Xith’le’so led Hudson and Cor back through the ship to their state room. They didn’t assist with any of the clean up or aftermath of the attack.

After depositing them in their room, Xith’le’so turned to leave.

“Stay here,” she said curtly. “I must go and deal with the mess you have caused.”

The mess he’d caused? Hudson was still upset over being attacked without provocation, even after helping them in the attack. He opened his mouth, but before he could respond in kind, Cor did.

“Yup, sorry about that, we got caught up in the heat of battle, didn’t we, sport,” Cor said.

Hudson glared over Cor.

“Hey, simmer down, now. Let’s have a little chat while Xith here–”

“It’s Xith’le’so to you,” she said tightly. “And just to be clear – don’t use that teleportation ability; it’s possible it can be tracked by the silicates and lead them to our position.”

Xith’le’so stalked out of the room.

“Can it?” Hudson asked when they were alone. “Can it be used to track us?”

“Theoretically,” Cor replied after a second. “But highly unlikely, unless it’s a big one. They’re like ripples in a pond, or so says our mutual friend.”

“Might be time to leave,” Hudson muttered.

“Naw, we’re just getting started,” Cor said. “We can make a difference here, but more importantly, we can make friends.”

“Friends? Are you sure about that?”

“Oh yeah, we need friends fighting the good fight,” Cor said. “And so do they. Making connections with other species is something Elder Chiang always wants to do, and the Disciples try to limit.

“But let’s not go down that rabbit hole – while it’s fresh in our minds, let’s recap that fight. Do a little after-action review – what went well, what didn’t.”

“You are reminding me of my old boss, and not in a good way,” Hudson said. “Didn’t you tell me not to lose my edge out there? You helped portal me to that second platform as well.”

He had flashbacks to his corporate job back on Earth. Memories of being put on a performance improvement plan, of getting “feedback” from his supervisor that effectively amounted to “do your boss’s job for him.”

Strangely, even though the memories were infuriating, he felt better after making the connection. Those people from his past seemed so small, compared to where he was today and what he was doing now.

“Well, did your old supervisor carry a rifle and help you kill monsters for a living?” Cor replied.

“No, but you’re not my new supervisor either,” Hudson retorted.

“Fair enough. I’ve got a lot of experience fighting these things, and I reckon my perspective is valuable. Are you willing to hear it?”

“Yes,” Hudson said, sighing internally.

“Good. I’ll keep my feedback short. The good parts: no hesitation, lethal application of force, initiative that led to saved lives. Good job, you kicked butt. Keep doing that. Now… the bad.”

Cor paused. “You went out in a blizzard, dressed in nothing but your birthday suit. How’d you think it was going to go?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Hudson asked. He’d tensed up, expecting a thorough chewing out when Cor got to the “bad part.”

“You went fishing and forgot your pole. You went swimming in a sewer and forgot to wear goggles.

“OK, ok, I think I got it,” Hudson said. “I didn’t renew my Mind Gate technique before jumping into the fight.”

“Bingo! That’s your responsibility, not mine, not anyone else’s. Yours. And don’t forget, you’re the one that said, ‘hey, I’m no hero,’” Cor reminded him. “And yet here you are, trying to prance off and do some hero-like BS.”

Cor poked Hudson in the chest, hard.

“I’m serious. You can’t help people if you’re a liability yourself.”

It sucked, but Cor was right. Hudson let out a deep sigh.

“You’re right,” he said.

“You better believe I’m right,” Cor said. “Now do you mind going and telling all my ex-wives as well?”

Hudson smiled wryly. “You talk about ‘em so much, I’m starting to think they’re not real.”

“Ha!” Cor laughed. The two settled down, drying themselves off and trying to get comfortable in the constantly damp environment.

Cor began disassembling his rifle, drying and inspecting each part.

“So are you really interested in learning how to be a body cultivator?” Hudson asked, returning to the conversation they’d had with Xith’le’so prior to the attack.

Cor grew serious and nodded. “I’ve been thinking about it, and if we were to turn that little feedback session we just had back around and point it at me… I’ve not been very effective in our latest engagements.

“I’ve been a fish outta water, for the most part. I’m used to having a full team, ammo, rifles, explosives… And I’m not sure when I’ll be able to go back to that. If I’ll ever be able to go back to that.”

Cor paused and rubbed his hands over his face. It was an odd look on the permanently confident man.

“If we’re gonna survive and make it back to earth, I need to adapt, I guess is what I’ve been thinking. Like they say – ‘improvise, adapt, overcome’… Even this old dog needs to learn a few new tricks.”

This was tough for Cor, Hudson realized. It hadn’t seemed that way earlier, but Cor was struggling. It was difficult for him to change his entire life, even his entire worldview.

“It’s not too bad, being a cultivator,” Hudson said, searching for the right words. “At least the type that I am. You get to breathe deep, punch things, and then they go ‘splat.’”

“I like that,” Cor said, then took a deep breath. “So I guess we know what we both need to work on then? There’s no use delaying the inevitable. Let’s get this cultivation stuff started.”

Cor wrapped up the disassembled rifle and set it to the side.

“Just try to follow along, I guess. We tried this once before, so you know that I’m not much of a teacher…” Hudson said, taking a seat on the floor in the center of the room.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“We’ll figure it out.”

Cor sat down in front of Hudson, crossing his legs. He breathed in and out slowly, mimicking Hudson’s breathing patterns, finally attempting to become a cultivator himself.

……

“After the latest harvest, and some unanticipated gains elsewhere, our food stores remain low but are no longer critical….”

Xith’le’so listened to the council meeting drone on with half of an ear as she waited for her turn to be called. The reef had sustained only minor losses in the latest attack, mainly damage to the outer hull and defenses. Losses of life were few, and fewer still because of that offwolder’s bold – and reckless – actions.

“With our primary business concluded, we now turn to additional matters before the council… First on the docket is the status of one ‘Hud…son’ and his attendant, allegedly from a world known as Earth. There is a challenge to their status as guests of the reef. Xith’le’so, please swim forward.”

The council chamber was a large, spherical chamber in the center of the reef. The three council members and their retinue floated in the center of the sphere. Those presenting to or answering questions from the council swam up to the center, so that they could be easily heard by all of the bystanders lining the edges.

“Hudson and Cor come to us from a trial of the Disciples overrun by the enemy abominations. They escaped with their lives only to appear on our world. They seek refuge until they can return to their own,” Xith’le’so said.

“And without any delay began to cause problems,” one of the council members interrupted. Gull’rii’sfun was male, a qi cultivator at the bottom of Core Formation stage, and a strong supporter of increasing ties with the Disciples. “They should not be guests. They need to leave, and we should remand them to our contacts within the followers of the Disciples as soon as possible.”

“Hudson, a burgeoning cultivator of the self, did take initiative beyond his assigned scope during the latest attack that led to an altercation with a cultivator response team. No one was permanently injured, however, and his actions did appear to save–”

“Come now,” Gull’rii’sfun interrupted. “A break in discipline, while we were under attack? Your own daughter, Tchae’rii, was the one who found them, and warned you against inviting them onto the reef.”

Tchae’rii had said no such thing, and involving her daughter in this discussion was a low blow. Her relationship with her daughter was strained, to say the least. They had kept things professional on the reef – for the most part – after Tchae’rii’s very public rejection of her mother’s traditional cultivation method in favor of qi cultivation.

These were old wounds, surfacing from the deep. Xith’le’so sought her balance, and let the barbed comment pass through her.

“But you beseeched an elder anyways,” Gull’rii’sfun continued, “And then these landwalkers disrupted our defense. Any threats to our defense forces must be dealt with surely and swiftly. Not to mention, if broached in the appropriate way, we can use this incident in our negotiations with the Disciples for more cultivation resources…”

The appetite of qi cultivators for maseki and other cultivation aids was never ending.

“While your concern is always appreciated, the defense forces are not in, and were never in, any danger from a couple of alien tadpoles.” Vishpul’le’so’tcheng was the second member of the council and in charge of the reef’s defenses. The four tassels drifting off of her leg and arm joints denoted her position as a fourth-stage cultivator of the self and one of the most powerful women on the reef.

“I’m more interested in hearing about this supposed follower of the Disciples being a cultivator of the self. Help me reconcile that strange statement I just made – how could anyone associated with the Disciples follow what they have clearly deemed a heretical path?”

“I was just as surprised as you were, and it is why my original request to appear before this council was to ask for permission to train the young one,” Xith’le’so replied. “His cultivation technique is incomplete, but it is definitely not a qi gathering technique that he learned from the Disciples. It must come from his native world.

“The issue that I see is that he lacks proper instruction. He has developed his shen to the expense of jing and qi, and is currently very unbalanced in his cultivation.”

“Any evidence of deviation?” Vishpul’le’so’tcheng asked. “If he’s unbalanced, he’s a danger to others, and not just himself.”

“No. His will is strong, and he can easily defend himself from the influence of the abominations,” Xith’le’so said, and hesitated slightly before telling the council the full story of what she had seen in his mindscape. “But the sigils he has inherited from the Disciples in their trial will eat away at his natural jing. It is only a matter of time.”

“What sigils?” Gull’rii’sfun asked, the glint of avarice clear in his eyes and the flicker of his gills.

“I had only a glimpse, but there were multiple. One of fire. One of a surface plant, strong, and with deep roots.” She made no mention of the other strange aspects of his mind, as she didn’t understand them herself.

“We understand your ask, and also your personal reasons for wishing to train the young one, but it does come at risk to the reef,” Vishpul’le’so’tcheng said. “I’m not seeing a lot of gain for that risk.”

Xith’le’so had a flashback to her own initial conversation with Hudson. “The reef does stand to gain. The enemy of our enemy is our friend, and these two have proven their ability and desire to stand against the abominations taking over our world.

“Are we so hard-pressed by our enemies that we no longer care about the traditions and honor of our people? That every interaction we have with others must bring us a net material benefit? That is the thinking of the Disciples, not of the Lurill’shan.”

Her words led to an uncomfortable silence. The third member of the council, and the elder who had allowed Hudson and Cor to become guests of the reef initially, had declined to raise a single question.

“If I may bring one more item to the council’s attention,” Xith’le’so said. “It is unclear if it is Hudson, or if his companion Cor, but one of them possesses the ability to open rifts.”

This revelation caused a stir in the listeners on the edges of the sphere. The Disciples were the only one with the ability to open rifts, and they closely guarded the capability.

The council waited until the murmuring subsided. It wasn’t a secret – the two had blatantly shown the ability in the fight with the swarm – but Xith’le’so had not wanted to bring it up before the council. She had felt the tide turning against her, however, and if appeals to honor weren’t enough, then she would appeal to their greed.

“Well, we absolutely must turn them over to the Disciples, after learning that kind of information,” Gull’rii’sfun said. His blatant desire to ingratiate himself to the Disciples for more qi cultivation resources was sickening.

“Not so fast…” Vishpul’le’so’tcheng, the leader of their soldiers, retorted. “The Disciples haven’t asked directly us for anything here. I say we give the two tadpoles a chance to contribute…”

The two turned to the third elder, Regul’le’so’tchen, and waited on her decision.

“I propose that Xith’le’so may teach the two followers of the Disciples the basics of the First Form. During their time on the reef, they are guests, but because they have demonstrated their capacity and willingness to fight, we will provide them appropriate half-duty assignments.

“Our next meeting with the Disciples is a trade meeting and resupply in twenty-three solar cycles. We will report their presence to the Disciples at that time. Are we agreed?”

The other two council members signaled their agreement, and Xith’le’so bowed, smiling in relief.

“In addition, Xith’le’so, during the next twenty solar cycles, prior to our meeting with the Disciples, you are to determine the source of and range of the guests’ rift-making abilities and report back to this council. Failure to do so will result in loss of rank and privileges within the reef, including up to the loss of your honorific suffix ‘so.’

“You have risked the future of this reef, and to maintain balance, your own future must also be at risk.”

The smile froze on her face, and she sighed inwardly. “As the council wills.”

She retreated from the council chamber as they moved to the next item of business, the bureaucracy and decision-making of the reef never stopping. Bringing up the rift-making ability had been a calculated move, and had forced the hand of the chief elder. She had not appreciated being painted into a corner on making a decision, and had taken that displeasure out on Xith’le’so with her last instruction.

Gaining any kind of rift-making capability for the reef would be incredible. Only those who feared the Disciples more than they feared the abominations wouldn’t want to explore any possible way to flee from their embattled world without paying the cost of near-nigh slavery and servitude that the Disciples required.

She had twenty days or so to get Cor and Hudson to divulge their secrets, znd there was no time like the present…

She completed winding her way through the reef’s hallways and cycled through the airlock to the dry chamber she had left Hudson and Cor in.

“Ugh,” she gagged, a terrible stench slamming into her senses. Hudson and Cor sat in the middle of the room meditating, and traces of black ichor dotted Cor’s skin.

She immediately turned and left, cycling back through the airlock, to secure cleaning supplies.

She would get the cleaning suppliers, but those two would scrub that room until it was spotless and smelled only of salt and stone. She was done cleaning up their messes for the day.