***43 Years ago***
Tui stepped carefully towards the lunchroom, his eyes plotting the least unpleasant way through students in the hall. Mercifully, there were several acceptable ways through. It seemed that the bullies were elsewhere for now. Tui edged his way along, avoiding the cold stares and ignoring uncomfortable silences that bloomed like poisonous mushrooms around him.
It had been a long eight months since he’d arrived at the Emperor’s Benevolence Academy. The Islanders had been split into separate dorms to better integrate them with civilized society. This had the effect of isolating them for individual attention from concerned members of The People. Thankfully, the school year was drawing to a close. The frantic jockeying to improve their standing in the class lists kept many students too busy to make more trouble for the second-caste students.
At the lunch hall, he collected a bowl and was given a large helping of nutritious porridge. Nutritious and free. Nutritious, but oh so tiresome. All of the islander students lived on the porridge, as did most of the other second-caste students. Praise the Emperor for his generosity. Tui had never seen any of The People touch a bowl of porridge.
He carried his bowl and spoon to the outer edge of tables, keeping an eye open for tripping feet. He did not have the time to run for a change of clothing today. He navigated safely to his usual table and nodded a hello to Jago, who was glumly picking at his own porridge.
Jago was no longer overtly aggressive to any of his fellow islander students. The constant external pressure from the first-caste students had made the islander's internal differences seem inconsequential. Jago was never actually friendly with anyone, but interacting with him had become less... prickly.
Today Tui had no time for drama. He scarfed down his porridge, swallowing quickly to minimize the flavor, but knowing he needed the sustenance. He needed something to line his stomach. Tui nodded goodbye to Jago, who was still grinding through his lunch. Then Tui dropped his bowl at the scullery and ran to class.
He arrived twenty minutes before the start time. As usual, the instructor was eating his lunch at his desk. Tui approached him, “Excuse me Sir, may I have today’s essence pill?”
Tui had no interest in the class rankings, but he was one of the few students remaining who had not yet kindled their first spark of qi. Without qi, he would not be allowed to complete the first year at the Academy and would be sent to work off the debt incurred for his training. There were no good options in that type of work.
And so he maximized his time at the Elementary Cultivation class, led by the perpetually sleepy Professor Xiong. This professor never seemed particularly invested in the success of his students. Professor Xiong gestured towards the box of essence pills “Early again hmmm? Remember to mark your name off the list”
Tui collected his pill, swallowed it, and drew a tick mark next to his name. Then he composed himself into the lotus position in the far corner of the room. He meditated.
He tried to meditate. He always struggled to slip into meditation. It was tricky. Intrusive thoughts kept disrupting his peace.
He felt disconnected from the other islanders lately. He got along well with Maka, but they had both been so busy lately. And something was going on with the islander girls. They used to hang out, but these days the girls stayed clustered in a group, allowing nobody in their circle. The last time he'd gone over to hang out, the girls told him to go the fuck away.
As he had been taught, Tui acknowledged the intrusive thought, and set it aside. He needed to meditate. Whenever one of the girls needed to go somewhere, the whole group would go with her. Tui knew something had happened there, but they hadn’t asked for his help, and he was up to his neck in his own troubles. Tui acknowledged the thought, and set it aside, digging harder toward meditation.
Tui could feel the lump of the pill sitting in his stomach, sizzling quietly, the slight nausea from its impurities washing around his stomach. He knew its energy was diffusing into his body. He barely could sense the essence radiating out, escaping through his pores. He had been eating one of these pills every day since the opening day of class, for all the good it did him. Professor Xiong had taught him the techniques for meditation and essence manipulation. But now he was down to the last two weeks. He was running out of time. He did not want to get sent to work off the incurred debt for his education here. Tui acknowledged the intrusive thought and set it aside. He resettled himself into his meditation.
He pictured himself floating on his back in the sea, his home. Then he exhaled, blowing out slowly. His body grew heavier, losing its buoyancy. Sinking beneath the surface of the water, a string of bubbles carried his thoughts away from him. He breathed in and blew it slowly out, his body getting even heavier, sinking ever deeper into the black. There were no more bubbles. There was nothing around him, nothing could reach him. There was silence.
He could see the flow of essence diffusing out from his center, escaping. With his mind's hand, he carefully cupped the essence, sweeping it into a ball. Tue gathered up all he could reach. Each time more essence tried to escape his center, Tui scraped it together, adding it to the growing ball of lifeless energy.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
As he added more essence, he began to squeeze the ball together, packing it tightly, and pressing it. The ball began to compress under the constant pressure, the energy density increasing with each squeeze. After a time, a tiny flicker of light began to glow from the center of the ball. Tui redoubled his efforts, squeezing the essence with all his mind, he was so close!
In the next moment, Tui was knocked to the floor, falling out of meditation. His lip was split, his ears ringing. A group of four People stood before him dressed in their immaculate robes. "Tui, you've fallen asleep! You must thank your senior for waking you up before class began!" Merriment shone in their eyes. Their leader, Yuhan grinned at him expectantly. "Say thank you to Senior Yuhan!"
Tui didn’t react. He refused to grant any satisfaction. He just sat and looked at them. He tongued the inside of his lip where it had torn against his teeth, where he had been struck.
Professor Xiong's tired voice broke up the little party. "Sign in Class and get your essence pills.” Yuhan winked at Tui before heading off to get his pill, “Tsk, so ungrateful!”
Tui always sat next to Maka in this class. Maka’s ability to handle anything with a grin and quick remark made him an oasis of calm. Maka had kindled his qi months ago but remained a constant encouragement to Tui. They took turns meditating, watching each other’s backs, and keeping an eye on Yuhan’s gang.
Maka did not enter the classroom.
Professor Xiong toddled back to the corner and indulged in his usual meditation. After a few minutes, soft snores emerged from his corner of the room. Some of the students used class time to advance their cultivation, and others gathered in groups gossiping or stirring up trouble.
Tui stayed in his corner of the room. He did not take another chance to meditate, he couldn’t afford to close his eyes in this situation. He pulled out his math textbook and sat there worrying about Maka. It was not like him to miss a class. Tui hoped Maka wasn’t in the infirmary. It was easy enough to fall down stairs around here.
Class ended, and the students began filing out of the room. Professor Xiong remained in his corner, his chin touching his chest. Tui wondered how old Xiong could even move his head with how sore his neck must always be. When the others had filed out, Tui plucked up the Maka’s qi pill, tucked it into his pocket, then ticked Maka’s name on the list. Islanders couldn’t afford to skip their essence pills. When Tui saw Maka again, he’d give him the pill and let him meditate on his own time.
The best class was the last of the day, Remedial Mathematics. Tui hadn’t started out liking it. He hadn’t started in this class at all. At the beginning of the semester, Tui had been in Principles of Calculus. On the first day of that class, the calculus professor handed out a quiz to gauge where the class was at in their abilities. Most of the class had whipped through the quiz and handed it back promptly, but Tui had sat there, gazing miserably at all the unknown terms and operations before handing the sheet back without a single question answered. The Radiant Island school had not brought him far enough along. He was relegated to Remedial Math the next day.
It was here that he had learned the joy of Math. Math was logical. Math had objectively correct answers. If Tui wrote down the correct answer, it could not be subjectively graded down on the understanding that an Islander does not get good grades. Tui poured his soul into Remedial Mathematics, and his ranking at the top of this class reflected that.
Not that it was that difficult to excel in this class. The top students remained in the calculus class, and their overall class ranking reflected that. Remedial Math was full of fuckups, most of whom did not share his new love of math. The biggest fuckup of them all was Kong Guanting, whose father was a high-ranking administrator in the Emperor's cabinet. Guanting did not need to try in class, his future was assured.
“Hey Dung Beetle!” came the hoarse whisper from the back of the class. A round of giggling spread from around Guanting. “I know where your friend is, I heard it from Father this morning.” Tui turned in his desk to look back at him. “Ahah, I’ve got your attention now, do I?”
Guanting had a nasty expression smeared like shit across his face. He had some news, and he was just gagging to share it. “Your friend Taka has some foolish relatives back home.” Tui’s stomach tightened. A wave of bile washed up on the back of Tui’s throat. “Taka’s uncle said some unwise things about the Emperor.” continued Guanting. His eyes were gleaming with hate. “You fucking islanders are always so ungrateful” Guanting shook his head sorrowfully.
The classroom was silent. Even the instructor was listening. Guanting sat back, looking around, clearly relishing the attention he garnered. He leaned forward again. His eyes were fixed on Tui. “Don’t worry, Dung Beetle, Taka was sent back home to remind his relatives of their place in this world”
A murmur swept around the room. Nobody was allowed to go home before the end of term. “They sent him back in four separate boxes!” screamed Guanting, his eyes bulging, spittle flecking his jowls. “You fucking islanders need to remember your fucking place!”
“That’s enough Guanting!” shouted the instructor, horrified. “You will go to the time-out room!” Guanting grinned savagely, slung his bag over his back, and sauntered out.
Tui didn’t know what happened over the next few hours. His mind was numb. At some point, he had thrown up all the nasty porridge he’d eaten for lunch. His mouth tasted foul. He found himself sitting under a tree in the far corner of the academy.
Jago plopped himself down next to him, sighing heavily. He scrubbed his cheeks with his hands. “I’m so sorry Tui,” he began, then he stopped. Both of them observed the sunset, each lost in their own sorrow. Jago left a while later.
They were so powerless here. So isolated, from each other, from anyone. Tui’s helplessness gnawed at his soul. He was caged here at the academy, unable to go home. If he failed his classes, he would be sent off, indentured. It was so hard to succeed when everyone was pushing you down.
He could not allow himself to fail. There was nothing he could do about Taka, about the girls, about the loyalty of his family. He could only control himself. The only way out of the Emperor’s Benevolence Academy was through it. He would not allow himself to fail.
Tui settled himself into the lotus position and ate the essence pill he had saved for Taka.
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