In a courtyard of a palace in Cloud City stood a tree. Muffled giggling was coming from between the branches while maids in the nearby corridors called out. "Lady Sana, Lady Sana! Please come out, your etiquette lessons have already begun!"
"Sana, you know you shouldn't hide from your maids. Your father said so." a young blue-haired boy whispered with a sigh.
The 10 year old girl with blood-red hair slowly got her breath back and looked at her only friend with accusatory eyes. "You know I hate those boring stuffy teachers. Also, they always punish me for no reason at all," she insisted to which he could only roll his eyes knowing his friend well enough to know that those "reasons" were probably very real. "I thought you were on my side Kenta," she continued with a pout.
"I am," he replied slowly, "but you are a part of clan Tenki and grandpa's books were very insisted that nobles always need to be composed and hold themselves to a higher standard than the common populous," he recited from memory out of a book from his grandfathers library. They were very clear on the importance of etiquette and poise.
"It seems your companion has a better grasp of what is expected of you than you yourself." The voice of Lord Tenki coming from beneath the tree made both of them jump and Sana loose her grip on the branches falling to the ground only to be caught by her uncle. He set her back on the ground where she stood, shamefaced, looking at the ground.
Kenta quickly climbed down and immediately bowed. "L-lord Tenki, I-I apologize, I asked Lady Sana to come with me and-"
"Your loyalty speaks well for your character but do not make excuses for my niece. As a member of our clan she needs to own up to her mistakes and, more importantly, not run away from her responsibilities," he said looking directly at Sana who didn't raise her head. "Tomorrow is an important day for you. Do not worry your parents unnecessarily so shortly before your Awakening."
Sana bowed her head and then looked up into her uncles eyes. "Of course Lord Father, I will go to my lessons as soon as I escort Kenta from the palace grounds," she said bowing her head again.
"Very well. Do hurry and not make your teacher wait," he ordered and strode out of the courtyard without looking back.
"Ah, I really screwed up this time. My uncle normally doesn't care but the Awakening is probably too important," Sana muttered while rubbing her forehead. She suddenly looked up at him. "You don't have anything to do for your grandpa do you?" she asked. Her friend tried to hide it but his expression told her everything. "Now I almost got you into trouble just because I wanted to play. Hurry, hurry, you need to get going!" She hurried him through the hallways to the entrance gates.
She tried to push him through the gates but Kenta slipped out of her hold and grasped her shoulders ignoring the frowns of the guards outside the gates. "You're normally not so... weird. Are you nervous about your Awakening?" he asked and knew immediately that he was right since she turned her face away from him. "Don't worry everything will go great. Trust me," he said with a smile.
"Easy for you to say. With your affinities you will definitely be accepted into the Cloudsea Sect," she said grumpily, "while I will be stuck here forever learning which colours are appropriate to wear in front of dignitaries of the Northern Desert."
"Don't be such a worrywart. You don't even have any idea what your affinities are. Maybe you have a double or even a single affinity. No one knows until you went through your Awakening. And afterwards you can finally go outside the city gates. You know, what you always said you wanted," he said, trying to cheer up his friend.
Sana met his green eyes with her own amber ones. "You're right, I'm just really nervous but everything will go just fine," she said to herself trying to calm herself down. "But I think you should hurry. Don't want to keep your grandpa waiting any longer."
Kenta jumped at the realization and after quickly saying goodbye rushed of towards the city's public library to help his grandfather with sorting the books. Sana turned around after nodding towards the guards and slowly walked back to her room and back to her boring teacher.
"Good morning Lady Sana, it is time to wake up." Sana snapped to awareness and abruptly sat up startling the new maid who wasn't yet used to their young Lady's way of waking up. The older of the two simply started undressing Sana as soon as she stood up and waited for the younger to bring the new clothes. "Lord Andus and Lady Aria have asked for your presence in the training courtyard as soon as you were available," the older said after they finished dressing her.
"Very well, bring me there immediately. I will have breakfast together with them," Sana ordered and followed the maid out of her room towards her parents.
As they got closer they started hearing loud clacking sounds and the occasional thunk followed by a pained grunt or gasp. As they saw through the doorway into the courtyard the origin of the noise became apparent. Sana's parents faced each other with wooden weapons, Andus with a sword and Aria a spear, and slowly circled each other. Suddenly Andus rushed forwards batting aside his wife's spear and twisted his body thrusting a palm at her chest. Aria blocked with the butt of her weapon and hooked her left foot behind Andus' right and puled. He tried to keep his balance but because of his awkward twist instead stumbled and fell, landing on his back with a grunt. Looking up he saw the tip of his wife's spear pointed at his throat.
"I thought you said you wanted to learn how to fight with a sword. As far as I know using your left hand for an attack is highly unadvised my dear," Aria teased as she helped him of his back and on to his feet.
Andus simply chuckled, "Well, I somehow need to keep my pride as a Martial King in front of my daughter somehow. It doesn't do to always be beaten up by her mother whenever she watches us spar," he added with a wink towards Sana and a kiss on his wife's forehead who was two full heads shorter than her husband which made his loss look almost comical to those who didn't know the pair. But to those in the know the outcome was a given considering both were Martial Kings, almost the highest power a mortal could have, and Andus wasn't using his fists.
Aria simply shook her head and threw the sword towards Andus with her foot. "Again, and this time don't suddenly switch styles if you aren't used to it," she said with a teasing grin on her face and continued sparring.
Sana was lead to a table in the corner were she took a seat and continued watching her parents sparring with a smile on her face and stars in her eyes. She couldn't wait until she was allowed to train to become a Martial Artist or maybe even a Cultivator. As that thought ran through her head her expression tightened and she started worrying again. Her musing was interrupted by a maid bringing breakfast and decking the table for her and her parents who stopped and walked towards the table.
"And, sweetie? Are you exited for your Awakening? I know I couldn't wait until I could begin training," Andus said while sitting down and started eating, missing the grimace that appeared on his daughters face and the narrowed eyes of his wife who did not.
"Don't worry little flame, everything will be fine. If you have muddled affinities like your father and I then you will train with us and the rest of the family in martial arts." Aria comforted, laying her hand on her daughter's shoulder.
"But Kenta will go to the Cloudsea Sect in two years and I don't know what to do without him," Sana softly said, tears beginning to appear in her eyes. "If he is gone I'll be all alone. The others all don't like me."
Andus looked up at the sad tone of his daughter. "Sana, sometimes you need to let the people that are most precious to you go to best help them. I know it is never easy but he will be fine in the Sect and you will also be fine wherever you are," he said not knowing how to comfort his daughter better and sharing a bitter smile with Aria.
"You promise?" Sana asked looking directly into his eyes.
He looked right back and smiled, "I promise."
Sana rubbed the tears from her eyes and, trying to hide her embarrassment, started eating. Her parents joined her and the dour atmosphere soon lifted. She spent most of the day with her parents until it was finally time for her Awakening.
The Awakening was a highly private ceremony with only the parents or guardians of the child and either the clan leader or city lord in attendance. Since Sana's uncle was both the city lord and the clan leader he was of course in the room alongside her parents. The room was fairly empty, the only object being a strange circular device opposite the entrance and a meditation mat sitting before it. The device was a glass sphere connected to five other smaller spheres who were themselves connected in a circle. On the bigger sphere was painted the word for "Qi" while on the others were from the top in clockwise rotation the words for "Water", "Fire", "Earth", "Metal" and "Water" emblazoned. The device seemed to be floating behind the meditation mat.
"The Awakening of a member of the clan is always an occasion to celebrate since it means a new member who can support and if necessary defend the clan," Indrus began, "but it is also a turning point in every persons life where those who are destined for more receive their first call and I am honoured to be able to officiate over this ceremony. Sana Tenki, are you ready to awaken your destiny?"
"I am," she replied in a firm voice which got an approving nod from her usually cold uncle. In truth she did not feel nearly as confident as she presented and was thankful she could keep the quiver out of her voice.
"Then take your place on the mat, lay your hands on the sphere, close your eyes and try to feel what is inside." She followed his orders, laying her hands on the cold glass. She noticed her parents and uncle retreating near the entrance and waiting. Waiting for her to awaken.
She concentrated and tried to feel anything but the cold glass under her hands, the hard ground under her knees or the stuffy room air. She felt nothing and started to think that maybe she will be unable to feel anything, never to awaken at all and to forever be a burden on her parents an clan. She started to panic, her breath coming out faster and faster, her concentration breaking when she forcefully made herself think about her fathers warm hugs, her mothers comforting hand on her shoulder and her best friends trusting smile. She relaxed again and took a deep breath pushing away all distractions.
Suddenly she felt something, a tingling on her fingers. At first she thought it was just the glass heating up from her fingers on it but she realized the glass was just as cold as before, as if it didn't care about her body heat. The tingling got stronger and stronger until it suddenly started travelling from her fingers into her hands, then her arms, shoulders, and collar where it split, a small part surged upward and gathered right between her temples. The larger part continued downwards into her chest where it again split, this time evenly. One part gathered on the right side of her chest, opposite her heart and the last part finally arrived just bellow her belly button.
The qi, or what she assumed to be qi, continued concentrating until there were only those three points. Suddenly the point in her head started to pulse, sending bits of itself on strange paths through her head. Just as suddenly as it started it stopped and the point in her chest started pulsing, this time sending its qi all over her body from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet starting from her chest. Strangely, it didn't reach nearly as deep into her head as the first point. Like the first it also stopped and the third point, the one in her stomach, started pulsing. This one reached through her entire body, it took the paths of both the other points and even took new ones, like the ones connecting both "networks". While it was more complete than the other two the tingling didn't feel quite as potent as the one in her chest and she was sure that if the one in her head were of similar size to the other two it would also be stronger.
The pulses repeated, starting from the one in her head going downwards. The went faster and faster until she could no longer tell where one started and the other ended. Eventually the pulses were so strong and rapid that they started to hurt, as if she were slowly tearing a muscle. She tried to endure but eventually couldn't and instinctively pushed the qi out of her hands back into the sphere though small remnants remained in those three points.
She was startled out of her fugue by a gasp from behind. Her eyes shot open and she saw why her mother was so surprised. Two of the five glass spheres were apparently half filled with glowing liquid. The one at the top emblazoned with "Fire" contained deep red boiling liquid and the one to the right and slightly below it emblazoned with "Earth" contained dark yellow, almost brown, utterly still liquid. A dual affinity, with complementary elements no less.
"Well, it would seem that young Sana's destiny goes far indeed," Indrus said softly. She looked back to see her parents staring wide eyed at the Awakening Circuit, only her uncle able to keep his calm demeanour. "Far farther than I would have ever hoped," he finished with a small smile towards Sana.
