Chapter A Beginning

Note: This chapter is dedicated to all the people who have stuck with me so far, who reviewed, fav'd, or just plain enjoyed this little adventure. To all of you: Thank you! Here's to hoping the rest of the series gets published in English!

It's an old memory.

One that's still hazy and blurry because I was so young at the time. The things I do remember were that Mom and Dad were arguing again while I was sleeping—trying to at least. I could hear them loud and clear even though they were trying to keep it down. Some of their words and phrases I didn't understand at the time but I knew they were partly arguing over me.

"You can't up and leave!" Dad whispers harshly. "You're going to leave your only child—they're only four years old!"

I had my back to the wall and the blanket pulled full up over my the thin fabric I could see their silhouettes highlighted against the flickering fire in the hearth.

Mom has her head down like she's ashamed. "I told you this was going to happen. I told you over and over again. This is the reason why I didn't want to marry you." She says so softly I can barely hear it.

Dad groans. He throws his hands up in the air. "Fine. Fine! I know you told me..." He sighs. "Just tell me the truth, you're not leaving because of the kid are you?"

"What?" Mom recoils. "What—no! Of course not!"

"Then what's the problem?" He pleads. "Stay home. They need you. I need you!"

Mom takes a step back, closer to the door. "I stayed for four years... And these past four years were like paradise and a jail cell all at the same time. And... And they're old enough now... I... I need to go."

Dad reaches out for her but she pulls away. He takes a step back. "Don't make me wait two years again please."

"I won't." She promises and then she is gone. I watch Dad stand there in front of the door for a while before he sighs and takes a seat on the floor. It was my first time watching Mom leave and it wouldn't be the last.

I don't think Dad slept that night.

Mom comes back a few months later looking more refreshed and happier than I've ever seen her in a long while. She sits near the fire and takes off her heavy pack and cloak. Dad gives her a small smile and hands her a bowl of hot soup.

I'm full of squeals and giggles as I crawl into her lap and bombard her with questions on where she's been and what she's been doing. She spends the night retelling her adventures to me as I sit enraptured.

"Should I be worried about anything?" Dad asks her after I run out of questions. She pulls back the sleeve on her right arm and I can see her forearm is covered in bandages.

"I had it treated but I could use a second opinion."

He gives her a tired smile and shakes his head. "Alright, give it here."

Master Torogai takes me under her wing when I'm six years old. I'm not officially her apprentice but she takes the time to teach me things about the world when she's visiting. I watch her perform tricks with smoke and magic with mud and am completely entranced and fascinated. She explains the world of Nayug and Sagu and shows me places in the world where the barrier between the two is thin.

I catch a glimpse of that other world and am amazed.

But Master Torogai leaves all too soon, journeying across the country and beyond.

"That's how she always is." Dad says when he sees my frown. "She'll be back, don't you worry."

I was eight years old when I asked Dad about it. Why does Mom always leave? It was a recurring event now. She'd leave suddenly with barely a day's notice and then one day she'd be back like nothing ever happened. She'd bring back stories and occasionally a new scar or two and life would go on until the next time she left.

I don't mind of course. I love my Mom and I know she loves me but none of the other kids have parents who leave unexpectantly.

"That's what she does." He said simply.

"But why?" I ask. "You got mad last time. You and Mom were fighting."

"Think of it like... Like a timer." He tries to explain. "Mom has a timer in her head. When the timer goes off Mom leaves. When she comes back the timer resets."

"But why were you fighting?"

He shrugs. "I love your Mom. I worry about her when she's not here. We fight because I can't admit that she's going to leave no matter what I say. If I let her go without a fight then I'm not worrying enough. And I always worry enough."

I nod but I'm too young to understand a word he just said.

Mom has a timer in her head.

That's all I need to know.

Dad takes me on my first house call when I'm ten years old. He says I know enough about herbs and medicine to help him with minor surgery.

A young girl broke her arm badly enough that I can see the bone coming through the skin. I watch my Dad transform into another man. He's confident, so sure of himself and his craft, and he's quick and precise as he barks out orders to me. Grab the poultrice. Hold down the patient. Administer numbing solution. Sterilize the needle. Thread it. Wipe the blood away.

I watch him work as he slowly saves the girl from certain amputation. And when she wakes up to a bandaged arm in a cast, alive and whole, I feel a strange sort of pride in my chest. My Dad might not be the strongest or the fastest or even the smartest but he has the most important job in the world.

Dad smiles at me, exhausted as we head home. "You were a great help. How did you like it?"

"Scary but fun."

He laughs. "Maybe I'll let you sew up Mom when she gets back."

Mom gives me a short sword when I'm twelve. Says it's a tradition in Kanbal and I'm an adult now. We have a friendly spar to celebrate and Mom knocks me flat on my back and we walk home together—me with a handful of new bruises. She says I need another ten years before I can best her with the short spear. If she says I can I believe her.

Dad narrows his eyes when he sees us covered in dirt but doesn't say anything. He beckons me to him and I pull up my shirt so he can see to my injuries.

Mom meets his gaze and shrugs.

The salve he rubs on my skin feels nice and I rest my head in his lap as he gives me a light massage. His hands are warm and gentle and I give a little sigh in blissful content.

I don't remember going to bed the next day. I must have fallen asleep in his arms.

Master Torogai visits again. I'm always happy to see her, she always manages to make Mom laugh and Dad blush—or vice versa on occasion. And while she also makes me scowl with some of her comments I know she means no harm.

She takes me on a day trip, says she'll babysit me for a while, not that I need babysitting. I think she wants to get me out of my parents' hair.

Later she admits Dad did a decent job of training me in magic weaving although I'll never be as good as herself. She says I'm not bad at the healing arts either and asks me who I want to take after.

"What do you mean?"

"Your parents, kid." She says while huffing on her pipe. "You got a martial arts prodigy on one end and a famous doctor on the other. Which one will you be I wonder?"

I frown. "How am I supposed to know?"

She laughs, that loud cackling laugh that usually means she just insulted somebody.

I cross my arms over my chest and glare at her. "I don't have to choose! I can be both!"

This somehow sends her into another fit of laughter. "I hope you do!" She says in between tears and giggles. "Wouldn't that be interesting!"

I'm fifteen years old and I'm packing my bags.

Tomorrow I'll be leaving for Kanbal. I've never left Shin-Yogo before. It's a little exciting to be away on my own.

Dad and I spend that morning hiking up and down the mountainside gathering herbs. He started expanding his business ever since I turned thirteen and he's constantly busy fulfilling work orders or making emergency calls. He even hired two full-time errand runners. I still accompany him when he treats patients occasionally but I'm stretched thin with lessons from Master Torogai and sparring with Mom.

We come down from the mountainside after a few hours, our bags full to bursting with herbs both medicinal, culinary, and a few dangerous ones for Master's spells. I help him grind the plants, some we boil, others we leave whole, and we pack them up nice and easy for the customers.

Dad sends me out to gather a few vegetables for tonight's dinner and I chat with a few of my friends along the way, told them where I'd be going and promised to bring them back a few souvenirs from the land beyond the Misty Blue Mountains.

That night as we sit side by side near the boiling pot he tells me a little of the patients he's tending to, some gossip he's heard in town and comments on my progress in magic weaving.

"Master says I'm learning fast." I tell him as I spoon out a second helping into my bowl. "She says I'm a much better student than you were."

He grunts. "She says that to everyone. She even said that to your Mom."

"I didn't know Mom studied magic weaving!"

"She didn't." He deadpans.

I pour a third bowl for Mom as is tradition, emptying the pot, and throw a few more logs into the fire. We go over the stock we have in the house and note the items Dad need to get for the next week.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with me?" I ask timidly. "You've never been to Kanbal either..."

He smiles but it's forced. "No your Mom was right. You're old enough to go alone and I should let you see the rest of the world. Plus the business would surely fall without one of us here especially for a two month absence!" Much later I would learn he had begged Mom to go with me but she was stubborn in her ways.

I nod. "I'll write letters if I can. I promise."

He chuckles. "It's okay. I trust you to use your head and your wits. I know I fuss over you... Just... Let me worry about my only child okay?"

"I'll be fine." I mumble.

"I know you will."

We let the fire burn out as we curl up in our bedrolls and fall asleep. Mom didn't return that night but I wasn't surprised.

I wake up early the next morning, my body too nervous to wait for sunrise. I spend a couple hours brushing my horse, sharpening my spear, and rechecking my pack. Mom insisted I didn't need a horse to get to Kanbal, especially since I was travelling alone, but Dad was too protective of me and said I shouldn't have to lug my pack the whole way. It's safer on a horse he said, faster and more convenient. He's right but I wouldn't have minded going without one either.

"Be careful out there, would you?" Dad pleads with me as he hands me a large batch of recently ground herbs. I tuck them into the sash around my waist. He rubs his hands together nervously, probably torn between hugging me farewell and dragging me back to the house.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine. Really." I say as casually as possible but his worried frown still won't fade away.

"You're exactly like your mother you know that?" He mutters. "Always leaving me, wandering around only to show up years later."

"I'm not just like her." I sigh. He always takes things out of proportion. "This is first time I've ever left home. I won't even be gone that long."

"That's what she always used to say too." He mumbles under his breath.

I roll my eyes. There's really no arguing with him, I just let him say whatever he wants. He's been like that my whole life, always worried about things. After all, mother left him countless times leaving him patiently waiting for her unscheduled return. Her and the timer in her head.

"When I'm on the road I'll be extra careful. I won't even talk to shady looking strangers."

"Where's your Mom? She should be here to see you off." He glances around but there's no sign of her.

"She said she would try to make it back before I left. Maybe she got into some scuffle or other." I explain to him. He still looks worried though. "It's okay. She doesn't need to see me off. I got the 'be careful' lecture from her a month ago."

"Her only child leaving home for the first time, and what does she do? Disappear!" Dad mutters, eyes still transfixed on the empty roads leading into the village.

He circles me, checking my pack, making sure everything is secured, then once satisfied, gives the horse a quick pat. "Remember to stay on open roads. No short cuts. When you get to Kanbal, no gambling. No drinking. No flirting. No fighting. Don't squander your money. Remember your manners—"

"I know Dad! Sheesh."

He has tears in his eyes as he holds my hand tenderly. "I love you, please come back safely."

"I love you too. I'll be back before you know it." I give him my best smile, crack the reigns, and send my horse forward. At the far end of the road I look back to see him standing outside the house waving goodbye. His figure is only the size of an ant but I wave back anyway. As he and the house disappear my heart can't help but seize up into a painful constricting ball. I was really doing this. I was really going to go off on an adventure all by myself. I picture my Mom and Dad together in my mind and I have to remind my aching heart I'd see them again in no time.

After a few hours on the road I spot a lone figure approaching me from the opposite direction. I smile brightly. I'd recognize that silhouette anywhere.

Mom smiles as I pull the horse over and dismount. "I thought you weren't going to say goodbye!" I throw my arms around her neck in a bone-crushing hug and she pats me on the back.

"Sorry I'm late." She says sheepishly. "I ran into a bit of trouble."

I laugh because I'm happy to see her and also because when does she ever not run into trouble?

I must have hugged her for too long because she asks me if I'm scared. "A little." I reply. "But I'm fine... Dad helped me pack so I wouldn't forget anything."

She glances at my bags and seems satisfied. "Do you want me to come with you?"

I open my mouth to say yes but stop myself. Spirits know I'd enjoy a few weeks with her without her running off, but I told Dad repeatedly I could do this by myself. I wanted to do this on my own.

"I... No it's okay. I'll be fine. Besides Dad needs someone at home so he doesn't worry about me so much."

She looks down the road where I came from. "You're probably right." She helps me back onto the horse. "Have fun. Be safe. And say hi to your Aunt Yuka if you get the chance to see her."

I nod, snapping the reigns and the horse resumes its trek. After a couple minutes I look back and see her familiar figure standing there.

"Don't get into any trouble!" She calls out.

And I laugh again because if I was anything at all like my parents, chances were good that I'd have a grand adventure to tell them in two months.