Sky of Paper: An Asian Steam-Driven Fantasy Tale

by Matthew Seaver

  "I would never punish a student for speaking their mind to another teacher. But for plotting to lie to me, as well as asking Han to be your accomplice. . . well, I think the temple grounds could use a good cleaning. You’d better hurry before the evening chill completely sets in."

  The students that passed by must have seen me as a spectacle of mumbled frustrations and simmered anger as I spent the night cleaning off dirt and polishing away stains from the animal-shaped statues that dotted the edges of the various courtyards throughout the temple. Thankfully, the end of my impossible task was marked by the rattled sound of the evening bell that summoned all students to their dorms.

  Masa was not there when I returned. His things were laid out all over the room. As one of the elders passed by to check on the students, he peered in through the door, then abruptly shoved it open in fit of disappointment. He pointed to the mess lying on the floor.

  "What’s wrong with you?" he said shaking his boney finger at me. "This is the most slovenly room I‘ve seen all day. Pick this up immediately, before I have your teacher send you back out to finish cleaning those statues."

  "But this isn‘t my mess," I declared.

  "Statue cleaning duty tomorrow. If I have to repeat myself, I‘ll have you do it all week.”

  At that point I knew well enough to refrain from uttering another word. With muted resentment, I bowed my head, then went about picking up Masa‘s possessions. The elder snorted, then proceeded down the hall. Later, just as I had finished, Masa came stomping in. Without a word, he opened the closet where I had neatly stacked his things and folded his clothes. He sloppily pulled out his bedding, which knocked everything off the shelves and onto the floor again. He threw down his bedding and quickly went to sleep. I thought of waking him up and yelling at him, but I knew it wouldn‘t make any difference. I was too tired to let the day go on a second longer, so I carefully laid out my own bedding and went to sleep.

  "Terr, wake up. Wake up right now." The desperate girl's voice roused me. I looked up at her with bleary eyes. It was Etsu. From the timid light that glimmered in from the hallway, through the open door of my room I managed to make out a look of concern on her face. "You have to come with me. Get your tamma and come outside."

  "What are you doing here?" I said sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

  "I‘ll explain in a bit, but you have to come with me right now."

  "Right now? Why are you in such a hurry?" My body was slow to snap out of its sleep-deprived daze. I even started to question as to whether or not I was dreaming.

  She leaned in close, projecting a clear, irritated demeanor of impatience. "Stop asking questions Terr. If you care about yourself or your friends, you’d better get up right now."

  I grumbled, reaching for my tamma bag. I‘d barely gotten to my feet when she snagged me by my arm and dragged me down the hall. I groaned a few agitated words, but she gave a sharp hiss, pressing her finger against her lips, demanding I keep quiet. She gave me just enough time to get my shoes from the wooden shelves at the door before we made our way outside.

  In the icy cold of the night, I noticed another girl waiting for us. She was shivering, even though she wore much heavier clothing than the rest of us. She was taller than Etsu, with a height that seemed to be equal to mine. The soft glow from her cheek bones accentuated the curves of her dark eyes and even though her raven hair was tied in a bun on the back of her head, it was obvious that she had quite a bit of it as the tightly woven ribbons and hairpins that kept it all in place strained to keep the thickly bound strands from falling apart. She was nervous and seemed just as surprised as I was.

  "Terr," Etsu said suddenly. "I want you to meet Kassashimei. She's going to be your shyo mah."

  "My shyo mah?" I was now fully awake and the shock I felt couldn‘t have been greater if she had told me I‘d been courted to marry the girl. "How can this be? We aren't supposed to be paired up until we graduate to the River Temple."

  "Things have changed Terr, and we have to make sure that you're prepared."

  "Prepared for what? Why can't you give me any answers?"

  "I'm sorry, I can't explain it here. You'll know what I mean when we get there."

  Etsu picked up the lantern lying at the girl's side and motioned for us to follow. In the ominous silence of the night, we made our way into the forest. There was no moon that evening, and so, without it's reassuring glow, the darkness lingered around us like a thick fog. We huddled next to each other, glancing at every tree with stark suspicion. I kept a particular interest on Etsu, who‘s worried, yet determined face was lit by the lantern‘s stalwart glow. I barely knew her, yet I found myself placing my trust in her mysterious intentions as I followed her in the dead of night without so much as an explanation as to why. Still, my curiosity and my need for answers spurned me on.

  "Can she speak?" I said to Etsu, trying to take my mind off the forest's morbid atmosphere.

  "Of course I can you nitwit." Kassashimei blurted.

  I looked at the girl trailing behind us, noticing a pair of smooth stones in her hands. She was fervently rubbing them together.

  "What kind of a question is that?" She continued in an annoyed tone. "Do you think I was some sort of dumb mute?"

  "No, that's not what I was thinking at all. I was just asking a simple question."

  "The both of you please be quiet," Etsu snapped. "And Kass, put those pebbles away."

  "No, I won't. It's the only thing that helps when I get nervous."

  "They're charm pebbles right?" I said, peering at the objects in her hands. "Aren't they supposed to give you luck and good fortune?"

  "No," she replied harshly. "They're supposed to give you good health and a prosperous life."

  She looked away, picking up her stride as she proceeded to step past me.

  "But doesn't that mean the same thing?"

  She made an irritated grunt as she went past. "Just leave me alone. And no, it isn't the same thing."

  A few minutes later, we came to a clearing where a sky boat and two older students stood waiting. They were definitely a pair, one a shyo mu and the other a shyo mah. The male student was very tall and had green eyes so bright, they almost seemed to glow. The female student was much shorter; so much so, that she stood about one palm-lengths lower than Etsu. Both were elegantly clothed in silk, woven with shining gold and red thread. To the casual eye, they probably would have been mistaken for royalty or at the very least, honored members of a rich family. I felt completely unprepared as we approached them in our plain, humble attire. The two must have sensed my anxiety as we approached, because the male student immediately motioned us to stop.

  "No need to worry. We're not masters or teachers or anything like that," he said reassuringly. "So there‘s no need for formalities. My name is Lai, and my partner here is Mai."

  "A pleasure to meet you," Mai said with a smile.

  "Lai and Mai?" Kassashimei gave a smirk. "Please tell me those are nicknames, because there can't possibly be a pair of students with such silly sounding names."

  "Kass, hush. Don't be rude." Etsu said with in a stern tone. "They're here to help us."

  Lai sighed. "It's ok. My sister and I have heard it all before."

  "The both of you are siblings?" I asked.

  "Yes we are. We come from a big family, so we were given simple names to help our parents and relatives tell us apart."

  Kassashimei‘s smirk turned into a chuckle, which was met by a somewhat annoyed look from Etsu.

  "It's an honor to meet the both of you, " I said. "But I'm still confused. Why am I here?"

  Lai's bright green eyes seemed to dim. "You're here because someone issued a formal review against you."

  "I don't understand. What does that mean?"

  "They call it a review, but we call it a test of failures," Mai said softly. "When a student starts failing, they are given one more chance to prove their potential. If the person passes, they are allowed to stay. If
they fail, they are removed from the temple."

  "You're talking about the test I have next week."

  They nodded.

  "But that can't be," I protested. "I'm one of the best students in my class. Master Boar- I mean, Master Ichiro said so himself. There's no way that I'm failing."

  Lai and Mai looked at each other as if they doubted the truth of my words.

  "Whether people have been praising or berating you, none of that matters," Lai said in a consoling tone. "What does matter, is that someone has issued a formal review against you; and we’ve been sent here to make sure you pass."

  Chapter 7

  Even though the boat was firmly nestled in the ground, I felt a strange sensation of being high above the Earth. I stood at the bow, on a piece of wood flooring, just wide enough to spread my feet a pace or two past the breadth of my shoulders.

  "See the two red circles painted in the center?" Lai said tying a rope around my waist, then securing the other end to a peg nailed into the rim of the boat. "Put one foot in each circle. That’s where you’ll take your starting position. Now give me your tamma."

  He took the tamma from my hand and mounted it on a wooden pedestal that curved upwards along the front of the boat, which securely held the glass ball well in front of me at eye-level.

  Etsu was watching several paces away, a look of fear and apprehension that unsurprisingly mirrored my own.

  "Lai, aren't we moving a little too fast? I don't think beginner students are even allowed to fly yet." I said hesitantly.

  "Nonesense." He patted my shoulder before stepping away. "There’s no such thing as a beginner student. If you aren‘t ready to fly, then there‘s no point in you being here is there?"

  Kassashimei seemed reluctant as Mai helped her into the boat. "I know I’m supposed to be this boy’s shyo mah," she grumbled. "But shouldn't Mai be paired with him first? I’m sure she’s more experienced than I am."

  Mai was quick to reply. "I am bound to my brother to serve him and only him, just as he is bound to serve only me. For this to work, Terr must train with an unbound partner."

  Kassashimei gave a cynical sounding groan as she settled into the center of the boat an arm’s length behind me.

  "Now I don't know how skilled you are at Kaikua-," Lai said

  "I already told you, I'm the best in my class." I interjected.

  "That may be so, but just remember. There’s a difference between doing your forms on solid ground and doing it while the floor is pitching and rolling. The key is balance. There are no handrails or anything for you to grab on; just that piece of rope should you lose your balance or fall off. All I want you to do, is make the boat float a few paces off the ground."

  "How do I do that?"

  "You don't. I do that," Kassashimei blurted. "Just tell me to make a bubble around the boat."

  "How big of a bubble?"

  "How am I supposed to know? You're the one that‘s supposed to see things that I can‘t. Now start moving your hands around before I get bored."

  She crossed her arms and gave an agitated glare. She then waved me on like an angry mother would to a confused child. I found it hard to convince myself that her reason for being here was to help me.

  I took my starting stance and focused on unlocking my other sight. A minutes passed, but the ether refused to reveal itself. A bright needle appeared on the tamma pointing out the flow of the main current, but not a wisp of blue light or any form of watery glow was to be found.

  "Well?" Kassashimei thumped her foot impatiently against the floor of the boat.

  "Just give me a moment. I need to concentrate."

  She breathed a furious sigh.

  A few more minutes past and still nothing. I must have looked silly, frozen like a statue as I remained in my ready position, vigilant, but only watching empty air.

  "That's it. I'm getting tired," Kassashimei's incessant foot tapping grew much louder. "Etsu, I have a feeling this is going to take all night and we really should get some sleep."

  Just as I was on the verge of admitting that I had all I could take of her, I declared myself triumphantly.

  "I've got it!"

  The Ocean of Ki, the ether, peered into existence as a weak, feathered glow before my barely-trained eyes. I knew that it was just a tiny portion of what I needed see, but I took it as a small victory. At the very least, I’d managed to calm some of Kassashimei’s constant bickering. At first, I thought it was a transparent, tangled mass, but then I started to recognize patterns I’d seen during training. Familiar currents moved, dipped and flowed sideways. I acted quickly, moving my arms outward and pressing the flat of palms to either side, hoping that Kassashimei understood my gestures.

  "Don‘t move your hands too fast," she said. “Or you‘ll lose me."

  Almost immediately, I saw the smoke-like ether tumble away as the edges of a bubble-like sphere grew to encompass the boat. I watched carefully where the currents made dents in the surface and motioned exactly where my shyo mah needed to push back. True to what I’d been told I was the eyes of a painter guiding a brush to each delicate stroke. As enthralled as I was, the majesty of the moment was all too short-lived.

  "Well? Why aren't we floating yet, " Kassashimei inquired.

  "No more talking," Mai seemed to have lost her tolerance of her just as I had. "Stay focused and pay attention to his hand motions."

  "I am. I‘m doing exactly what he wants, but we‘re still not in the air. I‘m sure he‘s doing it wrong."

  I could no longer take her insults or her belligerence. In a series of anger-driven motions I pushed at the sides of the bubble. I suppose my movements became too fast for her, because she began moving the ether in the wrong direction, until the bubble became misshapen and ill-sized. Suddenly, it grew so large, so quickly, it lost its elegance and uniformity. It was no longer recognizable as a sphere. Instead, it was now an ugly blot created by the brush of a careless artist.

  The boat responded in kind and lifted like a startled crane into the air, except instead of going forward, it flew sideways. I did what I could to make it steady, but my balance was lost and Kassashimei wasn’t paying attention to my motions. Instead, her eyes were shut, and she was screaming for help. The boat pitched to the side, throwing me off. Only, as I dangled at the end of the rope, did I realize how high we truly were. Looking down, I noticed the tree tops rolling beneath me and the earth stretched far below. With no one to fly the boat, we were now at the mercy of the currents.

  It was an experience. One that should have filled me with fear. But there was something else. As the wind bound past my face and the embrace of the night sky seemed all that much closer, I felt a strange sensation, one of content and longing, as if all that I had ever wanted in life had been finally satisfied. However, even that feeling was all too fleeting as the sickly sound of a heavy thump and the splinter of wood brought our brief flight to an end.

  I was lying on the bank of the river when I came to. The icy water and mud had soaked into my clothes. I rubbed my bleary face, crying out as I felt something blunt strike my shoulder. Next to the broken, overturned boat, Kassashimei was standing with an enraged look on her face. Her hair was a matted mess and her clothes were patched with dirt. She was flinging pebbles at me.

  "You idiot!" she barked. "Stupid, stupid, stupid. I could have been killed."

  "Ow! Stop that." I slowly lifted myself from the ground, shielding myself from her rampant pelting. "We‘re alive aren‘t we? You don't seem hurt and as far as I can tell, I‘m not hurt either, so you can stop overreacting."

  "Overreacting? Look at me. I'm dirty, I'm covered in muck, and I've got scrapes all over. Most importantly, you made me lose my charm pebbles. They've probably washed down the river by now." She stormed off away from the bank, finding a dry spot to settle down. "Because of you, we’re all cursed with bad luck."

  "That's enough.” I made my way towards her, nursing the scrapes on my arm. "All you've done is complain. I'm getting t
ired of it. If you don’t like being here, why don’t you leave? At least then, I can stop hearing you whine about your stupid charm stones."

  She slapped me hard across the cheek as she burned into me, a fierce look that tested my will. At first, I could only think about how selfish she was. After all, the crash was partially her fault. But after a brief moment, her expression seemed to soften into something that looked more like desperation than anger. It was as if she wanted to place her blame on something other than me, but because I was there she had chosen me to be her victim instead. I felt a tinge of guilt tug away at my pride.

  "I'm sorry," I mumbled weakly.

  "You're sorry?" She bit back. "For a moment, I thought you were a man. You stood up for yourself. All I did was slap you and now you're acting like a baby again."

  She got up and stormed away to spot in the woods where I could just barely see her, hunching down behind one of the larger trees.

  About a half hour later, Lai, Mai and Etsu emerged from the forest.

  The two older students gave a quick perusal of the wreckage, their expressions blank. They must have been either surprised or upset, or maybe both. I could only imagine their feelings, witnessing their precious boat smashed against the bank.

  "Are the both of you alright?" Etsu said as she approached looking me over carefully. She placed her hand on my cheek and turned my head, inspecting me for injuries.

  Kassashimei had already irritated me, and the fact that Etsu was treating me like some sort of helpless cub only served to annoy me further.

  "Yes, the both of us are fine," I said in a huffed tone, pushing Etsu‘s hand away. "If you're looking for Kass, she's over there acting like a whipped mule."

  "That's a mean thing to say." She frowned.

  "Mean? She's the one who's been acting rude. She's selfish, she's annoying- "

  "You should be grateful," Etsu interrupted. "She’s not the one who’s under review. Instead of complaining you should be thanking her for her help."

  She sighed, then made her way towards the girl, simmering in the trees.