Did I mention that my lower back still seized up a bit whenever I exert myself? Well it does and now it has been itching ever since I got the news that Min had found not just one but three agents that we hadn't even known about. It was enough to call for an emergency session. We all had to wait until the late showing of the Taoist play exhorting the life of the emperor. Then we assembled on top of the Cultivators Ink Pot after the sun had set.

Or rather, all of us waited for the star of the show to appear, still in full stage makeup, but minus her hair extensions. She really was a peacock when she needed to be.

Min had explained the situation to everyone thoroughly prior to her showing up. So I used that opportunity to have Min explain it to Xueyie. Ellen had heard it several times and was the backup for Mins antics, providing context.

"Three of them?" Xueyie said, her eyes darting around at us.

"Three of them. We expected one or none, Ally Xueyie, but unfortunately they didn't get the note that this is our territory now. Or perhaps they are trying to move in themselves. We can take this to the blue coats or-" Min let the statement hang in the air.

"Or we can deal with this in house," Moon Fei said with his familiar lean against the Kangs heirloom couch.

"They did it in house, so it falls upon us to take care of this our way," Ellen said.

He sat next to Ellen. I was glad to see him up and about, even in a limited way. Or all of us, he had taken the most recovery time.

I had Min return to her stakeout position. We didn't want to leave them unwatched for any long amount of time. We waved goodbye as she bounded off over the third story buildings as far as we could see.

"We can send them a note. I don't expect anything, though. It took them a week to send an Inspector to interview Maxine and I asked them to expedite their inquiries. Well I sent a letter for all the good that has done."

"You got the Mandarin to show up and do his damn job, don't put yourself down," Moon Xiru said, "that in itself was a great accomplishment."

"I had help. Mostly from the Jin family. And from all of you backing me up. The good news is that they are probably second realm if that, so an easier deal for us. Min suspects that they are a vanguard for a larger element."

"That makes the most sense. They could be trying to re establish a foot hold here. There are a lot of people living here and a few going missing won't get a lot of attention if they don't make an easy trail to follow. I suspect that they're remnants, though", Egiya said,"as they haven't made their way to the old Sect area, perhaps that is a clue."

I hadn't seen anyone with a fang tattoo there. Just the one woman that I had followed and then lost. I was still cursing myself for not pressing my luck after her, but chances are I would have run out far too quickly of my energy reserves. I was itching to go running but it wasn't quite time yet.

"So, Egiya and I will send out two letters tomorrow. Moon Xiru or Fei, do we have a contact at the Blue robes that is trustworthy? Someone that will actually do their job? Do we know a guy?"

Both of the moon clan men paused to think. Lee grinned behind them. She had said the least of anyone this time including Fei. She probably already knew the answer to that question. I had asked them before about how the blue robes worked and the constabulary in general and drawn a blank. It sounded to me like they picked people young and kept them on. I had heard the words high trust organization more than once about it.

"We know someone willing to help us move a query up but that's assuming he is the one we get to talk to when we go to a station."

In other words, they knew a guy.

"Moon Xiru met someone at his set the other night. It was quite an experience. He just doesn't want to admit anything because she's a lady."

All eyes shifted to the salt and pepper beard of Western Jewels silver bachelor.

"Xiru, are you trying to look good for the ladies? I thought you only did that for me!"

I hadn't expected him to turn red but he was finally on the other foot. I was going to make him crack a smile soon.

"What's the set you've been playing? Have you become some sort of entertainer?"

"Oh Joe, it's way better than that. Picture this: poetry and music," Lee said pausing hard when she said 'and'.

Had he taken several off hand comments and turned that into something tangible?

"Good for you mate. This world needs more joy. The point of the matter is that he is putting himself out there and I can appreciate the gusto that takes. And speaking of putting ourselves out there, do we have a plan that we want to put into motion?"

"What's stopping us from heading straight to where they are right now and dispatching them?" Moon Lee said,"If they are truly second realm then this isn't a matter that we necessarily need to involve ourselves with. I want to smash them up as much as the rest of you lot but we should think about the optics of an independent group taking our three unknown cultivators."

"We have the backing of two clans and one tea sellers union," Egiya said, "They would not be willing to take the fall for us though."

She left out her own family in that calculation, I noted. That her mother was a junior member of our club and was present had put a damper on how much she contributed. I hated that I noted the difference between when she was around her mother and not. There was still something there.

"So we have to lead a cultivator to them that can take care of it. Someone on official business. This makes it sound like we need to develop a contact at the blue robes. As much as I don't want to do that, this is their job. The Mandarin assured me that they were going to be taking steps against any further demonic cultivators."

"It was quite a sight, seeing the Mandarin desend upon you mid battle," Xueyie said.

Stolen novel; please report.

"He did tell me to bring this up to him. I wonder if he was actually serious about this. Or just blowing smoke."

Ellen looked up to me.

"If he said he would, he will. If anything, the Mandarin is a man of his word," she said, " we must endeavor to take advantage of that."

For some reason the image of her counting coins greedily before diving into a pile of gold coins flashed to my addled mind. What's she counting her husband's money? This? I wasn't exactly sure. All I knew was that her husband, a third drum cultivator, sent money home for very frequently. I had never met the man but for his interactions with his daughter that had given me a clear picture of his personality. Ellen herself well we were probably going to talk about parenting after this. She needed to let her daughter go. Not physically of course! But in every other sense of the word.

"So we find a contact. Then we can bring that speed real fast and see if we can hand off to them," Fei said.

"Does anyone want to volunteer for that?"

Instead of emphatic hands in the air or open volunteered, I got crickets. I was expecting crickets to be honest. I probably should not have asked for volunteers and just out of myself, but I feel like it was worth a while. Fei and Xiru were not cultivators so this probably wasn't a job for them. Everyone else though was fair game. Someone was going to have to write all the letters to the government requesting aid.

"All right. Xueyie Do you want to take point on this one? We can follow your lead."

For a moment the mass of makeup and pulled back hair decided to take a long look in a hand mirror. I could tell that she was formulating an opinion by how much she was avoiding like look. Previously her family had done a lot of leg work to sum the mandarin and I really appreciated their direct approach to addressing their government. Even if unelected, the governed needed some way to address their issues. It might be me thinking in terms of a gay communist utopia, but I expected them to do the bare minimum. Even fascist countries had some basic services, if only to keep the populace from revolting every weekend.

"I expect that the would be more than pleased to drop a tip that leads to a demonic sect cell. I will inform them directly after this meeting," Xueyie said.

There was a chorus of nods and affirmations as this seemed a prudent path.

"The fact that they are operating out of an upscale nautical clothing boutique, though."

The words that I wanted to say were about Maxine's new plunder wear line. I had a couple quips ready to go, but judged them to be inappropriate for this time and place. It would have been nice to mention it, and I was definitely going to tell Lee after this but that wasn't my problem right now. Puns could wait. Demonic cultivators could not.

"You hadn't mentioned that one," Xiru said. "We are going to need to speak to the long shorers union. They will want to hear about this."

"Didn't your union lose your poetry slam to them yesterday?" Fei said.

"Er, yes but the thing is-"

The fact there was yet another union inside of western jewel that I hadn't heard of was not a surprise to me. The fact that the unions were so organized as to have intramural poetry slams gave me pause though.

"Is this part of the new approach you guys have been taking?" Lee said, "Overlaying music with your poetry? Cousin! You're so ahead of the times now. You have cultivated a new sound, and hopefully a following will come with it."

"I had no idea that your unions were so close that you have social events," I said.

"This one has a life outside of the clan and this crew. And the poetry slam crown will return to its rightful place at the tea sellers local union 400."

I just hope that there wasn't an improv Union. If so I would be having words. I didn't know with whom, but someone.

"Can we get back on track, then?" Lee said, cutting off the line of inquiry that I do wanted to dwell on,"Your spirit beast is watching them. Joe, Min and I will work in tandem to keep them watched. There is a moon clan contingent that needs to work on their veiling technique, and I will suggest to the clan that we have them be watched. We could use non cultivators as lookouts. As Moon Fei is still now recovering from the last time we did that, though I don't see it as a valid option."

Having to play stakeout while the rest of the crew did their part was important and necessary. It didn't mean I was going to like it anymore than I did. But I was going to find a good street pastry vendor. Even if I had to pay the guy to stalk the street that I was on, it would probably be worth it. The idea of another day without pastries stuffed to the brim with meat did not appeal to me.

The hunger and desire for food actually gave me pause. Ever since I had woken up, I had been pretty ravenous but this whole week had been another thing. I had eaten half of the snacks for our meeting before I knew it and that wasn't the only time I had been unconsciously snacking more than I had intended to. I probably needed to ask a more experienced cultivator as to what exactly changed, because my food bill was going up.

"We can ask Ellen?" I said, trying to gauge if the woman in question wanted to be a part of the action.

"Asking is free," the elder woman said, "but perhaps I can present another option."

That was when we all crept forward to hear her devious plan. By the time she was done, we knew our next steps.

---

After group the next day, I began my trek to the Docks district. The cool breeze mingled with the salt water in the furthest western district of Western Jewel. Min had been holding court there since the night prior and it was my time to rotate through. I was supposed to use my nascent soul to make a blueprint of their clearly pirate themed lair. I was able to reach out my aura to about two full houses away. In this way I could peek around doors and through open windows. I couldn't see colors and everything felt, for lack of a better word 'blue' uniformly if I was to assign a taste to it.

Ellen's devious plan started with canvassing for aunties who had more time than they knew what to do with. It was those same women who could then become our eyes and ears in the ground. She already had a small network of friends, but precious few of them in the docks district. This is why Egiya has taken off from work and spent her time trying to corral some likely candidates. Xueyie had helped her in the morning, but she had a hard out for her hair and makeup. We met up in an inocuous shop in the same block, one that sold food outdoors.

Unsurprisingly, it was mostly seafood, though not one was complaining. The various land meats that didn't come in a bun had all felt a little tough to chew.

"I find it hard to believe that they haven't found a replacement for her yet. No wait, I understand. It has been three weeks since her cousin died, right? Since she has become a lead actor?"

"She actually told me that her understudy has been getting really close and that they would be trying to get both of them to do a hot swap soon. They have a Martinee soon and that's usually when the understudies come in. Xueyie was literally vibrating with excitement when she told me."

"That's great news. We need all her around more. I kinda miss her now that she's the-"

Movement around our shop gave me pause. Someone in my position might get overconfident and not even consider failure a possibility. Arrogant young masters were my bread and butter.

I was already planning for failure.

I paused thinking about my veiling technique. I was able to cover Egiya in it due to my new found strength. If they looked right at us they would see us, but other cultivators wouldn't be able to see us with their senses. Or at least our energy would be hidden to everyone but someone stronger than us.

Someone was checking the windows. It was mid-afternoon, and I wondered if we could start the second phase of our plan. From our vantage point, two doors down I began to assess if I could get someone to talk about the boutique. Or go into the boutique as a window shopper. The crowd at the Hungry Peddler was full of older men and women with a handful of working age men there for a late lunch.