"Get up," Jiaoshu said in that never-ending patient voice of his.

Sighing heavily Dee stood back up with some difficulty. It was now just over a month since she had moved in to Jiaoshu's house. Everyday went the same for her. Wake up at sunrise and help get things going in the kitchen. Practice the skill Jiaoshu had taught her the day before for an hour. Serve Jiaoshu and any company there was breakfast, then eat her own breakfast. Then came the stacks of dishes, pots and pans to be washed, dried, and put away. That was just the beginning of her day. While she appreciated the schooling she was getting, the training was taking its toll on her body. Never before had she worked so hard, physically, and her muscles screamed now as she stood.

"Once more," he said once she was standing.

Bowing to him, Dee took her opening stance, moving through a warm up to center her mind before aiming a kick at Jiaoshu's gloved hands.

"Much better. Tomorrow you practice that fifty times before breakfast."

"Yes, Jiaoshu," she said bowing again.

He removed his padded gloves and set them aside, patting her head after returning the bow. "You must get to your studies today. Please try to spend an hour before dinner on the bamboo poles. To succeed with your training, you must have absolute control of your balance."

"Yes, Sir." Dee was an outsider here just as much as she had been in the orphanage and she knew it. Since she had arrived with her little bundle of items she had been treated with respect, yet she still felt a distance between her and the others of the household. Of course she did not expect them to immediately like her. Instead she did all that she was asked as best as she could, hoping that she would be, eventually, allowed into this secret world in Chinatown.

When Jiaoshu left Dee went through her cool down exercise before heading back to the kitchen to help prepare lunch. Once most of the items had been made, the cooks excused her so she could do some of her schoolwork. After pushing herself through math and history, lunch was ready and she served Jiaoshu as she did in the mornings. With regular meals, which were actually edible, unlike the ones served in the orphanage, Dee was filling out from her almost waif-like thinness she had acquired in the few months on the streets.

On her way back up to her room, she ran into one of the other students. The boy was her age, perhaps just a few months older. He had dark black hair, pulled neatly back into a queue the same way Jiaoshu wore his hair. The boy's eyes were a deep amber color flecked with brown, distinctly almond shaped and tilted at an appealing angle. He had moved into the bedroom down the hall from her only a week before she arrived.

"Manchu, isn't it?" she asked.

He nodded shyly.

"I'm Dee. Were you going to study right now?"

"No. Jiaoshu says I must practice my balance."

Dee smiled at him. "He said I needed to practice as well. Wanna practice it together? We can set the poles back up for each other when we knock them over."

A faint smile appeared on Manchu's face. "I would like that."

"Give me a minute to change into my uniform," she said jogging to her room before he could say a word.

Dee changed quickly and was soon out in the sunny courtyard with Manchu. The two set the bamboo poles up on end, spotting each other the first few times through the course. Unbeknownst to the two children Jiaoshu watched from a screened patio, smiling at the pair. He had been right in catching the girl when he found out that Manchu was being sent over from China. The boy had been orphaned when a rival triad had bombed his home. Lucky for him, he had been at school at the time and the Jade Tiger contacts in China had sent him immediately to Jiaoshu.

The two practiced together up until Dee was called to come help with dinner preparations. Manchu was sent to clean the practice rooms and check the equipment. After dinner had been served to Jiaoshu and some visiting guests, Dee found Manchu waiting for her in the kitchen to dine with her. He bowed graciously as she handed him a bowl of rice with stir-fried vegetables and tofu on it. For a moment the two ate in silence.

"Manchu, would you help me with my Chinese? I'm having a hard time with some of the pronunciations. I'll help you with your English," offered Dee.

"That would be good. I studied some English when I was in China, but it is not an easy language to learn!" he said.

She laughed. "Chinese isn't an easy language to learn either!"
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