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(un)Talent, Chapter 5 of 11
Chapter 5:
Please see Chapter 1 for the Summary, Author's Notes, additional details, etc.
Please note that in Chinese, the term for Patriarch and Matriarch is the same, i.e. Liang Family Matriarch and Liang Family Patriarch are both "梁家族长".
In direct contrast to the Zhang Family House, this room was the same size inside as outside, containing six chairs, two attendants, and one finely-dressed older woman (with extravagantly-painted fingernails) whose face Avi recognized from the night before.
“刘家的代表来梁家做客是我们的光荣,” the Liang Family Matriarch greeted her in Mandarin. It’s an honor to have a representative of the Liu Family here.
It took Avi a few beats to react, given the Mandarin pronunciation of Lau as Liu, but she recognized her cue to do her own half of the greetings.
Avi fumbled through the formal Mandarin greeting, doing pretty well from memory’s sake until she got to the blessings. There, Jason eventually ended up prompting her. But of course the Matriarch would do this in Chinese, even though her English was obviously fluent enough to converse with her grandson in it – throwing your counterpart off-guard was key to succeeding in negotiations. Avi’d been raised to be an Heir, though, even if she wasn’t currently one anymore. It would take more than a minor language barrier to fluster her.
When the formal bit was over, it was Jason that intervened before Avi sat through another tea ceremony laden with hidden meaning and subtle jibes.
“Grandmother,” he said plainly in English, “Avi wants to know about her Talent.”
The Liang Family Matriarch didn’t even blink, though she was surely upset with her grandson for bringing the issue up. “Of course,” she said, still in Mandarin. “First, tell me. What do you know?”
“I know that my mother and father may or may not have been cursed with a Dud child. I know that my Talent is possibly sealed away, and if I can break the seal, I can regain it.” Avi indicated that she was finished. It was perhaps not politic to mention the rumor that her Talent would be unmatched. Her little speech was in English – there was no point pretending her Mandarin was good enough to carry on the conversation that was going to ensue.
“That is a very short version of a very long story,” the Matriarch laughed, switching to English. Her accent wasn’t as good as Zhang Matriarch’s had been, but her English was still far better than Avi’s Chinese. “If you want to hear the long story, however, you’ll need a bit more background. Exactly how much do you know of why your parents emigrated?”
Avi weighed several different responses she could give, ranging from “They wanted to get away from pompous hidebound Families such as yourselves” to the more diplomatic “They wanted a fresh start” and finally settled on, “I’ve heard their side of the story, but there are many sides to every story.”
“The power structure was too bloated, many major Family members were corrupt, and the way that the alliances of the Feuds were set up didn’t and still don’t leave much opportunity for advancement,” the Matriarch summed up. “Your parents left so they could lead their own Family. They left for the sake of their ambition. Better to be the big fish in a little pond, as they say in English.”
Avi gestured for her to continue. This was not quite the same spin Mom and Dad had always put on it, but it amounted to the same thing.
“They offended a few people when they left, of course. In abandoning the old hierarchy to set up their own new one, there were obviously old-timers who complained, who felt your parents were too full of themselves, too power-grubbing, too opportunistic, or just that they were no longer Chinese for having abandoned a hierarchy that really is unique to this country. One of the most vocal critics was Yang Patriarch.”
“I haven’t heard of the Yang Family before,” Avi said politely. And she should have. Along with the customary classes she’d taken at Talent School on the vitals of every Family within the United States and the more major ones in Western Europe, her parents had also personally seen to it that she and her brother and sisters had been familiar with every Family in China and their members of interest.
“You wouldn’t have. They died out over a decade ago. You’d have been barely ten. There were many factors leading to their decline, but the most notable of these was poor leadership –Yang Patriarch was a notorious drunkard. And therein lies the issue. You see Yang Patriarch was especially upset by your parents’ elopement and departure because your mother had until then been betrothed to his younger son.”
Avi looked surprised at this piece of information, and Liang Matriarch laughed.
“You didn’t know that, did you? It was a poor match. A spitfire like your mother wasted on a second son in a good-for-nothing Family? Your mother knew the match wasn’t worth it, but of course she wasn’t born to a Family and came from the countryside to boot, so she simply didn’t have the bloodlines to make a really good match. She still deserved better, and she knew it. So she ran off with your father, possibly for love but most likely for the strategic alliance, and she never looked back. Anyway, my point is, Yang Patriarch had been especially drunk that night, and that is why he cursed your parents and their new-found Family. And of course, he was so drunk nobody could tell whether the curse actually took, whether he’d put any real Talent in it or if it had been words and not Words. Indeed, he was so drunk he didn’t even remember the curse the next morning, much less whether it was a potent one or not.”
“Is that why my parents never mentioned it?” Avi ventured. “Because it wasn’t guaranteed?”
“I don’t think your parents even knew about it until they sent a few feelers out in the last decade to see what people in the old country do with Dud children,” the Matriarch said crudely, as if taking pleasure in how much the words hurt Avi. “Perhaps by then they were too embarrassed.”
Avi ignored the jibe. “And what was the curse exactly?”
“Well, he was pretty drunk, but to paraphrase into English, it would be something along the lines of: I hope those damned backstabbing traitors get what’s coming to them. Ha! Such good bloodlines, and I bet you anything they’ll produce a child who’s a Dud. No, even better. I put Words on them. I curse them so that they shall bear a child who shall have unparalleled power, unrivaled Talent, only to have that Talent snatched from the child and stored away in a box of my own design put in a place of my choosing.”
Avi was a bit taken aback at the vehemence of the translation, which the Matriarch spat as if she were the one cursing them herself. “That sounds pretty clear,” she said slowly. “In order for the curse to have taken effect, he’d have to put Talent into his Words, and then he’d have to fashion that box, and squirrel it away.”
“Which is why most of the other Family representatives present didn’t really read much into his words. However, there is a rumor …” This time, the Matriarch trailed off enticingly and gave Avi an enigmatic smile.
Avi was instantly wary. “What?” she demanded. “What rumor?”
The Matriarch waited a few moments before responding, to make it clear that she was deigning to provide Avi the information, not acquiescing to her demands. “Well, they say that after the Yang Family collapsed and his children and grandchildren all left him to serve as subordinates in other Families, and cursed his name for what his excesses had brought them, Yang Patriarch was feeling particularly resentful. And rumor has it that one night, he designed just such a box, and he hid it so that only those who he chose could find it. And then three months later, you were born.”
“Where do you fit into all of this?” Avi wanted to know. If this was a Yang Family matter, why was Liang Family butting into it? If there were only a way to pose that question in a manner both straightforward and diplomatic.
“Oh, this and that,” Liang Matriarch said airily. At Avi’s doubt, she sighed dramatically, and waved her hand. “I suppose I can tell you the story. You see, the Yang ex-Patriarch disappeared shortly after your birth. A few years ago, he was declared officially dead, and so his belongings were willed to his various descendants, most of who thought it all junk and discarded it. The son who would have been his Heir had already died by that point, however the second son happened to come upon a chest with all sorts of Talented knick-knacks in it. Rather than sort through it and face all the could-haves his father had destroyed any possibility of him having, he donated it to the Matriarch he’d recently pledged loyalty to.”
The Matriarch eyes glinted, and her golden fingernails seemed to equally glitter with malevolence as she continued.
“As you may have guessed,” she purred, “that Matriarch was me. Of course, I didn’t have an opportunity to have my subordinates look through the things for another year at least, and they sorted through things for a while, but it recently came to my attention that one of the items within that chest was a piece of paper in code that my subordinates think is a map. And on the back of the map? A terse poem about revenge, about abandonment, about justice, with a specific line slandering the character of none other than your mother. It is my belief that this map leads to the location of your Talent. I had suspected it, but then when we heard tell of a representative of the Lau family in Beijing, I thought it surely must be you, come to seek your Talent. Imagine my surprise when I set Jason on you to find that you knew nothing of the matter.”
“That’s a rather tall tale,” Avi said doubtfully. “It makes for a pretty story, but it’s a bit of a stretch.” In fact, Avi could so easily envision at least ten ways the Matriarch could string her along in the promises of “regaining her Talent” while taking advantage of her Family connections.
“I can prove the tale easily. I can show you the map,” the Matriarch assured. “Under a few conditions, of course.”
“Of course,” Avi said. If the Matriarch didn’t have requests, she’d be suspicious. “What conditions?”
“I won’t ask you to pledge allegiance to my side, because I know your Family’s views on the matter. I do however ask that you not pledge allegiance to my enemies.”
“I understand,” Avi agreed readily. That had been her plan all along, of course. “I can promise you that.”
“I understand that your Family has some pull regionally, if not necessarily nationally. I’d like your parents to use their connections secure an apprenticeship for my grandson Jason,” she said next.
“Grandmother,” Jason burst out, surprised. It was obvious this wasn’t something she’d discussed with him beforehand.
“Oh, I know you’re not planning on staying in Beijing any longer than necessary, and you don’t have the temperament or ambition to take over the Family. I might as well ensure that a healthy branch of the Family remains in the United States in case I need some fresh blood a few generations down.” She looked cool as a cucumber as she set the course of the remainder of his life.
Jason didn’t look terribly happy about his future being decided without his input, but he knew better than to argue with his Matriarch in public. In any case, her decision wasn’t as bad as it might have been – he’d have the opportunity to return home and continue living life as he was.
“I’ll see what they can do,” Avi said, crossing her fingers and hoping her parents would be alright with her promising away their services so readily.
“And I need your guarantee that Lau Family won’t expand back into China.” This point, the Matriarch was very firm on. She punctuated the statement with a click of her fingernails.
“I can’t vouch for future generations,” Avi pointed out reasonably, not willing to commit her nephews and nieces’ future descendants to some sort of promise she made on the spur of a moment.
“Can you make any promises about the next decade at the very least?” the Matriarch asked.
Avi had to think about it. Even though she wasn’t Heir, she’d always been invited (required, really) to sit in on Family strategy meetings, and she knew her parents had no interest in expanding back to China, nor had either of her sisters made any noises in that regards. Given the disinterest, she could probably promise a decade of non-interference without repercussions. “Sure.”
“I won’t be requiring any formal vows, and I won’t ask for your Words,” the Matriarch said, “but even though there will be no official documents, I would not advise you renege on your part of the agreement.”
“Of course not.”
“Then you can go with Jason to retrieve the map.”
Avi wanted to ask, “That’s it?” but held her tongue, knowing better than to stir up matters. “I thank you for your time,” she began formally in Mandarin, but the Matriarch waved her off.
“Don’t even bother,” she said. “I don’t think I can sit through another ten minutes of your graceless stumbling through the formulas. Just go.”
Avi flushed with embarrassment, but knew better than to say anything, so she accepted the dismissal and followed Jason out the room.
---
As soon as the door closed behind her, she turned to glare at Jason. “Your grandmother is rude and condescending-”
“Hey, I know,” Jason said, hands up. “You’re kind of preaching to the choir.” He was also looking nervously back at the door, but Avi didn’t care if the old biddy heard her – she wanted the old biddy to know how irritated she was.
“Just take me to the map,” she said crossly.
“I don’t know where it is.”
“What? But-”
They were interrupted by the arrival of the Immortal. He looked serenely at the two of them as if they were children, and to him they probably were. Almost instantly, both Avi and Jason stopped bickering, straightened their posture, and Avi resisted the urge to tuck in her shirt.
“Follow me, please,” the Immortal said smoothly when both sets of eyes were giving him their full attention.
He led them up one hallway and down another to a room filled with … well, filled with clutter. There were piles of boxes, and stacks of papers, shelves of books and furniture that looked like they had been pushed together in a hurry to make room for more stuff. It was the most cluttered room Avi had ever seen, which was saying something considering she’d spent half of senior year not clearing anything away because she’d been so busy with her thesis.
“Well, this looks … organized,” Avi noted.
The Immortal gave her a quelling look, then pointed to what looked like a small electronic console with bits of non-electronic gadgetry sticking out of it – Avi recognized something that might be jade, peacock feathers, and wood, certainly a strange combination. He waved his hand at it, and muttered a few words she didn’t understand.
At her confused look, Jason sighed. “It was an early experiment to combine Talent with technology. It was … marginally successfully but very limited in repertoire, so Grandmother stuck it back here for storage purposes. It, uh, helps keep the place organized.”
Avi might have made a caustic remark about the gadget’s effectiveness keeping the place organized, but whatever the Immortal spoke must have turned it on, because it started whirring and sparking (“Is it supposed to do that?” Avi asked, concerned), and then a box from the mess started levitating and wobbling a bit precariously as it floated toward Avi and Jason.
Avi hurriedly stuck her hands out in case it fell, and it ended up landing rather gracelessly into her outstretched hands.
“This is the box that was left to the, uh, Family retainer,” Jason said. “I think the map Grandmother was talking about is inside.”
Avi opened it, and started sifting through piles of letters and pictures, all sorts of old knickknacks she might have cared about at any other time but now. Finally, she saw what must be it – not a map, even. A napkin for some obscure restaurant with some notes scrawled on the back of it. The notes were scrawled in Chinese (which would be difficult – she had no problem reading printed Chinese, but break out the cursive and she was lost), and there was also a poem and a small map drawn on it.
“This it?” she asked Jason for confirmation.
He nodded. “I believe so.”
Avi smiled at the Immortal. “I believe the remainder of the contents are not meant for me, so I’ll only be taking this.”
The Immortal nodded, and said some other incomprehensible words to the machine, which once again started whirring and sparking, making quite a few distressing noises. The box obediently wobbled into the air and back. The map, too, seemed inclined to leave at first, but Avi kept a firm grip on it and it subsided its fluttering.
“That machine definitely needs some fine-tuning,” she said firmly.
“Grandmother’s already given up on the idea – it was more Grandfather’s hobby than hers. She’d just as rather Talent and technology remained separate, I think.” Jason smiled at her. “If you want, I have a magnifying glass and a scanner at my place, in case you want to upload the map and email it to someone for consultation.” The suggestion ended on a question, and Avi wavered.
“That sounds great,” Avi finally said, and smiled at him for the first time in twenty-four hours.
---
“Well, thanks for the scanner,” Avi said, stretching out the kinks in her muscles as she stood up from where she’d been crouched over Jason’s laptop. “I should get back so I can start mining my contacts for information.”
“No problem,” Jason said. “And hey, I want to help.”
“You’ve already helped a lot,” Avi said, smiling.
“No, I mean, I want to help you find your Talent. I want to help you look through the map- I have some local contacts, too, and I’m sure they’ll help. We can figure this out if we work together.”
“I appreciate the offer, but¬-”
“Please, let me help. I … I feel like it’s my fault, somehow,” Jason said earnestly. “I want to make amends.”
“Don’t be silly. The only person who’s at fault is the old fart who cast the curse.” Avi waved him off as she started gathering up her things.
“I know, but I … I feel like I should have told you about it all sooner. I feel guilty. I really want to help you- and, I want to spend more time with you.”
“What?” Avi asked, startled.
“Come on, don’t deny it. You’re going to go home and work on this, and you’ll probably never contact me again now that I’ve gotten my grandmother to give you the map. I don’t want us to just part ways-”
“You can drop the act now. You don’t have to pretend to like me, or to get close to me anymore – so just leave me alone!” Avi said hotly.
“But it wasn’t an act!”
Avi looked at him skeptically. “So when you were getting close to me because your Grandmother ordered it …?”
“Look, do we really have to get into this now?” Jason asked.
“Yes! If you want me to trust you enough to accept your help, you need to earn it. All I’ve heard out of your mouth is lies. How do I know what’s really you?”
Jason rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so melodramatic. You know me, there’s just a few facts that I fudged to keep my Talented connections secret. You can ask me any question you want – what exactly do you think I’ve lied about?”
“Let’s start with the beginning,” Avi said, dropping her bag on the ground and putting her hand on her hip. “How did you get yourself introduced to me? I mean, Aly knew you, it’s not like you just walked up to me and said hi. How did you get Aly to introduce you?”
Jason coughed nervously. “Before I ever tried to meet you in person, I observed you from a distance for a month. I ran a background check, checked out your online activity, watched your day-to-day movements.”
“So … you stalked me?” Avi was getting rather outraged.
“But not in a creepy, obsessive way?” Jason tried to explain.
“No, just in an espionage, ulterior-motive kind of way,” Avi said flatly.
“Exactly!” Seeing that Avi wasn’t buying this as a preferred alternative, he hurried on with his explanation. “Anyway, it looked like you were just here to enjoy yourself. You didn’t seem to have a hidden purpose that I could tell-”
“Because I didn’t!” Avi interjected.
“-so I figured I’d get closer to you to see if I was missing anything.”
“And?”
“Aly happened to be the friend of a friend, which turned out to be fortunate. I had my friend introduce us, and then I spent a month working her, getting friendlier with her, charming her, until she liked me enough to ask me hang out with you guys.”
“One month of observing me, then another month getting closer to Aly?” Avi asked. “That’s … a very long con.”
“This was the first mission that my grandmother had given me. It was my first chance to prove myself, for her to see whether I was Heir material or not. I was trying to be as thorough as possible.”
“So you what? Got yourself introduced to me, and spent the next three months charming me for the sake of thoroughness?” Avi tried to think over the things he’d said, the things he’d done, the things she’d said and done, to see how much of it was genuine and how much was an act.
“No!” Jason protested. “That’s not how it was at all! I was just going to observe you from up close for a month, see if I noticed any anomalous behavior, then cut off the relationship and make a full report to Grandmother.”
“So what happened?”
Jason blushed. “At the risk of sounding cheesy, you happened.”
Avi did not look convinced. In fact, she looked like she was about to grab her bag and leave.
“Before, researching and observing you from a distance – it, you, was all very academic. When I met you, though … you were so much more interesting.” He shot Avi an unidentifiable look before he took a deep breath and began, “You were so witty and sarcastic and smart – you had an opinion about everything but you were always willing to listen and learn. Do you remember the heated debates we got into when we first met?”
Did she ever! His eloquence and passion during those debates had been part of the reason she’d developed such a crush on him in the first place!
“I meant to stay aloof, maybe more of an acquaintance than a friend, and minimize actual verbal contact with you in case I betrayed myself. But I couldn’t help but get drawn into those debates with you. I just couldn’t keep out of it! And the things that you had to say – you always sounded so knowledgeable about everything! And the way you were so fundamentally Chinese in philosophy, and your cute Hong Kong accent when you speak Chinese – within a week of meeting you, I had fallen in … well, fallen in like, at least.”
Jason had been moving forward with each exclamation, but he stopped abruptly at the last sentence, having lost steam. At this point, he was blushing cherry-red, and Avi was sure she looked the same. Nevertheless, she didn’t stop in her interrogation. “So when you asked me out to dinner that first time, it was only what, half because of Family reasons, and the other half personal reasons?”
“No, none of the reasons I asked you out had to do with my Family! I couldn’t have learned anything useful at dinner anyway – it’s not like you were going to talk about your ulterior motives to someone you presumed to be mundane. I asked you to dinner because I liked you and I wanted to get to know you. Only problem was, I didn’t think the feeling was mutual.”
“What?”
“Well, we made plans and had dinner and stuff but … you were always so stiff and formal, I didn’t think you were interested at all. I would have given up if Aly hadn’t-”
“That traitor!” Avi burst out. “What did she say?” Surely Aly wouldn’t have betrayed any of her confidences …
Jason gave her a strange look. “She just said to keep trying, that there was hope.”
“Oh.”
“What did you think-”
“Never mind that,” Avi said hastily. “Continue with your story.”
“And then, we really seemed to hit it off when we went clubbing, and I was so happy to get drinks with you the yesterday night. Things seemed like they were going so well, and then … well, then everything went to shit, as I’m sure you remember,” Jason said ironically.
Jason looked earnestly at Avi. If only she could trust that face again …
“I really do like you! I wasn’t pretending! And that’s what I want to help – I want to make up for everything I’ve done.”
Avi took a minute to think carefully about everything he’d said, and it was a mark in Jason’s favor that he let her take her time and didn’t push her for an immediately response.
Finally, Avi spoke. “That’s a whole lot to swallow, Jason, but I … I do think I believe most of it, Talent knows why.” She was impressed that her voice didn’t crack. “And I do need help in this; it’s not something I can do alone. So I’ll let you work with me as my ally, Jason … but not as my friend. I can accept that your Family has strategic interests that align with mine, and I can accept that you genuinely want to help, but I just can’t trust you enough to be your friend.” (Or more, she didn’t have to add.)
Jason nodded slowly, looking sad. “That’s fair.”
“Now, I have to get home and do some research but, um, I guess we can meet up to brainstorm ideas tomorrow? Around noon?” Avi picked up her bags and didn’t look him in the eye.
“Sounds good,” Jason said with false cheer. “We can meet at our usual café?”
“Right.”
“Good.”
“Bye, then,” Avi said and walked out the door without looking back.
---
When Avi got back to her apartment, it took her a good half hour to get her emotions in check. First, there was the belated terror that she’d confronted a Matriarch so brashly and lived to tell the tale. Then, there was the betrayal that washed through her when she thought of Jason, whether or not he’d been telling her the truth. Then, there was the confusing roil of emotions when she thought of her supposedly-imprisoned Talent. She might have been Talented all along? What did that mean for her?
She’d been bottling up her feelings since Maya first told her about the possibility, but now that she was alone, it was so hard not to let them all boil up at once. She let out the feelings one at a time, examined them, felt them, experienced them – then put them back in the box. Because that was being in a Family was about – never letting your emotions control you.
When she could finally sit without shaking, she booted up her laptop and checked the time. Susan wouldn’t have gone to sleep yet, and if she had a paper due, she’d be pulling an all-nighter rather than sleeping.
Hello? She typed into the chatbox.
She waited a few moments, and then had her reply. hey, what’s up? Susan was good about always being available for family, and responding instantly to communications. It made up for some of her less supportive traits.
You free to video-chat? I have a favor to ask.
always with the capitals & grammar, lol, yea sure, let me boot up skype
Moments later, Avi had an incoming call.
“Hey, Susan?”
“Yup. What’s up?” Susan’s image on the screen was a little broken, but Avi was used to that.
“I got a favor I need to ask.”
“I gathered that already.” Susan said, her dry tone coming through the computer clearly.
“And it’s really important that you don’t mention this at all to Mom and Dad. Actually, don’t even tell Nadia and Gareth if you can help it.” Susan was good at keeping things from their parents – Nadia was less so, and Gareth was too much of a brat to rely on.
“Oh dear … you didn’t get arrested, did you?”
“What? No!” Avi paused. “Who got arrested?”
“Gareth,” Susan said, and her image on the computer rolled her eyes. “I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but this is Gareth we’re talking about.”
“What’d he get arrested for?”
“It’s not important.” Which meant that she’d promised not tell and so she wouldn’t – Susan could be relied on to keep secrets. “What’s up with you?”
Avi sighed. “It’s complicated.”
“Stop telling me what it’s like, and tell me what it is already. I haven’t got all night.”
“There are rumors that some Patriarch who was pissed at Mom and Dad cursed them so that they would have a child whose Talent would be stolen and imprisoned. And I have a map that may or may not lead to that box. I need some help deciphering it, though.”
The silence lasted so long that Avi was worried for a moment the video-call had cut out, but then Susan screeched, (immediately followed by apologies to her roommates who were apparently sleeping), and then a long stream of very loud, very impassioned, very demanding questions that the computer was garbling.
“Susan,” Avi said, and then repeated her sister’s name a couple of times to get her to stop being hysterical. (This was one of the drawbacks to getting Susan to help – Susan needed to work on the whole emotions-in-check thing and her highly volatile personality tended to spill over into the people around her, more often than not. There was a reason Nadia was probably taking over the Family and not her.)
When Susan finally quieted, Avi spoke. “I’ve scanned the map into the computer, and I’m going to email it to you. I need you to do some research, poke around some contacts, and figure out what the map says and what it means? Any ideas you have could be useful. And most importantly, don’t tell any of your contacts what it is.”
“Avi …” Susan sighed. Then she was back to business. “Let me take a look?”
Susan tossed out some preliminary suggestions first, which Avi wrote down to look into later. As they discussed the different parts of the map, what the scrawled characters might or might not have said, what the different symbols might indicate, which splotch was a significant indicator and which was just a coffee stain, Avi slowly relaxed. Susan took the opportunity to ask more questions about the whole situation, clarifying which Family had supposedly cast the curse, the supposed nature of the curse, and the implications of that on the meaning of the map.
Avi was left feeling grateful that she’d turned to Susan, who despite her emotional outburst was still willing to respect Avi’s privacy and avoid too-prying questions.
When they’d discussed the matter for an hour and Susan finally needed to get back to working on her paper, they both leaned back and sighed, in unison.
“Why aren’t you talking to Mom and Dad about this?” Susan wanted to know. “You should really be asking them, not me. They’ve got loads more knowledge about this kind of stuff and you would be relying on the wealth of their experiences as opposed to, say, me and my skill with Google.”
“I don’t want them to get their hopes up,” Avi said firmly. “I spent ten years convincing them I was just as good a daughter without Talent as I might be with, and I don’t want all that effort to go up in smoke based on a maybe.”
“Isn’t that a little hypocritical of you to care this much for your Talent, to do this much for your Talent, and not expect them to care and do the same amount?” Susan asked skeptically.
“First, it’s not the same because I am allowed to evaluate myself and come up short because it’s called being harsh on yourself. When others do the same, it’s called being unfair. Second, I’m just following a lead right now, Susan. No more, no less. I certainly haven’t made any decisions.”
“You could have the opportunity to have Talent beyond your wildest imagination, and you would seriously pass it up?”
“I might, nothing’s decided. It’s not like Talent is something I can’t live without, and Talent of that magnitude always comes at a price anyways. It might be a price I’m not willing to pay.”
“I think it would be criminal for you to pass it up. I just want to make that clear.” Susan said this flatly, though Avi knew it wouldn’t keep her sister from helping her.
“You’re also ashamed of my Dud nature and strongly advocated that we hide it from the rest of the world.” Avi still had some less-than-fond memories of that Family argument.
“So?”
“Never mind,” Avi sighed. This was something she doubted Susan would ever understand. What was important was that regardless of how ashamed of her Susan might be, she was family and she was Family, and Susan would always be willing to help. “Just, please, run interference for me and see to it that Mom and Dad don’t find out. And remember, fax your findings to my work.”
“Only cause you’re my favorite sister,” Susan rolled her eyes.
“Thanks, I owe you one.”
With that, Avi ended the call and shut down her laptop, leaned back in her chair, and sighed. She looked at the time – still a couple of hours until she started work (forget about going to classes), which meant just enough time to follow up on a few leads.
Before she’d come to China, her parents had given a few numbers to contact if she were ever in trouble or had an emergency. She was resolved not to contact them (too big of a chance the news would get back to her parents), but it did give her a few ideas about local contacts. She’d kept away from the Talented community as a whole but there were one or two resources that were available in every city, and since her cover was already blown, it wouldn’t hurt to take advantage of them …
A few phone calls, and she had the National Library of Talent sending her all their information on the decline of the Yang Family as well as the names and numbers of some of the local experts on Talent history and Talent symbology, most of them professors at university. Then, there was just one more call she needed to make …
She didn’t have her number, but as a Zhang Family retainer, Maya was listed in the Talent directory. It was a matter of minutes to find the number and make the call. The phone rang a few times, and Avi was worried Maya might be busy, but she picked up.
She answered with her Chinese name, and the traditional Zhang Family greeting.
“Maya, glad I caught you,” Avi said.
“Avi? Is that you? We need to talk.”
“Yeah, but first I need to ask you for a favor.”
“What favor?”
“I need to find Old Man Wu.” Old Man Wu was a seer. He didn’t see the past or the future, so much as answers. This manifestation of his Talent, combined with his already encyclopedic knowledge, made him a hugely-sought-after wealth of information for those who knew to look for it. He’d stayed a few years in Avi’s hometown because he’d been a friend of Maya’s family, before going back to China when his exile had ended. (It had been a complicated exile having to do with possibly offending a Matriarch regarding her clothing choices.)
“Why?” Maya asked suspiciously.
“I need his help deciphering something.”
“Maya, this doesn’t have to do with your missing Talent, does it?”
“It might.”
“I told you not to trust the Liang Family,” Maya said, frustrated. “They’re using you! You need to be careful! I’m warning you again to keep away from them!”
“Well, then,” Avi said coldly, “I’m lucky I’m my own person and I make my own decisions, instead of following your orders all the time. My parents hardly give me orders, Maya, so you certainly do not. I don’t trust Liang Family; I’m merely gambling that their intelligence in this matter proves reliable.”
“And you’re working with that Heir again, aren’t you? Avi, this is a case of you-”
“If you say what I think you’re going to say, this conversation is over,” Avi said grimly. “I’m not calling you to ask for advice, or to hear you judge me. I called to ask if you knew where Old Man Wu is. If you feel you cannot help me in this matter, I’ll accept that and this conversation will be over.”
There was a pause, and Avi worried that Maya really would refuse to give her the information she needed, but finally she heard Maya sigh and rejoiced. “Fine. I’ll take you there tomorrow.”
“How about tonight? I get off work a little late, but I want this done with as soon as possible.” Plus, she was still keeping in mind the Zhang Family’s deadline – she didn’t know what Maya might have to do if the deadline passed and she didn’t respond.
It was clear Maya was aware of the deadline, too, because she only sighed and said, “Alright, I guess. I’ll meet you at your workplace when you get out.”
And then she hung up.
Please see Chapter 1 for the Summary, Author's Notes, additional details, etc.
Please note that in Chinese, the term for Patriarch and Matriarch is the same, i.e. Liang Family Matriarch and Liang Family Patriarch are both "梁家族长".
In direct contrast to the Zhang Family House, this room was the same size inside as outside, containing six chairs, two attendants, and one finely-dressed older woman (with extravagantly-painted fingernails) whose face Avi recognized from the night before.
“刘家的代表来梁家做客是我们的光荣,” the Liang Family Matriarch greeted her in Mandarin. It’s an honor to have a representative of the Liu Family here.
It took Avi a few beats to react, given the Mandarin pronunciation of Lau as Liu, but she recognized her cue to do her own half of the greetings.
Avi fumbled through the formal Mandarin greeting, doing pretty well from memory’s sake until she got to the blessings. There, Jason eventually ended up prompting her. But of course the Matriarch would do this in Chinese, even though her English was obviously fluent enough to converse with her grandson in it – throwing your counterpart off-guard was key to succeeding in negotiations. Avi’d been raised to be an Heir, though, even if she wasn’t currently one anymore. It would take more than a minor language barrier to fluster her.
When the formal bit was over, it was Jason that intervened before Avi sat through another tea ceremony laden with hidden meaning and subtle jibes.
“Grandmother,” he said plainly in English, “Avi wants to know about her Talent.”
The Liang Family Matriarch didn’t even blink, though she was surely upset with her grandson for bringing the issue up. “Of course,” she said, still in Mandarin. “First, tell me. What do you know?”
“I know that my mother and father may or may not have been cursed with a Dud child. I know that my Talent is possibly sealed away, and if I can break the seal, I can regain it.” Avi indicated that she was finished. It was perhaps not politic to mention the rumor that her Talent would be unmatched. Her little speech was in English – there was no point pretending her Mandarin was good enough to carry on the conversation that was going to ensue.
“That is a very short version of a very long story,” the Matriarch laughed, switching to English. Her accent wasn’t as good as Zhang Matriarch’s had been, but her English was still far better than Avi’s Chinese. “If you want to hear the long story, however, you’ll need a bit more background. Exactly how much do you know of why your parents emigrated?”
Avi weighed several different responses she could give, ranging from “They wanted to get away from pompous hidebound Families such as yourselves” to the more diplomatic “They wanted a fresh start” and finally settled on, “I’ve heard their side of the story, but there are many sides to every story.”
“The power structure was too bloated, many major Family members were corrupt, and the way that the alliances of the Feuds were set up didn’t and still don’t leave much opportunity for advancement,” the Matriarch summed up. “Your parents left so they could lead their own Family. They left for the sake of their ambition. Better to be the big fish in a little pond, as they say in English.”
Avi gestured for her to continue. This was not quite the same spin Mom and Dad had always put on it, but it amounted to the same thing.
“They offended a few people when they left, of course. In abandoning the old hierarchy to set up their own new one, there were obviously old-timers who complained, who felt your parents were too full of themselves, too power-grubbing, too opportunistic, or just that they were no longer Chinese for having abandoned a hierarchy that really is unique to this country. One of the most vocal critics was Yang Patriarch.”
“I haven’t heard of the Yang Family before,” Avi said politely. And she should have. Along with the customary classes she’d taken at Talent School on the vitals of every Family within the United States and the more major ones in Western Europe, her parents had also personally seen to it that she and her brother and sisters had been familiar with every Family in China and their members of interest.
“You wouldn’t have. They died out over a decade ago. You’d have been barely ten. There were many factors leading to their decline, but the most notable of these was poor leadership –Yang Patriarch was a notorious drunkard. And therein lies the issue. You see Yang Patriarch was especially upset by your parents’ elopement and departure because your mother had until then been betrothed to his younger son.”
Avi looked surprised at this piece of information, and Liang Matriarch laughed.
“You didn’t know that, did you? It was a poor match. A spitfire like your mother wasted on a second son in a good-for-nothing Family? Your mother knew the match wasn’t worth it, but of course she wasn’t born to a Family and came from the countryside to boot, so she simply didn’t have the bloodlines to make a really good match. She still deserved better, and she knew it. So she ran off with your father, possibly for love but most likely for the strategic alliance, and she never looked back. Anyway, my point is, Yang Patriarch had been especially drunk that night, and that is why he cursed your parents and their new-found Family. And of course, he was so drunk nobody could tell whether the curse actually took, whether he’d put any real Talent in it or if it had been words and not Words. Indeed, he was so drunk he didn’t even remember the curse the next morning, much less whether it was a potent one or not.”
“Is that why my parents never mentioned it?” Avi ventured. “Because it wasn’t guaranteed?”
“I don’t think your parents even knew about it until they sent a few feelers out in the last decade to see what people in the old country do with Dud children,” the Matriarch said crudely, as if taking pleasure in how much the words hurt Avi. “Perhaps by then they were too embarrassed.”
Avi ignored the jibe. “And what was the curse exactly?”
“Well, he was pretty drunk, but to paraphrase into English, it would be something along the lines of: I hope those damned backstabbing traitors get what’s coming to them. Ha! Such good bloodlines, and I bet you anything they’ll produce a child who’s a Dud. No, even better. I put Words on them. I curse them so that they shall bear a child who shall have unparalleled power, unrivaled Talent, only to have that Talent snatched from the child and stored away in a box of my own design put in a place of my choosing.”
Avi was a bit taken aback at the vehemence of the translation, which the Matriarch spat as if she were the one cursing them herself. “That sounds pretty clear,” she said slowly. “In order for the curse to have taken effect, he’d have to put Talent into his Words, and then he’d have to fashion that box, and squirrel it away.”
“Which is why most of the other Family representatives present didn’t really read much into his words. However, there is a rumor …” This time, the Matriarch trailed off enticingly and gave Avi an enigmatic smile.
Avi was instantly wary. “What?” she demanded. “What rumor?”
The Matriarch waited a few moments before responding, to make it clear that she was deigning to provide Avi the information, not acquiescing to her demands. “Well, they say that after the Yang Family collapsed and his children and grandchildren all left him to serve as subordinates in other Families, and cursed his name for what his excesses had brought them, Yang Patriarch was feeling particularly resentful. And rumor has it that one night, he designed just such a box, and he hid it so that only those who he chose could find it. And then three months later, you were born.”
“Where do you fit into all of this?” Avi wanted to know. If this was a Yang Family matter, why was Liang Family butting into it? If there were only a way to pose that question in a manner both straightforward and diplomatic.
“Oh, this and that,” Liang Matriarch said airily. At Avi’s doubt, she sighed dramatically, and waved her hand. “I suppose I can tell you the story. You see, the Yang ex-Patriarch disappeared shortly after your birth. A few years ago, he was declared officially dead, and so his belongings were willed to his various descendants, most of who thought it all junk and discarded it. The son who would have been his Heir had already died by that point, however the second son happened to come upon a chest with all sorts of Talented knick-knacks in it. Rather than sort through it and face all the could-haves his father had destroyed any possibility of him having, he donated it to the Matriarch he’d recently pledged loyalty to.”
The Matriarch eyes glinted, and her golden fingernails seemed to equally glitter with malevolence as she continued.
“As you may have guessed,” she purred, “that Matriarch was me. Of course, I didn’t have an opportunity to have my subordinates look through the things for another year at least, and they sorted through things for a while, but it recently came to my attention that one of the items within that chest was a piece of paper in code that my subordinates think is a map. And on the back of the map? A terse poem about revenge, about abandonment, about justice, with a specific line slandering the character of none other than your mother. It is my belief that this map leads to the location of your Talent. I had suspected it, but then when we heard tell of a representative of the Lau family in Beijing, I thought it surely must be you, come to seek your Talent. Imagine my surprise when I set Jason on you to find that you knew nothing of the matter.”
“That’s a rather tall tale,” Avi said doubtfully. “It makes for a pretty story, but it’s a bit of a stretch.” In fact, Avi could so easily envision at least ten ways the Matriarch could string her along in the promises of “regaining her Talent” while taking advantage of her Family connections.
“I can prove the tale easily. I can show you the map,” the Matriarch assured. “Under a few conditions, of course.”
“Of course,” Avi said. If the Matriarch didn’t have requests, she’d be suspicious. “What conditions?”
“I won’t ask you to pledge allegiance to my side, because I know your Family’s views on the matter. I do however ask that you not pledge allegiance to my enemies.”
“I understand,” Avi agreed readily. That had been her plan all along, of course. “I can promise you that.”
“I understand that your Family has some pull regionally, if not necessarily nationally. I’d like your parents to use their connections secure an apprenticeship for my grandson Jason,” she said next.
“Grandmother,” Jason burst out, surprised. It was obvious this wasn’t something she’d discussed with him beforehand.
“Oh, I know you’re not planning on staying in Beijing any longer than necessary, and you don’t have the temperament or ambition to take over the Family. I might as well ensure that a healthy branch of the Family remains in the United States in case I need some fresh blood a few generations down.” She looked cool as a cucumber as she set the course of the remainder of his life.
Jason didn’t look terribly happy about his future being decided without his input, but he knew better than to argue with his Matriarch in public. In any case, her decision wasn’t as bad as it might have been – he’d have the opportunity to return home and continue living life as he was.
“I’ll see what they can do,” Avi said, crossing her fingers and hoping her parents would be alright with her promising away their services so readily.
“And I need your guarantee that Lau Family won’t expand back into China.” This point, the Matriarch was very firm on. She punctuated the statement with a click of her fingernails.
“I can’t vouch for future generations,” Avi pointed out reasonably, not willing to commit her nephews and nieces’ future descendants to some sort of promise she made on the spur of a moment.
“Can you make any promises about the next decade at the very least?” the Matriarch asked.
Avi had to think about it. Even though she wasn’t Heir, she’d always been invited (required, really) to sit in on Family strategy meetings, and she knew her parents had no interest in expanding back to China, nor had either of her sisters made any noises in that regards. Given the disinterest, she could probably promise a decade of non-interference without repercussions. “Sure.”
“I won’t be requiring any formal vows, and I won’t ask for your Words,” the Matriarch said, “but even though there will be no official documents, I would not advise you renege on your part of the agreement.”
“Of course not.”
“Then you can go with Jason to retrieve the map.”
Avi wanted to ask, “That’s it?” but held her tongue, knowing better than to stir up matters. “I thank you for your time,” she began formally in Mandarin, but the Matriarch waved her off.
“Don’t even bother,” she said. “I don’t think I can sit through another ten minutes of your graceless stumbling through the formulas. Just go.”
Avi flushed with embarrassment, but knew better than to say anything, so she accepted the dismissal and followed Jason out the room.
---
As soon as the door closed behind her, she turned to glare at Jason. “Your grandmother is rude and condescending-”
“Hey, I know,” Jason said, hands up. “You’re kind of preaching to the choir.” He was also looking nervously back at the door, but Avi didn’t care if the old biddy heard her – she wanted the old biddy to know how irritated she was.
“Just take me to the map,” she said crossly.
“I don’t know where it is.”
“What? But-”
They were interrupted by the arrival of the Immortal. He looked serenely at the two of them as if they were children, and to him they probably were. Almost instantly, both Avi and Jason stopped bickering, straightened their posture, and Avi resisted the urge to tuck in her shirt.
“Follow me, please,” the Immortal said smoothly when both sets of eyes were giving him their full attention.
He led them up one hallway and down another to a room filled with … well, filled with clutter. There were piles of boxes, and stacks of papers, shelves of books and furniture that looked like they had been pushed together in a hurry to make room for more stuff. It was the most cluttered room Avi had ever seen, which was saying something considering she’d spent half of senior year not clearing anything away because she’d been so busy with her thesis.
“Well, this looks … organized,” Avi noted.
The Immortal gave her a quelling look, then pointed to what looked like a small electronic console with bits of non-electronic gadgetry sticking out of it – Avi recognized something that might be jade, peacock feathers, and wood, certainly a strange combination. He waved his hand at it, and muttered a few words she didn’t understand.
At her confused look, Jason sighed. “It was an early experiment to combine Talent with technology. It was … marginally successfully but very limited in repertoire, so Grandmother stuck it back here for storage purposes. It, uh, helps keep the place organized.”
Avi might have made a caustic remark about the gadget’s effectiveness keeping the place organized, but whatever the Immortal spoke must have turned it on, because it started whirring and sparking (“Is it supposed to do that?” Avi asked, concerned), and then a box from the mess started levitating and wobbling a bit precariously as it floated toward Avi and Jason.
Avi hurriedly stuck her hands out in case it fell, and it ended up landing rather gracelessly into her outstretched hands.
“This is the box that was left to the, uh, Family retainer,” Jason said. “I think the map Grandmother was talking about is inside.”
Avi opened it, and started sifting through piles of letters and pictures, all sorts of old knickknacks she might have cared about at any other time but now. Finally, she saw what must be it – not a map, even. A napkin for some obscure restaurant with some notes scrawled on the back of it. The notes were scrawled in Chinese (which would be difficult – she had no problem reading printed Chinese, but break out the cursive and she was lost), and there was also a poem and a small map drawn on it.
“This it?” she asked Jason for confirmation.
He nodded. “I believe so.”
Avi smiled at the Immortal. “I believe the remainder of the contents are not meant for me, so I’ll only be taking this.”
The Immortal nodded, and said some other incomprehensible words to the machine, which once again started whirring and sparking, making quite a few distressing noises. The box obediently wobbled into the air and back. The map, too, seemed inclined to leave at first, but Avi kept a firm grip on it and it subsided its fluttering.
“That machine definitely needs some fine-tuning,” she said firmly.
“Grandmother’s already given up on the idea – it was more Grandfather’s hobby than hers. She’d just as rather Talent and technology remained separate, I think.” Jason smiled at her. “If you want, I have a magnifying glass and a scanner at my place, in case you want to upload the map and email it to someone for consultation.” The suggestion ended on a question, and Avi wavered.
“That sounds great,” Avi finally said, and smiled at him for the first time in twenty-four hours.
---
“Well, thanks for the scanner,” Avi said, stretching out the kinks in her muscles as she stood up from where she’d been crouched over Jason’s laptop. “I should get back so I can start mining my contacts for information.”
“No problem,” Jason said. “And hey, I want to help.”
“You’ve already helped a lot,” Avi said, smiling.
“No, I mean, I want to help you find your Talent. I want to help you look through the map- I have some local contacts, too, and I’m sure they’ll help. We can figure this out if we work together.”
“I appreciate the offer, but¬-”
“Please, let me help. I … I feel like it’s my fault, somehow,” Jason said earnestly. “I want to make amends.”
“Don’t be silly. The only person who’s at fault is the old fart who cast the curse.” Avi waved him off as she started gathering up her things.
“I know, but I … I feel like I should have told you about it all sooner. I feel guilty. I really want to help you- and, I want to spend more time with you.”
“What?” Avi asked, startled.
“Come on, don’t deny it. You’re going to go home and work on this, and you’ll probably never contact me again now that I’ve gotten my grandmother to give you the map. I don’t want us to just part ways-”
“You can drop the act now. You don’t have to pretend to like me, or to get close to me anymore – so just leave me alone!” Avi said hotly.
“But it wasn’t an act!”
Avi looked at him skeptically. “So when you were getting close to me because your Grandmother ordered it …?”
“Look, do we really have to get into this now?” Jason asked.
“Yes! If you want me to trust you enough to accept your help, you need to earn it. All I’ve heard out of your mouth is lies. How do I know what’s really you?”
Jason rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so melodramatic. You know me, there’s just a few facts that I fudged to keep my Talented connections secret. You can ask me any question you want – what exactly do you think I’ve lied about?”
“Let’s start with the beginning,” Avi said, dropping her bag on the ground and putting her hand on her hip. “How did you get yourself introduced to me? I mean, Aly knew you, it’s not like you just walked up to me and said hi. How did you get Aly to introduce you?”
Jason coughed nervously. “Before I ever tried to meet you in person, I observed you from a distance for a month. I ran a background check, checked out your online activity, watched your day-to-day movements.”
“So … you stalked me?” Avi was getting rather outraged.
“But not in a creepy, obsessive way?” Jason tried to explain.
“No, just in an espionage, ulterior-motive kind of way,” Avi said flatly.
“Exactly!” Seeing that Avi wasn’t buying this as a preferred alternative, he hurried on with his explanation. “Anyway, it looked like you were just here to enjoy yourself. You didn’t seem to have a hidden purpose that I could tell-”
“Because I didn’t!” Avi interjected.
“-so I figured I’d get closer to you to see if I was missing anything.”
“And?”
“Aly happened to be the friend of a friend, which turned out to be fortunate. I had my friend introduce us, and then I spent a month working her, getting friendlier with her, charming her, until she liked me enough to ask me hang out with you guys.”
“One month of observing me, then another month getting closer to Aly?” Avi asked. “That’s … a very long con.”
“This was the first mission that my grandmother had given me. It was my first chance to prove myself, for her to see whether I was Heir material or not. I was trying to be as thorough as possible.”
“So you what? Got yourself introduced to me, and spent the next three months charming me for the sake of thoroughness?” Avi tried to think over the things he’d said, the things he’d done, the things she’d said and done, to see how much of it was genuine and how much was an act.
“No!” Jason protested. “That’s not how it was at all! I was just going to observe you from up close for a month, see if I noticed any anomalous behavior, then cut off the relationship and make a full report to Grandmother.”
“So what happened?”
Jason blushed. “At the risk of sounding cheesy, you happened.”
Avi did not look convinced. In fact, she looked like she was about to grab her bag and leave.
“Before, researching and observing you from a distance – it, you, was all very academic. When I met you, though … you were so much more interesting.” He shot Avi an unidentifiable look before he took a deep breath and began, “You were so witty and sarcastic and smart – you had an opinion about everything but you were always willing to listen and learn. Do you remember the heated debates we got into when we first met?”
Did she ever! His eloquence and passion during those debates had been part of the reason she’d developed such a crush on him in the first place!
“I meant to stay aloof, maybe more of an acquaintance than a friend, and minimize actual verbal contact with you in case I betrayed myself. But I couldn’t help but get drawn into those debates with you. I just couldn’t keep out of it! And the things that you had to say – you always sounded so knowledgeable about everything! And the way you were so fundamentally Chinese in philosophy, and your cute Hong Kong accent when you speak Chinese – within a week of meeting you, I had fallen in … well, fallen in like, at least.”
Jason had been moving forward with each exclamation, but he stopped abruptly at the last sentence, having lost steam. At this point, he was blushing cherry-red, and Avi was sure she looked the same. Nevertheless, she didn’t stop in her interrogation. “So when you asked me out to dinner that first time, it was only what, half because of Family reasons, and the other half personal reasons?”
“No, none of the reasons I asked you out had to do with my Family! I couldn’t have learned anything useful at dinner anyway – it’s not like you were going to talk about your ulterior motives to someone you presumed to be mundane. I asked you to dinner because I liked you and I wanted to get to know you. Only problem was, I didn’t think the feeling was mutual.”
“What?”
“Well, we made plans and had dinner and stuff but … you were always so stiff and formal, I didn’t think you were interested at all. I would have given up if Aly hadn’t-”
“That traitor!” Avi burst out. “What did she say?” Surely Aly wouldn’t have betrayed any of her confidences …
Jason gave her a strange look. “She just said to keep trying, that there was hope.”
“Oh.”
“What did you think-”
“Never mind that,” Avi said hastily. “Continue with your story.”
“And then, we really seemed to hit it off when we went clubbing, and I was so happy to get drinks with you the yesterday night. Things seemed like they were going so well, and then … well, then everything went to shit, as I’m sure you remember,” Jason said ironically.
Jason looked earnestly at Avi. If only she could trust that face again …
“I really do like you! I wasn’t pretending! And that’s what I want to help – I want to make up for everything I’ve done.”
Avi took a minute to think carefully about everything he’d said, and it was a mark in Jason’s favor that he let her take her time and didn’t push her for an immediately response.
Finally, Avi spoke. “That’s a whole lot to swallow, Jason, but I … I do think I believe most of it, Talent knows why.” She was impressed that her voice didn’t crack. “And I do need help in this; it’s not something I can do alone. So I’ll let you work with me as my ally, Jason … but not as my friend. I can accept that your Family has strategic interests that align with mine, and I can accept that you genuinely want to help, but I just can’t trust you enough to be your friend.” (Or more, she didn’t have to add.)
Jason nodded slowly, looking sad. “That’s fair.”
“Now, I have to get home and do some research but, um, I guess we can meet up to brainstorm ideas tomorrow? Around noon?” Avi picked up her bags and didn’t look him in the eye.
“Sounds good,” Jason said with false cheer. “We can meet at our usual café?”
“Right.”
“Good.”
“Bye, then,” Avi said and walked out the door without looking back.
---
When Avi got back to her apartment, it took her a good half hour to get her emotions in check. First, there was the belated terror that she’d confronted a Matriarch so brashly and lived to tell the tale. Then, there was the betrayal that washed through her when she thought of Jason, whether or not he’d been telling her the truth. Then, there was the confusing roil of emotions when she thought of her supposedly-imprisoned Talent. She might have been Talented all along? What did that mean for her?
She’d been bottling up her feelings since Maya first told her about the possibility, but now that she was alone, it was so hard not to let them all boil up at once. She let out the feelings one at a time, examined them, felt them, experienced them – then put them back in the box. Because that was being in a Family was about – never letting your emotions control you.
When she could finally sit without shaking, she booted up her laptop and checked the time. Susan wouldn’t have gone to sleep yet, and if she had a paper due, she’d be pulling an all-nighter rather than sleeping.
Hello? She typed into the chatbox.
She waited a few moments, and then had her reply. hey, what’s up? Susan was good about always being available for family, and responding instantly to communications. It made up for some of her less supportive traits.
You free to video-chat? I have a favor to ask.
always with the capitals & grammar, lol, yea sure, let me boot up skype
Moments later, Avi had an incoming call.
“Hey, Susan?”
“Yup. What’s up?” Susan’s image on the screen was a little broken, but Avi was used to that.
“I got a favor I need to ask.”
“I gathered that already.” Susan said, her dry tone coming through the computer clearly.
“And it’s really important that you don’t mention this at all to Mom and Dad. Actually, don’t even tell Nadia and Gareth if you can help it.” Susan was good at keeping things from their parents – Nadia was less so, and Gareth was too much of a brat to rely on.
“Oh dear … you didn’t get arrested, did you?”
“What? No!” Avi paused. “Who got arrested?”
“Gareth,” Susan said, and her image on the computer rolled her eyes. “I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but this is Gareth we’re talking about.”
“What’d he get arrested for?”
“It’s not important.” Which meant that she’d promised not tell and so she wouldn’t – Susan could be relied on to keep secrets. “What’s up with you?”
Avi sighed. “It’s complicated.”
“Stop telling me what it’s like, and tell me what it is already. I haven’t got all night.”
“There are rumors that some Patriarch who was pissed at Mom and Dad cursed them so that they would have a child whose Talent would be stolen and imprisoned. And I have a map that may or may not lead to that box. I need some help deciphering it, though.”
The silence lasted so long that Avi was worried for a moment the video-call had cut out, but then Susan screeched, (immediately followed by apologies to her roommates who were apparently sleeping), and then a long stream of very loud, very impassioned, very demanding questions that the computer was garbling.
“Susan,” Avi said, and then repeated her sister’s name a couple of times to get her to stop being hysterical. (This was one of the drawbacks to getting Susan to help – Susan needed to work on the whole emotions-in-check thing and her highly volatile personality tended to spill over into the people around her, more often than not. There was a reason Nadia was probably taking over the Family and not her.)
When Susan finally quieted, Avi spoke. “I’ve scanned the map into the computer, and I’m going to email it to you. I need you to do some research, poke around some contacts, and figure out what the map says and what it means? Any ideas you have could be useful. And most importantly, don’t tell any of your contacts what it is.”
“Avi …” Susan sighed. Then she was back to business. “Let me take a look?”
Susan tossed out some preliminary suggestions first, which Avi wrote down to look into later. As they discussed the different parts of the map, what the scrawled characters might or might not have said, what the different symbols might indicate, which splotch was a significant indicator and which was just a coffee stain, Avi slowly relaxed. Susan took the opportunity to ask more questions about the whole situation, clarifying which Family had supposedly cast the curse, the supposed nature of the curse, and the implications of that on the meaning of the map.
Avi was left feeling grateful that she’d turned to Susan, who despite her emotional outburst was still willing to respect Avi’s privacy and avoid too-prying questions.
When they’d discussed the matter for an hour and Susan finally needed to get back to working on her paper, they both leaned back and sighed, in unison.
“Why aren’t you talking to Mom and Dad about this?” Susan wanted to know. “You should really be asking them, not me. They’ve got loads more knowledge about this kind of stuff and you would be relying on the wealth of their experiences as opposed to, say, me and my skill with Google.”
“I don’t want them to get their hopes up,” Avi said firmly. “I spent ten years convincing them I was just as good a daughter without Talent as I might be with, and I don’t want all that effort to go up in smoke based on a maybe.”
“Isn’t that a little hypocritical of you to care this much for your Talent, to do this much for your Talent, and not expect them to care and do the same amount?” Susan asked skeptically.
“First, it’s not the same because I am allowed to evaluate myself and come up short because it’s called being harsh on yourself. When others do the same, it’s called being unfair. Second, I’m just following a lead right now, Susan. No more, no less. I certainly haven’t made any decisions.”
“You could have the opportunity to have Talent beyond your wildest imagination, and you would seriously pass it up?”
“I might, nothing’s decided. It’s not like Talent is something I can’t live without, and Talent of that magnitude always comes at a price anyways. It might be a price I’m not willing to pay.”
“I think it would be criminal for you to pass it up. I just want to make that clear.” Susan said this flatly, though Avi knew it wouldn’t keep her sister from helping her.
“You’re also ashamed of my Dud nature and strongly advocated that we hide it from the rest of the world.” Avi still had some less-than-fond memories of that Family argument.
“So?”
“Never mind,” Avi sighed. This was something she doubted Susan would ever understand. What was important was that regardless of how ashamed of her Susan might be, she was family and she was Family, and Susan would always be willing to help. “Just, please, run interference for me and see to it that Mom and Dad don’t find out. And remember, fax your findings to my work.”
“Only cause you’re my favorite sister,” Susan rolled her eyes.
“Thanks, I owe you one.”
With that, Avi ended the call and shut down her laptop, leaned back in her chair, and sighed. She looked at the time – still a couple of hours until she started work (forget about going to classes), which meant just enough time to follow up on a few leads.
Before she’d come to China, her parents had given a few numbers to contact if she were ever in trouble or had an emergency. She was resolved not to contact them (too big of a chance the news would get back to her parents), but it did give her a few ideas about local contacts. She’d kept away from the Talented community as a whole but there were one or two resources that were available in every city, and since her cover was already blown, it wouldn’t hurt to take advantage of them …
A few phone calls, and she had the National Library of Talent sending her all their information on the decline of the Yang Family as well as the names and numbers of some of the local experts on Talent history and Talent symbology, most of them professors at university. Then, there was just one more call she needed to make …
She didn’t have her number, but as a Zhang Family retainer, Maya was listed in the Talent directory. It was a matter of minutes to find the number and make the call. The phone rang a few times, and Avi was worried Maya might be busy, but she picked up.
She answered with her Chinese name, and the traditional Zhang Family greeting.
“Maya, glad I caught you,” Avi said.
“Avi? Is that you? We need to talk.”
“Yeah, but first I need to ask you for a favor.”
“What favor?”
“I need to find Old Man Wu.” Old Man Wu was a seer. He didn’t see the past or the future, so much as answers. This manifestation of his Talent, combined with his already encyclopedic knowledge, made him a hugely-sought-after wealth of information for those who knew to look for it. He’d stayed a few years in Avi’s hometown because he’d been a friend of Maya’s family, before going back to China when his exile had ended. (It had been a complicated exile having to do with possibly offending a Matriarch regarding her clothing choices.)
“Why?” Maya asked suspiciously.
“I need his help deciphering something.”
“Maya, this doesn’t have to do with your missing Talent, does it?”
“It might.”
“I told you not to trust the Liang Family,” Maya said, frustrated. “They’re using you! You need to be careful! I’m warning you again to keep away from them!”
“Well, then,” Avi said coldly, “I’m lucky I’m my own person and I make my own decisions, instead of following your orders all the time. My parents hardly give me orders, Maya, so you certainly do not. I don’t trust Liang Family; I’m merely gambling that their intelligence in this matter proves reliable.”
“And you’re working with that Heir again, aren’t you? Avi, this is a case of you-”
“If you say what I think you’re going to say, this conversation is over,” Avi said grimly. “I’m not calling you to ask for advice, or to hear you judge me. I called to ask if you knew where Old Man Wu is. If you feel you cannot help me in this matter, I’ll accept that and this conversation will be over.”
There was a pause, and Avi worried that Maya really would refuse to give her the information she needed, but finally she heard Maya sigh and rejoiced. “Fine. I’ll take you there tomorrow.”
“How about tonight? I get off work a little late, but I want this done with as soon as possible.” Plus, she was still keeping in mind the Zhang Family’s deadline – she didn’t know what Maya might have to do if the deadline passed and she didn’t respond.
It was clear Maya was aware of the deadline, too, because she only sighed and said, “Alright, I guess. I’ll meet you at your workplace when you get out.”
And then she hung up.