A girl their age was tending to the forge. She wore a long black cotton dress and lace-up boots. Her hair was in a messy topknot, her eyes dark and focused. As they drew close, Yiran saw a clan tattoo like Teshin’s on the nape of her neck, disappearing down her top.
She turned at the sound of their footsteps, wiping her hands on her worn leather apron.
“Yiran, meet my sister, Tesha.”
Tesha cocked her head. “Is this the weirdo you were talking about?”
Taking an instant liking to her, Yiran grinned. “The one and only.”
“Let’s have a look at you then,” she said, smiling back.
Teshin was her fraternal twin, so she didn’t resemble them. But the two siblings had the same quiet confidence, the kind that came with knowing exactly what you were meant to do with your life. Yiran wished he could relate.
“Grab that sword over there—no, the one on the left,” Tesha said. “Go on, swing it around. Show me some footwork.”
Yiran did as he was told.
“You can stop.”
He put the sword down.
“I heard your fingers glow when you channel magic,” Tesha said. “Normally the crimson glow of yangqi only shows on a spiritual weapon when it’s been imbued with the wielder’s magic; that’s why you’re a weirdo. Give me your hands, please.” Her smile disappeared as she examined his palms, then the backs of his hands, and finally, his fingers. “Channel for me.”
Again, Yiran obliged. Sure enough, as his breathing pattern shifted, a soft crimson glow lit up around his fingertips. Not wanting to strain his spirit core, he kept it slow and steady, a low-level flow.
“How’s your spell casting?” Tesha asked.
“Not too bad—”
“Mediocre,” Teshin said bluntly. “He can do better.”
“Ouch. Appreciate the honesty.” Yiran pulled his hands back.
Teshin turned to their twin. “Thoughts?”
“I think you might be right,” Tesha replied, crossing her arms.
Yiran couldn’t tell if it was a good sign or a bad one.
Teshin tilted their head, only for Tesha to raise her eyebrows in reply to what they were silently suggesting.Must be a twin thing, Yiran thought. A secret language between the two of them.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
“Someone tampered with your meridian pathways,” Tesha said. “But you already knew that.” The look in her eyes was kind, like she understood what he’d gone through.
For once, Yiran didn’t feel defensive, just confused. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“You don’t have to tell us what happened if you don’t want to,” Tesha assured him. “All I’m saying is whatever was done to you might be what’s stopping you from matching properly with a spiritual weapon. I think your qi is circulating in a strange pattern because of the tampering. It might also be affecting your spell casting.”
A bitter laugh caught in Yiran’s throat. The irony wasn’t lost on him. His grandfather had tried so hard to extract magic out of him, to insist on something that wasn’t there, no matter the cost. No matter the damage. To think that now, when Yirancouldpractice magic, it was the consequences of his grandfather’s past actions that were preventing him from achieving what the old man wanted in the first place.
Yiran tried not to spiral. He had comesoclose, and each time he found another locked door he had no key for.
“What now?” he said, feeling helpless. “Do I just... walk away from magic? Do I—”
Teshin cut him off. “When I said I wasn’t giving up, I meant I wasn’t giving up on you.”
Yiran stared. It didn’t occur to him that Teshin would care that much. That Teshin would care abouthim.You’re just a weirdo, a puzzle to be solved, he reminded himself.
