Dominic’s grandfather slapped him, the sound ringing out around them. Dominic touched his cheek, too shocked by Grandfather Fletcher’s actions to respond right away. The two of them were at Grandfather Fletcher’s home, eating breakfast together. While neither one needed to eat, Grandfather Fletcher had procured special foods filled with spirit energy, so the meal wasn’t just for leisure.

They ate out on a balcony. It had been such a beautiful day, that it would have been a shame to remain indoors. The sky was clear, with not a cloud in sight, and the temperature was mild, for midsummer at least. A mild breeze kept everything refreshed. While the view from Grandfather Fletcher’s balcony didn’t overlook the entirety of Silverwood Vale, like Dominic’s did, it was still gorgeous. The food was delicious as well. Like Dominic, Grandfather Fletcher enjoyed sweets and tea.

While they ate, Dominic had explained to his grandfather why he had needed Patriarch Darin and Elder Astoria distracted yesterday. He explained his plan, his reasoning behind it, and what he had done to make it happen. The voice from two days prior had shaken him. His subordinates had searched for the source of the voice for him, but they found nothing. After their failure, which he didn’t blame on his subordinates, Dominic sought Grandfather Fletcher’s council, leaving out nothing.

While they were both in the Essence Collection stage, Dominic’s grandfather had lived for much longer. Sometimes power was no substitute for life experience.

Grandfather Fletcher listened to all of this with a calm expression on his face. That was why it was such a surprise to Dominic when his grandfather stood up, walked around the table, and slapped him across the face. Even now, Grandfather Fletcher maintained a calm expression. His face betrayed nothing of what he felt.

Grandfather Fletcher grabbed Dominic by the shoulders.

“Dominic,” he said. “You are my grandson and I love you, but if you do something that stupid again, I will kill you myself. Do you understand?”

Dominic stared at his grandfather, unable to understand his words.

“Your actions almost earned us an Immortal’s wrath. Not just any Immortal either, but one whose nickname is the Goddess of Destruction.”

“What are you talking about?” Dominic asked when he regained his composure. “Immortal? Goddess of Destruction?”

What did any of this have to do with his attempt to drive Darian Wind Dance away from his son, so Lucius could focus on what really mattered?

Grandfather Fletcher walked back to his seat and sat down.

“You’re not entirely to blame,” he said. “You acted out of ignorance. Even so, your actions were unbecoming of a Wind Dance. Plotting to cripple another member of the clan so you could coerce your own son into doing what you wanted? You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Dominic flushed with embarrassment at the rebuke. He felt like a child again, one being scolded by his elder. It was not a pleasant sensation.

“I thought it wouldn’t matter,” he said. “As far as I could tell, except for a few people, no one in the clan cared about what happened to Darian Wind Dance. Even Patriarch Darin and Elder Astoria, his own grandparents, had kept him at arm’s length. I wasn’t going to leave him crippled. I just wanted to push Lucius onto the right path.

Grandfather Fletcher sighed at this, and his calm expression morphed into one of resignation and sorrow.

“Yes,” he said. “That was our fault. We knew what would happen once Darian’s apparent deficiencies came to light, and we let it occur. Worse, we subtly encouraged it. I thought it had been worth it at the time, but now I’m not so sure. Maybe Elder Astoria was right.”

Dominic looked at his grandfather in confusion.

“What are you talking about?”

Grandfather Fletcher held up a finger, and his eyes took on the faraway look of someone speaking to another telepathically. Dominic continued eating his breakfast as he waited. There was no reason to let it go to waste.

“Good,” Grandfather Fletcher said when he returned to the present. “I have permission from Patriarch Darin to tell you the truth. There will be a meeting later on, to let you and Elder Caleigh know the full story, but I can share some of the details with you now. This is something we should have done earlier, to avoid a situation like this.”

Dominic listened with growing astonishment as his grandfather told him a tale of how an Immortal named Nova had reached out to their clan. She had wanted a member of their clan to father her child, and she wanted their clan to look after the boy until he was old enough to receive the inheritance she had left behind for him. In exchange, she had paid Clan Wind Dance enough resources to ensure their prosperity for centuries to come.

“The Rainbow Fruit you used to help you break through to the Essence Collection stage came from her,” Grandfather Fletcher informed him.

Dominic’s eyes widened. Rainbow Fruit was a rare natural treasure that was difficult to procure. It had taken him years to earn enough merits to trade for it from the clan’s repository. That Rainbow Fruit had allowed him to break through to the Essence Collection stage, and ensured his appointment as a clan elder. At the time, he hadn’t given much thought as to where the Rainbow Fruit had come from. Now he knew.

And he had almost attacked the son of the woman who had given it to his clan.

Thinking about it now sent shivers down his spine. Thankfully, he hadn’t gone through with it.

“That voice I heard,” Dominic said. “Was that Immortal Nova?”

It would make sense for the voice to have belonged to an Immortal. He was at the Essence Collection stage and an elder of his clan, but the voice had made him feel like an insect in comparison.

“I believe so,” Grandfather Fletcher said. “We have long suspected that she was here, keeping an eye on Darian, despite her agreement with our Honored Ancestors forbidding her from setting foot on Mt. Wind Dance. That, or it was a guardian she had left behind. I’m not privy to the full details. Only our Honored Ancestors are.”

An Immortal’s attention was either a blessing or a curse, depending on the circumstances. He would have to make sure to leave Darian alone to avoid angering his mother.

A thought occurred to him.

“When I informed Lucius that he was to marry Willow Wind Dance and he refused, Elder Astoria mentioned another potential candidate to take his place,” Dominic said. “Is this other candidate Darian?”

Grandfather Fletcher sipped his tea before answering.

“Likely so,” he said. “Especially since Lucius was unwilling to do it.”

Dominic’s stomach sank. The alliance offer from Clan Stone Pillar had been a windfall for him and his ambitions. Even when Lucius refused to accept the arranged marriage, and Elder Astoria mentioned another potential husband for Willow Stone Pillar, he hadn’t been worried. Lucius was the pride and joy of Clan Wind Dance’s younger generation. Who else would Clan Stone Pillar accept as a husband for their Matriarch’s granddaughter? Now he knew the answer.

Darian Wind Dance, the son and disciple of an Immortal.

The clan would benefit, regardless, but for his family to benefit as well, Lucius needed to be the one to marry Willow Stone Pillar.

“I can see the wheels turning in your head, Dominic,” Grandfather Fletcher said. “You’re thinking about how this will affect our family’s standing within the clan.”

“How can I think of anything else, Grandfather? We worked so hard to make this alliance happen, but if Darian marries Willow Stone Pillar, Patriarch Darin and his line to get the most benefit.”

While Dominic held no animosity towards Patriarch Darin, the man was an obstacle to his family’s ascendance. Lucius would become the next head of their clan. In order to secure that, Dominic needed to make sure that his son agreed to the arranged marriage, one way or another.

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“Thinking about it in the short term, I agree with you,” Grandfather Fletcher said. “In the long term, however, Darian himself is the greater prize.”

Dominic stared at his grandfather.

“What do you mean?”

“Material resources are important, yes, but our clan gained enough of those from Immortal Nova. We don’t need the alliance with Clan Stone Pillar, though it would still benefit us greatly. Darian, however, represents something better. Connections. He is the son of an Immortal, and is set to join a powerful sect to the south. If we were to find a way to leverage those connections to further benefit the clan, our family’s star will rise higher. Lucius is one of his best friends, after all, and friends look after each other.” He took a bite of a sweet. “Darian is weak as he is. However, I suspect it won’t be long before he becomes someone noteworthy. Having a friend like that will be invaluable.”

Dominic thought it over, and realized that his grandfather was right. While it would be ideal for Lucius to marry Willow Stone Pillar, as long as his son became the main point of contact between Darian and the rest of the clan, their family would still benefit. Sometimes having the right friends was more important than material goods. Being able to say that he was the personal friend of an Immortal’s son would increase Lucius’ chances of becoming the next Patriarch of Clan Wind Dance.

Best of all, Darian himself could not become Patriarch since he didn’t practice the Dancing Wind technique. As long as the relationship didn’t turn sour, there was no downside to encouraging the friendship between Lucius and Darian. Hell, Dominic himself didn’t have to do much. He just needed to stop getting in his son’s way, and maybe apologize for his behavior until now. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to further things along and help his son curry favor with Darian.

“Always take the long view, Dominic,” Grandfather Fletcher said. “We are cultivators, and we can afford short term losses for long term gain. Plans might take decades, even centuries, to come into fruition. Never forget this.”

It was then that Dominic realized that despite his age and status within Clan Wind Dance, he still had a lot to learn.

----------------------------------------

Darian glared at Stella as they ate breakfast together. Well, she ate. He left his untouched. It was the morning after the dinner with his grandparents, and the conversation with Astra. His mind and his emotions were in a better state, but an ember of smoldering anger and resentment still burned within him. His mother, Master Nova, still had a lot to answer for. There were so many questions Darian wanted to ask, but he didn’t know when he would get the chance.

During their usual morning routine, where Stella made breakfast and Darian helped clean, Darian pondered on Stella and her connection to Master Nova, if she had any. It didn’t take him long to come to the answer that made the most sense.

Astra never mentioned having any relation to Stella, and Darian doubted that Master Nova would send two people to keep tabs on him without informing them of each other’s presence. There would be no point. That only left one answer, assuming Stella had anything to do with Master Nova.

So Darian glared at her, keeping every sense he had available trained on Stella. This included the active use of his mind sense. It took effort, but he didn’t care. As far as he could perceive, she was just a regular mortal. There was nothing suspicious or strange about her at all. She was Stella, his housekeeper, and the closest thing he’d had to a mother growing up.

Like everything else involving Master Nova, it was a lie.

“It’s rude to stare at others so intently, Young Master,” Stella said, her eyes on her food.

“Were you ever going to tell me the truth?” he asked her, ignoring her statement. Bitterness laced his tone.

Stella ate another bite before responding. If his anger and resentment bothered her, she didn’t let it show.

Darian felt a pulsing, a drumming, within his chest.

“What truth is that, Young Master?” she asked.

“That you’re my mother, Immortal Nova.”

She paused at that and looked up at him with a placid expression on her face.

“I am Stella,” she told him. “I am your servant, as I have been for most of your life.”

“Do you expect me to believe you? It’s obvious, now that I think about it. You hadn’t even tried to be subtle.” He gestured to the both of them. “We have the same skin tone and hair color. Your name, Stella, follows the celestial theme. It means ‘star’. Nova, Astra, Stella.”

Stella arched an eyebrow at him.

“That’s it?” she asked, a faint trace of mockery in her voice. “We look somewhat alike and my name means ‘star’, so you think I am this Immortal Nova, who is apparently your mother? That is quite the leap of logic, Young Master. Are you sure you’re all right?”

Darian gave her a tight smile. The pulsing grew stronger.

“There is one other clue,” he said. “An interaction that happened between us months ago. I had almost forgotten about it, until now that is.” He held up the Necklace of Plain Sight, grasping it by the wooden disc. “You are the only one who noticed this without any prompting from me. You even commented on it. Everyone else ignores its existence. Sometimes I forget about it, and I’m the one wearing it. Even when I show it to them, they have a difficult time keeping their eyes on it. Father had trouble when I held it out for him to see, and he is at the Essence Collection stage.”

Stella stared at the necklace for a long moment, her eyes unwavering, before she resumed eating.

“There once was a wolf who left her pup to be raised by a flock of sheep,” she started to say. “Three dogs guarded the sheep, and kept the wolf away. They didn’t trust her, and feared that she would kill the sheep. The wolf could have killed the dogs easily enough, but that would have scared the sheep and risked her pup’s safety. So, the wolf decided to disguise herself. She dressed herself as a sheep, the lowest of the low among them, and sneaked her way into the flock so she could be with her pup.”

Darian listened to her with rapt attention. She spoke in a calm, measured manner, as she ate her food, yet he detected a hint of something more to her voice. It contained a hint of something greater. The pulsing slowed down, before dying altogether.

“The guard dogs knew what the wolf had done. Their noses were sharp, and they were not fools. However, as long as the wolf continued to pretend to be a sheep and gave them face, they tolerated her presence. After all, if the wolf and the dogs fought, the sheep and other weaker creatures would get caught up in it. As guardians of the flock, they could not allow this. So everyone kept on pretending to maintain the peace.”

Darian swallowed.

“Why did the wolf bother going through all that?” he asked. “Why not keep her pup with her? Why the lies and deception? Surely it wasn’t necessary.”

Stella didn’t respond right away. She ate the rest of her meal first, what little remained of it.

“The answer to that is complicated, and beyond the limits of this story, Young Master. Part of it is that the wolf had many enemies, wolves like her, who would not have hesitated to tear her pup apart to harm her. Hiding her pup with the sheep would keep him away from those enemies.”

Darian hadn’t considered that. Of course Master Nova had enemies. Cultivators competed and fought with each other all the time for many reasons. Revenge, greed, anger. Passions ran hot, and sometimes grudges lasted for centuries.

He didn’t think that Master Nova’s heavy handed dealings with his clan was atypical of her. If she was like that all the time, she had to have made many, many enemies in her long lifetime.

As an Immortal, it made sense that Master Nova’s enemies would also be Immortals. Even if they weren’t, they would still be more powerful than Darian. They could crush him like a bug without much effort.

No defense was perfect, after all. Master Nova’s presence on Mt. Wind Dance proved that.

“The rest of the answer will have to wait until the pup is older and more experienced,” Stella continued. “It is also a conversation where the wolf and her pup will be both roaring drunk.”

The image of two drunk wolves yipping and howling at each other popped into Darian’s head, and he snorted with laughter. Stella chuckled.

“To get back to the point I was trying to make, Young Master,” she said. “As long as I remain Stella, I can stay here with you. If you want to talk with…that woman, to borrow your grandmother’s term, I can oblige. However, I will have to leave immediately after. We’re already pushing the limits of your Honored Ancestors’ patience as it is.”

As she said that, she looked towards the peak of Mt. Wind Dance. Darian felt a chill run down his spine, as if a sharp blade had pierced him. The sensation lasted less than a second, but it left a deep impression on Darian.

“I don’t want that to happen,” he said, feeling conflicted. “Not yet at least.”

Not until he reconciled his feelings for Stella and his feelings for Master Nova. In his mind, they had always been two separate people. He never imagined that he would have to think otherwise. He loved Stella, but felt anger, resentment, and bitterness towards Master Nova.

And gratitude, he had to admit, albeit grudgingly. She had given him a lot.

Perhaps he was being a cowards, but it was a conversation he wanted to put off for as long as possible.

“Neither do I, so let us never speak of this again,” Stella said.

“Just one last question.”

Stella studied him for a long moment.

“One, and then that’s it.”

His mother’s absence had always been a hole in Darian’s life. She had been an enigma to him, an unknown, thanks to everyone’s silence regarding her. He had always wanted to know three things. Who was she? What happened to her? And…

“Did the wolf love the pup?” Darian asked. “Or was he just a means to an end?”

That had been one of his greatest fears, after he learned that Master Nova was his mother. Had his existence just been a way for her to increase her own power through some inscrutable and esoteric means?

Had he just been a pawn, a tool, for her to use and discard?

At that, Stella stood up. She walked over to Darian and pulled him into an embrace. It was something she had done countless times before. Comfort and warmth seemed to flow out of her.

“Yes, Darian” Stella said, her voice raw. She had never called him by his name before. “The wolf loved her pup very much. Despite the lies and deception, despite the terrible things she had done to him, never doubt that.”

Darian returned the embrace, his heart aching. They stayed like that for too brief a time, before Stella pulled away.

“Now then, Young Master,” Stella said in a brisk voice, as if nothing untoward had happened. “Will that be all? If so, I must return to my duties.”

At that, she started cleaning up. Darian watched her for a moment, before following her lead. He ate his breakfast and left without a word.