“The wu liu regimen here at Pearl Famous incorporates rigorous daily training; grueling Motivations; deprivation of food, shelter, and sleep; and whatever else it takes to achieve excellence. The effectiveness of our institution’s curriculum is directly proportional to the misery of the student. That is why Pearl Famous is number one in helping each student attain the greatest joy possible in life, which is to bring honor to her esteemed parents.”
She’s just trying to frighten us. She doesn’t know me. I don’t know what sort of training these rich students in Pearl got, but I’m not afraid of hard work. I’m not afraid of disappointing my parents. I don’t even know where they are. The only thing I’m afraid of is not winning. Let’s get on with this.
“We will test just how completely without qualities you are. You will be examined in wu liu this year through six Motivations. Today will be the first, Veneration of the Three Aunties. Three beacons have been lit on three different islets. It’s not easy to see the beacons. It’s even less easy to get to them. Touch the beacon on the Conservatory of Wu Liu, then the Conservatory of Literature, then the Conservatory of Music. You must not, for any reason, attempt to enter the Conservatory of Architecture.
“You will encounter water on this route, so you will need to step in the pit of tuber root starch powder to keep your socks from slipping.
“The girl who reaches all three beacons in the correct order and comes back first will receive top ranking.
“Any girl who fails to touch all three beacons or who falls off the rail will fail the Motivation.”
So here it begins. All the years of training. They were all leading to this.
The chance to prove that I’m the best, that the Empress Dowager was right to choose me, that wu liu belongs to Shin.
I will place first.
I will make Pearl Famous Academy of Skate and Sword history.
I will be a legend.
Sensei Madame Liao turns from us, sits on a small stool, pulls a little scroll from her sleeve, and begins to read.
I assume that the race has started.
None of us is quite sure how to begin. Then one girl, with a friendly round face and a mole on one side of her chin, grins and begins taking off her skates to powder her socks.
The other girls see this and everyone else starts to take off their skates to step into the pit. These socks they gave us are terrible for skating, as loose and droopy as elephants’ ankles. Why are girls made to wear inane, impractical, performance-hindering, accident-inviting things? For the sake of cuteness? Why don’t boys have to wear them? At least we get to wear skirts, which we don’t have to worry about tearing when doing splits, like boys’ pants.
Doi looks at the pit, then looks at Suki and her entourage. None of them is taking off her skates to step into the pit of powder.
Instinct tells me that these are powerful girls, and if the powerful girls don’t want to step into the pit, it’s because they know something. I keep my skates on.
Suki hops on one of the rails connecting the Principal Island to the smaller islets, with her followers close behind. Doi watches them skate away. She leaps onto the rail after them. All the other girls put on their skates and follow.
We glide on the rail toward the islet where the Conservatory of Wu Liu sits. I look for a beacon as we speed along the rail over the open sea, but there are so many structures covered with pearlplate roofs that their rows seem like meandering, elbowed moon dragons. I’m grateful for my smoked spectacles, for the whole of the white academy blooms with glare.
Behind us, I see several girls stopped on the route. What is happening? Some of them are taking off their skates and banging them.
We skate on the rail curling around the Conservatory of Wu Liu. Fields of older students train below. Some are doing exercises in lines. Some are practicing weapons combat with staffs and dual katanas.
I flip off the rail onto the spine of one dragonlike structure and ride its undulations. I think I see a brightness that could be a beacon in the coils of its tail, but it’s only a tower studded with little lounges and sitting rooms. What does the beacon look like?
A glimmer on the edge of the islet catches my attention. It’s difficult to see in the full daylight, but the wind sweeps a spray of seawater in front of it, refracting it into a flash of wild colors.
The light issues from a pagoda topped by a mirrored bowl that has a blaze of torches in it. The beacon! How do I get up there? The structure is three stories tall. Sprays of seawater keep blowing at me.
I see how to reach the beacon! The hall next to the pagoda has a roof that sweeps up like a pumpkin vine. I can skate off that roof and leap up toward the tower next to the pagoda. I can kick against its side with a single-footed grasshopper move so that I spring back at a sharp angle, followed immediately by a hammer throw spin in midair. I’ll come slinging toward the pagoda and land directly on the platform with the beacon. I have to be careful not to overshoot or I’ll go sliding off into the sea.
As I prepare to execute these moves, two figures skate past me and do exactly what I planned. Suki and Doi. Ten thousand years of stomach gas!
I execute the moves. They work just as I thought. It feels wonderful to finally be doing these moves on actual buildings after doing them for so many years on just a training court. This is how it felt in my dreams.
I tag the beacon with my hand. The pearl forming the mirrored bowl is surprisingly cool. I look around
