Kuai Liang knew he was dreaming, but even still he panted heavily as his snow boots crunched on the gravel beneath him, and he gazed at the summit above with a smile. He was halfway to the top of the mountain. Everest. He started to hike again, ignoring the brutal wind and cold at this altitude, when something suddenly shoved him.
Kuai Liang fell right back to his room in the Lin Kuei temple. With an irritated groan, he rubbed his sleepy eyes and looked at the face lingering above him. When his vision cleared, he saw his brother wearing an uncharacteristic smile on his face. "Bi-han?" he asked in confusion as he sat up. Tomas' copy of The Art of War fluttered to the floor from his chest. He must've dozed off reading. His father, An Zhi, kept him up late the night before practicing his backflips.
"Come on, dork!" his older brother urged. "Tomas is waiting for us outside."
"Where are we going?"
"Tingri."
His brother didn't need to say anything else. The younger Cryomancer immediately kicked off his rucksack blanket and scrambled to his feet. He wanted to know what was so special in the tiny village that it warranted a trip in the middle of the week. Usually, such expeditions waited until the weekend. Kuai Liang was used to Tomas' hair-brained ideas, but if his best friend had convinced Bi-han to partake in the shenanigans, it had to be something good.
"What's in Tingri?" he asked.
"You'll see," his brother replied with an ornery smirk.
Kuai Liang quickly pulled on his tabi boots and followed Bi-han out of their room. The halls were predictably empty – at this time of day most of the men were patrolling and most of the boys were studying in their dorms – but even still the brothers both crept quietly and discreetly towards the kitchens where the stairs to the basement were located. In the basement was the boiler room, and in the boiler room was the Cryomancers' passage to freedom, via a drain large enough to walk through. The boys had almost reached it when an obnoxious voice cut through the silence.
"Where do you two idiots think you're going?" Jiao-long asked loudly.
Kuai Liang jumped a mile into the air as Bi-han whirled around to face him. The younger of the two instinctively stepped closer to his brother but put his hands up like the other to defend himself. "It's none of your business," he snapped.
"I'll bet my father would love to hear how his least favorite people were sneaking around. Again. Shouldn't you two be reading or something right now? You're both losers like that."
"Why? Because we don't need pictures like you?" Kuai Liang shot back.
"Cute, Kuai Lame," Jiao-long sneered. "Did you stay up all night thinking of that? Oh, wait, you couldn't have. You were too busy doing drills for your father because you suck at fighting."
"What do you want?" Bi-han growled.
"I want to know how you plan on buying my silence," the Grandmaster's son replied.
"I don't," the older Cryomancer said flatly. Kuai Liang smiled faintly, proud of his big brother. Bi-han was the only boy in the temple who refused to be intimidated by Jiao-long.
"Then how do you expect me to keep quiet?"
"Like this." With that, Bi-han unexpectedly fired a jet of ice at Jiao-long's feet and froze him to the floor in an instant. Before the bully could react, Kuai Liang was behind him, gripping his shoulder with his palm and pumping ice into his blood. He chuckled softly as Oniro's son passed out immediately and crumpled to the floor in a heap.
"Nice job, little brother," Bi-han congratulated him as he approached. He tousled Kuai Liang's messy brown hair. "You read my mind. I'm proud of you."
"Thanks, Bi-han," he said, beaming. He loved it when his brother praised him. It was always a great gift. Now he looked at Jiao-long's unconscious form on the wooden floor. "What are we gonna do with him? He can't stay here. He'll blab that we've snuck out."
"You two gits won't be sneaking out today," a new voice said behind them as powerful hands clamped on both boys' shoulders. The accent that dripped from it was British: Sifu Hydro.
"Master," Kuai Liang stammered as he looked up at the rotund man in fear. The man scowled at him, so he stole a glance at his brother. Bi-han was, annoyingly enough, grinning. "What's so funny?" he snapped.
"Your face," the seventeen-year-old replied as he and Hydro both burst out laughing. Kuai Liang looked back and forth at them in confusion.
Hydro, seeing his growing frustration, patted him on the back and said, "I'm taking you to Tingri. That way, the Grandmaster won't get upset with you for taking off."
Kuai Liang frowned. "But Sifu, won't you get in trouble with the Grandmaster?" he asked.
"Don't worry about it, you silly donkey," the other replied somewhat affectionately. "Let's go. Leave him be." He nodded to Jiao-long's unconscious form on the floor. And then he motioned for the boys to follow him through the front gate.
"What took you guys so long?" Tomas asked when they left the Lin Kuei stronghold and found the boy leaning against a tree.
"Just taking out some trash, that's all," Bi-han said as he exchanged a knowing grin with his brother. As the four walked towards the village, Kuai Liang explained what had happened.
"And I missed it?" the twelve-year-old asked. "Now we have to go back."
"Forget it, you Czechoslovakian Q-tip," Bi-han said. "I don't want a beating. Not today."
"What's today?" Kuai Liang asked.
"The day we finally sacrifice you to the Yeti," Tomas joked as he pushed his best friend's shoulder. "Maybe he'll have mercy on you, though, and turn you into his special pet. Maybe he can love you, and pet you, and call you George." He, Bi-han, and Hydro burst out laughing, and Kuai Liang's cheeks burned red with humiliation.
"Shut up, Tomas!" the younger boy yelled as he pushed his friend back. The Czech boy stumbled to the side, realized what had happened, then laughed as he shoved him again. This ticked off the Cryomancer even more, who added a kick to his push. The scuffle quickly escalated into a fight, and it would've progressed even farther had Hydro not calmly stepped between the two younger children, grabbed them both by their ears, and pried them apart.
"Knock it off, you unruly idjits," he snapped as they squealed in pain. "There's Tingri."
Kuai Liang indeed saw the village. It was a small town, and it had some modern conveniences like running water and a few cars. But generally, it was a primitive place free from civilization. Yaks and goats mingled with pedestrians in the cobblestone streets. Hydro let both boys' ears go before he pushed them forward.
The people in Tingri knew about the Lin Kuei temple not far from them, and so they immediately recognized the man and three boys who walked into their village in their black uniforms. That is why they made it a point to steer clear of them; the clan had tyrannically ruled the region for 500 years, and the people of Tingri were terrified of them. Kuai Liang saw a group of boys his age playing some kind of ball game in the road into town, but his heart sagged into his chest when he waved to them, and in response they snatched their ball and ran away. His head drooped and he sighed.
Bi-han promptly patted his back and said, "Don't worry, little brother. We're gonna do something better than play with some stupid kids."
"Yeah, you'll see," Tomas added with a smile. He looked at Hydro. "Can I tell him where we're going?"
Their Master nodded. "Ain't no harm now, I suppose."
"What? Where are we going?" the youngest boy asked eagerly.
"To see Xiao-Ping."
Kuai Liang's spirits immediately lifted. Xiao-Ping, the kindly shop owner, was the only man in Tingri who was nice to the Lin Kuei boys. The Cryomancer suddenly felt the urge to run like the wind. "Come on!" he yelled as he took off towards the shop like a bolt. "What are you waiting for? An invitation?"
The boys quickly reached Xiao-Ping's humble shop which was situated on the other edge of town and adjoined to his hut. Soon Hydro joined them. Kuai Liang started to go into the store, but Bi-han abruptly grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Not today," the seventeen-year-old said when his younger brother regarded him with puzzlement. "Today, he wants us to visit his house."
"What for?"
"It's a special occasion."
Kuai Liang furrowed his brow. "What are you talking about, Bi-han?"
"It's your birthday, dork."
Realization dawned on the boy. He had forgotten. Every year, Bi-han had always insisted on reminding him of the day because the Lin Kuei had no time for such celebrations. It annoyed his older brother, who still remembered a time in his life when parents threw their kids parties and who gave them presents after they'd fed them sumptuous cake. The fact that Kuai Liang only knew of birthdays in an abstract sense angered the older Cryomancer, so he made it a point to tell him 'Happy Birthday' whenever July 13th rolled around, and he even gave him a rare hug. But without his usual reminder, the boy assumed it was just another day.
Tomas broke out into laughter as they walked towards Xiao-Ping's door. "You're really thick, Kuai Liang. Only you could forget it was your birthday." Like Bi-han, the Czech boy knew firsthand about such celebrations of life, and like Bi-han, he missed them.
"There you are!" Xiao-Ping cried as he emerged from his hut. Even though the structure was small, it was neat. In the back, Kuai Liang knew, there was a large yard attached to the house, and it was where they put their goat, Oniro. The young Cryomancer thought it hilarious that the merchant named his goat after the Lin Kuei Grandmaster; Xiao-Ping made no bones about his dislike for the man. Kuai Liang was always in perpetual awe of the old man's rebellious defiance.
"I was beginning to wonder if you were coming," the Tibetan man continued. "Thought your father might've stopped you." He wiped his hands on his threadbare apron.
"Nah, he's on a mission," Bi-han said. "He left at dawn."
"Yeah, and Sifu Hydro covered for us," Tomas added as he nodded towards their Master.
Xiao-Ping bowed respectfully to Hydro, and the British man returned the gesture. "It's good to see you, Halsey," he said. "I don't see you nearly enough either. Can't you bring these boys around to see me more often?"
"Hell no," he said. "Don't want them gettin' spoiled or fat from eatin' your candy."
Kuai Liang listened with an amused smile as Xiao-Ping wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him towards the house. The others followed closely, and when they stepped over the threshold, they were met with the aroma of meat simmering in gravy. The merchant's wife, Asman, and his teenage daughters, Sabira and Bayarmaa, were huddled around the tiny wood stove, throwing herbs and spices into a pot full of bubbling brown stew.
"Mother," Anil, Xiao-Ping's oldest son at age twenty, said. "They're here." The man, a younger copy of his father, smiled at the guests and nodded as they entered.
Asman, a short, slender woman with breasts that sagged to her belly through her shirt, now saw them and immediately left her cooking to greet them. "Look at these handsome boys!" she squealed as she pulled Tomas to her and squeezed. As he gasped for air, she planted a kiss on his cheek. "You're getting so tall," she told him before she let him go and yanked on Bi-han's black shirt. "You too," she said as she pulled his head to her with both hands cupped around his cheeks. Now she planted an even bigger kiss on his forehead.
"Hello, Asman," he greeted. Kuai Liang saw him glance over at Sabira, supposedly the prettiest sixteen-year-old girl in town. Well, that was according to Bi-han. The younger brother had his doubts. But now, when Bi-han looked at her, his cheeks flushed red with embarrassment and it was Kuai Liang's turn to smirk at his brother's expense.
"You're getting more handsome every day, a fine young man," the merchant's wife told him as she brushed back his spiky black hair with her hands. "I think you'd make a good husband to Sabira someday, or maybe even Bayarmaa."
Tomas snorted and Kuai Liang clamped his hand over his mouth to keep the giggles contained. His older brother's face instantly went white as a sheet as he started to stammer incoherently at the blunt statements.
"Asman, hush now," Xiao-Ping intervened with a smile. "You're embarrassing him. Besides, you haven't even said hello to our guest of honor."
Kuai Liang beamed. He liked that phrase, 'guest of honor.' It made him feel special. He silently played with the phrase on his tongue, feeling the pleasant way the words formed themselves in his mouth. And as soon as the merchant spoke it, Asman had wheeled on him with a grin that refused to be contained. She immediately grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him into her, hugging him as tightly as she'd hugged Tomas. His face felt lost between her old-lady breasts, and he felt decidedly awkward as she planted kisses all over his head. When she finally released him, she tousled his already messy hair.
"And you, my precious little ice dragon," she began as she knelt before him, taking his hands into hers. "We've planned a little party for your birthday. I made my tsamthuk for our supper and dharamshala for dessert."
"Gee, thanks, Asman," Kuai Liang said politely. He'd tasted her tsamthuk soup, a type of stew made with yak meat, and didn't like it. But because he didn't want to hurt her feelings, he had pretended to love it. So now, it seemed like every time he saw her, she wanted to feed it to him. Today, however, he refused to feel disgusted by the menu; the Tibetan woman had clearly gone to a lot of trouble just for him, and he was grateful because it was more than anyone in the Lin Kuei had done. Well, besides his brother, best friend, and mentor that was.
"Where are the other kids?" Tomas asked. Xiao-Ping's other children – Narayan, Taja, Hadiya, Sonam, and Fareiba – were relatively close in age to him and Kuai Liang, so when the boys ventured to Tingri, they often played with them.
"They're out in the pen milking Oniro," Xiao-Ping answered.
"You boys can go help them while the girls and I finish up our supper," Asman suggested.
Both Tomas and Kuai Liang looked hopefully to Sifu Hydro for permission. He nodded to them and said, "Go ahead."
"Yes!" they said as one. But then the birthday boy looked at his brother. "You coming, Bi-han?"
"No, I'm gonna stay here with the adults," he replied as his eyes drifted ever-so-slightly to Sabira.
Tomas and Kuai Liang exchanged an amused glance, and the latter snickered. "Okay, suit yourself." With that, the best friends bolted out the front door and ran around the house to the back. As expected, they found the Tibetan children in the pen with the goat. But instead of milking it like Xiao-Ping had said, Narayan, a twelve-year-old boy with a shaved scalp and almond shaped eyes, was sitting astride it and holding onto its white and brown fur for dear life. It didn't help. Oniro bucked him into a short wooden fence post.
"Look!" Fareiba, the youngest girl, yelled happily at her siblings when she saw the Lin Kuei boys approaching. "It's Tomas and Kuai Liang."
When the other children spotted the boys approaching, Taja, the eleven-year-old girl with hair twisted into a messy braid, nudged her sister, Hadiya. The latter, in turn, blushed and edged behind Taja timidly. It was nothing new. She always did it when the boys visited the family. So the two of them just always assumed she was terribly quiet and shy.
"Hello," she said nervously, her voice barely audible. "Happy Birthday, Kuai Liang."
"Thanks," he said as he climbed onto the wooden fence surrounding the pen and sat on the top rail.
"Kuai Liang, Tomas," Narayan said, "do you want a turn?"
"Depends," Tomas replied. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to ride Oniro. But she's being very stubborn and obnoxious today. She keeps throwing us off her back."
"Why are you trying to ride a goat?" the Czech boy raised an eyebrow. "That's dumb."
"No, it's not, it's fun."
"How?" he challenged. "She's locked in a pen barely bigger than her. Let her into the rest of the yard and then we'll talk."
"Papa doesn't want her out of her pen," Sonam, the youngest boy in the family, announced as he looked at his older brother. "She'll tear through the outer fence."
"If she's left alone in the yard she would," Narayan responded. "But Tomas has a point."
"But Narayan," Taja started.
"How much trouble could she be?" Tomas asked. "It's not like we're gonna let her run out of here. There's seven of us and one of her."
"Um, Tomas-" Kuai Liang started but was interrupted.
"Hey, you could ride her first!" his best friend suggested as he clapped him on the back.
"But I don't want to ride a goat," he replied.
"Who all thinks Kuai Liang should be the first to ride Oniro around the yard?" Tomas asked the Tibetan children. "Let's take a vote. Everyone raise their hand if you think he should." Naturally, everyone raised their hand. The Czech boy looked at his best friend. "That settles it. Ride 'em, cowboy."
"No way," he argued, thinking of his notoriously clumsy luck.
"What, are you scared?"
The youngest Cryomancer bristled at the suggestion. "Of course not!" he scoffed.
"Then get on," Tomas ordered with his trademark ornery smile. "Show Oniro who's boss!"
Kuai Liang sighed and against his better judgment, climbed onto Oniro's back as Narayan opened the pen gate. He barely had time to grip her short, coarse fur before she raced from her pen with an angry bleat. "Whoa!" he yelped as his fingers loosened and she lowered her head and horns. Suddenly, he realized that the ewe meant to ram the outer fence. "Stop!" he yelled at her, but she ignored him. Behind him, he heard Tomas and Narayan giggle hysterically while the girls squealed in simultaneous fear and delight.
Just before Oniro ran into the wooden beams, she abruptly stopped. Kuai Liang, who now dug his fingers into her fur in stark terror, flailed forward and slammed his face into the back of her skull with a loud crack. Stars filled his vision as blinding pain spread through his head. He groaned, but barely had time to think about it before the crazed goat was racing towards the other children. He yelled and flinched in fear as his friends screamed and dove to either side of Oniro's path just before she rammed them. With another disgruntled bleat, she charged on with the Cryomancer on her back.
"Tomas, I'm gonna kill you!" he hollered as he and the goat passed his best friend. The Czech boy was beet red and doubled over from laughing so hard.
"You should see your face!" the other cried as he collapsed onto his knees and started pounding the ground with his fists.
But Kuai Liang didn't see that. He only saw a four-foot-tall fence rapidly growing in his sight with no signs of Oniro slowing. Quickly, his eyes focused on the highest rail as he suddenly imagined his face plowing into a spot right in front of him. And even before it made contact, the boy knew it was going to hurt. Bad. Just before impact, the suicidal goat picked up speed, and the youngest Cryomancer involuntarily let go of her fur to shield his flinching face. Thud!
Suddenly, Kuai Liang was airborne. His arms and legs flailed beneath him, and he watched as he cleared the fence and gradually rolled onto his back. Gravity quickly pulled him down, and he sensed the ground get closer, but he didn't expect to have a thorny bush break his fall. Instantly, thousands of pointed burrs bit at his skin.
"Ow!" he yelped as the thorns prompted tears to well up in his eyes.
"Kuai Liang!" he heard Sifu Hydro yell from somewhere in the yard. The boy tried to wriggle out of the cruel branches' grip, but couldn't. No matter which way he turned, the thorns dug even deeper into him.
"Help," he croaked. Even speaking prompted the burrs to hurt him more.
"Calm down," his brother's voice spoke gently as his face came into view. "I'm here to rescue you. As always."
"It was Tomas' idea," he whimpered as his brother carefully lifted him from the thorn bush.
"I don't doubt it," Bi-han replied as he glared at the Czech boy. He set Kuai Liang on his feet. "You and me are gonna have a talk later," he growled at him before he looked at his younger brother. "Come on inside. It's starting to rain, and the food is ready."
The littler Cryomancer looked up sheepishly and saw not only his friends staring at him in disbelief, but the adults watching with wide mouths as well. Xiao-Ping, Asman, Anil, Sabira, and Bayarmaa all looked worried for him, but Sifu Hydro wore an angry red scowl. Kuai Liang hung his head, knowing he was in deep trouble. But as Bi-han led him inside, his mentor said nothing and followed them both into the hut just as the sky opened and poured out a deluge.
"Poor dear," Asman said to him shortly thereafter when everyone had been served a bowl of the yak stew. "Are you sure you're all right? Oniro can be quite a stupid goat sometimes."
Kuai Liang frowned as he plucked a thorn from his arm while his friends and family started eating. Ironically enough, the burr looked like a goat's head. "I'm fine," he grumbled. He was used to this kind of stuff happening. He was a hopeless klutz according to his father, and it didn't help matters that he was friends with Tomas.
"You should've seen his face though," the Czech boy laughed as he wrenched his face into an imitation of what he'd thought Kuai Liang's had looked like.
"Tomas," Sifu Hydro said warningly.
Xiao-Ping quickly cleared his throat. "To Kuai Liang," he said loudly as he raised his cup of water. "My adopted son. It's a big day for you because ten is a big number. You're finally on the threshold of being a man. Happy Birthday, Son."
The youngest Cryomancer cocked his head at the merchant's words while everyone else wished him a happy birthday. He looked at the middle-aged man and smiled when he saw the man wink and grin. He liked the idea of someone adopting him, especially someone like Xiao-Ping. That meant he was wanted. But then he felt a twinge of pain in his heart. He wished his real father wanted him.
Bi-han must've recognized his little brother's sudden doldrums because he said, "Guess what, Kuai Liang. Asman made a cake for you."
The boy immediately perked up. The closest the Lin Kuei children got to dessert was fresh fruit. "Cool!" he said enthusiastically as Sabira retrieved a dish with a dense brown cake on it. She set it in front of him, and he started to dig a piece from the round pastry cut into wedges, but Bi-han grabbed his wrist and stopped him.
"Not yet," he sternly said. "We have to sing to you first."
Kuai Liang's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "What are you talking about, Bi-han? That sounds dumb."
"It's tradition," Sifu Hydro added.
"Yeah, even I know that," Tomas said with an ornery grin. "I know the song, too. So guess what? I taught it to everyone here."
With that, he started singing a simple tune in Czech. Quickly, Bi-han and Hydro matched the melody in English while everyone else followed along in Tibetan. Though the languages were different, the Cryomancer recognized that the message was the same: Happy birthday to you / happy birthday to you / happy birthday dear Kuai Liang / happy birthday to you!
"And many more!" Tomas warbled comically when the song was finished.
Kuai Liang laughed. "Thanks, everyone," he said with a smile. They had just sang a song with his name in it, and he'd never felt more special, more like the center of the universe, than at that moment. It was a good feeling, probably because it was a feeling he'd never had before. With a light heart, he passed out pieces of the cake to his friends and family.
"I have a present for you. Well, actually, it's from both Tomas and me," Bi-han announced, "but it's back at the temple."
"Idjit, why didn't you bring it along then?" Sifu Hydro asked him as he rolled his eyes. He looked at the younger of the two brothers. "Here, boy. This is for you." He pulled an old hunting knife with a bone handle from the inside of his dark blue tunic and handed it to him. "I've had this since I was about your age," he explained. "Figured you could use it when you go hunting."
"Thank you, Sifu," Kuai Liang said politely. He already loved the knife. He could tell, judging by the dings and scratches in the ancient metal, that it had a lot of character.
"We made you some new arrows," Tomas said. "Knew you were running low."
"Yeah, you'll be able to tell which ones I did and which ones he did," Bi-han began. "The ones I did will actually fly straight." He got a rousing laugh from everyone at the table for his joke, but Tomas frowned.
"We got you something as well," Xiao-Ping told the boy. "Evidently, we're all thinking about your skills as a hunter." He nodded to Asman, who pulled out a small package wrapped in a piece of sackcloth. She handed it to Kuai Liang, who promptly unwrapped it to find a leather archer's glove.
He grinned. "Thank you," he said. "This will help a lot."
"I figured it would," the merchant said with a smile. "And now you can stop worrying about getting blisters on your hand when you shoot your bow."
By then, the rain had died down completely and Narayan looked outside longingly. "Can we go play again?" he asked his parents.
"Only if you stay away from the goat," his mother replied. "If anyone goes near Oniro, everyone is getting smacked with a willow switch." All the children, Kuai Liang included, cringed at the thought. But he had no intention of going near that insane creature after his misadventure earlier, so he didn't think he had anything to worry about. All the children – and now Bi-han, Sabira, and Bayarmaa too – traipsed outside.
"What should we do?" Taja asked the group.
"We could play hide and seek," Tomas suggested.
"No way," Kuai Liang immediately protested. "You always win because you can vanish."
"So?"
"So, that's cheating."
"Hey, I'm just using what God gave me," the Czech boy laughed. But when he saw everyone's reluctance to play with him because of his powers, he sighed. "Oh, all right," he finally conceded. "I promise I won't vanish."
"You better not," Sonam said. "Or I'll tell Papa."
"Ugh, who died and made you the hall monitor?" Tomas retorted. He had a point. The child was a lot like Jiao-long in that he was quick to tattle on the others.
"Well, you kids can play if you like," Bi-han said as he puffed out his chest a little. "But I'm gonna stand over there. This game is for babies." He pointed to the small barn near Oniro's pen.
Kuai Liang frowned. Bi-han liked playing hide and seek; it was one of the few games he'd actually play with his younger brother, and he was good at it too. "But, Bi-han, you play it-"
"Shut up!" the teenager hissed as his blue eyes darted to Sabira. Suddenly, the younger Cryomancer understood. His brother had lied to impress the Tibetan girl. Kuai Liang snorted and chuckled as he looked at Tomas, who also understood and was smirking.
"Okay, let's play!" Narayan cried. "Tomas, this was your idea, so you're it first."
"Fine by me," he haughtily replied. "Let's do this." He closed his eyes and started to count to twenty while all the children scattered and Bi-han sauntered to the barn. Sabira followed him.
Kuai Liang avoided the thorny bush, but found a leafy one nearby that he crouched inside. To his surprise, Hadiya, the shy ten-year-old, quickly joined him. He glanced at her and put his finger to his lips to indicate for her to be quiet. Her cheeks, as always when she was around him, blazed red.
"I have a birthday present for you too," she whispered.
"Oh. Well, thanks," he replied awkwardly, wondering why she hadn't given it to him when everyone else gave him theirs. But she didn't give him time to ponder on it before she fumbled in her hand-woven red and pink jacket for something. In a second, she produced a small hoop made from tiny wooden beads that were strung tightly together. Dangling from it were three or four thin leather strips. Kuai Liang recognized a set of Tibetan prayer beads immediately.
"I made it myself," she said. "Your brother told us he was teaching you how to meditate. These will help you." Hadiya handed them to the Cryomancer.
"Cool," he replied sincerely. "Thank you." So he didn't lose them, he slipped them onto his wrist like a bracelet, and as he did, she caught him by surprise again when she unexpectedly planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth. Now it was his turn to blush. "What was that for?" he asked her with wide eyes as he rubbed the spot she'd touched.
But she didn't get a chance to answer because that was when they both heard Tomas clear his throat to get their attention. "Kuai Liang, I so own you now," his best friend announced. He looked up at his best friend who was now smirking so hard he thought his face might crack. The Czech boy had his arms crossed and started singing Kuai Liang and Hadiya / sittin' in a tree / K – I – S – S – I – N - G…
"Shut up, Tomas!" he yelled as he jumped to his feet and stormed back towards his brother. He'd just stand with Bi-han while the other kids played. But when he stepped into view of the older Cryomancer, he saw that his brother was leaning dangerously close to Sabira, holding her hands in his own, and smiling as the two conversed in hushed tones. He scowled. Ugh! Stupid girls. Tomas was going to be impossible to live with now, and he suspected his brother would be as well, and it was all Hadiya and Sabira's fault.
"Kuai Liang! Bi-han!" Sifu Hydro barked loudly. Immediately, both boys stiffened as their mentor stood at the edge of the yard with his arms crossed. He motioned for them to follow him.
"Where are we going?" the younger boy asked as they quickly caught up to him.
"You'll see," he replied.
He led them around the house and into Xiao-Ping's shop next door where the aging merchant was waiting for them. "Are you having a good time today?" he asked Kuai Liang as he and Bi-han wiped the mud from their boots on the mat at the door.
"Yeah," he said quietly. It was mostly true. Besides the incident with the goat, he'd had fun. Even Hadiya's sneak attack on his lips hadn't been that bad. He subconsciously rubbed the corner of his mouth and blushed again.
"Good," Hydro said. "You boys need to let loose every now and then."
Bi-han and Kuai Liang exchanged a puzzled look. Their Sifu's actions always suggested he believed that, but he'd never come out and said it before. The Lin Kuei, collectively speaking, was totally committed to the idea of 'all work and no play.'
"I agree," Xiao-Ping said. "And you, little Kuai Liang, should be grateful to have a brother who cares so much about you. Today was his idea, and he worked very hard to bring it all together."
The younger boy looked at Bi-han. The teenager looked down on him with his usual stern expression, but then suddenly broke into a grin and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Kuai Liang grinned too before he found himself leaning into a half-hug while his brother patted his back.
"I am grateful," the boy declared in all sincerity. "I have the best brother in the world." When he said that, Bi-han squeezed him tightly.
"Well, before we get too sentimental like a bunch of women," Hydro began, "there's one last thing we need to do before we have to go home, boys."
"Take a picture?" Bi-han asked hopefully.
"You got it," their Sifu replied. "I managed to scrounge up a camera."
"A picture?" Kuai Liang repeated. "But…I thought we weren't allowed to be photographed."
"Well, what the Grandmaster don't know won't kill him, will it?" the man said as he looked at the boy expectantly. He pulled an old camera from his tunic.
"But why?"
"Because I wanted that to be my other present to you," Bi-han explained. "Mom always took a million pictures of us, especially on our birthdays. That way, we remember the day better when we're grown up."
"Oh."
"Okay, you two idjits," Hydro said, "get against that wall." He pointed to a wall lined with shelves full of Tibetan curios, things mostly meant for tourists to buy. Kuai Liang and Bi-han obeyed, and both smiled as their Sifu snapped the picture.
A few weeks later, Bi-han showed it to him. The younger brother had no idea where Hydro had it developed, but he didn't question it. Instead, he admired the way he and his brother stood smiling side by side, forever frozen in that one rare, happy moment in time. He smiled at his big brother and then flipped the picture over again.
"You really are the best brother in the world," he said.
"Yeah, I know," Bi-han replied as he tousled the boy's hair and then shoved him playfully to the side. "Dork." Then both of them burst into laughter.