The way of the Nomad

Today is a new day. I woke up feeling so horrible with a splitting headache and shortness of breath. It is early in the morning when I was led into a courtyard by a young monk no older than fifteen years old. After heading out the hall he gave me cup of a bitter citrus tasting drink that helped my morning sickness slightly settling my stomach and head. As the sun shined down a few rose petals fell from atop the trees. Under one were two carpet mats in the shade. One of which was being utilized by one of the elder monks I had met the other day. He sat cross legged, which only now I noticed seemed familiar to how Shifu sat. But it only crossed my mind for but a moment.

"Come, have a seat young one."

With enough effort I tried to mirror his posture to the best of my ability as I sat beside him.

"How did you sleep?"

"Haah....I had no problems with sleeping....Haah, except for this morning after I woke up." The walk here felt like I had ran a full mile.

"I have met quite a few people who have had trouble staying in an elevated area for long periods of time. The feelings usually go away after a week."

Looking back on it, Shifu did say exercising on Kyoshi mountain would help me later. If I never did I wonder how worse I'd feel compared to now. Just thinking on it made a shiver run up my spine. "Phuuu....A week seems so long."

"Hahaha. Patience will be a virtue. Now. What would you like to learn?"

Hm? "I thought you would teach me the basics."

"The basics of what?" The man faced me partly with only his eyes.

"Your peoples' outlook on life?"

"That itself is a broad road to go down. In what aspect of life do you want to learn about?"

"....I don't know."

"Hmm. It seems you do not know what you want to learn neither the question you should be asking."

"...." As I tried to think on what I should ask the monk I began to twist the metal cuffs on my wrists.

"You were subjected to many hardships I see."

"Huh? Oh, yes." I held up my arm so he could see them better. Long before getting to the air temple I removed the chain links from the cuffs in order to have an easier time climbing.

"This world can be a dangerous place. But if you can use the proper tools to navigate it, you can find the beauty in it."

"You mean like using my words?" I partially responded sarcastically. It was only after I said that did I feel as if I was disrespectful. However he did not seem to even be swayed by what I told him.

"They can be used in some instances, retreating in others, avoidance in most, and in a last ditch effort confronting it head on with equal or greater force. It all depends in what you wish to accomplish?"

"My purpose,"

"Will dictate your life."

".....What is life?"

The man closed his eyes and took a long deep breath.

"It is in and all around you. It is intricate, phenomenally so intricate that if you spent ten thousand years looking at it carefully you still will not know it entirely. Even if for one million years you studied it you will not know it in its entirety. However I can tell you what it can be capable of. It is impartial. It gives and takes away at its leisure. You can never convince it of giving more or taking less. It does whatsoever it pleases and it is never late."

"So, what if I can't fulfill my purpose?"

"Just because you are not able to fulfill what you perceive as your life's purpose doesn't mean you no longer have life. It will still go on. You could do absolutely nothing in this life and it will go on with or without your help. It's truly, forever independent. Even if all humanity was no longer here life would still be here moving on without us."

Taking the time to ruminate on the subject I could feel my legs going numb to which the monk had clearly noticed.

"Now, it is time for morning stretches." He stood up almost as if it was effortless.

"Eh? You also teach exercise?" Excitement was found in the tone of my voice.

"Haha, it may not look it but maintaining a healthy lifestyle for oneself while in ones youth is encouraged here. Not to mention it will alleviate the sickness you are experiencing."

"You've convinced me already."

~4 hours later in the courtyard~

"Wow....you look like a wet dead fish." Shifu was standing over me as I lied on my back shirtless soaking in a puddle of sweat.

"Haah....Haah...Haah..."

My chest was heaving as my muscles and lungs were screaming. I didn't even have the strength to reply.

"Would you like a short cold bath?" He held a bucket next to his head as the sunlight beamed behind him forcing me to squint up at him.

"Haah...Haah...Haah..."

"I'll take that as a yes." With a slow pour the water dripped on my head and down my torso. I know Shifu told me that cold is simply the absence of heat....But the cold water felt so refreshing as it washed over me. But it was however short lived as the final drop hit my arms. "Whenever you are able to stand I'll meet you in the scroll archives.

Once my breath was somewhat caught I struggled to get my feet underneath me to stand.

"D-dammit!" It honestly felt as if I was carrying a Platypus Bear. Using the walls to assist me I painstakingly struggled to make my way to meet Shifu.

~Library~

"These are all the works I could find that could help benefit you as we travel. One that shows different stances, a few teachings of nomad history and a few works of literature detailing proverbs and wise sayings from gurus of old." Shifu was filling a censor with what seemed to be flower buds before placing an ember inside and set it on a windowsill.

As I sat across the table hunched over rolling the paper open, my eyes widened in disbelief. So much wisdom and experience freely given and I had all the time in the world to soak it all in.

"Here," Shifu slid over a thin wooden case no thicker than two of my palms placed together. "I will send for you after dinner and you will repeat the exercise you performed this morning."

"Guh" With a wince I steeled my mind from dreading the pain I was in for. "....yes Shifu."

"Fufu," A smirk teased his face. "Now now. Time for you to soak up knowledge."

Opening the case I found a pair of pinpoint accurate sumi brushes, two vials of water, a ink stone and multiple rolls of paper.

"It's time to study I suppose."

With that I got to work in reading the scrolls and for whatever I couldn't grasp entirely I jotted it down for reference later. For the most part I struggled to understand the poems as they were written.

For example: 'What is life? It is a flash of firefly in the night. It is a breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is as the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.' or 'Tell me and I will forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I will understand.'

Most did not hold an author to credit the works, only a handful had that honor. For the surface level I could maybe grasp what was being said but to completely know the true secrets the hundreds of these proverbs held, I could study them for multiple lifetimes.

At the same time my vision was slowly beginning to become hazy as my head lurched forward. With a start I slammed my free palm onto the table to stop myself.

"Ugh! What is wrong with me?" Shaking my head from side to side I fought off the feeling of drowsiness. "This is no time for me to fall asleep. I must stay focused." I pressed my fingers between the bridge of my nose and eyes.

With a deep heave I took in large gulps of fresh air to rejuvenate myself, just as how Shifu once taught me before continuing my studies.

Time soon passed by with the sun as it cycled across the cloudy blue sky. Still, I continued to read, take notes, study, and reread certain passages from over a dozen pieces of literature. Before I knew it I felt a tapping on my shoulder.

Turning my head I was met with a tray that held a bowl of rice, soup, radishes, and some green peppers.

"Ah, thank you," I said as I set aside the scrolls and ink bottles before placing the tray in front of me.

"How are you faring?"

"I'm trying my best but..." I swallowed a small bite of a radish." somehow I don't know if it will be enough."

"Give it time. All the infrastructures of the world was not built in a single day you know."

"Yes. Yes, you are right."

"Do not fret over the tableware when you are finished. Someone will stop by for cleanup after you."

"Thank you Nun Lio," I gave a short nod in gratitude.

"It's my pleasure." With a warm smile she patted my shoulder with a soft touch before turning to leave.

As she left I used the pair of chopsticks to dip a portion of rice in the soup and took a bite. The dish was not focused on drowning it in spices but it was tasty all the same. This change of culture regarding food was simple yet it intrigued me. It made me wonder what other surprises lied in wait for me to discover.

With food in my stomach and a short reprieve I felt well rested. After placing my chopsticks across the empty bowl I tried to stand only to realize my legs would not hold my weight. To my dismay they had gone numb and fell asleep.

"Dammit." I growled between my teeth.

Pushing down on the table with my arms I struggled to stay standing. Forcing my limbs to move I found my way once again back to the courtyard to where Shifu was waiting for me.

"Fufu, if it isn't my favorite student?"

"Mph!" I stomped hard into the ground to drive away the prickly feeling from my legs. "Khhh!!!"

Shifu stood opposite from me with his hands behind his waist in his usual stance when we would spar. His face stayed neutral as his eyes were calculative in a constant state of studying me.

"Before the main workout I say we should do a warm up session, don't you?" To anyone else they would believe he was asking me. But I knew that he was simply telling me what was going to happen in the form of a question. When it came to training he has never truly asked me for consent. Only warned me.

I took a deep breath in my belly before bringing my arms parallel to one another in front of my torso and slightly bent my knees. "Hell yeah."

"Then let us begin." His voice one octave above a whisper. And with a wave of his hand he beckoned me to attack.

With that sign I launched my body forward within striking distance. With a straight kick I aimed for his chest to which he easily dodged by turning his torso.

Not one to let up on the pressure I bent my leg back launching it up to his head. At this he ducked and kicked my supporting leg from underneath me causing me to fall. Landing on my hands and chest I scissor kicked to his knees. When he hopped to avoid it, I in a rush threw a fist sized stone at his face as I went for a tackle. But to my despair all that awaited me was a palm to the back of my neck and a mouthful of dirt.

Not one to give up I twisted around with a hold of his wrist with the intent to put him in an armbar. All I needed was a second and a half and I was locked on to him while he was crouched above me.

"Ho~" Shifu had an eyebrow raised before he started to brute force crane in his lone arm.

Noticing my tactic was useless I abandoned the approach by letting go and used his chest as a backflipping plank to get some distance.

While I racked my brain on what tactic to use against him he took the time to adjust what he called an 'haori' before dusting his sleeves off.

For some unknown reason that gesture ticks me off. Throwing caution to the wind I once again go on the offensive and try to land a strike anywhere I could possibly find.

Seeing this Shifu either avoided or very rarely blocked my attacks as he stayed within arms reach. Several minutes of this I was getting fiercely impatient until after throwing a reckless left hook his right palm struck behind me in the base of my spine. I almost instantly lost the ability to stay upright let alone the ability to operate my bottom half. When I collapsed on my back I could see Shifu tilt his head to the side as he gazed down at me.

"Did I accidentally break another one?" I vaguely heard him mumble under his breath after a dozen seconds behind his hand combing through his beard.

After an excruciatingly twenty seconds, which felt like minutes I was finally able to stop feeling as though knives were jabbing me in my shins and thighs.

"Ah! You're not paralyzed. It's good to be young when you are far more squishy. Adults are more rigid and firm and fracture easy." He placed a hand on his hip as he looked off into space. "Haah...I do believe that was a good warm-up. Since you've had a good break we should get to the main workout. And when I say 'we' I mean 'you'. Now, chop chop! We don't have all night." He clapped his hands at the end. Urging me to stand.

Standing on wobbly legs with my fist pushed up against my lower aching back (not entirely recovered from the impact) I get up.

"Does it hurt young lord?" He asked me.

"...Ye...s." I uttered in a hoarse breath trying to massage away the tense muscles.

"Hmm." He nodded his head a few times as he paced around me a couple times while brushing his fingers over and through his facial hair. "Does it hurt as badly as when you watched your cousin die?"

In an instant from being hunched over I positioned both of my hands sending eight earth spikes from the ground at him. Instead of leaping out the way he crouched below their pincer points and responded with hitting their base sending a few earth clumps back.

With my arms out I redirected them using the back of my wrist. It didn't quite go as smoothly as I expected as the skin of my wrists were scraped drawing blood. It seems my state of not being used to this environment is effecting the outcome of my bending harshly. 'Argh! Whatever! I need to fight through it!' Digging my heel deep into the ground I molded the ground beneath Shifu drop him into an empty chasm as I utilized my hands to close it around his shoulders. But before I could finish, an earthen tendril took ahold of my outstretched arm and flung me sideways into the ground rebounding into a nearby tree.

"So much anger. But in this.....state you are incomplete." His words cut through the rushing wind.

"Khhh!" It felt as if my shoulder-blades were burning as I impacted.

When trying to return to my feet I could hear steady footsteps nearing me. Tightening my fists I condensed half a dozen stones beneath me and shot them out in the sounds general direction.

"Your anger does not change the fact that you failed to act."

Without missing a beat I ran aside while using the earth to springboard into the sky with stone gauntlets and boots. Once I was close to thirty feet into the air I could see Shifu gazing up at me with his hands behind his waist. At the apex of the rise I propelled myself out of the rock boots by rotating my entire body to pick up speed and used my gauntlets as a counter balance. As I spun I sharply drove them down above his head to where he teetered away causing me to strike the ground creating a four foot crater.

"Never show your opponent your back while you are in close quarter combat."

As I turned to elbow strike him right in his face he parried it, continuing me into a spiral, countering by sending his second digit knuckles to each side to the inside of my hipbone rendering me on shaky legs forcing me to take a knee.

"That. Does not look pleasant."

If looks could kill, this man would have died over a dozen times by now with the pained glare I was sending him as I took the time to recover.

"Fuck.....you." I spat between grit teeth.

"That's funny. Isn't that what that soldier did to- Fama was it?" As he said that I began to see red.

Filled with rampage I threw everything I could at him. Spikes, kicks, punches, boulders, but none of them could reach. It was infuriating to say the least.

While I was lashing out like a wild beast his fist found its way into my solar plexus.

"Khuhaaa!" As I clawed at my chest I fought to keep breathing I swear I could feel my heart pound against my spine. With each beat it felt as if everything else struggled to but couldn't catch up.

"Scared yet? Good. Fear is the next step. It is the second greatest of teachers directly under pain. You simply forgotten that you are facing a man who could have easily broken every bone in your body ten times by now due to being blinded by rage."

As my breath refused to fully come back I began to hyperventilate. Shifu took his foot and kicked me over onto my back and kneeled his weight on top of my inside arm.

"Your father," As I tried to strike him with the other he simply took my wrist in his vice-like grip staring me dead in the eyes as he calmly spoke. "Your mother, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles they are all gone young lord."

'NO! SHUT UP!' With clenched eyes I was wrenching my body every which way trying to get free.

"No matter how much you miss them, do you understand me? They are never-WILL NEVER- come back."

In a swift motion he snatched me from the ground by my neck slowly lifting me up till my feet were mere inches off the ground.

"I suppose....it is high time for you to truly know the world in which you live in now.....and for all time." Dropping me in a quick motion he willed two stones to press against the crown of my skull before placing the palm of his hand over my chest and a thumb betwixt my brows.

~~!!!!!!PHSHHYOOOM!!!!!!~~

And just like that my vision seemed to rush back into what appeared to be this endless tunnel. The outside world as well as Shifu seemingly had been swallowed by the endless darkness.