Prologue

Yuan Ho was the first boy to best Jen Zi in hand-to-hand combat. She was ten years old, and he had been a couple years older. He was also the first boy to kiss her. Like most first kisses, it was a little awkward at first, but neither Yuan Ho or Jen Zi minded much, and the awkwardness quickly vanished.

What Jen Zi remembered most about Yuan Ho was the way his soft brown eyes sparkled as he laughed. His voice had been as clear as a bell, and strong too, an amazing thing for a boy so young. Jen Zi laughed a lot when she was with Yuan Ho. Then he went away, and she didn't laugh so much any more.

Master Li had found them, kissing underneath the tree behind his house. He didn't shout, he wasn't the type, but Jen Zi could tell that he was Not Happy. Soon after that, Yuan Ho had gone away. It was very sudden…no warning, no time for good-byes. He simply wasn't there one morning. Jen Zi had burst into Master Li's house, frantic and sure that something terrible had happened to Yuan Ho. But Master Li had explained calmly that Yuan Ho hadn't been making any progress in his training and he had been sent home, and really it was all for the best as Jen Zi was at a critical stage in her training and couldn't afford any distractions.

The way he said that last word, and the slight, disapproving glance he had cast upon Jen Zi sent cold chills all throughout her body. She bowed silently, then ran quickly from her Master's house to her own little room, threw herself on her bed, and began to sob. As young as she was, she had understood the meaning behind that look and that one word. Yuan Ho was gone because of her. It was her fault. For the next two days she was inconsolable, and it was only due to Smiling Mountain's gentle coaxing that she even left her room at all.

Jen Zi had rededicated herself to her training, becoming stronger and stronger every day. She was polite and friendly with the other children, but kept her distance, even from her longtime companion, Dawn Star. After all, her Master had said she couldn't afford any distractions, and he only wanted what was best for her. Slowly but surely, life went back to normal, and the sharp pain Jen Zi had once felt for Yuan Ho gradually faded into a dull ache.

Then one morning, nearly a year later, an old woman appeared at the gate to the small school. She refused to leave until she had spoken to the master of the school. Jen Zi found her arguing with the gate guard, who was refusing her entrance on Master Li's orders that he was not to be disturbed until after morning training had finished. The old woman had looked at Jen Zi, and something in the woman's soft brown eyes caused her heart to skip a beat.

Jen Zi overruled the decision of the angry gatekeeper, and took the old woman to see her master. A sense of foreboding overcame the girl the closer she got to Master Li's home. Aside from thanking Jen Zi for letting her enter, the old woman had said nothing. An uncomfortable silence prevailed until the old woman laid eyes upon Master Li. As Jen Zi and the woman entered the room, Master Li turned from his meditations, although he remained kneeling on the floor. The woman was the first to speak up, in a shaky voice,

"I want to know what happened to my son. He hasn't written in nearly a year. It is so unlike him. I don't like it. I'm taking him home with me, today."

Master Li regarded her calmly. "Well madam, I can understand how that would be disturbing, but you know young boys. Sometimes as they grow, they began to feel distant from…"

"NO!" the woman said emphatically. "Not my boy. No, something is wrong. Yuan Ho would not do that to me."

Jen Zi felt her stomach plummet, and Master Li's eyebrows arched in surprise. "Why, my dear woman," he said. "I sent Yuan Ho home to you a year ago. You mean to say he has not returned?"

The woman's face had become as white as a ghost, and she stood trembling before Master Li, unable to speak. She seemed to be watching him very carefully. Jen Zi looked to her Master, then to the woman, her head beginning to spin. Master Li stared back evenly at the woman, then continued,

"Well…you need not jump to any hasty conclusions. There are few bandits in this area, and I sent him with an escort. Perhaps he simply decided that his future lay in a direction other than home."

The woman's mouth was moving, but no words were coming out. Master Li stood up, and went to her. He placed two gentle arms around her shoulders, and began to guide her towards the door.

"Now I am sorry, but I do not have any further information for you. Perhaps someone in the village-"

"You're lying," the woman finally whispered softly, staring directly into Li's eyes. He stopped, but said nothing, merely stared back at her coolly. "I know you're lying," the woman's voice began to rise hysterically, until she was shouting. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SON?" She screamed, pounding Master Li on the chest with both her fists.

Jen Zi remained rooted in place, and watched as Smiling Moutain rushed into the room and pulled the sobbing woman off her master. Master Li turned to walk away, but before he did he looked at Jen Zi with a peculiar expression on his face. Jen Zi couldn't quite understand it, but something in his eyes made her suddenly very afraid. She ran.

She didn't get very far before the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach finally caught up to her, and forced her to stop and take huge, slow breaths. She looked up, only to see that she was standing underneath the tree where she and Yuan Ho…Jen Li snapped her eyes shut, and refused to let herself think of him. Instead, the image of her master's eyes moments before filled her mind. They were cold…

dead, a voice whispered within her.

Jen Zi was suddenly and violently sick. She fell to her knees and wretched until she was weak and trembling. She then crawled as far away from the foul smelling bile as her body would allow her to, before collapsing on the cool ground and curling into a tight ball. She hugged her knees tightly to her chest and thought, her brain feverish.

She remembered the horrible feeling she had felt upon first discovering that Yuan Ho was gone. She remembered knowing that he had been sent away because of her. And finally, she thought of Yuan Ho, and she began to cry. Sobs wracked Jen Zi's small body, until she was able to wrestle her emotions back under her control. She thought of Yuan Ho's mother's assertions, that Master Li had done something to Yuan Ho, and a feeling of panic began to rise in Jen Zi. However, she quickly stomped it out.

Master Li was the closest thing to a father she had. He was kind and gentle, and never raised his voice. He was strict yes, and demanding certainly…but…he only wanted what was best. He wouldn't…he couldn't…

Jen Zi stood up, with a shamed look on her face. How could she even consider that Master Li would do something so terrible? Making up her mind, she began to walk back towards the training grounds. A spar or two was what she needed, something to take her mind of things. Still, a seed of doubt had been planted in the deepest part of her mind.

But there was no time for that now. She had work to do. After all, she was at a critical stage of her training, and she couldn't afford any distractions.