From that first day, began a multitude of fatiguing work. Every single day I woke up and worked at the Yang Lianhua Pharmaceutical Company from morning to afternoon. In Xanton, such was the ethic of the Zhounese people. Its citizens always frantically hurried in the city center for rush hour, foot traffic bigger than what I’d see in Shibuya.
After spending time in the clinic, I’d go straight to Baiyun Pavilion. Sometimes Yuanyuan would come along to watch, or she stayed back to work overtime for clientele.
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“C’mon, Young Saqui. You’re too young to be tiring out now,” Maîtresse yelled at me now that she’d begun her sword teaching. Since I was given a practice sword, she made me swing it at least a hundred times in different angles and positions.
Her technique differed from what I expected. Given that she used a short sword, combat would be different than a regular blade. Long reaching attacks and unnatural body movements encompassed her style she attempted to pass down to me. The type of sword was called a ‘yedo’, she told me.
I collapsed to the floor trying to sit, wiping my sweat in the sun. My wheezing breath couldn’t keep up with this intense cardio, but I convinced myself that it would have high return. So Maîtresse commanded me to stand up again.
“You lean too much in your attacks,” she scolded me the next afternoon, while we continued to spar in the abandoned monastery. Today cold gales blew through my hair and the clouds hid the sun, so I breathed a bit easier. “Your center of gravity lies in the ‘danjeon’, the solar plexus. Balance.”
‘Danjeon’? My dantian? I advanced into her as our wooden swords clashed, her calmness scaring me a little. My face contorted into a concentrated expression. I couldn’t think of anything to out-maneuver her. As expected of Maîtresse, her competent skills compensated for her short stature. She told me that smaller people automatically had a disadvantage.
Looking back, I attempted to analyze her parries and used it for myself. When she threw out a cut at me, I met it head on with my wooden sword as our weapons slid to our hilts. Then my wrist twisted into a stab.
“Gh!” That came from me as I covered my head. She whacked me square in the forehead. I scratched the darkened spots near my hair. “That’s another bruise…”
She twirled her practice sword with a smile. “That was good. Try that on me again.”
Maîtresse often let herself falter so I would see an opening. But I knew that openings didn’t simply mean they were safe. I needed to be wary of such traps whether intentional or not. We sparred for a few more hours until night fell.
My legs cramped as I hobbled back to Laolu Fang. When the sun rested, I still didn’t know whether I could trust the neighborhood. As ghetto as it was, not many people walked around these parts. No homeless nor wanderers, just pure silence perforated the streets. Eventually I shuffled my way to the door of the townhouse and entered.
“Another bruise?…” Ruri approached as she heard today’s injuries. I took off my shoes at the foyer while making muffled footsteps with socks. “Do you want a warm cloth?”
My head lifted, arriving at the table. “Yes, please.”
She brought out a bowl from one of the old cabinets and filled it with water. Then Ruri placed it on a stove-like apparatus before soaking a towel in it. “Come and get it yourself. I’m not doing the entire process.”
“I know, I know. Thank you.” I stood up and limped to the counter in the back. While I took the dampen cloth and pressed it to my face, I made sure that I stated something clear. “Your Japanese has improved so much. ‘Perapera’.”
‘Jouzu’ was different from ‘perapera’. ‘Jouzu’ was a universal term for anyone that dared to speak the language, while ‘perapera’ was used to acknowledge one’s fluency. Ruri was walking upstairs but stopped. At first I thought she was going to jeer at me.
Ruri propped her arms on the handrail, and rested her head on it with a warm smile. “Well, I’m glad to hear that.”
I was taken aback. Was this the Qawasumi Ruri I knew? Now during our days in Xanton, we barely saw each other except for the mornings and evenings. We spent the rest of the day doing separate activities. To think that our dynamic had changed from where we began. All the more I needed to find Sorah’s family, and reconnect with him as soon as possible.
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“Maîtresse, this might be sudden, but where are you from?” I asked her a week later, resting up on the stone stairs for the next lesson. “You clearly don’t seem like you’re from here.”
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She put her yedo sword on her shoulder, walking to the center of the pavilion. The sun set over the horizon as shadows traced distorted shapes. “That question? I’m from Regione Straniera, or as us Stranieros call it, PatriaRegione Straniera.”
Regione Straniera. From the map, it was an area north of Aquitaine, yet still under its dominion. I began to put it together. That could possibly explain why she spoke Aweda. “So you’re Aquitani.”
She stopped walking and cranked her head towards me. Her petty face turned into a glare, her brows contorting into a frown. “No, we are Stranieros. Aquitaine simply took over PatriaRegione Straniera. Don’t ever call us Aquitani ever again, got it?”
Was it political? So Stranieros and Aquitani were different ethnic groups. Regione Straniera and Aquitaine were separate regions. My back went rigid from her reaction. “I apologize—I didn’t know the difference.”
“Now you know, ignorant idiot. Call someone from PatriaRegione Straniera an Aquitani again and they’ll beat you up. For your ignorant comment, time for some extra exercises. Get up, double the basics!”
Yuanyuan watched from the sidelines as I got up once again. She waved a few pieces of ch’ian coins on a string. “Hey Saquisaqui! I’ll buy you a drink when you’re done!”
I could only let out a sighing smile as I acknowledged her. Then I took my practice sword, and swung it a thousand more times. Almost a month passed since arriving here in Xanton, and I had to make the most of it. We weren’t searching, so time needed to be productive.
After two more hours I found my body numb and my feet light. Walking through the streets, evening darkness blanketed the city. Buildings lit their lanterns and people began to close shop. Only a few restaurants carried on into the night.
Yuanyuan led me to a local bar, lifting the flaps under the entrance. “Nihao, fuwuyïanHello, sir!”
“Chiwei?How many?” The man behind the counter lifted his head from lifting boxes. Zhounese tapestry decorated the walls, along with many glass bottles scattered among the shelves.
I answered, “Two people.”
His eyes widened at my response. Probably he was shocked that a foreigner like me spoke Zhouhua. By now, I’d gained a consistent understanding of daily words, although anything off-topic would be unintelligible. We seated ourselves in.
Yuanyuan ordered a type of beer for us. Normally I would be skeptical, but the drinks resembled the pale straw, amber color of the drink back in my world. Served on the counter in two pint glasses, I turned towards Yuanyuan who just stared at her beer. “Don’t tell me… You’re a light-weight?”
“Obviously not!” She gripped the glass’ handle and took a big gulp. I simply took a casual swallow. I knew it. Her face started reddening and leaned on the table. “It’s good right? I think so～”
Since spending three weeks here in Xanton, I felt like I was able to obtain a clearer picture of Kang Yuanyuan. A bold liar who hid her feelings with a smile. The harder the truth, the harder she grinned. The less she knew a person the worse it was. The her from when I first met was different from her now. There had to be a reason why she’d spent so much time with me. And I was sure it had something to do with the doctor.
“Okay, better not drink more than one then. Head home after this. You’ll be hung over in the morning, and then Doctor Yang will scold you.”
Yuanyuan’s back went straight, sipping more with two hands. “Doctor Yang? He’s such a worrywart. You, see” — she hiccupped — “he’s like my dad… wait, my dad? But he’s…”
“‘Dad’…” I traced the handle of my glass. Her and Doctor Yang didn’t communicate like a boss and employee. I had a hunch about it for a while, but never spoke it to existence. I finished my beer and stood up. “You’re too drunk right now, so I’ll walk you to your home. Do you mind telling me where you live?”
“Are you gonna leave? Are you gonna leave me? The D’Orientois…”
I put her arm around my shoulder and paid for the tab. She never explicitly stated where she lived, and I couldn’t let her stay with Ruri and I. That was when I thought of Doctor Yang. So I headed to Laolu Fang, making my way to the clinic in a few minutes' walk. Fortunately the lights to the place still dimmed a faint glow. I knocked. Yuanyuan was done for the day.
Footsteps sounded to a click in the door lock. It opened, showing the doctor in casual clothing. I bowed my head, stepping back to show Yuanyuan. “Good evening, Doctor Yang. Yuanyuan here is—”
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry, Mister Quirisaqui. Did she get drunk by herself? No, I should’ve already known.” He shook his head and spoke solemnly, and I let her rest on his shoulder. “Thank you for watching over her. These days now that she’s all grown up I don’t know what silly things she might get into.”
“She told me that you and her have a history together,” I elaborated on her drunk ramblings, only to realize that it sounded weird rolling off my tongue. “If I may reword that, she knows you very well.”
Doctor Yang took a deep breath and softly placed his hand on Yuanyuan’s head. “Yes, I’ve known her since she was a kid. After her parents were gone, I tried to get her to decide whether she wanted to go to an orphanage, or some sort of host family—anything.”
“I see… and did you find one?”
“She never answered my question, so I just took her in, even though I didn’t think I was worthy of raising a child.” He looked down, remembering a brief moment. Then he looked up at me. “Now I’m not the young naïve man I was, so I have to take responsibility. I can’t shelter her forever. One day, she needs to go out into the world herself. ”
“I’ve heard that people call her ‘The Giver’. She tells me about all sorts of clients she met with, that she enjoys her job—”
He almost yelled, but saw her in his arms. “She said to me that she wanted to heal, give people a second chance at life, but not just at Xanton. Yuanyuan wanted to see the world.”
Doctor Yang told me her true feelings in the cold of the night, eyeing up into the spill of stars above. Yuanyuan wanted to see the world. Something other than Laolu Fang, Xanton, something bigger than the confines of the city.
And unfortunately, our time in Xanton was coming to a close. Ruri and I acquired enough savings to pass through the main continent three times over with our money combined. After spending a month in Great Zhou, three months after being transported back in Han’ei, our preparation to begin our search was done. I was ready to tie loose ends.
Morning light broke through the clouds as puddles reverberated to my footsteps. I saw the old monastery eroded from last night’s drizzle, with Maîtresse standing in the center of Baiyun Pavilion. I approached her at arm’s length, and bowed to her.
“You ready for your final test, Young Saqui?” She took two short swords from her coat and handed one to me. “Today’s the day.”
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We bowed while I took the yedo sword from her hand. “Yes, Maîtresse. I look forward to this duel.”
This was it. All those forms, all those practice swings and sparring, needed to be shown to her as gratitude. One day, I had to move on too.