Chapter 02: Around the Temple

Yi is certain the Head Priest is going to kick him out this time. This is the third time he has overslept in a month, and he wasn't good at lying.
"Maybe he won't notice," he suggests to himself, knowing full well this is also a lie and he is probably going to be scrubbing the floors, or the ceilings, or the...
>SMACK< a loud sharp crack lands itself on the back of his head, just hard enough to set him off balance and to sting.
"Waa!" exclaims Yi as he tries to find his footing and finds himself bent at the waist staring at the Head Priest's bare feet. He immediately stiffens and formally bows his head, "Good morning, Master!" he tries to sounds confident and awake.
"Is it?" the Head Priest's gruff voice questions softly, "By now half the day has flown away like a pair of geese."
Yi dares not rise and keeps his eyes fixated on the Head Priest's feet, the back of his head still stinging and the desire to rub it growing stronger each second. The man's feet turn toward Yi's right, the calluses that have built up over the years shielding him from the small pebbles and sand being kicked up with each step. Yi still wore a pair of handmade sandals his mother had given him when he departed home.
The Head Master was circling Yi. Yi remains still, bending at the waist and ignoring the stinging sensation and the now growing hunger churning in his stomach.
"You are a wanderer in your own mind. Rise," the Head Priest says almost as if it is a suggestion, but Yi takes it as a command. At full height, Yi stands about a head taller than the Head Priest, and is considerably younger. No one knows the Head Priest's age, but some say he is going to be a century old soon. His eyes are sharp and full of light, although the skin on his face sags with wrinkles and years of sun. His skin is tanned with light freckling along the cheeks and forearms.
Yi dares not look him directly in the eyes, the intensity too much for him at this moment. He instead stands straight like a soldier, arms against his sides, his eyebrows creasing in concentration as he stares at a conspicuous crack along the far wall of the temple's exterior. The Head Priest was still circling him slowly, a thin and worn-smooth bamboo stick at his side that he was now using as a walking stick.
"Have you eaten?" asks the Head Priest, a playful smile dancing in his eyes while his face remains stone still. Yi's stomach reflexively growls at the mention of this but he hopes the Head Priest cannot hear it. Should he lie? If the Head Priest knows he overslept again he is sure to be kicked out.
"I have, thank you," he tries lying, and quick as lightning >THWACK< a quick sharp blow with the bamboo stick to the back of his left calf this time.
Yi inhales sharply, and tries not to yowl in pain or start jumping erractically on one foot. Instead, he bows again at the waist, attempting to hide his face. Shit that really stings, he thinks to himself.
"You don't have to tell me the whole truth, but don't lie," says the Head Priest as Yi feels the embarrassement of being caught so quickly burn in his cheeks.
"Rise," the Head Priest says again, and this time Yi faces him straight on, looking him directly in the eyes. An overwhelming anxiety starts to grip him as he looks at the old man: where will he go if he is kicked out, how will he manage to get food, what will his mother think if he comes back so soon from the temple a failure?
"Steady your heart, Young Yi. I am not banishing you from the Temple," the Head Master breathes and Yi feels his face relax almost instantly. He is almost so overjoyed he wants to laugh.
"I said 'steady your heart,'" the Head Priest says a bit more firmly this time, and immediately Yi quickens to correct himself. He didn't know many things about the Head Master, but one thing he did know was he hated repeating himself.
"You have still missed breakfast, morning meditation, and morning chores," he says, using the bamboo stick now almost like a brush, painting characters one over the other in the thin sand floor as he speaks.
Without looking up, he reaches into the fold of his robes and presents Yi with a piece of fresh FRUIT. Yi gently takes it, grateful, and looks from the piece of fruit to the Head Priest.
"You may eat in now, but you must listen while you do so," says the Head Master, and Yi nods and begins to devour it without removing his eyes from the old man.
"You have been with us a little over three months, Young Yi, but you still have much to learn. Every man residing in this temple has his own flow and pattern, as is his Dao. You, however, have not found it, and thus I shall give you a guide to help. But, to find your own way, you will need to discover it yourself," and as he says this he again reaches into the folds of his robes and retrieves a small leather-bound stack of paper that looks to have been handstitched, and restitched, a few times.
Yi stops chewing and looks at the man, still swirling the stick in the sand, and the strange object. He quickly finishes the fruit, produces a bit of cloth to preserve the seeds and wipes his hands on the pants of his robe. He gently takes it and discovers it is much heavier than he expects as runs his thumb across the cover. The leather is from an animal he has never seen before, and it seems to be layers and layers of paper stacked and sewn together to form a long document, almost like a scroll. It is worn incredibly smooth from years of use.
"What is this?" inquires Yi, as he looks back to the Head Priest, who has already turned his back and has begun walking away towards the interior of one of the temple dwellings.
Yi scampers after him, giddy with excitement and a slight rush of sugar from the fruit. The Head Priest, instead of giving an explanation, leads him through the prayer room, back outside to the ledge of the vast bridge built between the two main buildings of the temple. The Head Master looks out across the vast mountainous landscape, the mist subsiding only slightly in the late morning light, lush green patched with the changing hues of early Autumn blanketing the areas below that are not covered in stone. A moment of silence remains between them, and Yi again looks to the journal, hesitant to open it.
Finally, the Head Priest speaks, "this was mine, and now it is yours. Use it as you will. Today you will only be given three tasks, and no one from this temple will bother you: steady your heart through meditation, read this journal, and lastly...," he turns to Yi, smiling slightly, exposing a few missing teeth, "you will prepare to travel to the neighboring village to collect lotus root they have offered us from their harvest this Autumn. The village is about a day's journey to the North, and you will stay there one night and bring the lotus root the following day. You will travel alone, it will be only as much as you can carry. You will decide the best time to depart."
Yi's head was imploding with all the information the Head Priest had just given him: no daily chores except meditation and reading? AND he was going to be permitted to leave the temple, for two whole days, to collect food from a neighboring village? Could he eat some of the lotus roots, or maybe even...the seeds? The idea burned insider him voraciously. They were such a delicacy he was already fantasizing about how he would best cook them.
"You will give them blessing talismans to protect their crops and homes during the harvest in exchange. Prepare as you see fit," the Head Priest summarized.
Yi immediately straightens up again, "yes, master, thank you, master. I will, uh, start to prepare."
The Head Priest looks at Yi for a solid moment in silence and responds with no more than a "mmmm" sound, turns and begins to walk away. As he does, Yi silently smiles and laughs, looking down to the journal and turning to head towards the prayer room to begin meditation for the day.