You know the drill: a prequel short story always precedes the launch of the next book in the Far Stone Cycle. Well, it’s here!
Sense Shattered, Riven Origins Book 3, tells the story of how Oyan, the Stone of Wisdom, was splintered into 27 pieces.
But this one is different.
Adamant in Dust was my first published book, and for that reason, it will always be special to me. But the next book in the series, Veil of Wisdom, holds a unique place in my heart.
Before completing this third book in the Far Stone Cycle, I hoped to be an author. After, I knew I was one. In it, I’d found my voice and written something that captivated me. My characters came alive and told their story, reminding me of a culture that had never left me.
The setting of Meiwen is a land very much like the Asian continent of my birth. I leftHong Kong when I was five years old and embraced a country I love. Beyond the opportunities, relationships, and rich tradition of classic stories, the United States gave me expression in the manifold nuances of its magnificent language. I will forever be proud and grateful to be an American. But there is another homeland that calls to me. And in writing this book, I remembered it.
Voices I never knew I’d heard before spoke of the beauty and brutality of this ancient land, one often hiding the other. Beneath the façade of pristine foliage, incomparable cuisine, diligent ingenuity, and gracious smiles, lay generations who have swallowed bitterness. Once I started, their hopes and tears flowed through me until I had written a love song and heart’s cry to a heritage rooted deep in my blood. It was joy and catharsis.
And when I mingled the streams that form my history, I saw the common humanity that allow all tales of truth to move us. So it is that I feel doubly blessed to experience the mixing of East and West myself and to share it with you in my story.
I cannot wait to bring you Veil of Wisdom, but until then, please enjoy a foretaste in this prequel novella, Sense Shattered, Riven Origins Book 3, Prequel to the Far Stone Cycle. Here is an excerpt:
“When will Lady Naamit return?” Lord Khoo Geng-Yang demanded, thick black eyebrows furrowed in disapproval, like he were talking to an errant daughter.
Arviser Yaw Yue-Wan schooled her features into equanimity, even if she did not feel it. “Is there a pressing matter, Lord Khoo?”
“The provinces are in an uproar, and she leaves us without guidance,” the Duke of Xindong said with emphasis. “It goes to my point. We cannot be left to the whims of a diverted mind. There must be a clear structure of command so we don’t have this void in leadership.”
“What causes this uproar?” Yue-Wan said, serene smile in place, ignoring the obvious challenge to her leadership in Master Naamit’s absence.
Khoo threw his hands up. “The vexation of men not knowing who governs them. Yesterday, they lived under the solid direction of Grandfather Deng Yu-Han. He passes, and we see girls in his place. They fear for their livelihoods. The price of tea and chicken. The wages for their hard labor. The education of our children—oh, the shame for our sons. Will there be food on our tables and rain in our rice fields?”
“We mourn Arviser Deng’s passing as if it were yesterday, even though it has been three weeks, and I look to his example to carry out my office. As the dukes are all here in a fortunate twist of happenstance, you may pass the assurance to the people of the provinces. Their livelihoods are unchanged. The markets, farms, and schools continue as they were a month ago. And rain is still the domain of Lord Elrad. We trust he will provide. Master Naamit has left careful instructions, and we stand ready for any need.” Yue-Wan folded her hands on her lap.
Khoo narrowed his eyes. “Smooth words from a honeyed tongue. That is the way of women. The other dukes are concerned and cannot help but come to me. Everywhere we look, there are only girls and hens. The palace is overrun and, soon, the kingdom. Every day, the Lady takes more girls into her household and dismisses the men. They have seeped into yamens as scribes, clerks, and even magistrates. What will be left for us when you are through? That we should slave in the kitchens and fields while you cavort in shiny robes in high places of office?”
“Esteemed Lord, over ninety-five percent of all administrators are still men, with far more male candidates coming from the schools than women. Master Naamit has taken in girls from the streets who are too old or unsuitable for other orphanages and girls’ homes. Many of the palace servants have expressed… displeasure at working with them. Others felt as if they, too, had to leave. You will notice that the women servants are gone with the men. The girls now serve in their duties as compensation for the Master’s charity. Elsewhere in the country, servants toil unchanged in kitchens and fields while we cavort in our shiny robes. And I have come to this office only after the defiance of the other candidates.”
Khoo huffed. “They were understandably disillusioned. But any would have served and have been a necessary corrective to the current governance. The experiment of the Lady’s rule must be revisited in light of the discontent. It is no good that she shackles us with her Stone of power. If she claims to be equitable and magnanimous, then let her yield to the majority of cooler, wiser heads.”
Experiment? Yield? They grow bolder.
Yue-Wan took a moment to form her response. “You speak of grave matters which must be weighed against facts. I have heard the clamor of your ‘majority’ in the city, but their numbers are not counted throughout the kingdom. The Master may take an accounting if she deems it necessary. But all I have seen so far appears to be fomented by unfounded speculation. If I may rely on your cool head, please work to calm their fears rather than stoke them.”
“How dare you—”
“It would be wise to do so, Honored Duke,” Yue-Wan said.
The noble pinched his lips and heaved several breaths. “Do you think that a slapped-on title grants you authority to command me so basely? You are a mere chit and should bow to your elders.”
She smiled. “Do not let appearances fool you. The phylei of Aldwyseld also age slower, though never to the extent of the eisei. I remember you as a child. Your parents showed far greater respect to the Master and her retinue when we arrived. And so, they rose to their place of prominence, like Yu-Han. Alas, that those early faithful are gone now, or the Master’s command would not suffer such challenge.” Yue-Wan saw the surprise on his face.
“Now you make up tales to embellish your standing. I would have seen you sooner if you had come from the fabled land with the Lady.”
Bold indeed… or something worse.
Yue-Wan said, “I didn’t know that Aldwyseld is also called into question now. But I did indeed come from there with Master Naamit. Her retinue was small, and I was the youngest and most insignificant. She did not call me into the service of the court until all the others had passed. I was a maid before that. You wouldn’t have noticed me.”
“A maid?” Khoo said. “That is who directs our kingdom now?”
Yue-Wan didn’t know whether to roll her eyes or laugh at the quick change from awe to contempt, and the dismissal of all the years he had seen her as Naamit’s aide.
“Ah, so you acknowledge my position now? Good. See that you show the deference it entails. Whatever you feel about it, I govern with the Master’s authority.”
Cunning joined the hostility in the duke’s eyes. “Yes, for whatever that can give you.”
Yue-Wan resisted the urge to ask what he meant. Already, he seemed too smug.
“It is enough, unless you want to feel the sting of correction.”
“Hmm,” he said with a twitch of bushy eyebrows. “From you and what army?”
Yue-Wan felt the consternation on her face, and her adversary’s smirk of triumph told her that it showed.
The door to Manifest Hall clattered open, followed by hurried steps.
“Pardon, Master Yaw, but there is a situation with one of the girls. You are needed.” The man in the scholar’s meisam turned to the duke and bowed with the voluminous gray sleeves brought together. “A thousand apologies for interrupting, Lord Khoo.”
Khoo sneered at the young man. “Are you still here, Master Chai, bowing and scraping to them? Why, when all the other men are gone?”
Kuan-Yong answered before Yue-Wan could. “The girls need a teacher, and I need the wages. Besides, Master Gan is here, too.”
“That old man is blind and nearly deaf. I wonder that he can even find his plants to water them. No, he is just another charity case, but you can find other employment,” the noble said. “Why give your knowledge to them, to aid in their takeover of the men?”
Kuan-Yong cast a glance her way, and Yue-Wan struggled between warmth and ire. The scholar had been one of their strongest supporters. But the escalating opposition had been wearing on him, even before she had been elevated to arviser.
“They are just children with nothing else,” he said. “I remember Master Naamit’s kindness to me, so how could I deny it to others?”
Khoo’s grimace deepened, probably at the memory of Kuan-Yong’s humble background. He and his mother were also homeless when Naamit had found them. But it was easier to find a school that would take an intelligent boy, as long as he had a wealthy patron. Kuan-Yong had done well and could have taught at a prestigious school or been a private tutor for a rich family. Yet, he had chosen to serve Naamit as the teacher of her girls.
“I’d say your debt is more than paid for with the years you’ve given already. Remember which side you are on. They will,” Khoo said. “And why do you participate in the charade of calling them ‘Masters?’ You are the only Master. They are ladies, and that label is more than good enough for them.”
Yue-Wan spoke first. “We tell the girls to call all the adults that. It is respectful and simple. No need to add layers of complexity and confusion. Now, I must attend them. I’m grateful for our stimulating talk.” She held his gaze and stayed seated until the noble exited with a huff.
Afterward, she waited a few more minutes until Kuan-Yong closed the door and approached before exhaling.
“I heard what he said,” Kuan-Yong said.
Yue-Wan thought for a moment. With the interruption, she had forgotten, but the alarm came back with the recollection. “Is it true? He has gained the army?”
“I heard the rumors today and went down to the wine houses near the garrison. The drunks offered their opinion freely until the cautious ones shut them down.”
Yue-Wan could tell his discovery from his expression.
Kuan-Yong continued, “There is dissent, agreement, and indifference among the soldiers, but it seems the generals are with the dukes, at least in Taimay and Xindong Province.”
“All the generals?” She said. “What about Tu and Quan? They have always been loyal.”
“Tu retired yesterday, and Quan is sick. The rest are falling in line.”
Yue-Wan found it hard to stay calm. “They got to them… how?”
Kuan-Yong sighed. “Their numbers are growing, and with Master Naamit gone, they grow bold.”
“Yes,” Yue-Wan muttered.
“Using you as an example, their arguments are very effective.”
Yue-Wan stiffened. “How effective?” she asked coldly. “Did Khoo persuade you just now?”
“Of course not… but you know it complicates everything.”
Everything. Here it was again.
He fidgeted to fold his sleeves back. “It is dangerous now. We should consider… leaving.”
“Leaving?” she said. “What of my responsibilities, and the girls?”
The sleeves unfurled again as he dropped his hands. “You are the focus of their grievance, and the only thing that stands in their way now.”
“So I give them the province, betray the Master’s trust in me, and abandon my charges, for what? To save my skin or make a better wife because I no longer have a position that shames you?”
Heat flushed his face to tomato red. “That is not my concern. How could you think—”
“You have complained about it since my appointment,” she said, dropping the last checks on her nerves. “For years, you put it off, citing your income. And now that I can support us, I am unsuitable to be your wife. What should I think?”
“It’s not so simple,” he said. “You know how I feel about you. But tradition and honor make it hard for a man. And what if we have children? Who will care for them at home?”
“Sacred Stone—that is what they say! What of Naamit’s rule, then? It defies tradition, and the men of her time supported her. You support her now.”
“She is a being from a mythic land. We could not deny her power. And yet, you know, many still chafed, always questioning. If she ever lost her Stone, no legend would preserve her.”
“Again with the legends and fables. I am from that land. Am I a myth, too, or do you think we are liars, and all your fathers who received us?”
“I do not… doubt you or her. But the Master does not command their respect anymore. They only fear her power, which they think can be removed with her Stone. Without it here and now, we are not protected. They can turn on us any day, and we will be lost.”
“Do you really believe that?” Yue-Wan’s fury ebbed into sadness. “You have heard the teachings of Lord Elrad and profess them. Yet you fear because the Stone is not with us?”
He withered under her disappointment but said, “Faith is a poor substitute for soldiers and blades.”
“There is far more that defends us than you see, but it starts with faith—”
Shouting filtered through the oiled-paper windows, rising to a level they could not ignore.
“Oh!” Kuan-Yong said.
“Is there really an issue with the girls that need my attention?”
“Yes,” he said. “He is here… Come!”
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