FicWad

Chapter Two: Blood Taint

It was not a particularly happy scene: one young girl, crying, a doll clutched to her chest; one crowd of triumphant people; one solitary tear, running from a closed blood-red eye.

The story wasn't happy, either. She'd been waiting for her mother to come home, but her mother never came. Why? Where was she?

She picked up her doll off the top of her sleeping pallet and padded to the door of the hut, pushing open the flap. Clan life continued outside, oblivious to the small presence in its midst.

"Mama?"

Her bare feet dragged in the dirt as she walked, wary, doll held tightly. A boy spotted her. He and three others, two other boys and a girl, ran to her and encircled her.

"Have you seen my mama?" she asked.

"'Have you seen my mama?'" the leader of the group mocked. "What's the matter, half-breed? Scared without Mama to hide behind?"

"No," she said, angry. "I don't need to hide behind anyone."

"Looks like you're trying to hide behind that doll!" the boy sneered.

"Leave me alone," she growled.

"'Leave me alone! Mama, the big bad pure-blood is going to get me!"

"Shut up!" she snapped.

"What're you going to do, half-breed?" he taunted. "Sic your dolly on me?"

The others laughed.

"Quit calling me a half-breed!" she snarled.

"But that's what you are, half-breed. You don't belong here."

"Shut up," she said, hanging her head. "Please."

The boy and the three others moved in closer. "You know what?" he said. "You're weak. You've always been. And it's really beginning to tick me off."

She launched herself at him. Somebody kicked her from behind and slammed her face in the dirt. She raised her head up, trying to bite someone, but she was shoved down again.

The boy and his cohorts kicked her. "No half-rén xìng is going to be allowed to touch me and get away with it," he said. "You got lucky this time. And, oh..." He smirked. "If you're looking for your mama, try the central firepit." He and his cronies walked away, snickering.

She sat up slowly, wiping blood off her cheek. She picked up her doll, made sure it wasn't harmed in any way, and stood up. "The central firepit," she said quietly, and began walking again.

Loud voices were coming from the direction of the center of the camp. She edged closer, peering around the edge of a hut, and gasped at what she saw.

Her mother stood in the middle of the gathering place, hands bound. The clan leader-- her grandfather-- paced in front of the bound woman. They were ringed by the clan's Council members.

What is Laoye doing to Mama?

Her grandfather stopped pacing. The Council looked at him, expectant.

"As you know," he began, "this woman mated a human. We are at war with humans. We are different species. Uska does not mate with rén xìng. She broke this taboo; after eight years of leniency which have allowed her to raise her child, her punishment may no longer be delayed."

"Do what you will," the bound woman said, raising her chin proudly. "I do not regret what I've done."

She could swear she saw tears in her grandfather's eyes as he continued. "My other daughter was killed in battle while courageously protecting our village--"

"'Courageously protecting'?" the woman repeated with disbelief. "Don't make me laugh! Jin Li fought for the kill, not the vil--"

"Be quiet," the man said softly.

"I will not!" she cried. "I am your daughter! You prosecute me because I was not afraid to love! Hate and jealousy is what drives these humans!"

"Your own sister died at the hands of those humans-- the same race as the one you loved!" the man snapped.

"No," the woman said, voice soft. "My sister died at my hands."

The man's eyes widened. "No," he whispered. "You're lying. You can't have."

"I can have and I did, Baba," the woman said, voice choked. "Jin Li killed Zhang An Chang, the human I love. I never loved Jin Li, so in my rage and grief I killed her."

"Do you not see how hard this is for me?" the man whispered. "My daughter... Jia Yu..."

A woman in the Council pushed her way forwards. "Traitor!" she screamed, pointing at the bound woman. "She killed my daughter; she tainted our blood!"

"Mama!" the bound woman cried in dismay.

"You are not my daughter, you filthy little bitch!" the woman in the Council yelled. "Don't ever call me by that name again!"

"Mama!"

This time the cry belonged to the girl, gripping tightly to her doll, bursting into the gathering around the firepit and rushing to her mother. The bound woman looked up and cried, "No! Get out of here!"

"You see that?" the Council woman shouted. "That child is her taint, our shame!"

"Kill it!" someone in the crowd yelled.

The girl gasped and grabbed onto her mother's cheongsam.

"What has my child done?" the woman demanded. "You are the ones who deserve to die!"

The man looked at her. "No," he said, voice sad, "it is you who deserves to die. You killed a blood relative: a crime punishable by death."

"Then kill me," the woman said, causing the girl's grip on her cheongsam to tighten.

"No, Mama! You can't die!"

"Kill me and see where it gets you," the woman continued. "You will have accomplished nothing! Now untie me; if I must die, I will die proudly, free, not tied up like some animal."

The man nodded, drew a dagger and sliced the woman's bonds. Now the girl knew she saw tears in her laoye's eyes. The woman knelt and embraced her daughter. "Be strong," she whispered.

"But I can't," the girl protested, sobbing. "Not without you!"

"You can, and you will!" the woman said, firm. "Now, stop crying. Wipe your tears and be a warrior like your father."

The girl sniffed and scrubbed a hand over her eyes. "Mama..."

The woman smiled. "It'll be all right." She got to her feet and faced the clan leader. "All right, Baba," she said. "Kill me."

The girl shut her eyes, biting her tongue so hard she drew blood. She heard a gasp and a thud, then opened her eyes. Her mother was kneeling, cheongsam stained with blood. She looked up and saw the girl, then smiled weakly.

"You'll be all right," she whispered. "I have no regrets. You'll be great, beautiful, like me... that's why..." Her eyes misted over. "I named you as he asked me..."

The girl's eyes were filled with fear. "No... Mama, no, don't leave me!"

The woman was slowly fading, returning to her lover. "There you are, An Chang. Do you see her?"

"No, Mama, stop! MAMAAAAA!"

"Isn't she beautiful? I love her... Zhang... Jia... Lan..."

She awoke with a start.
*
Zhang Jia Lan blinked, wiping her eyes. "Crying again," she muttered, disgusted with herself. "I have to find a way to make those dreams stop."

She fell silent, staring at her hands. It had been different this time. This time she'd caught glimpses of others she'd never seen before: two cat-eared beings, one drowning, the other bowing; a boy bleeding from spread golden wings; a whip-bearing, smirking girl; a sly-looking boy followed by an eager-eyed girl, deep in talk; a white-haired, blank-eyed boy; and one of the cat-eared beings again, an intensity in his blue eyes she'd never experienced before...

Jia Lan shook her head to clear it. She glanced around the small hut, clenching her fists, nails digging deep into her palm. It had been eleven years since another being had occupied the small space with her. Jia Lan was eighteen, a woman, yet she still wept like a child in her dreams.

She rubbed her russet-furred fox ears. "Pathetic," she said under her breath, then threw off her covers and got to her feet.

Jia Lan slipped off the plain cotton robe she'd been wearing and dressed in a blue qipao patterned with silver-threaded dragons. She sighed; the only reason she owned something as nice as the simple cheongsam was that it had belonged to her mother. Her laolao, her mother's mother, would never give her something like it; everything given to her by her laolao was old, worn, and usually didn't fit. As she began to braid her waist-length, deep-red hair, Jia Lan had to bite her lip to keep tears from welling in her blood-colored eyes. I will not cry, she told herself firmly. I will not show weakness. I will be brave like my mother, a warrior like my father... I will not cry.

As she tied off the end of her braid, her fingers brushed the paw print-shaped scar on the side of her neck. It was her clan initiation scar, the mark every uska received at the age of thirteen to show that they had grown to adulthood. Jia Lan's memory of her initiation ceremony was quite clear; they had tried everything they could to make her fail it, even placing the Hong Clan mark on her neck in hopes that the knife would "slip." Unfortunately for most of the Hong Clan, Jia Lan had survived.

She snorted. Idiots, all of them. When she had chosen her wu qì, she'd chosen a jian, causing every member of the clan to scoff at her. Fox uskas hated any sword-related weapons, from daggers to normal-length swords, arguing that they were too traditional, not interesting, and not sneaky. This was precisely why she'd chosen her dirk-sized jian-- because few knew how to wield one, Jia Lan would be able to protect herself from the many attacks she got from her fellow Clan members every day.

Speaking of which...

Jia Lan glanced towards the entrance to her tiny hut. Normally by this time, people would by standing outside, shouting insults of her "tainted blood" and waiting to mug her the instant she set foot outside. But it was dead silent. Jia Lan picked up her sheathed jian and cautiously pushed open the door flap to the hut.

There was not a single being in sight.

Confused, the young hybrid stepped outside, sending up small clouds of dust with her bare feet. She walked only a few paces before she heard her name.

"Zhang Jia Lan."

Jia Lan didn't have to turn to identify the speaker. She could recognize the voice of the boy who'd pointed her to her mother's trial eleven years ago.

"Sang Rui Ke," she acknowledged without turning to face him. "What do you want?"

"You still have no respect for pure-bloods, do you, half-breed?" Rui Ke said, testing her temper. "Well, well..."

Jia Lan ignored him. "Where is everyone?" she asked. "The village is silent."

"Of course it is," Rui Ke said. "They're all waiting for you."

Jia Lan was puzzled. She now turned to look at the boy, whose eyes were shining and ears pricked with triumph. "For me?"

"I was told to retrieve Zhang Jia Lan," Rui Ke said. "I believe that is you. Do you remember where your mother was eleven years ago?"

Jia Lan's blood ran cold. Rui Ke smirked. "I'll see you there," he said, and walked away.

Jia Lan numbly made her way towards the central firepit. She wasn't scared, she told herself, and wasn't afraid of death. No, not at all. Then why are you shaking? a voice inside her asked, but Jia Lan quickly hushed it.

Sure enough, all of Hong Village had gathered around the central firepit. As Jia Lan approached, all turned to look at the hybrid, ice in their eyes. They parted to make a path for her; Jia Lan walked straight up to her laoye and looked him in the eye.

"Bai Fa Gang," she said, licking her lips, "I have committed no crime. Why has the Council gathered?"

"Zhang Jia Lan," Fa Gang said, "in rare circumstances, the Council may pass judgement against one who does not seem to fit in with the Clan. Since birth, you have been separate from us. The Clan survives on unity; you disrupt that unity."

Jia Lan felt as though she had been stabbed. She laughed to cover her wounded pride. "And is that my fault?" she challenged. "Have I ever purposefully risen against my fellow Clan members without being provoked first?"

"Zhang Jia--"

"Are you not the ones who despise me? Are you not the ones who have hated me since my birth? I do not disrupt unity-- you do!"

"Nevertheless," Fa Gang said, "no Hong Clan member will ever accept you as one of us."

"I passed my initiation," Jia Lan whispered. "I am legally one of you."

"You never have been one of us and you never will be!" Jia Lan's laolao spat. Bai Shi Lu clenched her wrinkled fists and shouted, "Dispose of her just as her mother was disposed of!"

The Clan roared its approval. Jia Lan swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. No. No, no, no. no--

"No."

It was not Jia Lan that had spoken. Every uska turned to stare at Fa Gang.

"Bai Fa Gang, what are you doing?" Shi Lu demanded of her mate. "This parasite deserves to die!"

"But as she said, she has committed no crime," Fa Gang said, quite calm. "Will you have us go against the laws of our ancestors? I think not. We may only put one of our own to death if they have committed a crime. Zhang Jia Lan carries tainted blood, but she has no other cause for death. There is one action the Council may take, and that is casting her out."

Murmurs swept through the crowd. Jia Lan stared at Fa Gang. For an uska, especially one of the Inu People, being Clanless was a fate worse than death. Jia Lan would have almost preferred death; being a slave to her clan was even better than being outcast.

"All in favor of outcast--"

The Clan yelled approval once more. Jia Lan's hands were shaking visibly as she clutched the handle of her jian. She wouldn't leave. She couldn't leave--

And then she caught the glint of weapons in the sun. She whirled to stare at Fa Gang, who looked back at her without a hint of emotion. "The Clan will chase you until you have left our People's lands," he informed her. "If I were you, Zhang Jia Lan, I would start running."

Jia Lan backed away slowly, staring at her laoye. He'd never been kind, nor had he been cruel; never been unfair but never fair, either. She would never love the old man, but out of every uska in Hong Village, she would miss this one alone.

"Laoye..."

"Run."

Jia Lan took to her feet and didn't look back.