FUKASHI

Arthur may have gotten a promotion, but his schedule is as busy as ever, especially as he negotiates the aftermath of the war. He’s gone before sunrise and often back late. Fukashi uses the time during the day to teach the girls. Cel gets her usual lessons in history and language. She’s absurdly young to know and comprehend as much as she does, but for firecores an advanced intelligence and speech capability is--according to Arthur--normal.

Intelligence, however, does not equal maturity.

The day Fukashi coaxes Nora out of her room for lunch, Cel goes tense and quiet. Their dining table is a rarely used thing, tucked into the corner of the small kitchen furthest from the stove, so Fukashi takes the girls to the living room coffee table. They sit on the floor side-by-side, a substantial gap between them, each with a plate of eggs and bacon.

It’s no small relief when Nora handles her fork without trouble. The Busuruli are wise in their ways and believe in ambidexterity. Cel is right-handed. She shovels her food into her mouth in record time, then straightens with a hopeful look.

“I’m done. Can I go read now?” she asks.

“No,” he tells her. “You’ll share lessons with Nora today.”

Her shoulders droop. “But ShiShi!”

“No buts,” Fukashi says, leveling her with a stern look before passing his gaze onto Nora.

The seven-year-old pushes eggs around on her plate, her golden hair tumbling over her face.

Fukashi knows from what short conversations he’s had with Nora that she speaks an odd mesh of her language and Malroix. They need to fix that as soon as possible. Nora also has a habit of referring to everyone with feminine pronouns--understandable considering her origins, but another habit he needs to break her of. And, sooner rather than later, he must teach her to overcome her new disability and learn to fight. Children learn best. The older she gets, the harder it will be to teach her.

Fukashi rubs his tired eyes. Arthur has given him quite the task.

“First we’ll work on speech,” he tells the girls. Cel pouts at him, and Nora doesn’t even look up.

“Nora,” he says sharply. She flinches before glancing up at last. She still cries a great deal, and the swollenness of her eyes proves it. He needs to give her something positive to cling to.

And he needs Cel to learn to socialize with someone other than him and Arthur.

He can’t help but soften toward Nora as he speaks. “I know you may not feel up to it, but you need to eat to fully recover. Once you do, Cel and I will work with you to strengthen your Malroix speech. In return, you can teach Cel some of your language. How does that sound?”

Nora glances sideways at Cel, her skepticism nearly palpable.

Cel’s belligerent scoff is not encouraging.

“Cel likes stories,” Fukashi tries. “Nora, do you know any?”

Nora sets her fork down and curls her hand over her bandaged right forearm--or what’s left of it. “The Princess of Jade,” she says so softly Fukashi can barely make out the words.

Predictably, Cel’s eyes light up with curiosity.

“Tell it to us?” Fukashi asks. “And use as many Malroix words as you can.”

Hesitantly, Nora weaves a peculiar tale:

“There once was a princess with jade hair and gold eyes. She captured fireflies and fed them to the monster that lived under her tower. The monster was her only friend.

Her older sister found out about the monster and killed it. This made her parents happy,

But the princess was sad, so she jumped from her tower and died.

The parents said ‘good riddance!’

The princess’s followers got angry. They moved far across the sea and worshipped her forever.”

Nora stops talking, and Cel groans. “That’s it?” She crawls closer and tugs at Nora’s left arm insistently. “The princess didn’t come back as a ghost and get revenge?”

“No,” Nora said, leaning back a little, “but...but we have statues of her at home.”

Cel’s head whips toward Fukashi. “ShiShi, can we go to Nora’s house?”

Nora stares at him, too. She looks a little hopeful.

Fukashi privately curses Arthur for leaving him to deal with this. “I’m sorry. We can’t. It...it won’t be the same anyway.”

The Malroix will probably take everything valuable and destroy the rest. Spoils of war and all that.

Damn barbarians.

Nora looks sadly at her plate of cold eggs.

“Aw, man!” Cel flops onto her back, her little feet wedged up against Nora’s thigh. “I never get to go anywhere!”

“You know why, Cel,” Fukashi says.

“Yeah, yeah. No one can see me or they’ll get mad.” Her eyes widen and she lifts her head off the floor. “Does Nora know? She’s not gonna tell?”

Fukashi looks at the girl in question. “Well?”

Nora shrinks into herself. “The...the other woman--Arthur? She said I’m not allowed to tell anyone about Cel’s hair and eyes.”

“Daddy’s not a girl!” Cel protests, sitting upright quickly. She leans toward Nora, her face pink. “Daddy’s a boy!”

Fukashi wants a nap. “Gender is complicated, Cel. You should never assume that someone is a boy or girl. There are even other genders. Nora’s people only have girls.”

Cel’s face scrunches up cutely. “Huh?”

“Not...girls?” Nora asks, her brow furrowed.

Fukashi settles in for a long talk. “Perhaps we can begin your lessons there, Nora. Cel, you need this as well. We’ll cover all the known genders I can think of and go from there.”

Cel sits up straight and turns toward him, eager to learn something new. Nora slouches a little, and when Fukashi questions her, she admits, “Lessons are boring.”

Fukashi thinks for a long moment. Finally, he gets an idea of how to interest her. “Your people are fighters, Nora. Warriors. Do you want to learn to fight one day?”

Nora nods eagerly, a smile on her mouth. “Me and Nini used to wrestle like Mama and Aunt Bhaanu. I liked it. It was fun.”

“Fighting is boring,” Cel complains.

Fukashi shushes her before explaining to Nora, “I’ll teach you all I can about fighting. Arthur probably will as well. But first, you must learn some other things. One lesson of this for one lesson of that. Sound good?”

“Yes...uh.” She shoots Cel a questioning look. “ShiShi?”

Cel starts to bow up. “ShiShi’s name is Fukashi. You should call him that.”

Fukashi laughs and shakes his head. “Nora, you can simply call me Teacher.”

“Teacher,” Nora repeats, relieved.