"No!" Hu'Torii shu'Chang's thin, oak pointing rod hissed through the air and rapped once on Lishi's moving hands. "Not that way. Pay attention, Lishi. You need to create a better pattern. Wider. Larger."
Her knuckles ached from the blow, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of stopping. But the instructor's reprimand sent Lishi into momentary silence as she glared at the elderly torii, her voice faltering in the midst of the chant she and the other acolytes were reciting. The words were not in her own language, but in the torii-speech that could shape the Misogi, and were difficult enough to remember without shu'Chang's scoldings. With the stumble, she felt the Misogi—the gift of Inari, the energy which fed the torii-spells—begin to slip away from her control. She grasped for the Misogi with her mind; as she did, odd new words came to her, words that she knew not at all but which somehow felt right for the task, the same words that would come to her when she was with her mamaqin. The sounds of the words was similar to torii-speech, but the accent was subtly different. She whispered them, not wanting Hu'Torii shu'Chang to hear how she had changed his chant, and let her hands fall back into the spell-pattern.
Wider. Larger. Hu'Torii shu'Chang treated them like children just learning their letters. In the acolyte's hall, he acted as if he had a wan' in front of his name instead of a shu', even with the acolytes whose family names did begin with wan', even with Luyu wan'Tsung, the niece of the Guji. Shu'Chang acted as if he were the Guji of Inari himself. The joke among the acolytes was that shu'Chang had enchanted his head so that he could see behind him. He certainly seemed to miss nothing that happened, especially where Lishi was concerned. He seemed to be always watching her, especially now as they all approached the time when they would either be given their Sign to become a torii, or receive the dreaded Note of Discharge.
Wider. Larger. Hu'Torii shu'Chang was wrong. Lishi could sense it. She could nearly see the Misogi snaking around her body, and she knew that if instead she tightened the hand-pattern, if she made it smaller rather than larger, she could shape the Misogi more carefully.
The task was simple enough: Hu'Torii shu'Chang had brought the class down to the basement of the Guji' Shrine, where several in'torii of the temple had set a huge coal fire ablaze in the furnace. The class was to use the Misogi to smother it—it was a task that they might have to perform if they were eventually assigned to be one of the many fire-torii, who had more than once saved the city from burning down, especially in the crowded Oldtown district. The class finished their chant just as Lishi caught up with them, their final gestures causing the flames to shudder and dim, although the coals still gleamed mockingly. Lishi finished her spell a breath afterward, her hands moving in a quick, subtle gesture that changed the outline of the Misogi, focusing it.
Air rushed away from the remaining blue flames and they went out with an audible whoomp, the noise so loud that all of them took an involuntary step back as a hot breeze laden with the smell of coal ash moved past them and fluttered the purple robes of the in'torii. Shu'Chang alone didn't seem to react. He remained standing near Lishi, the tip of his pointing rod on the stone-flagged floor and his hands cupped over the handle, his torii-robes looking more dark-blue than purple in the sudden dimness of the room. He stared at Lishi with dark, speculative eyes from under the hair-rimmed cave of his brow. She lowered her head so that she didn't have to meet his gaze. The weariness that always came from using the Misogi made her want to do nothing more than sink to the floor entirely, especially after her use of it this morning with her mamaqin. A few of the acolytes already had done so, drained by their effort.
Using the Misogi always came with a cost. Inari made the torii pay for His gift. It was the first lesson they had all learned, three years ago now.
"This is why most of you will not receive a Sign from the Guji," shu'Chang commented as the in'torii began to chant and the coals reignited—it wouldn't do for the Guji to be cold in his dressing chambers. In the renewed flames, shu'Chang's shadow shuddered on the wall nearest Lishi. "A single experienced fire-torii would have been able to douse those flames alone—a necessary skill, or half the houses in the city might have burned to the foundations by now. Yet it took the whole group of you, and you very nearly didn't accomplish it. You had ample time to review the proper patterns and the correct chant-words, and yet several of you were stumbling over them." He tapped a long forefinger to his right ear. "I listen, and I see. And I'm not impressed today. Some of you—" He hesitated, and Lishi glanced up to find him looking at her before his gaze swept over the rest of the acolytes. "—seem to feel that the Misogi will come to you no matter how you wave your hands about. I assure you that would be a mistake. Miss shu'Ling, might you agree with that statement?"
Lishi's head came up. She heard Luyu wan'Tsung snicker, then go abruptly silent as shu'Chang cast her a baleful glance. "Yes, Hu'Torii," Lishi answered quickly. "I'm sure you're right."
Shu'Chang sniffed, as if amused. "That's enough for today," he told them. "We're already late for the Guji's service. I know you're all tired from using the Misogi, even as poorly as you did, but see if you can manage to stay awake until after the Liturgy. Then go home and sleep. Tomorrow I expect to see evidence that you have actual brains inside those skulls, as unlikely as that appears at the moment."