Jia’s up early the next morning, getting cleaning done at the winery before they open. She stayed up late looking through her mom’s photo albums and she’s feeling it this morning. She almost forgot she had to open today. Luckily it’s a rainy weekday during their slow season. She’s unlikely to have more than a few customers.

One of their regulars did show up an hour before opening wanting a glass but that’s the only person to stop in so far. The lady insisted Jia share a drink with her and she’s certainly not one to turn down a regular. Nothing changes when they technically open. She keeps cleaning while sneaking a sip of wine every now and then. This continues until just before noon when her dad pokes his head in. Having spent the better part of the morning planning what to say, she’s ready to ambush him.

“Dad, did mom talk to you about what I found last night?”

He grins, glancing around to make sure they’re alone. “She did. I’m not surprised you figured it out but nice job. That’s your family’s history and you deserved to know. Wasn’t my place to tell though.”

“Did she tell you what I asked her?”

He nods, knowing where his daughter’s taking this. “That’s up to your mother. I’m not getting involved.”

“That’s fine dad, it can be up to her. She seems to think you’d have a problem with her training me though. If you don’t, can you just tell her so she'll consider it?”

Her dad pours himself a glass of wine. Jia loves to drink with the customers but her dad never does unless a customer really insists. For a wine maker, he’s not a big drinker. He certainly never drinks at work when there aren’t any customers around. It’s before noon. Half his glass of pinot’s gone in one long swallow. “It’s not a problem with me. If she wants to train you, I’ll support you both. I don’t want you doing the rest of it though. The martial arts part is fine but don’t go putting on a costume and doing anything like that. I saw what that did to your mother and I don’t want that for you.”

It’s all Jia can do to keep a straight face. “Dad, I’m not deranged. I have no desire to go fighting crime or anything like that. I don’t have a death wish. I just want to know my family’s history. Plus, I love martial arts and a new style would be interesting to learn. Can you put in a good word with mom for me?”

“No need.” They both turn to find Jia’s mom walking in looking completely rested. You’d never know she was up half the night. She closes the umbrella that’s kept her mostly dry despite the pouring rain outside. “Jia, please don’t discuss this in public. I’d rather not discuss it at all but if you have to, do it at home. I don’t want someone overhearing you and looking into my past. Our family’s form isn’t practiced today but there are a lot of people who would be very interested in learning about it. If the wrong person overhears you, that could be dangerous for our family, maybe even for your grandfather. Do you understand?”

Jia nods and her mother moves on. “If your father is truly okay with it, I’ll consider training you. You’ll need to prove you’re serious though. It’s not something I’m going to teach you lightly. I have to warn you, the training will be very difficult. You’re not going to like me very much by the time we’re done. Is that okay?”

Jia practically jumps up and down she’s so excited. She can always make her dad do what she wants but her mom’s an unmovable force. Winning feels almost wrong. That doesn’t mean she isn’t grateful for a victory. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she tells her mom as she rushes to hug her. With a sly smile her mother says to her, “Your father and I will watch the winery. It’s time for your first task. I want you to run to the top of the nearest mountain and retrieve some of the purple flowers that grow there. I’ll give you an hour. That should be enough time if you push yourself. Make sure to bring back at least a few of them and make sure you keep them safe on the way down. I want a nice centerpiece for the table tonight.”

“It’s raining really hard mom,” Jia starts to say before realizing that’s probably the point. Starting off her training by arguing isn’t the way to prove she’s serious. Her mother’s eyebrow goes up but before she can respond Jia says, ”Can I at least have time to go put on a raincoat?”

Her mother’s smile gets a little more wicked. “You can use your hour however you want. But keep in mind that your hour starts,” she looks down at her watch, “now. Taking ten minutes to run to the house and change would probably make completing this task impossible but that’s up to you.”

Jia considers objecting before realizing there’s no point. Her glee has turned to anger but she immediately flies out the front door of the winery and starts heading for the nearest path up the mountain.

Back inside the winery, Jia’s dad gives his wife a disapproving look. “Do you have any intention of actually teaching her Lia? Running up mountains isn’t what she has in mind.”

The wicked grin is now in full force and she bursts out laughing. “I wouldn’t say no intention. You could have done a better job of backing me up on the ‘your dad would have a problem with this’ thing.”

He shrugs. “Sorry, you know I’ve never been good at lying to her. She figured things out so fast after I slipped up. She’s our daughter.”

“If she does everything I ask, then I’ll teach her. I’m going to make it as hard as possible though because I really don’t want to do this. If she pushes through everything I’m going to put in her way, I won’t have much choice. She’s tough, but I think she’ll break before I do.” Pouring herself a rare daytime glass of wine, she offers cheers to her husband before downing the entire glass in one long gulp.