Hiroko had not entered the tower in the almost week since Li Jen had been killed, but she concealed her nerves behind a carefully practiced facade as she followed the Dowager Pearl inside. They were accompanied by the rest of the gem court, their servants, the spouses and masters of the cultivation sects who were even now competing to win the tower's boon for themselves, the inquisitor and all his people, scribes, guards, porters, and the vast host of lux technicians who were eagerly awaiting the end of this tower cull so that they could enter and do their own work.
Several hours before, word had reached the cultivation camp that some of the sect disciples had returned bearing news, and the dowager and other officials declared that everyone important in the camp would enter the now-safe third floor of the tower to await the conclusion. Servants and guards had been sent ahead to make sure that no new tower beasts had put in an appearance since the tower was declared safe, and also to set up pavilions and refreshments for the important people.
Hiroko kept her hands folded inside of her long sleeves and her head bowed. The dowager swept into the tower, along the path, and to the cluster of tents which had been set up near the entrance to the fourth floor. A dozen beautiful pavilions had been erected. Each pavilion was a square 15 feet on the side, covered in cloth-of-gold supported by beautifully polished redwood poles. Under the pavilions were couches and chairs for the nobles and their guests to recline upon.
Two long white tents a little farther off had servants bustling about. She could already smell food emanating from within.
Hiroko followed the Dowager Pearl to the centermost of the pavilions. The dowager seated herself on a carved black throne and put Hiroko on a velvet-topped footstool beside her. Then she sent her servants with invitations for specific members of the court and specific cultivator spouses to attend them.
Lady Morningrise returned with four of the cultivator spouses in tow: Lady Moon Whispers, Lady Soaring Heavens, Lord Jade Lotus, and Min. Lady Morning Mist, Hiroko corrected herself. The dowager directed them to sit on a pair of couches off to her left. Servants appeared without seeming to have been summoned, with trays of food and drink.
“Report to me what you have heard from your disciples and Young Masters," the dowager instructed.
Lord Jade Lotus cleared his throat. "Two of our Young Masters and our disciples have returned. They report the third Young Masters, Rah Zian, perished and they were forced to retreat due to an insurmountable obstacle."
"That is unfortunate," the dowager said. "How far did they reach?"
Lord Jade Lotus hesitated. "They penetrated to the yellow."
The dowager frowned. "You lost a Young Master in the yellow portion of this floor. I must say I was looking for rather better performance from you and your sect, Lord Jade Lotus. I fear I will not be able to extend to you a place in the Vardin City tower cull with that sort of performance."
Lord Jade Lotus bowed his head. "As it happens, Dowager Pearl, the obstacle they encountered was not that of the tower itself, but an attack by another cultivator." He shot Lady Soaring Heavens a quick look.
Hiroko knew who he meant. There was only one cultivator at this tower cull who had regularly sought to attack his fellows.
"And yet," the dowager snapped, "that is exactly what you should have been expecting. This is not a nursery, Lord Jade Lotus. Cultivators are not children to be coddled. They must fight and they must win, or they will never rise high in the Emperor's regard." She pointed at him. "You are dismissed. Collect your disciples and be gone. By the time we return to the camp, I want you removed from this place."
"Dowager Pearl!" Lord Jade Lotus began. But there was no mercy in the dowager's looks. He turned to the other spouses who eyed him with cold contempt.
Curious, Hiroko subtly wove and released her sensing technique to try to better understand the web of connections here. There were so many people, it was almost overwhelming, but she was getting better at sorting them out. Each of these spouses had, as she expected, many connections to their own sect. They were all also very lightly bound together. An affinity of position, she thought, not any actual friendship or loyalties.
A brief, stunned silence fell over the whole group. The Dowager's lips curled up. It was plain to Hiroko that she had achieved exactly her intent. The spouses were now on the defense.
"What of the rest of you?" the Dowager invited. "Lady Morning Mist, tell me, how fare your people?"
Min was sitting bolt upright at the edge of the couch. Her shoulders were stiff, her whole posture speaking of tension, but her voice showed none of that. "One of my sect disciples returned previously. He had sustained an injury. He reported that they had all made great progress and had reached the blue section of the floor when he was forced to return."
“Were they attacked by other cultivators?"
"No," Min said.
She was interrupted by a commotion toward the other end of the little festival. Guards had been posted near the entrance to the fourth floor of the tower. Now they were hurrying back, accompanying four other people.
Hiroko's heart beat a little faster. Chang-li and Joshi were in there, racing toward the heart of the tower in an attempt to claim its boon from Feng. She wished them well, but she wanted them safe, too. If they were returning, even unsuccessful, she would be happy.
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Min was on her feet, and so too was Lady Moon Whispers. "Bring them here," Lady Moon Whispers commanded, then turned to the Dowager and bowed. "That is, your grace, I—“
“Have them brought here," the Dowager commanded one of her servants, who hurried off.
The quartet approached their pavilion. They were a bedraggled-looking lot. The woman in the center, wearing Moon Whispers colors, was Li Jiya. Hiroko could have recognized her twice as far off. The other three were all wearing the gray robes of the Morning Mist sect, but none of them were Chang-li or Joshi. They must be lower-ranked disciples, then.
Min was on her feet, her hands drumming at her side. "Lady Morning Mist," the Dowager said sharply. Min caught herself, took a deep breath, and sat down. Hiroko steadied her face and peeked at the connections between Min and her sect members. The lines between her and the disciples were very strong, much stronger than any of the other spouses seemed to have with members of their own sects. And yet Min had been a cultivator spouse to Morning Mist for barely a week. How curious.
The cultivators approached and made their bows to the Dowager. "What's happened?” Lady Moon Whispers asked Li Jiya sharply. "You look unwell."
Li Jiya looked more than unwell. She was pale and shaking. She raised her head. "Young Masters Feng ambushed me and most of our disciples, except for disciple Lee Funai, who is a traitor to our sect. He set us up to be killed and went off with Feng."
Lady Moon Whispers fixed her with a glare. "This perhaps should be discussed elsewhere, step-granddaughter.”
"Our climb here is over," Li Jiya said. "I reached the blue, but no further. Feng has taken the Tower Boon."
There was a gasp, and Hiroko realized it had come from herself. "You're certain of this, Lady?" the Dowager Pearl asked sharply.
"Certain," Li Jiya said.
"What of our Young Masters?" Min asked the Morning Mist disciples sharply. “Young Masters Joshi and my spouse Chang-li?”
“They went after Feng," the oldest of the three disciples, a man in his early 30s, heavy-set and solid-looking, reported.
"Alone?" Min's astonishment mirrored Hiroko's own. Surely the two of them could not hope to challenge Feng.
“They did,” the discipled confirmed.
Min leaned back against the couch and closed her eyes. "Thank you," she said. She pressed her lips together. Hiroko could tell she wanted to ask more, but didn’t dare in front of the others.
"All of you go and clean up," the Dowager commanded the newly arrived cultivators. "It seems that the end of this tower cull is not long. Have a message sent to the Lux technicians telling them to prepare their equipment," she told a servant, who nodded and vanished.
Lady Soaring Heavens was exultant. Her smile could have blinded men as she looked about. "Then it is as I have always said. Young Master Feng proves himself. He will exit this tower very, very close to the Peak of Spiritual Refinement. Such a Young Master must be brought to harness, do you not think?" Lady Soaring Heavens turned to the Dowager. "Dowager Pearl, with respect, it's time that you reminded the princess of her duty."
The Dowager reached out and set a wrinkled hand on Hiroko's shoulder. Hiroko appreciated the gesture as the spouses all turned to stare at her. "Hiroko knows her duty," the Dowager said. "If she has not chosen to choose, it is because she feels there is no spouse here worthy of her.”
“A Young Master who has beaten a tower cull, received the tower boon, to say nothing of all the other ways he has distinguished himself? Truly?”
"You said let Hiroko choose," Min interrupted. The other two spouses turned on her, gaping as though surprised that she would speak. Min blinked rapidly. Hiroko was fairly certain that she'd had a different intention and been surprised into speaking now by Lady Soaring Heaven's actions. "That is to say, the marriage of an indigo princess has always been left to her judgment, no one else's. Princess Hiroko should choose, yes, but it should be her choice," Min emphasized. "And Young Master Feng is hardly the only one, is he?"
"No, indeed," Lady Moon Whispers said. "While I admit I had hoped my step-grandson Li Jen might find a way into her heart, Li Jiya is an attractive and competent cultivator as well, and will go far."
"I thought Li Jiya intended to become a bride of the Emperor," Min said. Hiroko had heard that from Li Jiya herself.
"That was before we lost Li Jen,” Lady Moon Whispers said. "She is, of course, required now to keep her sect alive and must abandon such personal desires. It is unfortunate. She would have done very well as a bride, but she knows her duty."
Hiroko felt their attention all turn to her again. She didn't like that. She never liked being the center of attention, especially not for something as important as this. But in truth, she was important. Her role in part of the Emperor's grand scheme was vital. As a high-ranked indigo princess, she had far more responsibility and duty than a red noble like Min.
Yet Min had already made a good marriage, tying herself to a scribe cultivator who might otherwise have been a loose end, overlooked by higher-ranked gems because of his lowly background. With Min at his side, he would be guided along the proper paths of the divine climb and take his place in the Emperor's grand schemes.
Joshi — her heart fluttered a bit as Joshi's face sprang to her mind. He was a strong cultivator. He would go far and with guidance could become great, but she had traveled alongside him for many days and she knew his heart did not belong to the divine climb. He was not truly part of the Empire and he would resist any attempt anyone made to tie him into that.
She very much suspected that after this tower cull, Joshi would disappear and find a path of his own somewhere outside the Empire. While she could not deny her attraction to him and her appreciation of his skills, she was bound as the Emperor's granddaughter to work for the good of the Empire.
Feng’s actions here at the tower were unsavory. Perhaps even unseemly. And yet, was it not the job of a gem noble to take her cultivator spouse in hand and guide him back toward the proper path? With her there to moderate Feng’s darker tendencies, to remind him of his duty and responsibility to those around him, he could be tamed. Better now than when he gained still more power. Today his actions threatened the people immediately around him. In a few years, when he was farther along the climb, he could be a risk to thousands.
She did not love him. Did not know that she ever could, yet love was not a concern of the gem court. Loyalty, duty, and the good of the Empire.
Hiroko would always choose to serve.
She got to her feet, turned to the Dowager and bowed. Holding her hands folded in front of her, she said, "Dowager Pearl, I thank you for your instruction and your indulgence. I have been thinking over this matter for some time, ever since events last week brought into stark focus just how crucial it is for the bonds between cultivator and the Empire." She took a deep breath. Min was looking, leaning forward, smiling. "When Young Master Feng emerges from the fourth floor, I shall announce my intention to marry him."
Min's jaw dropped. Lady Moon Whispers's face looked like she'd just drunk bitter tea. Lady Soaring Heavens, on the other hand, was exultant. She clapped her hands. "A fine choice, Princess. I shall see to all the arrangements for this wedding myself. It will not take more than a day or two to have everything done, and we can have it resolved before we move the sect to Vardin City for the tower cull there. Feng is going to climb high, my lady, with you at his side. There's nowhere, nothing to stop him from reaching the highest heights, perhaps even one day, Prism."
All Hiroko could do was nod. Her stomach was a pit of ice. She told herself she'd made the right choice. So why did it feel so wrong?