“Roll your finger then curl them into a fist.”
I adjusted the person's hand as I taught the class. I wasn't the only one, Anthony was walking around helping. It was a beginners class that had started around noon and only went for an hour. If they could tough it out in this class eventually they would get a belt and advance, we had our own part of the gym just for new people. I stepped back and scanned their form before poking their feet with my toes to adjust their stance then nodding at them. The threw a punch at the bag in front of them while I watched. I gave a nod and moved on to the next person.
I circled the room twice more before stopping by Anne. She was a shorter red head, and by short i mean something around five foot six, still taller than me. She glanced at me but kept hammering away at the bag, the way she moved told me quite a bit. She was being driven by some ambition and learning to fight was more of an auxiliary road than primary. I nodded at her kick, “Next time you come here, join the advanced class.”
She replied in between motions, her voice coming out in pants, “Okay I will. Who are you anyways? This is the first time I have seen you.”
“New hire.” I replied as I watched Jacob walk beside an older man with a cane
They came through the front door and Jacob walked them to the back. The guy was hunched but I could see the family resemblance. Anthony nodded at them but we continued to teach. Eventually the class wrapped up and the new one started showing up. Victor came out of the back and waved me to the back while taking over my place teaching. I headed to the back office, it was a little room just past the break room. It had a desk and a few chairs occupied by Jacob and the older man. Jacob nodded at me and the older man stared at me with evaluating eyes that flipped to recognition as I walked over to my chair. I had almost taken my seat when he spoke, his voice a rasp, “I haven't seen someone walk like that since my father.”
I nodded at that, “Your father must have been very skilled.”
He nodded, “He taught me everything I know, I just wished I learned more.”
Jacob's head was flipping back and forth at our conversation, his eyes wide, "She's the real deal?”
When his father nodded he leaned back with a great sigh of relief, "That's great. It would have been a struggle to fire her. She's good at what she does.”
His father chuckled, “I imagine so. My name is Parish Brown.”
I replied the same then asked, “did you ever try learning chi use from your father?”
He shook his head and when he spoke I could hear the bitterness in his voice, “He was murdered before he got a chance to teach me. Came home one day to police surrounding the dojo.”
I nodded at Jacob, “He is close. A few months of meditation and I think he will start feeling it. Victor has a long way to go. He is a good fighter but too caught up in fighting itself then the lessons learned from it.”
He leaned back in his chair with both of his hands resting on his cane, “I tried to teach them what my father taught me but it was a struggle with half filled ideas of how it was supposed to go.”
“The blind leading the blind.” I held out my hand.
He must have seen something in my face because he got pensive before reaching out and setting his hand in mine. A flex of my chi told me everything I needed to know about him. He was very healthy for his age, leading from all the exercise he did through the years. His lungs were healthy for his age so I asked, “Do you still practice or go through the movements?”
He gave me a slow nod, “I try to do it. Helps with the joints and keeps me flexible.”
I nodded and stood from my chair. “I need to grab something quick.”
I left the office and went to where my stuff was sitting in a corner. It was pretty much my bag of herbs and pipe sitting on top of my staff. I grabbed my pipe and filled it with the random herbs given to me by the bag before heading back. I took my seat while waving my pipe at Parish, “Your father taught you well and you did good following his teachings. You are going to take a hit of this pipe, if Jacob did he would be in for a nice nap, but you are on the verge of learning something and it will help.”
Jacob butted in, “Dad don't do it. You are way too old to be doing stuff like that.”
Parish huffed at him and snatched the pipe from my hand. He brought the pipe to his mouth and gave me a glance. I leaned over and set my finger on top of the herbs and when I pulled back they were smoldering. Parish looked at that before wrangling his courage and taking a pull. His eyes got wide when he tasted the smoke so it must have been something good. He didn't cough and when he exhaled the smoke sparkled telling me the herbs gave him a first time stat bonus. It wasn't much compared to my stats but for some regular human it was probably massive. I reached over and took the kiseru from him and brought it to my mouth. I clamped my teeth around the mouth piece and watched him, he looked like he was having a religious experience as he let out a quiet, “oh.”
I held my thumb over the bowl, smothering the smoking herbs and Jacob leaned forward across his desk watching his dad, “oh?”
I nodded at his father, “His father taught him everything he needed to learn chi he just needed a little shove. He is feeling it for the first time.”
“What does it feel like Dad?” Jacob asked with rapt attention.
“Warm, it was always there wasn't it?.” He replied while staring into space.
I nodded, I could feel the warmth of my essence too. He wouldn't have much of it to start and at his age it probably wouldn't grow much but it was enough. He would probably start feeling healthier and his joints would stop hurting, things like that. If he was younger it would have more effects. He brought his hand up and we watched as a little swirl of chi twirled up his arm. It looked like transparent white smoke. It eventually faded out and Parish let out a sigh of fatigue, “I see.”
Jacob leaned forward watching his dad with worry. “You don't have much at your age.” I replied.
Parish nodded at me and turned to his son, “take me home boy.”
Jacob looked like he was going to ask more but Parish shut him down with a shake of his head. They stood up and headed out, I waited a bit before heading back to the gym. Victor watched his father leave then came over to me, “What happened?”
I shrugged, “You are going to have to ask him. I need to head to the library though.”
He nodded, “You know where it's at?”
Shaking my head I replied, “I have no idea but I will find it.”
He shook his head and I stepped for the exit. I was almost to the exit when I heard Victor yell behind me, "Don't you know smoking kills.”
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I shook my head and left the dojo with a chuckle. I brushed my thumb across the bowl of the kiseru while heading closer to the center of the city, I would find a map somewhere. Taking a pull I tasted vanilla with a twist of mint, pretty good. Leaving the brick building of the dojo and heading in was like walking into a mountain. The closer you got to the center the taller the buildings got. The mountain I had appeared on was off in the distance and I could see it from the dojo but it slowly vanished farther in. The buildings were made out of stone and glass all placed in grid squares, it looked like whoever made the plans for Swivel City was very organized. I got some looks, I couldn't tell if it was from my clothing or because of my weird pipe when I started asking for directions.
The library was massive. It had what looked like marble pillars stretching across the front of it and a huge staircase leading to the doors. It looked to be pretty busy with people entering and exiting it all the time. I slapped the ash out of my kiseru and walked up the steps. Hooding it on to my belt and the library opened up before me. It looked to be almost three stories filled with books and the first floor was covered in old looking computers you would see on the web. There was an older lady at the front counter with lowly greying hair, I approached and she lifted her head to glance at me, “What can I help you with?”
She said it with a tired voice of someone who has seen a whole lot. I matched her tone, “I was told to come here for help. I am a wandering monk with no papers.”
Her eyes sharpened and she scanned me, “You speak the language pretty well.”
I met her eyes, “Chi. I bathed myself in your language while using a technique and it helped me learn it. I can't read your language for shit though, it's just squiggles.”
She shook her head and sighed before pointing me to a desk, “Go sit over there. I will have someone with you soon.”
I did as she said and took a seat. I started watching people, most of them looked like college kids or older people doing research. The lady did some work on the computer on her desk and about ten minutes later Anne showed up. She talked to the reception lady for a bit before giving me a surprised look and hurrying over. She crouched down and lowered her voice when she got close, “You need help?”
I nodded and matched her tone, “Yea. I got here like two days ago.”
She waved at me to follow her and headed deeper into the library. We weaved through the book shelves and eventually she brought me to a little room with a computer and two chairs. We took a seat and she started doing things on the computer, “So you just showed up and got a job at the dojo?”
“Yes. It was an easy solution, they let me sleep in the back and will be paying me in cash soon.” I replied.
She nodded while typing, “I need to ask you some questions like your birthday and things like that to help you get some paperwork.”
I nodded and the next few hours were her asking me things, some I could answer and others I had no idea. “You are going to have to learn to read.” she shifted from the computer to me, “what have you been eating?”
I shook my head, “I am using Chi. my stomach still feels empty but the technique takes care of it.”
She shook her head and turned back to the computer and edited a few things before closing it down. She waved at me to follow her, “I am going to get you some food. How long do you think you are going to be working at the dojo?”
“Probably a long while. I don't think I am going to leave for some time.” I didn't have anywhere I needed to be.
“Your papers are going to be delivered to my address and I will bring them to you when I show up for class.”
I followed her through the library watching her sign out and we left from a back door. It was starting to get dark out and I followed Anne to a car. It was a small thing, something a college kid would own when saving money to put themselves through college. We hopped in and she started driving, “So what did you do before you got here.”
I thought about how to answer as we turned down random roads. I couldn't tell her I played a game the whole time or anything about my life from before. “I just trained and wandered around.”
She nodded and pulled into what looked like a massive grocery store, “the dojo wouldn't have hired you if you weren't good at your job.”
We stepped out of the car and she waved at me to wait before heading inside. I leaned against the side of the car and watched the area. There were a few people wandering around and I watched them, this wasn't a gas station where you could just walk up. Anne came out with a bag and we jumped back into her car. She set the bag on my lap and started driving again, “Its just beans and rice. It should keep you full until the guys at the dojo pay you.”
“Thank you. How well do you know Jacob and them?” I asked.
She gave me a glance before returning her eyes to the road, “Those guys train pretty much everyone on the police force in Swivel City. If you really want to learn martial arts and do some digging, Browns MMA Dojo is the place to go.”
I nodded and leaned back. She didn't say much as she drove to the Dojo. I was going to have to pay her back somehow. I will not forget this. She eventually pulled up to the dojo and I stepped out while waving goodbye. She waved back and took off. It was fully dark when her taillights disappeared around a corner. Entering the dojo I saw there was another late night class, I nodded as I passed through to the back rooms. I would help the class after I filled my stomach, I may not need it but an empty stomach sure is uncomfortable. About an hour later I stepped out feeling a whole lot better and started helping. Victor was gone and it was just Anthony and Jacob doing the class. I wandered around and helped push people into proper forms and guided a few people. When I got close to Jacob I asked, “Where is Victor?”
He shook his head, “At my place with Dad. I got him home and he decided to take a nap.”
I could hear the worry in his voice, “He is fine. That little show he put on wiped him out but tomorrow after a nice rest he will be up like new.”
He nodded and we continued the class for a while. Eventually the class ended and everyone started cleaning up, even the students. Anthony was the first one to ask, “So can you teach people how to unlock chi?”
The cleaning slowed down but didn't stop as the people in the gym listened for my answer, “Most of you are already on the way there. Maybe do some deep reflection and why you do the things you do.”
The clean up sped up and Anthony shook his head, “What should we look for?”
“Virtues. Fortitude, how brave are you and willing to fight your fears. Justice, how fair you are in the day to day. Prudence, looking at something and knowing it's a bad idea. Moderation kind of explains itself.”
The students glanced at each other as they cleaned. Soon everything was put away and ready to be rolled out the next morning but the students didn't shuffle out, this must be the class with all the cops. Jacob spoke up next, “Would you be willing to teach enhanced people?”
I shook my head and shrugged, “I don't know the difference, from my view they are just as human as the rest of us.”
Jacob crossed his arms and everyone gathered into a huddle around us, “They are. Some people don't like them.”
“Why?”
He shrugged, “I can't figure it out myself.”
“How long have enhanced been around?”
“Just as long as chi users. Every once in a while someone pops with powers, it could be from anything. One day they can fly or they get run over and they find out they are super durable. Things like that.”
“Heard about a guy who dropped some kind of lead case that held something radioactive. Cracked the case and the next day he could shoot energy beams from his hands.” Anthony added.
“Nobody has figured out how it happens?” I asked.
“There was a whole war fought about a hundred years ago and people were throwing everything at the wall to make more enhanced. They did some pretty heinous things trying to figure it out and these days governments crack down hard on it. But no, nobody has a clue.” Jacob answered.
That sounded a lot like some of the great world wars that happened in the past on my world. “That's not good. Are the eruptions controlled?”
Jacob reached up and scratched his beard, “Yeah they can be. Unless it's a teenager, they tend to do stupid stuff with their powers.”
I let out a chuckle, "that's the same everywhere.” I gave a shrug, “I don't mind training them. It could be interesting.”
Jacob nodded, “You wouldn't train them here, there's special places to help train enhanced people that have been set up.”
I nodded, “That makes sense. What kind of training would they need?”
There was a pause and I got some looks. Jacob hesitated then answered, “Probably combat.”
I frowned at that, “I will not train children to send them to war.”
He stepped back and waved his hands, “No. I'm not talking about children. College age adults.”
“Oh, smart enough to know better but dumb enough to do it anyways.”
That got some chuckles and Jacob replied, “they probably won't see combat for a while. It's a four year program they go through with their college courses.”
“I am fine with that then.”
Jacob nodded and the conversation petered out. The students slowly left and I headed for the futon in the back. My stuff was right next to the futon so I kneeled on it and put my hands on my lap. I almost closed my eyes when Jacob walked in, "It's not a guaranteed thing just to let you know. Just saying you're willing puts you on a list. Some day you might get called ten years from now to teach and it's up to you to say yes.”
I shrugged at him, "It's not something I will think about then. Teaching here is fine for a job. When I get my papers I will make enough to get my own place so it's not like I will quit anytime soon.”
He nodded and that then left. I heard everyone leave the building and lock the doors before I closed my eyes and meditated the night away.