Chapter 1: Baby Steps

Hearing about the early, hard training of children from martial arts families, be they large or small, powerful or mere pawns, no matter their influence or conviction, many would have thought it was a harsh life.

But young children are not the most rational of beings.

When she was playing, building houses of mud and stones devorated with living greenery like vines she liked to plant on her creations she often saw those older children run around the practice field or kicking trees with their bare feet. Of course she, too, had tried it and hurt the still soft skin on her feet that weren't really used to walking yet. Even so, children not much older than her trained in such a way. Anyone would have imagined that it was a harsh life.

And yet her mother spent almost all her time taking care of such children. The little girl sitting in the warm light of the summer sun almost wished she were one of them because then at least her mother would be binding her feet, too, or patiently wait at her bedside when she collapsed from overtaxing her little body. Even so, the little girl could never quite decide whether she really wanted that to happen. When she had tried kicking the tree and broke the soft skin of her little feet her mother had scolded her a lot instead of gently treating her injuries.

It wasn't fair, but she had already realized that she was supposed to be different from the other children around her. They said that she was a servant. And servants didn't train. That, and she was a girl. Only some girls from great internal arts families trained in some different way, but the little girl hadn't understood the explanation.

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Thus there was nothing left to do except wait patiently for the sun to set yet again as she played in the dirt, watching other children get hurt and exhaust themselves, seeing them driven to succeed by adults with a determination that, to her eyes, looked wild and merciless.

Her mother had never looked at her like those parents looked at their children.

Still, always playing by herself was lonely and all the other children were either running in circles around the pratice field, doing secret things in the big house or hitting and kicking trees. Since running, something she had only just learned, seemed the most interesting the little girl decided to play with those other children in the only game that she was allowed to - aside from kicking trees.

Using her newly invented method the little girl rolled to her belly, got into a position as if she were about to crawl, then stretched her legs until she stood bent over with her hands still on the ground and her butt high up in the air. A few tries was all it took for her to get to her feet without falling to her butt while standing up and once she was more or less safely on her feet she ran to the practice field to chase after the older children. Maybe if she got really tired her mother would hug her and spend some more time with her instead of the other children.