“They don’t have any sake, but it’s a fine inn. It’s an interesting look at how Mesai uses the runes and powers of the cultivators from the Empire” – Sekiro, year 507

Aki walked across the street from the tavern and found the town inn. He brushed his stick from side to side and used it to find his way. The building looked like a pretty basic inn, with three floors and three windows facing the street on each of the floors. It was a plain wooden building painted light blue with yellow trim. It reminded Aki of sunflowers in front of an open field on a clear sky day.

There were a couple of chairs on the front porch and a table in between. The same setup with the chairs and table was on the porch that wrapped around the front and side of the building. Aki looked up at the wooden sign hanging at the top of the steps leading up to the porch and smirked. Aki was interested that an inn here on the western continent would have such a name. It sounded like something a failed sect or school would call themselves back in the Sasaki Empire.

He hadn’t ever bothered to stay here before, but he had seen the woman who ran the inn around the town here and there. He never spoke to her, but she seemed like a nice enough woman, with darker skin than the locals. Maybe she came from the Empire or her parents did? Aki couldn’t be sure.

He walked up the stairs and into the building, checking behind him to make sure none of the gang members were around and looking for him. They usually left him alone for a few days after a run-in like the one he just had, so he figured he’d be safe for the time being. Inside the inn, it looked a little more upscale than the outside would suggest. It was all polished wood and fine rugs. There were even some high-backed chairs in the corner next to a fireplace that wasn't lit, but it didn’t need to be, as it was already hot enough.

The heat was also the reason he was still in this town. He had been meaning to go to the capital of the region, which was some way northwest of here. However, because of the heat and the vastness of the desert, caravans waited for the autumn to do any runs. Summer was a slow time for the entire town. Few ships came in. They opted to go north and then down a river a little further to a different town with a closer port.

"I have nothing for you," a harsh voice said, waking Aki from his thoughts.

Aki looked up at the woman behind the counter from behind his sunglasses. He knocked his cane against the counter, and then he smiled up at the woman.

The woman was dressed plainly in a black dress and a white shirt. She didn’t wear the jeans and flannel the self-proclaimed cowboys wore around town. She was trying to look nicer and more proper. Her hair was black and pulled back in a tight bun with chopsticks poking out of it. She had one strand of hair that was dyed a deep red on each side of her face acting like a frame.

She reminded Aki of someone who could have come from the Empire. The innkeeper was short and lean, a petite woman with fair tanned skin, long straight black hair, and piercing green eyes. She appeared to be in her early twenties, though it was hard to tell.

"No, no, I have money. I haven’t been able to sleep inside all summer. I would love a nice cool room and a bath," Aki smiled at the woman and reached around in his robes until he found the coins. He handed them over to her.

She leaned across the counter and looked at the coins. "Very well, you have enough for a couple of nights and a bath each night if you’d like to spend all the money you’ve got."

Her tone softened as she saw the money, and Aki noticed her expression change. She had become accustomed to seeing him as a beggar. She blanched a little, realizing he had money and hadn't come to beg.

"Well?" The woman's voice woke him from his thoughts.

Aki stared off, looking at the woman from behind his sunglasses, and nodded his head. "Yes, yes, sorry. I will take two nights if I can, and a bath sounds fantastic!" He said, reaching his hands out with the coins he had lifted from the gang member.

"Very well, give me a moment," she responded, taking the money from his hand. She tried to avoid touching him, taking the coins from his open palm. Once she took the coins, Aki watched her and noticed that she put them away behind the desk. He heard a drawer open and a lockbox being opened and then locked when she put the money away.

The woman walked away from him and went through a curtain hanging on the wall behind the counter. Aki could hear her speaking to someone softly. He heard a small voice reply, but he couldn’t quite make out what either of them said. She came back a moment later and smiled at Aki before walking to the wall opposite the curtain, still behind the desk, where there was a staircase.

"Alright then, follow me, and I’ll take you to your room," she told him. She was holding a key connected to a wood slate that had the room number ‘201’ on it.

Aki followed her, tapping his cane around the floor of the inn, following her voice. When his cane tapped on the first stair, he looked up at her and nodded his head. "Alright, lead the way."

"Yes, sorry, we’re going upstairs. Will you be alright?" She asked, but she didn’t wait for an answer as she turned and walked up the stairs leading him.

Aki followed her slight frame up the stairs, knocking each step with the cane before moving up them. He took them carefully, ensuring he maintained his blind man act. "I will be fine, thank you."

"Good, my name is Endra. If you need anything, just give me a holler. I put you across from the room with the bath to make it easier for you to navigate," she informed him as they reached the landing on the second floor.

Endra led him to the left and down the hall a short way, then unlocked the door with the key, leaving the key in the lock. It was a hallway that could fit two people side by side, with a narrow dark green rug running along the entire floor. There were rooms on either side of the hallway. There were some paintings on the wall between each room, most with Eastern influences from the Empire.

"Tell me, if you don’t mind, Endra. What’s your last name?" He met her at the door and smiled. He played with his beard a little and gave it a soft tug.

"Zhao, why do you ask?" She cocked an eyebrow when she answered him. She was only answering to be polite, but her tone showed she was uneasy.

"No reason, just curious. The name of the inn sounds like something you’d find from the continent I came from," Aki explained, trying to placate her.

Endra nodded her head and sighed. "Yeah, I thought you might be from the continent past the Islands. The Sasaki Empire, right?" She didn’t wait for his answer, but kept on talking.

"My mother came from the Empire, moved us here when I was younger than my son is. I remember little of it. She just wanted to make sure I never went back. She named and decorated the inn when she built it. Said it was a joke, that if she ever got powerful enough, she’d make her own sect like they have and name it that," Endra shrugged.

Aki gaped a little, his mouth dropping open. It was odd enough that her last name was shared with the head of the Akutamori Temple. He was an advisor to the emperor. Was her mother a cultivator as well? Aki didn’t think Zhao was that popular of a name in the Empire. There was the head of the sect, and then his son, Silas, or something. The man who lived in some no-name village that was attacked by a shadow spirit just before The Old Man sent Aki here.

Aki smiled and nodded his head, giving one more tug on his beard before lowering his hand. "Yes, I came to get to the city of Brey, the capital. I didn’t know it’d be hard to find passage there, though. You know, I’ve heard of a few people with the last name Zhao. It’s a powerful name, with strong roots."

Endra seemed to blanch a little, and she furrowed her brow at the beggar. "Well, I wouldn’t know. Like I said, I came here when I was very young. I never knew my father."

Aki lifted his palms when she scolded him. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend or upset you."

Endra sighed and shrugged. "It’s fine, I’m sorry. Yes, the way west to the capital will be hard for another month or two. Then more ships will come into our port, and you should be able to find passage if you can save up money until then. I don’t think it’ll be too expensive. There'll be a lot of caravans heading that way. Anyway, if you don’t need anything, I should head back downstairs."

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Endra went to the door opposite his room and opened it. It had a number '200' on the door. "This is the cleaning room. The bath has runes on it to keep the water hot and clean."

Aki watched her walk into the room for a moment and move something around inside of it. He still stood there placidly with a smile on his face. When she came back into the hallway, she told him she hung a bathrobe by the door so he didn’t have to wear his robes after he was clean. He’d have something fresh to wear. He could also give her his robes, and she’d launder them for him if he wished.

He nodded his head and thanked her for such a thing. That level of service exceeded his expectations for a normal inn. He decided he would take advantage of it. She told him to just call her when he was ready, and she would retrieve them for him. She then turned and left down the hallways and back down the stairs. He thanked her for her service once more before she left.

He waited a moment until she was gone completely down the stairs and Aki could hear her downstairs talking to her son. Then he went into his room and prepared for the thing he was most looking forward to: a nice hot bath. He closed the door behind him, took off the dark sunglasses he wore, and threw them on the bed.

The room was similar to the rest of the hotel, with polished wood furniture and a soft rug on the floor. The bed was an overstuffed four-poster. There was also the usual inn room decor on the walls, including a painting of a lighthouse and one that looked like a depiction of the town.

He took a moment to wonder if the artist was Endra herself. He shook the feeling off and began emptying his robe. As a beggar, Aki had very little, but what he had was essential to him. He threw his cane on the bed next to his sunglasses. Then he went through the many pockets in his robes. He had sewn extra pockets into the sleeves.

Up his left arm were acupoint pressure needles. These looked like the regular needles used by some healers. Instead of refined metal, they were made of crude, dull iron. They had flecks of large chunks of simple salt throughout. Aki used these in battle against other cultivators. The iron and salt disrupted the spirit and clogged his opponent's channels, giving him an advantage in the fight.

Up his right arm was a set of regular needles. They allowed him to make some extra money when needed by working as an acupuncturist at a healer’s shop. It paid alright, but people were sometimes dubious of trusting a random person for such an act. There were about a dozen of each kind of needle, and they now sat on the bed next to his sunglasses.

He then pulled out a few small spirit stones from a pocket inside his inner robe on his chest. These were spirit stones from animals, used for their cultivation. Some were cracked, and they put the stones in weapons or other items to trigger abilities. Some people used the stones for their own cultivation. They were from wind beasts said to be from Misumi’s own plane of existence.

He had long since used up the energy from them, but if you were smart enough, you could refill them from your own spirit. A cultivator could then draw upon them to grow his own cultivation. So, with Aki, if he was somewhere windy and was cultivating, he could fill his core and channels. Then siphon some of his own spirit into the cores to draw upon when he needed it. They were empty for the time being. He drew the spirit on them to cultivate and refine his core over the last few nights. The wind had been left wanting, and the air had been still.

Finally, the last things he had, he most treasured. His notes and path manual. It was only some loose sheets of paper tied together with some string. The pages used to be a proper book, but he had removed the cover in order to transport the information. It contained his path, 'The Blossom's Breeze, and instructed Aki on how to do the various techniques he used in fights. Since hitting the spirit realm of his cultivation, he had learned new things. Things he wasn't able to do before. Luckily for him, he had that very long boat ride to read and practice.

The Blossom's Breeze was also a sword style. Which was the only reason Aki had used a sword. He was not a swordsman, not without great effort and practice. He had always relied on his needles and palms for fighting, and the element of surprise. In the sheets of paper were sword stances and maneuvers, and there were some blank sheets he wrote on with a small graphite pencil he had.

He adopted what he could from the style. It was designed for a longer curved sword, however. When Aki drew his blade, he usually used it in reverse grip and relied on quick slashes. It was important with the shorter weaker sword to try to fight a little more brutally, it was important to get the fight over as quick as he could. This was always his goal if he had to pull it.

Had another manual that was more loose sheets rolled up and tied together. This was Dim Mak. It was how he knew how to use his acupuncture needles, and how to use pressure points in his attacks. Beyond that, it was how he made money sometimes on the side. Giving massages and acupuncture therapy to people.

Aki looked over his meager belongings for a few minutes before he shook his head and sighed. It was what it was. He untied his hair, and it was so stiff and dirty the long hair didn't uncurl from the bun he kept it in. Aki had to pull on the hair to uncurl it and let it fall down behind his shoulders. He gave a look of disgust, frowning while he ran his hand through the greasy mop. He bathed sometimes in the ocean, but the salt water was not friendly to his hair.

He gave a sigh and pulled on his beard softly before grinning and turning, looking through his open door. The door to the room with the bath was straight across, so he could see the edge of the bath through the two open doors. He grinned broadly and even gave a small child-like giggle before reaching around and grabbing his cane. He took it in the bathroom with him, closing and locking his own door, bringing the key with him.

The bathroom was a simple room with tile on the floor. There was a small counter against the wall by the door that held different soaps and perfumes. In the opposite corner from the door, was a chamberpot and some incense burning. His eyes drifted over all of this before centering on the large bathtub right in the middle of the room. It was huge. It could have fit three or four men in it, and he wondered if he was going to have company while he was in here?

Aki shrugged. He didn't care if there was. Aki closed the door and saw there wasn't a lock, so it was entirely possible group bathing might be a thing. He then worked on taking off the dirty robes, shedding them layer by layer and leaving them in a pile on the floor. They were more fit for burning than actually washing, but he didn't have a spare set. Where would he even keep them if he did? He had to figure out how to get one of those damn storage rings.

Once he was nude, he kicked off the canvas shoes he wore and walked to the bathtub. He rubbed the sides of it and grinned once more. Lifting one leg into the hot water and then the other, he slipped into the tub. He took his time to savor the feeling of the hot water covering his body. He groaned a deep guttural groan in relaxation and leaned against the edge of the tub and closed his eyes. He could feel the dirt and grime coming off his body just from the clean, hot water.

After some time of soaking, he dipped his head in the water and worked the hot water through his hair. Washing out the grease and salt from the ocean. After several long moments he came back up for air and went to the side of the tub closest to the counter. Grabbing some soaps and a rough sponge, he cleaned himself up and washed his hair out and beard.

It took him some time, but eventually he felt that he was clean. Cleaner than he had been since he left home. Through the window on the wall, he could see the sun approaching the skyline in its final descent into sunset. The orange-red hues washed through the window as Aki rinsed himself.

He looked at the water in the tub, expecting to find it black from his filth. He could see the dirty water floating towards the edges, though, and clearing. Aki reached out with his spirit and sensed the tub. He could feel the thing drawing in energy from the world. He never saw the runes, but now that he was paying attention, he could feel the enchantments clearly. It was also how the water stayed hot, without being scalding. Endra must have spent some serious money on this tub to get it here.

Once Aki was dried off with a towel by the door, he slipped into the soft white cloth bathrobe Endra had left for him. He headed back to his room and grabbed his sunglasses before going back and picking up the pile of cloth that was his clothing. Setting the shoes on top of the pile, he held the bundle in one hand and used his cane with the other. Tapping around the hallways, he made his way downstairs.

Behind the counter where he first found Endra was a young boy, maybe around eight. He was sitting behind the counter behind an art easel with a pallet of paints by him and holding a paintbrush. Aki couldn't see what he was working on, but he could tell the boy was blending the colors together. When Aki entered the room, the boy looked up and smiled and nodded his head. He then called to his mother, who came from the sliding door behind the counter a moment later.

"Oh, Aki, I would have come and got them from you," she told him, coming around the counter and reaching for the bundle of clothing.

"It's alright, better if I explore and learn the inn a little for myself. Let me map it out in my head," he told her, smiling, handing the clothes over.

"Alright then, I'll have these back for you in the morning. I'll get everything as clean as I can," she sounded worried, though. The robes were in rough condition.

"Don't worry if you can't get them like you normally can with other people. They've seen a lot," Aki laughed a little.

"I, no, that's not…." she started, but Aki held up a hand, cutting her off with a gentle laugh.

"Don’t worry about it,” he told her with a soft smile.

"Well, anyway, there should be a girl with a cart coming soon with dinner. She usually has seafood that her father caught. She comes around and cooks it up for the patrons of the inn how they like. I'll send Liam up when she is here so you can come down. Until then, relax in your room if you'd like," Endra said to Aki.

Aki nodded his thanks and then turned, tapping around with his cane once more, pretending to find his way back to the stairs and up them. When he was back in his room with the door locked. He opened a couple of windows to let the fresh air in. It was the first day in a few where there had been a slight breeze and the wind's aura was strong. Aki smiled and set the spirit stones on the floor by the window and then sat on his bottom with his legs folded in front of him by the wind.

He closed his eyes and tuned the sounds coming from outside out. He pushed them from his brain, and he looked inside of himself. His spiritual sense ran along the channels inside himself. That soft glowing white-blue liquid flowing through him. He brought the aura inside of himself, converting it to the mana he used for his power. He pulled it in and drew it to his core, letting the liquid swirl and condense in his core. The beggar concentrated on his breathing. Two short inhales followed by one long exhale. With each breath, he brought in more of the wind's aura.