Ai-Lee’s Grove seemed changed from the last time Feng-Lung had seen it. The willows shuffled their drooping branches to allow him passage back to the start of his quest, where the waters of the Qi lake shimmered, speckled with stars from the illusion of the old skies of Qing’s Empire above.

As he emerged at the lake, XJ-V was waiting for him, seated upon a jagged rock jutting out from the sands.

He really looked like the image of an old Master from the tales of Qing’s time before the Sundering. His meditative posture was perfectly calibrated. He once again sat as still as stone – just as he had done when he first came to Ramor-Tai. But this time, he seemed more tranquil. He seemed more attuned to his surroundings, watching every circular ripple that danced along Ai-Lee’s lake with the eyes of one who knew the Dao, now. Knew it, and respected it.

Feng sighed and joined his Brother, sitting cross-legged beside him as the dim lights of the sea of stars above lighted down upon them both.

“A beautiful night, isn’t it, Brother?”

Feng registered the chuckle in his Cog Brother’s voice.

“It almost makes my hellish day worth it.”

XJ-V knit his steel brows. “Hellish?”

“I won’t go into it,” the boy replied. “I presume you know enough already.”

The Cog smiled then, and it was at that point that Feng saw he was hiding something beneath his robe.

The boy sighed again.

“I do not like surprises,” he said.

“I know that is a lie, Feng.”

The boy scoffed. “Your advanced sensors tell you that, do they?”

“No,” the Cog replied. “My knowledge of my friend tells me that.”

Feng laughed in the face of the Cog’s earnest answer, matched by the seriousness of his face.

“It is funny,” he said. “Before I met you I assumed all Cogs to be just as the tales told us – deceptive, manipulative, under the control of the Old Gods.”

“Why then did you first speak to me?”

“Because” Feng-Lung said. “I was curious. It is my greatest weakness, as you well know.”

“And your greatest strength, Brother. I think that, without your curious mind, I would have quit my attempts to enter this place.”

Feng made to protest, but the pensive face of his Cog Brother stopped him. He was focused on the dancing lights provided by fireflies that had started gliding around on the surface of the lake. Not quite as alluring as the spectral Shuigui, but still quite the sight to behold.

“I suppose I never did give you proper thanks for keeping me company during those long, dark days,” XJ-V told his Brother. “I have been so focused on moving through the Dao that I was becoming blinded to the concerns of the world and the people who live in it.”

Feng watched his face take on a pained expression. It was odd – it was like it wasn’t the Cog talking at all, right now. But something beyond him.

Or something within him.

“I do not think one such as me could ever achieve immortality,” he said. “I have learned that I care too much about those that I learn beside. I would not like to leave Brothers like you behind, Feng-Lung.”

Feng sat back. “And you think that’s your weakness?” he asked. “You really are nothing like the other Disciples who come here, XJ-V. Most of them have already made up their mind that the world out there has no more use to them. It never cared about them. Most of their parents wanted them to come here to escape the life that waited for them out there. That was – well – that was what my mother wanted for me.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

XJ-V turned to face his friend, expecting to see anger etched on his face. But instead, there was nothing but an expression of reflection. He, too, was gazing out onto the star-studded lake and following the trailing lights of the fireflies.”

“I am assuming Ori’un told you everything,” he said. “It would be like him. He never did respect any of the rules of this place.”

XJ-V gave his friend space to continue.

“You know why I ran after my mother’s voice, that night?’ he asked suddenly – something the Cog never thought he would bring up on his own. “I never told anyone. Not Ori’un, not even Longhua. It wasn’t because I really thought it was her. I knew the Flesh-Eaters’ tricks. I wouldn’t have accepted my test for Rank 4 if I didn’t.”

The Brothers had arrived at a pivotal moment. Both of them allowed some silence to pass as Feng heaved under the weight of the admission he was about to make.

“When I heard her voice…that’s when I remembered what she sounded like for the first time in eight years,” he said. “Truthfully, I’d forgotten her voice. I’d forgotten her face. I’d started to think my memories of her were nothing but the fancy fabrications of a child’s mind – a child with too much imagination. I followed the mimicry of that creature just because I wanted to see her again. Just because I wanted to know that the image I had of her in my mind was the real thing. To me, in that moment in my life, that was worth dying for.”

The ripples of the Qi-pool stopped abruptly. A stillness lay upon the Grove, and the light of the fireflies began to depart. The illusion of midnight had cast itself over the artificial realm and bathed the face of the novice Cultivators in its celestial light.

“So, I wouldn’t worry about staying shackled to this earth, XJ-V,” Feng finally said. “Because right to the end, I’ll be right here with you. I can’t let go of those memories that are precious to me. I can’t look away as people I love are butchered. I guess that makes me kind of a failure, still, doesn’t it?”

“Only if you let it,” XJ-V said. “I know at least one person that does not believe you failed your test that day. In a way,” the Cog added. “You proved that you were human.”

“Is that really all so special?” Feng asked his friend, genuinely fishing for an answer.

“It is the only thing I wish to be.”

Feng caught the distinct sadness in his friend’s tone and turned to see his face. But the Cog was smiling, with an almost boyish charm.

“Do you know why I had you run this wild goose chase today?” XJ-V asked.

“Probably because you wanted to cheer me up,” Feng bristled. “As silly a reason as that is. I wished to reprimand you when Arha let it slip you were doing something to catch my attention. I wanted to cuff you, and tell you that you should be focusing on your own training right now, not your morose friend. I did not suspect you would get half of Ramor-Tai involved in your little game.”

“And?” XJ-V asked. “Have you not had some fun?”

“Let me see,” Feng said chuckled. “I have chased away some book thieves, sparred with a Tiger, confronted my past with the Planeswalker and now have returned to the beginning of my journey. I have walked the path of a hero. Have I had fun?...I suppose.”

“Then,” XJ-V said. “It is time for you to be rewarded.”

Feng laughed again as he watched his Brother unfurl the secret he held, producing a small object composed of shining steel that matched the tone of his own skin, welded together rather haphazardly into a shape that resembled…something…

As Feng-Lung looked closer – his heart gave a sudden lurch. There…yes. There were the two tiny ears, a curled tail, and even some wire-frame whiskers poking out from the thing’s nose.

He was looking at a metal replica of a cat.

“It is a cat,” XJ-V said.

Feng Lung merely blinked in response.

Of all the oddities he’d seen today, this was most definitely the strangest.

“I recall that you are quite fond of them,” the Cog explained, mistaking Feng’s look of utter bewilderment as a sign of anger. “I understand that Ramor-Tai does not allow non-human mammals within its walls unless they are spiritual in nature. I remember you telling me of how you longed to chase them back in your home town. I am afraid this cat cannot be chased, but perhaps it will give you a reminder of them. Like you say, Feng, memory is important.”

Feng looked from the object to the Cog, seeing the earnestness in his metal face, and seeing the care and attention that had been poured into this gift. That’s when the significance of where he had traveled this morning finally hit him.

“I am no expert in metalworking,” the Cog explained. “I was forced to use my own supplies which took some time to shave and then repair. I had Gira show me some tomes on felines to get the bearing of their shape, and Brother Fai-Deng provided electrical assistance to graft the pieces together into something which, I hope, resembles the real thing.”

Feng hid laughter behind the beaming smile that had begun to smear itself across his face. The cat – it was a nice touch, he admitted – but moreso was he humbled by what this man, composed of metal and lights and logic beyond the ken of any of them, had just demonstrated in the creation of this tiny thing for another.

Feng accepted the steel-cat with a gracious bow, clapping his friend’s shoulder with the first genuine smile he’d worn in weeks.

“XJ-V,” he said. “I believe you are more human than you think.”

###

If you are enjoying Cog Cultivator, support the story on Patreon to read + 10 advanced chapters

Join the Discord server to keep up with Cog Cultivator and my other works.