Jessica sighed, undoing her bun and the five seconds of work it had taken to put it up. Blue and white hairs crossed in between the rest of her normally poker straight black hair.
“Is this what my world has come to? Surprise, surprise, you hair isn’t playing the normal games it does whenever you want to curl it up and you didn’t have the satin night cap and pillow sheet that you’re supposed to have for a perm… and now all the cute boys are looking at you weird and you have no idea and…”
Jessica sucked in a breath, noticing that she was talking to herself in front of the teenager.
“Is this… normal for ice and cold cultivators?” Her voice wavered.
An-yong nodded.
“When this one tries to grow his hair… it,” He blushed, “It’s white now. Some of the female cultivators keep most of their hair in the original color and only the front part changes.”
Jessica sighed. It wasn’t like the time she’d tried to cut her own bangs, or the time she’d forgotten to bring product on a trip to Korea, but this was a hair disaster in the making. There probably wasn’t hair dye in this world.
No matter, all of her options right now pointed to a work life balance that revolved around administering the Cold Steel School, not spending time getting her hair in order. There would be time enough for that once this crisis passed.
“Alright, let’s drop that topic for now. Here is what I want to know. How does the school recruit new students? How did you make it to become an initiate? How do initiates become Junior Disciples or farther?”
The low light from the flames licked across the walls.
Once again the boy gave her a blank stare.
“Let’s keep this simple, how did you come to be an initiate?” Jessica said.
“Oh that is easy, this one showed promise in the annual tournament of the clans, when the local sects all select their students. Then there was a series of tests and the initiation and well, it’s clear that something was going on that the Senior Disciples and Elders did but this one just kept his head down, trying to absorb everything.”
Jessica was reminded of an old friend who clammed up when she met new people, but gushed with so many things when she was comfortable.
“Initiates can ask to be tested, or sometimes are told that they should be ready to be tested, but once asked usually they spend a day cycling their qi to advance. There are a few different paths that the school follows,” He nodded to her manual.
“So not every person here follows the exact same… prescribed education?”
“Precisely. Some of the Senior disciples favored this one because they found him able to make extensive notes of the different paths…”
Jessica perked up. He blathered on for a second and then she shook herself out.
“Sorry, what was that? Something about you wrote down all the different paths they all took?”
“Yes, Senior Sister and this one would be glad to show you…”
He blushed, and it turned out that bald heads could do a three hundred and sixty degree blush.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Can you show me?” She said.
“Unfortunately no, the library, the sacred texts have all been consumed in the flames in the wake of the divine beast.”
For the first time, he lost his composure and Jessica realized that perhaps under that stoic facade that he could be a normal human being with hopes and dreams, and not just a caricature of a monk given flesh. He looked on the edge of tears. She wanted to give him a hug but perhaps they weren’t there yet.
“That … that must have been your life’s work,” She said.
Some heavy breathing later and he composed himself.
“It is no matter. In this ones path, he created a technique to memorize the writing so that later he could reproduce it. A third of the library rests here,” He tapped his head, “Thanks to the cold storage technique, a personal creation.”
“Tell me a bit more about how these paths work because…” I held out my manual, “I’m a bit adverse to killing people. For the most part I’d like to find an amicable solution to most problems and if that makes me a target or a chump, then so be it.”
“Well, most cultivators will pick a technique or two to put their focus into and then adapt other techniques from the same family. Here in this school most of the students learn a technique to chill the air around a competitor, which at advanced stages could slow them down, or if they are weak, crush them into dust. Then there are Elders and Senior Disciples that train with weapons in particular, and the school doesn’t follow a specific weapon path, though there are many… and finally some of the Elders well… at least they used to have their own secret paths that they only pass down to their chosen disciples.”
Jessica narrowed her eyes at the initiate. There was a good possibility that there was something he was angling for.
“Please speak plainly,” she said.
“It is through the perfection of a few techniques that cultivators advance, working to a point in which they can reforge their bodies. For an initiate to advance, he must gain power and perfect technique. When a junior disciple advances, he reforges his body for the first time.”
Jessica took a second to scan her body from top to bottom. She didn’t feel different. Well she felt great, but not different from how she’d felt before.
“When Elder Kang… when he pushed his core into me, was I reforged?”
“Senior sister, I’ve heard rumors of ones like yourself being summoned but even this one… well. This one could scan your core and tell you, should you wish.”
An-Yong bowed deeply, awaiting an answer.
“Tell me what you can tell me about myself. I need to know if this factors into any plans I make.”
The same rough touch felt over her core, but this one smelled a little more of musty old books. She could identify the person scanning her by the smell she realized.
"This one can tell that you have not reforged your body, but if you did and were mentally prepared to, you would…"
He paused to wipe sweat off his brow.
"I would be at the level the Elders were at."
Jessica smiled.
"Once everything is settled, we're going to work on this."
"Yes, Senior Sister."
"Now I have a few ideas about how to work with Gina. Let's get Junior Disciple Grace."
This time only Gina and the Patriarch met the new leaders of the Cold Steel school. The same table was laid out and Grace gently placed a piece of paper in front of them.
"What's this?" Gina said, looking intently at the paper.
"This is a contract between the school and…" Jessica motioned to Grace. In her haste she didn't remember the name of the store.
"As Elder Jessica says this is a contract between our sect and the Frost Haven General store. It details the contract for the upcoming year in which we will prepay for your goods for a fair market rate."
Grace gave a pregnant pause, long enough to let either of the women jump in. Patriarch Min looked serious as he read the contract over her shoulder.
"This also gives the offer of what I am told is a fantastic bonus if everything arrives on time, and in the requested amount. I understand that calamity has disrupted lives but know that we will have your back. I will also dispatch some students should you have an issue with moving goods from Frost Haven to here."
Her expression gave no hint of displeasure, but Jessica felt a bemused sense that perhaps Gina felt she had the upper hand.
In a short order, Jessica had a signed copy of the deal in her possession and she was able to turn her attention to her charges. Dozens of initiates and juniors disciples, the so-called outer sect disciples, all waited on her. Only the healers were not in attendance.
It was at this point that Jessica wished she'd spent just a bit more time doing some amount of public speaking. These students deserved a real leader, a standard that Jessica felt would be somewhere short of impostor syndrome for a while. Briefly, she thought, am I even good enough for impostor syndrome?