XXIX - The Flow Within

Cool morning air hung over the clearing, where mist lingered between the slender trees like a thin veil across the mossy ground.

But it was anything but quiet.

“HAA!”

Pan’s shout rang across the hollow.

She lunged forward, feinted a strike at Haku’s shoulder, then changed direction at the last possible moment.

Haku sidestepped.

Carrying the motion through, Pan pivoted on the ball of her foot and snapped out a kick.

This time, Haku’s shield came up.

THUMP!

Her counterattack came almost instantly. 

The shield swept toward Pan’s head fast enough to shear off a few strands of hair as she ducked beneath it.

Pan rolled backward and sprang up again, fists raised.

“That’s enough.”

The voice stopped her cold.

Still breathing heavily, she lowered her arms.

Aki stepped out from beneath the trees and slowly approached.

Beside Pan, Haku pushed up her visor.

“So? What do you think?”

Aki studied her for a moment.

“Well, if the Guild’s Resonance Chamber found nothing, I see no reason to doubt its result.”

Pan’s stomach tightened.

“Oh…”

Haku immediately stepped forward.

“But her movements resemble a fighting style I once saw in another world. Might there not be some Martial Arts Resonance on the eastern continent that...”

“There is no such thing as a Martial Arts Resonance,” Aki interrupted.

“Resonance is a method people in the West use to classify natural aptitudes. Sword. Bow. Magic. Elements. Affinities between a person and a particular weapon, discipline, or force.”

She gestured toward Pan.

“But in the east, we examine something entirely different. Something that lies beneath all of that.”

“Something...?”

Aki held out her arm.

“Your hand.”

Pan obeyed hesitantly.

Aki placed two fingers against her wrist and closed her eyes.

“What are you doing, mm?”

“Checking the flow.”

Slowly, her fingers traveled from Pan’s wrist along her forearm to the crook of her elbow. She briefly touched Pan’s shoulder, the base of her neck, and finally a spot just below her collarbone.

“Kihihi! T-that tickles...!”

“Hold still,” Aki snapped.

Haku stood only a step away, beside one of the little round wooden guardian figures lining the edge of the garden.

She watched intently as Aki moved her fingers down Pan’s side, pausing at another point beneath her ribs.

Then, as Aki’s fingers slipped a little too close to the underside of Pan’s breast…

WUMP!

The wooden figure toppled into the gravel.

Aki jerked her hand back and turned.

Haku’s boot was still half-raised beside the fallen statue.

For the briefest instant, her smile looked strangely rigid.

“Oh...” She lowered her foot and bent to set the figure upright again. “My apologies. I suppose I wasn’t paying attention.”

Aki stared at her for a moment.

“…Right.”

She sighed and turned back to Pan, her expression more serious now.

“Anyway. It’s as I thought.”

Pan swallowed. “What is?”

“Your body is overflowing with Shuisu.”

“Shuisu?”

“Life current. It flows through every living body, though not everyone can direct it consciously.”

Haku stepped closer.

“Like a form of magic?”

“In some schools.”

Aki settled onto a flat stone.

“Shuisu can strengthen the body, accelerate movement, tend to wounds, or even be used for techniques you would probably call magic here.”

Pan turned her hands over, studying them as though they might suddenly reveal something.

“And I... have a lot of it?”

A dry laugh escaped Aki.

“A lot is an understatement.”

“R-really?”

“The problem is that you have almost no conscious control over it. Your body remembers movements. Stances. Balance. Perhaps even forms you were taught as a child. But you aren’t consciously guiding the flow.”

She tapped two fingers lightly against Pan’s chest.

“Your body draws on it instinctively, while your mind barely even knows it exists.”

Her attention shifted to Haku.

“Your training can still teach her plenty. Distance. Timing. Reactions. Reading an opponent. Staying calm under pressure. But you can’t teach her to guide her Shuisu. For that, she has to learn what it feels like herself.”

Pan fell quiet.

Shuisu.

And I’m supposed to have that much of it inside me?

“And how do I... do that, mm?”

“Start by relaxing. Breathe slowly.”

Pan obeyed, letting her shoulders loosen.

“Now focus on your center.”

“My center?”

“The flow is easiest to sense around your abdomen.”

Pan closed her eyes.

She breathed in.

And out.

Feel the flow... Feel the flow...

...

GRRRRR.

Her eyes snapped open, a hand drifting sheepishly to her stomach.

“I just feel hungry...”

For a moment, Aki merely stared at her.

Beside them, Haku’s lips curved into a thoroughly unsurprised smile.

Even Aki eventually gave in and folded her arms with a faint grin.

“Well, I don’t know much beyond the basics myself. You’d probably be better off finding an expert.”

Haku moved to Pan’s side, her expression warm with encouragement.

“Then that is what we shall do. Won’t we?”

This time, Pan needed only a moment.

“Yeah...”

***

Some time later, Pan tightened her backpack straps on Aki’s veranda.

Elda stood nearby with his pack ready.

His hand drifted toward his cigarettes, met Aki’s disapproving stare, and dropped again.

“Yeah, yeah. I get it.”

A short distance away, Katz was also ready to leave.

Pan gave him a skeptical look.

“So you’re coming with us, mm?”

Katz pulled his hood over his ears.

“Only as far as the old dam road, nya. From there, you’re on your own.”

Aki stepped off the veranda and closed the door behind her.

“I’ll come as well. These marshes are easy to get lost in if you don’t know the terrain. I’ll see you safely to the road to Rubia.”

Not long afterward, they left Aki’s cottage behind.

The farther they went, the drier the ground became, and the marshland eventually rose into a narrow ridge.

Until the path split.

An old trail overgrown with grass led back south, while another wound northeast between the trees.

Katz stopped.

“Well then. This is where we part ways.”

Pan glanced toward the southern trail, then back at him.

“Guess you really did keep your end of the bargain. Even if it was purely for your boss’s benefit, mm.”

Katz sighed.

“It’s my job, nya.”

“Maybe you should find a new one.”

Katz looked ready to fire back, but his expression softened instead.

“It’s not that simple...”

He raised his head and grinned.

“But thanks to you, I might actually start thinking about whether I want to keep doing this forever, nya.”

Pan blinked, caught off guard.

“Thanks... for getting us here.”

Katz’s grin faltered for just a moment. 

“You’re welcome.”

Haku and Elda said their goodbyes as well, while Aki merely gave him a curt nod.

He turned around and walked several steps down the southern path.

After a short while, he stopped once more, raising a hand.

“And try not to get robbed again on your way to Aenzia, nya!”

Pan’s ears shot straight up.

“YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE WHO’S EVER ROBBED ME, MM!”

Katz laughed and continued on his way without looking back.

Pan remained where she was, watching him until his figure had almost vanished between the trees.

“And be careful on the way back, mm...” she murmured.

Elda stepped up beside her.

“Admit it. You’re going to miss him.”

Pan whirled around.

“What?! N-no, I don’t!”

Elda hitched his backpack higher onto his shoulder.

“Of course not.”

Pan growled under her breath, but couldn’t quite suppress the smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

Aki cleared her throat.

“If everyone’s finished, we should keep moving. I need to be back before it gets dark.”

***

Soon they continued along the northeastern trail.

Aki and Haku moved several paces ahead, the Sword Saint eagerly peppering her with questions about Shuisu and the eastern continent.

Pan followed behind them with Elda.

For a while, the only sound was the crunch of their footsteps along the narrow trail.

Elda glanced toward Haku.

Then he deliberately slowed his pace.

“Say...” he began quietly, his tone unusually serious.

“When are you planning to tell her?”

Pan flinched.

He can’t possibly mean...

“T-tell her what?”

“Don’t insult my intelligence.” His tone stayed flat, but the sideways look said enough.

She looked away.

So he really does know.

For several steps, Pan said nothing.

“As soon as we reach Aenzia, mm...” she finally murmured.

Elda folded his arms behind his head as they walked.

“And then?”

Ahead, Haku was quietly laughing at something Aki had just said.

And then...?

Her fingers tightened around the strap of her backpack.

“Then I’ll make her understand that she can find a purpose in this world even without a Demon Emperor.”

Elda snorted.

“You’re going to make her understand? You’ve got your work cut out for you.”

He nodded toward Haku.

“You do realize her entire sense of self revolves around having some greater purpose, right? You’re not going to get that out of her just like that.”

Pan stopped so abruptly that Elda had to turn back.

“And what else am I supposed to do, huh?” she hissed. “Do you think I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into?!”

Farther ahead, Aki and Haku continued on, gradually putting more distance between them.

“When I came up with all of this... I had no idea what I was setting in motion, mm. I just wanted to find a way back home!”

Her voice nearly broke, and she had to force herself to keep it down.

“How could I have known...” Her gaze shifted to Haku, who had stopped at a fork in the path and was now looking back at them in confusion. “...that something like this would happen...”

Tears welled in Pan’s eyes.

“...Is everything all right...?” Haku’s voice echoed from a distance.

“Everything’s fine!” Elda called over his shoulder. “Just a stone in her boot! We’ll catch up!”

He turned back to the Panwanian and let out a deep breath.

“Unfortunately, I can’t tell you how to get yourself out of this mess either...”

His hand came to rest on her shoulder, and for the first time, Pan thought she could see something like concern in his eye.

“But the longer you wait... the harder it’s going to get.”

He started walking again.

“Now come on.”

Pan remained where she was for another moment.

Bamboocrap...

She wiped the last trace of moisture from her eyes and hurried after him.

***

Before long, the trees began to thin, and the damp smell of the marshes gradually faded behind them.

At last, the narrow trail emerged onto a broad road winding north through the hills.

Aki stopped at its edge.

“This is as far as I’m going.”

Her expression softened as she looked at Pan.

“If you truly want to understand the flow of your Shuisu, find someone who can teach you properly once you reach the east.”

Pan touched the amulet hanging against her chest.

“I will. Thank you, Aki.”

Haku bowed her head politely.

“You have my gratitude as well.”

Aki watched them for another moment before turning back toward the trail.

They watched until she disappeared among the trees.

Elda let out a deep breath, reaching for his cigarettes.

“Finally...” he muttered as he lit one.

Haku adjusted her pack and smiled at Pan.

“Well then. Shall we?”

But Pan couldn’t look at her.

“Yeah...” 

She swallowed as they started north.

Elda’s warning echoed through her mind.

The longer you wait... the harder it’s going to get.