Title: The Garden of Two Rivers, part 3 of 5
Author: Bearit
Summary: Lin watches as things change at Two Rivers School with the arrival of Gao the Lesser and evaluates her self-worth.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or settings, and they belong exclusively to Bioware and Microsoft.

Most of the students had been excited for Wu when Master Li began training her for her tests to become senior student. The reduced time each student had with their master seemed unimportant to most, and they saw it for a good reason anyway.

Lin, however, did not question herself when she found she could not be as excited as the other students. When Master Li made the announcement she had wrinkled her nose and spent the rest of the day alone behind Master Li's house with her staff, fighting the invisible demons around her. She tried to tell herself that she was being completely unreasonable, that Wu had been training all her life and these tests were probably long overdue for her anyway, but she could not help but to feel a little cheated. Kia Min and Dawn Star were not the only two students who could hold their own against Wu, and she felt that she should be praised for the progress she made having never fought a single soul—well, not physically, anyway—before arriving to Two Rivers, unlike everyone else at her level at the school.

The sun had started setting when she finally collapsed onto the grass, panting and staring up at the darkening sky. She closed her eyes and tried to let the soft splashes of the nearby waterfall calm her, tried to feel the gentle breeze, everything she was ever taught to focus on during her meditations, anything to clear her mind. She sat up on her knees and placed her hands on her thighs, hoping that being in the right position would put her in the right mindset, but when she could not feel her storm of frustration mitigating she growled in disgust and climbed back to her feet.

This was absolutely ridiculous.

Wu deserved this. Wu more than anyone else at the school deserved this. She kept repeating those words in her head, but her anxiety did not ease. She picked up her staff and twirled it in her hands.

"What am I doing here?" she muttered as she glared at her weapon.

Lin picked up her mended uniform from the table in Jong Yu's shop and smiled. "This is perfect, Mrs. Jong! You couldn't tell that there was ever a tear!"

Jong Yu grimly held up a hand as Lin hurried into the patched clothes. "Please, it was nothing. All I ever get around here anymore are these kinds of requests from students. 'Mend this' or 'this doesn't fit right' or something like that. I wish someone in this village would get married already. I haven't made anything exquisite in a long time. I'm afraid I might be losing my touch."

"Surely you've had to do more than just sew up a few tears or hem up some pants or dresses lately," said Lin as she pulled on her vest and tied the belt to hold the robes tighter against her. "Weddings robes aren't the only clothes you make. I'm sure Jin has needed bigger clothes every month now."

Jong Yu smiled as she glanced back at the toddler playing with wooden blocks in the far corner of the shop. "It's not that he needs bigger clothes, it's that he's such a little troublemaker that he rips his shirts and pants in half all the time, and I have no choice but to make him new clothes. I have to keep my eye on him when I let him outside to play, or he's likely to get himself killed. Besides, clothes for my son are one thing. Beautiful dresses for something as splendid as a wedding ceremony, now, that's something else. It's a shame that this village is too small for something like that to happen very often. How long do you think it'll take before one of the students gets married?"

Lin laughed and shook her head. "Please, Mrs. Jong, you know Master Li probably wouldn't allow any of the students to fraternize like that. It's too much of a distraction. And besides, has any of the students who have graduated ever come back? Not many of the students who are at the school now ever say anything about staying in Two Rivers after their training is complete."

"Oh, I'm sure Student Wu would not leave this place, or if she did, she would surely return eventually. I imagine Master Li might be training her to take his place someday with all the attention you say he gives her."

"If that's the case, she's not likely to get married at all," said Lin. "Besides, Master Li keeps talking lately about some sort of destiny for her. She'll leave, and probably never come back. Probably won't even look back."

Jong Yu frowned. "Don't say things like that, Lin. Though that is exciting that Master Li thinks Wu has a destiny. I wonder what it is. Things in the Empire seem peaceful enough, though we never will rid the world of bandits. Master Li does well enough keeping them in the marshlands anyway. Of course, then again…" She trailed off.

"'Then again,' what?"

She quickly shook her head. "It's nothing. Never mind. I guess there's a part of me that's being a little too hopeful and maybe a little selfish. Wu's destiny couldn't possibly have anything to do with… well, it's nothing. You're not going to leave a working woman working for free, now are you?"

Lin sighed and pulled some silver coins from her purse and handed it to the seamstress when she noticed a neatly folded uniform on top of the chest of drawers by the far wall. That was odd. When Smiling Mountain sent her to get her uniform mended he had not mentioned picking up another one, and no one had completely ruined their uniform in the past week that Jong Yu would have had another made so quickly. So what could it be for? Back up? If so, Jong Yu should have had it delivered to Master Li instead of sitting around in her shop.

"Is that a school uniform over there?" asked Lin as she nodded towards the garment.

Jong Yu glanced over her shoulder and nodded slowly. "Yes. Master Li had me make one. A new student is supposed to be arriving tomorrow. Dawn Star is supposed to come by and pick it up later this afternoon."

She fell silent, and her discomfort did not escape Lin. "You know something about this new student, don't you?" she asked.

"Yes, unfortunately. My husband works for his father, and perhaps that is how they found out about the school. He always did have a big mouth. Couldn't think that maybe not mentioning anything that would entice his son would have been better for his family… for all of us."

Lin squirmed. "Is it really that bad?"

"Like father, like son, they say, and heaven knows that his father is power hungry enough to indulge in criminal activities to gain him wealth and status, or try to, at least. At least my husband has sense enough to stay away from it, but unfortunately it is such a large part of Gao the Greater's business that I'm afraid my husband will have no choice but to get involved. I fear for him, every day, and every night. And now that Gao the Lesser is coming here… nothing good can come out of this. I can't believe Master Li is allowing this. That was why I was hoping that Wu's destiny has something—anything—to do with getting rid of Gao the Greater. It would make so much sense, why Master Li would let this happen, if that were the case. I just hope this village won't suffer for it."

"Oh," said Lin. She kicked herself for something to say, anything to say, but the only thing she could think of sounded false and foolish. Perhaps false and foolish was better than silence; Jong Yu had clammed up and seemed expectant for a response. "Maybe… maybe this Gao the Lesser boy… maybe he'll be better than his father? Maybe not power hungry, and maybe his father might be forcing him here?"

Jong Yu held a tight smiled. "Like your parents forced you here?" She sighed. "I guess you're right. Maybe Master Li hopes to change the boy somehow, like how he's changed you."

Lin frowned. "I wasn't that bad, was I?"

Jong Yu laughed. "Young lady, you were literally kicking and screaming through the school gates when you first came here. If nothing else, you've at least learned to control your temper since then. You certainly aren't throwing tantrums anymore."

Lin blushed at the memory. What a fool she had made of herself that entire first month she was in Two Rivers. At least she had managed to redeem herself. "Well, maybe that's it, then. My parents did make sure to give Master Li ample warning about me before they sent me here, after all. I still don't think I'm turning out like they'd hope."

"You could be worse," said Jong Yu gently. "Now, shoo, you need to be getting back to your studies, or your fights, or whatever it is you students do behind those gates. I have to get back to work. I do have more than one mouth to feed around here. Oh, and please—" She hesitated. "Do be careful around him. Promise me that."

That was a strange request, but something in her face told Lin that she could not exactly refuse the advice. Fear, maybe? Lin could not bear to lie, though. It was a martial arts school, after all. "I'll do my best."

Jong Yu nodded slowly, and the two bowed to each other farewell. They both knew that that was the best Lin could offer.

She was sparring in the ring when they arrived, and it was their extravagant silk robes that caught her attention. She pulled away from her opponent a good distance enough that he, too, had stopped fighting, and they both watched as the boy and his father entered Master Li's house. For a moment, Lin hoped that the boy was truly good deep down—he was not exactly an eyesore—but he turned around and saw her in the ring, and his eyes flashed something unpleasant, and she realized that her attempts to help Jong Yu feel better about Gao's son attending the school had been for naught.

As the door slid closed behind the newcomers, Lin's opponent hesitantly said, "Who are they? Traders, or government officials, or—"

"The boy is a new student," she said quietly, "and the man is his father."

"Really?" He sounded dumbfounded. "But they look… rich. Anyone with that kind of money could surely afford to go to a more prestigious school closer to the Imperial City. Why would they come here?"

In spite of herself, Lin laughed a little. "They're probably from the borderlands, and Master Li is probably making a better name for himself and Two Rivers now. We have been getting more new students lately from as far away as Tien's Landing." He did not need to know—yet—that one of the man's hirelings was a resident of Two Rivers and had told him about the school.

"I guess that's true, even though it's weird to think people with that kind of money would choose to live so far away from the Imperial City."

"It's not that strange," Lin said, remembering what Jong Yu had said about Gao the Greater's business. "Well, come on, let's finish up this match. I see a senior-student-in-training eager to use it after us."

Wu the Lotus Blossom was chatting with Dawn Star by the entrance to the ring, both looking in the direction of Master Li's house and both seeming concerned. Maybe they had heard a little bit about Gao the Lesser as well? In any case, they had been waiting to use the ring for a little while now and had been watching Lin's match until the newcomers had arrived, and as much as Lin wanted to hog the ring for as long as possible she knew that delaying the girl who was preparing for her tests to achieve senior student status was not something she wanted to be criticized for later.

It was not like the other venues for sparring were exactly free, either; Kia Min had started group combat training, and Smiling Mountain had stolen away the other students to help her with that at his sparring grounds, and the younger students were otherwise scattered about the school grounds.

Lin thought it strange that Jing Woo was nowhere to be in sight, but he had been as moody and aloof as Dawn Star ever since Master Li took him off his apprenticeship with Wu. Was Wu really that fickle? It didn't seem right, but then, Lin barely knew Wu outside of Master Li's praises.

And so, Lin finished the bout, stalling just long enough to make sure that Wu and Dawn Star watched her win. She relinquished the ring to them without a word to them, and the two girls started sparring. All the other students quickly ceased their meditations to watch. When Lin's partner seemed all too eager to follow suit, she realized she had little choice but to watch unless she wanted to be recruited as an extra opponent against Kia Min. She rolled her eyes. This was not a productive way to spend her afternoon.

"I can't believe we all have to stop what we're doing for this," she muttered.

Halfway into the match, Lin heard the boy emerge from Master Li's house with a haughty, indignant grunt, and he stood three paces away from her around the ring. She stole a glance in his direction. He would have had a pleasant face if that scowl was not etched upon it, and she remembered when she had pouted her first time watching a match. Only one person had dared approach her, and she wondered if that same person would dare approach him now.

After she finished her match against her childhood friend, of course.

Sure enough, Wu won, and both opponents wore pleased smiles as they bowed in ceremony. Lin hated to admit it, but watching those two fight was always exciting, especially since it so rarely happened, and she watched as they started to leave the ring, and she watched as they noticed the new student. What was puzzling was that the two girls exchanged unreadable looks, something that almost never passed between them when a new student arrived as far as Lin could remember, and Dawn Star sighed and Wu shrugged and made her way towards the new student.

Nobody reentered the ring, and everyone watched as Wu went to introduce herself to him. This match would not be nearly as exciting as the last one, but every new student was a curiosity and everyone seemed to love watching her spar regardless of opponent. Lin was just pleased she was going to be well in earshot of this conversation.

"You must be Gao," Wu said as she approached him. She bowed, though the movement was somewhat cautious, and she kept her eyes locked upon his.

"And you must be the top student, the precious protégé," he replied with a snort. "I've heard all about you. Are you expecting me to grovel, to follow your every word? You must be used to it. I saw how everyone dropped what they were doing just to watch you fight. It was hardly impressive."

Wu was taken aback, and she quickly glanced back at Dawn Star, who was uncharacteristically glaring at the boy. "Well, no," she tried, almost helplessly, as she turned back to Gao. "That's not… I just wanted to get to know you a little. That's all."

"Don't waste your time," he said. "I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to learn, to get stronger, and anything else will just get in my way. So don't even bother."

They both were silent for a moment as they stared at each other. Wu seemed determined to try to read the boy, to see if there was anything she could learn from staring him down, and Lin wondered why she didn't just ask him to spar because that's what she always did. Gao, on the other hand, held his head high and defiant as though he was willing Wu to back down, to surrender to his arrogance, as though he was waiting for Wu to challenge him.

Wu shook her head, offered a faint, forced smile, and bowed once more to the boy. "Welcome to Two Rivers, Gao the Lesser," she said curtly, and she turned on her heel and walked away.

She passed Dawn Star, who only lingered for a moment to continue to stare down Gao, and then she, too, quickly followed behind Wu as they headed towards the school gate. Gao wandered off in the opposite direction, and the other students glanced at each other nervously as though they did not know what to do next. Lin wondered what on earth Master Li was thinking, letting this boy attend the school.

But she wondered why Wu did not ask him for a kind match, like she always did, and so Lin was quick behind her and managed to reach her before she disappeared behind the gate.

"Wait a minute," Lin called to her. Wu stopped and turned to face Lin curiously. "You didn't ask him to spar. You always ask the new student to spar with you. It's what you do. Why didn't you, just now?"

Wu sighed. "Master Li told me not to."

"What? Why?"

"He wouldn't say, other than that it'd be too dangerous. Something about Gao's old style being… too… different, I guess." She shook her head. "Don't worry about it, Lin." She stared past her, concerned, as though her eyes were on Gao. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

Wu smiled at Lin, as though she knew something, knew something that she knew Lin knew, and disappeared with Dawn Star behind the gate. Lin slowly turned back towards the rest of the school and saw that most students, including her partner, had chosen meditation in order to continue their studies. Gao the Lesser was nowhere in sight, and for once the sparring ring was empty.

Everything will be fine, Wu had said. Somehow, Lin doubted it.

A month had passed since Gao the Lesser started attending Two Rivers School, though it took no more than a day for everyone to realize why Master Li had forbidden Gao from fighting not only Wu the Lotus Blossom, but any of the students. Not a day had gone by without Master Li publically condemning Gao's impatience and temper, and every so often Master Li found ground to punish the boy for his insolence and defiance. Lin found it curious that Dawn Star kept to her garden more often than usual, and not even Kia Min bothered to try to befriend Gao. Everyone kept their distance from the boy, but he seemed to care little. Otherwise, everything fell back into normalcy, and though some had the opinion that Gao was just talk, and was harmless otherwise, Lin still feared the worst.

She tried her best to ignore it, to ignore him. She visited Jong Yu's shop more often, pretending she had gotten a new tear in her vest or her pants. They never said a word about Gao to each other and instead focused on gossip on other things: how the Ni family was having trouble keeping tabs on their eldest son anymore and what on earth could he be doing to neglect his chores, and how Wu's tests for senior student were going and how Lin could not wait until she could test for senior student status herself someday, and by the way, and have you heard that Fen Do's latest shipment was apparently delayed because of ghosts? They laughed, and Jong Yu did not seem to mind that Lin never really did have anything to be mended, and they parted with Lin offering Jin a sweet pastry she had bought on her way over and Jong Yu half-heartedly scolding her for it.

When Lin returned to the school, a small crowd had gathered around the sparring ring, and everyone seemed enthusiastically interested. Curious, Lin made her way there to see a bout that she supposed had only ever happened in private: Wu and Jing Woo. She smiled in spite of herself; it was good to see him around again, even if it was just this once. She had found out that he had been finding secluded places to meditate since being taken off of Wu's training, and she had only seen him if he were sparring another student by either Master Li's or Smiling Mountain's request, or at meal times where she could see that things were uncomfortably gloomy between him and Kia Min despite their best efforts.

Lin had gotten used to his smile over the past few months, and the arrival of Gao the Lesser, she realized, had been worsened without it around. Wu might have been friendlier had it been around. But Lin's relief to see Jing Woo in the ring with Wu was short-lived once she realized that something was not right at all with how either of them were fighting each other.

The match did not last for much longer. Jing Woo was soon on his back and Wu hovered over him angrily.

"What is wrong with you?" she demanded as Jing Woo slowly climbed back onto his feet. "You fight better than this, I know you do. And now I have Kia Min coming to me concerned about you, saying things like you haven't been eating as much as you used to, that you've been quiet and distant to even her. It's not like you. And you're going to tell me what's wrong now or heaven forbid you will regret it."

The other students started slinking away slowly, and Lin followed suit out of courtesy, though she kept herself within earshot. She kept telling herself that it was none of her business, but in the same breath she did not mind letting curiosity get the best of her. Besides, if they were going to quarrel in the middle of the school, she could not be faulted for overhearing their words. She found a small group of students chatting off to the side and joined their conversation as to not seem too suspicious in her eavesdropping, keeping her eyes and ears on the ring.

"It's nothing," said Jing Woo.

"It's not nothing. Don't give me that."

Jing Woo did not respond and did not meet Wu's eyes. Wu sighed. "Jing Woo, I'm just worried about you. We all are. Kia Min isn't the only one who's approached me. What's wrong? Maybe there's something I can do to help—anything."

He laughed softly. "You'd only scold me if you knew," he said, finally meeting her eyes. There was something there, something that threw Lin off guard. She hadn't wanted to believe those rumors, and she had denied them whenever someone asked her if it were true… but it was Wu the Lotus Blossom. Of course those rumors in particular would have turned out to be true. "And there's nothing you can do about it anyway. It's all on me to get over it myself, I guess."

"Jing Woo, we're friends, you can tell me. I promise I won't scold you."

He shook his head. "It's better that I didn't. It really is kind of foolish. Thanks for the match. I really needed it, I think, and it felt good to have a real challenge again, to lose to someone other than Kia Min."

"Jing Woo—"

"Good luck on your final test tomorrow," he said as he exited the ring. "Soon we'll be calling you senior student, now, won't we?"

He disappeared in the courtyard within the student quarters, and Lin watched as Wu scowled and clenched her fists as she stormed out of the ring. "Oh, that boy is going to regret this," she hissed under her breath as she passed the group Lin was with. The conversation within the circle ceased as everyone watched her pass by them, all shocked to see her upset. She stopped, and looked at Lin, and for a moment Lin almost felt guilty for listening on their conversation—Wu must have known she had eavesdropped—but her question took Lin off guard. "Is Mrs. Jong's shop still open, Lin?"

"Er—yes," said Lin.

Wu nodded. "Good. Thank you." But before she could take another step towards the school gate, none other than Gao the Lesser approached them. Wu groaned. "I am not in the mood, Gao. Why don't you go meditate or something?"

"Master Li wants to see you," he said shortly. "And I have better things to do than to meditate right now. You're not senior student yet, and even if you were, I'll do such things when I feel is convenient, not when you tell me to. I only look forward to you completing your tests so that maybe I can actually do a little sparring around here, maybe get a little stronger, maybe learn something. We all know your tests are delaying the rest of us from advancing."

A student piped up from behind Lin. "That's not true—"

"Don't let yourself be fooled, little sheep," said Gao. "Anyway, go. You shouldn't keep your precious master waiting."

Wu rolled her eyes and started towards Master Li's house, but she stopped for a moment and said to Gao, "You know, the only one who is stopping you from getting any better is yourself."

He snorted. "Pretty words. Too bad those are the words of a peasant."

Wu shook her head and continued on her way. Gao turned his attention to Lin and the group she was with. "What?" he demanded. "Don't you have anything better to do? Like maybe kiss the ground that girl is walking upon?"

The group of students scattered muttering varying degrees of disgust. Lin stayed put, though she was sure her face echoed the consensus of the dispersed students. "Don't you ever tire of this?" she asked. "Because frankly, this is getting quite old."

"You're one to talk, Lin," he replied, and Lin ignored her surprise that he had bothered to learn her name. "Don't think I haven't seen you talking to the other students while watching her matches, and don't think I haven't heard some of the things you've said. We both know you agree with me."

"And what things do you think I have said?" Certainly it was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing too surprising, and nothing as bad as the comments Gao made!

"How you can't believe that the whole school stops what they're doing just to watch her spar, though you do the same exact thing. How it's never surprising to see her win every match, though you'd like to take her down a peg someday yourself. How you're sick of Master Li always saying good things about her, always telling us to be like her, and how you wish he'd say the same of you. And yet I still see you as a member of her fanclub here, paying attention to her every word, her every move. Honestly, I think that makes you worse than me. At least I'm not two-faced."

Lin's face turned red. "Two-faced? You've got a lot of nerve, talking to me like that."

"What are you going to do? You have no status at this school, and you know it. Maybe tattle to those with status? Too bad none of them give you much of the time of day. Go ahead. Prove me wrong about you."

"I don't have to take this," Lin said. "You say I don't have any status? I certainly have more than you."

Gao laughed. "You just wait. As soon as Master Li permits me to spar, I'll have more status than even his precious senior student. I'll show everyone when she's the first person I defeat in this school. And then you tell me you're nothing like me."

Lin found that her hands were in fists; how dare he. "I'm leaving. Don't bother me ever again." And Lin left him, not really caring where she was going or what she was going to do when she arrived, but she swore she would never say more than three words to Gao the Lesser for as long as either of them lived in Two Rivers.

To no one's surprise, Wu was named senior student within the week, and she had been sent to Jong Yu's shop to get her new attire. She no longer belonged in the robes of the junior student, though many agreed it was long overdue anyway. They wondered what had taken Master Li so long to get to this point, but he had a reason for everything he did, even if it did not make sense at first, so they accepted it and went about their fights and their meditations and daily routines without second thought.

Smiling Mountain had stolen Lin's regular sparring partner away for a private session, but Lin knew she needed to spend some time meditating anyway. She had become unfocused since her run-in with Gao, and she suffered in the arena because of it. She still won the matches she was supposed to, but they were harder than they used to be, and her opponents had all commented on it. She insisted that she was fine, she was just feeling a little ill, and thank you for your concern. But she knew that she needed to step back from fighting for a little while, recollect her thoughts, and remind herself that Gao was wrong. He had to be.

She sat on her knees and bowed her head, closing her eyes and tried to go through all the right motions Master Li had instilled her first month. Feel the breeze—there was no breeze. Listen to the rippling creek—it was too far away, and the sounds of the students in the ring were distracting, anyway. Control the breath, let the mind go…

Oh, who was she kidding? She was not up for this either. She stood and glanced around the school grounds. Maybe she just needed to discuss the matter with someone wise, someone like Master Li—who had his door closed, which meant that no one was to disturb him—or Smiling Mountain—but wait, he was dealing with her sparring partner right now, and would not have the attention to speak with her. Maybe there was a student she could talk to?

Her eyes landed on Jing Woo, who had chosen to meditate in front of his room and underneath a fading tree. "You have to be kidding," she scolded herself quietly, but she saw no other options. Nobody else would really talk to her. They'd either be too harsh, or they would just tell her what they thought she wanted to hear. Neither she nor Jing Woo knew each other especially well enough for either dialogue, and besides, at the rate she was going she'd never advance in the school. It was like Wu told Gao: she was the only one holding herself back.

She took a deep breath and slowly made her way over to him. He at least had started to meditate in the main area of the school, and not wherever secluded place he had managed to find before. Maybe the match against Wu really had helped, and he had not just been saying that to avoid offending her. That was good news.

"Jing Woo?" she said softly. He opened his eyes and peered at her curiously. "Do you have a moment?"

He frowned. "You look like something is bothering you. What is it?"

Lin sighed and took a seat next to him. "Just answer yes or no. Do you think I'm no different than Gao?"

He blinked once, then twice, and asked, "What?"

"Do you think I'm no better than Gao?"

Jing Woo shook his head in disbelief, and his face twisted in confusion. "Where did that—who said that?"

"Gao did."

"Oh." Jing Woo laughed a little and rolled his eyes. "Lin, you know better than to listen to what he says by now, don't you? Everyone knows he's just full of hot air. Why are you letting it bother you so much?"

"Because not everything he said was hot air," said Lin. "Some of the things he said… it's true. He called me two-faced. That can't be true, can it? I mean, I can still be nice to the person I'm jealous of, can't I? I can still respect her, and her skill, even if it is grudgingly, right? I can wish to beat her someday, I can complain about everyone dropping everything to watch her matches, and do it too, right? I mean, I usually don't have anyone else to spar with during those times anyway… but. Am I no better than Gao? Am I no different than him?"

Jing Woo sighed. "Lin, I think you already know the answer to that question. You don't need to hear it from me. Don't let him get to you."

Lin pursed her lips. "Meditating didn't help, and I thought it would. I haven't been fighting as well as I would like, either. Apparently, I do need to hear it from someone, one way or the other. I really am sorry to bother you with this, but I need to know: am I no better than Gao?"

"And you need to hear this from me? I think Smiling Mountain or Master Li's words would be worth more than mine."

"Everyone likes you, Jing Woo. The same can't be said for me. Besides, Master Li and Smiling Mountain are both busy. I can't disturb them over something like this, not right now."

He closed his eyes and sighed. "Okay, fine," he said, but before he could say another word the school had risen up in a commotion, and both Lin and Jing Woo glanced up to see what was going on.

Wu the Lotus Blossom had returned in her new outfit. Lin felt her jaw drop; Wu's new choice of dress certainly was not conventional by any means of the word. She could hardly believe Jong Yu had sewn anything like it. The plum shade made sure she stood out, and the ornamentations only added to the prominence of her presence. That she could believe Jong Yu would have done—she had said she wanted to make something exquisite, and this was about as close as she could come—but the part that caused everyone to stare was that it was two-piece. Lin never thought she would ever see that much of the top student.

And apparently, neither did Jing Woo, who had frozen in place. Wu quickly took notice, and with a wicked grin, approached him.

"You. Me. Spar. Now," she said, her smirk more mischievous than anything Lin had ever seen on the girl.

Jing Woo did not say anything, did not move. Wu reached down, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him up and close to her.

"I told you you'd regret it, you fool," she said and proceeded to drag Jing Woo to the ring. Jing Woo managed to shake himself out of his stupor in time to glance back to Lin and smile apologetically. In spite of herself, Lin could not help but to laugh at the sight as the two faced each other, and everyone gathered. She felt no better, but as the match went on between senior student and her former apprentice, she was relieved to see that Jing Woo's smile was back, and everything was going to be all right again in Two Rivers, one way or the other.

The next day, Master Li finally set Gao the Lesser against his first opponent, but he forbade him from challenging Wu this first day. His rage was too evident, and many of his first opponents all but forfeited the match just to avoid whatever his wrath had to dish out. It was clear that Gao wanted to defeat everyone he could just to prove to Master Li that he was as worthy to fight Wu freely as the others were.

Lin gripped her staff tightly. She knew she would be next. She had hoped that with every victory he would have calmed down significantly, that he would have been less and less prone to injuring someone, but she was wrong. Finally, his eyes fell upon her, and he laughed.

"Well, this ought to be interesting," he said.

She wrinkled her nose, and without a word, she stepped into the arena. Every student in the school was watching, everyone from Wu the Lotus Blossom to the orphan children Master Li had taken under his wings. Master Li watched with Dawn Star and Wu at his side from his house, and Smiling Mountain stood a distance away, for once not seeming pleased at the outcome of events. Her only hope was that she would be able to land at least one blow on him—it would be a step up from the others—but not long before the match started she found herself on the ground, Gao having won.

He sniffed indignantly. "Just as pointless as the others. I guess I do have more status than you, after all," he said.

Lin climbed to her feet and dusted her pants. She refused to answer him, she refused to glorify his statement with any sort of comment. But there was ceremony to follow, so she brought her hands together to bow to him, but he had already turned his back to her to challenge the next student. She scowled. What an impertinent child!

Jing Woo fared no better either in combat or getting a gracious ceremony from Gao the Lesser. He glanced back at Master Li, or perhaps even Wu or Dawn Star, and Lin followed his gaze to see a stoic master, an annoyed senior student, and an enraged Dawn Star. Lin wondered what was taking Master Li so long to order Gao to do something so simple as bowing, and she hoped that the explanation was that he was seeing how long it took before he would have the common courtesy to do so. Perhaps a loss would do it?

Kia Min was next. Lin hated to admit it, but she found herself cheering for Kia Min privately, knowing that if anyone who wasn't Dawn Star or Wu to have a chance, she would be it. They started the match, and sure enough, it lasted for a good length of time. Lin almost had hope that Gao would finally silence himself with such a humiliating defeat, especially since Kia Min was training to fight more than one opponent now when she wasn't sneaking past the school gates into town. The two exchanged blow for blow, neither willing to put themselves on the defensive, when finally Gao threw Kia Min into the fence, declaring himself the winner.

Nobody cheered.

Kia Min stood and brushed off the dirt from the sparring ring with the tiniest hint of a frown. Gao smirked viciously; he knew the rankings in the school just as well as anybody else. No one but Dawn Star or Wu could defeat Kia Min in one-on-one combat, and especially not so soundly, and everyone knew what that meant.

"Hardly worth my time," he said, and he turned to face Master Li. "Enough of this. You have delayed my inevitable match against your precious protégé long enough. Surely this proves that no other student in this school is a match for me, though I doubt she would be any better."

Lin shook her head in disbelief. Would she be like this if she were in Gao's shoes? Surely not! She wondered if she would perhaps think the words, but she knew she would never dare speak them. Did that make her better than Gao? She dreadfully hoped so.

Kia Min's firm and unrelenting voice broke through any sort of response Smiling Mountain might have thought to give the boy. "Gao."

Gao turned his attention back to her, and for a moment, they just stared at each other; Gao looked as though he was trying to find some sort of humiliation and defeat in her eyes, and Kia Min held her head high and her eyes defiant. Nobody, not even Smiling Mountain, or Master Li watching from the porch of his house, said a word or made a move.

Finally, Kia Min brought her hands together in front of her, and bowed.

Gao scowled and waved his hand dismissively. As he looked to address Master Li again, Dawn Star spoke.

"Gao the Lesser, if you have any sense of decency, and if you have any hope to continue learning at this school, you will be gracious enough to honor your opponent."

Lin watched as Gao met Master Li's eyes, who confirmed Dawn Star's words. Gao scowled, turned back to Kia Min, and slowly and painfully brought his hands together in front of him, and returned the gesture.

No sooner had he completed the bow he quickly snapped back up to demand to fight Wu, but Lin's attention stayed on Kia Min, who hesitated in her stance just a little bit longer. Kia Min had the softest of smiles on her face and a satisfied gleam in her eyes. It puzzled Lin, but Jing Woo approached her side and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You asked me yesterday if you were no better than Gao the Lesser," he said softly. "I hope this answered your question."

Lin and Jing Woo looked at each other, and Lin saw it in his eyes, the sincerity, the belief in her person. He smiled.

"But in case you still needed to hear it: yes, Lin. You are a good person, and he is not. You are better than Gao the Lesser. Please don't ever forget it."