Tristan's Tale Pt. 05

~

In the end, I pressed on until I was just embarrassingly outclassed. Jet finished our fight without any flash or pomp: three simple sword strokes that ought to have left me disarmed, dis-armed (ha. ha. ha.), and beheaded. It was over. My Chi stayed firm in my grip, though. I'd lost it before. There was no way I was going to let go of it again, although I knew in my bones that this time was more permanent than the last.

Jet stepped back deliberately and sheathed his sword with a formal bow. Had I not been sweating over how dangerously sharp his strikes had felt in a room that should have blunted them, feeling terror at the sear on my neck, I would have returned his bow. Instead, I fretfully wiped at my throat, over and over, repeatedly grateful when my hand came back bloodless.

I felt a shiver of fear when I noticed the burn on my arm where he'd just cut through me was actually visible. A thin stripe of bright red marked the place he'd struck. I blinked. Normally there were no marks left from the blows in this room. His sword had been undoing the room's effect.

I blinked, looking at him with a stupefied expression. What the hell?

He didn't seem to care — I say that because there's no way he didn't notice. I knew the kind of awareness you got with your Chi. It had deteriorated over time, but even at the end I'd been vastly more perceptive. And Jet was more powerful than me by a hilarious margin before I'd started to drop off. He knew. He just wasn't saying anything.

He looked around at the spectators with a calm expression. Had it been anyone else, they would have been applauding. It had been quite the show, now that I thought about it. Had he ended it less abruptly, less decisively, had he not humiliated my swordplay for the last two minutes of our fight there would have been more than stunned silence in the room.

His voice cut through it like a knife. "Consider the mats permanently designated training periods," he said. "You may use your Chi on others, if they consent to it. Failure to obtain consent will not be pleasant for you." He turned at the circle of people around us, giving everyone — myself included — a look that would have wilted anybody who had even thought to take advantage of the open season. Most of Tower, probably, I thought.

"I wish you all luck in the Tournament," he said, and it almost sounded scathing. Almost. It was basically what he'd said to me before I'd started this whole mess, when I'd first asked him what to do about getting my Chi. His meaning was clear.

Get your shit together, I translated in my head. It was about as much of an inspirational speech I could ever see coming from Jet.

"Thank you," I said hurriedly as he left, his suit tassels billowing slightly behind him. I had forgotten to bow, but I was not so blind as to miss that I'd been given a gift. I'd lost track of the things I'd learned watching him fight. I wouldn't even know where to start describing it.

But that went out the window when I found myself suddenly surrounded by my friends.

"I'll tell you what I learned," said Sailor, thumping my back. "I'm not fucking with this guy. Nope."

"Amigo, where did you learn to fight like that?" said Rodrigo, amazed. "I can't believe, the things —"

"Tristan!" boomed Thomas, idly parting people out of his way by the twos and threes with sweeps of his massive arms. He took me up in a bear hug that left me unable to breathe. I awkwardly tried to keep my Chi from cutting anyone, keeping its tip on the ground.

"H-hey, Thomas," I managed to say.

"What the hell kind of Chi is that?" he exclaimed, setting me down. "What's it made of, soap?"

And suddenly I was uncomfortably in the spotlight, crowded by a group of people looking at the surface of my Chi. It did look a bit like soap, the swirls on the blade looked like the eddies of an iridescent, blue-green river.

"I have no idea what it's made of," I said honestly. "It just sort of came that way."

I saw Jade standing on the outer edge of the crowd, her arms crossed, a grin on her face. She was enjoying my suffering. I cast a pitiful glance at her over the crowd, and mouthed "save me". She just rolled her eyes. It was hard to tell, but I swear she mouthed back, "Enjoy!"

It took me a few minutes to assuage the curiosity of everyone present. Did I know that people almost never got Chi's this big their first time around? Yes, I did. This was pretty incredible, isn't it? Sure, I guess. But don't let it get to your head — the size doesn't matter at all, the form is without substance. Yes, Emmit, thank you. How did you get it? I have no idea. Why was Jet fighting you? I'm sure he'd be willing to have a lengthy discussion with you on the subject.

And so on.

I eventually dismissed my Chi (after I reassured myself for the tenth time that it was still there and accessible) just to get out of the conversations, suddenly uncomfortable with all the attention again. I told Jade and the others that I would meet them in the Lounge in a few minutes, and that I just needed a moment alone. Jade looked curious, sensing something more was going on with me, and I tried to give her a tell-you-later shake of my head. I think she got it. She usually did.

I went back to the Odieh's office hall, where the walls had torches that actually cast flickering light. It looked a little familiar, in a way I couldn't place. The hall smelled like a library, full of dust and history. It was quite the contrast from the mats.

But it was the rich, red rug frilled with gold that had brought me back.

Walking around Moleh I'd had a sense, more than once, that I wasn't alone. A sense of being watched, or of a vague presence being around me. I'd attributed it to the fact that I was likely always under observation by Shae in some form or another.

But earlier in front of Emmit's Chi room, my mind distracted, I'd accidentally opened up to the rug and realized that it itself was exuding that presence that followed me everywhere. And it had felt an awful lot like Clay.

When you hold Clay in your mind, it kind of fills a niche. It slots into a place you don't even realize was there, and suddenly your mind is filled with the awareness of this thing, and of its inherent mutability. That you can change it, shape it as you will. Usually it's confirmed by it turning your color — how each person got their color, what it meant about them... that was all a mystery. What did it mean that Sailor's was grey? What did it mean that mine was blue-green, and that my Chi had manifested that while other's hadn't? Who knew? Not me, that's for damn sure.

But I did know a few things. Once the Clay was set, if you finalized it in your mind, it no longer rose to fill that niche. You couldn't change it anymore because there wasn't anything to change, in the same way that if you looked at a rock, its being didn't jump into your awareness. It was like the rope. After you made it from Clay, it was just a rope.

But this rug...I squatted, looking at it. I'd felt its presence before, on accident before I'd followed Emmit into his Chi room. And the rug had been different. Not set, but not moldable. Like its being rose within my mind and started to fill the niche but couldn't.

It took me a minute or so of looking at the rug and really concentrating to find that sensation again. I had to really open up. But it was there, clear as day. Almost thrumming with presence.

I looked around. Okay, the rug was made of Clay. That made a lot more sense. I couldn't see Shae going to the trouble of getting wool and dye and golden thread to gild it all. That settled the question of the rug — to a certain extent.

I looked at the wall. The torches were affixed to metal carriers that jutted out from a rich, glossy looking wood colored a small spectrum of dark brown hues. I put my palm against the wood, remembering my Clay lesson with Hwan and how much harder it had been for me to oust him from his Clay when he was holding it. I figured it probably went the other way, too.

It took me a considerably shorter time to find it, but I still had to look. It wasn't obvious. There was just this perennial presence, and then suddenly part of it was immediately located in front of me. The wall was the same as the rug.

I nodded to myself. That made sense. Was it all the same stuff? All of Caer'Aton? Was it all Clay?

And if so, why could I feel it? And why couldn't I shape it?

I decided to do one last test.

~

I passed through the Lounge on the way out, and Jade asked me to bring her back the orange sphere she'd given me when I came back. I said I'd do it, that it was just under my bed in my trunk.

Yeah, I'd rather have died than admit I'd put it under my pillow after my exploration. Don't judge me. I wasn't sleeping now, but the ball had a reassuring presence to it that would probably be a comfort after the Tournament. Still, I felt weird about it, and kept it to myself. It was for me to know. And Jasper too, evidently, as the beds were always made when we got back. A strange thought. Luckily, he wasn't much of a gossip.

When I asked Jade why she wanted it, she gave me an exaggerated mimicry of my tell-you-later headshake, wearing an overly mysterious expression that sent everyone else — Alice included, I noted — into a fit of laughter.

I stopped in my tracks as something clicked. A reassuring presence...

I decided to get the sphere before going outside.

I was fiddling with it when I got to the Arch. It was made of the same mildly luminescent colored wood of the stone giant trees. I'd actually used it to find Jade. It had worked as a kind of compass, but only when I really focused on it.

I put my hand on the Arch.

I had to look. It wasn't obvious.

But it was the same stuff. All Clay. All inaccessible to being shaped, while at the same time it felt like I really should be able to move this stuff. It was so frustrating, I mean, it was right there. It was the search for my Chi all over again.

That I couldn't access it was a riddle I couldn't solve right now.

But as I looked through the Arch, realization started to set in. As I gaped at the vast, empty plains beyond Moleh, at the tiny speck that was the Stone Giant grove, I was beginning to suspect I'd solved a different one.

~

"Wait, wait," said Alice, frowning. "Say that again?"

"It's all Clay. All of Caer'Aton. It's all made of Clay."

"No, the next part."

I passed Jade the orange ball from my cushion by the large crackling fire in the Lounge. She accepted it, eyed its color pensively, and placed it on the ground in front of her. She was whittling the bird with her Chi — she hadn't found her new one, yet — and the cuts she was making were minute beyond belief. It was already beautiful, but it still wasn't good enough for her, apparently.

"I figured out what Clay is," I said. "It's made from trees in the Stone Giant grove. The multicolored ones." I pointed at Jade's bird, at the ball. "The wood Kiara gives you to shape."

Emmit nodded. "The same stuff as the table I saw when I first came here..." he trailed off.

"I think I remember something like that," said Rodrigo. He rubbed his head. "That was so long ago."

I glanced at Emmitt. He still seemed withdrawn. I imagined he would be for a while. "And those huge double doors that lead to the classrooms."

"So what?" said Vanessa expectantly. "What does that matter."

I took a deep breath. "I think...you know the plains around here? I think this used to be a forest."

They looked at me thoughtfully.

Jade cleared her throat. "A forest?" she asked curiously, her attention still on the bird in her hands. She turned it over, examining the feathers. She frowned, then set the very tip of her Chi against it, whittling the tiniest of grooves. The edges of the feathers.

"Yeah," I said. "I mean, this is just one of a few places, right? There's other places for other races? That's a lot of Clay."

Vanessa frowned. "Not that much."

"It's not like this is a sprawling metropolis," agreed Sailor.

"Well for one, we don't know how big this place is," I said. "You know the Course? That could fit Moleh in it five times over. And yet it's just down the hall a ways. So it's bigger on the inside, and we don't know by how much." I waved a hand dismissively. "But, okay, let's pretend it's only this big." I pointed at the brightly carved bird in Jade's hands. "Why can't I change that with my mind, but I can manipulate Clay however I want?"

"There's not much point to speculating," said Emmit. "How do you even control another person's mind?" he looked at Jade. "You've got Set. You've taken classes."

"You just... do it," said Jade, waving her Chi distractedly.

"Easy," I said, flinching away from it. The corner of her mouth curled up. She'd done it on purpose. "Well, I know what not having any idea about how this place works looks like. Trust me. But I think some speculation isn't totally uncalled for."

"I can feel the presence of the wood as well," I said. "It's a lot easier when you're actually in the grove. It felt familiar, and I couldn't put my finger on it, but what it felt like was the walls of Moleh. And that sphere," I said, pointing, "acted like a sort of compass."

"Only if you know what you're doing," said Sailor. "It's not everybody that gets to work with wood."

"Jade's just exceptionally good with it," said Vanessa, winking.

Jade blushed. "You're very sweet, but I'm nothing special at it."

I patted her shoulder in a comforting way. "Aw, it's okay, Jade. I think you handle wood really well."

She glared daggers at me, and pointed her Chi at me to match them. I grinned. "I mean, the sheer detail on this bird..." I continued.

We all had a laugh at her expense. Though she blushed through most of it, she laughed with us after a moment.

"But that's just my point," I said. "You've got to do something to the wood, whatever that is, and suddenly it has a kind of locating property. But it's not inherently shapeable with your mind."

A thought occurred to me. "Actually, Jade, do you know how Clay is made?"

She shook her head. "We're not told that much, no. All I know is you get it from the Clay wall."

"The wall!" I exclaimed, looking around. "How much Clay is there in the wall? When I feel its presence in me, it's massive. Huge. You can't shape the wall." I shook my head. "My point is that you probably have to refine the wood somehow to turn it in to Clay. Guys, I think Shae razed an entire forest to the ground to build this place."

If that was true, small wonder the Stone Giants take such good care of their grove, I realized. It was all they had left, the last remnant of a vast, sprawling network of trees. It broke my heart, imagining them spending all their time maintaining the place, cherishing it the way they did. Taking care with their huge, lumbering limbs not to hurt anything...

What must it have felt like to watch the birds rip off branches and gash the wood? The Stone Giants hadn't even fought back. They were too gentle for that.

I wondered if the songs they played were songs of sadness. I wondered if they ached for what they'd lost.

"Oh my God..." I muttered.

"But, again, so what?" asked Vanessa. "So there used to be a forest here. Now there isn't."

Rodrigo nodded. "Big whoop," he said, and interlaced his fingers with hers. They shared a kiss.

Most couples, when they kiss in public, stay in it for a second. Maybe a couple if they're into it. But I couldn't for the life of me remember a time when they only exchanged a peck. It seemed to be all or nothing with them. So when I say "they shared a kiss", what I really mean is he cupped her face, and met her lips with his, slowly. His thumb brushed over the hand that was interlaced with his, while the other traced down her neck. Vanessa, making no attempts to hide it, reached over and slid her hand over Rodrigo's junk, moaning softly.

I didn't even bat an eye. "Guys. She leveled an entire forest." I made a sweeping cutting motion with my hand. "There's no traces of stumps. No vegetation. It looks like a dry prairie."

"The forest could have been elsewhere," said Emmit. Alice nodded her agreement.

I nodded. "True. But why transport all that wood? How would you even do it?"

He shrugged. "It's the butterfly woman," he said, as if that explained everything. In fairness, it kind of did.

"Maybe," I said. "But I think it makes way more sense to situate your base in the middle of the resources that are going to build it than to transport them away for no reason."

Emmit nodded. "That's fair."

"My point," I said, "Is that forests are not simply groups of trees. They're entire ecosystems. There's hundreds of species of animals and insects and other plants." I dropped my tone. "But I bet you she didn't even blink. I bet you she razed it to the ground without a second thought."

I leaned forward, looking them in the eyes. "What makes you think she wouldn't do the same to us?"

Admittedly, my experience of earlier today was weighing on me still. She'd outright controlled me, making me steadily lose my mind to lust just as a reminder that she was in charge.

"We're her army," said Sailor. "Why would she get rid of her own troops? That makes no sense."

"Emmit, how did that Rinzai story go again?" I said, snapping my fingers as I tried to remember.

"Which one?"

"Ah... damn. When the Odieh teamed up on him at a meal. All five of them."

"He finished his food," said Emmit, a touch of admiration in his voice, "and made them all sit, unmoving, for days, from miles away. The butterfly woman herself had to come down and end it."

From what I'd learned, it sounded more like he'd implanted a Suggestion on all five of them, rather than maintaining a direct control. And they hadn't even worked it out. Shae had had to save them.

"One Rinzai is worth five Odieh," I said, holding up the appropriate amount of fingers. "As somebody who's fought Derrik pretty consistently over the last few days, I can say that one Derrik was worth maybe a hundred of me. Now," I shrugged, "I've got my Chi, things are different."

Emmit raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

I nodded, more confident than I felt. "Oh, absolutely. But that's beside the point. As somebody who just fought Jet? An Odieh?" I shook my head. "I'm a speck of dust. Less."

"And Rinzai took on five of them. With ease." I looked around at everyone. "What makes you think she cares at all about any of us? The only reason she'd have an interest in not killing us the minute it suits her is if we're useful. One Rinzai is probably worth every person in this room a hundred times over."

Emmit's eyes suddenly glimmered with understanding. "Ah," he said.

"I'll just speak for myself for a second," I said. "I feel, very presently, that I may die if I don't make myself useful to her. I think mastering the Art is a matter of life and death."

"So take your necklace off," said Jade casually.

I looked at her. She was focused on her whittling. Everyone else looked at me curiously.

I shook my head, trying not to show the fear that had immediately risen. "No. One thing at a time for me. I just got my Chi, I'm moving up." I brightened. "Speaking of which, did Emmit tell you guys he found his?"

That elicited a huge wave of questions and congratulations from everyone. Jade even put away her Chi and pocketed her bird to go give him a hug. I'd told Sailor, but word hadn't gotten around yet. Vanessa joined the hug shortly afterward. Then Rodrigo.

And thus, like we were children at a slumber party, we dog-piled Emmit in a fit of laughter. Even Alice joined, despite the fact that she wasn't as close-knit with the rest of us.