CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
How did Suki do it? Even if those trinkets are explosives and she could get her hands on large amounts of them, why didn’t we hear anything? And explosives wouldn’t make a hole whose edges look like they’ve been licked apart, not ripped.
Two vandal attacks now. And the Empress Dowager’s threat to bind the hostages’ feet if she doesn’t get the secret of the pearl. And Pearl Shining Sun waiting for enough evidence from Suki to write my name and Cricket’s across the sky for everyone to read.
I don’t know how she attacked the palace, but her purpose was clearly to upset me right before the luckieth Motivation, to get her revenge. And she’s succeeded.
“She could have killed someone!” screeches Suki. “She’s threatening to kill us if we don’t give the Empress Dowager the—”
“You’re the one trying to kill us,” I yell back.
“Silence!” says Sensei Madame Liao.
We’re sent back to our dormitory chambers to try to sleep until morning comes, but I lie awake all night.
* * *
In the morning, Supreme Sensei Master Jio announces that the boys’ Motivation must be postponed. However, the girls’ Iron Fan Dance luckieth Motivation will go forward this morning as planned.
For me, the whole Motivation proceeds in clouds. Clouds roam across the Radial of Mighty Tranquility while each girl competes against her attackers. Clouds roam through my mind as my concentration on the Motivation competes against my thoughts about the attack on the palace.
Suki does well. She takes on ten attackers wearing nothing but a pair of forearm gauntlet shields, a torso plate, a sleeveless pearlsilk top, a pleated skirt, and pearlsilk underclothes, of course.
Sensei Madame Liao announces, “Disciple Chen Peasprout will be skating to Multipliers of ten attackers, wearing seven articles including two pieces of armor.”
I choose the same number of attackers as Suki did and wear the same armor except I don’t have a gauntlet on my left arm because of my injured wrist. So my Multipliers are higher than hers, but so is my risk. I skate onto the court.
I look at the practice mannequins standing on the perimeter to act as shields against stray fans. I think of the head of that mannequin burst open, the soft bodies crushed under the wedge of the ceiling on the starting line of the boys’—
An iron fan comes flying through the air at my unarmored arm.
I dodge just in time. Be here now, Peasprout. I focus my Chi. Then I do a forward flip and sling one of my fans back at the row of girls in front of me.
My opponents don’t rely on just their armor to block my fans; they also use their skate blades to block. I’m relying on dodging and reversing direction and twisting with mostly hummingbird-school moves, because I don’t have much armor and I can’t afford to use my skates to block.
I quickly discover that my deficiency is actually a great advantage. The fact that I have less armor doesn’t just mean that I have a higher Multiplier, it means that I can dodge and use defensive maneuvers much better than the other girls can. It also means that I am not as weighed down and thus can glide on my skates to preserve my knee and blades.
Finally, as the court rings again and again with the sound of my opponents’ skate blades blocking my fans, I’m noticing more and more of them stumbling as they skate. My fans are nicking their blades! However, they aren’t permitted to stop the Motivation to change their skate blades. They’ve never had to preserve their blades before like I’ve had to and thus they are no match for someone who can make her blades last.
I finish, triumphant and panting for breath. I end up placing slightly higher than Suki.
When Doi’s turn to skate comes, the dread hurts my stomach like monthly cramps. I know that Doi’s about to do something unforgettable and terrible. And that I might be the only one who can stop her.
When she skates out, the cloud cover is so dense that I can barely see her. There’s only a pale figure. At first, I think that she’s one of the practice mannequins.
Sensei Madame Liao announces, “Disciple Niu Doi will skate to Multipliers of ten attackers, wearing two articles including zero pieces of armor.”
The whole crowd of girls gasps. As the clouds slightly part, I see Doi in the middle of the court. She’s only wearing the thin, white underclothes that we all wear under our robes. No armor.
No, Doi, don’t do this!
A few of the senseis are whispering and complaining to Sensei Madame Liao, but she’s unmoved. She takes out a scroll, scans it for a clause, and stabs her finger at it. The other senseis cluck, but Sensei Madame Liao says firmly, “That is final!”
She turns back to Doi and nods.
The clarion sounds for the combat to begin. My stomach twists again when I see that Suki and her House of Flowering Blossoms girls have volunteered to be among Doi’s ten attackers.
However, even as they sneer at Doi, they’re uncertain how to proceed. Iron Fan Dance is no child’s game. Iron Fan Dance can injure, even kill. Doi can’t afford to be hit by even one fan. As much as the girls hate Doi, they hesitate. No one has ever fought ten fully armored girls while being completely unarmored. As the girls look to Suki for guidance, we hear the whistle of two fans cutting through the air. The ten attackers leap, then duck, to avoid being shortened a foot from both ends by Doi’s flying fans. Tired of waiting, Doi has started the battle on her own terms.
The skating court stirs into action. It starts as a game of shrouding. Doi uses the end of her fan to stir the clouds floating about into little balls that she whips at the faces of her attackers. However, it doesn’t provoke them into throwing their fans
