Liu was excited for the tournament; her fists ached in anticipation, and her heart thumped with a slight anxiety. Sleep was elusive last night; her mind raced till the sun shone. She wondered about her opponents, their strength, their skill, and how to beat them. Her practice was coming up, and she hoped she would again improve herself. Every second that got her closer to beating that woman, was a step closer to her being happy. That woman being her own teacher.

Wenling’s attitude made Liu’s head want to explode. Who did she think she was? A god? Her arrogance knew no bounds. The days she looked down on Liu were numbered. She beat Liu around like an old pair of sandals, a crusty pair at that. Then she had the audacity to smile down at her and say, “good job”. It was the worst. But time was on her side, Liu was going to get stronger and shut that old hag’s mouth. She laughed every time she thought about it.

Liu’s butt was in the air, and her face was in the dirt a couple moments later. It was lucky that she had a light breakfast. Even still, she threw up what little there was in her stomach.

“Careful to not get it on my shoes, will you?” Wenling smiled down on her. “And when you’re done, make sure to clean up. It wouldn’t be right to force one of my delicate ladies to do it, would it now?”

“Shut up.” Liu growled and charged. She transformed into a tiger, and with newfound speed and strength she aimed her claws at Wenling’s undefended side. The woman twirled out of the way and smacked her on the forehead. Liu’s blood boiled. She planted her paw, pivoted, and launched herself. Her fangs aimed at the neck.

“Good. But not good enough,” Wenling said. She punched Liu right in-between the eyes. The force sent her flying back and slamming into the wall. Her head bounced and darkness came.

Her next moment of consciousness was her lying in bed. Her head screamed. A knock from the door didn’t make it any better.

“You up yet?” Feng asked behind the door.

“I’m up,” Liu groaned.

Feng opened the door and knocked one more time before he entered. “Excuse me.”

“You’re excused, what do you want?”

“Before that, how’re you feeling? Better? You got hit pretty hard; I’ve never seen a head bounce on stone before. It’s pretty funny,” he said.

“Is it? Should I try it on you?”

“That won’t be necessary. Once is enough. Nobody likes an old joke anyway.”

“You’re no fun. Now before I decide to hurt you anyway, what do you want?”

“Today’s the day to sign up for the tournament.”

“Oh, right, it’s today. How long have I been out? We still good on time?”

“If we leave right now, we’ll just be on time to be late.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up earlier!?” Liu jumped out of bed and became a whirlwind in search of clothes.

“You looked so peaceful though. I didn’t want to disturb your sleep. I heard it’s good for the brain. And you’re going to make me blush.” Feng’s fingers covered his eyes.

Liu had a pair of trousers on, and her top was bare besides a wrapping of bandage to protect her modesty. “You that obsessed with my belly button? You can get out if bothers you. I’m almost done anyway.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said but stayed.

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Liu threw her coat on a moment later. “Let’s go.”

“Why do I have to go? I’m not fighting.”

“C’mon!” Liu dragged him out. He followed but grumbled about it.

The sun was out in full force today. If it was any hotter it would burn Liu’s skin down to her bones. The wind, which should’ve made it better, felt like heated sandpaper, and the humidity didn’t help. Her clothes clung to her. She wasn’t the only one who seemed uncomfortable though, Feng was panting beside her, and the people around her carried scowls and dripped sweat.

The walk took twenty minutes. The line was short. It seemed like being late was a good thing after all. The people in line came in all shapes and sizes. Some were as big as bulls, others small as a baby deer. And they all wore different styles of clothing. Some wore thin silk face coverings and golden jewelry; some were half naked at the top besides a vest. The line standers either joked and laughed; or stared straight ahead, completely serious.

“Aren’t you glad I woke you up so late? Look how short the line is. If we came any earlier, we wouldn’t have left any earlier.” Feng showed off a smile that Liu wanted to break.

“Whatever, let’s go,” Liu said.

The line was fast moving, and the two found themselves near the front quickly. And as they were about to become first in line and obnoxious sounding voice cut them off.

“Excuse me, do you think I can get ahead of you. You see the heat is terrible for my hair. I just wouldn’t be able to stand it.” Before Liu could respond, the woman was already ahead of them. “Oh, thank you. I’m sure you would’ve said yes. I appreciate it, you commoners can be so kind. I think us nobles could learn much from you.”

The woman looked to be around Liu’s age. She had straight, glossy black hair. A pretty face, or if Liu wanted to admit it, a beautiful one, and her clothes were made of the finest silks. She was the epitome of rich and beautiful. Tall men surrounded her, they seemed as tall as the towers around her, but they actually weren’t. She turned her face and began speaking to the clerk. A middle-aged man who looked done with the day. It appeared that whatever they were talking about was not pleasant for the woman. Her arms were flailing around as she yelled.

“Why do I have to fight in the preliminary fights!?” The woman screamed.

“Everyone does, ma’am.”

“Don’t you know who I am? Once my father hears about this…”

“Yes, I know who your father is, but the rules are the rules. I’m sorry.”

She harrumphed, “Fine, have it your way! Chen, Fu, come. We’re out of here.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the bodyguards said.

As the trio turned around, the woman’s eyes locked onto Liu’s.

“What are you looking at?” Liu asked.

“I was simply looking at you. But it doesn’t seem like a peasant like you knows any manners. It’s truly disappointing. What has this city come to? But you should be happy; it seems like I’ll have the opportunity to teach you. I’ll see you in the preliminaries peasant girl.”

“You better be prepared to be beaten into the ground,” Liu said.

The woman’s eyes locked onto Liu’s. “You’ll regret those words.”

“We’ll have to see then, won’t we?”

The woman cracked a smile. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She cracked her knuckles and walked past. Her bodyguards rushing behind her.

“You’re turning red. Calm down,” Feng said.

“I’m calm!” Liu yelled calmly.

“Lying’s not a good thing to do.”

Liu shoved Feng out of the way and sped off.

Feng sighed and followed.

Liu walked with no destination in mind. What she really needed to do was punch something or someone. Maybe if she asked Feng nicely? No, that wasn’t right. But maybe? No, no. She would need to relieve her stress another way. She was normally a nice and reasonable girl, why did people need to piss her off!?

Liu was far ahead of Feng. He was running now, trying to catch up to her. She would let him run a bit more. She needed to take her anger out on someone. She apologized to her friend in her head. Once he was panting and his hands were on his knees, Liu slowed down and started walking back. The idiot didn’t take his physical training seriously enough. All he did was meditate and complain about not flying. He needed to shape up. It seemed like she needed to be harder on him. The little bit of guilt she had before vanished.

“How can you walk so fast?” Feng asked in the middle of a gulp of air.

“Because I’ve actually been training while you’ve been slacking off. You really need to step it up. At your current rate, you’re just going to end up holding us back. And I’m not planning to die because of you. Get better or you’re staying here. Don’t you want to see your parents again?” Good, that sounded nice. It felt like something her father would say. Be honest and hold nothing back. Coddling feelings would do nothing but make a person comfortable when they needed to change.

He had the audacity to smile and say, “sorry.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. But don’t you worry. I’ve been feeling stronger. I have way more ki than before. Can’t you feel it? My legs just don’t move as fast as yours. Sorry. But if I was flying, you would be the one chasing after me.”

“That’s that, this is this. You aren’t even joining the tournament. How do you plan to grow if you don’t challenge yourself?”

“Fine. I’ll start physical training. I guess meditating is just going to get me yelled at.”

“And killed.”

“And killed too, I guess.”

“Great, now that you understand. We’re going to start sparing tomorrow. Got it?”

“Tomorrow? Give me a week at least, please? I need to mentally prepare myself. Fighting a muscled brained idiot like you takes a lot out of a person.”

“An idiot? That’s what I am?”

“I was obviously kidding,” Feng said.

“Then sparing tomorrow shouldn’t be an issue.” She cracked her knuckles. Feng sure was sassy today; she would need to fix that. “I can’t wait to beat some sense into you. It’s too bad that registration is over for the tournament. I bet I could’ve convinced you with a bit more time.”

“How? I know you wouldn’t do it with words. And I don’t speak the language of violence,” Feng said.

“I would’ve taught you it. Once you get it, it isn’t too hard. I can still teach you. What do you say, want to learn some violence?”

“No.”

The two went to go eat a bit later. They then roamed around the city until the sun began to set. Once it did, they went back to the brothel and debriefed with Wenling.

“Oh, yes, the nobles are like that. Don’t mind it. They don’t know any better. Just think of them as very powerful, big, spoiled children,” Wenling said.

“They should still know better,” Liu said. “Really, they have absolutely no manners. If we were back home, she would’ve been chased out of the village.”

“I’m sure she would have. But we’re not back in your village. Take care not to offend them, they can really hurt you if they want to,” Wenling said.

Feng nodded his head. “Getting hurt sounds like it would suck.”

“That it would. Don’t you agree, Liu?” Wenling asked.

“I can beat her up in the tournament, right?”

“Of course, in the arena everyone is equal.”

“Then I’ll destroy her there,” Liu said.