Broker

Chapter 98

Lillian sat awkwardly in the middle of the spartan-looking bedroom as Black Lotus sat in front of her. The world’s number one hero was leaning forward, her brows knotted and rubbing her chin thoughtfully as she looked Lillian over. They had tried putting out the flames on her shoulders to pretty much zero luck. Upside was that it didn’t seem to hurt anyone when they touched it, though no one put their hands in for more than a heartbeat before pulling away. Black Lotus scratched at her waist, she was in a tank top and fatigues rather than her usual robes and it was more than a little strange seeing her dressed down like this.

“Well,” She said with a frown, “I can see why you called on me,” She said and tilted her head, squinting at the golden flames that flickered on Lillian’s shoulders, “They really don’t hurt? They aren’t burning your clothes?”

“No ma’am,” Lillian said uncomfortably, “Just kind of chilling there, I guess?” She added with a nervous laugh.

Black Lotus sighed, “Give me your hand, let's have a closer look.”

Lillian nodded and took the woman’s hand. She immediately felt that tingle rush up her arm again and spread throughout her body. It felt a little like Black Lotus was exploring, checking inside of her to see what had changed. The woman closed her eyes and let out a breath, the tingling moving further in towards Lillian’s heart. THUMP! Her heart beat and she felt the heat on her shoulders for the first time, there was a warmth that spread out of her chest and down to meet the sensation that was coming from Black Lotus. It quickly retreated and the woman let go.

“Hm, it reacted,” She hummed, “But otherwise nothing seems different,” She tilted her head, “I’d expected some manner of manifestation after checking you last night but this wasn’t what I expected, to be honest,” She crossed her arms, “Regardless I think you’re just a bit of a late bloomer and your ability is unveiling itself in stages. Have you tried checking your instincts?”

Lillian frowned and shook her head, “To be honest I got next to nothing out of my awakening, so I didn’t bother checking again. It felt kind of pointless.”

Black Lotus pursed her lips, “Well, try again?”

Lillian nodded hesitantly before taking a deep breath and thinking about her ability. She knew academically that it was a process all light-touched could simply do on instinct funny enough. She took another cleansing breath in the same way that Black Lotus had taught her before and exhaled, concentrating on- That’s new.

There was significantly more information now, the zone of comfort created was just an after effect of the flames inside of her. They were the real source of benefit. Flames that could spread and heal or inversely they could most assuredly be used to harm. The problem was as far as she could tell they only extended from her body, she would have to ‘ignite’ something in order for it to go further. She could also tell that her body was storing energy somehow, she wasn’t sure what it was but it had something to do with what she was becoming more and more aware of in the air. It seamlessly fueled the flames.

She let out a gasp as she came out of her thoughts, “Wow, that’s a lot more detail,” She said aloud, looking down at her hand and flexing her fingers. She scrunched her face a little and with some effort she felt the trickle of energy move through her body and to her palm. A tiny, coin sized golden flame popped into being. She brightened and held it up to Black Lotus, “Look! I did that! Oh my god! Look at it, it’s so pretty!” She laughed, “Wow!”

Black Lotus narrowed her eyes at it and then glanced up at her face, “It moved through your meridians,” She said with a stony face.

“Huh?” Lillian asked.

“I see,” Black Lotus muttered, “I understand now. Last night makes a lot more sense to me.”

“Um?” Lillian tried to cut in.

“I checked your pathways to test your ability but my power spread because you possess the ability to channel through your meridians,” Black Lotus continued mumbling, getting to her feet and pacing, “The energy acts as a fuel source for the flames, and because of its origins you have a knack for martial arts. Your ability is very similar to mine,” She kept talking.

“Uh, miss Black Lotus?” Lillian tried again.

“Still, it's a very functional ability for rare grade, peak rare then, if not one of the odd ducks that encroach a little further while still reading as rare,” She kept going and going, “I could tell that the energy couldn’t leave your body very far, part of the rare-grade limitation? Yes. Hm. May not be able to form a core but we’ll try. I’ll have to add additional sessions. Nightly if necessary.”

Lillian was getting very lost, she held up her hands, “Miss Black Lotus!” She called.

The woman tensed and spun, “Oh! You were talking, I’m sorry Lillian, what was your question?”

“What’s a meridian?”

–

Alex was howling with laughter as they sat together at the couch, his arms wrapped around his waist as he bent over and stomped his feet. The others were chuckling too, even John seemed a bit amused despite his greater focus on his beloved sandwiches. Alex kept chortling before finally catching his breath and wiping a tear from his eye, “So you just caught fire in the middle of the gym and Jessica threw water on you?” He threw his head back and laughed, “Oh man, I wish I was there.”

Lillian flushed, “Yeah, it was uh, embarrassing.”

“Sounds like you finished manifesting,” Greg said, resting his chin on his palm and chuckling, “Happened to Alex too, he awoke in a couple stages,” He said, throwing his thumb over his shoulder.

Alex sat forward, “Hey man, that’s private!” He barked, suddenly very unamused.

<Well at least we know where the aura of comfort is coming from, that must be why Miss Chernovna told you to keep exploring, you hadn’t finished awakening yet.> Snow said through her illusions, <Sucks that you gotta do training every night with Black Lotus though.>

Lillian looked over at her, stretched out on the couch they were occupying. Her feet were on Lillian's lap and she was staring up at her phone with her head tucked against the arm of the couch. Alex and Greg were across from them, bickering as always. Val sat forward next to John and hummed to himself, “Maybe you can ignite your sword, you can ignite your body right? Have you tried?”

“Not yet, gonna wait for the session tonight with Black Lotus,” Lillian said.

“Wise, she seems to understand your ability well, similar power sets are uncommon,” John muttered, “Stick to that plan and don’t use it much today.”

“Agreed,” Ollie chimed in from the floor between them, he was surrounded by notebooks now and was writing furiously, he didn’t even look up as he spoke, “Though personally I’m more interested in the physiological changes you experienced, have you looked in a mirror since the incident this morning?” He asked.

Lillian blinked dumbly, “Physiological- what? What changes? What happened to my face?” She gasped, reaching up and patting at herself.

“Eye color is brighter, closer to orange now,” Ollie said without looking up, “And unless you somehow dug up some hair dye in the middle of the night, you now have a green streak in your hair, left side.”

Lillian blanched and looked at the others, “Do I really?”

They looked at one another, “Uh, yeah,” Val said and pointed to his temple, “Right here.”

Lillian let out a groan, “Oh man.”

<I think it looks nice.> Snow offered as consolation, throwing a few winky and smiley emojis to help soften the blow.

“Maybe,” Lillian said and brought her hand up to her face, “But my mom is gonna kill me.”

–

“Don’t force it!” Black Lotus barked, pacing behind her. The two of them were in the dojo in the dead of night, Lillian was standing with her legs spaced and her broadsword in her hand. Her eyes were fixed on the blade. She could feel the heat in her chest building and trying to work its way through the channels in her body that Black Lotus called meridians. Apparently the energy was supposed to be constantly moving but her body hadn’t reached that stage yet.

Even so, she’d been able to make that tiny fireball earlier, so there was no reason she couldn’t project it a bit more, right?

Well, that’s what she thought anyway until she actually tried it. It felt like trying to press a water hose against a metal wall. Every time she felt the energy reach her hand and build up it eventually flared out from within her palm and scattered all over the place. The worst part was she was trying to use the more dangerous version of the flame, so it spread across the ground and caught portions of the floor on fire before Black Lotus swung her arm and put it out with a gesture.

Lillian groaned after the latest failed attempt and dropped her weapon, “I can’t get it to catch,” She sighed, “What am I doing wrong?”

“Inexperience,” Black Lotus said consolingly, “That’s all. That and your body probably has to be at the cycling stage before you do anything complicated. Why don’t you sit down and we’ll work on that a little.”

Lillian nodded and sat down, hunching forward a bit, “No drills tonight?”

“You’ll do them in the morning, won’t you?” Black Lotus asked, “Besides, getting a grip on the breadth of this strange ability of yours is far more important right now. We’ll probably hold off.”

“No kidding, it even dyed my hair,” Lillian muttered, “Mom’s always been worried about me coming back from a vacation or something with my hair a brand new color. She just wants to be involved in the process, you know?”

“I understand where she’s coming from,” Black Lotus said with a sigh, “But I wouldn’t worry, it’s a manifestation of your ability, not some youthful venture. Have you figured out the meaning, yet?” 

“Meaning? Besides green?” Lillian grunted irritably, “Yeah I’ve given it a little thought but nothing comes to mind. Any ideas?”

“The nature of our abilities, yours and mine, originates in some Chinese mythology and admittedly some of its pop culture,” Black Lotus said, resting her hand on her back. Lillian felt the energy slowly inch into her body. The woman was a bit more careful this time, “Green has some connotations, for one, Integrity.”

Lillian frowned and shifted a bit beneath Black Lotus’ hand, “I don’t feel comfortable walking around with a streak in my hair that says ‘hey look! I have integrity!’.” She mumbled, “I hope it’s just a pretty color or something. Feels weird to me otherwise.”

“It can also be associated with health and prosperity,” Black Lotus added patiently, the energy spread a bit more and she felt it reaching towards her heart again. She felt her heartbeat spike and this time managed to breathe enough to allow the tingling sensation to reach its destination. It slowly spread out, inching along until it reached the point it had the previous night where the pain had started. Lillian grunted and clenched her teeth as Black Lotus pushed further this time, increasing the distance several more inches before Lillian shook her head furiously.

Black Lotus pulled her hand away, “Good effort,” She said, “How do you feel?”

“Can probably stand,” Lillian muttered, “Everything hurts though.”

“I’m opening your meridians. I originally sent my energy into you last night to explore your power, I didn’t realize you possessed the trait and pushed your meridians open forcibly. I’m taking a more direct and focused approach now. You should be fine in a few hours,” She said, “We’ll have to do this every night until your body is completely open.”

“That might take a while,” Lillian panted, leaning back and looking up at the dark haired woman.

Black Lotus grinned, “Well, we have ten weeks.”

–

Lillian dragged herself into the dorm after Black Lotus ruthlessly put her through a set of drills anyway even after saying she ‘probably’ wouldn’t. Probably my ass. Lillian grumbled as she pushed through the door. Some of the girls were still awake and talking, Jessica waved at her and she even spotted Cassiopeia sitting up and reading a book. The girl glanced her way and frowned before looking back. What the heck did I do to her? She thought, I should clear that up at some point, she thought before landing on her bed with a grunt.

“How’d it go, golden girl?” Jessica asked, walking over and sitting on one of the posts of her bed.

“Painful,” Lillian said with a sigh, “My ability has ‘similar’ features to hers so she’s getting a little fixated, I think. I dunno. She really seems driven to get it right with me for some reason.”

“Probably because you caught Miss Chernovna’s attention,” Another girl said a few bunks down, “I saw them arguing earlier, looks like they’re not on good terms right now. Black Lotus is signed with ASTA, so that’s not good.”

“You saw them arguing?” Lillian asked.

“Yeah, didn’t make anything out, but Miss Chernovna wasn’t hearing it, sent her away, can you believe there’s someone out there that can send the number one away like that? Shoot, I saw her try to go into the room after Miss Chernovna and like, she couldn’t even walk in the door. Probably some fancy next-gen ASTA tech. Just froze when she tried to step in,” The girl recounted, closing her book.

“Bet they were a thing once, Sonya likes ‘em pretty,” Another said, staring up at the ceiling. “She’s not exactly shy when she’s in a good mood.”

All of the girls started laughing;

“She’s impossible!” One laughed.

“At least she isn’t a lecher or something, just likes to tease,” Another said. 

“I bet she was a dirty old man in a past life,” A third said before a book snapped shut and they all went silent. They glanced over to see a scowling Cassiopeia staring at them.

“Could you not badmouth Miss Chernova in front of me please?” She said darkly, “She’s done a lot for me, and I would appreciate it if you kept your mouths shut,” She snapped and set her book down before rolling over, “Good night.”

“Oops,” One girl whispered.

<Hey.> The text box appeared in Lillian's face before she felt Snow draw near. She shifted and looked up as the girl slipped onto the bed next to her. She looked down at her phone and tapped away.

“Uh, hey,” Lillian murmured.

<You saw, didn’t you?> Snow asked.

Lillian stared at the words for a moment before a pit formed in her stomach. She frowned and then slumped, “Yeah. How’d you know?”

<I use string to keep my hoodie closed when I sleep, it was undone this morning but my hood was still up.> Snow said.

She glanced over at Snow, opened her mouth and then closed it. She’d learned not to ask stupid questions over the past few days. She’d already stepped on one land mine with the girl, she wasn’t about to do it again.

<Thanks.> Snow said and in a quick movement landed a small peck on her cheek. <Good night.>

Lillian watched her go, reaching up to touch her cheek, her mouth hanging open a little bit, “Huh,” She looked at her hand and then up at Snow as she jumped into her own bed. “Yeah, good night,” She mumbled and glanced at her pillow. She wasn’t sure if she was going to get any sleep after that. Not that she had a choice. Her schedule was practically set in stone now, the next day was coming, and she had a feeling things were going to start moving fast soon.