30)

I was about halfway through a second circuit, a first for me, when Sara wandered in. She mentioned that she had given up her computer time because, “Aran woke up and I was done anyways.” as she began taking a closer look at the machines this time without having to monitor a overexcited seven year old.

I started to say something, then stopped myself. Sara gave me a curious, “What?

I wiggled out from under the shoulder lifting machine, which I what I call it at least. “I was going to say I’m glad you respected dibs and that my granddaughter has honor, but then I though that might sound racist.”

I shook my head. “I’m a old guy and I haven’t spend any time around Asian people of any kind. So I might say something every now and then that makes you feel uncomfortable without me even thinking of it that way, so you’re going to have to call me out on it if I do.”

“I might even get upset when you do, because it’s something I see as harmless, but you need to feel like this is one of those safe places, and that I don’t see you as anything other then my rude over stressed granddaughter.”

She went from confused, to troubled, to an eye roll with a smirk as I talked. “It’s okay, you are really old so I can forgive a lot.”

With exchanged grins before I shook a finger at her. “Just you through, I suspect Ami would just claim things to be racist at random to mess with me, and I expect you to watch my back on that kind of thing number one granddaughter.”

She nodded in agreement but looked dubious at the Charlie Chan bit. “Trust me, that last part was incredibly racist, but with stuff that old I can claim it’s being used in irony.”

She shrugged it off and began squirming in place.

So….”Did you want to use the machines? I’m not sure if the weights go up high enough for you?”

She shook her head, apparently that wasn’t it. “Ami said you have a meditation technique?”

I grinned and shook my head. “It’s just something to focus on when you get upset and need a distraction, Ami needed it because she get stressed out by worrying about things constantly, you get stressed out because you work yourself too hard trying to be ready for anything. It won’t help with that, and while it helped me with being angry all the time as a kid, you just get angry to deal with stuff then get over it.”

She blinked a few times as she processed all that, and didn’t that look familiar, then looked sad. “But you taught Ami...”

I shrugged. “Never said I wouldn't teach you, I just didn’t think you needed it.”

She grinned. “Uncle David won’t teach me unless he thinks I’ve earned it and all the traditional families guard their techniques, getting to know something he will never be able to learn is something I get to hold over his head.”

I laughed. “Learning out of spite, the perfect teaching tool.”

I headed over to the storage closet dragged out the stained floor mat Sam has tossed in the back of the moving truc, while I wasn’t looking so I couldn't turn it down. I rolled it out before sitting down on one end, Sara gave the stained old thing a dubious look. “It’s that or the floor.”

She sad down and sniffed at the mat, then winced.

I pointed at a particular heavy stain. “That, that’s the smell of effort. Let it inspire you.”

She gave me a long stare. “Can we get on with this before I pass out.”

“Okay, picture in your head a figure eight lying on it’s side…”

It took her a noticeably longer amount of time to get into it, her determination to “Get it” just made her too stressed out to let it relax her, but I kept talking in a low voice until she relaxed and her breathing went low and steady. I figured I didn’t need to try to upset her to test how well she could maintain her focus like I had to Ami.

She also kept her focus for a lot longer then the tween, until I started to get antsy myself as a bit of a chill settled into my sweaty clothes, so I pushed her into the next level, I one I had used to get myself relaxed enough to sleep on the bad nights.

“Now make it into a flat ribbon, with a twist in it so the outside become the inside and the inside become the outside...”

She kept the same focus for a minute or two before her little face began to grimace with concentration and she lost it, eyes snapping open and her breathing going deeper and quicker.

I gave her a fond smile. “It will come, if you want to make the effort, but I think you already know how to focus, on the other hand a little extra to help you relax can never hurt.”

She nodded in return with a distracted air. “No one taught you this, you came up with it on your own?”

I raised a eyebrow at her, “I read about something similar when the guy was picturing a circle, but didn’t seem like just a ring was enough to keep someone’s attention.”

As I started to get up, she sprung up herself and rushed over to help me. Ah? I don’t really need help anymore, but it was sweet of her so I let her take a arm. Still grunted at I took my feet though. Habit.

She held on to my arm and gave me a serious look. “Grandfather, this is a technique, a real one, it moves my Ki around, and I can feel that the ribbon part will do even more.”

“I think you could do things like I can, magic things, at least a little, well before you got bit.”

Huh? “Well...guess I got some more things to think about.”

I took advantage of the fact she was looking at me with such genuine respect and focus to get my hand on top of her head and mess up her hair, getting in a good mussing before she got me by the wrist, pulled my arm around, and flipped me over her shoulder before slamming me down on the old, stained, woefully thin gym mat.

It hurt, but I got her ankle even as I hit the ground with reflexes I had never had before, only to have her jump up with a flip to twist it her leg out of my hand before she landed and stepped back out of my reach.

She stared down as me with a grin as she blew an errant strain of hair out of her face. “You want to play old man, we can play, and I know you heal a lot faster then my mom, dad, or uncle Dave, so I don’t have to worry about holding back.”

I tuned my head and looked at the young, snotty, girl who dared to challenge me to a fight…

And I felt nothing but what I will call a deep fondness for the child and a touch of wanting to play fight. No cursed anger or killer instincts, no desire to hurt her in anyway.

But as far as getting my butt kicked by a thirteen year girl goes, not today.

I grinned up at her as she started to look concerned. “I got two skinless chicken breast defrosting in the sink that need to get diced up, sprinkled with taco powder and put in the stove pretty soon unless you want to have cheap hamburger meat with your “make you own” taco salad, and I want get cleaned up first.”

She looked disappointed but nodded as she once again stepped up, giving me a warning look as I glaceed at her ankle again. “That’s okay old man, we got all day tomorrow to throw down, and you need the training, I don’t want you embarrassing me.”

Oh...joy.

She looked a bit embarrassed as she helped me up. “...thanks for getting the chicken out for me.”