Jin did not, in the end, collapse from heatstroke. Li Shu insisted it got distressingly close, a fact Raika’s senses were happy to support; but he didn’t! And that’s what counts.

He did not, however, finish in time for lunch. So he did get dunked in the pond, as promised. The pond didn’t eat him, though (and got very still when she let out some of her presence near it), which was a positive turn of events for all, in her opinion. And he did still get to eat. Kid’s a growing boy after all, and she’s not so cruel a master she might deprive him of food. Considering they’re not in a sect, there’s no reason not to give the kid some special treatment and not, say, starve him for failing to meet expectations.

Hao Nera takes most of the rest of the day to get back, and when he does, he finds Raika seated out on the porch, meditating.

“Hey, tall, big and beastly,” he says with a smile. “Good to see you too. I keep you waiting long?”

She shakes her head. “Nah. Been busy. Meditating. Plus Li Shu gave me some journaling homework. Wanted to ask you about what you’re doing, though.”

He nods. “Good timing. Wanted to broach the subject too. Mind if we talk about this together with everyone? I think it’s important enough we should all discuss it.”

A few minutes later, all four of them are together in the main living space, the kid mercifully collapsed into a complete slumber from exhaustion and resting in Raika’s room. Raika sets the table with a snack, a mix of diced pickled radish, kimchi, and some small dumplings, though almost no one has partaken as of yet.

“So!” Hao Nera says, “here we are. I’ve been thinking, ever since yesterday’s big monster incident, and… I’ve decided to look into some plans. I’m… honestly not nearly as much of a cultivator as any of you. Li Shu and I are closest in strength, and even she’s got a passion that directly ties into helping her grow. I don’t, and frankly, that’s ok. I’m strong enough to beat up most people I’ve ever met in my life, I’m sneaky enough to get out of all but the most batshit situations I’ve been in so far, and someday, I’ll get old and die with my grandchildren spoiled rotten, a drink in my hand and, hopefully, being ridden by some gorgeous piece of ass.

“That’s not to say I won’t get a little stronger. There’s lots of room to grow, and it would be a waste not to, but I’m not gonna spend hours a day sitting in a room sucking in air. No offense, love. There’s still more I want, though. I ain’t content, you best believe it… and right now, I’ve been growing faster than I have in years, and have a lover who, if I read him right, is rather less adventurous than the ladies in the room and can burn down a city for me.”

Qen Hou rolls his eyes, but Raika smiles as she notes he doesn’t refute it.

“In short, your sexy mountain-man of a companion has a new business venture. I’m thinking of starting my own bandit clan.”

Raika raises an eyebrow at that. “Pretty sure you told me to my face that most get wiped out if they’re not strong enough to replace a sect.”

“True enough, and I am as ever rock hard from your attention to me and how much you care to remember any of the random shit I say. But I’m not planning to make a stronghold somewhere. I’m sneaky enough to get in and out of almost anywhere that doesn’t have an Imperial seal on it, and Qen Hou as muscle is stronger than any bandit I’ve met that ain’t leading a clan all their own. I plan to start buying up competent folk, not just taking in strays, and making a network. You know, professionals, the kind that know not to take a piss-break mid-job and who can give me the info I need to find real targets.

“It’s not much yet. Just an idea. But if I make a network of thieves, always on the move, it clicks right into place with avoiding sect and Imperial attention, at least for a while. And… well. There’s where y’all come in. If I can make a group that spans any stretch of the Empire, then I can keep us in contact. Give you codes and ways to leave letters and packages with me, and maybe find a way to keep you in contact with your friends in white-and-gold while you’re out traveling doing who knows what.”

The room is silent for a moment after that, before Li Shu breaks it with a sigh.

“How did you know we were leaving?”

Hao Nera’s smile has faded at this point, but it shows a bit of life as he looks at her again, more melancholy and tender than brash. “Come on, honored healer. I knew it was pretty likely from the start. Been in enough safehouses to recognize em, even as pretty as this. Little cabin was never gonna be forever, and that big monster showing up was only a match on a well-laid bonfire. Lit a fire under our asses to get moving, reminded us that the world doesn’t stop while we’re here. And… well. Qen Hou over here has too much sitting in quiet rooms to do to go gallivanting about just yet, and you’d never leave our beautiful beastie, not when she’s liable to make up some new madness any day of the week. I just figured this seemed like the right way to go the ways we want to go without breaking anything.”

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Li Shu actually tears up a bit at that, leaning over the table to give Hao Nera a hug tight enough that Raika hears his bones strain a bit.

“And what makes you think I’ll be going with you?” Qen Hou asks. “For all you know, I intend to stay right here and strengthen my foundation. A little arrogant to assume, isn’t it?”

Hao Nera gives him a wide grin over Li Shu’s shoulder. “Please. You’d miss me too much.”

Qen Hou huffs, rolls his eyes… and again, doesn’t disagree.

“And you’d miss this di-”

This time the response is a bit more audible as a spark of white-purple Flame lands in Hao nera’s beard, prompting him to yelp and scramble to put it out.

“Fine, fine! My dick is entirely forgettable and not something you’ll ever need to experience ever again, don’t you worry!”

A second, considerably funnier flick of flame lands in his hair this time, leaving him cackling as Qen Hou just frowns at him.

“Ah, so be it. I suppose we compromise, and you get to enjoy the merits of my company and be a part of my burgeoning enterprise.”

“I think it’s a good idea,” Raika interrupts. “The enterprise, I mean. Sounds like a good way to use your skills, refining them or not. And Qen Hou, you already mentioned wanting to stay a while, figure yourself out; this might be a good middle ground to keep you from getting too entrenched.”

“Ah, then I assume I was right in guessing our honored healer will be going with you, then?”

Li Shu nods. “There’s a whole world of new creatures and techniques out there, and Raika over here is probably going to keep doing absolutely horrifying and interesting things to herself that I can either help with or study. Going to the Academies is out of the question, and while I’m sure there are sects I could be a part of, that’s hardly an alternative. Am I supposed to drink from a shallow pond when the well is in sight? When there are whole worlds out there I can explore right now, rather than years and years of saving face and politicking?”

Raika smiles. “Always good to see my casual disdain for the rules of flesh and politics leaking out into those I admire.”

“Amen!” Hao Nera cheers, raising a dumpling for a toast.

“Does raise the question, though: what’s your plan, Raika?” Qen Hou asks. “I understand it’s not in you to be still, not for too long, but… I’m hardly an expert, but of us all, I’m the one truly pursuing cultivation, and I think the most important part of it is to know why you’re pursuing strength. I’m… not sure I know why you’re pursuing yours.”

Raika sighs, leaning all the way back until she sprawls out on the floor of the cabin, one knee up and her head against the cool wood.

“You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to. Just… something to think about, maybe.”

She shakes her head. “No. It’s a good thing, I think. Worth expressing.”

She stares up at the ceiling above, at the top of the home they’ve built together. Takes a deep breath in, and out, idly fiddling with Dink as she does, and pulls every part of herself into one central Self, and begins to talk, her voice rippling with an echo of Truespeak..

“When I was a cultivator, I refused to bow my head. I stood tall, even in times when it did not serve me, because I decided that my will to stand against anything that demanded I lower myself was more important than good sense. When I was broken, I stood back up, again and again, as a cripple, as a slave, and as a power in my own right. I still take pride in that. I think, in the end, that refusing to bow to those who don’t deserve it is right. It matters.”

She sits up, looking around the table and meeting the eyes of those she trusts most with this truth. “But the world isn’t built to allow people to make true choices. Not really. If it were, old families like the Feng clan wouldn’t be free to do as they will, hurt who they please. The Divisions wouldn’t be allowed to cage anyone they deem useful. The Empire would give its gifts freely, rather than demanding obedience. Our world may in some ways be kinder than what came before, but that kindness is not given. It is offered as a distraction after the violence has been done, the lands conquered, and the people made servants to far-off powers that don’t care about us.

“I don’t think I can fix the whole world. I’m not strong enough to even try… but I still refuse to bow to those that demand it from me. I will stand tall, even if the Empire send their worst to hunt me down. Let them come. I will wander to where I choose, learn and grow from all I can and judge what I find there by my own beliefs. I won’t bow to those who seek to mindlessly take, to those who blindly hurt others, to those who see every other part of the world as beneath them.

“I’m not perfect. But I have teeth and claws and Flame, and for all their might, the powers of this world do not own me, and do not own my fate. Let them come. They’ll find me standing tall.”

There is silence in the cabin for a while.

Hao Nera gets up first, heading to the kitchen and clattering about for a moment, before he re-emerges with a bottle of alcohol that he somehow hid from her.

“Well,” he says, “that merits a toast.”

He takes a swig, and they pass the bottle between each of them. The crackling of the hearth is the only sound in the cabin as the four of them sit, in comfortable quiet, and drink.

“What about the kid?” Li Shu asks, breaking the silence.

Raika shrugs. “I think he can stick around for a bit. I’m intending to be as clear as I can, tell him what might happen, and then, after we train him a few months, find a nice place for him, part ways before things get too rough. He’s made his choice to stay, and I intend to respect it.

“In the meantime… we have some stuff to figure out. I have a few ideas that need refining, nevermind all my current issues managing what I’ve already got, and I’d like to run them by you while we train the kid. Figure we won’t be leaving for at least a few more weeks, right?”

Hao Nera shrugs, matching her earlier movement. “At least a month for us. Starting a criminal empire takes time, capital, and cleverness, and unfortunately I possess only the latter in abundance. That gives all of you jobless bums plenty of time to get ready, no?”

Li Shu scoffs, throwing a piece of kimchi at him (which he bites out of the air with a waggle of his eyebrows) and shaking her head. “It’s not much time, but… guess that’s enough to see if the kid has potential, and set something up for him if we have to leave him behind. I’ll start compiling my notes, getting everything ready. Raika, I’d like to borrow the manuals and a few days of your time, see if we can’t edit to include your new revelations.”

Raika nods. “Of course. And in the meantime, you’re going to start teaching me the Craft.”