Notes: Sorry this took a while to get up! I've been pretty busy lately, but things are settling down again. Updates will be frequent again.
Also, in this chapter, if you've read my other fic, "The Garden of Two Rivers," some things will seem familiar. "Bamboo" and "Garden" are supposed to be in-"canon" with each other, after all. However, if you haven't read "Garden," fear not, because "Bamboo" is still stand-alone.
As the sailors lowered the anchor into the shallow river, Kia Min took in her first view of her new home for the next few years. There were no docks-the sailors began lowering a small rowboat with the traveling merchant's goods into the water. Now it made sense why that merchant had been the only other passenger. This town was not nearly big enough to support more than that.
No, no docks, just a beach with a statue-of an emperor?-and an old man sweeping the beach and a middle-aged man waiting impatiently at the shore. He must be the sole merchant of the town, Kia Min realized. Two Rivers was a far cry from One Stone.
She would not fit in.
The sharp scent of incense burned through Kia Min's nose, and she opened her eyes to see a small wispy cloud of smoke dance against a dark, wooden ceiling. Her head drummed, and her neck felt pasted together, and it took all she had to trail her eyes to the side to see a woman in a purple hat and strangely white eyes standing by her side.
"Go back to sleep," said the woman.
Kia Min felt a sharp, pointed force in her arm, and then her eyes became too heavy to keep open. She had no choice but to do as the woman commanded.
Clad in the school's uniform, Kia Min left her new master's house and decided to take his advice and watch the other matches happening during the course of the afternoon. She would learn the basics in the morning. She barely took more than five steps towards the center sparring ring when a girl approached her with untamed hair and a bright smile.
"You're the new student, aren't you?" asked the girl excitedly.
Kia Min smiled back and sheepishly nodded. "Yes."
"Want to spar?"
The question caught Kia Min off guard, and she opened and closed her mouth a few times before eloquently managing, "What?"
The girl did not back down. "Let's spar!"
Kia Min glanced back towards Master Li's house in time to see him close the door with another student inside. Private tutoring. He mentioned he would do some of that. Still, he had told her that she should watch others fight so she could at least see the style before learning it. Kia Min had no interest disobeying her master on her first day.
"I'm not sure if I'm allowed to," she said. "I just got here, and Master Li asked me to watch the others spar..."
"Oh, come on," said the girl. "I think we both know that's not how you really want to spend your first day. And if there's trouble to be had, I'll take the blame for it. Let's spar!"
Kia Min stole another glance towards Master Li's house, and then to the match in the center sparring ring, and back to the girl. Well, what could one match hurt?
"Okay," she said. "Let's spar. My name is Kia Min, by the way."
"Wu," said the girl. "I'm Wu."
Kia Min could not open her eyes the next time she awoke, though the piercing scent of the incense still penetrated her nostrils. Where was she?
"Will she be alright, Dr. An?" Kia Min heard another woman say. That voice was oddly very familiar. Not Wu, though. She knew that much. But who else? Dawn Star, maybe? Lin, even? And who was Dr. An? The only doctors Two Rivers ever needed were Master Li and Smiling Mountain.
No, she was not in Two Rivers.
"Her wounds are healing," said another voice. Older, more refined, and delicate. "And I've done all I can to make sure she doesn't suffer too much pain."
Who were they talking about?
"How many more days before you'll let her regain her consciousness?"
A sigh. "I've only had to deal with patients with injuries of this magnitude twice. I'm not as well-versed in this as I would like to be. I'm an acupuncturist first, a medic second, and a harborer for fugitives never."
"... thank you, by the way," the younger voice sounded embarrassed this time.
The older woman laughed. "You are enemies of the Lotus Assassins now. You are the exact fugitives I will be forever at peace with hiding."
As "Lotus Assassins" began to register and flashes of red pierced through her mind, she felt a sharp pain in her side, and she drifted off to sleep once more.
Kia Min could not believe that Jing Woo had managed-and dared-to offend Merchant Fen Do again. Though she supposed nobody was really at fault; Jing Woo was still adjusting to living an honest life, and Two Rivers was completely devoid of street urchins, so Fen Do never had to deal with one before Jing Woo stumbled into town. The alternative could be worse. Jing Woo could be stealing from Fen Do instead of bartering down the man's prices.
Still, they were both learning. Jing Woo had awkwardly asked her to run this favor, and Fen Do had said, "Tell him I'm sorry for the cross words I said to him yesterday. He's always welcome to buy from me anytime. So long as he quits trying to convince me to cut my prices for him. I'm legitimately worried that the others in this town will take from his example. What's a poor merchant to do if that happens?"
As Kia Min left the merchant after giving him Jing Woo's silver, she collided into a boy wearing white farmer garments with dirt and mud stained from foot to knee. The boy quickly bowed to her and stuttered a clumsy apology.
"I'm... I'm sorry!" said the boy. "I'm in a bit of a rush and I wasn't looking where I was going-"
"No, it's fine," said Kia Min, fighting off annoyance and any cross words on her tongue. "Just... you should probably go back to what you were doing."
"Yes, of course," said the boy, but when he straightened to look her in the eye, his panicky demeanor melted into recognition and a spark of excitement. "Hey, you're a student at the school here, aren't you?" Kia Min frowned, but nodded. "That's great! I've been wondering... and maybe you can help me... but do you happen to know how I could become one of Master Li's pupils? I mean, I'll follow my father's footsteps and become a farmer, like I'm supposed to, but I want to, you know, learn how to fight on the side."
Kia Min smiled softly. "I'm... sorry, but I doubt that Master Li trains students 'on the side.' The training is pretty intense. Why are you interested, anyway? Two Rivers is peaceful enough."
The boy shrugged. "You can never be too prepared?" he offered.
Kia Min considered this for a moment. "That... is very true." And then an idea crossed her mind-but did she dare? No, no, Master Li would not allow her to teach another. He only let Wu teach Jing Woo because Wu was at that level; Kia Min still had some ways to go. But, there was something about this boy, and she had no interest in turning him away herself. "How about this: I'll do some of my basics and my meditations... out at the outlook, and you can watch and maybe you'll be able to pick up some things?"
The boy's face brightened. "Really? That would be... that would be more than enough! Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"What's your name?"
"Ni Joh."
Kia Min studied the wisps of cloud the smoke from the incense against the dark wood. She watched the white swirl delicately around itself as it drifted further and further away from its source, before slowly vanishing into nothingness.
Ni Joh. Ni Joh was gone now. So was Two Rivers. Wu had disappeared into the vast Jade Empire, and Kia Min knew not where she was.
She should be dead.
"You're finally awake," came a voice at her side. Kia Min turned her head to see an older woman with empty, white eyes. "I'm glad to see you pulled through. Your friend will be, too."
Friend...?
"Thank you," said Kia Min uncertainly. "But where am I?"
"In my home," said the woman. "My name is Dr. An. I'm an acupuncturist but I make my living caring for the wounded warriors in the Imperial Arena. And you are Kia Min, I am told."
Kia Min nodded hesitantly. "Yes," she said. "But how did I get here?"
"Your friend, Darting Lynx, brought you here a few days ago. She had some minor injuries but nothing significant. You were in far worse condition. Had she arrived here a minute later and I doubt anybody could do any good for you. From what I'm told, you're a woman of luck and chance."
Darting Lynx... the farmers! Kia Min shot up but she cringed and held her side as she hissed and whimpered.
"You're not completely healed yet," said Dr. An. "But you are out of any immediate danger. It will be some time before you will be back at full capacity."
Kia Min remembered the sword that had driven through her, and she remembered the fallen farmers. "Where is she? Where is Lynx? Did she tell you by chance what happened?"
Dr. An shook her head. "Darting Lynx went to go fetch some food. Don't worry; she assured me she went out in disguise, so that the Lotus Assassins would not arrest her on sight. That is all she would tell me, though, that you're on the run from the Lotus Assassins. She was mostly concerned for your well-being."
Kia Min frowned. That was not helpful. "So how did I survive? I was sure that-"
She should be dead.
Dr. An smiled warmly. "Why don't you get some rest? You've been delirious the past couple of days, in and out of consciousness, mumbling all the while."
Joh. Joh. She should be dead. "I don't understand-"
"When Darting Lynx gets back, I'm sure she'll tell you everything," said Dr. An. "For now, get some rest."
Kia Min sighed and laid back down, staring up once again at the dark wooden ceiling and thin swirls of incense smoke. For a moment, the colors changed to a red sky and black smoke, and Kia Min closed her eyes to rid herself of the memory. Oh, Ni Joh.
Why did she survive three times now? The first time had been luck, a careless error on part of the Lotus Assassin that she had been fortunate enough to catch. The second time... she could not account for the second time. And this third time... this third time she should have died. This third time had been pure luck. Luck! No destiny, no fate, just pure coincidence. How could she hope to track down Wu if luck was the only reason she lived?
Wait. "Doctor, what did you say you did for a living?"
"I treat the wounded warriors in the arena," said Dr. An simply. "Though most of the time the wounds I deal with are a simple matter of bruises and scratches. Promoter Qui is generally very good about having fighters face the Ravager. Though-" She smiled. "-I suppose that's hardly a problem anymore."
Kia Min said quietly, "The Imperial Arena, did you say?"
"The Imperial Arena, yes. There's only one arena here in the Imperial City, after all."
The Imperial City! Kia Min had not been blindly following some wishful notion of destiny-this was what she was meant to do, this was where she was meant to be! And her surviving the Lotus Assassins a third time-not luck! Divine intervention, perhaps?
"Doctor, how much longer before I can-"
"Within a day you'll be able to walk around. You won't be able to fight or do any vigorous activities for a little while longer than that, unless you have an extremely high tolerance for pain, have no problems developing a scar on your abdomen, and can guarantee your way back to me so I can fix you up. Otherwise, you'll be facing permanent damage."
Kia Min nodded; she had heard this speech before from both Master Li and Smiling Mountain after the bandit attack. But then Wu had procured that poultice for her, and she had survived the destruction of Two Rivers because of it. She would be dead right now had it not been for Wu. And now that she was in the Imperial City, Kia Min could find her and begin repaying the senior student however she could.
"I have to find someone," said Kia Min. "It's why I'm here."
"The Imperial City is very, very big," said Dr. An. "I only travel between the arena and my home, and the only people I know are the fighters and administration of the arena."
"You wouldn't know who I'm looking for, then," said Kia Min. If Jing Woo had told his plans to join the Imperial Arena to Wu, she doubted that Wu would have stepped foot inside. Of course, Wu always had been much, much stronger than that.
"Is this person not a warrior?"
"She is."
"Then there is a good chance I might know of whom you speak. Not many warriors who come through the Imperial City can resist the lures of the arena."
Kia Min smiled wryly. "She might have been able to." But then, Kia Min knew, Wu might not have been able to at all. Fighting was all Wu had left. Fighting was all any of the Two Rivers survivors had left. And perhaps Wu had not been able to resist, as it was her last connection to Jing Woo. "Do you know Wu the Lotus Blossom?"
Dr. An's face brightened. "Oh, you must be quite new to the Imperial City, then! The Lotus Blossom is the current champion of the Imperial Arena, and she made quite the impression on everyone in the arena."
Yes! "Do you know where she is now?" asked Kia Min.
"No," said Dr. An, "I don't. I've heard lots of different rumors regarding her whereabouts, but none of it is believable. I doubt she would have joined the Lotus Assassins."
Kia Min laughed. "No. She wouldn't have. Do you suppose she's still in the Imperial City, then?"
"I have no reason to believe she's not," said Dr. An. "She hasn't been around the Imperial Arena in a couple of weeks, but Qui the Promoter will call her back if a fighter comes to challenge her title. Until Iron Soldier refines his skills, I doubt anyone could-or would want to-challenge her."
An idea came to Kia Min; she knew how she could find Wu at long last. "Do you think you could introduce me to the promoter?"
"I wouldn't recommend you fighting in the arena for at least another couple of weeks-"
"No, no," said Kia Min. "I don't need to fight. But if the promoter can call Wu to the arena whenever she was needed to defend her title, then that's all I need."
Dr. An smiled. "Then, yes, I can help you. For now, you must get some rest."
And Kia Min had her first peaceful sleep since the bandit attack on Two Rivers those many, many weeks ago.