Sky of Paper: An Asian Steam-Driven Fantasy Tale

by Matthew Seaver

  For the first time, I saw a hint of fondness in her eyes. "Now, this is where I leave you. Kidou and Han are waiting for you in the shyo mu group. Go to that man in the center and he will show you where you will stand. I will see you again soon."

  As she walked away, I wondered about how much she’d truly changed my life. It had to have been fate that I asked her for my fortune on that day. Whether or not she truly was a fortune teller, she’d predicted my path for me, one which I could only hope was for the better. She was a person of great mystery and just like the stars, I couldn’t help but regard her with a longing sense of curiosity and admiration.

  All the girls, or shyo mah, were placed in a single group at one end of the courtyard, but the boys, or shyo mu, were separated into two groups at the other end. This was because we had two different colored eyes. The ones with yellow eyes were in one group, while I was placed in the group that had purple eyes, along with Han and Kidou. There was a very practical reason for this. The color of a shyo mu's eyes is the easiest way to tell how far along his body and his skills have developed. Purple is considered the least developed, while yellow is somewhere in the middle, and those with the color green are fully ready to use their skills outside the temple. Those that began their training at the temple with yellow eyes were very lucky, because it meant they could skip the beginner courses and immediately begin the advanced ones.

  "Stand here," the man said to me, making sure that we all stood in neat, straight rows. “Keep your hands to your side and don't move, fidget or talk."

  I nodded and stood obediently among the others. I found Han and Kidou at the front, several rows ahead of me. Han sneezed and immediately received angry looks from one of the adults. He was approached by one of them who whispered something into his ear. Judging at how quickly he nodded at his words, I guessed that he was even more nervous than I was.

  A bell rang from within the Great Hall and a figure with flowing white and red robes, and a long, slim grey beard emerged from the balcony. Three men, all with green eyes, approached the courtyard. One wore a yellow robe and presented himself before the group with yellow eyes. One had a purple robe, and he promptly stood in front of our group. The other wore a red robe and stood in front of the shyo mah.

  "Welcome, children of Rui Nan." The old man with the white robe had a voice that boomed like a bellowing horn across the mountain. "I am Head Priest Hotaka, master of the Imperial Temple. Every one of you has been chosen to become the sacred symbols of our nation. Upon your shoulders will rest our traditions, our history and the very nature of our pride. From now on, you are to let go of the past. The families from which you come from, no longer exist, for I will now be your father and the great nation of Rui Nan shall be your mother. In front of you, are your mentors. Their task, is to supervise your training. Until you are ready to move on, they will be your physical and spiritual guides. Listen to them and take their teachings to heart as they will be the single, most important person you will ever be with during your time here. Someday, when you leave this temple and fly the airships for the Emperor, you will come to understand the essence of our secret world.

  Many know us only by name, some have only seen a glimpse of what we allow them to see, but no one, except a very small group of people, knows that it is you that can change the motions of the sky and float the ships of the air. Know that you will be looked upon by common people as objects of mystery and importance. It is because of this that all of you are now sworn to secrecy, to keep the truth of our lives obscure to all those that reside beyond the walls. Like the moon, we are always present, but never understood. If you speak of what you learned in this place to others beyond the temple, you will disappear and your dishonor shall be known to others. Etch into your hearts who you are now and never forget your responsibilities. Never forget that you are the jewels that both the Emperor and the country regard with unspoken fondness."

  Even today, I’d never forgotten Master Hotaka's words. His speech had presented me with a great burden, one that left me feeling honored, scared, determined and doubtful all at the same time. The cold, mountain air seemed that much more chilly and I noticed that I’d begun to shiver. I was nervous, but also filled with pride. We all had been chosen to become something important, yet the sacrifices seemed almost too much. He had told us to forget our families. But how could we do that? It would be as if we were to forget the sun ever existed, even though we see it sweeping across the sky every day. Still, in the days to come, I would learn that sacrifices would be as common to the life of a chienkuu ko as snow is to the mountain tops.

  After Master Hotaka finished his speech, he receded back into the Great Hall, leaving us in the hands of our mentors. The purple-robed man turned to face us, his bright green eyes scanning over our heads. He pulled a slim pipe from his sleeve and lit it, taking his time as he puffed away, letting the smoke curl from his coarse nostrils.

  "Eleven. There are eleven of you." He gave a loud, guttural sound as he cleared his throat, trying to drown out the sounds of his coughing. "With my last class, I could have counted everyone with the fingers in one hand. Now it seems I have twice the work ahead of me. I am Master Ichiro. I am to train you all until you are ready to join the advanced class."

  "Do you see those children?" He pointed to the small group of yellow-eyed children next to us. "That is where you all should be. But because none of you have any skill, I must train you all from the very beginning. I expect all of you to work hard, because if your eyes are not properly yellow by the time we are finished with the course I will make sure that you never become chienkuu ko. I have no patience for slow learners."

  He smoked from his pipe silently, allowing his words to sink in. He coughed, then cleared his throat, covering his mouth with his sleeve. His dark hair was short and wiry and his sunken eyes seemed to disappear amidst the wrinkles on his face. The way he looked at us made me think of an angry boar I once saw in a painting. It was obvious that his health was waning, but unlike my mother, who’d let her sickness drive her to depression, he seemed far from giving up and letting death take him.

  "You, over there," he said, pointing a slender finger at someone next to me. "What is your name?"

  The boy was certainly taller than the rest of us and he also looked to be the strangest. With his empty stare and his mouth drooped open, he looked more like a fish than normal person. He pointed to himself questioningly.

  "Yes, I mean you child. Now what is your name?" Master Ichiro grew impatient.

  "My name is Masa, Master." He spoke deliberately, as if fessing up to some mischief he‘d done.

  "What is your full name?"

  "Masa Kanzaki."

  "You are wrong," he glared at him with his accusing, boar-like stare, which caused the boy to flinch a bit. "That is not your full name, at least, not anymore. From now on, you are Masa of the Stream. And you, what is your full name?"

  He was pointing at me. I answered as quickly as I could. "I am Terr Wind, Master."

  "You are also wrong. You are Terr of the Stream. And you, tell me your full name."

  "I am Kidou of the Stream, Master."

  Master Ichiro gave a very small, almost unnoticeable smile at Kidou's answer. "Very good. You learn quickly. All of your family names are gone now. This is because you no longer belong to your families. Instead, you belong to the Emperor and the nation of Rui Nan. In your family name's place will be your title. Every one of you possesses the title of Stream, which is the very beginning of everything you will learn here.” He coughed and cleared his throat again. “Long ago, when the very first chienkuu ko trained here on Mount Ko Mei, they learned that the motions of the Great Ether was very much like the motions of water. So they started at the top of the mountain where they learned to navigate the streams. Once they had learned all that needed to be learned, they went further down the mountain to learn the ways of the river. Afterwards, they traveled to the very bottom where they learned about the ways of the ocean. Once they had maste
red the ocean, they were ready to master the Great Ether and sail the ships that soar the skies of our country. That is the path that you will also take. Once you are finished here and you have trained your eyes enough so that they have changed in color to green, then you will go train at the River Temple further down the mountain. Once you are done there, you will go to the Ocean Temple. And once you are finished at the Ocean Temple, only then will your training be finished. But before you take the first step in this journey, you must forget who you were, and that starts with letting go of your old names."

  Someone had finally laid the path before me. I was glad, because the steps I needed to take were finally a little more clear. But before I had even begun my training, I had lost something very important to me. My family name had been cast off. I was so quick to accept my new title, that I was afraid that I would forget my old family name.

  Later, I wrote "Wind" on a piece of paper and kept it tucked away inside my shirt so I would always remember it. It was the desperate act of a boy unfamiliar with the new life he had begun, but would soon embrace all that it had to offer.

  Chapter 4

  Because of the strange way Master Ichiro glared at us, I decided to give him a secret nickname. I called him, Master Boar, or simply, the Boar. I suspected he wouldn‘t appreciate the name as much as I did, but every time he smoked, I imagined a boar's face with a pipe in its mouth and gray mist lingering out of its nostrils. I smirked at this image as he lead our group across the courtyard towards the dormitory hall.

  We went through cobble-stone paths, flanked by countless solid red banners and flags that hung from walls, buildings and neatly rowed poles. Red was considered the color of our class; the color of the children of stream. When we came to the dormitory, I noticed how similar it looked on the outside, to the Great Hall. It had the same, gleaming black-tiled roof with wide, curving eaves, a large, covered porch that hugged the outside edges of the building, and a small pond off to the side, filled with exotic-colored carp. The only difference the building had from the Great Hall, was that it was much smaller in size. We were shown where we were supposed to place our shoes, presented the banner that hung over the door of the entrance room, which had the Emperor's seal on it and told about how we were supposed to bow to it every time we entered the dormitory hall. Last of all, we were shown our rooms.

  Just like the rooms on the Ritual Decks of the airship, they were small and square, with glossed wooden floors, and paper sliding doors. They each had a small closet where we could store our bedding and our belongings. Though I felt a little unhappy about the size of the rooms, I was glad that there would be no more than two of us assigned to each one. Han and Kidou managed to get one together, while Masa and I were paired, probably because he stood next to me while we were grouped in the courtyard.

  When I first saw Masa, I thought about how tall and imposing he was. I never thought children my age could look so much like an adult, but with his long, thin face, short-cut black hair and broad shoulders, I could have accidentally mistaken him as one of the senior students, had I not looked at him closely. Once the imposing sight of his appearance had worn off though, his true nature was revealed. When the Boar led us to one of the empty rooms and told us that we would be sharing, Masa looked at me shyly, with an uneasy expression, as if he thought that I was some sort of demon that would attack him in his sleep.

  "Master, isn't there some place where I can room alone?" Masa's voice was quiet and whispy, as if he was afraid to ask the question.

  The Boar took in one long breath from his pipe, squinting his green eyes. It was this silent gaze that seemed to make Masa even more uncomfortable than he already was. He immediately looked down, probably regretting the request. Master Boar slapped his palm across the top of his head, making him whimper like a scared animal.

  "You think yourself so much better than the other children don't you?" The Boar's low, guttural voice caused Masa to wince. I was already inside the room, feeling gravely unsettled as I watched the both of them just outside the door in the hallway. "Asking for your own room, how dare you ask such a selfish question."

  "I’m sorry Master Ichiro, but Master Lu promised that I would have my own room."

  "Master Lu is not your teacher. Now you will accept what I give you, or you will be sleeping on the bridge by the pond."

  Masa quickly bowed and apologized, then shuffled inside, putting his few belongings in the closet.

  "You, what’s your name again?" Master Ichiro pointed at me from outside the door.

  "My name is Terr."

  He looked at me as though he was about to accuse me for Masa's mistake.

  "Terr, I will not forget your name again. Watch him. Make sure he doesn’t do anything foolish."

  I acknowledged his request and bowed. Afterwards, he gave a small grunt then walked off down the hall.

  I turned to face Masa, who was kneeling down in the corner next to the open closet. His eyes remained lowered as if he were counting the pieces of dust on the floor.

  "I'm not supposed to be here with you," he said quietly ", I'm not supposed to be here at all."

  "Then where are you supposed to be?" I thought my question mocked him somehow, because his eyes narrowed as he as he raised them to meet mine.

  "You're from one of those small villages aren't you? I can tell, because you have that idiotic accent. The kind, that only dumb, village people speak." His voice became spiteful. "You and other people from the country come here because you have no choice. I know for a fact that people like you would be more than happy to give up their poor life to live here at the nation's expense. But I’m not like you. My family has enough money to make its own choices. But because I’m cursed with these eyes, I’m forced by law, to come here. So be glad, boy from the country, be as glad and full of joy as you want to be. But remember, not everyone wants this life."

  Living all my life in Rune, I’d never had the chance to understand the difference between living in the city and the village. You eat, you sleep, you work. I always thought these things were the same, no matter where you lived. How foolish I was to think that life was that simple. Masa's words became my first glimpse into how different our lives really were. And it was also my first glimpse into his arrogance.

  "We are going to serve the Emperor, and help make this nation prosperous. How can you say that you don’t want such life?" I sat down in front of him, but he looked away and made a hissing sound with his lips. "Did you know my sister doesn’t like people who keep dogs as pets? She says she feels very sad for the dogs, because they have no purpose, other than to laze around all day. They will live for a while, and then die, never accomplishing a single thing. Is that something you want for your life?"

  Masa gave a chuckle that slowly grew into a haughty laugh. He waved his hand at my words and slowly turned his head to meet my gaze. "Your sister is as much of an idiot as you. We’re all dogs here. We’re pets in the eyes of the Emperor, with no other purpose than to amuse him."

  Even though I didn’t like him at first, I thought that there was some way I could become friends with him. Even though the sun and the moon don’t like to share the same sky, eclipses still happen. But the minute he called my sister an idiot, I didn’t hesitate to shove him hard on the shoulder. He fell to the floor with a shallow thud.

  "Don't ever say that about my sister." I stood up and kicked him in the thigh. "She’s not an idiot."

  Masa quickly sat back up and with an angry grunt, grabbed my leg and forced me to the ground. He crawled up my chest like a snake, pinning my arms to my sides, until his face loomed over mine. He breathed heavily and his purple eyes seemed to darken. "All village people are idiots. They smell like rotten fish and their brains are so small, they barely know how to talk." I tried to squirm out of his hold, but he had his full weight on top of me. He lifted me by my arms then slammed my back against the floor. "Master Lu, my father, is an important man here. When I talk to him about getting my own room, I’m going to m
ake sure he sends you back to your fish-smelling village."

  With all of my strength, I rolled to the side and forced him off me. I tried to run out, into the hallway, but he grabbed my leg again and I fell. Like angry dogs, we crawled over each other, hitting each other's faces and chests. His knee hit me in the stomach several times and I cried out as loudly as I could. Our fighting continued until two pairs of arms pried the two of us apart. It was Han and Kidou, both of them yelling over our grunts and angry words; telling us to stay still. They pinned us against the wall on either side of the room. My stomach and nose seared with pain and I could see through the tears that blurred my eyes that a group of students were peering curiously through the open door.

  It was the first time I had ever seen Han look the way he did. His already thin head, seemed to grow longer and skinnier as his lips puffed out and his eyes grew small. I could see in his eyes that he was concerned, while the rest of his face showed that he was upset.

  "All of you, leave." Han looked to the crowd by the door. "Go back to your rooms."

  Kidou held Masa tightly by the shoulders, but he quickly shrugged off Kidou's grip and strode to another corner of the room.

  He waited until the students left before he spoke. "That savage village boy attacked me. He should be reported to Master Ichiro at once."

  "He hasn’t done anything wrong," Han said, letting go of my shoulders. “And as far as I am concerned, nothing happened here."

  Masa looked at Han in disbelief, then turned his attention to Kidou, hoping to get his support.

  "I didn’t see," Kidou added.

  Masa probably recognized their accents, because an expression of distaste blanketed his face. "Neither of you are from the city. Typical that you‘d protect your own kind. Well none of you deserve to be here; and after I’ve spoken to my father, he’ll make sure that lazy filth like you are removed from this place."