“Ah, our favorite wayward disciple returns, having missed yet another day of classes.”

Elder Win flashed an ice cold smile as an exhausted Alex stumbled onto the field by the lip of the caldera overlooking the Western Rift. Had the master said they would be training there that day? Alex realized he had no idea at this point, the days and nights blurring into a stream of life threatening battles and the brilliant flashes of insight that only seemed to come to him when he dared Peril’s Path.

Alex forced himself to bow… before toppling over.

“Look at that fool!” Tan Yi said, his eyes twinkling with unmistakable glee. “A drunken oaf with delusions of cultivation.” He sneered and spat. “You broke covenant with our class for the last time, Ruidian trash. Elder Win already made it clear that anyone who failed to meet expectations for the rest of the week were unworthy of attending.” The smug look he gave Alex made his blood boil. “So I do believe that means your out.”

He turned to Elder Win, now still as a statue, Tan Yi’s arrogance a cloying weight Alex was surprised their master would willingly bear. “Isn’t that right, Elder Win?”

Alex’s gut clenched at the look of disgust and pity on the older man’s face, in that moment realizing to his despair that he had fallen into a trap that Master Win had thought him smart enough to avoid. Which meant that despite all Alex’s efforts to safeguard and protect, he was still about to lose his place at the school.

Just as a smirking Tan Yi had attended all along.

So he forced himself past his own numbed dismay, belting out the words before Elder Win could make his pronouncement of doom, whereupon Duo Yi lackeys would no doubt appear out of nowhere to boot Alex right out of the school.

“Elder Win, we have a problem that goes far beyond the flaws of a single wayward student.”

“You’re out, you arrogant stuck up foreigner!” Tan Yi cackled with unmistakeable glee. “Do you understand? You’re no longer welcome here! Not that you ever were.” Tan Yi sneered and spat at the last, eyes twinkling with unmistakable malice.

Yet Elder Win, to his credit, raised a single eyebrow. “Is that so?” He said, so many other reluctant words clearly being put aside for the nonce.

A relieved Alex bowed his head.

“The rift below is absolutely filled with Shadow Puma, master Win!” Linnea breathlessly assured. “And they’re stronger than before, so deep in Shadow that even we almost missed them! Not that we will anymore with my evolved powers, but we almost did when we were in the rift.”

Elder Win’s eyes widened. “I was assured that our misfortune the other day was a fluke. By multiple sources.”

Tan Yi’s face flushed with sudden rage. “It’s because of them. It’s the Ruidian taint that I told you about, master! They infect and taint everything! This is why they shouldn’t even be here!”

Alex did his best to ignore the malicious slander. “We faced down over a dozen Shadow Puma… and there were at least half a dozen left. And that’s not the worst part.”

Tan Yi snorted, about to shout Alex down when Elder Win abruptly held up his fist, Tan Yi’s voice fading so fast his eyes bulged in surprise.

“There is worse, you say?”

Alex solemnly nodded, peripherally noting both Ma Guo and Ling Ling looking at him with genuine regret in their eyes, Quing and Lilly bowing their heads in respect and, Alex was painfully certain, farewell. He shook aside all distractions and forced himself to focus once more.

“Their numbers were increasing. Even for the duration that we were there.”

Elder Win furrowed his brow. “Are you sure of this, Alex? The very nature of rifts and separated potentialities would suggest anything but.”

Alex flashed a bitter smile. “Very sure, Master Win. It was one thing when we faced a dozen separated, injured Shadow beasts… but when that number increased to over a score, half a dozen of which were in pristine health and ready to strike as one unit… even I knew I’d be a fool to do anything but retreat just as fast as I darn well could.”

Elder Win stared at Alex for long moments. “Were you and your betrothed truly able to hold them off?”

Alex bowed his head. “We did our best and saved our party.”

“Bullshit!” Tan Yi snarled. “If you had really encountered those Shadow cats, you’d already be dead!”

Alex blinked, feeling a surge of alarm before couching it in a mocking smile. “Easy kills, Tan Yi. They were just cats, no biggie. I took care of them easy as pie, and left when I got bored.”

Elder Win blinked, before giving a slow nod. “Commendable.”

“Impossible!” Tan Yi snarled. “Silver tier Shadow beasts from the very depths of the delve that no one has dared since Golds walked this school? Ha! You ran like the shit-eating coward you are. Admit it!”

Alex flashed an innocent smile, tilting his head just so. “Silver tier Shadow beasts from the very depths of the Western Rift? Fascinating. I had no idea that’s what they were. My question is… how did you?”

Tan Yi froze, face twisting in a sudden rictus of spiteful contempt. “Because my clan has seers, fool! And they warned that that was just what we should expect, if Ruidians were allowed to continue polluting the rift!”

Alex flashed a bleak smile. “Is that a fact? Well then, I have a proposal for you. Let’s both give our cultivator’s oaths that what we’ve said this day is, to the best of our knowledge and belief, nothing less than the absolute truth.”

Tan Yi’s eyes widened. “That you would dare insult any cultivator with such degradation. Threatening their entire cultivation base with your twisted traps! For that alone, you will be expelled. Mark my words, Ruidian trash!”

Alex held the furious, blustering youth’s gaze. “Is that how it works around here? How convenient it must be for lying, conniving little finks, then. Alright, I’ll sweeten the pot. We’ll both take oaths to the extent that if we’re lying, we leave Silver Sands. What do you say?”

Tan Yi stiffened, wild eyes like a trapped animal promising to see Alex dead.

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Elder Win cleared his throat. “Alex...”

Alex sighed, already knowing what he would have to do, lest Tan Yi’s spite, prevarications, and to-be expected interference made Alex’s attempted intervention pointless, as an increasingly cynical Alex was almost certain was the case. He turned to Linnea, the bag holding the prize ready.

“I’m going to make my report now, Elder Win. But it’s vital that no one dares the western rift unless they have half a dozen Silvers and can sense Shadow Qi. Anything else will result in casualties, I’m afraid.”

This earned a pair of furrowed brows and the heavy weight of a less-than-pleased Silver, before Alex nodded at Linnea who positively struggled under the weight of the sack before finally revealing their prize.

“Heaven’s mercy, that’s huge!” Quing declared, wide-eyed with awed disbelief as he gazed upon the massive alpha cat’s skull.

“Its incisors are as long as my forearm!” Ma Guo said with a shudder while Ling Ling paled and stumbled back, clearly shaking with remembered horror from the last time she had dared the deeps, a Delver’s life clearly not suited for her, not even in the best of circumstances.

Alex flashed a bleak smile. Humbled once more by just how close he had come to death at the hands, or maw, of that massive cat. If he hadn’t somehow kept his prismatic bones, bones that had bound him so tightly to Shui Jun... he shuddered to think about it, or to remember anything of those awful, endless years that thankfully troubled him little more now than the occasional nightmare he did everything he could to forget.

“No. There is no way in hell you could kill that thing!” Tan Yi snarled, as if personally affronted that Alex had somehow managed to come out on top.

Alex smirked, not even bothering to acknowledge his nemesis, merely turning to Elder Win. “For the good of the school, I’ll make my report now.”

The elder solemnly dipped his head. “You do that. And Alex?”

“Yes, Elder Win?”

“There’s no need for you to bother with the formalities of our curriculum. You have proven yourself to be an exemplary Ruidian delver, and may freely dare any rift you choose, with any group that will take you.” He flashed an oddly gentle smile. “And with the boon that you will no doubt earn from that kill, I suspect that you and your betrothed will have no problem finding quarters here, or in the finest apartments in the city.”

Alex froze for an endless moment, sensing so much in those words and the man’s gaze. Even the twisted mixture of triumph and frustration that was Tan Yi’s features revealed so much.

He had clearly failed as a disciple of the academy, and whatever gambit Tan Yi had initiated to assure that his failings would not be overlooked had clearly worked. But it was clear as well that Elder Win was making it known publicly that Alex was to be welcomed and honored as a Ruidian delver, even if he had failed as an aspirant, and was welcome to dare the rifts as he so chose.

He choked back the painful lump in his throat, bowing low enough that none could see the sting in his eyes.

Even if Linnea did have to keep him from toppling over.

“This unworthy student of the Way thanks you for your counsel, Elder Win. I will make my report now.”

With a final farewell bow to the small handful of friends he had made in class, he turned around and descended to the path below once more, hearing so clearly Ling Ling’s hitched sob, and young Ma Guo’s despair sigh.

“Come on, Alex. We’ve left Lady Sunlay waiting, and even I know better than to leave a noblewoman cooling her heels.”

Surprisingly, however, Sunlay’s expression was oddly sympathetic when Alex returned to the noblewoman’s party once more. Clearly Nili had been directed to report on whatever had transpired above.

But before anyone could say anything on it, Alex flashed a determined smile and began walking at a very fast clip. “The sooner we get there, the sooner we can assure the school’s safety and the sooner I’ll be ready to dare these rifts again.”

“After a good night’s sleep, husband,” Linnea cautioned with a teasing smile.

Alex grinned back, even if he was afraid that Linnea was enjoying their role a bit too much. But considering all she had willingly endured, daring to delve with him, and actually wanted to claim him as her own instead of running away in horror… maybe he should at least be brave enough to admit that he had feelings for her as well.

And the way her cheeks flushed and she flashed him a secret smile when he admitted that bittersweet truth to himself made it clear that on some level, they were connected still.

The time it took to cross half the caldera and reach Senior Cultivator Te Chang’s pagoda passed by in a surprisingly fast blur, noteworthy only in the startled looks, worried glances, and outright glares Alex received as he strode what he quickly learned were discrete paths reserved for the busy elite, walking by Lady Sunlay’s side, per her own insistence, no matter Quing Da’s glare and murmurs about Ruidian boys knowing their place.

Alex couldn’t deny it was a bit gratifying when he passed Tan Yi’s brother of all people, walking in step with several other obvious members of his clan, all of them wearing the same Yidushian stamp to their bronzed features. He savored the wide-eyed looks of surprise and outright glares sent Alex’s way before the trio of faces schooled themselves to perfect stillness as the entourage passed on. Alex couldn’t quite suppress the smugness to his smile even as his nose itched with an odd scent, earning a raised eyebrow from Sunlay, that didn’t effect her ground-eating stride in the least.

“Members of a clan who don’t take kindly to Ruidians not knowing their places. Cousins and brother to the one that took such delight in belittling me on the training grounds above the rift.” he said as an aside.

Sunlay blinked at this, before her stern countenance softened into a smile. “The three did have the look of haughty ‘young masters’ like so many you’ll find at any cultivation academy under the sun.” She chuckled softly. “I halfway think the elders of every sect allow them such free reign to forge us all in the fires of conflict that are far less lethal than an actual battlefield.”

“For the most part,” Alex said with a bitter smile.

Quing Da glared at his flippancy, but Sunlay gave a surprisingly throaty chuckle. “For the most part indeed.”

“And I think it equally likely that most young arrogant masters have one or more relatives deeply immersed in the politics of the city or academy such that any instructor with an ounce of self-preservation knows to treat them with silk gloves instead of the metal rod they deserve… so long as they save their abuse for those struggling outsiders that are less favored than they. But we’ll say it’s all about forging us in conflict. Easier that way,” Alex quipped.

The atmosphere immediately grew tense, and Alex winced, sensing that he might have gone to far.

Surprisingly it was Nili’s melodious chuckle that broke the sudden ice. “Fool’s folly, mistress. For no boy or girl can wade through a dozen greater spirit beasts, no matter how clever their tactics or well synergized their skills, without inviting the lost god’s madness with every step.”

“You and your old tales,” snorted Quing Da with a surprisingly gentle smile.

Nili flashed the grumpy bodyguard a saucy grin that had Alex looking away, suddenly certain that there was a lot more to Quing Da than he had given the man credit for, to have so clearly caught Nili’s interest. Or at least that was the tale of pheromones his absurdly sensitive nose was telling him, catching so many interesting scents in the air.

“Alex!”

Finesse check made!

Enough that he had almost taken a nasty fall, far too close to the caldera’s lip, as Linnea’s anxious panic washed over him.

“It’s okay,” Alex said with a reassuring smile. “I’m just feeling a bit… dizzy? It’s been a long day. And oh look, Te Chang’s offices are just ahead.”

Ignoring the flush in his cheeks, knowing his new associates had a hard time associating the clumsy loose-lipped goofball with whatever skilled practitioner had managed to survive such perilous odds, he was happy for the immediate change of atmosphere when he knocked on the door and immediately fell into a deep bow when it was abruptly opened not by a servant, but by Te Chang himself.

“Alex?… Lady Sunlay! Is something wrong? Please, come in. Refresh yourselves, and tell me how I may be of assistance.”