A nice normal meal, everyone around the table, just a group of friends, Preshe's new roomates, and so on.

So why was the sect leader sitting there, black and red eyes locked onto Little Wing? He corrected himself: Until she gave the game away, it was Little Spur. He wasn't going to give his friends secret up, but for whatever Unity was doing he didn't trust the sect leader yet. There was no way she was just hear to say 'good job surviving.'

"Disciple Lizzy, I want a report of what happened to camp G-11 and G-12."

"Of course honorable Sect Leader. This deciple reports thier superiors and peers were wiped out by quantum guns. I was preparing to break for the river to try to get back to the sect and report the attack and the punishment assigned initiates from the G-12 camp arrived. They defeated an enemy I estimated to be three knots ascended."

"Do we know where he was from?" Rio said, staring at Lepin, face a mask until she shoved a peice of pizza into her mouth. Her clothes changed breifly to something red as she did, then returned to the black and gold robes she was wearing. Corvayne noted that.

"No he was entirely in gear from our sect. Pancho with high durability, and a steel square that has a repeating life-saving effect."

"Produce the square."

Lepin looked to Corvayne, who took it off from under his pancho and handed it over. No assumption such an item was left behind, rightly so. He didn't think it was wise, if Lepin was going to fib about anything, to start with what seemed to be an incredibly powerful item.

Surprisingly, she handed it back. "Hmm. Belonged to Dontiz. He will not need it back, as he was found dead a month ago." She wiped a bit of sauce off of her mouth. Corvayne saw her rings flicker, and a bead necklace changed into a gold torque. There wasn't a morph, unless it happened so fast that Corvayne couldn't catch it. It was much more obvious a moment later when the robe became a blue leather piece of gear with gold writing, her cowboy hat switched to white snakeskin, and a staff appeared on her back as she started casting a spell. She brought both hands together, then for a moment Corvayne saw a gray tunic before she switched back to her black robe.

Corvayne couldn't guess the function of all that, but he was pretty sure the spell she cast was some sort of ward, given it dampened the essence glow of all the wards outside.

"Wake the little prince."

There were some glances being exchanged which amounted to Preshe using mend then grabbing a packet of red pepper flakes and putting some on Little Spur's tounge. He woke with a sputter and did a check of the exits, then of his hand.

“Looking for this?” Rio said, holding a gold ring up.

Little Wing schooled his face pretty well. “Of course, it has sentimental value. My dear old mother gave it to me before the sickness took her.”

“Your mother is alive.” Rio said blandly.

“A shame.” Little Wing said, eyeing everyone around him. “This does not look like a cell under the inner sect peak.”

“If I needed crude tools, I have them in my inventory. No Little 'Spur', I already got the story. I'd rather save torture for my enemies.” She gestured to one of the boxes of pizza.

Corvayne watched the play between the two, his own thoughts trying to catch all the emotions Rio was feeling. No, he could see the thread between her and Little Wing. He might not be aware he had a lie detector attached.

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“I will take it as a good will gesture, unless this is Hawaiian.” He opened a box and took a slice. “So, I will say you have me pretty much right where you want me.”

“How did you restore your cultivation? Is that the phoenix rising scroll's secret?”

“I wouldn't know. Reading something like that while crippled...” Little Spur was sweating. “I do not know how I got my cultivation back, but I have guesses.”

“Educate me.”

“Give me my ring back and I'll tell you everything.”

The sect master rolled it between her fingers. “I can undo the dome and see who turns up to kill you. The attacks were Red Line cultivators, looking for you. I heard rumors of a 'mortal grade' killing a trio of three knot cultivators.”

“Wasn't me.”

Rio nodded. “Whomever was at fault, they took a leap of faith for the wrong reasons that came to the conclusion a 'Little Wing' was hiding in our sect. Hence they went after mortal grades who might fit a broken cultivation base and a helper who could guide them through some sort of crafting line. The deal: I'll help you make copies of the scroll, but I need the original.”

“I don't have it.”

Rio laughed a little. “Tell me where it is. You don't stand a chance of getting off this floor. You've restored your body, but you need time to actually extend those ugly grafts-”

Preshe said quietly. “You mean impossible grafts.”

Corvayne urged her not to talk to Rio but the sect leader just waved her hand. “My goal is to get the Red Line Blade sect off our property. These agents who attacked are not the last of them, and sooner or later they'll figure you out. We have the same goal, but you need to bury your pride and give up the scroll.”

He shook his head. “Foolish. They will simply take it then turn and kill me. My bloodline is what they are after.”

Corvayne got up and took his plate into the kitchen. Preshe was there too.

“What's his story?” She asked, looking back. Corvayne took the cups from her.

“He hasn't told me the full deal, but I expect it involves being crippled, his engagement broken, and being left for dead.”

Preshe nodded. “I've heard a few stories like that too from classmates. Being a cowtivator is hard.”

They walked back into Rio glaring at Little Wing, who sighed. “I'll make a deal. Copy and distribute the scroll, while acting as my protector until I've recovered enough I can deal with whomever they are sending.”

“Fine. But I need you hidden. I'm going to limit you to this academy while I sort out it out. The wards here will make it harder for them to find you. I'll have to prepare a body. Don't argue.”

She looked over at Bayou and Lepin. “Staying dead will keep you safe.”

“I need to see my friends and family.” Corvayne said. As well as keep up their deal from before the dungeon. Though in some ways, he was pretty sure he solved it. Or this was unrelated to the problems they'd been having.

“If you go out, they are going to target you. Do you think you can survive out in the sect?” She had her arms folded.

“Give me my ring so I have my stuff.” Corvayne said. “And I'll defeat anyone who's weaker than you who tries it. If I'm going to be bait, I need gear.”

He was pretty sure he had things that could compare in his haul. He also got the sense this is what she had been going for with their earlier plan. Use him as bait.

“Deal. With the red liners around, I need you to report to me. We still don't know if they've been sabotaging us this entire time or this is just related to Little Wing.” She flicked his ring to him. “I want to root out these traitors. They will be looking for you as long as the scroll takes to copy. Could be a few months. Don't even think about leaving. Once a week at least.”

She flicked the ring to him, and he noticed an essence string she had attached to it. To track him, obviously. On the other hand, once he put that string somewhere, he'd be off her leash. So collect information, work on his [[Unity]] bond with the sect, and root out the mole. He also wanted to find out about the Sect Leader.

“I of course need to sneak in, don't I?”

“If you get spotted, punishment duty again. Not digging ditches. Something else.” She was clearly thinking of something amusing.

Everything she asked was something he'd have to do anyway, as he still wanted to know about why they had targeted Kirae, as well as find out why the sect leader looked like him. He took his pancho off and swung his Watcher cloak back on, as well as his chain mail and a black shirt. He took Lady Blood Claw and had her grow herself a bed of vines.

“Prishe, please look after her. Love you.” He stood up, and nodded to Little Wing and Bayou. Lepin looked away for a moment, and he felt whatever she was conflicted about, she wasn't going to say in front of Lepin. So he headed out.

A moment later Rio was walking with him, pushing a jade slip into his hands. “Hold up, I wasn't done. I'm putting you in the motor pool. Show up at least a few hours a day, pretend to fix something. Find me the traitors.”

She looked like she was going to say something more but then she vanished, moving fast enough that Corvayne could barely see it.

He looked at the slip.

First things first.

It had been a few weeks.

Corvayne tuned his compass to Spears and set out from the academy to go get laid.