The announcement that the healing center would be hosting both a spontaneous hot pot lunch and an unofficiated fight between two enlightened combatants was enough to pull even the most meticulously scheduled from their appointments and even off the street.

Chaoxiang glared around the garden where the diners had gathered to eat, eating house-fried rice and refusing to touch the hotpots Hanabi had prepared for everyone. He glared daggers at the focus of everyone’s attention, the eating slowing for the many white-outfitted audience members.

Hanabi stood at one end of a stone circle, unknowingly providing a show for their watchers as she leaned over her legs left and right, limbering up her well-toned body as opposite of her, Ai Li moved in a slow circle, moving her hands through the air like they were fish swimming through the water, taking wide-legged stances and shifting on her feet to warm them up.

Both had eaten well. Ai Li couldn’t believe Hanabi wanted to cook for the whole compound, but here they were… she also couldn’t believe how excited Hanabi was when she learned they grew their own tien tsin peppers.

Ai Li made certain to avoid the red hotpots after seeing a few guests turn red-faced and wag their tongues out as they scrambled for water…

“I’m ready.” Hanabi suddenly spoke up. She was grinning, barely showing any concern or anxiety; to her, this was just for fun… or maybe worse, in Ai Li’s eyes, just to fulfill a promise. She was acting like this was just a fun little event, and maybe it was…

But Ai Li felt a little stiff, which was why she was going through the relaxation motions. Hanabi was older, bigger, and she was able to act and counteract in the moment. She wondered if Hanabi was lying about taking this seriously, but…

There was only one way to find out.

With a nod, the two faced each other with deep breaths, and Hanabi withdrew an unused pepper from her pocket to bite into, the burst of reddening heat making her wince, cry, and purr all at once.

Then, they both struck a stance.

Ai Li’s mind focused its full attention on the girl before her, reading her moves like a spearfisher patiently waiting to make their catch, while Hanabi’s eyes were, finally, firmly on Ai Li and Ai Li alone.

“You promised me a serious fight.” Ai Li reminded her, and Hanabi gave a quick nod.

“I won’t hold back.” Hanabi said promisingly. “Not even a little.”

Ai Li bowed her little head and smiled, plucking her golden needles out of her hair to cradle between her ring and middle fingers. “Neither will I.”

“The safeword is ‘bubblegum!’”

“Th-the safe—?” Ai Li’s cheeks pinkened, but she nodded. “Right.”

Ai Li took a quarter out of her pocket and flipped it through the air, spinning rapidly as it arced towards the center of the impromptu arena. The crowd was quiet, so the only sound was the clink of metal against the stone floor, then an explosion.

Hanabi’s ki burned through her body unimpeded, and the smell of cooked peppers stung the watchers’ noses as she rocketed towards Ai Li at her full strength, a brutal right hook careening for the placidly staring girl’s face.

Ai Li was a rock, unmoving as her palms swiftly guided Hanabi to her side, the bigger girl’s fist whiffing through empty air, but she twisted on her toes as a finger jab skid over her shoulder, and threw another punch.

The smaller girl was blown back, pain rippling across her stomach, but she landed flat on her feet, and sucked in a deep breath before sprinting out of the way of a stream of fire spewing from Hanabi’s mouth.

Ki-enhanced hands spun the worst of the fire away, though the residual heat and spice stung Ai Li’s nostrils and eyes, and the fire cut short in time for Hanabi to close the gap with a spinning kick that knocked the smaller girl to the ground.

She didn’t even have time to sit up when Hanabi was on her, pressing her to the stone with her weight, but before Hanabi’s fist could connect with Ai Li’s jaw, a golden needle jabbed in between Hanabi’s knuckles, and the larger girl yelped, stumbling back and pulling it out of her fist.

Hanabi winced as her fingers refused to curl up, her hand deadening as the needle flew back into Ai Li’s grip. Ai Li grinned through the pain, and Hanabi squeezed her numbing arm.

“Those little things got a nice bite.” Hanabi grunted.

“My father made them for me.” Ai Li grinned. Gold and silver were especially good at channeling ki, and had been used throughout history by the enlightened for both combat and profession.

“My compliments to the chef!” Hanabi grinned back.

She launched herself forward despite her wounded arm, and felt a needle tip tear through the side of her shirt, and Ai Li’s other needle speared higher, aiming at Hanabi’s shoulder, but her good hand caught the smaller girl’s fist and squeezed.

Ai Li screeched, ripping her hand out of Hanabi’s grip, her needle clattering on the ground as the crushed pepper sizzled and popped on her fist, distracted long enough for two powerful blows to knock her back, forcing her to skip out of the way as Hanabi chased, hounding her with an endless series of single-armed punches and kicks, spice thrown out like specks of sand only to ignite in the air and drive Ai Li further and further away.

Shaking off the stinging juice at last, Ai Li slammed both palms into Hanabi’s chest, a burst of ki sending her sailing across the circle onto her back, but Hanabi was up in an instant, flexing her deadened fist as the feeling returned.

The little Chinese fighter panted heavily. She was bruising across her body, though both adrenaline and ki were deadening the pain, but the heat of Hanabi’s spicy flames left her feeling tender around her hands and face.

But Hanabi was fighting her with everything she had. Ai Li felt a surge of adrenaline through her body as she saw the warrior behind Hanabi’s eyes, alive and awake and screaming through her, but Ai Li was not intimidated.

She breathed deep. She was water, the bringer and destroyer of lives; in time she could carve the sturdiest stone, smother the brightest of flames, rust the hardest of metals, and join with the mightiest of winds in a ceaseless storm.

Hanabi came at her like a pouncing tigress, crushing a juicy pepper in her fist to light her entire arm aflame, but Ai Li held out her burnt hand and curled her fingers like a puppet master.

The golden needle on the floor suddenly flew through the air and sank into the back of Hanabi’s knee, drawing a squawk of surprise, and Hanabi fell to a skid on the stone, and like the crack of a whip, Ai Li’s fingers speared Hanabi’s chest, the bigger girl gritting her teeth and gasping as the strike drove the air out of her lungs.

She struggled to gasp for more, weakness spreading throughout her chest, but she sternly and swiftly grabbed Ai Li’s other hand as it tried to sink a needle into her head. She squeezed, gritting her teeth as Ai Li’s other hand jabbed her shoulder, but she refused to let go.

A knee collided with her face once, then twice, Ai Li struggling to pull herself from Hanabi’s grasp, but eventually the second golden needle sank into Hanabi’s shoulder, and her arm went dead, releasing Ai Li.

With a breath of relief, Ai Li held her hands at the ready around Hanabi’s throat to close the fight out.

This was it. This was her win!

Then, Hanabi slapped her hard right on the face, leaving behind a wet, spicy, pepper-mash.

Her vision blurred as pain exploded through her sinuses and across her tongue, her entire body heating up as the spice blasted through her face and left her acting purely on squealing instinct as she fled backwards, coughing, spitting, wiping her swollen lips and tongue, blowing her nose to get the fiery pepper out of her nostrils.

She didn’t see the retaliatory strike, only feeling her legs swept out from under her, sending her onto her back with a yelp of surprise, and held her hands up as a blurry fist arced for her face.

“Bubbagum!”

Activity in the garden came to a sudden stop. Hanabi slowly relaxed her body and withdrew her fist, climbing off of Ai Li and rolling onto her back with a groan, her numbed leg twitching before she slowly drew herself up to her knees and limped over to a nearby table.

Ai Li winced and felt her stomach sink before a wet towel rubbed along her face, water pouring over her eyes and up her nose, and she accepted a bowl of ice cream she hastily ate to cool the burning in her throat.

She’d lost… fair and square.

The sinking in her stomach was worse than the battle damage she’d taken. She hadn’t known what to expect right away, she knew to temper her expectations since Hanabi had been fighting wounded earlier, but… for a moment, she felt victory in her grasp, only for it to be snatched away.

She’d allowed Hanabi to break through her defenses, and trip her up with that stupid spicy pepper! AUGH, why did she even have that pepper on the property?! Sure it was a traditional Chinese ingredient, but she hated hated hated them!

Ai Li flopped on her back and breathed deeply, trying to not feel resentful, or worse, depressed over the loss. It had been the winning move… Ai Li could have done better.

“Are you alright, Ai?” Somebody asked.

Ai Li fluttered her eyes open to see a few of the older employees gathered around, looking down at her in concern. “I’m fine.” She told them, groaning as she sat up. “Just feeling sorry for myself.”

“You’ve got nothing to feel sorry about!” One of them insisted.

“Yeah, you were really close.”

“One more hit would have done it!”

Ai Li pouted, trying to remember the moment of having Hanabi at her mercy… “She beat me to it.”

“Whether or not one more hit would have done it doesn’t matter.” Chaoxiang’s voice rose as he approached slowly. “Ai Li lost, and dwelling on it doesn’t matter.” He knelt down by his granddaughter’s side with a wince as he held his back. “But you learned, didn’t you?”

“I… I did, grandpa.” She bobbed her head, accepting his hand to stand slowly, with a wince.

“Remember what I always say?”

“‘A juggler drops more than they will ever catch.’”

“And the next time the guizi comes around, you will use that knowledge to break her in half! Right?!” He demanded with a wild glare, and Ai Li sighed.

“Yes grandpa.”

“Good! Come, the fight’s over, so everyone needs to get back to work! And you need to get some rest.” He rubbed her back, but both stopped, and Chaoxiang glared with flaring nostrils as Hanabi stood in front of them, holding two bowls of hotpot-cooked noodles and foods.

Ai Li stared at them both: one a fiery, burning red, one a placid, light white… she accepted the non-spicy one with a blush, and Hanabi smiled at her.

“That was fun. You’ve got a great style, just need some more experience, I think.” Hanabi grinned.

Ai Li dug into the bowl ravenously, her cheeks turning a little more pink beyond the light burns she had. “Y-you thinkf sho?” She asked around a mouthful.

“Oh yeah, never fought anything like that before.”

Ai Li nodded to herself, thinking, giving Chaoxiang the chance to butt in. “And the next time you two square off, it will be your head in the bowl, guizi!” He shook his fist threateningly, and Hanabi merely snorted.

“Sure thing. But… either way, with all that cleared up, I need to head back to Goro’s, I’m sure the guys on the pier are letting out soon and will want some dinner.” She glanced up at the sun hanging over the garden and nodded. “Thanks for the help, and best of luck with your training!”

“W-wait!” Ai Li scampered forward, Chaoxiang staring down at her bowl of food in shock as the little lady hung onto Hanabi’s arm. “Goro’s? Where’s that?”

Hanabi blinked. “Goro’s Four Bowls of Fire on… uuuhhh, oh! South Pier Bay, we’re opening around 7:00-ish depending on how quickly I can prepare the ingredients, and kinda close whenever, so—”

“And you work there?”

“And live there, yeah.”

Ai Li bounced on her toes a little bit. “Could… we practice together sometime?” She asked, her voice dipping bashfully.

Hanabi tilted her head at the girl’s reaction, and stiffled a laugh. “What, nobody else around you can fight against?”

“Not really.” Ai Li sighed. “You’re the only enlightened girl around my age I know of outside of my family. Most other fighters are older than me and hold back, call it off before I can get too hurt. Other people around my age, well… you can’t go all out against the unenlightened.”

Hanabi hesitated to answer right away as Ai Li hung off her arm, waiting for her answer. “Does your definition of ‘practice’ involve ambushing me when I least expect it?”

“Would that help?” Ai Li blinked.

“Absolutely not–please don’t.” Hanabi sweat a little bit, her eyes rolling up as she… recalled. “But, I suppose I can! No sense in letting myself go dull, and I’d rather have practice than an ambush, y’know? Besides, it couldn't hurt to have a friend close by.”

“Yeah!” Ai Li squirmed on her feet, looking pleased. “And I can show you some places in the city, and we can just hang out sometimes! I’ll just make sure to call ahead.”

That seemed to inspire a little more confidence in Hanabi. “I’ll give you the restaurant’s phone number!”

“Why not your cell phone’s?”

“I don’t have one.”

“Oh.” Ai Li stared silently up at Hanabi. “Weird…”

Hanabi pouted before hunting for a piece of scrap paper and a pen.