《Orphans》 Gao Shansi - 1.1 I sit, legs crossed, on stone just outside of the courtyard. Sixty of my brothers and sisters of various ages do the same, forming a loose perimeter around the hard-packed earthen circle in the center. Two of the younger students -a boy and a girl, around the ages of eight or nine- stand and face each other in the center. They slowly bow with hands clasped before them, faces expressionless, and then stand straight again, arms falling loosely at their sides. Silence reigns for a moment, before a shout rings out, echoing in the deafening stillness. ¡°Begin!¡± The two children instantly blur into motion. The boy takes a more aggressive approach, sending a fist flying at the girl¡¯s stomach; she easily intercepts and forces his arm to the side, pivoting around him. Undeterred, he follows her motion, sweeping a kick to her leg, forcing her to back off with a hop-step. They both stand for a moment, each wary of the other, before the girl slides in, snapping a loose fist at the boy¡¯s face. He is forced back, the girl¡¯s reach being slightly longer than his, and is left off-balance enough for her to push the offensive, throwing out a flurry of punches and short snap kicks. Finally, a fist catches the boy in the jaw. He staggers, grunting and throwing a wild, off-balance hook that comes nowhere near the girl as she darts in for the kill. In the instant before her uppercut take shim on the chin, the master calls ¡°Enough!¡±, and all movement ceases. They slowly pull back, bowing to one another again, and retreat to around the perimeter, taking up the two vacant spots. The boy looks resentful to my eyes but to his credit makes no great show of it. He knows the loss was his fault. Hopefully, the shame of losing his cool in front of the whole group will teach him a bit of restraint. Silence reigns again as Sifu An strolls his way toward the center, calmly smoothing divots caused by the brief bout as he does so. He points to one of us at random and waits patiently. We all know the routine by now. One of the more senior students, 13 at least, stands, their short-cropped hair standing as testament to their being close to journeyman status. ¡°Their movements are rough, as expected for their level of training. Li had the right idea of taking the initiative against an opponent with greater reach and more experience but failed to properly execute his attacks. His fatal mistake was the leg sweep; forcing a better opponent away and giving them time to launch a counterattack seals your fate. Allowing her to take his balance and falling back on wild blows were just compounding failure. Without a brilliant comeback, the battle was decided after the first exchange.¡± He stops as the master waits expectantly. Once it is clear he has no more to say, the master nods his head. ¡°Incomplete, but accurate.¡± he says, and points to another student. The child stands, barely older than the two who had just fought. ¡°Hilde should have countered after she dodged his first hit?¡± he half-states, half-asks. Sifu nods, seemingly not expecting more. ¡°Yes. Jin was not wrong that the match was decided in the first exchange. But it should have ended there, not dragged on further.¡± He pauses for a moment and addresses Hilde directly. ¡°You are skilled for your age but fight too defensively. Caution is important, but hesitation is a fatal flaw that has killed many practitioners.¡± He clasps his hands, waiting for any questions. As usual, there are none. Most of the Sifu do not discourage us from speaking up if there is something important to ask, but this early in the morning and with so many bouts left to go, we are all either too busy stifling yawns or focusing on our upcoming matches to speak up. Expecting this, Sifu An does not wait long before calling on the next pair, and so on down the line. As the morning creeps by, the younger children start to become more restless and excitable, particularly before their own matches. The oldest students, like myself, are more used to the waiting. Not just in the monthly trials, but in all aspects of life here in Gao Shansi. The first lesson we are taught is that patience is one of the prime virtues, but it can take a while for that to truly sink in, especially among children so young. As one of the few senior students, I am one of the last to be called. I stare impassively at my opponent, Ran, from our starting distance of twenty feet. I try my hardest not to crack a smile, but a twitch of my lips betrays the urge. Ran and I fight nearly every month; there are only four students at our level in the temple, so even randomly chosen matches end up with us across the same student much of the time. My rivalry with her is one of the highlights of my time here, and the feeling was mutual. We had pushed each other to greater heights than we would ever have achieved simply training for ourselves. I had a suspicion the Sifu knew this as well. We fought too consistently even for such a small group for it to be mere chance. The call to begin rings out, and we stare at each other across the way. Ran is the first to make a move, a swift dart that carries her the whole distance between us, followed by a lightning fast jab with her left -no, a feint for the near-simultaneous strike of the knee toward my midsection. I scramble to block, catching the knee in my cupped hands, and quickly shift to tip her off balance, cracking a fist against her temple before she can regain her footing. We are still standing across from each other, Ran having barely twitched one of her legs. Our minds¡¯ eyes flash again, through several dozen scenarios. Some are taken from past bouts, and others new tactics we think of on the fly. A flurry of powerful, precise blows is deflected by Ran and summarily countered. She attempts a grapple, forcing an elbow into my back, but I manage to wriggle out and reverse the hold. An exchange of kicks from Ran sweep out with deceptive speed and reach, shattering one of my ankles, but leaving her open for one of the classic forms of the Snake: a swift jab to the throat that ends with her choking on the ground; my victory, as death trumps injury. On and on it goes, the offense becoming deadlier and the defenses requiring more creative counters until, finally, it ceases. Ran bows to me from across the square. Barely a handful of seconds have passed. ¡°You have bested me this time, Xu. I should have expected you¡¯d study up on your joint lock techniques after the way you lost our last match.¡± I suppress a smile at the lingering sight of her body stiffening up in pain and becoming impossible to extricate from the predicament. The Sifu aren¡¯t against levity, exactly, but it was good to set an example for the younger children. Control over yourself was another of the prime virtues, and by far the hardest to master. Even those of us in the most advanced class did not hold complete control over our emotions.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°We¡¯ll talk more later, and get some live practice in, if you want.¡± I offer. She nods politely and retreats to her corner, as do I. Sifu walks back to the center and is ready to call on the final pair of the day but is interrupted. ¡°I don¡¯t get it!¡± exclaims one of the newest batch of students. She couldn¡¯t be more than six; any older student would have witnessed at least one trial by now. If he is annoyed, he doesn¡¯t show it, but gazes calmly at her. ¡°What don¡¯t you understand?¡± he asks, knowing full well the answer. ¡°They didn¡¯t do anything! They just stood there!¡± she cries out indignantly. I suppress another smile as I remember my own first trial day. I had much the same response, feeling almost like I had been mocked to my face. He nods. ¡°Yes, that is what it looks like.¡± He says, closing his eyes and nodding sagely. He pauses long enough for the child to fume more and begin to open her mouth again before his eyes twinkle slightly and he gives her a wide grin to let her know she isn¡¯t being left in the dark, merely teased. The younger ones needed a softer touch, and Sifu An understood this well. The calm most of the Sifu and advanced students radiated could be off-putting to those not used to it, and a deliberate showing of humanity went a long way with them. ¡±Xu, why don¡¯t you explain to her?¡± I nearly blink in surprise as he addresses me. The Sifu almost never ask for a student, even one of the upper class, to teach. But I rally quickly, and step forward, feeling self-conscious at the sudden attention. ¡°Most of the more advanced techniques can be deadly when performed on someone,¡± I explain ¡°It takes a true master to use many of them in combat with the precision to harm, but not kill the opponent. As a result, it becomes dangerous for students to spar using these and many other techniques; joint locks and throat holds for example can lead to injury or death in the worst cases.¡± ¡°At our level sparring used to claim many lives at the school, before Sifu Jacque created the visualization techniques we now use in our last three years of training. We just visualize what our action will be, and send it to our opponent, where they respond in kind. It¡¯s slow going at first, but once you get better at it you can have matches in real time, or even faster if you¡¯ve got a real rapport with your opponent.¡± Sifu An steps in and waves me back to my seat. ¡°A good explanation, Xu. I trust that answers all of your questions?¡± he says. The girl opens her mouth again, but he simply lifts an eyebrow and stares at her. Children of that age always have more questions. These ones, however, are apparently not important enough to risk a Sifu¡¯s ire, as she returns to her seat with a small pout. After a short pause, Sifu commences the final match, between Thom and Chou, and it is over almost as soon as it begins. Thom clutches his head and glares at Chou. I¡¯m surprised; he has to be truly annoyed if it¡¯s worth breaking composure over. I¡¯ll have to ask him what happened later. Shortly after, Sifu An dismisses us. Individual reviews will come later, but as-is it¡¯s after lunch and the children are getting antsy. I am too, truth be told. Counter-intuitively, visualization training took as much -if not more- stamina than physical sparring. I¡¯d always wondered why that was, but the Sifu had never deigned to explain it, and most were not as receptive to questions as Sifu An. Maybe it¡¯s because- I jerk from my thoughts as Ran taps me on the shoulder. ¡°Hey, are you going to eat lunch with us?¡± she asks, amused. I¡¯d been standing in the doorway long enough for everyone to get their meals. Not that that took long; the eldest students tended to get served close to first, right after the youngest group. ¡°Oh, yes. Of course. I wanted to ask Thom and Chou what happened in their match anyway. Let me get a plate and I¡¯ll join you.¡± Thom and Chou had already gotten a spot in the corner, in relative privacy. Another privilege of being the senior students; we tended to get the best seating, and out of the way tables allowed more freedom of expression. Within reason. Ran skipped over to join them as I picked up a plate of today¡¯s meal. It was a simple, but filling meat and vegetable stew of some kind. It looked good and soaked pleasingly into the rice I added to it. Thoughts of conversation flew out of my head for a few minutes as I scarfed down the first few bites. I nodded my head in approval; goat wasn¡¯t my favorite meat, but I was hungrier than I thought, and this really hit the spot. It felt like the trials were running longer every month. I cocked my head and put a fist to my chin. No, they were running longer. We had more students than usual this year, I just hadn¡¯t stopped to think about it since they¡¯d been added so steadily. Many more and we might have to start splitting up the trial groups. That would be unheard of in my- ¡°-ou listening? Xu?¡± Ran said, poking me with her fork. I blinked and shook my head slightly to clear it. ¡°No, I was not.¡± I said honestly. Honesty was one of the lesser virtues, but one to follow most of the time. Besides, they were used to it. Ran¡¯s eye twitches. ¡°You were the one who wanted to know what happened in Thom and Chou¡¯s match, right? Is the stew really that good?¡± ¡°Oh, right, my apologies. So, what did happen?¡± I ask. Thom immediately furrows a brow. ¡°She cheated!¡± he exclaims, though not loud enough he could really be overheard. ¡°I did no such thing! I just used an advantage of the training method. It¡¯s not my fault your imagination is lacking.¡± ¡°Wait, wait, slow down. How did she cheat exactly?¡± I ask. Chou immediately jumps in ¡°I didn¡¯t cheat, I just- ¡° ¡°Imagined something impossible!¡± Thom interjects. ¡°She just sent an image of me being held completely immobile. And it worked! I couldn¡¯t break out of it, no matter how hard I tried. My muscles were all completely locked.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not cheating though.¡± Chou disagrees. ¡°The point of the training is to defeat your opponent. Which I did, by your own admission.¡± ¡°No, the point is to show what we¡¯ve learned to the Sifu and help hone our abilities; tricks like that won¡¯t get us anywhere.¡± Thom argues back. ¡°I have to agree with Thom here.¡± I say and Ran nods along. ¡°If the objective were just to win, we could just spar normally. People might die, but there would be a clear winner, right? But the visualization training lets us train ourselves without the danger, which is the point. The training is why we visualize, not the competition.¡± ¡°It was a neat trick though.¡± Ran says ¡°And who knows, maybe it is something you can do. We hear all kinds of stories about the Sifu and what they can accomplish. Maybe you should ask Sifu An, or one of the others?¡± Chou looks dejected for a moment, then makes a small moue distaste. ¡°Maybe you¡¯re right. But asking questions outside of specific classes is always a pain, even with Sifu An. They¡¯re all so¡­stiff.¡± She sighs. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go ask Sifu An. Better to get this over with before afternoon classes start anyway. We¡¯ll talk more at dinner?¡± she asks Thom, who gives her a nod back. ¡°Yeah, see you then.¡± After that we ate quickly; we don¡¯t get much time in our lunch periods. As we shuffled off to our next classes, I couldn¡¯t help but slip into thought again. Why were we getting so many new students? It was troubling, and not just for the class sizes becoming unwieldy. The students here were entirely made up of orphans the Sifu had found. And not just that, ones with exceptional potential for talent in the martial arts. I tried to pinpoint when exactly it was the classes had started growing. It must have been a subtle rise. Chou, Ran, Thom, and I were the only four students in our year. True, we were an unusually small class, but not by that much. The class above us was maybe 8 to 10 students, and that appeared to have been the average before we arrived. So the change must have occurred after our first year, but what puzzled me was¡­why? Children with exceptional potential don¡¯t exactly grow on trees and even though students are drawn from all across the world, those who qualify are vanishingly small. I spent the next hour mulling over the matter and none of the potential answers sat well with me. Gao Shansi - 1.2 We didn¡¯t have ¡°classes¡± at our level, per se. Since there are only four of us, and we¡¯re so deep into our studies, we have free rein to practice what we choose most of the time. Much of the time we practice our martial arts, as that¡¯s what appeals to us most, each with our own different styles. Thom is a straightforward fighter, and even now he practices mostly the fundamentals rather than elaborate techniques and lets his superior physique and solid footing carry him through most conflicts. It was certainly an effective way to fight, but both Ran and I found it frankly boring. It¡¯s more interesting to constantly tinker with new techniques and figure out what works from there. Our Sifu had cautioned us that being jacks-of-all-trades was a recipe for disaster in real combat, but we¡¯d assured them that the experimentation would take second place to a stronger focus on our fundamentals and mastery of certain styles. The forms of the Dragon and the Snake appealed to me most and complimented each other well; the flowing motions of the latter combined with pinpoint striking made the hard-hitting blows of Dragon style that much more devastating when smoothly transitioned to unexpectedly. Ran utilizes primarily the Crane and Tiger arts which complement each other in much the same way. It¡¯s part of the reason she¡¯s such a good match for me; her counters are well suited to fighting off my aggressive attacks, while my own movements confound many of hers. Many of our matches ended in stalemate before we started experimenting with techniques from other styles. Chou, however, is different. Submission holds and throws are her specialty, if she even has one. She is a thoughtful fighter and spends as much time meditating as practicing her forms. Admittedly this is something we are all encouraged to do; internal strength is more of a virtue than external strength¡­but it was certainly less interesting to practice. Still, it was a good tool for calming a troubled mind, which it looked like Chou needed right now. After her talk with Sifu An, she returned with a strange expression on her face. Our attempts to get her to speak of it was only met with a terse ¡°Nothing is wrong. Let me concentrate.¡±, and she promptly sat down and began meditating. Close to the end of the hour it became clear this was not having the effect she¡¯d hoped, as she opened her eyes and took a deep breath, suppressing a sigh. My eyes widen slightly in surprise at even that much of an outward show of frustration. We could be seen by the other students in the great training hall, and open displays of emotion could be reprimanded harshly by some of the Sifu. Particularly Sifu Ma, who was viewing the entire hall with an impassive expression. No one I¡¯ve ever met can express such displeasure with such a¡­coldness. No heat, no passion, simply deceptive calm and an almost palpable sense of his disgust looming. I stand over Chou and make sure I¡¯m facing away from the other students, and especially Sifu Ma, as I allow a bit of concern to bleed into my expression. ¡°I know you said nothing is wrong, but I¡¯ve never seen you lose concentration like that. Are you sure you don¡¯t want to talk about it?¡± She goes to shake her head but hesitates and nods slightly instead. ¡°Yes, we all should. But not now, or here. Meet at the usual place after rest time begins?¡± I nod, troubled, as she gives up on her meditation and leaves. Most the class follows not long after. If it were just a reprimand for her ¡°cheating¡± or something similar she wouldn¡¯t be so worried. Chou is the calmest among us, the one who most took to the teachings on inner peace and outward calm of all of the students I¡¯ve met. I almost don¡¯t want to know, but¡­well, I can¡¯t let a mystery like that just go unsolved. And I need to be there for my friend, of course. ***** The rest of the day passed in a haze as I barely paid attention in our few mandatory classes on world history, philosophy, mathematics and other tedious subjects. They were useful, sure -well, two of them were- but by this point I felt I¡¯d gotten most of what could be squeezed from these subjects. Especially philosophy. Learning what people had done in the past and how it turned out? Interesting, especially with a good storyteller like Sifu Wei giving the lessons. Old dead men giving their thoughts on how they thought things should be? I could care less. The virtues make sense to me, but the others¡­they range from incomprehensible to completely disturbing views of the world. Why would someone wish to think life is meaningless, or that individual achievement should be punished, not recognized? I always learn enough to prove I was listening, however half-heartedly, and move on. Today I spare even less attention than that, though have become very practiced at faking it. Ran found that very funny when I mentioned it, but I¡¯m not sure why. She finds the classes just as boring as I do. The end of the day¡¯s classes doesn¡¯t come soon enough. Most days the time doesn¡¯t pass so slowly, but I usually don¡¯t have anything to look forward to in the evenings. Ran, Thom, and some of the other students in the years below us throw parties in some of the private areas of the temple, but I¡¯ve never been very interested in them. There are many games to play, some quite novel from students from more exotic places, but the closeness while playing them makes me uncomfortable. The even more increased¡­closeness that comes when everyone gets bored of such pursuits, especially when one of the students has managed to liberate alcohol from the private stores of one of the Sifu, makes me more uncomfortable. Chastity is not one of the virtues, though some might be taken to include it under their umbrella. Any loophole will do for many students, however. Many but not all. I get the feeling Chou shares my dislike, as I¡¯ve never seen her at one of those parties. Still, when no party was being held, the private spaces students past have carved out -quite literally in some places- in the temple make for convenient spots for clandestine meetings where we could let our guards down a bit, drop our masks, and have open conversations without fear of being overheard. It is to one of these places I stole away to tonight, a few hours after dark. Most were generally asleep at this point, and as long as I can avoid the Sifu who might still be up, there should be no trouble. The particular spot we were meeting is one of our favorites, as it¡¯s so close to our rooms. A tree in one of the advanced training areas had a cunningly concealed tunnel dug just beneath its base that led into a small chamber, large enough to comfortably seat around five people. Its construction is simpler than some of the others -the floor being only hard packed earth and the walls more of the same- but the spot was perfect for the purposes of having a quiet conversation and a bit of a drink. I glared at Ran, as she had beaten me to the alcove yet again. ¡°Looks like you get my dessert tomorrow. Again.¡± I sighed. ¡°How do you do it? I left as soon as it got dark this time.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Like I¡¯d ever tell you! Figure it out yourself.¡± She shoots back. I start to smile and retort, but Thom comes in, shortly followed by Chou. Chou¡¯s expression immediately kills the burgeoning lighthearted mood. Dropping all masks, she looks worried...and a bit angry. We each stumble over each other as we near-simultaneously blurt out ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± She gestures for us to calm down and takes a moment to collect herself. ¡°Sifu An says I¡¯m ready to graduate.¡± I furrow my brow and open my mouth to speak, but Thom beats me to the punch. ¡°Isn¡¯t that a good thing?¡± ¡°No. Yes. It¡¯s complicated.¡± Chou says. ¡°Just give me a minute to explain.¡± ¡°We¡¯re all ready to graduate. We have been for months, is what Sifu An told me. They¡¯ve been deliberately holding us back from the final trials.¡± ¡°What? Why would they do something like that?¡± Ran shouts, as everyone else gestures for her to lower her voice. ¡°I can¡¯t believe the Sifu would betray our trust that way!¡± She continues, marginally quieter. ¡°Not without a good reason, anyway. Did Sifu An tell you why?¡± I ask Chou, who is nearly vibrating with impatience. ¡°Sort of. He just told me it¡¯s ¡®too dangerous¡¯ for us to leave Gao Shansi right now. If we graduate, there are too many traditionalists who would send us out ¡®regardless of the current state of the world¡¯. Whatever that means.¡± Chou shakes her head slowly. ¡°That¡¯s all he would say. Apparently, all of the Sifu have conspired to keep this from us but he thought we deserved to know. Especially with my recent progress, he said.¡± I frown and open my mouth to speak, but Thom cuts me off. Again. I glare at him, annoyed, but he doesn¡¯t seem to notice. ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± ¡°Your match in the trials earlier. That was something important, wasn¡¯t it?¡± Ran asked. I¡¯m surprised but looking back it makes sense. I¡¯d almost forgotten why Chou initially went to speak to Sifu An today. Chou nods her head. ¡°Yes. He said I was right, Thom.¡± A teasing tone creeps into her voice for a moment, before she turns serious again. ¡°It¡¯s something we¡¯re all supposed to learn in the last stage of training. There are some techniques that can only be taught through the image training. He wouldn¡¯t tell me what they were, but he said learning them is the final step to become a graduate, rather than a student.¡± Her expression twists in a half-snarl of frustration before she smooths it again. ¡°He wouldn¡¯t tell me any more. The Sifu want to keep us in the dark as long as possible so they have an excuse to keep us here past time to leave. They were going to let us believe we¡¯d been lax in our training or were slow learners just to keep us cooped up in Gao Shansi for another year or more.¡± Ran and Thom look flabbergasted, before their expressions slowly darken in anger as well. ¡°All because of some danger outside the walls? The world has always been dangerous, that¡¯s why most of us are here! It doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡± Ran chimes in again, Thom nodding along in agreement. ¡°Ran¡¯s right, it doesn¡¯t make any sense. They train us so hard so we have to fear no danger outside of Gao Shansi. Have the Sifu gone soft?¡± I look at my fellow students, a bit disturbed they¡¯d so quickly jumped to assuming malice on the part of the Sifu. Sure, some could be harsh, but- I shake my head. No time to get sidetracked. ¡°Think for a moment. They wouldn¡¯t hide us away here for some normal threat.¡± I interject. ¡°Look around at all the new students we¡¯re getting. Wings of the temple that haven¡¯t been used in centuries are being opened again just to have enough space to house and train them all. This is something unusual. It could be a plague or some horrible disaster we have no way to fight. Would you have them send us out just to die to something we have no defense against?¡± Everyone else sighs. ¡°You¡¯re probably right, but it¡¯s still frustrating. They don¡¯t trust us enough to explain themselves.¡± Ran says. ¡°Well, the first thing one of us did on being told a secret was to tell three other people about it.¡± Thom says, nudging Chou in the ribs. We all almost smile, but the good humor once again dies on the vine. Thom is right, in a sense, and we all know it. I¡¯d often got the feeling the Sifu knew about some or all of our nighttime escapades but took great care not to show it unless we were too careless in leaving our sleeping quarters. It might even be training of its own. Discretion was one of the lesser virtues as well, after all. They would know that word would get around about any juicy secrets in the temple, but there should be no trouble unless that same word got back to their ears directly. Chou¡¯s thoughts apparently ran along the same thread as mine. ¡°That¡¯s probably why Sifu An didn¡¯t give me very many details. He knew I¡¯d tell the rest of you as soon as I had a chance.¡± Righteous anger and frustration quickly turn to dejection, and we all sit in silence for a while. Ran is the first to break it. ¡°Well, dwelling on it here isn¡¯t going to help anything. We should head back before we¡¯re missed.¡± Ran says, and leaves after only a moment¡¯s pause. I give a brief thought to trying to tail her but think better of it. Whatever trick she uses to get here so fast is one she intends to keep, and I¡¯m not in the mood for a chase almost certain to end in failure for the umpteenth time. ***** The next days passed uneventfully as we returned to our studies. We were all a bit dejected. Despite my words, I was also saddened by the Sifus¡¯ lack of faith in us, and our training was lackluster to say the least. What was the point of doing our best if the effort wasn¡¯t going to be recognized? The Sifu, unsurprisingly, took notice. On the fourth day after our meeting, Sifu An approached us, took one look at our faces, and simply said ¡°Come¡±. So we came, and here we are. Where ¡°here¡± is, exactly, is the bigger mystery. I wasn¡¯t surprised at Sifu An¡¯s ability to quickly read our emotions even through our masks; that much was par for the course for most Sifu who bothered to pay attention. But it was rare for a Sifu to pull aside a class, much less take them to an unused part of the temple. At least, That¡¯s what I assume it is. It looks like many of the other training halls, with high arched ceilings, hard packed earth in the center, and a number of trees and some scruffy grass scattered around to give the illusion of a forest clearing. What¡¯s different is this place clearly hasn¡¯t been used in a while. The trees and grass are both dead, and the air is heavy and stale, smelling faintly of rotting vegetation. Sifu An stares blankly at all of us for a moment, then drops his own mask just a hair, letting us see his exasperation. ¡°I had expected Chou to inform all of you, but your reaction is disappointing. You bemoan our lack of faith in you but have none in us in return.¡± He forestalls the startled replies that form on all our lips with a half-glare that stops our protests in their tracks. ¡°Perhaps it is warranted. We are aloof to most students, and you remain woefully uninformed of what happens in the outside world and the complexities surrounding the decisions we make. We feel our hands are tied in a certain way, by tradition.¡± He takes a look at our confused expressions. I wonder where he¡¯s going with this? ¡°Where I¡¯m ¡®going with this¡¯ is this: I¡¯m offering you further training. Not just the kind of training you would receive as potential graduates, though we¡¯ll start with that. I offer you a head start on the path to true mastery. The kind of tools you¡¯ll need to survive outside of Gao Shansi.¡± I frown. I thought they¡¯d planned to hold us back indefinitely? Sifu An¡¯s eyes flash. ¡°Holding you back is only a stopgap measure. A compromise the traditionalists came to with the more pragmatic in our number. But we can¡¯t do it forever. You¡¯ll have to leave by the time the next class is ready to graduate. The traditionalists wouldn¡¯t allow anything more. I don¡¯t intend to see you languish here, half-trained, only to be thrown to the wolves with no preparation. When you leave I want you to have a chance. It¡¯s all I can offer you, and all the others will allow.¡± ¡°Our time is limited. A year if you¡¯re lucky, maybe half that. Consider your normal classes completed. We start in the morning, an hour before classes normally begin.¡± That said, he strides out of the room, mask once again firmly affixed. We all look at each other, dazed and astounded. I imagine the same questions are running through everyone else¡¯ heads. What secrets are there to teach? What does this mean for our future? Why is it so dangerous outside of the temple now? ¡­Had Sifu An been responding to questions we¡¯d only started to form in our heads that whole time? I swear I just heard the distinctive sound of an open palm hitting flesh just after Sifu An turned the corner.