"Learn to Read ABC"
The Empress smiles as her phone reads out the name of the app she just touched before touching it again. Touching it again sees the screen change as the app opens.
While it's loading the free stories and her progress, she examines the tiny point of qi growing one li above the hilt of the sword.
"Message from, Dragon."
The Empress looks down at the phone in surprise. She knows that in theory they can be used to communicate with other people, but she has never shared the method to do so with anyone.
After pressing the home button twice to take her back to the page with all the pictures, the Empress considers the screen for a moment. "Message, that begins with an Mmm sound. What did that look like again? Oh, right, two mountain peaks."
Casting her eye over the white text below each picture, she spies one that looks like a folded bit of paper that has an M at the beginning of it's word. When she touches it, the phone chirps, "Mail"
Tapping the picture again opens a new app, and the phone chirps, "Sign in. Username. Password."
With a frown she stands up and walks to Dragon's room in the pagoda. In the doorway she bows towards the suit, "My apologies for intruding Dragon, however I just received a message from you. However, I am not yet conversant enough with this worlds written language and artefacts to view the message. The phone claims to need a username and password."
The screen on the suit flickers to life to show a surprised Dragon, "My apologies, I seem to remember being told that you'd already learned English."
The Empress nods, "Indeed, as we are conversing in English. However, I did not learn the written language the same way. As my student is currently running an errand for me, I did not have another ready source of information."
Dragon's avatar nods, "May I see your phone?"
The Empress walks in to the room and presses the power button to reactivate the screen. Dragon nods as she sees the e-mail sign in page, "I see. You have opened the wrong app. The one you want has a speech bubble with three dots inside it."
The Empress presses the home button twice, ignoring the phone saying "Home", and turns the screen back to Dragon, "What is a speech bubble?"
"It's a visual device used in comics to give space for the characters speech… You have no idea what a comic is either do you."
The Empress shakes her head, "I do not. I have only been in this realm since January."
Dragon has a look of consternation on her face, "I confess that I hadn't considered that there may be people who didn't know the common iconography when I helped design the system. Did you do the tutorial when the phone started?"
"The tutorial written in English? No, Dakala set up the phone for me."
"Hmm, and you didn't recognise any of the language options before that?"
The Empress shakes her head, "I did not. Though there were a couple that look similar to the language of Heaven."
Dragon's avatar nods, "One of the things mentioned in the tutorial is the voice assistant. If you hold the home button for five seconds it will activate and you can ask it to open apps or read out the text on the screen. It can do other things, but you should probably ask the assistant about them. While I'm here, I've also found a class that teaches English literacy to immigrants. It is held at Arcadia University, with beginner classes starting every month, and intermediate classes every quarter, uh, three months."
"I will have Dakala look it up when she gets back with the ingredients for dinner."
"Uh, ok? Where did you send her anyway?"
The Empress smiles, "Lycan Butchers currently has a special on pork ribs, a rack of ribs for $2. Then there's a small chinese supermarket in the docks that is selling an 8lb bag of jasmine rice for $1. The rest of the ingredients can be found in other stores."
Dragon looks alarmed, "Stellar Empress, those stores are deep in gang territory and Dakala's black! I'm notifying the PRT…"
The Empress nods, "I am aware of that, yes. However, Dakala hasn't bothered learning where the local sects territories are. It will be good practice."
"What?"
"Dakala is doing well with learning the fan, and she can navigate the forest with ease now. However, only the threat of injury can teach her the things she needs to know to take the lessons seriously. In fact, she's about to get mugged."
"Why aren't you doing anything?"
"I am, the muggers were all involved in a lynching that left a black family homeless, and if it wasn't for Amy Dallon, they would also still be in hospital. While I might be operating under the Mandate of Heaven, my student is still mortal."
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Dakala pulls her stole around her and surreptitiously draws her war fan out of her ring as she glances up at stylized wolfs head and eagle that sit at either end of the butcher shop. Glancing down at the jade slip in her hands, she double checks that Lycan Butchers is the correct places. As she looks around, she notices a suspiciously large number of tattooed skinheads hanging around "just chatting".
Checking her list again, she glances at the plate glass window, and winces as she spots the till just past the display. At least the Empress was correct in saying that the ribs were going cheap.
Taking a deep breath, she ignores the stares and walks into the shop. There the butcher looks up, and says, "You're not welcome here."
"Ya think? Look, I just need two racks of ribs and I'll be out of your hair."
The butcher glances at the special in the window before grabbing two untrimmed racks and dumping them on a sheet of greaseproof paper he places on the counter. "$4"
Dakala takes the fold of money, the Empress gave her, out of her ring and internally curses when she notices that every single note is a $100 bill. She might not have grown up in a big city, but even she knows that flashing this much money is asking for trouble. Tugging a note out of the fold, she hands it over with an apologetic, "Sorry, this is the smallest I have."
The butcher scowls and takes the note, then pours two bags full of quarters over her ribs, before counting out $1 bills on top of the pile. "There, that's your change, now get out of my store."
Dakala grimaces at the pile and asks, "Do you have a bag?"
"No, now get out."
With a sigh, she grabs the sides of the paper and lifts up the ribs before sliding it inside her sleeve to cover storing it in her ring. She's so going to have to wash this outfit when she gets home, and it's so hard to move around on the third floor.
As she turns towards the door, she automatically starts to work out how she can get to a populated area faster than the skinheads can pen her in. Taking a deep breath through her nose, she takes the second fan from her ring and puts her hands through the retaining loops. Taking another breath, she cycles qi through her body as she steps out of the shop with her back straight and her head held high.
She hasn't even gone ten paces away from the store before the sound of a metal shutter closing behind her catches her attention. As she glances back at the butchers, she realizes that the other shops in this small mall have also closed, and there are skin heads lounging against the walls of every exit.
"Yo! Nigger."
Dakala spins around to see a large man wearing a black leather biker jacket and carrying a metal baseball bat negligently in one hand walking out of one of the exits. Fanning out behind him are six other biker types with a variety of chains, brass knuckles, and baseball bats.
"If you give us all your money and those fancy clothes, we'll leave you alive. After we've had our fun."
Dakala backs up a step and looks around her before saying, "I'd rather die, than let you have your fun."
The man smiles cruelly, "I'm sure that can be arranged little nigger, and before you go thinking that the police are on the way. Your in Empire territory here, there ain't no way those fuckers are going to come anywhere close."
A faint chink behind her has her ducking down and stepping to the left as she does a half turn to see a giant of a man bringing a chain down in the space she just stood.
The first man sneers, "Oh, we've got a Bruce Lee wannabe do we? Too bad it won't help you. Kill her."
Dakala freezes momentarily at those words, and the man with the chain takes the opportunity to bring it round in a upward swing, and catches her across her arm and chest, causing her to drop her fan.
Dakala automatically pushes qi from her reserves the same way she learned by navigating the forest. As she does, the moment is broken and she brings her arm around in a circle, the folded fan following it. As it loops around the chain she jerks her wrist and brings the other fan around to slice across the mans ribs, leaving eight parallel cuts from the razor sharp points.
Even as she's moving, Dakala feels a draw on her qi reserves as she ducks down under the swing of a baseball bat and guides it into an overswing at the same time she opens her other fan to block a punch from another attacker.
Time seems to lose all meaning as Dakala starts to cycle qi again, and slips into a similiar mental state to the one she uses while doing katas with the Empress.
A sharp stab in her side brings her out of the state as one of the brass knuckle guys tries to stab her with a combat knife. Her clothes stop the wound being more than a deep cut. As she glances around, she realizes that around half the men are lying on the floor with a variety of cuts and abrasions. Out of the corner of her eye she catches sight of the leader lifting his hand towards her. As she turns her head towards him, she realizes that he's holding a gun, so she brings up one hand and flicks open her fan. At the same time she throws her second fan under arm at the mans chest. A loud bang sounds at the same time her wrist buckles from the bullets impact. A second later, the man slumps to the floor, a fan protruding from his chest.
As she continues to turn, she sends a pulse of qi to her ring, along with the second fan. A second pulse sees her straight sword appear in the same hand as she completes the turn, and beheads the knife wielder.
When nobody else attacks her, Dakala sinks to her knees and vomits.
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Dragon shouts at the Empress, "You're still putting her life in danger!"
The Empress stares into Dragons cameras, "Dragon, I have provided my student with sufficient protection, and I can cross galaxies as quickly as you can travel to the other side of the world. If she looks to be in any actual danger, I will be able to respond faster than you can think. But she needs to believe that she is really in danger if she is to grow. As no cultivator has ever got to heaven without a trail of bodies left in their wake. Either those who sought to end her journey early, or for those less scrupulous, those who had resources they desired."
"You can't just kill people, Heroes don't do that."
"Dragon, we are not heroes. We are not villains. We are cultivators. We don't wear masks to hide our identities because they are pointless to anyone with even a modicum of qi sense. The only constant in life is death, and cultivators fight against that with their very being. Now my student needs me, as she has taken her first life."
"But…"
The Empress doesn't hear her as she's already gone.
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As Dakala's stomach finishes emptying, someone touches her back and she flinches violently.
A second later, the Empress says, "You did well Dakala. But taking a life is never easy for those on a righteous path."
Dakala takes a couple of deep breaths before saying, "But I killed them."
The Empress lifts Dakala's head gently so that she's looking in her eyes, "And you will kill again and again. These men sought to kill you because of the color of your skin. If you hadn't killed them, you would be dead. In a fight to the death, the only choice you can make is if your life is more valuable than your opponents. Today, you showed that you can make that choice. I am proud of the fact you only killed two people out of all your attackers."
A male voice from the nearby street calls out, "Well, this looks messy."
The Empress looks up as Dakala dry heaves again. At the main entrance a man wearing a red full body suit, with discrete padding over his joints and vulnerable areas and a matching padded domino mask covers his eyes, walks in. Following him is a woman in a futuristic looking grey suit with glowing blue circuit patterns running up and down the suit and arms.
The Empress looks back down, and continues to rub Dakala's back, "It's ok, I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you."
Dakala suddenly looks up at one of the men off to one side with wide eyes, "He just died."
The Empress nods, "You nicked an artery under his arm when he tried to take your head off with a chain."
The man stiffens, and shouts into an ear piece, "Dispatch, we need a wagon with paramedics here pronto. Someone just bled out, that's why!"
Dakala looks up at the Empress and whispers, "How did I know that?"
The Empress holds Dakala's chin gently, and looks into her eyes, "Qi sense. You know what qi feels like now, and you can use it to sense the world around you. Gather your weapons, I have some people you need to talk to."
The man in red says, "Now, hold on there. We need to find out what happened here."
The Empress stares at the man with a hint of intent, "I sent my student to buy some pork ribs for dinner and she was callously attacked by these thugs after she left the store. I arrived after the fight was over, and started comforting her."
"Uh huh, sure you did."
"I was speaking to Dragon at my home until a moment before you arrived. You can check with her if you wish."
"What about the excessive force?"
The Empress points at the gun, "Not everyone is bullet proof." Then at the knife, "Or stab proof. I'm taking my student now."
Putting word to deed, the Empress expands Dakala's sword as she picks her up and stores the fan in her ring. Stepping on the sword, she takes off into the sky.
Behind her the woman says, "I thought she used a spear for that."
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A minute later the two of the land in a trailer park just outside the city. Sitting outside the nearest trailer is an emaciated black man with a 1,000 yard stare.
The Empress walks toward the man and calls out, "Mr Hughes. Mr Hughes?"
The man focuses back in the present and looks up, "What can I do for you Miss?"
"My student just had an encounter with some Empire thugs, and I think she needs to talk with someone else who has encountered them."
"I don't want nothing to do with whatever trouble you're bringing with you. We got enough of our own, what with my Jaynie being under suicide watch at the hospital and Melah refusing to come out her room."
Dakala looks, up with tear filled eyes, "What happened?"
Mr Hughes focuses on the red stain on Dakala's side, "What happened to me? Hell, what happened to you! You need a hospital girl."
The Empress shakes her head, "It is a shallow wound that we can treat at home. This is more important."
"I guess you're lucky to have a cape watching out for you then. Wish there was one when the Simurgh attacked."
The Empress lets Dakala down as she starts to struggle, and Dakala walks over to take Mr Hughes hand, "What happened?"
"What happened is that an Empire biker gang fire bombed our house and car, and laughed while we had to choose between escaping and burning to death. The police and fire brigade both took their own sweet time getting there, so we tried to run through the back door. Only they had people in the yard too, and they broke me and Cain's arms and legs with bats, and forced us to watch as they took turns with my Jaynie. They was about to start on Melah when the sirens started getting close."
Dakala's eyes harden as she asks, "What did they look like?"
"Apart from being skin heads, and the silver wolfs head on the back of their jackets I couldn't tell you. Oh, the leader carried a silver baseball bat."
Dakala looks down, "He's dead. I killed him."
Mr Hughes spits, "Good riddance, and may god damn him to hell."
"Can I see Melah?"
"Go ahead, the doors open. Not that we have anything of value at the moment."
Once Dakala's gone inside, the Empress kneels down in front of Mr Hughes and places four gold coins in his lap, "The other three men that raped your wife are dead too, the last one just bled out in an ambulence. The rest will need an extended hospital stay. I'm sorry I couldn't stop them at the time."
"Why?"
The Empress looks Mr Hughes in the eyes, "Because it would be worse if I didn't operate under the Mandate of Heaven. I would be a tyrant, and one that could not be overcome by any forces on this world. I did not grow up in this world Mr Hughes, I grew up in a world where the strong ruled and the weak suffered. Once I grew strong, I did my best to alleviate that suffering, but there was always someone stronger, until there wasn't.
"Mr Hughes, I am so old that a million deaths wouldn't even twinge my conscience, as mortals reproduce that fast. I am so powerful, that a moments inattention could wipe out a country, and an accident could depopulate the world. So I limit myself to the Mandate of Heaven, and the primary rule of that is that Mortals govern themselves. The gold is yours to keep, it can never undo what happened. But maybe it can allow you to restart your lives. The PRT gave me $30,000 dollars for one."
Mr Hughes looks at the caravan door, "So, what, are you going to use your student to act in your stead?"
The Empress shakes her head, "You misunderstand me Mr Hughes. Dakala needed to learn how to take a life. It is better for everyone if she learned how to do it for the right reasons, than accidentally in a pointless fight."
"Why? Isn't it bad enough that we suffered, must you make her suffer too?"
"Because now she knows how easy it is, and she learned it defending herself. Would you rather she found out when she accidentally hit a villain in the wrong way. I don't mean the criminals like hookwolf, I mean the likes of Uber and Leet, or the Undersiders, or floof. The ones that play by their asinine rules. Now she can learn to scale her response, and understand why it's important, so that she doesn't kill anyone that isn't trying to kill her."
Inside the trailer, Dakala sits bolt upright with Melah in her room as the discussion outside can be clearly heard through the open window.