Mick shuffled and stretched as he worked his back into the leather seat, getting comfortable for the rest of the trip. It was always a long drive between the cities, made even longer by how boring it was. Not that Mick would want that to change. He’d heard too many stories about people being lost to qi storms or spirit beasts that made it through the patrols. No, boring was just fine for him.

Which left him feeling conflicted about his unexpected stop.

Mick took a glance over at the slumped and sleeping form of his passenger in the seat next to him. The kid looked like he hadn’t slept in days with thick and heavy bags under his eyes on top of the fact that he’d collapsed into the seat after they’d set out.

And he was a kid, still having the last bits of baby fat clinging to his face and his proportions just starting to even out. His clothes looked like they were shabby before they’d been through the ringer, rough and cheap. Hand-me-downs, maybe?

He’d said his family was poor and he left to make money in the city, but Mick didn’t put much stock in that story. He had friends in the defense forces who’d been out there in the wilds on long patrols and they’d never seen hide nor hair of even the most backwater of villages. So that means the kid must have traveled a lot farther than he let on, too far to simply mail back some money, on top of a lot of other holes in his logic.

Plus, Mick recognized the look in his eyes, the paranoia and restlessness, like he was being chased. The kid, Sun, if that’s his name, was running from something. Maybe he’d done something bad and gotten chased out of his village?

Mick shook away the thought. He had an eye for people and Sun didn’t strike him as a bad person. Plus who knew what those backwaters considered such a heinous crime worth banishing someone so young.

It didn’t matter. Mick would bring him to the city and point him in some directions to look for work if he was serious about that. He’d do more, but the fucking corpos weren’t exactly garnishing his, a lowly truck driver’s wages now were they? Plus Grace was at home with the baby on the way and he had to pay for the insurance and… Mick shoved the thoughts away before they could give him another ulcer.

He gave the exhausted kid another look and felt a distant sense of kinship before it was overtaken by worry. A worry that the kid might have just jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

…Maybe he could spare the kid a few credits?

* * * * *

“What do you mean he’s gone!?” The elder screamed.

The meeting room of the elders was filled with the sounds of outrage as the old cultivators barked out orders and questions to the disciples that came and went. The normally quiet palace of the patriarch had become a hive of activity as outriders, guards, inner disciples, and even servants were called forth for questioning.

“He couldn’t have just disappeared into thin air, now could he?!” the elder spat at the guards before dismissing them.

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“I actually know of two techniques that could do that.” muttered Fu Ming, Elder of the Archives.

Yu Mei, Elder of Alchemy, purposefully ignored the mindless bookworm, choosing instead to screech at the diviners who were supposed to be capable. “And how exactly can he hide from the Heaven’s Eye Array? Is it not possible to find a single boy lost in the woods?!”

The Elder of Intelligence, Hu Guo, sat straighter and frowned at the chastisement from his fellow elder. “The array is working as it should and it has never failed to find its target before. I can only surmise that he is either deep below ground where the eyes of heaven cannot penetrate or he is being shielded by an equally powerful artifact.”

Yu Mei wanted to shout more at the imbeciles that surrounded her, but was cut off by the voice of the patriarch who spoke out for the first time.

“Enough. Divination has proven useless and he has been gone for at least a week as far as can be ascertained.” The man stated, his voice calm, as if his son had not just been declared missing. “The outriders have already been deployed in full force to find him and given every resource to complete their mission.”

That the failure had caused this much of an uproar after wasting the sect’s time and resources for nearly the last twenty years burned at Yu Mei. After all, she had personally crafted many of the “young master’s” cultivation aids in his childhood before it was understood that he was defective.

Now he didn’t even have the sense to pay back what he owed to the sect by getting married off to some haughty clan leader’s daughter. It was the patriarch’s saving grace that he’d decided not to spawn another, the lowborn ignoramus who’d only won the seat of patriarch by marrying into the Cai family.

An elder in the shadows spoke out. “And, if he cannot be found, what is to be done about the arrangement?”

This question silenced many of the elders and reduced the rest to mutterings. The elders had very much desired the marriage between the two clans. It had seemed like a purely good deal, get rid of a failure and in return the clan would pay a hefty dowry.

The sect hardly hurt for money, but out at the edge of the world, their access to distant reagents and materials for cultivation was limited. The clan had promised a surplus of rare reagents they had acquired through trade.

Yu Mei thought back to the first meeting with the clan’s representative. He had arrived quietly at the gates only a month prior, speaking to the guards and arranging a meeting with the elders. A strangely dressed mortal, wearing a jacket and pants of high quality silk and strange metallic decorations around his temples. It was clear the outside clan had wealth but nothing else of redeeming quality, as they hadn’t even sent a cultivator to bargain with them.

His visit had been quick and discrete, better not to disturb the sect with unnecessary drama.

The request he made was simple: a marriage between their clan’s young mistress and the firstborn of the patriarch. Perhaps the clan did not know about their methods of succession and thought they could take over the sect through a simple marriage. When asked what the clan could offer in exchange for such an arrangement they had produced a crate of unknown material filled to bursting with unique and powerful reagents. Then proceeded to claim one hundred more of equal value. The elders had taken a few moments to discuss the deal, but the decision was already clear.

The man had left as quickly and quietly as he came after arranging for the boy to be picked up at a certain time. Many meetings had followed as they discussed the division of materials from the dowry and how they would be spent. It was only later that it was decided by the patriarch that the failure in question should be informed of the decision, “to prepare and be presentable” as he argued. It even made sense at the time, but had clearly been just another mistake of the man.

“An alternative suitor should be prepared” Yu Mei declared. All eyes turned to her. “Multiple, if possible. If the boy cannot be located before the appointed time then we must be ready to secure the dowry.”

“They were specific that it was my son that was offered.” The patriarch reminded. Yu Mei could tell he hoped to salvage the situation by finding his son and keeping the plan on track, but it was too late.

“True, they may not be happy with the change, but we can assure them of intent by offering something else as well. Perhaps some technique manuals or some lesser artifacts?” Another elder chimed in.

The elders' debate turned to compensation for the clan, what they could offer that had little value but would ensure the dowry was collected.

Yu Mei saw the patriarch’s frown deepen, showing the first real emotion throughout the entire meeting. She could also see how the elders were turning away from him and discussing amongst themselves.

A plan began to put itself together in her head as she filed through her descendants, preferably someone in the main family but she could compromise. If all ended well, she could secure the dowry and, while the position of sect leader was out of the picture, she would elevate her clan’s power to rival the Cai family.

A small smile cracked on her face. For once, she was glad for Chen Sun to be born.