Joshi discarded his robe and pulled off his tunic before stepping into the ring as the crowd applauded. His opponent, a Young Master from the Crimson Orchid sect, slipped inside the rope barrier and bowed to him. Joshi put his hands together and gave a brief head nod. The rival Young Master was taller than he, but skinnier, and their reach looked about the same.

The opponent shifted his weight from side to side as the referee, a cultivation spouse of the Dream Blossom sect, cleared his throat and proclaimed to the watching crowd, "A demonstration match between Young Master Joshi and Young Master Gu Nyir. This match will be decided on points, no blows to the eyes or groin. Only physical red lux permitted in this challenge. No higher-level weaves."

The crowd cheered. There were a few hundred onlookers. Beyond the ring was a stage where the Dowager Pearl and other cultivation officials sat would normally sit. Today they were performing interviews and other tests in which only the bridal candidates were allowed. The entourages of each candidate were left to amuse themselves or train. Joshi had no interest in staying around the sect hall to be cornered by their phony grandmaster. Chang-li had spent all evening brooding after the day he had sent with Noren. Joshi had asked about the training but Chang-li had been evasive.

The match, and dozens more, was taking place during a break in between various interviews with the bridal candidates. Earlier, Li Jiya and the other four surviving brides: Mai Wen of Golden Lux, Xue Lan of Azure Flame, Zhen Yi of Crimson Orchid and Mei Ling of Dream Blossom, had taken turns answering esoteric questions about poetry. Joshi had been bored to tears as he waited for his turn at a show match. He hadn't seen Chang-li all day and hoped he was working on his advancement rather than wasting more time with the junior cultivators.

Right now, he reminded himself, he needed to concentrate on this match. There was nothing at stake here. Nothing to prove. Nothing to win. Just an honest chance to test himself against another cultivator, fist-to-fist. As the referee concluded explaining the rules, he stepped back out of the ring, spread his arms wide, and shouted, "Begin!"

Joshi and Young Master Gu circled each other, each watching carefully for an opening. Joshi kept his fists up in a ready posture. Gu darted out with his left, a quick exploratory blow. Joshi quickly blocked it and returned one of his own. Gu twisted away. The crowd cheered.

A quick right hook from Gu, which Joshi ducked under. He countered with a flurry of blows and slipped one past Gu's defenses to land solidly on his ribs. "A point!" the referee shouted as the two broke apart.

Gu gave him an appreciative nod. "I felt that."

Joshi didn't answer. He and Gu were both cycling lux through their bodies in a basic pattern. In Joshi's case, the Way of Boulders. They weren't yet reinforcing their punches or kicks. This was the time to get a feel for each other.

Joshi and Gu exchanged a few more tentative blows. Sweat formed on Joshi's scalp. Gu came at Joshi with a sweeping crane kick followed by an uppercut. Joshi dodged the kick and blocked the uppercut, sending a punch of his own in toward Gu's ribcage once more, but this time Gu was expecting him and blocked.

In the stands, the watching cultivators cheered and placed bets, exchanging their money as Joshi and Gu circled each other. But Joshi hadn't been in doubt of the outcome since the second round of blows they exchanged. Gu kept falling back into formal stances. He had clearly been taught pugilism by a master of the Aknartha school. Joshi had studied it at Harupa and knew many of the counters. He was just waiting for his opening.

As Joshi circled his opponent, jabbing and punching, his body warming with use, his mind kept circling too, on the unpleasant thoughts he'd been trying to avoid for days now.

Hiroko. And their betrothal.

He understood why she had declared herself. It was the culmination of what she saw as her duty, the role she had been trained since birth to play. He couldn't blame her for being who the emperor had made her to be. She wore chains of the mind which were harder to break than the ones he had borne as a slave, and yet he wished it could be otherwise. If only she had been able to shake off the training. He had meant what he said to her. She had a rare talent with blue lux. He wished she would develop it. He also admired her grace and poise.

It didn't matter. No matter how he understood her inner turmoil or how desirable a woman she was, marrying her would be placing the collar back around his neck. Oh, it would be comfortable. He'd bear no scars or sores from that. But he would not become another piece in the empire's design.

So, what was he still doing here? he asked himself as he jabbed at Young Master Gu's smug face. The Young Master ducked and returned a blow of his own, landing it on Joshi's shoulder. Joshi danced backward.

He really was letting himself get rattled, not by his opponent, but by his own thoughts. If he wasn't going to go through with the marriage, he needed to get out of here soon. That would mean leaving the sect behind. Well, that was no great loss. They would be fine without him now that they had been absorbed by the Oaken Band Brotherhood. But it would mean leaving Chang-li too. And that was harder.

Perhaps he could invite Chang-li to come with him. But would his friend leave his new wife? They certainly had a strained relationship. He'd seen the way they looked at each other ever since the arrival of Grand Master Noren. That didn't mean Chang-li was willing to leave his wife behind. Joshi didn't think he should ask it of him either.

Perhaps they could bring Min as well. But no. Finding a new sect as a single cultivator was one thing. Two cultivators, one with wife in tow, seemed unlikely in the extreme. Joshi didn't want to leave his friend, but he was having a hard time seeing an alternative.

The opening he’d been waiting for came a moment later. Joshi punched at Gu's face, forcing Gu to block. Then Joshi appeared to fall back. Gu stepped forward into the Waiting Tiger stance. Joshi brought a leg around and kicked out, sweeping Gu’s front leg. The other cultivator was quick. He didn’t fall but caught himself, stumbling back. Joshi gave him no time to recover; he came in, punching furiously, and landed six blows before the referee shouted, "Enough!"

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He fell back. The referee entered the ring. "Victor is Young Master Joshi. Well fought, both of you." He gestured for them to exchange bows. Joshi collected his share of the winnings from the match organizer, stowing it away. He needed to build up a war chest if he was going to leave. He took a place in the stands and watched the next match.

This one involved two cultivators trained in the grappling arts of the far south. Their moves were interesting but most would easily be defeated but a cultivator of even modest level.

Joshi was just waiting for his next fight. He had placed several large bets on himself. That, plus his prize purse, should be enough to get him halfway across the empire and bought into a new sect, or maybe all the way across, back home with his people. He still hadn't decided yet. He didn't miss his brothers, and he found himself conflicted about his father's death, mourning him while still resenting the man for driving him away.

"You look lost in thought."

Joshi turned. Beside him sat a beautiful woman with golden hair piled high on her head, wearing diaphanous, low-cut robes. She held a bowl of cut fruit in her left hand and had a piece of it held delicately between thumb and forefinger of her right. She popped the fruit into her mouth and considered him. It was Prism Eri. Nobody in the stand seemed to have recognized her. Joshi started.

"Don't worry about them," Eri said around the mouthful of fruit. "They won't notice us. I've seen to that. I wanted a chance to have a word with you privately. You did well in that last fight."

Joshi grunted. "These cultivators are skilled enough with their lux use, but they are not well-rounded in physical martial arts."

"An oversight I have always strived to address in my own sect," Eri said cheerfully. "Your sect is doing well enough. Li Jiya is expected to finish third. Mai Wen will win, of course. I would put money on it, seeing as you're the betting sort."

So, she'd been watching him for some time. Joshi forced himself to remain stone-faced. This woman was an incredibly powerful cultivator, one of the six most powerful in the entire kingdom. She had the ability to destroy him in a heartbeat, or to expose him and his sect as frauds. "What can I do for you, Your Radiance?"

"So well-mannered," she marveled. "So unlike your late father. Oh, I'm sorry. Did that touch a sore spot?" She cocked her head to one side. "I must say, I never heard he had another son and one who's a cultivator at that."

"My mother was his second wife, from the cities. My brothers do not like to acknowledge me," he admitted. "I have spent many years in training."

"Yes, the delightful Harupan influence. I can taste it from here. They do have a reputation, don't they? And so well-deserved. I suppose they were almost convenient to you out there in the West. How is it that your father managed to convince them to take you on?”

“He threatened to burn their monastery.”

Eri clicked her tongue. "Now, now. That might fly with others, but the master of Harupa is a Lux Dominion-ranked cultivator. I know very well that he could end your father single-handedly. And don't tell me that they were short on lux. Harupa sits on one of few lux wells in the world that doesn’t have a tower on it."

Joshi supposed that as a prism, she would know these secrets and tried not to seem surprised. Eri’s smile widened. "So, your father wanted a son who was a cultivator, and the monks of Harupa went along with it because I suppose he offered to bring them along in search of the fabled lost tower of the northern wastes once you were skilled enough to enter it."

Joshi let out a growl. "Clearly, you know everything."

"Not everything," she said cheerfully. "Those wastes are rather a pain even for a cultivator of my rank. And that tower is called lost for a good reason."

Joshi held his tongue as Eri searched his face. Finally, she sighed. "I see you are your father's son in truth, just as stubborn as he ever was. Well then, perhaps I should lay my cards on the table. I think it's clear that you, for your own good reasons, do not wish to remain here and marry Princess Hiroko. I can't say I blame you. I knew her mother. The woman was a faithless harridan. Being married to her would have been a fate worse than death. It's no surprise that the General of the West chose a military career where he could be away from his wife for years at a time. But you see the kind of ties that the Emperor puts on his high-ranked cultivators."

"Then where's your spouse?" Joshi asked before catching himself. He cleared his throat. "Apologies, Radiance, that was inappropriate."

"Not at all," Eri said. "He's here, of course, with the sect, but he doesn't put his nose into my affairs. He and I have an understanding of how things will be. You'll find once you reach a certain level of cultivation that certain strictures change. Besides," she leaned forward, "he and I have been married for almost fifty years, and he never made it past the Peak of Bodily Refinement, so as you can imagine, he's beginning to grow a bit old while I remain as, shall we say, vigorous as I ever was."

Joshi noted her perfume, a subtle scent that got into his nose and lingered there. She was wearing extremely revealing clothing and leaning close, staring at him through her deep green eyes. All he felt was a sense of confusion. What did this woman want from him? She was one of the six most important cultivators in the entire empire, able to have whatever she wanted, and yet she was acting like she was trying to seduce him. Why?

"Your Radiance, forgive me for my bluntness, but I was raised in a tent, and do not have the cultured manners most cultivators. What is it you want from me?"

Eri sighed, leaning back. She frowned at him. "You're not one of those who prefers boys, are you? Never mind. Anyway, what I want from you is a willingness to listen. There will be many changes coming. The empire is standing on the brink of a precipice, even if many of us have failed to note it. In the days ahead, it might be good for a strong young cultivator to have powerful friends. My own sect is always recruiting. There would be a place for you in our midst. When this competition is complete, I intend to return to the West and conclude my business there. I believe you may have some insight into that business."

She waited for Joshi to say something. When he didn't, she sighed. "Just confirm for me what I already know. Your people have found the tower, haven't they? But they cannot exploit it because you haven't any cultivators of your own. That's what your father was trying when he had you sent to Harupa, but they didn't raise you to the Peak of Bodily Refinement. They expected you to do it on your own, so you struck out here for some much-needed training. No doubt you're supposed to return home once you've reached the Peak of Spiritual Refinement. Is that why you are dallying with an underpowered sect, to recruit a few desperate cultivators who are willing to forsake everything they know for a chance at a legendary tower?"

A thrill ran down Joshi. It was clear from her words that Eri had no idea about Joshi's recent history. The prism was not nearly as omniscient as she wanted to appear. "You are very perceptive, Your Radiance."

Eri sat back, smiling in a satisfied manner. "Well, then, and my offer, does it appeal to you?"

Joshi hesitated. Though he was actively looking for a path out of his current situation, everything in him screamed to avoid Eri. She, in fact, would be even more of an encumbrance on his freedom than Hiroko. At least Hiroko he understood, trusted. This woman was devious and cunning, and he thought she had no moral compass whatsoever. Joshi bowed. "I will remember your words, Your Radiance."

"Well," Eri smiled. "You know where to find me, at least for the next few weeks until this business is concluded. Good luck on your fights. Oh, and if you're placing a bet on any of the other matches, my disciple, Ul Iwi, is currently undervalued by the oddsmakers, I believe. He won't win every one of his matches, but he will land punches. You might see if you can make a few coins on the margin." Then, without moving, she was gone.