was supposed to be a relaxing lie down on a plateau became a tumble down the other side of the lip. She had no training for this situation, or any situation for that matter, but she was able to curl up into a ball and avoid breaking. The bumps and bruises piled on until she was at a definite flat area, and she went completely limp. Everything was still there, still attached, still intact, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Soon thereafter Francois flew to the same level with a level of concern she had not ever seen, even when he was hitting her. “Li, my goodness, are you alright?”

She groaned as she rose to her feet. Still nothing broken, she figured if anything was going to reveal itself it would be now. “I’m alright. I think those bruises that were healing are gonna take a bit longer.”

Francois sighed and patted her on the shoulder, stopping when he saw her wincing. He motioned her over and they starting walking towards the centre of the grassy bowl. In the far distance, a vast collection of trees, tightly packed together, was coming clearer into view. It was a strange construct, existing in perfect isolation surrounded by a vast green nothing. Gusts whistled around the mouth of the peak, small strands of wind shaking the tops of the trees. Li couldn’t shake the feeling that they were walking into an ambush. Or was this part of the test? After so much silence, she couldn’t take it and had to say something.

“We’re going to have to do something about my clothes at some point, they’re starting to smell.” She blurted out. It was technically something.

“Yes, I’m well aware. I think there are some baths where we’re going.”

Li entertained the thought of bathing in some random stream that ran in this isolated forest and shuddered. There was one thing that jumped out at her as it came further into view and the impenetrably black oak was more densely stacked together. “So we ARE going into this place.”

“It would be rather disappointing if we went around it.”

As they approached, Li felt the uncertainty welling up inside of her. The wind whistled along the top of the valley. However, there was nothing lower down where they were walking. And yet, the activity she could see inside the isolated forest was nothing short of frantic.

They got further and Li hadn’t said anything. She didn’t know if there was anything she could say that Francois didn’t already know. She could spot the vague outlines of figured inside but beyond that there was a black wall.

Li stopped before they reached the border of the darkness. Francois kept going a few paces but looked back at her. “Are you okay, Li?” He asked.

“This place seems…dark.”

Francois looked in then back at her. “Well of course it does. You’re outside. If you follow me for a few steps it won’t be a problem.” He took a step but she remained the statue she was. He sighed and outstretched his hand. “Come on, dear. Trust me.”

Li gripped his hand and they walked through, him slowing down his pace to not be yanking her along. As expected, the darkness filled her eyes and what were once grey outlines were now totally and utterly black.

“I’m still here,” Francois said. “But what I need you to do will be strange. But I would ask that you clear your mind.”

She knew he could feel the hesitation in her. She was thinking a mile a minute, mostly about how to get out of here. The exit had already become non-existent and her thoughts were ceaseless. It was to the point that they had ceased to be coherent and were bolts of pain hitting her heart and stomach.

“Li,” Francois said, “Breathe!”

Before her mind could get in the way, she did as she was told. She closed her eyes, inhaled, and shot the air out of her mouth. She opened her eyes, still nothing.

“Keep going!” Francois urged, “You’ll get there, just focus on your breathing and let the real world melt away.”

She gripped Francois’ hand tighter and concentrated as hard as a human could on her breathing.

For a few moments she felt silly.

For a few moments more, she felt stupid.

But, the few moments after that, she caught a glance of the forest. It was just a glance, but it was as if there was a faint orange glow that ran through the trees and the path. There was a path! They were standing on a road that led further into the forest, and she could see it.

She opened her eyes fully, and it was as if everything was lit up perfectly. Everything, the trees, the paved path leading in and around the trees in front of them, it all was clearly visible. She looked up at Francois, confused, as he slapped on a wide grin. “So you can see it now?”

“What was that? What kind of magic is in this place.”

Francois slid his hand out of Li’s, who had started gripping quite a bit tighter since he first offered. “Magic? No, don’t be childish. What you are seeing is the Jin forest, possibly one of the most spiritually attuned places this side of the mainland. As well, one of the most well protected.”

“But how does it let me see?”

“The forest has changed your mind, permanently now, to understand on its level.”

Li widened her eyes and the familiar panic started rising up. “You mean it’s in my brain? I didn’t want this, what else has it done.”

“Li, my dear, the only thing it has done is let you see. This forest isn’t an intelligent being trying to change you into someone you’re not. All it does is disgorge noise, and you have picked it up. Are my words not entering your mind and changing it as I speak?”

“That’s different! I can refuse to listen.”

“As is the same with this place. But I think you’ll find, much like an idea, the more you try to purge it the more entrenched it gets. It is said that the first seed of this place came from the spirit world itself.”

“It is said by who?”

Francois remained silent for a while. “Er, locals. Come now, mustn’t dawdle or we’ll be run over by a trade cart.”

The two followed the path which was refreshingly straightforward. With the journey they had taken to get there, Li was fully expecting to not find a single other person in this place. She wasn’t thinking too hard about that, she was trying to parse what Francois had said. Sure enough, the rattle of wood and iron came from ahead of them, behind a tree, and revealed itself to be a tired man dragging several wooden crates. Li didn’t know what she was expecting, but it wasn’t a standard villager dragging a standard cart.

Once they were out of earshot, Li said, “Wow, it’s so…normal.”

“Did you think the people here would be any different to people you know?”

“Well, honestly I was expecting monks or something.”

Francois tried in vain to stifle a laugh. “I beg your pardon?”

“You know, people in robes meditating under each one of these trees. Don’t have to eat anything because they’re so in tune with their spirit. I thought you were going to help me find my tree or something.”

“Oh, Li,” He said, chuckling but carrying the tone of a disappointed parent. “I can tell you that this is a village. Much like wherever you grew up, it has people who trade and talk and live.”

“I suppose they live in the trees, then.”

“Essentially, yes. Pay attention now, we’re almost there.”

“Almost w—” She said, before they rounded the corner and rendered the question answered.

A flurry of activity was unfolding in the clearing of the forest. Stalls were stacked and shot off into the distance. Platforms webbed above with the reasoning of a million little specific reasons they were like that. ‘Of course my iron stall goes straight to Ime’s, it’s part of the peace treaty between our families. You’d have known that if you were a local.’

Sounds that before had been easily explained as forest ambience took on new meaning. The rattle of cicadas were actually carts that ducked through the crowd and supplied their vendors. The rustling of trees was actually a million chefs all cooking meals with the speed and skill of people who had been honing their skills for a lifetime. The occasional call of a bird was a dissatisfied customer who wanted the marketeer to know exactly what they thought of their store.

With all of this commotion, Li only had one overriding thought. “How did all of these people get here? No way did they climb up the side of the hill with all of their stuff.”

Francois patted Li on the back and motioned her into the chaos. “Come on, explore a moment.”

Li grumbled and followed his lead. That’s when the anxiety started creeping in. The noise, the musky smell, the people that incessantly bumped into her because she was easily half everyone’s height. It was indescribable but she could feel everyone in the market more than she ever could elsewhere.

Her chest was getting heavier, trying to breathe was getting harder. Francois glanced down and pointed towards a store. “Here’s something you might like.” She followed but didn’t respond.

“Li,” He said, the concern in his voice showing, “Don’t focus on the people. Don’t focus on the atmosphere or what might happen. The worst that could happen is you bumping into someone.”

Francois looked almost as if he was on autopilot as he rounded corners and turned into a restaurant. The atmosphere was quite restrained as the patrons dug into their food and what looked like staring at each other. There was little time to process it all because they sped right through and ascended a spiral staircase at the back. On the next floor up was just a balcony with a gantry that led over the crowd below. The two got about halfway before stopping abruptly.

“What are we doing?” Li asked, simultaneously frustrated but feeling weaker.

“Look at that view, would you? Incredible, the heaving of it all. Everybody living their own l… Follow me,” He said. Before they left Li caught a glimpse of a man in the crowd, dressed in red and looking around as if waiting for someone. They flew down the stairs on the other side, and it was clear Li had completely become an afterthought to Francois.

“This isn’t about training! You just wanna drag me along for your work.”

“Is this not what you wanted?”

Li thought for a moment. What DID she want out of this? “Why am I even here? You tell me not to fight, we’re not learning anything spiritual. What am I doing?”

Francois stood in the middle of the crowd, being buffeted by the unseeing people moving past. “Give us a moment. I came here to teach you, I promise. But it seems like work has muscled in on your time, which I do apologise for. We WILL do what we came here for, but right now we need to do what I need to do.”

The two ducked down each path gingerly to get back to the ground floor. Through another restaurant and Li was barely able to keep up. If there was ever a time she was going to do some actual soldier work, this would be it.

Then, through the heaving crowd and the cacophony of noise, Li lost him. It was so quick she was still processing what had happened. He pounced away and she had to work out where he had gone. The creeping anxiety came back, only buoyed by the thought of, I got in here, there’s no reason I can’t get out again.

Once the heavy breathing started she knew she had to do something. As hard as she had tried to withdraw from this, given the heart attack she had given herself, she needed to contact her spirit.

She closed her eyes and slowly things around her began disappearing.

“I’m going to go message the Royal guard. Li, don’t talk to him!”

-----

“Li, wait!”

Hug, aw. Here’s a tea leaf.

-----

As Francois thought, he fiddled with the empty bag in his pocket.

-----

Li ascended the hill she once had a year ago. A year of training and only now had she decided to return. Her rucksack jangled with every step and her world-worn clothes

It was still the same area, the same look. The same grass that rolled off into the distance, the same shack that had once housed her mentor. She approached it but stopped at the bush. In retrospect, she thought, it wasn’t the best to hide in. The scraggly branches only put up a halfhearted front of leaves. All of this sameness, however, felt so different. The overhanging feeling of war no longer loomed and the landscape had a long unknown sense of serenity.

The door of the cabin needed some force to push open, and when it finally gave it did with great force, launching Li onto the ground. She groaned as she hauled herself up, using the now single hinged door to pull herself up. It was just as she remembered, but everything had a thin coating of dust and dirt. A window was slightly ajar but allowed all of this devastation to happen. Li knelt down and rifled through her sack. She pulled out a small, wooden capsule and opened it up. Out came a withered tea leaf, which she pinched between her index fingers and thumbs. She closed her eyes, and breathed.

The jolt as she headed closer to the spirit world was less alarming than it used to be, but it still gave her the sense that she didn’t belong. The same feeling of trespassing she had the last time she was here. The physical world melted away, but the contours of the world remained.

- He doesn’t understand, almost like a different person but with a flicker of understanding, bittersweet