Sholin Temple

Chapter Three

Before she could query further, the door opened and Master Ru appeared, wearing his sun-stained robe, the color as orange as flame. Never before did Syrsha desire her black leather than standing before the master who radiated like daybreak. Tugging at an ill-fitting sleeve, she bowed to the shihon and watched as Gregorr did the same. They were invited in and offered steaming tea by the master himself, for the room was otherwise empty.

Once all three were seated around a low-lying table, Syrsha gazed at the tiny cup, creamy-white with painted red great cats leaping from the base. She smiled as the cat's claws stretched near her fingers.

"You are not afraid of the great cats," Master Ru commented, causing Syrsha to hurriedly glance up.

Beside her, Gregorr sipped at his tea, with both hands curled around the cup and neither searching for his beloved juniper berries. For now, she was safe, as was Ru, and the fennidi relaxed. But she had learned enough over the last half moon year to understand that he could shackle her quickly, with a few strokes of his painted fingers.

Unguarded, she blurted out, "I am much like them, shihon, and envy their freedom."

Chuckling roughly, he said, "They are not without cages, although it is rumored to be so. We welcome them and honor them here, but they only live because we allow it. What envy is there in that, Syrsha?"

The way he spoke her name sounded like nothing she had ever heard before, and she paused while his words unraveled. The language was a difficult one, and it often took much of her focus to make sense of it without Liang's assistance, especially here and outside of the training room.

"I hear them at night treading across the courtyard, under the glow of the moon, while I am lying on my bedroll under a bricked ceiling," she slowly explained.

Behind his small-lensed glasses, Ru's eyes sharpened as he told her, "The great cats have been restless since your arrival. Kun, who has been their keeper for many moon years, tells me he has never seen them so."

She did not doubt that his words were true ones, yet Syrsha bided her tongue, much to Gregorr's approval, she sensed.

Again, Master Ru spoke.

"Why have you come, child?"

Without looking to the fennidi, she answered, "I have mastered the sword and nearly the bow. But, for real mastery, I must learn to fight without weapons."

Laughing once again, he cried, "Children from the West have no humility, I see!"

"I am no child, Master Ru. In truth, I might never have been one."

"Tsk, tsk," he scolded. "You walk now, so you must once have crawled. It is the way of things."

The fennidi listened, but did not offer complaint or advice. He was only there to make certain the wolf did not rise.

"It is not the way of the great cats," she called. "They walk now as they have always done, on four legs and not two."

Suddenly serious, Ru stated, "Our way is not theirs. You would do well to remember that."

"Why do you think they grow impatient, shihon?" she asked, without attempting to keep her voice free of disbelief.

When he did not answer, she stared at him without ward or mask. Now, Gregorr stirred, setting his cup upon a matching plate. His hands rested in his lap, nearer to the pouches that hung from his braided belt. The warning he offered was clear, but Syrsha did not heed it.