Four Years Later

  Year 606 of the Divine Empire

  Surendra had decided. This was an excellent place to die.

  He had heard many rumors about this new world, The Barrier Isles. Only a few dozen miles away from the eternal storm that halted passage through the western seas, these islands were as far from anywhere important that you could possibly go. To make things even better, some human from the Divine Empire had decided to make a trading post here, so all it took was some well-spent coin to buy passage on a merchant ship heading straight over. It had been a grueling four month journey across the sea, as well as a frustrating series of negotiations when the supervisors realized he had no intention of working, but it had all been well worth it. All that had made him wonder about the actual value of this place, though. No matter how fertile the land here infamously was, transporting goods through such a long and dangerous journey would have all but the most desperate of merchants thinking twice. Well, there had been rumors that the great houses had been having some trouble turning a profit after the last war, so perhaps such desperate folk weren’t difficult to find. Not that it mattered, really. Let those ambitious fools turn their hair grey with all those thoughts of commerce and expansion, there was relaxation to be had in foreign paradise.

  Not that all was perfect here. It was hard to ignore all the strange looks from the natives as they passed by Surendra’s lounging spot on one of the corridor crossings. It wasn’t hard to imagine why; sasqals like him were rare in all but the most remote and frigid parts of the world. Most of his kind had isolated themselves in the temple cities of the Tenlac mountain range, and they were better off for it, as far as he was concerned. They weren’t wrong about the excess and imbalance of the unenlightened, if anything they may have undersold it. Regardless, for as much of a novelty that most humans find a wandering sasqal, to these kālai folks he would probably seem downright alien.

  His kind usually found themselves taller than humans by a bit over a head, leaving them smaller than kālai yet far bulkier. In shape they resembled a more bestial variant of human, long fangs and claws protruding from stocky bodies that were covered with hair in all regions besides their faces, hands, and feet. Surendra’s fur was a cultured ivory white, a sign of high birth that seemed lost on most other races. People generally just assumed he was old, something that had enraged him to no end when he still cared about the opinions of others. Well, that and the fact that they wouldn’t really be wrong these days. Even by his people’s standards, he was definitely getting up there in the years. All that noble fur of his did now was soak up more heat. Even with the resistances granted by his strength in the Ideals, he conceded that the tropic climate would take a bit of getting used to.

  But honestly, who cared about all that? A bit of heat and staring were a small price to pay for a retirement free from responsibilities. The kālai would get used to his presence, and at least they didn’t try and make him work like those idiots in the human settlement did. With how bountiful the forests and seas would be, gathering food would be trivial. The only real trouble would be finding a good source of alcohol. He was already onto his last bottle of wine, and wouldn’t be able to trade with the humans due to his lack of income. It didn’t seem like the kālai drank at all, so he would likely have to resort to making it himself. There were a couple barrels of fruit juice he had put together in his hut on the beach, which would hopefully become properly fermented soon. So long as one of those juices ended up tasting good, he would be set to rot here until he died.

  Stretching himself until his spine popped, Surendra leaned back against the stage at the center of the crossing. He drank deeply from his bottle while gazing out towards the open sea. The noonday sun shone across a cloudless sky, refracting into all sorts of multicolored lights as it beamed down onto the endless water. Dotting the waves were the resting rafts of the various hunters out looking for a meal, their occupants jumping off and onto them as they plunged into the depths. With the magnificent volcanic island Mt. Fury in the distance, or Lua Pele Nui as the locals called it, the view was just magnificent. Surendra was prepared to relax here until the evening, then have a wonderful dinner of fruit and fish. This was working itself up to being the perfect, meaningless day. Or at least it would have been if the person who would become the source of decades worth of suffering and hard work hadn’t tapped him on the foot just before he was able to fully relax.

  “What are you doing?”

  He startled, quickly shifting to grab his staff, only to remember that he had left it at home. Cursing himself for being so easily startled, he looked down at the child who had just spoken to him. This kālai girl (or at least he was pretty sure, kind of hard to tell with them) was looking up at him expectantly, arms crossed. She didn’t look extraordinary by her kind’s standards, beyond her garb. For whatever reason, where most girls would tie flowers to their torsos, she bore a selection of colorful seashells. He wasn’t quite sure why, but he was getting a strange feeling from her. Surendra sighed, knowing whatever this child wanted was bound to be annoying.

  “Hmph, what does it look like I’m doing?”

  “Nothing, I guess.”

  “Exactly. Now if you would let me continue-”

  “Great! What are you, then?”

  “I-what?”

  “You’re not doing anything, right? That means you can talk. What are you?”

  Surendra gritted his teeth and did his best not to strangle a child in the middle of a crowded intersection. “Listen, brat. There are plenty of other people you can bother out there, and I’m sure at least one of them knows what I am and wants to explain it. I, however, do not. So-”

  “Tried that. Didn’t work.”

  His knuckles whitened as they clenched down harder. “Is that so?”

  “The kālai I asked said you’re an ape, but so are humans so that doesn’t count. Then I asked some humans, but all they said is that you’re a sasqal and a primitive, which was better but also kind of stupid.”

  There was a lot to unpack there. It at least confirmed that this child was a nosy little bastard to everyone, but there was a bit more than that. First off, humans despised admitting that they were the direct descendants from Sasqals, so how in the world did she know about their connection? The mention of talking to humans also made him notice that this whole conversation was made in mercantile common. It wasn’t a hard language to learn, having been designed for merchants of different cultures to communicate, but it was still odd for a child to be so fluent in it. Letting out a deep sigh, he took a moment to respond.

  “Alright. Fine. First off, who even are you?”

  “Kanoa. And you’re Surendra. The humans didn’t know that but Nohea did.”

  Nohea. . . That was that kālai that showed him a good spot to set up camp after he was thrown out of the human settlement. Come to think of it, it was weird that an artist would speak mercantile common as well.

  “And how do you know Nohea?”

  “They’re my parent.”

  Of course they were. They had mentioned having a child, but Surendra never would have thought he’d be meeting her.

  “And how did you know about humans and sasqals being apes?”

  “Ailu told me.”

  Surendra rubbed his temple. For someone so curious, this brat sure didn’t like explaining herself.

  “And they are?”

  “My best friend. She knows a lot about a lot of stuff. She says everyone knows stuff like that where she’s from.”

  . . . You know what? He wasn’t even going to bother with that one.

  “Well then. It sounds like she should have told you plenty then.” He sat forward, doing his best to loom over her intimidatingly, “So why don’t you ask her about it and leave me alone?”

  Kanoa’s eyes widened at this, yet he got the feeling it wasn’t out of fear. There was something else in that look, some sort of understanding. Now that he had gotten even closer to her, he could feel this odd heat, like it was emanating from her body.

  “Alright.”

  She turned away to scurry off towards some unknown destination, neither looking back nor saying another word. Surendra let his body relax once more, glad to finally have some peace. Still, for the rest of the day, he couldn’t help but linger on that conversation from time to time. He really hoped he wouldn’t have to deal with that brat again. . .

  —

  Two Days Later

  Oh, for the love of-

  “Hi again.”

  The brat was back, and with more annoying questions, Surendra assumed. He had let his guard down after a full day without seeing her, but it seemed things were too good to be true.

  “Gods above what is it this time?”

  Kanoa looked a bit confused, hesitating before responding. “You still seem angry. . .”

  “Oh, really? And why do you think that is?”

  “I dunno. Nohea said some people need space to calm down, so I waited a while. But now you seem angrier than before.”

  This was going to take a while, wasn’t it. . .

  “And it never crossed your mind that I just hate people in general?”

  “No. Why would you do that? It sounds annoying.”

  His eye twitched, but miraculously his face remained otherwise unchanged. “Alright brat, what do you want from me? You clearly never needed to know what I am, so what is it that you really want to know? I’ll tell you if you agree to never talk to me again.”

  “Hmm. . . No.”

  “What do you mean, no!?” A few heads turned as Surendra’s outburst was a bit louder than intended.

  “I need you to teach me. Train me.”

  “. . . Explain.”

  For a moment, Kanoa seemed almost. . . hesitant? It was an odd expression to see on a child who seemed otherwise fearless. There was silence between the two of them for nearly half a minute, until she finally took a deep breath and began to explain herself.

  —

  A few days ago

  “That’s enough.”

  Hearing Kehlani’s voice, Kanoa paused her practice with spear stances. She had gotten rather good at this in the four years since she had begun training under the alaka’i, enough so that she could reliably defeat children a few years her senior. It was all thanks to the consistent and unrelenting practice she had endured nearly every day, which made it odd that, for once, Kehlani was stopping her an hour early.

  “. . . Did I do something wrong?”

  “No, you did not. I’m asking you to stop because there is no point in you continuing. You may attend group practices if you wish, but I will no longer be your personal trainer.”

  “Huh? But why? I thought I was doing well!”

  Kanoa dropped her spear, running towards her mentor with a concerned look on her face.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “You are. Your talent with a spear rivals my own, and clearly have the dedication required to refine it properly. The problem is the Ideals.”

  “. . . I thought you said I would develop them as time goes on?”

  Kehlani scratched at her neck, clearly uncomfortable with this conversation. “I did. And I was wrong. If you had the potential for any of them, you would have at least started showing signs by now. You clearly have no commitment to any of the paths, so there is nothing I can teach you.”

  “What does that mean?”

  By now, Kanoa had gotten herself in front of Kehlani, looking up expectantly. Despite her despondency, she was finally going to learn a bit more about the Ideals. The mystery of how they work had been the main reason she had stuck with this training until now.

  “Other than Nihil, which has no roles assigned to it, there are three Ideals that I have knowledge of. There is Passion, which would be better taught by your parent, Solidarity, which I can teach but you have no ability to use, and Hatred, which is sinful and will not be taught regardless. Teaching you about them has no value, as they must be followed from the heart, not just objectively.”

  “Oh.”

  Kehlani was starting to look guilty. Despite her typical shamelessness, she was feeling as if she had underperformed. She was disappointed in herself, though would never allow herself to admit that to a child.

  “Don’t feel bad about this, Kanoa. This is all due to my own failings as a teacher, so you should bear neither guilt nor regret. I will ask, though: why do you wish to become stronger?”

  “. . . Do I need a reason?”

  “Yes. You do. The Ideals only favor those who pursue them properly. You are young, so there is no need to rush things. I saw a lot of myself in you, given our connection to the goddess, so I thought you would fall down a similar path. And yet, you have no drive to help others or form a community, and your interest in fighting seems surface level at best. You will find your desires once you are older.”

  “But-”

  Kehlani had already retrieved Kanoa’s training spear, offering it to the child. The look on her face was hard and unfeeling as always, belying none of her internal conflicts.

  “Enough. It was my mistake to try and teach these things to a child. True desire requires an understanding of the world and what you lack in it, and that cannot be built up without time. Go home, Kanoa. You can tell your parent that I will no longer be requiring your presence in training.”

  “Okay. . .”

  Kanoa surrendered for now, but she was not defeated. Already her mind was racing with the new insights she had gained, and she was thrilled at the chance to learn more. She just needed someone who could teach her. . .

  —

  Surendra scratched his chin pensively as Kanoa summarized what she was told. “Hmph. So what? Your teacher won’t help you anymore so you go find a random old man as a replacement? What am I supposed to do about that?”

  “Well. . .”

  It was interesting at the very least. This Kehlani. . . he had met her before, though only briefly. She seemed a bit full of herself at the time, but maybe there was more to it than he had assumed. Her understanding of the Ideals was more in depth than he had expected of someone isolated from the mainland. Her describing them as desires felt a bit off, but she knew not to make any bold claims in regions she wasn’t experienced in. He couldn’t blame Kanoa for feeling discontented, for she had lost what could have been an excellent teacher. The alaka’i’s only failing was her unwillingness to train someone she couldn’t relate to.

  “How do you expect me to help you? I know nothing about Ideals, so I can’t imagine I’d be that good of a teacher.”

  “That’s a lie!”

  “How so?”

  “I know you can use them. I can see them inside you right now!”

  At this, Surendra almost choked on air. How could she possibly know that? He had made sure not to use any of his power so that people wouldn’t expect anything of him. Could she be lying? Maybe just making stuff up? Why did she have to be a kid, that made her so much more difficult to predict! Still, better safe than sorry. . .

  “Can you now. Very well, then. What exactly do you see in me? You know there are different Ideals, so which ones can I use?”

  “Hmm. . . There are two kinds. One of them looks like Mr. Walker’s, and I can’t tell with the other. It looks weird though, like it’s faded.”

  Mr. Walker? Did she mean Jefferson Walker? Shit, the leader of the human settlement used Selfishness as well. The two of them were almost nothing alike, so it’d be hard to associate the two of them. Sure, Surendra had seen the man using a Selfishness technique when negotiating with others, but even then you would only recognize it if you knew what to look for. The girl could even see that his Ambition had faded from neglect. . .

  “I. . . Alright, and where is it, specifically? Where do you see the power being stored?”

  “Uh, the stuff like Walker’s is in your right arm, and the faded stuff is by your stomach.”

  Gods damn it. That settled it. Even if she did somehow learn about all the Ideals and just made a lucky guess, the knowledge of how to change the location of your core was relatively unknown due to how pointless the technique was. Not that there was usually any way to see someone’s core anyways. . . Wait, when he was being given a tour by Nohea a month ago, the artist had mentioned they were worried that their child was too introverted. She certainly didn’t seem like that now, interrogating a strange foreigner like that. A desire to understand the world so great that she went against her better nature to gain knowledge. That Kehlani may have been knowledgeable, but she had missed a natural talent right under her nose. This ten year old child had somehow formed a technique from Curiosity by complete accident.

  “Hmph. Well, good for you.”

  “. . . That’s it?”

  “That’s it.”

  “But-”

  “I’ll throw you a bone, alright? Your teacher was wrong. You can handle the Ideals just fine. In fact, you’re already using them.”

  “Really!?”

  Surendra could really feel the heat coming off her now. What even was that? No matter how talented she was, no kid her age was already a magus. Well, she was receiving direct instruction from the alaka’i. He knew Kehlani had been blessed by the goddess of fire, and producing heat to this degree couldn’t be something normal. Come to think of it, the reason he couldn’t feel the blessing up to this point was probably a result of this training. Well, not that it mattered to him.

  “I can’t see other people’s power cores like that. I doubt the alaka’i can either. As far as I’m aware, the only people who can do that are those who get power from the Ideal of Curiosity.”

  “Wow. . . How do I use it? I know you get stronger when you use the Ideals, but I don’t really feel it.”

  “Hmm. . . No, that’s all you’ll receive from me.”

  “What?”

  “You caught me on my lie, so I told you something you would’ve figured out in a while anyways. Fair’s fair, but I’m not wasting my time training some brat. You’re an exemplar now. Congratulations. Now piss off.”

  Kanoa’s face rapidly switched back and forth between elation and the disappointment of a child who had been told off. Surendra smirked as he watched her open and close her mouth, unable to think of anything to say. Stretching back, he got himself comfortable. Or at least, he tried to. His smile slowly slipped downwards as he watched the child settle on a look of determination. With an odd flex of her cheek plates that he could only assume was the kālai equivalent of a pout, she plopped herself down, sitting right next to him.

  “. . . What are you doing now?”

  “Staying next to you.”

  “Think you’re going to learn something?”

  She smiled smugly, her arms crossed in triumph. “I think you’re going to teach me something.”

  “Hmph. Well, good luck with that.”

  This shouldn’t be a problem, right? Sure, it was annoying, but she would get bored and leave eventually, right? Yes, of course. All he needed to do was wait things out, and then he could experience a long and meaningless retirement.

  —

  Two Weeks Later

  For the love of all the gods why is she still here.

  Every goddamned day this brat would track him down. It didn’t matter where he went, even on the day he tried to hide on some jungle cliff she was still able to find him. She even started bringing a friend after a few days, who Surendra could only assume was this “Ailu” she had mentioned early on. He had to admit that this new child was extremely difficult to ignore, especially since she was blatantly unlike any hominid he had seen in his life. Those scales and that tail were definitely real, which had implications he chose not to address out of some effort to maintain sanity. It was only when he saw her summon a ball of water out of thin air that he finally broke and had to ask who in the world she was. Kanoa only gave him a smug look that told him he wasn’t going to learn anything until he helped her. He had to admit that it was a pretty good plan, but with his pride on the line he wasn’t going to give up so easily.

  And so the two of them sat against the side of the same stage they had met at, stewing in a silence that was only broken when Surendra finally allowed himself to question her.

  “Tell me, what is even the point of this?”

  “I told you, I-”

  “Yes, yes, you told me all about how you want me to teach you. I understand that. But you said yourself that you didn’t have any real attachment to fighting. So what’s the point? Why go through all this effort to master something you don’t truly care for?”

  Kanoa was silent for a while after this. Surendra thought to question her further, but a glance in her direction showed her deep in thought. It seemed she hadn’t really considered the reasoning behind her own actions, and now had to actually put them into words. This was good, he supposed. Only by considering one’s desires can they truly progress their Ideals. It took some time, but she did eventually come to a conclusion.

  “I. . . Don’t like it here.”

  “Elaborate?”

  “Well, I like the people well enough. Nohea and Ikaika are my family, Kehlani’s kind of scary, but she does her best to help me, and Ailu is always lots of fun. . . But I could be with them anywhere, right? So why does it have to be here?”

  “So the location’s the problem?”

  “It’s just. . . everything else. Nothing changes here. Nohea always says that everyone’s more free than at our old home, but everyone’s still just doing the same thing every day.”

  “. . . Which is different from what you’re doing now?”

  “You think I like this? That I want to sit here and be boring like you every day? I hate it, but that’s how everything is here. Everyone expects me to just pick some job to do and just. . . do it. Forever. Or at least until I’m old. I want to go out and see new things, to see what the rest of the world is like. But I’m not stupid, I know what humans are like, and there are a lot of them out there. I need to be able to fight for myself.”

  Surendra hated this. He knew what this was like. It was the reason he left his own home in the mountains nearly two hundred years ago. He never should have asked. The more he learned about this child, the more he realized how similar they were. Would she fall down the same path he did? It felt wrong to let such an innocent child make those mistakes, especially when they could be stopped so early. He just wished she had found anyone but him. It was supposed to be over for him. Surendra was just. . . so tired. . .

  “I. . . see. Listen, brat-”

  He wasn’t sure what he was going to say. How could he explain it all to a child? How could someone so young understand the weight of two centuries of regrets? Surendra was almost grateful that they were both alerted by the sounds of some commotion in the distance. It sounded like an argument had reached a boiling point. It seemed like a good way to distract Kanoa while he thought of a way to convince her to find someone else to be a teacher.

  “-Never mind. Let’s go see what all that is about.”

  The two rounded a couple of corners before finding themselves at the back of a large crowd that had formed around this argument. It was hard to see what was happening with all of the kālai in front of Surendra, (Why were they all so damn tall?) but he could feel the pressure of Count Walker’s Selfishness. Next to him, Kanoa shivered. She could probably feel it a lot worse than he could, given her ability to sense the Ideals clearly. Wordlessly, he got to his knees and gestured for her to get on his shoulders. As he raised her over the crowd, she was able to give a good description of what was happening.

  “Mr. Walker’s yelling at Kehlani. He’s talking really fast, so I’m not really sure what he means. . . Something about needing more. . . farmland? What’s that?”

  “Hmm. . . Humans don’t really gather and hunt food like you do. They prefer to set up land for growing specific kinds of vegetation for eating. There needs to be a lot of it, so much that there’s been talk of clearing a swath of forest to make room.”

  “Don’t they have enough already?”

  “I imagine they want to make an excess to sell to the mainland.”

  Kanoa seemed confused by this. Unsurprising given how alien human culture must seem to those unfamiliar with it. Still, Surendra wasn’t expecting how distressed she seemed.

  “But. . . The forest was a gift from Kinohi! They can’t just take more for people who don’t even live here!”

  “They can, and so long as Walker keeps using that technique, they probably will.”

  “What is he even doing? I can feel it from so far away. . .”

  “It’s a technique using Selfishness. Puts a sort of pressure on people to make them more afraid of you. Useless in a fight since adrenaline clears it pretty well, but it’s a favorite for noble bastards like him. By the looks of it, your alaka’i doesn’t even realize she’s being influenced.”

  “What? But that means. . . Is he really going to do it? Is he going to cut down Kinohi’s forest?”

  Surendra had never seen her like this before. Kanoa looked like she was on the verge of tears. Such a strong child probably wouldn’t be like this normally, so he could only assume it was a side effect of that damned technique. He looked forward, towards where he imagined the argument to be. This whole situation was disturbing. It would be absurd to assume the Divine Empire would be kind to the lands they occupied, but it felt wrong for such a vibrant people to be cowed like this. He could tell the alaka’i about that technique and how to resist it later, but the way things were going now, it looked like Count Walker was about to get away with chopping down a forest blessed by a goddess. Even if he hadn’t lived in a temple city for ages, the thought of a world steward being disrespected like this made him uncomfortable. Besides, even ignoring all that, he still couldn’t let this go. As frustrating as this child was, he still wasn’t going to let her cry because some noble asshole couldn’t convince someone without the help of a technique.

  Calmly, he let Kanoa back to the ground and began to push his way towards the front of the crowd. He could finally see Count Walker, that smug little bastard. The man had rubbed him the wrong way from the very start, from his arrogant attitude to that gaudy outfit he was always prancing around in. He had an infuriatingly smug grin on his face, clearly confident that he could easily suppress his opponent with that underhanded technique. This was someone who had gotten used to shutting people down without resistance, forcing them to play his rigged game. Unfortunately for him, Surendra was never one for subtlety or negotiation.

  “Hey, bastard! You’re blocking the damn path!”

  “I’m sorry, who do you think you-”

  What happened next would be seared into the memories of everyone present. It wasn’t every day you see a man grabbed by the shoulders and thrown twenty feet into the open ocean. One of Walker’s guards cracked Surendra on the back of the head with the pommel of his sword, though the damage had already been done. Whatever happened next, he regretted nothing.

  —

  That Evening

  Surendra awoke in a prison cell, his only light being a dim lantern in the hall outside of the bars. Given that the room was made of stone, this must have been made by the humans. Seemed a bit excessive for such a small colony, but Walker did seem to be the ambitious sort. Rubbing the bump on the back of his head, he surveyed his surroundings carefully, only stopping when he realized who was sitting in the cell across from his own.

  Kanoa gave a short wave. “Hi.”

  Nohea was also there for some reason, giving a sheepish smile. “Hello again, Surendra.”

  Surendra took a few moments to formulate a response. “I-What are you two doing here?”

  “Oh, yeah. Kanoa threw a rock at Mr. Walker as he was being taken away in a stretcher. I punched a guard so she wouldn’t have to be alone in her cell.”

  “. . . You people are idiots, you know that? How long are you even going to be in here?”

  Kanoa spoke up. “The guards say assault is a month in prison. They said you’re lucky you’re not being executed for attacking a noble. What does executed mean?”

  Seeing Nohea’s death glare, Surendra chose not to answer that one. “. . . Don’t worry about it. Why did you even do that? A surprise bath was probably a strong enough message.”

  “You still haven’t taught me anything, and I can’t learn from you if you’re stuck in the human settlement.”

  “Oh, for the love of. . . I give up.”

  Ignoring an apologetic look from Nohea, Surendra leaned back in his cell. This definitely settled it, that brat wasn’t going to stop until she had gotten everything she could from him.

  “Alright, fine. If you don’t say a single word to me for as long as we’re stuck here, I’ll teach you all I know about the Ideals.”

  Nohea showed a faint smile. “Thank you, friend. I haven’t seen her obsess with something so much since she met Ailu. I’m glad someone can help her grow.”

  “. . . That goes for you too. I blame you for this nonsense.”

  Oh, well, this was probably for the best. It would take a while for his fruit wine to ferment anyways, so this might keep him from getting bored. Besides, Surendra supposed there were worse people to take in as an apprentice. The way he saw it, this child would either get herself killed in a few years or end up changing the world. If he was lucky, maybe he could even prevent her from being as much of an idiot as he had been when younger. He laid himself down on the pile of straw that the cell had for a bed. While hardly comfortable, Surendra decided to savor the moment. This would probably be the last month of peace he would have for a very long time.