Meditations and Tribulations

Lui Mei had seen a great many bizarre things in her short life, many involving her revered Grand-Mama.

From martial art techniques that redefined human limits to artifacts that were capable of the impossible, she had seen much and studied most of it.

But of all of her experiences, few took her by surprise as much as the sight before her.

Grand-Mama, Venerable Eldest, Matriarch of the Lui Bloodline, Keeper of the Most Ancient Artifacts, Guardian of the Almighty Techniques, Rightful Empress, and Beloved of the Heavens, was squabbling with the strange guest as though she were dealing with an unruly child.

If it had been with a member of their clan, that would be one thing, but this was an outsider, a stranger. He was undeniably handsome, but an outsider nonetheless. Mei had learnt to interact with such casualness, but seeing it from the woman that oversaw her life…

She decided that this was improper for her to see.

Setting the tray of herbal tea infused with healing remedies on a nearby table, Mei turned to silently leave the awkward situation.

But no matter how silent and unseen she may have tried to be, it was useless in front of Grand-Mama. Faster than the eye could see, the stranger’s grip on her sleeves was broken, and he was back flat on his back gasping for air.

“Ah, Mei, wonderful timing! Our guest has just awoken. He took quite a bad tumble, but after observation, I believe that he has potential. Be a dear and bring him some tea, if you would.”

Before Mei could move, the stranger was already struggling back to a sitting position, clutching his abdomen as he did.

“A tumble? Is that what you call our fight?” he groaned, using one arm to prop himself up. He turned to face Mei.

“Oh, hey. Name’s Itsuki, by the way.” He said, raising his other hand in greeting, before wincing, and reapplying pressure to his core.

“Fff-uuhhh.” He trailed off, not wanting another- whatever the Monkey mummy did to slam him down in an instant. His attempt at decorum was not missed by the eyes of Grand-Mama, who gave an almost imperceptible nod at the effort, as though some private thought had been confirmed.

It was missed by both teenagers. Itsuki was too distracted by pain, Mei was too distracted by the implications.

A fight? Mei thought. This guy – Itsuki was it? – had fought Grand-Mama?

She could feel the blood drain from her face, turning away to pour a cup of the tea so that the other two could not see and shame her. To even spar with Grand-Mama could be lethal, and that was for her, her beloved descendent. On more than one occasion she had had to apply healing talismans to repair broken bones.

What kind of fight did they have, and what’s more, how did he survive? Inhaling a lungful of the aromatic vapors of the tea, taking advantage of the healing effect to calm herself down, Mei made sure not to spill the tea as she bought it over to Itsuki.

Kneeling down beside the bedridden boy, she carefully handed him the fine china teacup. With a murmur of thanks as he positioned himself to not need to lean on his arm, he took the fragile item.

As the powerful aroma hit him, he instinctively jerked his head back, as though he had just used smelling salts. Whatever was in this drink packed as powerful a hit as the old crone!

“It won’t do any good just staring at it. Drink.”

The voice of Grand-Mama had switched away from grandmotherly, to the authoritative tone of a woman who had not been seriously opposed this century.

Itsuki wanted to retort, to bite back, but between the pain still shooting through him and the realization that there was no point in this being anything other than a medical aid, he relented. In one big, head thrown back swing, he downed the contents in a single swig.

“MMMPH!”

And immediately had to fight to keep it down! The damned stuff was like drinking battery acid! For several moments, it was all Itsuki could do to cough and hack, trying to regain control of his body’s reflexive actions.

Mei was not concerned about this reaction at all. It was quite normal as far as first times drinking the Dragon’s Breath Elixir, so named as it gave the vitality of a dragon, but made one feel they were about to breathe fire. Thoroughly unpleasant to consume, but highly effective.

What she was more concerned about was what she could see going on in his body.

Now she was right next to Itsuki, Mei’s curiosity over how he had fared against Grand-Mama got the better of her. She looked beyond the physical, into the world of pressure points and meridian lines, as she had been taught to do. What she saw was horrifying.

This man was a corpse. No. She had seen zombies in the dark corners of Kageoka that were in better condition than this! He was riddled with the scars of a thousand battles, each healed over yet still present to those who could see.

But it was the mystical aspect of him that shocked and revolted her.

His meridians were clogged up worse than silted-out river. The flow of life energy was almost non-existent, seemingly frozen in place throughout him. And his pressure points – by the Heavens, what happened to his solar plexus?!

It was as though a forest fire had torn through his body and soul, leaving nothing but charred remains and ash in its wake.

Itsuki got control of himself before Mei could snap herself out of her shock and regain her decorum. Even as he had been coughing and hacking, he could feel the effects of the liquid inside him.

It was hot, as hot as it was going down, but there was an air of relief in the heat. Like getting into a hot bath after a long, hard day, he felt rejuvenated. Not fully, but enough that he felt like he would be able to walk out of here.

Itsuki’s perception of his surroundings returned to him. He became aware of the girl, the Monkey mummy’s granddaughter, staring at him. She had an expression on her face halfway between seeing a ghost and seeing a dead body.

He gave a puzzled look at the girl, not sure what to make of her expression.

“Uhh… you OK?”
“H-how are you alive?”

How the hell was he supposed to respond to that?

Luckily for Itsuki, he did not have to. Before he could, the old crone started laughing. It was a raspy thing, not often used, yet still conveyed joy.

“I thought that you would be able to pick up on his condition! Well, granddaughter, since you’re caught up to speed, I think you’ll understand why I order this: take this boy out into the garden, lead him through some basic meditations. I think it will be good for the both of you. Now then, off you go!”

With that little fanfare, Grand-Mama started prodding Itsuki, ignoring his protests, forcing him to his feet. He winced in the anticipation of pain, but to his surprise, none came. He was familiar with pain, it was an old friend, but even with the drink he didn’t think he’d be able to stand up so easily.

Grand-Mama read him like an open book.

“Yes, yes, the Dragon’s Breath elixir is wondrous. Now, get a move on! Both of you!” she said, raising her large wooden walking stick. The threat was obvious.

Mei needed no encouragement, having suffered the consequences of tarrying before.

“Come. This way to outside!” She pointed through an archway, to a far pair of double sliding doors. Mei darted off, with Itsuki close behind, as they moved out of range of the crazy old lady with the big stick.

As she threw open the doors, Itsuki had to cover his eyes from the sudden sunlight. It had been night-time when he had been knocked out, but by the looks of it, it was at least a couple of hours after sunrise.

As his eyes adjusted, he could see just how large the “garden” was. It was more like a park! In the center of the grounds was a pond that had two levels, with smaller streams trickling around the rest of the features.

These streams led into flower beds, around rock structures, and even a sozu intermittently going ‘bonk’. From this elevated position, he was able to see how everything interacted, creating a beautiful harmony. Even as battered as he was – physically, mentally, and spiritually – the sight bought a sense of peace.

Closer to the building, there was what looked like an arena, a concrete tiled risen square, that looked 10 by 10 meters. There were pagodas situated off to the side at either end, presumably places for combatants to rest.

Itsuki was still taking in the sight, as Mei coughed, bringing his attention back to her. She was still uneasy just looking at him but was still trying to be polite. She was standing at the top of a staircase that lead down to each floor all the way to the ground.

“Please follow me. This balcony is not a good place to meditate.”
“Uhh, sure.”

It was all that Itsuki could really think to say. Even the air here felt lighter, as if each breath somehow cleansed his insides.

The two walked down the steps, past the arena, and towards the pond. The sound of the water running over the rocks and pebbles was soothing to the tattered mess of Itsuki’s soul.

As they walked, he flexed his fingers, tested his arms, tensed his core. The damage he had received from both the grandmother and himself had seemingly melted in the heat of that drink.

He smiled with the ease that he could move. A far cry from the struggle he was so used to.

Mei noticed this behavior, saw how premature it was, and had to correct him. If she didn’t, he would end up back in the same state he was in before.

“You’re not healed, Itsuki. Not even close.”

This sentence, the first the two had shared that was more than directions, got his attention. He looked over to her, seeing her properly for the first time.

She was tall. Almost as tall as him, making her one of the tallest girls he’d ever met. Her brown hair was done up in two buns, with a bit of a fringe reaching her eyes.

Physically, she looked as imposing as a girl could be. Even with her modest clothing, he could see the muscles formed from a lifetime of training ripple under the surface, as she moved with an effortless ease.

She continued to speak, interrupting his examination.
“I don’t know if you really know how damaged you are. It’s not simply your body – the elixir could heal that – it’s, well, everything. Your spirit and energy need to recover if you want to have any hope of not falling apart. Hopefully, this will help.”

… When was the last time I was offered help?

The thought stung more than Itsuki thought that it would. He had grown numb to his lot, even as he made the decision to try and change. It was one thing to think it, another to walk the path.

They had reached the pond. Mei pulled out two mats where had she gotten those from? and laid them out side by side, sitting on one and bidding Itsuki to sit on the other.

“Sit. It is time to meditate.”

He raised an eyebrow. He had never meditated before. Wasn’t it just sitting with your eyes shut? Wasn’t that little different from sleeping?

Ehh, better than any rest I got being knocked out.

With a shrug, he sat on the other mat. Mei smiled at him, hoping that he couldn’t see her discomfort anymore. It was rude, she knew that, and hated that she had done that to him. She didn’t know his story, and whatever it was, he must have gone through hell to end up in his current state. Even if looking at his energy signature had made her want to vomit, it was no excuse for poor manners.

“Just breathe. Close your eyes, let your body relax. In. Out.”

Mei guided Itsuki through several breaths. In for four seconds, hold for seven, exhale for eight. Adding up to 19, a powerful number in any model of numerology, representing new beginnings after endings. Such depths were lost on Itsuki, but had he known, he would have likely laughed at the irony.

The pair sat there for several minutes. Mei guiding the process, Itsuki struggling to let himself go with it.

He simply wasn’t at the point in his recovery for it to help much.

He sat there, trying to empty his mind, but each time he got even a sliver of success, the things he tried not to think about would flash before his eyes. The pain. The suffering. Her.

He had been tough for so long, been numb for so long, that even this little meditation was pushing him too far.

Across from him, Mei was also finding it harder than usual to clear her mind.

She kept thinking about why Grand-Mama had wanted her to try and teach this guy. She wasn’t one to arrange playdates, this was something else, until it hit her.

This wasn’t about training Itsuki. This was about training her.

When we teach, we learn.

Philosophers and thinkers throughout world history had said as much. By teaching him, she was in fact training her own abilities.

Classic Grand-Mama.

There was always another layer when dealing with the Honored Elder of the Lui clan. Always another angle, always a deeper game. She loved her Grand-Mama deeply, and understood the wisdom in her actions, but deep down, there was a part of her that took umbrage to her behavior.

Because she was not deep in her meditations, she was able to detect when Itsuki gave and stood up. She turned to look at him as he was about to walk off.

“Are you OK? Do you need the lavatory?”

“No. I’m sorry, this isn’t for me. I’m just going to go.”

Go? This was training, as much for him as it was for her! You can’t just ‘go’ from training!

Mei stood up, cutting Itsuki off before he could leave.

“Why are you leaving? You were doing well!” She said, more accusatory than she had meant to be.

Itsuki closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. “Look, this, I’m just, I’m…”

His thoughts were jumbled, his words falling over each other. He didn’t know what he wanted to say, or how to say it, just that introspection was not something he was ready for.

Mei’s eyes widened in understanding. She smiled – the first smile she had given him without any undertones – and bowed to him.

“Forgive me for putting you through something that you were not ready for. Please, allow me to apologise by trying one more thing.”

She stood back up, giving him her best puppy dog eyes.

The sudden and unexpected turn from accusation to apology took him off guard. Looking to the side, Itsuki felt his shoulders drop, as he capitulated.

“…Fine.” He said with a sigh.

“Hooray!” Mei jumped in the air, clapping her hands together. Itsuki was confused, but to Mei, this was a sign that she was improving, that the training had already helped her.

She had been able to identify when her student was being pushed too far and had been able to stop them from quitting. Two good things, and hopefully a third would come in the form of a successful method!

With a sudden and unexpected enthusiasm, Mei led Itsuki back to the sparring arena. She eagerly guided him to walk up one set of steps, as she ran around to ascend the other.

They stood facing each other, Itsuki puzzled, as Mei stretched.

“What are you doing?”

Mei stood up straight and bowed again. This was not a bow of apology, but a bow of respect that martial artists would give each another before a fight.

At the bottom of the bow, she looked up to face him.

“I misunderstood you, and where you are on your own journey. You burn like a forest fire and appear as but ash. I tried to simply quell the flames, not seeing that they are as much ‘you’ as the burned trees. Please, let me help you control those flames.”

With that, Mei straightened up and assumed a fighting stance.

Itsuki was still recovering from his battle against her granny. He should be resting and recovering, Mei herself had said as much.

And yet…

He could feel himself heat up. Calling him ‘flames’ was accurate, he could feel his emotions ignite as they always did before a fight.

Flowery language meant nothing though. When it came time to fight, it was time to fight. At the edges of his senses, he could almost detect their auras. His own, burning with hungry flames, and Mei, a tranquil controlled sea.

Itsuki smirked at Mei and charged.

In a second, he was across the arena, his fist flying toward Mei’s face. He anticipated the crack of his knuckles hitting skin-covered bone.

Instead, he stumbled as he made contact with nothing.

Faster than he could see, with the grace of flowing water, she had twisted to the side, letting him smash the air where she had been. At the same moment, her leg shot out, right in the path of his advance.

He felt his feet leave the ground, and as soon as he was airborne, Mei’s outstretched leg shot up, slamming into his chest and sending him flying back.

He hit the ground hard, the air knocked out of him.

Mei followed his flight through the air, hoping her attack would reach him where meditation had failed.

Come on, you can do it! she thought as she bought her leg down.

Itsuki struggled up to a sitting position for the third (or was it fourth?) time that morning.

Damn martial artists.

Of course the girl would know how to fight, just look at her gran. She had obviously been trained since she was a baby, and now got to live in this big fancy house, with a massive garden, everything she could ever want.

But him? The child of poor parents, stuck in generational poverty, how could anyone from wealth understand his struggle? The unfairness stung the back of his throat, as he stood up to charge again, this time with more force, beyond what she could-

His eyes met hers.

It was a strange look she was giving him. Not one of superiority, not one of anger. It was like the ones that teachers used to give him, back before his life went to hell. The look of one trying to teach a lesson, eager to see if it went through.

What was it she said? Control the flames?

It was the same with the monkey mummy as well. She had seemed to teach him through combat, that he needed purpose and goals. That apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree, it seemed.

OK, then. Let’s try that.

Itsuki got back to his feet. Mei’s eyes were wide in anticipation of what he would do. Would he charge like a mindless bull again, or had she gotten through?

She broke into a massive smile when she saw him take a deep breath, and instead of using it as fuel for another fruitless assault, begin to pace towards her.

Itsuki kept his guard high, the way he had when fighting delinquents with baseball bats. He could feel the rage pumping with his blood, but he made the effort to control it as best he could.

He walked closer and closer, prepared for Mei to suddenly charge, but no attack came. She stood still, in some kind of martial arts stance, waiting for him. Almost welcoming him.

When he got close enough, he pushed off the arena as hard as he could, keeping his body ready to brace if she tried to sweep him again.

Mei smiled as his fists came flying at her face. This was far more controlled than before. He was thinking, not rampaging. It was what he needed, the first step he had to take, to control the inner turmoil.

His strikes were quick, but she was able to block. Punch, block. Punch, block.

Suddenly, a sharp sensation from her abdomen, and a look of triumph on Itsuki’s face.

Mei had been too self-congratulatory; she had not been paying enough attention. Itsuki had taken her focus only to her head, before striking low, under her guard, and into her core.

The feeling of her warm flesh under his fist ignited Itsuki’s emotions. He pushed harder, bringing his other fist up in a violent uppercut.

As soon as he let the rage take hold, he had lost.

Mei recovered from the blow she had taken, leaned backwards and out of the way of the wild fist, before closing within an inch of Itsuki. Within a second, a dozen blows hit him across his entire body, a move reminiscent of what her gran had done, as his pressure points were struck so quickly as to be simultaneous.

He felt the fire fade. His knees gave way underneath him.

He should be able to recover from this. He had recovered from worse. But between what he had already gone through in the last 12 hours, and his already pushed and punished body, no healing elixir would get him back to full health.

Slowly, he started to fall backwards. He tried to resist it, before surrendering, relaxing, and letting the cool, smooth floor support him.

Mei watched for a moment, then another, her eyes showing both the excitement of a successful teacher as well as the focus of a competing martial artist. When it became clear that Itsuki was not going to get back up to attack, she relaxed and gave him another bow.

She walked over beside him. He was awake, looking to the sky, but clearly exhausted. The bandages he was wrapped in rose and fell with his chest, as Mei extended a hand to help him to his feet.

“Well done, Itsuki, well done indeed!” she congratulated him as he took her hand, wobbling a bit as he had to balance.

“Winners don’t congratulate the losers.” He said, without the usual malaise that such a statement would normally bring up from him.

Mei shook her head, the hair that was not in the buns swaying.

“You didn’t lose. You won over the anger, even if just a little bit. Never diminish your efforts.”
She smiled at him again. Itsuki felt a smile, a proper smile, grace his own lips.

“I’ve got to go now. Thanks, Mei.” He said. She nodded.

“I understand. Again, well done today. The exit is this way.”

She guided him toward a section of the tall wall that surrounded the garden, to a section of flowers grown to decorate the exit, before suddenly gasping.

“Ooh! Before you go, wait a moment!”

She darted back toward the building, effortlessly leaping to the third story balcony, and ran inside. A moment later, she reappeared, jumping back down to him, and presented him with a box.

“Here! A reward for your work! Open it!”

Itsuki took the box. As he opened it, Mei opened the door, and the pair stepped out onto the outside street.

Inside were several piles of what looked like fiberglass crossed with cotton candy. He lifted it up, the gossamer strands dancing in the slight breeze.

Mei smiled again. “It’s Dragon’s Beard Candy, Grand-Mama’s own handmade version! It’s really good, and don’t worry, it doesn’t burn like the elixir!”

Itsuki bought the stuff up to his face and took a bite. His eyes shot open.

“Delicious!”

It was probably the tastiest thing he had ever eaten, definitely the tastiest since the hard times started. He shoved the rest of it into his mouth, relishing the way it dissolved on his tongue.

Mei laughed. “Don’t eat it all at once! Grand-Mama only makes it rarely, so take your time to enjoy it!”

Itsuki nodded as he chewed. “Mmm. Mmm. Fanks again, Mei. Hav a gud day!” He mumbled through a full mouth of candy, as he walked away down the street. Mei waved to him for another few seconds, before going back inside and closing the door behind her.

Itsuki had finished the entire box before the building had even vanished from view.

At the top of the building, perched on the steeple and hard to see from the ground, was Grand-Mama. She had seen everything. The meditation, the fight, and the gift. Her eyes narrowed as a pleased smile crossed her features. Yes, this had gone even better than she had hoped.

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Pub: 23 Oct 2025 22:16 UTC

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