Chapter Four

Hine's performance was second, and she sang a long winded ballad that made me again wish to vomit on command. She was swaying her body in suggestive dance, occasionally glancing to see if the prince was watching. I now understood the meaning of her bridal dress, she had known of the prince's arrival and wanted to impress him for a try at his affection. Now that the heir was chosen, any of us could be married.

Prince Ryu seemed a bit uncomfortable, and the delight of it made me shudder. Seeing Hine rejected was worth the awkward emotions of being next to a Hon Lu prince.

Each performance made me more nervous as mine came closer. Shin had offered a glass of the hot rice wine to Prince Ryu and he drank it the same way my mother did, on one long gulp. Watching him lean his head back and his throat bob made me more nervous than ever, and I finished my drink the same way ignoring the slight spin of my head.

Finally my time had come. I walked from my place feeling the swords beat against my legs.

I'd do the same dance I did every year. It'd rally the crowd the way it always did, and I watched Lee disappear for a moment and return with a two stringed Erhu and place it in my mothers lap. It wasn't often that she played the instrument, but every year she did so for my performance. She was the only mother who joined in her daughters dance.

"My youngest daughter Leilani, and her swords of fire." My father announced and clapped as I took my place with the great fire at my back.

Once the crowd had quieted, my mother began at the bottom of her instrument with her eyes closed.

As a child she had taught me the Erhu, and it was sad to say I had no talent. The story behind it was that when my father was still a prince he went on a diplomatic journey to Hon Lu and heard my mother play. He told the people of Isla that the sound was sweeter than the siren's call. And later she became his eighth and final wife.

The song she began was one from her home village, it started slow and quickened into tempo towards the end.

I slowly took my swords from their sheaths and looked on to them and into my reflection. My lipstick had long been gone, and stray hairs fell on my face. The world washed away, and the music painted the image of my mother's home along the granite tile floor. I saw her as a girl living and learning from her own mother and I so fiercely wanted to give those women my most beautiful dance.

I threw one sword into the air, and flipped the other into my now open hand. Crouching low into a fighting stance, I caught it. Both serrated edges now facing the invisible enemies around me. I slit each of their unseen throats, banishing their evil from my sight in long slashes. I flipped backwards several times in retreat as they closed in on me. Now close to the fire, I set my blades ablaze.

A trick invented by clever Lee. A light coating of kerosene on the silver to create blue flames. I dipped low into a bow, respecting the fire of my father's fathers. I jumped high, and spun. That wild glow left the onlookers in awe. Even the acrobats seemed impressed.

My mother's song intensified, and I watched as she moved with the song possessed by its awful melody. Her fingers moved skillfully, and the bow looked as if it'd cut the instrument in half with her force. The sound became cheerful, vibrant with childhood memories, and I moved faster to keep up. I could see myself running through the long grasses of Hon Lu, chasing those invisible villains. I stepped carefully to keep myself in the air, only touching the ground when necessary. My legs kicking against the force of their undying determination to keep me from flying. I tricked them, feigning left and moving right, smiling at their ignorance. I told the people of Isla a story, a girl fighting to set them free.

I took down the enemies one by one, and my mothers song rang its longing tune. To fight for your home was a sorrowful endeavor, and in this moment I danced in flame to lead her back to the sea, back home. I looked again, and saw in the shining blades my mother crying. She stood at the shore without the paint and in only her simplest silk gown, screaming at the waves to bring her home. I danced again for her, to split the sea in half. To guide her now that the enemies had long been dead. She followed in a quick tempo, desperate. We raced together, hand in hand and the song crashed like the waves at our backs. We ran, the fastest our legs could take us. Those legs that could run faster than my Isla sisters. It was close now, that village in the distance. I could see my grandmother, her face wrinkled in tears of joy and her arms were open to welcome us. The waves were catching up, I could taste the salt brine in my mouth. But it was not the sea, I had bitten hard into my cheek and it was blood on my tongue.

And now my mother's song was defiant, she thrashed as the water seeped into her silken gown. We would go down, we needed to move faster. I danced. She played.

It was for nothing, we drowned. My blades extinguished and I stood defeated at the bottom of the ocean. Her music was quiet under the water, and it was like she had been swept away from me. I looked around, and the sea was dark. Without my blades of fire I was engulfed in the darkest night. Above me, stars began to twinkle and for them I did my final dance. I sheathed the swords and danced only with my body and hands. A dance of grieving and acceptance, I'd stay at the depths of the sea until it was my time to dance again.

And for the finale, I danced to my father's dais. For him I danced as an Isla, slower like the rising tide under a full moon. The final notes of my mothers song were loud and unwavering, like my father's will. I turned my back to him, bowing once to the great flame and ran. I ran faster than any wildfire, I swerved like a jungle cat, and leapt over the great flame. It did not burn me, I was too fast. When I hit the ground, I felt lighter than a feather and my mothers song came to its glorious end. My chest was heaving, the breaths forced and hard. No one had expected me to leap over the fire, not even my mother, it didn't seem possible. I had practiced for months on the black beach.

Suddenly loud with cheers and hollers, pride washed over me. My performance had always been a spectacle more daring each year. It was in my nature to show up my sisters in this one event, then retreat for the rest of the year to my own devices. I reminded them that they may have the full blood of Isla, but my mother's talent had won a king's heart in a single song. I bowed, and I saw my father standing and clapping wildly. Malia was grinning from ear to ear, clapping with even more bravado. My mother bowed to me, the one and only time she had. Our duet was the most beautiful we had accomplished.

Prince Ryu stood behind her, and his claps were slow and precise. His lips slightly apart in surprise, and his eyes were even darker than before. Like that ocean that had drowned and trapped me.

"Your performance was moving." He said and his voice was gravelly. Behind him past the balcony's edge, the day had long fallen to night. It felt like an eternity since I stood on the beach with Malia, and I wanted to return there to contemplate all that had happened.

"Many thanks for your high praise." I said with an annoyed expression, I did not want to treat him like a prince. Especially when my bones felt so weary from the dance.

"We will return home now Prince Ryu" my mother said as she handed her instrument to Lee, "Our sedan only has two seats but I'm sure I can-"

"I will return home on my home," I interrupted quickly, barely registering my language change. "I will congratulate Malia, and follow dutifully. The Prince may take my seat."

My mother looked angry at my disrespect, but understood my desire to be alone after such an exhausting day.

"It would be my honor to ride with you," Prince Ryu responded, and I couldn't help but again notice how our language sounded more beautiful in his voice. "but it would be against my honor to take the spot of the princess. I will stay to see her safely home. I am sure she is capable of leading me."

The air in my lungs deflated and I felt myself sag, playing courtier for a Hon Lu prince was not the outcome I intended. Mother bowed, and turned to her servants to lead her back to our home.