Author's Note: Today is Edgar Allan Poe's birthday, and he would've been 207 years old. So go toast the Raven, this incredibly brilliant and influential writer, with a glass of absinthe!
Kuai Liang sighed for what felt like the umpteenth time that morning as he stepped into his sleeping quarters to shed his ceremonial robes and change into his plain blue tunic, hoping that his plan to teach Livy some respect worked as well as he'd wanted. He didn't particularly like the idea of sending her to Japan, but as Tomas had pointed out when he'd first mentioned this idea, it might give his oldest daughter a chance to test her wings and fly. And if nothing else, Hanzo was sure to light a fire under her ass and get her properly motivated to straighten up.
"You are a gigantic ass!" Anya hissed as she suddenly stormed into their room, slamming the door behind her. "What on earth were you thinking, deciding to send Olivia away like that?"
Kuai Liang dispassionately looked at her as he neatly draped his uniform on a hanger. "I was thinking that I don't know my own daughter anymore, and that nothing is getting through to her," he calmly replied, though a heaviness weighed on his heart. "This decision wasn't easy, Anya. I've been struggling with it for the last few days."
"Has everyone lost their damn minds?" she snapped as she tossed Olivia's necklace box onto the bed and then threw up her hands in exasperation. "Olivia won't talk to me, and now you won't either. I could've helped you figure this out, but no. You just do whatever the hell you want like you always do. I'm sick of this, Kuai Liang!"
"I didn't ask you because I knew you'd just say no," he defended his decision.
"That's right!" she exclaimed and then pointed to her temple. "What does that tell you?"
"Look, Anya, this isn't easy for me," he repeated, sighing yet again. He felt a twinge of pain when he thought about Livy leaving for several months. "This is hurting me far more than it's hurting her."
"Don't bet on it," she hissed. "She's in her room, a total mess-"
"Well, that's not my fault," he protested, irritated. "She made her bed. Let her sleep in it."
"It's not your fault?" his wife challenged, her cheeks scarlet red. "You publicly humiliated her in front of the whole Temple! If you didn't want her to test, fine. But you shouldn't have done that."
"I had to do that," he justified. "I wanted everyone to see that no one is above the rules. Not even my own daughter. I used to hate it when Sektor would get away with murder simply because he was the Grandmaster's son. I never wanted to show my kids that kind of favoritism. I thought it'd help them turn into better people later on."
"Well, aren't you a real hero?" she scoffed, crossing her arms. "I'm shocked Olivia hasn't nominated you for Father of the Year." Anya scowled at him and then stomped back to the door. She paused and looked at him. "She thinks you hate her. She thinks because she messed up, you've stopped caring about her." She shook her head in disgust. "You take way too much for granted, Kuai Liang. And it's gonna catch up with you one of these days. If you keep playing your cards like this, you're gonna lose her. Forever. If you haven't already."
The Cryomancer stared at his wife quietly for a long moment before he finally pointed to the opened jewelry box. "You gave Livy her present?" he asked. He was mildly angry that Anya did that without him. It was supposed to be from them both.
His wife scoffed and crossed her arms. "Yeah."
"She doesn't want to take it with her to Japan?"
"She doesn't want it, period," Anya said. "Because it was your idea. She said she wants nothing to do with you."
Kuai Liang looked up at her in bewilderment, instantly wounded. "What?" he spoke in confusion.
"I told you that you take far too much for granted," she growled, frowning. And with that, she left, slamming the door for a second time.
Kuai Liang sighed yet again and sank onto his bed, grabbing the box. He opened it and looked at the snowflake that he'd helped design. The jeweler had showed him pre-existing patterns, and it definitely would've been simpler to choose a pendant that had already been made. But no, he'd insisted, Livy was special, this birthday was special, and she deserved a snowflake that no one else had. So he'd spent hours sketching one of his own, working in painstaking detail until it was just right, skipping sleep and neglecting paperwork until it was done. And then, he'd given the drawing to the jeweler, who'd set about crafting it to his specifications. It was mostly encrusted with diamonds, but three tiny sapphire chips glittered at the heart as if they were smiling.
And Livy didn't even want it.
Kuai Liang frowned. Perhaps this whole Japan thing had been a mistake. Maybe Anya was right; Livy had looked crushed when he'd told her she wouldn't be graduating today. Her eyes had looked up at him, so helpless, so betrayed. Even from his spot high above her, he'd been able to see her fight back the tears forming in her eyes. His decree had hurt her, and bad.
But that's not my fault, he reminded himself. Livy was the one who'd been behaving like a brat, not him. He was her father and not her friend. His job wasn't to win her approval or get her to like him. His job was to prepare her for the real world and mold her into a decent human being, and in order to do that, sometimes he had to make tough, unpalatable decisions that she'd hate. So if she didn't want to go to Japan, she should've thought twice about letting Cassie lead her to that club.
Besides, he reasoned, she'll thank me later. She may not see this as a good thing right now, but someday, when she's an adult and has a kid of her own, she'll appreciate the things I had to do to put her on the right path.
But as Kuai Liang studied the snowflake resting in the jewelry box on his palm, trying to convince himself that he really believed that, he was filled by a nagging suspicion that something was wrong with this plan and that he was making a huge mistake.
Olivia said nothing as she, Grandmaster Hasashi, and her father prepared to leave the Lin Kuei Temple through the portal, even when her friends hugged her to say their goodbyes, even as Sam started to cry because her big sister was leaving. For once, Tommy and Dom had nothing snarky to say, or if they did, they kept a lid on it because their mother kept flashing them stern looks that silently ordered them to zip it. But even if they had said something, Olivia doubted she would reply back. She was just too numb to speak.
Her mother sniffed then, holding back her tears, and she smiled reassuringly at Olivia when she caught her. Anya would not be going to Ft. Albany with them; it was her way of protesting the Grandmaster's decision to send her daughter away without consulting her first. It was a noble gesture, but ultimately it didn't really matter to the teenager. As far as Olivia was concerned, it was a feeble, half-hearted attempt to stand up to her father. If she really cared about her, she would throw a bitch-fit until Kuai Liang caved and let her stay home. When Anya hastily wrapped her arms around Olivia to hug her, the young Cryomancer angrily squirmed free and scowled at the woman. But still, she said nothing.
Her silence continued to the portal room in Ft. Albany. General Blade greeted them cordially, though she refrained from making small talk and quickly ordered her techs to open a portal to somewhere in Shikoku. Immediately, they went to work and their fingers flew across space-age touchscreen keyboards. A melody of electronics chirps and beeps cut through the silence, and in moments a portal appeared, its cloudy blue arms rotating through black liquid like a spiral galaxy. It quickly focused, though, and through the gelatinous event horizon, a bucolic forest in autumn came into view.
Olivia refused to look at her father as she joined her new Grandmaster's side, preparing to walk through the portal as soon as General Blade's techs opened it. She hated him. Hated him. It started deep in her gut and ballooned through her chest, lodging right behind her ribcage where it poisoned her soul with malice. She stood there, beside Grandmaster Hasashi, gritting her teeth so long and so hard that quickly, her jaws and ears hurt. Her hands involuntarily glowed blue with her power, and a fine, crystalline power was beginning to spread across her backpack's strap of its own accord. Words or feelings could not express how angry she was at her father for doing this to her, and for how much she loathed him because of it.
"Olivia," Kuai Liang called to her to say goodbye, but she ignored him, scowling.
"Deshi!" Grandmaster Hasashi suddenly barked at her, startling her and making her jump. Bewildered, she looked up at him. He towered at least a foot above her, and his amber-colored eyes glared back at her. "My students show their betters respect in my Temple," he said. "Look at your father when he speaks to you."
Olivia almost told him no. She didn't care what the Shirai Ryu did to her as punishment. They couldn't make her look at the one man on the planet that she wished dead where he stood. But in the end, she chickened out. She'd heard tales of the legendary Scorpion, and she decided she didn't want to test her luck with him before she'd even arrived at her new home. So she obeyed her new Sensei and inhaled a ragged breath before she slowly turned around.
Kuai Liang's arms were crossed and his face was his usual, stern mask. Olivia looked at him expectantly, even angrier that he didn't even seem to care that he was shipping her off to Japan, to the Shirai Ryu, once the Lin Kuei's mortal enemy. Maybe if he'd called out to her to tell her to stop, that he'd changed his mind, that he wanted her to stay and take her test for real, he would have tempered her ire. But he just stood there, with his arms crossed, staring at her, content to let her go.
Inwardly, Olivia screamed in frustration, but calmly inhaled through her nose and said, "Yes, Grandmaster?"
"I love you," he told her, and she didn't even try to hide her eye roll. No, he didn't. Who was he trying to fool? Her father chose to ignore her show of disrespect, though, and then he said, "Represent our clan well. Make me proud."
The young Cryomancer looked from him to her new Grandmaster and back again. "Yes, sir," she said as politely as she could, but still letting the venom drip from her words. By then, Grandmaster Hasashi had stepped fearlessly through the portal, never looking back. As soon as he had disappeared through, she rudely whirled around and followed after him, not bothering to look at her father as she left.
She emerged in a forest at the base of a mountain where a great Temple had been carved into the rock. She looked up and around in awe, catching the scent of pine sap and wood smoke on her nose as her braided hair floated behind her on a slight breeze. Tree leaves in shades of reds, golds, and browns fluttered to the ground as the wind passed through. It was warm here for October, and colorful, quite unlike Arctika, which was cold and dark and always white with snow, never seeing daylight until March. In spite of herself, Olivia gasped.
"Do you have something to say, Deshi?" her new Sensei demanded to know.
"It's…beautiful, Grandmaster," she told him. He merely harrumphed at that.
"Follow me," he ordered, heading towards the Temple without breaking stride. He moved fast, and Olivia had a hard time keeping up. "I will not tolerate insubordination," he began. "Any act that I deem disrespectful will be punished in a way I see fit. Your father put up with you, Deshi, but I will not." Her Grandmaster hurried up the steps leading inside the Temple, passing many of the students, curtly nodding at them when they bowed to him. "I expect you to share responsibility for the daily chores. You will attend all assigned classes without fail."
"Yes, Grandmaster," she said, panting.
Hanzo now led her down a wide stone corridor that wound deep into the mountain. "The Shirai Ryu rise at 5:00-"
"5:00?" she squeaked in disbelief, unable to stop herself. Immediately, he stopped in his tracks and glared at her. "I'm not complaining, Grandmaster," she hastily said, throwing up her arms deferentially. "I was just double-checking to make sure I heard you correctly."
He said nothing, but rather whirled around and started marching down the hall again. 5:00? Oh, God, I'm not gonna make it, she moaned in her head as she followed him. She wasn't even ready to roll her butt out of bed at six when the Lin Kuei began their day. More often than not, Morgan had to drag her covers off her so that she'd start to get cold, but sometimes that didn't even work. Sometimes her mother had to get her up, and she brought water…
"We have our morning meal after the early chores are done," Grandmaster Hasashi continued. "Then we train and do chores until our evening meal. We have one hour of free time after that, and then we sleep." He stopped at a wooden door on the left hand side of the hallway. "Do you understand what I have told you so far, Deshi?" he demanded to know.
"Yes, Grandmaster," she said, nodding.
"The boys sleep in dormitories on the other side of the Temple," he declared.
"And where will I sleep?" she wondered out loud.
"You are the only girl in the Shirai Ryu," he told her. "So this is where you will sleep. You are not allowed to leave this room in the night for any reason, and none of the boys are allowed to come in here for any reason. I sleep just across the hall, Deshi, so I will know if you've left it or if you have visitors. I have ears like a bat and eyes like a hawk." With that, he opened the door to a tiny room barely larger than a broom closet. There was nothing in here but a single narrow cot dressed with one wool blanket and an old pillow, a wardrobe for clothes, and a little woodstove in the corner. A plain white chamber pot full of cobwebs sat in the other corner, collecting dust.
Olivia hated her father. She really really hated her father.
"Do you have anything to say?" he asked, his tone stern and unfriendly.
"It looks…cozy," she replied, but her voice squeaked with insincerity.
"You will find that my students live much differently than you did at the Lin Kuei," he said. "They do not have any extra luxuries. They live simply, without many of the conveniences of modern life."
"Yes, Grandmaster," she said.
"I do,however, own a satellite phone to keep in contact with Raiden's other Champions," he told her a moment later. "I will allow you to use it once a week to contact your parents, or for them to contact you."
Olivia cleared her throat and frowned. "Thank you, Grandmaster," she said, looking up at him. "But I doubt I'll need it."
He gave her a disapproving stare and then shook his head. "There are Shirai Ryu training clothes in your wardrobe," he told her. "Change into them and join me in the yard for further instructions."
"Yes, Grandmaster." She started to walk into her new room, but then remembered to bow to him before leaving. Her gesture seemed to please him, and the corners of his lips almost smirked. But it was gone as fast as it had appeared, and that battle hardened mask had returned once again.
"Do as I have commanded," he said before he whirled around and marched down the hall the way he'd come.
"Happy Birthday, Olivia," she sarcastically mumbled as she threw her backpack and suitcase on the cot.
Then she stepped to the old wardrobe, noting the faded paint and splintering wood. Neatly folded and placed inside were two crisp pairs of black hakama pants, two black kimonos, a brilliant yellow sash, and a pair of tabi boots. Sighing heavily, she pulled the clothes out and changed into them as the Grandmaster had instructed. The material was coarse and her skin instantly felt itchy. Anxiously, she began to scratch her skin, dragging brilliant red tracks through her pale skin.
"Frickin' great," she mumbled before she left her room and went in search of her new Sensei. Olivia soon found him in the yard where he said he'd be, surrounded by a group of four boys who looked to be roughly her age, all of them of Asian descent except for one who was black.
"Deshi, these are your new classmates," Grandmaster Hasashi said in Japanese. She got the gist of the statement, but her Japanese was rough and she struggled to comprehend it, even as he pointed to them and introduced her. "Fox, Naoki, Akio, and Takeda." He looked at them. "This is Olivia. She is from the Lin Kuei."
Immediately, all four of them tensed and frowned at her. It didn't take a genius to figure out why. "Hello," she timidly said after straining to remember the word in Japanese. They scoffed as if they couldn't believe she'd just talked to them. She nervously scratched her skin again.
Now Grandmaster Hasashi rattled off another command, but this time, Olivia couldn't decipher it entirely. It was something about wood. She looked at him in both panic and confusion, hoping for an explanation in English, but as soon as the boys said, "Yes, Grandmaster," also in Japanese, he turned and stalked away. Her classmates then turned around and walked off in the opposite direction.
"Wait!" she yelped, trotting to catch up with them. They didn't slow their pace, but said nothing as she joined them, and then led her to a clearing through a thick stand of trees where piles of firewood had been neatly stacked for splitting. "What are we doing here?" she finally asked.
"Didn't you hear the Grandmaster?" the teenager named Akio smirked. "He told us to split logs for this evening."
"I…I didn't understand him," Olivia confessed, her cheeks already flaming red. "I don't speak Japanese that well."
The one called Fox, the black teenager, nudged his shorter friend in the ribs. "I can't believe Grandmaster took on a Lin Kuei dog as his student. Can you, Takeda?" he asked.
The shorter teenager laughed. "Not really," he said. "Must be a charity outreach thing or something."
"Yeah, he probably just feels sorry for her for not getting a real education."
The Cryomancer scowled. "You're really funny," she said.
Takeda shrugged. "They say that laughter is the best medicine."
"Then your face must be curing the world," she hissed, prompting the boys to ooh.
Takeda jeered at her before he wandered to an old tree stump that was serving as the chopping block and gripped an old, heavy ax jutting from the wood. "Get lost, loser," he said. "We have a lot of work to do and we don't need some girl getting in the way and messing things up."
"I'm not just 'some girl,'" she shot back. "I can do anything you guys can do, and better."
"You can't chop wood better," he challenged, casting a knowing smirk at his friends. "Last I checked, there aren't any trees in the North Pole."
"I still know how."
He snorted. "Oh, yeah right. Girls don't know how to chop wood."
The hair on Olivia's neck bristled indignantly. The quickest way to get her to do something was to say she couldn't, and worse, say she couldn't because she was female. "Give me that ax," she snarled, stomping to him and yanking it from his hands. She expected a fight from him, but was glad he didn't offer any, and then she grabbed a piece of wood from the pile. She easily split it with the ax; there weren't any trees growing naturally in Arctika, but her father had taught her how to chop wood when their family went camping in the Rocky Mountains years prior. She triumphantly smirked at Takeda and the others when the smaller pieces of firewood fell to the ground.
"Beginner's luck," he teased. "I bet you can't do that whole wood pile, though."
"Oh, yeah?" she retorted. "Watch me."
Immediately, she set to work splitting the firewood, skillfully hefting the ax over her head and into the pieces, breaking them into smaller chunks that would burn easier. The boys watched and laughed at her while they stacked the new pieces, motivating her to press on, even though she was rapidly beginning to tire. Chopping firewood was not an easy chore. But they already doubted her ability to do it, so she wasn't about to let them see her quit. Blisters began to form on her palms. Some burst and her hands grew slick as they sang in pain. But still she continued, determined to make them eat crow. At last, the pile had all been split.
"I told you so," she panted when she was finished.
Takeda chuckled. "I guess you showed me," he said, winking.
Suddenly, Olivia realized she'd been Tom Sawyered. It was a novice mistake. She should have seen it coming a mile away. Dominic and Tommy tried to play that trick on her often, mostly to get out of cleaning up after Blue, their mother's Seidan wolf. She scowled, even as she inwardly cursed herself for her stupidity, and marched up to him, shoving him into a tree.
"Hey!" he yelped.
"You're dead, you little weasel," she growled as she held up her fist, which now glowed blue with power and frost.
"Deshi!" Grandmaster Hasashi's voice boomed through the clearing. Before Olivia had a chance to stand down, he was already yanking her off Takeda by the ear.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" she yelped as she gripped his hand, unable to peel him off while he maneuvered her away from the obnoxious boy.
"What is going on here?" he demanded to know, never releasing his hold on her ear. He glared accusingly at the boys.
"We didn't do anything, Grandmaster," Naoki hastily said as he threw up his hands in deference.
"Then what is wrong with her?" he growled.
Takeda shrugged. "She is Lin Kuei," he said. "Some people would say its upbringing. I think she was just born that way."
Hanzo furiously stared into Olivia's eyes. "What happened?"
The Cryomancer cleared her throat. No way she'd snitch on them. They already had no respect for her as it was. But tattling to teacher? She'd never live it down, and rightfully so.
"Nothing, Grandmaster," she strained to say. He yanked harder on her ear and she squealed, but quickly bit her tongue.
"You have only been here an hour," he growled. "And already, I find you fighting. Do you enjoy conflict and being angry?"
"No, sir," she grunted.
Finally, Hanzo let her go. "I think you must," he countered. "After all, that is why you're here." He shook his head. "If there is one thing you should learn from me, let it be this: holding onto anger is toxic. You think that it's a weapon that attacks the person who harms you. But it's a curved blade, and the damage you do is done to yourself. The best fighter is never angry."
"Yes, sir," she said, looking down at her feet.
"That goes for all of you," the Grandmaster snapped. Then he looked from kid to kid, finally resting his sight on Olivia. "Whenever a deshi breaks the rules, their entire class is punished. This time will be no different. You will all carry this wood to the Temple, and then you will assist the cooks with making our evening meal. You will not, however, partake in it. Instead, you will meet me in the training yard for kiso tanren."
The boys started to groan, but Grandmaster Hasashi flashed them all fearsome glares and they silenced themselves immediately. Then he gestured his hand at the pile of wood, and one by one, the teenagers started to gather up armloads. He stood by, watching them like hawks to ensure there was no further squabbling. Olivia sighed, stifling angry tears welling up inside of her, and then scooped several split logs into her arms, carrying them towards the Temple. Happy Birthday, Olivia.
Dr. MKDemigodZ-Warrior, he might very well say that ;)
tinkknit, that is the highest compliment anyone can pay me! Thank you so much!
dark s8ter girl, Olivia is definitely a brat...right now ;) Every good character has to undergo a change, and this little girl is gonna go through some huge ones over the course of this story. And Kuai Liang not telling Anya is definitely gonna come back to bite him in the ass later, but you'll see. Hugs, and thanks for commenting!
ROCuevas, thanks!
Guest, I'm sure Olivia appreciates that you're in her corner. I'm going for neither her nor her dad being 100% right or 100% wrong. So, they're both kind of mean to each other right now.
en-lumine, hahaha It was her fault, but I'm glad her reaction stirs some sympathy regardless!
Firebending Master, it's good to see you catching up! I'm glad you're enjoying the journey so far.
iceangelmkx, your guess was still entertaining regardless! That is exactly what I was thinking about with Bi-han. He's still tormented by his shadow self, and he constantly battles with it to stay human.
Guest, you're psychotic and need therapy. I can't condone what you said in your review; it was completely inappropriate and sadistic, not to mention borderline sexist.
