Keir Lao was having trouble sleeping, tossing in the bedroll provided to him. Every section of his mind was still focused on his memory’s meaning, Iah’s offer, and Gabriela’s actions.

He heard Just Xin enter, and sat up. Just Xin passed over a scroll and a note, and another piece of paper quickly scrawled upon. The scroll was the contract, the note mentioned guards and orphans, and the paper was in Just Xin’s blocky and neat handwriting.

Gabriela and a bunch of orphans are threatening to kill each other, and both refuse to let the other go. The orphans stole something from her, but she has their leader. Need to solve without death.

Keir Lao roughly understood the situation, and resisted the urge to act rashly in trying to prevent senseless deaths. He thought, If there was an immediate risk of violence, Just Xin wouldn’t bother getting my help.

Further, he speculated as to whether the situation wasn’t in some way designed to trick him into signing the contract. He didn’t believe Just Xin would be in on it by his own accord, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be tricked. However, his paranoia couldn’t prevent him from assessing his options.

“Let’s make our way to the market,” he said, wanting to limit knowledge from prying eyes within the clan, and to investigate what he could do.

Once a simple distance out, Keir Lao looked closely at the totem staff which Just Xin carried, squinting in the smouldering moonlight. Noticing, Just Xin held it out, and Keir Lao took it: stylized carvings of beast atop beast atop beast, and topped with some crowned chimera wearing hungry grins. He could not look at it for long before his gaze shifted away.

“From the orphans?” he guessed.

Just Xin nodded.

“This can’t be worth nothing to them,” Keir Lao thought aloud. “Why would they let you leave with it? Why would they let you leave at all?” That bothered Keir Lao the most, because he knew the greed of cultivators was without limit. He obsessed over the possibility of a bigger plan by the orphans, if the situation was real. “Are you confident Gabriela isn’t tricking us?”

His friend made eye contact, and patted Keir Lao’s shoulder.

Piecing together a few facts and assumptions, he began to draw a conclusion. One, with the exception of the knowledge and experience gained from age, cultivators did not appear extra mentally capable next to mortals like himself. Two, unless Iah involved himself directly, it was unlikely Gabriela’s clan was part of a grander scheme to trick Just Xin. Three, he could no more assume Iah was heavily involved than he could assume his entire life was the plot of an unfathomably powerful cultivator. Thus, he reasoned the situation was as described, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t more to it than first appearances.

There’s too many things I don’t know, he thought. What was it they stole from Gabriela? What was the purpose of letting Just Xin go? Why let him keep the staff? “Do you know what the staff does?” he asked.

One of Just Xin’s green qi ribbons passed through it. Then, he pointed from the end to his skull, bopped himself on the head, and closed his eyes as he swayed.

Which confirmed to Keir Lao it had value as a sort of magical artifact, but he couldn’t tell how much, or what other powers it could have. He could only think of two possibilities as to why the orphans would let Just Xin keep it and leave: either it had some entirely unknown ability to benefit the orphans by being away from them, or they were confident they would get it back.

But if they know they’ll get it back, how? Either again an unknown power, or they have the force to take it back. Only, with that force, why couldn’t they defeat Gabriela?

Keir Lao knew there had to be more to it, but ‘planned force’ otherwise made sense to him. If that was the orphans’ path, it would explain why they let Just Xin go, as then it would be easier to separately take down Gabriela, and take the staff back.

Further, he suspected that if he was correct, the orphans were tracking them. He briefly considered abandoning the staff, but decided instead to have it examined at the market by a sharp and shady All-Fang merchant he knew, who went only by the nickname ‘Hellhound’.

“Can you run us the rest of the way to the market?” Keir Lao requested, hoping they could outpace any potential tails.

Just Xin obliged, lifting Keir Lao and moving with incredible speed.

***

The market, an extension of the docks more protected, was concentrated with tents hosting many things, from talismans to techniques to temporary service from cultivators. Weaving throughout were food hawkers, pushing carts piled-high with the hollowed innards of magical beasts, shouting over one another for the crowds’ attention. A particularly loud one spoke of ‘revenge meats’, touting diced and smoked duck organs. The beast in question was clearly visible, the largest thing at the docks, already converted and resting amongst its fellow Dao Finders.

From Keir Lao’s experience, the more exclusive and trustworthy merchants – and Hellhound – were closer to the middle of the market, where they challenged prospective customers to prove their worth by making it through the dense mass of buyers and sellers. They wouldn’t waste a second on anyone too weak to force their way through, but Keir Lao had already learned to move behind the powerful, letting them clear his way. Just Xin was too large to do so, and too weak in comparison to the cultivators that tried to crowd their way in, so he waited for Keir Lao, keeping watch from natural vantage.

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Despite the concentration of the powerful, it was one of the safest places in Panopticon, secured by Five-Eyed – guards to those weaker, scouts to those stronger – ready to punish any who violated the sanctity of the market.

Barely within, Keir Lao passed by Drum, sitting cross-legged atop a crate and holding a sign which read, Astounding Golden Core Cultivator, 50,000 Spirit Stone Contract, Non-Negotiable, Non-Extendable, Always Capable. Drum’s eyelids twitched on seeing Keir Lao, but otherwise did not respond, keeping a wide smile on his face as he tried to catch the attention of the crowd.

Keir Lao, too, decided it was best to ignore one another.

He instead approached the small tent owned by Hellhound, whom he mutually respected for his conversational ability, trusting him not to be any less greedy than other cultivators, only to choose misdirection over threats.

Hellhound dropped his feet from his booth and ran a hand through his slicked red hair as Keir Lao approached. His expression then shifted from eagerness to recognition, upon which he resumed leaning back in his cheap chair. “Mortal Lao,” he greeted with a repeated impatient beckoning. “Here to swap more gossip? Don’t really have time, you know, unless you’re here to give me that meat-purchasing contract you promised me months ago. But, ah-hahaha, what’s that staff you have there? Always have time for other business. Five spirit stones. Wait, no, for you, seven! Ten if you hand it over this second. Deal?” His multicolored outfit of many thin open robes, over a black vest, shook as he chattered.

Keir Lao stood, feet planted wide, in front of the booth. He said, “I want to know what it can do before I decide to sell it.”

“Seven it is then. Hand it over, don’t be shy.”

Keir Lao did, secure that he was still considered the owner unless he signed a contract. At the same time he asked, “Have you ever been in a lethal standoff with another cultivator?”

“Too many to count, mostly from the war.” Hellhound gnawed the staff, his sharp teeth unable to leave a mark. “Good quality, clearly magical,” he remarked.

“Did any of those end without the other cultivator dying?”

“Most of the time they died when I got backup. A few went another way, where a furious magical beast arrived and we both ran away.” He replied, then inspected the staff further. “Fancy design, and the wood’s pretty old. Bet a collector would pay well for those alone.”

Keir Lao considered the possibility of frightening everyone without trying to kill them. His contract included a Dao Finder, but he knew he wouldn’t be allowed to use it in the city. He could hire a powerful cultivator as well, though it meant taking along someone he didn’t trust. His biggest problem with both solutions was needing to sign the contract too early. He asked, “What if there wasn’t a beast or other threat, can you think of any way you’d both live then?”

Hellhound rolled the staff over in his hands, and began tapping it against his many goods. Glass pill bottles rang, robes fluttered, other weapons thudded. “Wasn’t from the war, but one time I did seduce–”

“Any other way? Maybe from an outside source?”

“Not from experience, but friends have told me plenty of their own stories. Sometimes it’s a fantastic cultivation technique or artifact that let them escape. Other times they encountered great fortune and worked together. Usually they fought later. Only other thing I recall was an absurd tale involving a third cultivator who insulted both parties so severely, they lost all will to fight.” Hellhound then handed the staff back to Keir Lao. “Dunno how you got your hands on it but I’m impressed. It’s just a fancy weapon, though. Seventy spirit stones, or eighty if you sell right now.”

It seems unlikely I find a solution without signing the contract, even if it’s only to bribe the orphans, Keir Lao considered. He nodded and said, “I know it disrupts qi, so I think I’ll see if anyone else gives me a better offer.”

“Oh ha, you got me you clever mortal you. That’s not something I’ve encountered before, so no telling how much it could really be worth. Might be less than seventy, so don’t think I’m not taking a risk here. Out of respect, but also that risk, I’ll offer one hundred. For a mortal like you, that would set you in luxury for your short life. No need to thank me.”

“Can it do anything else, though?” Keir Lao asked.

“If it does, I can’t tell,” Hellhound said. Keir Lao raised an eyebrow at him. He shrugged. “I’m being honest, and I’ll even let you ask any other merchant here if you don’t believe me. Make sure to come back when you’re done, and sell it to me in apology. If any offer you more, bring proof and I’ll match it. All-Fang’s honor.”

Even if the orphans don’t realize how much the staff is worth, that’s not enough to buy them out. Though, if they’ve been following us, would they be watching me right now? To see if he couldn’t get a response from them if they were, he said, “One hundred and ten, and I’ll sell without a question more.”

Hellhound laughed. “You’re learning! Deal.”

Someone Keir Lao could not see pulled at Hellhound’s robes from behind. Hellhound said, “I’ll get to you soon. First come, first serve, after all.”

Keir Lao craned his neck but was still unable to tell who it was, but had his strong suspicion it was an orphan trying to distract Hellhound from the sale. He took a half tael of silver from his pocket, his entire fortune, and laid it upon the booth. He said, “Yours if you move over enough that I can see your other customer.”

He stepped aside, revealing a shocked boy, who immediately ran off.

Rather than trying to chase him through the crowd, Keir Lao called after him, “If you talk to me, I can be convinced to give it back!”

The boy did not respond, and vanished into the heavy flow of cultivators, using the same tactics Keir Lao had to enter.

Keir Lao caught Just Xin’s gaze, and pointed in the direction the boy had gone, then at the staff. Just Xin moved as quickly as he could around the outside of the area, which was slow given the bustle even that late into the night.

“What in Pangaea are you up to, stealing magical weapons from brats? More importantly, are you still selling?” Hellhound inquired.

“Maybe later,” Keir Lao gave as a passing remark as he walked calmly after the kid, knowing it was up to Just Xin if they could catch him.

They were watching but also delaying, so they plan to take the staff back, but they don’t have the strength. That doesn’t mean they’re not trying to find a way. Could they be waiting on more powerful backup? Keir Lao felt it was overwhelmingly likely, and that if he didn’t get answers, more than Gabriela or the orphans would be hurt.