Gui Empire, Imperial Capital, Long Clan Estate:

Yu sat with her eyes closed, bare feet dangling off the pagoda in the estate garden. She was enjoying listening to the gentle strumming of Fengdu’s zither and the tingle of the water against her skin. In a break from normal protocol, the manor lord had delivered her breakfast in the morning rather than a servant. They ate together silently and when Yu was done, he had asked her if she would join him in the garden. Feeling listless and unsure of herself, she agreed.

He had guided her to join him in the pagoda and had simply started playing. She sat quietly with him until he spoke the only words either had said since the invite.

“I sometimes enjoy just running my hands and feet in the water. It is calming. Feel free.”

As she had done that occasionally in one of the little ponds in the sect’s forest as a method of relaxation and mental break, she removed her boots, rolled up her pant legs, and dipped her feet in. She was immediately glad. The temperature was perfect, not so cold as to give her bumps, and not so warm as to make her sweat.

So she sat there, closed eyes facing heavens, just listening to the strums of the zither’s strings, the call of the birds, the bubbling of the brook. The peace was nice. Yu knew she only had a short time before she was going to be pulled away, but for now, she felt relief.

Yu’s mind had been stuck on the same thoughts the prior night to the point that she struggled to fall asleep, despite her exhaustion and healing. Visions of her life just kept passing across her eyelids. She tried to find moments where she controlled her own fate. What she found were more questions. Every moment, every choice, she questioned whether it was manipulation or herself.

“Has anyone taught you how to play go?” Fengdu asked into the quiet.

Yu nodded. Grandma Huan had taught her the rules and how to play. The old woman had used it as a learning tool for what she called “strategic thinking.” The idea was being able to not just place your own pieces on the board, but also think about all the moves your opponent might make. It was supremely complicated, and Yu was terrible at it.

“Tell me, were you taught to think of the pieces as people?”

Yu’s scrunched up in thought. “Not really? I was taught to think of the pieces in terms of actions.”

“Can you explain that?”

“My teacher was trying to impart to me that the placement of each piece mattered because it dictated where all the other pieces could go.”

“Ah. So the pieces on the board were moves. One led to another led to another.”

Yu nodded, agreeing.

“Hmmm. Many in the Long clan, especially the strongest of us with the right gifts, have the ability to see how the game will play out. We can tell in advance what will happen if we place pieces here or there before we even place them. It is an insurmountable advantage.”

Yu nodded again. She could see that. Seeing the future would mean the game was pointless.

“Would you say it was cheating?”

“Sure,” she answered. “What’s the point of playing against someone who already knows all the moves of the game and how it’ll end?”

“I see. And do you think the pieces care that we cheat?”

Yu’s eyes opened and her feet stilled in the water.

“Do you think the pieces know the rules? Do they know it’s a game? Do they even know they’re pieces on a board?”

It was then that her master walked into the pagoda. “It is time to go.”

***

Before this carriage ride, Yu had not seen her master since their one-sided conversation. She had been avoiding him. The only other choice was to go to him and talk about things she wasn’t prepared to. She was too angry and sad and overwhelmed.

She had spent the entire day yesterday recovering as the healer instructed, rather than with her friends from the sect, like the original plan was supposed to allow for. Of course, now she knew that was never in the plan. The plan was to manipulate her. Even if the outcome helped her, made her stronger, it was still manipulation.

Either way, she did not get to see her friends, which meant she didn’t even have that outlet to help her cope. She missed Ai and Lu and Li. And her friends from her faction. And Zihao.

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She lay her head against the cool glass of the flying carriage.

I really need a hug.

Maybe she could snag one from Li before they all got situated in whatever venue the event was. In a short while, the tournament would kick off and she would have to sit with her master, pretending to be interested in explanations about a contest that had nothing to do with her. Not that she wasn’t going to support her friend, she simply did not care about the little details. There would be fights, someone would win, then she could go into the spirit and get the hells away from her master and his… influence.

The only good news – other than that Yu could see her friends today – was that she was able to move without pain. Her body healed as it had always done, quickly and without side effects. It was really a miraculous thing. She did not know if the changes her master had orchestrated affected anything, but she felt completely normal.

Well, except that her dantian and meridians, while not causing discomfort, had not fully recovered. They were apparently continuing to experience inflammation and were full of cracks, so the seal the grouchy healer placed was still there and would, according to him, “remain until I’m satisfied.”

Whatever “satisfied” meant, she was unable to use Qi, for now at least. She did not mind. She rarely used Qi proactively in normal day to day activities except for stepping into voids every now and then. As she could not do that in the capital, her days were not so different without Qi.

Wait, how did he step me out of the palace? Shouldn’t it have been blocked? You know what, never mind. I don’t want to know.

“Still nothing to say?” her master asked.

Yu just shook her head without looking at him. She wasn’t ready.

“I see.” He let out a sigh. “Let us try this then. I want you to ask me a single question.”

She whipped her head at him, her brows scrunched in anger.

“It can be about anything, anything at all. Not about the events regarding your Releasing Ceremony, but something else that has been on your mind. Something unrelated, if you like. Any single question.”

What should ask you then? She thought angrily. Why did you do it? What gives you the right to make me a piece on your board? Why can’t I make my own fate?

Yu let out a sigh of defeat. No, she couldn’t ask any of those questions. Because she knew the answer already. It was what Fengdu had been trying to tell her.

Because I’m powerless to stop it. I’m a piece until I’m strong enough to not be.

A memory came forth then. She had just turned thirteen and had not been healed yet. She sat at a table with her father, brother, and mother. Her father was looking at her, scolding her for fighting in a barn. He had said that she was too weak. Too weak to fight, too weak to cultivate. Too weak to control anything.

Too weak. Even after all this time, I’m still too weak.

It was a depressing thought. Years of work found to be irrelevant. And what was worse, what infuriated her, was that her master had been right. Everyone had been right. Her father had been trying to protect her because she was weak. Grandma Huang had told her that strength ruled for a reason. It was also what Fengdu had been trying to tell her. The only way out, the only way to do anything for herself, was to become what her master had been making her. Stronger. More.

Choice comes when I’m powerful enough to not be a piece anymore.

But acknowledging that did not help at the moment. Everything was still too raw. She could not face that reality without screaming or tears or both. So instead, she followed a different, easier instruction from her master: to ask a question.

Yu tried to come up with something that wouldn’t make her feel like someone else’s plaything.

Something mundane. Maybe something about the capital? No, I can ask anyone that. Hmmm…

Thinking back over the last few days, one event did pop into her mind.

“Was that story you told true? The one about Yue-ro-bah?” She tried to say the characters, but they felt foreign on her tongue when she tried to put them together for some reason.

“Oh? What an interesting question to choose,” his voice did indeed sound surprised, but if the last years, and especially days, had taught her anything, it was that everything about him could be a lie. “Indeed, it was true. I embellished it, certainly, but it was generally accurate. Europa is a fascinating place. I will tell you about it if you are interested?”

It was a clear question and Yu nodded, finding herself curious, despite her desire to look away and have nothing to do with the man for the moment.

He nodded back. “That empire is much less controlling than you are used to. The countries are substantially more independent, almost like mini empires unto themselves. Their cultures are also far more varied than ours, but there is still an underlying similarity. Their architecture, for example, is more varied across the Europan Empire than it is here. Most of our buildings look, if not identical, generally quite similar, whether you are on the verge or in the capital. The only real differences are color, size, and decoration. But in Europa, the buildings diverge quite a bit from country to country.

“They even use different languages in the various countries, although polyglotism is also much more common across that empire, mostly due to a necessity we do not have here. Interestingly, the one area where the countries are nearly identical is the framework of their miliary. Their defensive structures, their personnel ranking systems, their tools of war, are all very similar.

“It is quite a fascinating place. When you eventually make your way there, I think you will enjoy it. The food has quite a bit of variety from country to country, but is not as spicy as you have come to prefer. So you might be a bit disappointed in that aspect, although there are certain cities where you can find it. I believe there is one area in particular to the west, but I cannot remember its name at the moment.”

Much to her frustration, Yu found herself intrigued. She did indeed have a desire to explore this Europa place and all its countries. And she liked trying new foods, after all.

One day…

Yu spent the rest of the flight to the capital’s arena listening to her master speak of some of his experiences in the various countries in this foreign empire. As much as she did not want to admit it, Yu was pulled in, dreaming about traveling the world, away from everyone and everything that was trying to control her.

Maybe I can escape after all.