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Chapter 63: "Canyon City."
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Shae did end up walking around the small clinic. It was surprisingly like an Earth hospital in most ways. Flat white surfaces and curved corners allowed for easy cleaning. Curtained off beds for privacy while not blocking airflow like solid walls would. Many of the beds had their screens closed, so there wasn't much to see.
The lack of IV-drips and monitoring equipment made the place more welcoming and quieter. Without the constant beeps the silence felt more organic, like a library.
The big difference was the windows. She didn't even take note of the artificial lighting until she reached a stretch of beds facing windows to the outside. All of these beds were occupied by long-term patients. She could tell because they all had a glut of personal items with them.
Most were occupied with some minor task, like reading, or the local equivalent of knitting. None called out to her, and she was somewhat grateful. The sight out the windows held most of her attention.
Right away, she could tell they were not anywhere near the ground floor. Across about a hundred paces of open space was a wall of buildings and windows. It took her brain a few heartbeats to catch on. Her breath and body held still as she took in the sight.
While she knew the town was built in a canyon, she somehow hadn't expected the city to be built up the canyon walls. Walkways and windows filled the opposite wall. Their architecture varied significantly between individual constructions. In a small way it was a similar feeling to looking out at another skyscraper from within one.
In another way it was far more alien. People just didn't build like this on Earth, they didn't have to. Even the fictional representation of similar locations lacked the concrete reality on display here. Such structures needed to be used and commuted by mortal humans, and she could see the people. Some commuting, some just living their lives like nothing was out of place, sweeping their storefronts and pushing the dust out into the canyon below.
Sure, she could see how this would work well as a cultivator only area. They could skip building the staircases between levels and safety concerns like railings. However, this place was home to mortals as well. You would be hard pressed to fill and maintain a city without them. Even thinking of that, there were very few railings that stood out to her.
Shae pushed herself to keep walking. Telling herself that she didn't want to obstruct the patient's view, even if they had seen it every day for years.
Eventually she was past the windows, and into a hallway that turned away from the open canyon; benches lined one wall. She took a seat and found herself panting for breath. Was I holding my breath that whole time? She wasn't sure. She leaned forwards with her face in her hands for a few breaths, then leaned back against the wall.
The foreign sight was the first clear example of what people in this world could do that Earth couldn't, or perhaps wouldn't. They were restricted to building the town here, so they did. Even if that meant building into and up the canyon walls so that each house or business could have windows for natural light.
Again, she tried to compare it to Earth. Electricity could provide perfect lighting in any location. Here they could use qi formations, but those were expensive. Candles and lanterns still needed ventilation, meaning there was a natural depth limit to building underground, or sideways into rock. Forced air ventilation was the same problem as light, they'd need electricity or expensive qi formations.
She glanced down the hallway. Now appreciating that it led deeper into the canyon's rock face.
Multi-story mega malls? She wondered to herself, still stuck on comparing the architecture to something Earth-like. Malls are a smaller scale, but are closer than skyscrapers. They usually have skylights and open spaces that cut through all the floors to let natural light into their liminal spaces.
She compared it to looking across the open canyon, to see the walkways and storefronts on the other side... it is still lacking so much. She shook her head. Malls are artificial construction. All straight lines and perfect use of space.
This place was erratic, built over generations and without the need to perfectly maximize the space used at first construction. The buildings next to each other left gaps of exposed stone, and weren't always on the same horizontal plane. Their balcony-like walkways were rarely a uniform size or style. Each built to accommodate only the building they were made for, not tying together a wholly uniform construction.
Sure, there were exceptions; she would later see longer stretches of more uniform buildings. Other places that signaled groups had come together to build at the same time. The gap between the two canyon walls had let her see so much, and she could hardly process it.
She gasped to herself. It's more like looking down on a city from a plane, seeing the scattered and erratic construction that only follows a loose pattern. But stretched up onto a vertical rock face.
Shae glanced back into the other room, seeing the windows through the doorway. She didn't freeze up this time, the new comparisons helping her process the visual information. Glad I wasn't outside when I first saw that, might have gotten vertigo and vomited or something. She shuddered and walked away from the wondrous sight.
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The clinic wasn't enormous, yet it was large enough that she could wander without seeing the same area over and over. Many of the hallways and room sections looped back onto one another, Shae guessed it was for ventilation. Several of the open doorways and larger thresholds had formation work across them and she felt a light tingle over her skin when she passed them. Cleaning and sanitizing, she guessed.
Some rooms were dark, a light slowly increasing from the ceiling as she entered. There wasn't any dust that she could find, but the rooms were clearly unused, the beds all empty. The soft light followed her as she wandered the dark rooms, staying just bright enough to see by.
She continued to explore and ran into a pair of nurses that weren't Joi, she greeted them politely, and they only had time to share a few words. Shae took the opportunity to make sure she wasn't lost, then carried on. The rooms and hallways were numbered, so she never really felt lost, yet she was still comforted after checking. The place meandered in loops that were just slightly disorienting. At one point she found another set of windows that had a different view from the first, and she was rather certain it was facing the wrong direction. Though the light and shadows indicated otherwise.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Eventually, she was startled to find a small reading room. A bit more color and different furniture gave the room a distinctly different feel. One wall held a set of bookshelves, packed floor to ceiling books. She inhaled suddenly, then spotted a title and intuited most were medical texts. The opposite wall was also bookshelves, but these stopped two paces off the ground making a shallow countertop. A large terrarium tank sat in the middle, those bookshelves jutted out from the wall further to accommodate it.
It was brightly lit, filling that side of the room with green tinted light, but Shae only saw plants inside as her vision passed over it. One other plant and a few nick-knacks were featured along the narrow counter. At least one appeared to be an award, and another a medical degree. That told Shae this was likely Doctor Cho's private study, yet the lack of a door in the threshold said it was a public space. The third wall featured another doorway, this one did have a door. Each open wall on either side of both doorways held lone pieces of abstract art, most notable for their very saturated colors.
Shae gave the room another confused scan, then walked out to check for signs. Only a room number marked the room's existence. "Room 2-4-4 C," Shae unintentionally spoke it out-loud. Glancing around, she expected someone to complain about her presence. "Doctor Cho? Nurse Joi? Any Nurse?" She said, trying to keep her voice neutral, yet finding herself speaking softly. The uncertainty and nervousness was plain to her own ears.
She waited a few breaths then entered the room again, well, no one said not to. The room was just as unsettling as the first time, yet she breathed calmly and forced herself to relax. "Ask forgiveness, not permission," she mumbled to herself.
She began to peruse the taller bookshelf and was unsurprised to find only medical textbooks and references. A few of the narrower books seemed to be research papers, some few bore Doctor Cho's name.
About halfway across a distinct grinding feeling filled the room and she stopped instantly. It halted half a breath later, yet she couldn't deny what she had felt and where it had originated from.
She turned slowly to look at the terrarium and boggled at what she saw.
A large chameleon sat in the center of the glass tank, resting atop a perfectly placed section of branch. The particularly unique thing about it was its glowing stained glass-like skin. She absent mindedly stepped closer to better observe the fabulous creature. Its skin wasn't actually glass, but did shine and cast light. The colors could be seen to light up the plants closest to it. The pattern was an abstract and disorganized collection of triangles and oddly shaped polygons. Like someone had mixed up a variety of stained glass, then rebuilt it in whatever way the pieces fit together without care for their color.
The ridge along its spine looked more dinosaur than lizard, fanning up into a sail like a dimetrodon. The tip of each spine glowed a brighter white, illuminating the tank and whole room even further.
Shae watched its eye track her as she slowly crossed most of the room towards it. She halted a couple paces away, as she remembered to not spook the animal. "Well, aren't you a colorful fellow?" She asked in a gentle tone. Then quickly glanced around the tank for a plaque that might guide her, without finding anything.
The chameleon stayed mostly still, only its breathing and slight eye twitches revealed that it was alive at all.
She remained still as well, and focused on trying to extend a sense she didn't know how to use properly. A few breaths later and she felt a click. Not the kind of mental click one gets when understanding something, rather the slight click of two pieces of glass or ceramic touching.
She raised an eyebrow. The click, and the previous grinding had definitely come from the terrarium and thus the chameleon. It was the distinct feeling that she had felt in Minlin City when near the two broken soldiers. It was the feeling of someone trying to hold together or use a broken Dao.
"You're a spirit beast, aren't you?" And one with a Dao, she thought to herself, then opened her eyes in surprise, "and one who must be my senior!" She bowed quickly. "Apologies, Senior. This one is called Wise Shae."
She rose slowly from the bow, expecting a response that didn't come. She wondered if the beast talked at all, but felt unsure if she should ask, it might not understand her either.
It shifted its grip on the branch slightly, extending one of its fingers towards the corner of its tank. A glow at the tip of its finger cast a yellow light through the tank and onto the counter. Producing a circle of yellow light split neatly in half by the corner where the counter met the wall.
"Huh?" Shae said with her jaw hanging loose from confusion. Then she recovered and shook herself, "Uhm, my apologies, Senior. I'm not sure what you mean." She opened her mouth to say more, but hesitated. According to Elder Ghon's brief etiquette lessons, it was impolite for lower rank cultivators to try to control a conversation with their elders.
This was, of course, not something Shae generally considered when speaking with Apollo or Long. Both because she had quickly developed a more casual report with them, and because she hadn't given the etiquette lessons much weight; they just didn't seem useful outside the sect. Now she was speaking to an unknown spirit beast, and was close enough to the sect that she had begun thinking of the lessons again. Although, would a spirit beast care?
The chameleon blinked slowly.
"Uhm." She began, her mouth suddenly dry. Why am I so nervous? It's in a terrarium, it's probably not wildly dangerous. Maybe because I'm only wearing a plain medical robe?
It lifted a finger again, shining a light across the bookshelves and onto the glass award that was one of the few objects on the counter. Brown-gray light scattered off the glass to project onto the walls and counter around it. A heartbeat later, the color was gone.
Shae tilted her head at the color, is it light? it looks more like it's projecting a flat color. Moving to the glass sculpture, she read the plaque at its base.
> Heaven's Tears
>
> Awarded to Doctor Cho Lenwei
>
> for honorable medical service
It was indeed as she had suspected, yet the plaque itself left much to be desired. She frowned at it then glanced back at the chameleon. "Not a very helpful plaque, is it?"
The spirit beast didn't respond.
"My apologies for imposing myself on you, I assume you can understand me but I'm not sure if you want to tell me something." She bowed quickly. "Uhm, could you repeat the first light if you understand me and want to say- err, communicate something."
The chameleon did nothing for two breaths then twitched a finger. An empty circle appeared on the wall, the edge a bright burning orange and the center nearly black.
"Ah!" Shae gasped. "An eclipse?" She stared at the wall for a breath after it disappeared. "Ah, yes, thank you for the response, Senior." She set her right fist under her chin, then put that elbow in her other hand. "Hmm, if I'm following correctly, you can understand me, but don't have anything specific to communicate."
She shifted her weight from foot to foot in the silence. "Aha! And if that was an eclipse, the first was a sunrise? So you were saying good morning!" Her pedantic side got the better of her and she kept talking, "Though, it is the afternoon, ah but that's much harder to show with a simple shape. And you might not know the time of day. Of course, good-day would also work." Her thinking brain reminded her what she was saying and to whom. "Ah! Sorry Senior, I didn't mean to imply." She bowed again. "Of course you meant good-day. A good day to you too, Senior."
She stared with a hint of worry at the terrarium. Then shifted her eyes down slightly. Remembering Elder Ghon's lessons that direct eye contact was sometimes considered a challenge.
The chameleon sat still, the only movement was its slow breathing and occasional blink.
She calmed herself with measured breaths and prepared her next question. "Senior, a sign please, if I'm not supposed to be here, if I've offended you in some way, or if you'd simply like me to leave."
She counted out three slow breaths, then relaxed. "Then, if it's permitted, I'll return to browsing the shelves?" She timidly pointed across the room.
Another three slow breaths passed and she relaxed fully. "Thank you, Senior." She bowed again and crossed the room to where she had left off.
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