10 YEARS AGO

I stared at the box on the table - Uncle Shou’s gift for me. Though it wasn’t a common custom, since we’d begun living with Uncle, he had given us gifts on each of our birthdays. My 16th birthday was last week but I had thought he’d forgotten this time around He had been so busy of late, almost never home.

I wasn’t upset about it; there was so much going on right now and it was a strange thing to do in the first place.

Of course, Atiltio and I had exchanged gifts- the benefit of sharing a birthday. I’d given him an old word writing utensil called a fountain pen; Atilio loved collecting relics from the past almost as much as he loved building things for the future.

Atilio had given me a holographic rendering of our whole family smiling and waving. I wanted to ask where he had gotten it, but I knew it was probably through some devious method, so it was probably best not to know.

It had been so long since I’d seen our parents' or brothers' faces, even if it was an old representation of them. Judging from what we were wearing, the holo-image was probably from the night of the party. The storage disc was now tucked into my pocket so I could keep it with me.

My fingers skirted the edge of the box in front of me. I could feel Uncle’s eyes on me. He was getting impatient.

“Zo, you’re killing me.”

I smiled and continued running my hands along it. “I’m just trying to guess what’s inside.”

“How about a hint? You’ve said you want to learn, and I quote, ‘more useful skill than numbers and stuff’. And I also recall you saying you haven’t found your defense training isn’t fulfilling enough. ”

I bite my lip and pull off the top. Nestled inside were two identical EF-pulse guns, shiny and new.

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“Before you get any crazy ideas. They are set to training mode, and will stay on training mode for the foreseeable future.”

I nodded but was too excited to really be listening. I gingerly picked up one of the guns. As my fingers wrapped around the grip, the pistol lit up. Streams of light ran up the barrel as the gun came alive in my hand.

Uncle Shou stood next to me and grabbed the other gun; it stayed dark in his hand. “They are only yours. No one else can ever use them against you. Do you understand?”

He looked at me with an intensity I wasn’t used to. I didn’t know why but I knew it was important. I swallowed hard, nodding.

“Good,” he put the gun back in the box and moved to the other side of the desk, picking up his ever-present holo-tablet.

“I’ve gotten you a new tutor. Since you found your Might trainer to be so…unworthy. You will work with an Insight protectorate. He will guide you through using them. You will listen to and do whatever Norbu says. Are we clear?”

I groaned at the name. “Norbu? He is so boring!”

Uncle Shou raised his eyebrows as his lips quirked to the side in a half smile. “Oh, so you’d rather not use them at all. Well, okay. I can get you a doll or something instead.”

He reached for the box but I snatched it off the table and held it in my arms protectively.

“Fine! Norbu wins this time!” I cradled the box like it was my baby, unable to keep myself from grinning.

In truth, I didn’t dislike Norbu. He was my Uncle’s guard, all Creators had their own protectorate. Norbu was the strong, silent type but when I was younger he would bandage my scraped knees with a soft touch or carry our books when he picked Atilio and I up from the academy in our Uncle’s stead.

He was a good man and very loyal to Uncle. He was also the one who had taken me away from my home in Fate and brought me to Insight.

Uncle Shou cleared his throat. “Back to Earth?”

I nodded, blushing. “When do I start? I bet I can beat him!”

From behind me, a low voice rumbled, “Girl, I can outshoot you blindfolded. Cocky gets you killed.”

That was the first and far from the last time Norbu bruised my pride and pushed my ego back down to where it should have been. But whenever Norbu beat me down, he always built me back up into something stronger. After three years of training, I was almost as good a marksman as he was. Almost.