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Chapter 33: "All According to Protocol."

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Shae awoke to an autumn evening's moonlight streaming through a window and onto her face. She tried to roll over but found her right arm bound to the bed, slightly raised up, and in a cast. Ugh, right, that stupid ring.

Second Captain Lou rose from a seat beside her, "You're awake. Congratulations." He did something and the whole room brightened.

She groaned while squinting up at the bright light, half the tiles in the ceiling seemed to be glowing white. "Hghmmm? What for?"

"Oh, just a few things. Finding the spatial ring to close out a months-long smuggling investigation. Fighting off a far too powerful shadow curse. Disabling that curse so it can't harm others. Killing a foundation stage cultivator in a single blow after deflecting a sword strike with bare skin. Possibly with the shadow curse, now that I think about it. You know, just a few, simple tasks."

"What?" Shae furrowed her brow. "I didn't kill anyone."

"Heh, of course you would focus on the least impressive feat. I'd bet that it wasn't your intention. You recall the man that attacked you, tried to cut off your hand."

"Uh-huh. I punched him. I think he was wearing armor."

"He was, but lightning has a fun way of getting past metal armor. According to Inspector Tan, you also used shadow lightning, light aspected lightning, and whatever your red lightning is. The shadow is probably what killed him, it's nasty stuff."

"Ugh." She grunted and frowned. "So, the ultimate victim of the curse was the one who made it?"

Lou shook his head. "We don't think so. I'd guess that one was the ringleader's right-hand man. The other half that picked up the goods outside of the city. He also wouldn't be strong enough to add a curse to a spatial item. That is some delicate work."

"Hmm so, a loose end? Some stronger asshole is going to hunt me down for breaking his stupid curse?"

Lou shrugged. "Probably not worth their effort or pride. Tan thinks it was contract work anyway, so they'd have no real reason to. Our concern is mostly how they made contact with a shadow qi user at all. It's not a nice path to walk."

"Hmm." She paused, then sighed. "Would he have survived after the trial? I'm not familiar with local laws and punishments."

Lou looked concerned. "Don't worry about it. I believe it was an accident, you should too. Now. One more thing to cover. Well, more than that, but this first. What you were saying, just before you passed out at the end. Do you remember it?"

She thought back, and nodded slowly. She opened her mouth-

"Don't say it now."

I will not be a tool for death and destruction. Quite the claim to make after accidentally killing someone. She frowned.

"Was it intentional? Or caused by something?"

"Hmm? The words? They were my decision to say. If that is what you mean."

"And what language was it in? It wasn't Empire-Standard."

Shae inhaled quickly. "Oh."

Lou spoke after a few breath's silence. "You don't have to say, your... identity has already been cleared. I just wanted you to know, since it's clear from that reaction that you didn't. Also."

He took a breath to stare seriously at the young woman. "Tan was the one to stop you from finishing it. She knocked you out. She thought you were claiming a vow to the heavens, and the thunder suddenly above us at that moment gives her argument validity." He continued his stare.

"Oh." She considered. "I suppose it could have been taken that way. In that case, it was unintended."

Lou relaxed and sighed. "Good. I was worried she interrupted something important to you. We can never be certain with all sorts of cultivators and techniques."

"Um. This might sound like a stupid question. What is a vow?"

"Heh." He shook his head. "So young, so naive. The most dangerous time to have the power of a cultivator. A vow is a promise, but one that ties your cultivation to you keeping that promise. If you break it, you break your cultivation. That is the simple answer, and the answer used to scare off anyone from using them, and yet, they still get used. The monks are most famous for them. Pacifism, poverty, innocence. Some cultivation manuals will claim they work better with a certain vow attached." He shook his head again. "It's impossible to say if that is true. I advise you to never take one. Even accidentally, or to save someone's life. Vows have caused far more pain and setback than any possible progress they could add." His gaze was hard.

Shae nodded. "Alright."

"And it should be obvious not to take a vow to someone. Like to follow their orders, even if they won't teach you otherwise, or to save your own life." He seemed more relaxed now, and even smirked. "Except marriage vows, I guess. Do as you like, I'm not your father."

Shae smiled back. "Speaking of. Are you and Tan...?"

He looked down and rocked on his heels, then coughed to the side. "Inspector Tan is a wonderful professional colleague. I'm not sure what you mean by your question."

She looked at the door to the room, it was slightly ajar. She pointed and raised an eyebrow.

He nodded. "Now, the second order of business. Payment for a job well done. After the ring wasn't found by the deadline set by the Diviner. A new bounty was placed on information, and for its direct return. Two gold crowns are yours, if you'll accept them."

She almost said yes immediately, her short time wandering alone jumping at the chance for so many meals. "Why if?" He didn't respond so she continued. "And isn't a spatial ring worth much more than that? Who would give it away for two crowns?"

He remained silent, choosing to look at the floor and shift awkwardly, though it looked more intentional than earlier.

"No," she said while squinting at him. "At the very least, I'd expect a similar spatial item, plus the value of the goods within should be exchanged. Or do you capture criminals just for the value of their confiscated treasures?"

That got his attention. He looked up with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.

Inspector Tan entered the room. "Well done, Wise Shae." She walked over to the young cultivator and flicked her ear.

"Ow!" She yelped, more for the surprise than the pain.

"That's for that baseless accusation. We do our duty for law and order within the city. Not for profit but the safety of its citizens."

She opened her mouth but was stopped before she could speak.

"And Lou mentioned you flicked his ear a few times so I wanted to pay you back."

She rubbed at the ear and frowned in an attempt to garner pity. "Only twice, and just with intent."

"Sure, and you also caught some bystanders with the second flick." Lou reminded her with a frown.

She cut off her attempt at garnering pity: she knew she wasn't getting anywhere.

Tan smiled, then spoke quickly, like she was reciting from memory. "To address the reward. Returning the confiscated item is fairly standard. However, that assumes it is a reasonably priced mortal item. The contents of the ring do fall under that, except they are stolen goods so will be returned to their rightful owners."

"So the ring?"

"Worth too much, far too much." She shook her head.

"Okay, well I guess I wasn't expecting to get the ring out of this. What's with all the legal, though? It's like you're leading up to some technicality."

"At this point I am required to offer you the reward again, and even double it, given the value of the item in question."

Shae shifted in the bed, as much as she could with her arm stuck to the side. "Eh." She shrugged, if a sect coin is a dozen, and the one I have two dozen, a few crowns doesn't mean much. "No thanks. Give it to people who need it. Buy everyone in the slum a meal at Chef Van's restaurant."

She thought she heard something from the hall. When she looked at the door Tan shifted to block it. "Does that mean you accept and will defer it to charity? A noble option." She raised an eyebrow.

"Uhm. I want to say No. It feels like you are leading me there, but you could just be leading me to getting no reward altogether. That seems unlikely, too petty." She looked between the adults in the room, "Can one of you just tell me the rules in full regarding these things so I can make an informed decision?"

Lou had looked at the floor again, and now turned away from her.

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Tan looked reluctant but pressed on. "Here is the full text of the Flame Well legal code. I can narrow it down to a specific section if you have a specific subject of interest." She pulled a large book from her spatial storage and set it down on Shae's lap.

She immediately shifted out from under it. "Ok, seriously, why the run-around?" She paused and no answer came. "Do I need to request legal counsel?"

"You are not under arrest or investigation at this time." Tan recited.

Shae huffed angrily. "That was not an answer, and it wasn't even close to the question I asked."

"It's all part of protocol." Tan whispered into her sleeve and forced a cough.

"I don't care. It's stupid." She was getting angry and annoyed. "Why, Tan?" She flicked the woman's ear with her intent, like she had with Lou. "What." Flick. "The." Flick. "Fuc-" a hand covered her eyes and another grabbed her ear and pulled it back.

"Shae." Lou interrupted. "Stop assaulting Inspector Tan. She is just doing her job."

The young woman rounded on him angrily, inhaled stiffly and kept her voice to a low simmer. "Doing their job is what people say when they execute innocent prisoners under direct orders. It's not a good excuse."

Lou let go and lowered his hands. "You are being unnecessarily vicious. I'm not technically on duty right now but I can't let that pass."

Shae took another deep breath but was still angry. She looked back at Tan. The woman was blushing and appeared ashamed. The young woman's ferocity shattered instantly and she exhaled, releasing her anger. "Inspector Tan. I apologize sincerely, that was very inappropriate behavior on my part." She looked back to Lou then at Tan again. Ok, the blush might be because Lou kind of saved her.

"If you'd-" Tan started, but Shae raised a hand because she wanted to think.

A few breaths later she said, "Inspector Tan, I refuse to answer questions at this time. Including about claiming the reward. Furthermore, I'd like to file a complaint regarding the method of questioning used to resolve the reward, but that can wait until I learn more about it. Though, I assure you, I will file it."

Tan looked kind of panicked. "But, it's protocol."

"And sometimes protocol is completely stupid and designed to keep money in rich pockets and out of poor pockets. Say, did you replace all that rainwater you dumped into the street in the slums?"

Tan remained silent.

"Shae," Lou said with concern.

She inhaled and exhaled. "Inspector Tan, thank you for knocking me out while I was babbling in another language. Second Captain Lou informs me I was likely about to make a dangerous mistake. Is there a commendation request form? Something the opposite of a complaint?"

"Oh, not formally. You have to talk to my superior directly. Same with the complaint, actually."

Shae sighed. "And I bet not a lot of people do that because they are big and scary or something?"

Tan shrugged. "Busy, hard to get a meeting."

"Bureaucratic walls, hooray." She said flatly and waved her left hand. Shifting in the bed again, she was reminded of her arm. "How long am I stuck here? Is it the same day?"

Lou answered first, "Yes, it's the same day."

Tan continued quickly after, "How long will depend on how fast you heal. Doctor Ho will have to check you over again. He did say you were healing quickly and was interested in... well, in the specifics of how you got the flesh in your arm to be like that. Oh, and if you knew what that small orb was. We couldn't make heads or tails of it before it vanished."

Shae's eyes widened as she remembered the strange dream. "Oh! That was mine, yes. You shouldn't have told him to take it out."

Tan's eyes widened in surprise, but her voice was firm, "What do you mean?"

"Is he the one with the bushy eyebrows?" She looked between them.

Lou also raised an eyebrow. "That sounds like a vaguely accurate description of him."

"Right, so during the surgery, he recommended it be removed. Which is a stupid thing to do. Lou didn't you just say cultivators can have weird personal business these days, and you should be careful not to mess with it?"

He crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm sure I didn't say that. But point made. Continue."

"Right so he asked you directly, Tan, and you said he should."

The inspector's face wrinkled with confusion. "You were asleep, more than that, unconscious."

Shae shrugged. "Well, that was basically all I heard. Other than a couple of your guesses. It was neither calcified meridian nor monster core. Honestly I'm surprised someone didn't feel it out. Oh! What did it look like? Was there an image in it?"

"Uh, what? But how did you hear us?" She paused for an answer, but Shae just waited. "Uhm, no, I didn't get a good look; it was covered in blood. Doctor Ho might have."

Shae nodded then thought for a breath. "Honestly I don't know how I heard. Glad I did though, that thing was mine. Made by me and put in my arm by me to fight the shadow qi. Really one of you should have noticed it was right above where the shadow qi had stopped."

"Oh." Tan said and put a hand on her forehead. "Of course. I'm so sorry, Shae, if I had known."

Shae waved her apology off, "It's fine, I didn't lose it. Although, why your Doctor Ho was working on something he didn't understand is questionable. Does the hospital have a complaint form? We are in a hospital, right?"

Tan's eyes went wide, then she looked down and mumbled, "I'm going to lose my job."

Lou didn't have to say anything this time.

"Oh, but you saved me and were healing me." The young woman frowned at herself. "I shouldn't be so ungrateful."

Tan straightened up and took a deep breath. "No. No. It was my mistake, I am a cultivator, I will face my mistakes."

"Hmm, I'm not sure it was. That quack doctor recommended it. You were working off flawed information."

Tan frowned and slowly turned to the door. She swallowed stiffly and one hand clutched at her robes. When no one burst into the room after a couple breaths, she relaxed.

Lou sighed. "Shae, it's usually bad form to insult your doctor. Especially when they haven't finished." He pointed at her cast. "Even if they don't succeed completely, there are very few expert doctors and medicine specialists that are affordable. Those cultivators that pursue the path stick to the sects and tend to advance beyond what us city folk can afford. If they even want to spend their time healing us."

She frowned and looked down at the bed. "But this is a hospital? How are there so few doctors? Can't someone train more?"

Tan jumped back in. "I think you missed an important qualification." She briefly glanced at the door again. "Though, try not to repeat this within earshot of the doctors and nurses, please. There are many that are trained to serve mortals, and new cultivators. Yet, very few experts."

Shae gasped in understanding. "Oooh! So that's why he didn't recognize it. And you two..." She tried to feel at them with what little qi sense she had managed to find in herself.

"Yes, but you already know... so?" Lou asked.

She had half-expected them to be at core stage, with developed Dao, but she felt very little from either. She scrunched her face, "What stage are you two? Sorry, I can't scan, yet."

"Peak formation, or meridian cleansing. Depends what scale you use. Some call it the long half-stage." He said.

She raised an eyebrow and looked between them. "I haven't heard that."

Tan shrugged. "You wouldn't have, it's not mentioned until later. It's all preparation to break into core, some take longer than others and some never try."

Shae paused with her fist under her chin. "Because breaking into core summons a tribulation?"

Lou chuckled. "Hah, good guess. Yes, it does. Many people are not willing to take that risk. They can be deadly."

"Hmm, then I should say that what the orb is, that is need-to-know only."

"Ah? Are you sure?" Tan leaned in, disappointment clearly written on her face.

"And I've already said I wouldn't answer more questions." Shae raised an eyebrow at the inspector.

As the young cultivator stared down the curious inspector, a familiar giggle came from outside the door.

Lou coughed. "Right, moving on. While you were fighting the qi trap, you said two names."

"Mmm. Oh! Fairy Yun and Chef Van. Yes! Did either of you try to find them?"

Inspector Tan stood proudly and flattened her robes. "Of course. I am an Inspector, after all."

"And?" Shae leaned forwards. Then remembering the giggle she yelled past Tan, "Yun, come in!"

The woman elegantly flowed into the room like the door wasn't there. "Finally. I can't believe it took you that long to tell them off, Shae. You are doing better." She rushed to the young woman's left side and pulled her into a hug, pushing Lou out of the way like a curtain.

He casually vacated that corner of the room to stand closer to Tan.

"Ah! Thanks, Yun." Shae mumbled right into the Fairy's chest. Dammit, hormones! I thought this was over, especially with Yun. She was quite sure she was blushing.

"I was so worried when I heard!" Yun squeezed the young woman harder and twisted back and forth. Which conflicted with how Shae's arm was stuck to the bed, trapped by the cast. Yun stopped when the bed moved.

The trapped cultivator reached out awkwardly with her free hand and patted the older woman's elbow. "I'm okay, Yun. I didn't even lose my arm."

"But you did get hurt!" Yun pulled away to look at Shae. "Oh you're all red! Was I smothering you!"

"Uh, not-"

"You're so warm!" She now had a hand on Shae's forehead now. "Are you okay? Is it a reaction to something they gave you?" She turned to Tan.

"Well, Doctor Ho did say she might feel some after-effects from the anesthesia."

Shae turned to glare at the woman. "Effects like?"

"He didn't say."

"Because you didn't ask? Inspector Tan?" Yun backed up Shae's glare.

Tan coughed into her sleeve. "I was already aware it had a very minor emotional effect."

"Emotional!" Shae yelped.

Shae could almost feel Yun's killing intent as she spoke, "I believe it is time for you to leave, Inspector Tan."

Shae guessed that either Yun was holding back her intent or she had excellent control over who was affected.

"Wait, do you mean that you knowingly interviewed me while I was drugged? That you tried to do, whatever, that nonsense was with the reward while I was in an altered emotional state!" Shae nearly shouted at the woman.

Tan had already turned away and now remained silent.

Lou tried to intervene, moving directly into the line of fire, "Shae, come on, she was following protocol."

"No! You can't defend her, Second Captain Lou. There's no way forcing an unfair agreement from a drugged person that was fucking helping you is part of protocol. If that's in the bloody protocol I will burn this city to the ground." Shae grabbed the heavy law book Tan had left on her lap and hefted it at the pair. It was much heavier than she thought because it hardly cleared the bed and just flopped onto the ground with a disappointing thud.

After a heavy breath of awkward silence, Yun added. "You two should leave. You probably should have left when Shae refused to answer more questions. Or invited me in when she directly asked for legal representation."

Lou raised a finger. "Uh, but I'm suppo-"

"OUT!" Shae screamed and the pair flinched. She felt her qi flare with emotion, but was pretty sure she hadn't suddenly learned how to apply qi pressure. They left before she could come up with something suitable to do with her intent. Ear flicking clearly isn't enough.

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