Entry 1: The Day Before

Hey Rita, sorry if this is a bit sudden, but do you have time to meet up somewhere today?  I’ve got a lot to talk to you about- and well, there’s something that I need your advice for.  Please?  But only if you have time, I don’t want you to get in trouble!  –Xinyan

Xinyan checked over her note quickly before going to her window and playing a jaunty tune on the whistle around her neck.  Within moments a small grey fox with purple butterfly wings winked into being beside her and yipped happily.  It nuzzled her hand before sitting on the windowsill, wagging its three tails in anticipation of a job.  Xinyan chuckled, petting the little Faenine before folding up her note and inserting it into its belt.  “Hello to you too, Cirrus!  Could you take that note to Rita for me?”  The fox yipped and nudged her hand expectantly.  Xinyan laughed.  “Yeah, yeah I know, you don’t work for free, here.”  She gave the little fox a bit of glazed beef jerky.  It wagged its tails again, snapping up the jerky before whizzing out the window in a grey blur, soon lost to sight.  When the tiny fox disappeared, the smile slipped off of Xinyan’s face.  She stared out the window absently.  The view from her room was fantastic.  It was autumn, and the forest of her family’s large estate was an explosion of fiery splendor, bedecked in bright reds, oranges and yellows, some with fruit hanging heavily off their branches, only occasionally interrupted by the never-fading green of the cedars and junipers.

But try as she might, Xinyan could not bring herself to really appreciate the beauty of the world.  Worry about tomorrow gnawed at her insides, even as she tried to calm herself.  She glanced at the clock on her desk.  It was two in the afternoon.  It felt like she had only just eaten lunch mere moments ago.  Time had a way of slipping by faster when one didn’t want it to.  After a moment longer staring out her window, she shook her head and clapped her face in her hands.  “Well, tomorrow’s going to come whether I want it to or not.  Worrying won’t do a thing for me!  Maybe I should finish more of that novel I was reading- I was just getting to the good part,” she said, mostly to herself.  She went to her desk and picked up “The Adventures of Damon Murkheart”, flipping it open to the sixth chapter and sitting down on her bed.  “Hehe, and the plot thickens.  I wonder who they’re going to run into that’s so dangerous,” Xinyan mused out loud as she read.

Right as she was about to turn the page and find out the identity of the mysterious assailant, however, Cirrus returned, yipping excitedly.  Xinyan put her book down.  “Did Rita answer already?”  The Faenine nodded, sticking its left tail out at Xinyan.  A rolled up note was tucked into its tail-band.  Xinyan took it out and unrolled it.

Sure, Xinyan.  I’m free right now actually- you’re going to skip out on Mr. Song’s lessons again aren’t you?  I’ll be by the lucky dumpster, so see you soon!  And you’d better tell me everything, if I find out you’re keeping stuff from me, you’re in soooo much trouble! –Rita

“Awesome!” Xinyan said, tossing the note into her locked drawer and changing into a track suit.  She tied back her long black hair so it wouldn’t get in the way, stuffed her feet into her running shoes, and grabbed her potato-sack backpack.  “Come on Cirrus, let’s go!  Rita’s waiting!  Eeeyahoo!” The thought of being able to go talk to her friend put her in such high spirits that she back-flipped off the balcony and hit the ground running.  “Hup!” she bounced off a street sign and launched herself into the air, channelling the wind into her arms and legs to fly.  It took her only a few minutes to soar to her favourite alley.  It was a small corridor between a hardware store and a second hand shop, located just inside the slums.  It was the sort of place respectable Channelers like Xinyan’s parents would tell their children to stay away from, but Xinyan knew that area like her own backyard. 

Cirrus yipped, flying down ahead of Xinyan.  The Faenine had spotted Rita’s mouse-brown hair from the air and was eager to greet the girl again.  Xinyan followed close behind, alighting with a loud clunk on top of a closed, dark green dumpster.

“There you are, Xinyan!  Got lost again?” Rita playfully asked as Xinyan hopped down.  “Oh and hello to you too, Cirrus!”  She stroked the little fox, who squeaked in happiness.

“Nope, but even if I did, I wouldn’t have it any other way!” Xinyan cheerfully replied.

“You know, it’s bad to skip your classes,” Rita commented offhandedly as she sorted through some old machine parts.

“Doesn’t matter to me,” Xinyan said with a shrug.  “I can’t stand his lectures.  All he talks about is how superior we Channelers are and how dirty and uncouth you Shapers are.  I mean for Laotian’s sake, we’re all human, so why does he talk about you like you’re animals?!  So yeah, I’m not missing anything worth hearing.”

It wasn’t the first time Xinyan had gone off on that little tirade, but Rita found it funny whenever she did that.  “Still, you’re becoming such a delinquent, hehe.  But anyways, what did you want to talk about?  You sound like something’s bugging you.” Rita said.

“Urrrgh, right, about that.  Tomorrow’s my birthday.  I am so not looking forward to that.” Xinyan groaned.

“Oh, happy early birthday!  How old are you turning again?” Rita said.

“…thirteen,” Xinyan said with a dejected sigh.

“Congratulations, you’re officially a teenager- ooooh, it’s about that isn’t it,” Rita said.

“Yeah, um.  My family wants to throw a huge party for me, though I’m not sure if that’s just because of a custom or not.  Er, could you come, if you can spare the time?  You’re my best friend, so I don’t want to leave you out… and well, I’m really nervous about the Handler Selection.” Xinyan twiddled her thumbs anxiously at the last part.  Rita smiled and patted her friend’s shoulder comfortingly.

“Sure I can, but is it really going to be okay?  Aren’t you worried about what your peers will think?  And don’t worry so much about the Handler Selection, it can’t be that bad can it?  They have more to worry about from you than you do of them.” Rita said, though there was a bit of resentment at the last part.

“At this point, Rita, I don’t really care what my peers think.  I’m too wound up about everything else.” Xinyan paused as Rita made the comment about the Handler Selection.  “…Rita, you know I’m not like the rest of them.  This is really serious for me, and it’s scary!  What if I accidentally kill them?  What if the power gets to my head and I start acting like a jerk?  What if they don’t like me?  I’m not looking for a breathing limiter; I want to be friends with them too!  Oh, I’m so nervous!  And then the other people are going to be there too, what if the one I want to make a contract with gets taken by someone else first?” Xinyan ranted, anxiety wiping all traces of happiness from her face. 

Rita reached over and hugged Xinyan, trying to reassure her.  “Breathe, Xinyan.  I’m sure you’ll find somebody that likes you.  With that attitude, who could hate you?  Stop worrying so much, you’re going to be fine.  Besides, even if they don’t like you from the start, once they see that you treat them like they’re actually people, they’ll warm up to you!” Rita said brightly.

“Yeah…I guess you’re right.  I hate this system but I can’t do anything about it.  I guess I’ll just have to take it as it comes,” Xinyan said, resolve returning to her.  She made a small fist pump of motivation.  “I’ll just have to do my best, right?”

“Yep!  That’s all you can do, your best.  Think positive, Xinyan!  Being down in the dumps isn’t like you- well, unless you’re dumpster diving but that’s something else altogether,” Rita said encouragingly.  “So, did you hear any juicy gossip at school?”

“SO much!  Terry is trying to get me to hook him up with Seyenne- I don’t even know why he thinks I can do that, Seyenne and I barely talk outside of class.  And then did you know, Mr. Ip set off the fire alarm again today- some dummy broke the fume hood pipe and stuck it right under the smoke detector!” Xinyan said, as she sat beside Rita and helped her sort through parts.

“No way.  What was he trying to do this time, another mushroom cloud?” Rita asked.

“Dunno.  I heard something about setting up a methane experiment- betcha he immolated half the supply this time.” Xinyan replied, chuckling.  “Er, do you want this tarp?”

“Nah, you can have it, how’re your fins coming along?” Rita said.

“Not too badly, actually.  I should have them done soon.  Is your fridge still acting up?” Xinyan said.

“Yeah.  I think I know what’s wrong this time though, so hopefully it’ll stop stalling at random times in the evening.  I’m never letting dad touch that thing again.” Rita said.

“Haha, wow, I didn’t even know it was possible to break the fridge!” Xinyan said.

“It started with him trying to change the light bulb, which turned into him finding something wrong with one of the wires inside, him trying to fix it, and then him shorting out the power on the fridge.  It’s a miracle he didn’t break one of the cooling coils either.  And he likes to think he’s good with machines.”

“Wow, that stinks!” Xinyan said.

“Yeah, big time- it’s not exactly easy finding copper wiring that matches that old dinosaur of a fridge!”

Xinyan was about to say something when a frantic, high-pitched yell pierced the air.

“Aaaah!!  No, stop it!  STOP IT!!  BIG BROTHER, HELP ME!!”

Xinyan and Rita exchanged a glance, immediately set on edge.  “You heard that?” Rita asked.

“…Let’s check it out.” Xinyan said, springing to her feet and running to the next alley with Rita close behind.

“Leave my little sister alone!” a new voice, belonging to a slightly older boy, joined the first.

“Oh look, another shrimp,” sneered one of the assailants.  Rita and Xinyan were getting closer. 

“I said back off,” snarled the younger boy.

“Make us.  Come on guys, squirt wants a brawl, let’s give him a good one,” the voice who was apparently the leader said, and soon, as the girls approached, they could hear the sounds of pained yelps and blows being exchanged.  “OW!  Little sky rat!  You’ll pay for that!”

“No! Big brother!!” the little girl cried out in fear.  Xinyan and Rita screeched around the corner to see that while the younger boy was putting up a good fight, he was hopelessly outnumbered at five to one, and most of the assailants were younger teenagers, probably around fifteen years old.  They were overwhelming him, and were in the middle of pinning him down- and one of them was using Wind Channelling to press him into the pavement.  The air around Xinyan whistled softly, her indignation stirring up the wind.

“Let them go, you worthless cowards,” she commanded.  She stood tall, fixing at them with an imperious stare despite being almost comically shorter than them.

They looked up, taken aback by the nerve of these two small girls.  The leader smirked after a moment, realizing he was probably facing a noble-born.  “Well, well, well.  Hey squirt, didn’t know you were friends with a princess.  I wonder how much she’ll pay for you?”  A small breeze gusted through the alleyway and then-

Slash.

The gang of five were speechless as what appeared to be talon gouges started bleeding on their leader’s cheek.  Xinyan glared at him furiously.  “Would you accept the payment in blood or would you prefer bruises?  Or how about you save yourself the trouble and just get out of here?” 

“You little brat!  You’ll pay for that with your blood!  Crows, attack!” the leader roared.  Three of the remaining boys got up and charged towards Xinyan and Rita, using wind to augment their movements. 

“Ready Xinyan?” Rita asked, shifting into a starting stance for the fight.

“Go crazy,” Xinyan replied.  The two girls bounded towards the approaching boys.

Rita started off by ducking under punch of the tallest of the three attackers.  She was short, so she could easily dodge the hit.  Without waiting for him to recover his balance, she threw a hard punch into his stomach, winding him, and then shoved him at the other two boys.  He knocked down one of his friends, but the other one had seen it and gotten out of the way- only to be slammed hard by a flying kick to the chest from Xinyan.  He stumbled back from the force of the blow, and Xinyan kicked once more, forcefully using air to blast him into the dumpster.  Rita decked the third boy, who was just getting up after being knocked down by his friend, while Xinyan turned to the leader and his second-in-command.  She launched herself at them, her expression feral and her arms held out to her sides like wings.  The second-in-command got up, and formed a wall of air to block Xinyan.  Xinyan, only half-expecting this, struck the wind wall with her shoulder, wincing as the impact jarred her. 

The leader took advantage of this, waving his hands and sending several cutting gusts at her.  She managed to dodge all but one, which nicked her just under her right eye.  “Not so tough now are you, Kestrel?” The leader jeered.  However, Xinyan simply smirked.

“I’m not the one hiding behind a wall that will soon fall.” With that, she did a butterfly kick, sending a sharp, small twister that shredded the dead air wall.  Now there was nothing left in her way, and before the second-in-command could create another wall, she threw a wind punch at him.  Thinking she was distracted, the leader made a motion as though he were throwing cards.  Xinyan heard the whistling however, and continued moving forwards, dropping into a roll and mostly avoiding the cutting slices.  One of them came very close to her head, slicing off a few strands of her jet black hair.  Rita followed up Xinyan’s punch, ramming into the second’s side as he prepared to return fire at Xinyan.

Xinyan crouched on the ground in a runner’s start- and then she was gone.  “KIII-YAAAAIII!” she screeched, barrelling into the leader with great force, surprising him and knocking him off from the other boy.  The leader easily threw her off, however, since she was so light and small.  Xinyan flipped in midair, channeling the wind to her legs and stopping mere centimeters from the ground.  Gathering power, she performed a Lutz jump, cloaking herself in a twister as she returned to attack the leader again.

They clashed several times.  The leader had more raw power, however, Xinyan was faster.  She twirled and dived as she dodged his strikes, ramming him again and again.  He rebuffed her with his own counterattacks, and those that hit pushed her back a few meters.  Xinyan kept it up, attacking him from odd angles, using the wind as both a booster and armour, wearing him down more with every hit.  “I’m done playing around, you’re boring me, Crow,” she said after the umpteenth hit.  The Crow leader was floating limply in the air.  “You’re such a mess.  Surrender now and maybe I’ll let you go.”

“Even if you are the Kestrel, I’m not giving up to a little girl like you!  Mob rush!”  The Crow leader raised his arms and a maelstrom of dusty, vaguely bird-shaped masses rushed past him, intent on taking down Xinyan. 

Xinyan shrugged.  “Suit yourself,” she said, the air around her whistling as she drew her arm back as though about to shoot an arrow.  Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a black, snake-like mass slither on the ground and coil around the Crow leader’s leg, but she dismissed it, thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her.  “Lucky Sparrow.”  She released something, and a small, tightly wound funnel of wind tore through the mob of dust devils.  It struck the leader, but seemed to have no effect.

“Ha…hahahahaha!  Is that all you can do, Kestrel?  That felt like a breeze!  I was honestly expecting- !!”  The Crow started to jeer, but Xinyan only smiled.  The air shuddered and rippled, expanding suddenly.  The tiny funnel of high pressure air was no longer moving, and unable to maintain its compact form, exploded.  The force was strong enough to slam the Crow leader hard into the wall, knocking him out on impact.

“Ya still wanna mess with us?” Rita said harshly as some of the Crows started getting up.  One look at their defeated leader was enough to send them running.  Xinyan landed softly and blew her bangs out of her face.  She hadn’t escaped unscathed- there was the cut under her eye, her hair was a mess and the left side of her face was bruising a bit as well.  Her jogging suit had several nicks and dust stains on them.  But she didn’t seem to care, approaching the boy and his sister.  The younger girl hid behind her brother shyly.

“Welp, that was annoying.  Hey, are you okay?  He didn’t beat you up too much did he?” Xinyan asked.  The boy looked at her warily, not answering for a moment.  Rita elbowed her friend in the ribs.  “Oh, uh, sorry, I’m really rude.  My name’s Xinyan.”

“I’m Rita,” Rita added.  “Who’re you two?”

“I know who you are, Kestrel,” the boy said finally.  “I’ve been better, but this is nothing to worry about.  You have my thanks for saving me and my sister.  My name is Valen.”  He nudged his sister out.  “Come on, don’t be rude, you have to thank them for helping us too.”  Valen stood half in the shadows, and it was dim enough in the alley that if he had any injuries, Xinyan couldn’t see.

“U-um, thank you for saving us,” the smaller girl said shyly, peeking out from behind her brother’s back.  “Um, I-I’m Felicia…um…what you did there…th-that was really cool.”  Xinyan smiled at her, a slight blush on her cheeks.

“Ah, it was nothing- Rita did most of the work.” Xinyan said, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.

“Oh come on, don’t sell yourself short, Xinyan.  I just took care of the leftovers.” Rita said, lightly punching her friend’s arm.  Xinyan rubbed her arm sheepishly, and paused for a moment, thinking.  Suddenly she snapped her fingers, a bright smile on her face. 

“Hey I know!  Let’s be friends!  I come here a lot, so we’ll probably see each other again right?”  Xinyan stuck her hand out.

Valen gave her a strange look, suspicious.  On the one hand, it was a tempting offer.  At the very least, she was a noble, so maybe people wouldn’t mess with her friends as much.  On the other hand, he couldn’t help wondering if she had an ulterior motive behind that naïve, goofy expression of hers.  He supposed that maybe she was trustworthy, seeing as she got along well with that other Shaper, Rita, but he could never tell and the last thing he needed was a big mistake.  “Why would you want to be friends with a Shaper?” he asked carefully.  “I thought noble Channelers hated our kind.”  At this, Xinyan looked taken aback.  Rita slung an arm around Xinyan in a show of camaraderie.

“Hey, this bad girl’s my best friend.  She doesn’t give a hoot about what we are or what she is.  Besides, she doesn’t think far enough ahead to have any ulterior motives anyways, ain’t that right?” Rita noogied Xinyan in sisterly affection.

“H-hey, knock it off Rita.  But yeah, I don’t need a reason to be friends with anyone right?  So let’s be buddies!  It’ll be fun, honest!” Xinyan stuck her hand out again.  Tentatively, Valen shook it.  He didn’t seem entirely convinced, but this girl just seemed…well, a bit too stupid to really be a problem.  Having a little extra power on the side couldn’t be a bad thing either, right?

“Well…alright.” Valen said, relenting.

“AWESOME!  Man, this is the luckiest dumpster ever!  All the best stuff happens here!” Xinyan said, before noticing the knocked out Crow leader.  “Eeeeew, nasty.”  Using wind, she picked him up and dumped him on a trash heap at the back of the alley.  She dusted off her hands.  “Welp, that’s that!  So, what do you guys wanna do right now?

Felicia’s stomach gurgled.  She blushed, embarrassed, and looked down.  Xinyan and Rita chuckled.

“How about we go get a snack?  My treat,” Xinyan suggested merrily.  “Rita, we never did get to go to that fried plantain stand you said was right around your block, did we-OOF!”  Xinyan was suddenly floored, another small girl having slammed into her from out of nowhere.

“Get away from my sister you stupid Channeler!” growled the little girl, who sounded just like a rougher version of Felicia. 

“OWOWOWOW GET IT OFF OR HER OR SOMETHING OW DAMMIT OW!” Xinyan roared, feeling tiny fists pummeling her face as she vainly tried to protect herself.  The fact that she was bruising in several places was not helping.

“Fiammetta, stop it!  She saved us!” Felicia cried, distressed.  “Those two nice ladies already beat up all the bad men!”

“Owwwwww…oooh, look at all the pretty birdies…I think I just lost a few brain cells…ow…” Xinyan groaned.  Rita palmed her face.

“You know, with the way you keep getting beat up, I’m surprised you even have any left…” she said.

“Cold, Rita, that was just cold.  Anyways, who’s this other kid- eh?  Twins?  OMIGOSH THAT’S SO CUTE!!” Xinyan gushed, turning her head a bit to get a better look at her mysterious assailant.  True enough, the girl that attacked her looked exactly like Felicia.  They had the same wavy, dark hair, and the same exotic tan, and the same face shape, and the same hazel eyes.  Fiammetta had a much fiercer look about her though.  She got off Xinyan and put her hands on her hips, glaring at the older girl.  Apparently the compliment offended her.

“Fiammetta, apologize to her.  She’s a …friend.” Valen said, although he was hesitant on the last word.

“I’m not cute!  Ugh, whatever, I’m sorry, I was wrong okay?  You’re too stupid to be a problem anyways,” she said, pouting.

“Um, will she be okay?” Felicia asked.

“Yeah, she’s tough, don’t worry.  She’s got a thick skull, see?” Rita said, good-naturedly knocking Xinyan on the head a few times.

“Ow, Ritaaaaaa, stop abusing my head,” grumbled Xinyan.  “Well come on, let’s get to Lim’s Snack Bar before it gets dark, okay?  I have to get back home before then- even though I don’t think my parents will really notice.”

“Hey, aren’t you worried they’ll start asking questions?  You look kinda beat up.” Rita said, looking over Xinyan with a critical eye.  Xinyan waved it off.

“This?  It probably won’t be too big of a deal.  They might get kind of annoyed since the party’s tomorrow, but it’s not like this is the first time it happened.  …What, you think noble-born kids don’t get into scraps or something?” Xinyan said as they walked to the snack stand.  At the mention of a party, Valen gave Xinyan a quizzical look.

“You’re kind of irresponsible, aren’t you?  You have a special occasion tomorrow and you’re making such a mess of yourself,” Valen commented.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.  I mean hey, they’ll actually remember that I’m there for once…I hope.  I’m turning thirteen tomorrow!  No more time to be goofing off, I guess.” Xinyan replied, laughing sheepishly.  They rounded a corner, arriving at the snack stand.  It was a simple wooden push-cart with a bright yellow umbrella.  “Lim’s Snack Bar” was written in calligraphy-style lettering on the side of the cart.  “Oh cool, we’re here.  Come on guys, order up, it’s on me!”

“Hm…Plantain box for me please,” Rita said.

“Three mixed boxes for us,” said Valen after briefly scanning the menu. 

“Alright!” Xinyan said cheerfully, approaching the man behind the cart.  The older man glanced at the five kids and smiled warmly.

“Hello, what can I get you today?” he asked.

“Could I get four mixed boxes and a plantain box please?” Xinyan said.

“Of course you can!  That will be 7 Chuan and 50 Mai.” Mr. Lim said, turning around to scoop the snacks into the boxes.  She handed him the money and took the snacks with her other hand. 

“Thank you!” she said.  She gave Rita her box and took her own box, passing the rest of them in their bag to Valen and his sisters.

“Thanks Xinyan.” Rita said.

“Thanks,” said Valen and his sisters.  The five of them found a bench nearby and sat down to enjoy the food.

“Mmm.  A little sweet, a little salty, just right,” Xinyan said happily as she munched on a fried yam slice.  “And so soft!  They don’t make it anywhere near this good at home.”

“See, I told you this was a good place.” Rita said.

Time flew by for the five of them.  Soon, the sun began to sink into the horizon- a clear sign that Xinyan really should get going. 

“Well, guess I’d better head back.  Today was kinda fun!  I hope I’ll run into you guys again soon!” Xinyan said as she flew off.

“Yeah sure, just send Cirrus if you want to visit, okay?” Rita called after her.

“Sure thing!” Xinyan replied.  It didn’t take her long to get back to her room, but to her surprise, she found both her older sister and her nanny waiting there.  And neither of them were pleased to see the state that Xinyan came home in.

“Xinyan, where in Fei Lian’s name have you been?  You’re a mess!”