A Shadow of Scarlet (Book #3)

"I don't know. It just does."

"Thank you. You did wonderful. Would you like to come sit with us?" He walked back to sit in his former place on the mats. After a short hesitation, the girl followed him. She sat between him and Callie, closer to Callie.

"Did you see?"

"I saw nothing unusual." Wolfe spoke up. "But, I know next to nothing about this."

Himura looked at Karen who said nothing. Giving up he looked at Callie.

"Did you see? Do you know?"

Callie dropped her eyes again. Then nodded.

"So, you do know. Yet you teach this. Why?"

Five

"I don't understand." Wolfe was confused. What exactly did Chi mean?

"Callie teaches only defense. She defends only. She retreats. Always retreats. Which means she will lose every time she fights. She refuses to hold the center. Refuses to take the initiative. To take the fight to her opponent. She wants to lose. So she can justify her refusal to fight."

"Why?" Wolfe looked at Callie with her question.

"I don't just defend. I strike." Callie mumbled to her fingers.

"Repulse the Monkey, like Deflect Parry and Punch, is purely defensive. Both are block and push away moves to get your attacker away from you so you can retreat. They are not offensive moves. You leave out the offense from your practice. Intentionally. You do not teach those skills to one who shows good promise. You harm your student. You cripple yourself. Deny your abilities.

"You know all of this. So, you lie. To me, to your friends, to your student. And, to yourself."

"Callie? Is this true?" Wolfe leaned forward to look across Karen.

Callie refused to look up.

Karen disengaged her fingers from Callie's. She petted Callie's hair with her now free hand.

"I remember a girl who once told me that between us, there would be no lies. No white lies. No misstatements. No misdirections, or omissions. A girl who told me she would leave me if I ever lied to her again." Karen stilled her hand in Callie's hair. "Is she the one who lies now?"

Callie shook her head with her eyes still downcast.

"Is what your Master says true?" Karen's voice was soft as she went back to petting Callie's hair.

Callie put her face into her hands. She nodded yes.

"Why?" Maria's voice was soft and caring. "Callie?"

"Gloria! What are you doing?"

A woman's shrill voice intruded on their quiet discussion. The woman, whom Wolfe had thought was the girls mother, finally noticed her daughter was sitting with several strangers.

"Who are you and what are you doing with my daughter?" The woman asked as she hurried over to their tiny circle. Gloria saw her coming and stood up quickly, putting her hands behind her back. The woman grabbed Gloria by the shoulder and shook her.

Himura stood up and addressed Gloria's mother. "Excuse me. I am [INSERT NAME HERE] Himura. I own a karate dojo here in town." He pulled out a business card and gave it to the woman then gestured to Callie.

"My best student practices her skills here. Your daughter is interested in learning the martial arts. I would be honored if she were to join my karate studio. With your permission, of course. She has promise."

"Gloria is deaf."

"Lack of hearing is no barrier." Chi defended Callie's young shadow. "She performs Tai Chi very well. True, she is at a basic level, but she shows much promise to improve as she practices and learns."

"You've been teaching my daughter? Without my permission? How dare you!"

Chi smiled. "We have not been teaching your daughter anything. However, as I said, my best student practices here. Your daughter watches, learns, and imitates."

"Gloria?" The woman questioned the girl with both her voice and flashing hand gestures. "Are they teaching you things?"

Gloria shook her head and gestured back. "I watch. I tried it. It's fun even if I'm no good at it."

"You are very good at Tai Chi." Chi knelt in front of the girl and spoke slowly. "Believe me. If you practice, you can be even better at it some day. Would you like that?"

Gloria nodded.

Chi stood and addressed Gloria's mother. "If you like, I have a current Tai Chi class in her age group she could join. Mixed boys and girls. It's on Saturday afternoons at my dojo. Please, come by and watch sometime. Your daughter would be a very welcome addition to the class."

Gloria's eyes were hopeful.

"I'll think about it."

Himura bowed. "That is all I can ask."

"Let's go Gloria." The woman didn't even wait for her daughter as she walked away. Gloria looked at Callie.

"Bye." She spoke and signed at the same time.

Callie fisted her hand into her palm and bowed her head. Gloria gave a quick salute in return and ran after her mother.

Himura sighed. "She will not. Her daughter will suffer for it because she thinks her crippled by her deafness. She protects her by crippling her further. It is a shame."

"We cannot save the world. Though we would like to believe we can, one person alone cannot do more than create a few ripples." Wolfe's knew that reality personally. Her pronouncement was very dry.

"True as that is, it is but a distraction from our purpose here today." Chi reseated himself. "So, to return to the problem at hand; Callie defends only. The question is why."

"Callie?"

Callie looked from one concerned face to the next. When she came to Wolfe's, her expression changed. An intense look of distress crossed her face. Callie swallowed heavily and looked away.

"Callie?" Wolfe asked again softly.

Suddenly burying her face in her hands again Callie began sobbing.

"I can't! I won't. I will NOT!"

Wolfe rose to walk behind Karen then reseat herself next to Callie. Placing her arm around the younger woman, she hugged her.

"You know I love you. Always and forever. You know that, right?"

Callie nodded with her face still buried.

"So, what is it about me that you won't do?"

"I CAN'T!" Callie looked up at Karen as tears rolled down her face. "Please, don't make me. Please? I can't. Not again. Please? Please?"

"Make you do what again?" Karen was confused.

"Hit her. Again. I can't. I can't."

Understanding dawned. "Callie, Karen didn't ask you to hit me."

"I promised. She asked me and I promised. I'm sorry." Callie's voice was hoarse as she turned her reddened eyes to Wolfe.

Wolfe tipped Callie's face up slightly to kiss her gently on the lips.

"I forgive you. What happened was not your fault. It was mine."

"And mine." Karen's voice joined Wolfe's.

"No. It was my fault. I broke my oath. My honor."

Callie's eyes flashed that haunted look she'd had when she'd been ill. Swaying drunkenly sideways, she suddenly shivered in Wolfe's arms. Wolfe and Karen looked at each other in alarm. They'd seen this before.

"I broke my oath." Callie repeated as she shivered again.

"Don't you dare!" Wolfe scolded Callie. "Do not even think about it! You will not get sick again. You hear me? You will not!"

"Callie, I forbid this." Karen's voice cracked. She knew Callie would not recover again if she relapsed. "I forbid it."

"Excuse me." Himura interrupted. "That isn't helping. In fact, it's probably feeding her distress. Pressuring her instead of removing whatever is the problem."

"Then what do we do? She's going to get sick again if we don't stop her." Wolfe whirled on Chi, anger flashing in her eyes. "She barely survived the last time."

"What do you mean 'barely survived'?

"She was very ill. Fever, vomiting, and other physical symptoms. She couldn't eat and barely drank water. She almost didn't survive even with medical help to control whatever was wrong with her."

"What was actually wrong with her?"

"Nothing that we could find out. She was just sick and kept telling us she'd broken her oaths."

Himura thought he remembered Callie telling him the same thing when she'd come to his studio. That she was sorry because she'd broken her oaths. If that was true, then Callie had a very real problem. Bigger than he'd thought. The personal honor code she believed in would compel her to suicide though her own modern beliefs would prevent that from actively happening. She would not seek to kill herself, but would not care if someone did it for her. Or if she died from illness. Even if that illness was one her own mind manufactured.

"If what you say is true, then Callie doesn't care anymore. Everything points to the fact she doesn't care if she lives or not. If her oaths are broken she has nothing. To her, it is better if she dies. Better for her. Better for you. It is why she fails to practice her skills correctly. Why she does not fight."

"So, you know her best. What do we do?"

"We give her a reason to go on. Replace what was lost."

"How?"

"Let me think."

Himura looked at the three women. Considered what they'd said. What Callie had said. How they acted toward one another. Chi, remembering how Callie had kissed the blonde, thought he knew what was happening.

"Are either of you in a relationship with her?"

"A relationship?"

"You know, a relationship." He gestured from Callie to Wolfe and Karen.

"Oh. No." Wolfe realized what he was asking. "No. Neither of us have a relationship with Callie. Not like that."

"With each other then?"

"Not like what you're asking. Why?"

"Callie thinks she has nothing. She thinks you have everything. Yet for some reason she also thinks there is a gap between you. A rift she caused from some promise she made to one of you. The only thing like that I know of, is one that happens when a relationship is in danger of falling apart because of an interloper. Like when there is an affair by one partner."

"Our relationship with each other is solid." Both Wolfe and Karen affirmed it to him. "It cannot ever fail. No one can come between us. It is not possible."

"Does Callie know that?"

"Yes. Absolutely. She knows why too."

"Hmm, so if your relationship cannot fail, then all that is left is Callie." Himura mused to himself. "Oh! It can't be. Can it? It has to be. This is about Callie, not you."

"What? Of course it's about Callie. She's the one who is trying to get sick again." Wolfe held Callie as she continued to shiver.

"No, it's all about Callie. She's trying to fit into your relationship. Because her old one, the one based on her oaths, is gone. She literally thinks she has nothing left. Her old beliefs are gone because of her broken promises. So she tries to create what is missing. With you."

"The problem is she's afraid that if you let her, she's going to have to hurt one of you. To do things she has already promised to not do."

Karen looked cross. "She doesn't have to hurt people so that we will love and accept her. That's ridiculous."

"No it isn't." Wolfe countered Karen's statement. "So far, that's about all she's seen. Then, she had to hit me when I was being stupid and stubborn and hurting you. All she's ever seen is pain and hurting. And, she thinks she's supposed to do that because of her promise to you."

"Oh my God." Karen was aghast. "She thinks she's being used. That I made her promise to do things to hurt her. And us."

"So, what do we do to fix it?"

"We make her a bridge. A bridge between you. So she can span the gap that only she sees."

"How?"

Six

Himura was emphatic. "You have to understand Callie. She is not like girls of today. She isn't even like the boys of today. She is very much like a warrior of ancient Japan. She is well trained and seeks a place for herself and her skills. She wants a place which will shelter her and give her honor and respect. A place which will respect her because of her skills, instead of using them to do wrong."

"She wants, needs, to swear an oath of allegiance. To someone who understands that her dedication to herself is not something to be taken lightly. Someone who understands that her skills came at a cost. A high cost in time, effort, pain and perseverance. Those skills aren't to be used casually, or for personal amusement. When her skills are needed, they are needed. Using her skills, using her, in any other way reduces her to the status of a thing. Subhuman."

"She did not train and sweat and cry and bleed to be less than human. She knows this. Anyone who truly looks at her knows this. She expects to be treated as an equal."

Karen looked at Wolfe with dawning comprehension.

Himura went on. "She swore to me that she would always act with honor and integrity. It was part of what I required of her before I let her begin her training. At each level of advancement, she was required to swear even more binding oaths. This was to protect her as well as myself. To ensure she has the strength to control herself even when she is angry. To not become a danger to herself or innocent people. Because at her level of skill, she is deadly if she loses her self control."

"However, now she thinks those oaths are broken by something she did. The bindings are undone. So, she needs a new oath ceremony. One which wipes away the old and re-establishes her belief in herself and her honor. She wants someone who needs her and her skills to create a place for her. A place with clear absolute rules and limits she will never be required to cross. Never be asked to go beyond. By anyone. Not even by the one she swears to."

"She needs to do this in front of witnesses who know her. Witnesses who will believe her and hold her to her promises." He gave them his opinion based on what he knew about Callie.

"This person cannot be me any longer. She believes she broke her oath to me and her shame in doing that will prevent a new oath from being made. How could I trust her again?"

Himura's explanation was something both Karen and Wolfe understood. Oh yes, they understood hard limits very well. Safety, security, and trust were all part of those limits. All the things Callie wanted, yet lacked in their current arrangement. They could fix this.

"What kind of witnesses? Family, friends, or . . .?"

Karen was dubious as to whether Callie's family could give her the things she needed. What she needed most of all was acceptance. Callie's family, for the most part, denied her lesbian side. Rose accepted it the best, but Rose had seen Callie the most when she was sick. Had been the one to take care of her the most.

Rose still slept with Callie and Wolfe. Showing her acceptance of all of Callie's needs by her continued close presence in her life even though she didn't need to do that any more. Rose accepted her sisters unique needs, as well as Wolfe's and Karen's place in her life.

With acceptance came trust. Trust that those who accepted you wouldn't use you for their benefit at your expense. Or harm you just because they could. Callie trusted Rose. True, she trusted her parents, but they did not understand her very well. Consequently, they did not return to her the level of trust she needed. What she got in return was judgmental disapproval. Which was why she hid her lesbianism from her family. Their trust was not equal between them.

Callie subconsciously knew it. So she hid herself from them to try to balance everything. Unfortunately that sort of thing never worked in the long run. It lead to resentment, emotional upheaval, and broken promises.

"Family is best, but it does not have to be family. Or, only family." Himura answered Karen's question.

"How many? A few. A closed ceremony?" Karen abruptly stood up and walked a few paces away. Chi unconsciously stepped back from her. His mind knew the blonde was dangerous and unpredictable, he automatically put distance between them.

"It depends. On each of you and her. Some of my students have huge oath ceremonies. They invite everyone they know. With some, there is only myself with them. It just depends. When Callie did her last oath ceremony with me, there were only about six or seven people there. If that helps."

"It does." Karen placed her feet together. She raised her arms out from her sides and looked upward at the ceiling. In a conversational tone she spoke.

"Scarlet calls Paul Adams, Erik Hammond, Violet Gandiere, Lainey Sikes and Chasandra Moetz. Scarlet calls the Dominus all. Scarlet also calls Mitchell Harper, Tea Rose, Daniel and Ohiro Mee. Friends of the House urgently needed. Scarlet calls you home. She commands all those so named to attend her. Here. Now! In this place, at this time. Or be forever banished from the House of Scarlet."

Karen tipped her head fully back. She turned her palms up and raised her arms slightly before flexing her elbows to draw her hands in before her chest in a sweeping gesture that ended with her palms down, arms crossed at chest level before slashing them outward in a cutting gesture.

"The House of Scarlet is closed. By my Word and Seal as Scarlet, the House is closed to all not of Scarlet." Karen dropped her hands and arms. "Immediately."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Himura looked at Wolfe.

Wolfe held up her finger. The lights flickered twice, then died.

"That's what it means."

Nick, the fitness center owner, came out of his office looking around curiously. He was joined by the others inside the fitness center. No electricity meant that the mall would be closed until the power could be restored. Security would be by in a short while to make sure everyone left. Even the shop owners, like Nick, and their employees would have to leave. There was a general hushed murmur over the whole thing as people stared at each other before beginning to walk toward the exits.

Himura stared at Karen. By just standing in a room and saying that she wanted the whole mall shut down, it happened?

"Who is she? Who IS she?" His question went unanswered.

"Karen, no." Callie whispered from where she leaned against Wolfe. "Please."

"I will not be denied in this." Karen squatted in front of Callie. "I will not. Regardless of the cost I must bear, I will not break my promise. You are mine."

"You are mine." Wolfe repeated after Karen. "This I will swear before all who will witness it. I love you. I will protect you. I will give you all I have to give should you ask for it. I will swear this in blood and ceremony if you need it of me. I will swear this to you and seal it with a kiss and a promise already given. Will you swear with us an oath to join us as three? To be the bridge which connects us? The bridge which holds us together? To love us as much as we love you? Will you accept us?"

"Maria, I can't." Callie whispered again.

"Calla Lily Mee, will you lie and tell me that you do not love me? Or her? That you do not love us?" Karen's eyes blazed blue.

"Karen, please. I can't."

Karen hung her head, defeated. For the first time since she became Scarlet, Karen was defeated. And, she knew it.

Himura looked at Karen. Saw her defeat. Understood her battle was not on the physical plane. This battle was in Callie's mind.

Wait. In Callie's mind? Of course!

"Your oath to me is broken." He told Callie coldly. "Broken beyond redemption. I have no choice in this. None. I disavow you. You are no longer one of mine."

Himura rubbed his arms together as if wiping unseen slime off his arms and hands. "No longer. You are unchained. Unsponsored. As Ronin, with no master to guide or protect you."

Callie looked up at her mentor in shock.

"Master . . ."

"Master no more." He cut her off. "I do not claim you. I no longer command your allegiance. Your loyalty. You may not ask me for help or guidance and expect to receive it. You are free, as am I, of all obligations between us. We are done. Forever."