Osai sat, trying not to laugh at the fruit resting before him. A tribute.

From a badger.

To him.

He really wanted to laugh, but it would be rude to the creature who had injured herself in her efforts to attain it for him. It was rare for an Awakened Beast to pass up on the opportunity to advance. This was a gift fit for a king.

He hadn’t tasted anything of the like for hundreds of years. And it was mature. The tree had to be millennia old. This spirit fruit like this was the product of at least seven hundred years of ripening. It might even be able to mend some of the cracks in his energy body.

Too bad it wasn’t for him.

His week under this tree had been fruitful, and not just because of the gift before him.

No, he’d finally stopped moving. Finally paused long enough to learn.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried a hundred times before to meditate and learn the secrets of the heavenly lightning that coursed within him. It was different this time. He didn’t try to master it. He just listened. And remembered.

He remembered a life of pursuing ‘the virtues’. He remembered fighting. Chasing strength at any cost.

How many friends had he left behind, how many enemies buried?

But he’d never experienced power like what had passed through him when he’d defended the boy. Power that wasn’t his, but was offered to him when he listened.

And now he was listening. And that fruit wasn’t for him.

The lightning settled down in his veins, now a warm glowing presence, rather than a crackling ravaging force. It had much to teach him when he was able to hear it. A gateway to something beyond even his Master. It was a terrifying prospect.

*******

“It’s rude to stare.”

“Shit- I- I’m sorry…”

The woman chuckled. It was a surprisingly warm sound, coming from a face with icy blue eyes like hers. But it was as sharp as the lines on her face. Each of her words, every sound that came from her was precise like a cutting blade.

“I’m Melfina.” She approached and offered a hand to shake in the way of a traveler’s greeting. Hard and calloused but surprisingly smooth. Was that a cultivation thing?

“I- I’m Ren,” he said, breaking eye contact and bowing his head after she let go of his hand.

“I’m surprised you know what a handshake is. This far from the spice road, people usually just stare at my hand or try to offer me something. I mainly just do it to fuck with people.”

Was a hero really just talking to him like an equal? Did she just admit to messing with people for fun? Clearly he was having some kind of dream, but he was okay with it. “My family used to be peddlers, so we traveled a lot before we came to Ardus.”

“And here I thought you’d just be another light worshiping fool who didn’t know there was a whole world of places and people past the Kashkari Mountains.”

“No, we even traveled on the spice road, the main part, but I was a baby then.” He reddened. Was he being too familiar? Had he just told her about himself as a baby? Why not just show her a painting of a dirty diaper rag.

“Well, at least you probably have some interesting stories then. People here are so boring.”

“Then why are you here? Shit- I- I don’t mean to question you, it’s just that you could go anywhere. I know I would probably choose anywhere but here if I could.”

“I have my reasons.” She smiled. White teeth shone, and the muscles of her face relaxed a bit. “Speaking of going somewhere, we should probably head out.”

“What?”

“Odar’s beard. Did they really not tell you? I guess they were pretty put off by my request.” She turned and started toward the north gate of the wooden fort that surrounded camp.

He hauled his pack onto his back and refocused on his breathing as he scurried to catch up. His cycling had taken a hit from the shock of seeing her.

“What didn’t they tell me? I’m supposed to be waiting here for orders,” he said even as he followed her.

“I’m your orders. I asked to have a week to train you.”

He nearly tripped.

“They didn’t like it. ‘Highly unusual,’ they said. But what are they gonna do? I have a couple weeks before I start training the cultivation candidates, and the Asbar aren’t here yet.”

He wanted to ask, ‘why me?’ but he settled for, “How come you don’t have an accent?”

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She glanced sideways at him. “Empyrean common is spoken across the continent. It’s not like it’s a foreign language anywhere.”

“Oh.” He knew that, but every place had its own accent. It’s own blending that inherited flavors and remnants of the original languages that peppered the land before the days of the Red Dragon Empress.

“I shouldn’t mess with you so much.” She sighed. “My master says that the gift of many tongues is a natural side effect of balanced cultivation. The closer one gets to the Great River, the more they start to blend with the land and energy currents they walk amongst.”

They’d made it out past the camp walls and to the edge of the forest.

“Your master?”

“Let’s not keep him waiting.” She sped up, disappearing into the foliage.

They hadn’t made it fifteen paces into the woods when Ren collapsed under the weight of his pack. Everything burned. All he could do was breathe and cycle.

She picked up his load.

“Need me to carry you, too?”

He scrambled back to his feet. What could possibly be more humiliating than this moment. “I’m fine.”

“Very well.”

The undergrowth clung to him like beast claws, and every step was a test. He tripped more than once, and she had to slow down for him. Eventually he was certain they were lost and traveling in circles.

They came upon a creek, as if just to prove him wrong. He warred internally between his desire for a sip and wanting to save face in front of this hero who had already seen him at his weakest.

She didn’t pause, but turned and followed the creek downstream. He was certain she was just guessing now.

But he followed. He was that kind of fool. The kind that believed a worthless street rat could be this lucky, could become a cultivator, could save his family.

The serpent in him hissed in delight along with his thoughts and shadow crept into him with each step.

He should just turn around. Go find a nice tree to curl up under and die. Why keep making himself suffer? There was no way she was there to help him.

His feet stopped. He turned. Yessss. He was tired of struggling. This was going to be the end. Why go along with the cruel joke?

The creek laughed. He walked over to it, to the trickling water that mocked him, and kicked it with a splash.

But another laugh rang out. It wasn’t the creek, after all. It came from up ahead, where Melfina had disappeared into the brush. And it wasn’t mocking and cruel. It was warm, a familiar embrace.

He stumbled along, pushing through where the trees got tight, and bursting out into a clearing.

Melfina knelt before a man, her forehead pressed into the earth. And there were badgers. Two adults grooming each other and some babies crawling all over the man. A man with one blind eye and lightning scars.

Osai.

“Welcome, my friend! So glad you made it. Please, have a seat.”

Ren smiled, that coiling darkness in him dissipating, like mist to the morning breeze.

*******

Melfina grit her teeth into the dirt.

How could her master be so casual and welcoming to this boy yet still not recognize her as his student? Was she not dedicated enough?

This Ren kid… he could barely hold a weapon, couldn’t even carry his pack. She’d been watching. He was weak. Unworthy.

No. Melfina breathed deep. Her master was wise, and she had seen some redeeming qualities. The boy had some kind of terrible Qi contamination and had pushed himself day after day when he should have given up. By all rights, he should be dead. She wasn’t blind like those drill sergeants. But she still wasn’t sure what she was supposed to have learned from him.

She glanced up, waiting for her turn to be acknowledged and saw the boy sit beside her master without even bowing, sharing the tree as a backrest.

“Hungry?” her master asked.

“Famished. I had no idea you were still around Osai. I figured you’d have wandered off by now.”

“Well, I was on my way when I found this lovely tree and couldn’t pass up such a perfect seat.” He patted a root affectionately. “Haven’t had such a good spot to meditate in ages. But here, share in my meal if you’d be so kind as to humor an old man.” The master passed his own bowl of food to the boy.

Ren, for his part, looked dubiously at the contents. Ungrateful, unworthy, foo- No. Melfina was sure there was a lesson in all this.

“I apologize for my companion over there,” said the master, leaning in conspiratorially to talk to the boy as if whispering a secret, though he was fully audible and he knew it. “I haven’t confirmed this, but I believe she is trying to develop an affinity for soil. If only she had the manners to do such things in private.”

Melfina reddened from the tips of her ears to the soles of her feet and rose from her position of supplication.

“Ah, finally ready to join us, I see.”

“This one-” she began, but was interrupted by a most indelicate noise from the boy.

“Mmmmmmm! This is much better than it looks.”

The master laughed and the boy hid behind his hands, no doubt ashamed of his outburst. “Come,” he said, holding out the bowl toward her this time. “Have some.”

Sharing a bowl with the master—she couldn’t, could she? “This one is unworthy.”

“Your loss.” He shrugged and put a handful of oily leaves in his mouth.

Her stomach grumbled in protest. When had she eaten last?

“Master, what I meant to say is that I could never turn down your generosity. Can I really partake?”

He exchanged a look with the boy. “What was I telling you back when we were traveling together? The young never listen these days. You have to say something three times for them to hear it.” He turned back to her. “You can share if you stop saying ‘this one’ and ‘master’, and save your dirt kissing for private moments.”

She leapt forward and grabbed a handful of the master’s food—straight from his bowl! Such a prasad. An unparalleled gift from the master.

It was delicious.

“Mas- Um- Honored one?”

He shook his head. “I have a name.”

“Honored Osai… what is in this marvelous dish? It is truly worthy of a feast of the court of four.”

“Ah, just this and that.” His eyes sparkled like a child with a secret. “Some leafy greens I found by the water dressed with arapasi root oil, and of course some ground tree nuts and earthworms, courtesy of our furry friends.”

Ren gagged and coughed and the adult badgers bowed with entirely too much grace. Awakened Beasts?

What a glorious master she had. Her stomach turned over at the thought of the earthworms, but she demonstrated her superiority over the boy by holding back her own urge to retch, then reaching for more.

She would be the favored disciple, one way or another.