Yang's words echoed in Tien's mind. About respect and truth and Khai.
And so, for the entire week, Tien had stayed away from her niece-turned-nephew.
But Tien couldn't stay at Taesu indefinitely: she had duties back in Karashu. She needed to return. Before that, she needed to speak with her niece-turned-nephew.
With words and rumours of Healer Khai around with the other Healers, Tien knew where to find him. The lower districts.
It was near noon when Tien arrived, at a time very similar to when she came the previous week to find her niece associating with an unknown man.
When she arrived this time, she found Healer Khai in company of even more men: the same young earth mage, two other earth mages, a swordsman, and a fire mage who looked like he could have been Khai's twin.
Long lost kin?
Yang's words echoed in Tien's mind again. About respect and truth and Khai.
"Good morning, Khai," Tien said, forcing the name from her lips.
Khai-previously-Mai stood up. "Auntie, good morning," he-she said, bowing formally. "Everyone, this is my adopted aunt, Healer Mage Tien, of Karashu."
Tien inclined her head.
One by one, Khai introduced the other men: earth mages Han, Raah and Jin, swordsman Shima, and fire mage Quy. More friends than Mai had ever had, back in Karashu.
Tien had hoped that Khai would gain some nice female friends by attending Immin University. Instead, she had gained a harem of men.
"I met them at Baashi University," Khai was saying.
Tien smiled thinly. "Did you met Song, son of Colonel Maru there as well?"
Khai had a faint, mysterious smile. "Yes. Yang said she talked to you." Khai nudged Tien and the two of them walked a distance away from the men.
"How are you, auntie?" Mai's voice was soft and feminine.
Tien sighed. "What did I do wrong, Mai? Do you hate me so much as to become a man?"
Mai stiffened, voice pitched low, "What you did wrong—was forcing me stay a girl, and forcing your outdated notions of what girls and boys should be. It's not about you, auntie. I have known for a long time. I've been behind your back from Karashu." Gold eyes met Tien's. "Yang said otherwise but...will you disown me upon returning to Karashu?"
Tien flinched at the implication. "No. You will always be my apprentice, and I your master. That cannot be changed."
Mai's shoulder's relaxed a fraction. "There are too few male healers. But you taught me, and for that, I am extremely thankful."
Right. She calls herself Khai.
"Auntie. There is one thing I want to ask of you."
Tien inclined her head. "Yes?"
"When you get back to Karashu...would you help certify changes in my papers?"
Tien tensed. Papers...to change her name. And her gender. "I...I must meditate on it."
In an inhale, Khai's fire roared. In the exhale, Khai's fire simmered as embers.
Tien was starkly reminded of Khai's fight with Quy just a week ago. Not the power—she had seen the some of the ways Khai drew fire in his healing. But the sharp precision in attack, the movements that spoke of long training.
YOU ARE READING
Fire Burning
FantasyKhai suppresses his fire, pretends to be who he's not. For when people look at Khai, they see a girl named Mai. The worst is his own adoptive aunt, who would only allow him to learn healing and not combat. After achieving his healer licence, he head...
