The tattooist was a square jawed man with so much hair on the backs of his arms it looked like fur. His name was Omi, and he wore extravagant robes, several colorful layers tied with an intricately embroidered sash. His right ear was pierced with several jade rings etched with minute scripts. His instruments were simple, a tapping stick and a bottle of dark ink, both warded and infused with mana. Sunwhisper had entered alone, as his companions had been directed to wait outside, but he stopped in the threshold, losing his step when he saw what was inscribed on the man’s arm.

Five stars.

Omi followed his gaze, and smiled indulgently.

"You have never seen the like, eh?"

(He would taste so good.)

Sunwhisper shook his head, and took the only seat that was available, a small stool beside the Inkmaster. "The First Elder of my village was a three-star."

"You must have come from the border. Pups playing at being wolves, eh?"

"As you say, elder. How is it that one such as you would be tasked with marking someone as unimportant as me?"

Omi took Sunwhisper’s right arm, wiped it with a cloth soaked in alcohol, and then took up his tools. "Five stars is the minimum for an Inkmaster, junior."

The minimum?

"Forgive me, elder, but they administered mana tattoos in Fringe Village, and there was no one of that rank to do so."

Omi chuckled. "I’m sure they did, but a tattoo inscribed by a weak cultivator can be changed or removed by a strong one. I could rewrite any mark out of that village, and on occasion I have done so, when a sentence needed to be adjusted, or a mistake was made. In a perfect world, every tattooist would be a nine-star cultivator, and then no star could ever be doubted for its authenticity, but you have a snowball’s chance in Jihenna of convincing a grand master to spend their days marking initiates, eh?"

"Jihenna?"

"Beetle’s anus, what are they teaching you in Fringe? Jihenna, the burning desert of despair?

The nightmare of the Dry Lands? You have never heard of it?"

"I apologize, elder."

"No need, it is not your fault you were raised in a backwater." Omi went to work, dipping the point of the thin tapping stick in ink making his first mark with a plucking motion. Each artist had a different style, as mana tattoos were recognized by their energy signature rather than their appearance, and Omi’s looked as much like a purple lotus flower as a star. He took his time with the first one, placing it on Sunwhisper’s wrist.

"Are there many five-stars like you in Silk Flower Town?"

Omi chuckled again. "No, junior, I am the only one. This little village is barely worth having one Inkmaster in residence, and I’m not sure I would be here if not for all the wonderful clothes they give me."

"It is strange for me, to be out in the world and see so many strong cultivators. To even speak with one such as you is an honor."

(Such an honor, could you be more subservient?)

{I will try.}

"It is, but a man who does this job can only waste so much time on formality, eh? Otherwise, I would spend all my days being bowed to when I needed to be working."

"How many artists like you are there in the guild?"

"Hmmm… never ask an artist how many there are like him. You may not like the answer, but I am an easy one to get along with, eh? The Starfox Guild employs a thousand or so five-stars south of the Immortal City, I have no idea how many are in the north. This is a big world we live in, and you should never forget that there is always someone stronger than yourself, someone more skilled, and probably more than you would imagine of both."

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(That’s going to be a lot of killing.)

A thousand five star cultivators? It was hard for Sunwhisper to calculate what that meant for his mission. Was a five star twice as strong as Makoto, or ten times as strong? He did not have enough experience to say. Still, if five-stars were so common, he could only imagine what sort of master he would have to challenge to reach the Quintessence. There was little point in even looking at the compass until he had advanced far beyond his current state. The man had mentioned nine-stars, was that as high as it went?

"As you say elder, but it is hard to imagine someone as lowly as myself meeting anyone stronger than you."

Omi paused in his work. "Don’t play these games, junior. You have been starless for a long time, but you should not talk like you are starless any longer. Call me elder, or master, as is proper, but you should hold yourself as a cultivator, and that is with pride."

(See, he gets it.)

Sunwhisper lowered his head, as it was the closest he could come to a bow in the situation.

"As you say, master. I will become accustomed to my status soon enough."

"Good."

"One day maybe, I will have more stars than you. Nine or ten would be nice."

Omi laughed so hard that he had to hold the tapping stick away to ensure he did not make any stray marks.

"What a transformation, you are a chameleon, young master Jin. But you will not be earning any more stars as easily as these first two, that I can promise. Did they talk about ten-star cultivators in Fringe Village? They are only legends. The Starfox Guild does not recognize a rank above the ninth. And why should they? A nine-star cultivator could grab a cloud by its tail, infuse it with mana, and use it as a bludgeon to crush a city if he wanted. They are so high that you and I may as well be the same rank before one of them."

So that is what he would be up against, in the end.

"How many nine-stars are there then, master?"

"Hmmm…I do not know. There are records, of course, but such high ranks are afforded privacy. Most clans do not have even a single nine-star to their name. The grand supreme master of the Starfox Guild is one, of course, and the leaders of the eight great sects, I would assume. The Azai are considered very strong here, but their patriarch is only an eight-star. Though that is a foolish thing to say. Being ‘only’ an eight-star is like being ‘only’ a heavenly dragon mother."

Sunwhisper felt a weight on his shoulder, and when he looked, there were two beady black eyes staring back at him with too much intelligence behind them. A weasel with a glossy blue pelt had appeared there as if from thin air, and it wrinkled its nose as him.

"Master?"

"That is only Itachi, let him do as he likes. He could kill you with a thought."

Sunwhisper gazed into the eyes of the weasel, who in return regarded him with interest. Its fur was similar in texture to the hair on Omi’s arms. The sacred beast pressed closer, sniffed his cheek, and then vanished. The feeling of weight was gone, so it had not merely made itself invisible. The creature had either transported itself through space by mystic means, or else moved so quickly that he had been unable to register the motion.

"He is with you, master?"

"My soul bond, yes. If there are no four-stars in Fringe Village, I am not surprised you have not seen one before. But you are traveling with a sacred beast yourself, eh? You must have designs on four stars already."

"The raven is my friend," Sunwhisper said, "Do all four-stars have sacred companions?"

"When you go back home," Omi said, "find yourself a better teacher. We are done here, junior."

He had already finished the second tattoo. The process had not been painful, though there was a slight sting, and the newly painted skin was warm and tingling with fresh mana.

"Thank you, master." Sunwhisper excused himself. Janna was not waiting for him in the next room, but Karasu was grooming herself on the back of a chair.

"Where is she?" Sunwhisper asked.

The raven gave him one of its complicated, six winged shrugs. "Guild servants. Asked her name, then took." Sunwhisper held out his arm, and Karasu flapped over to perch on his shoulder. She was far too large to rest there comfortably, and they had to duck to get her under the next door frame they passed through.

Sunwhisper waved at the first usher he saw, and they hurried over to attend to him.

"How may I serve you, young master."

What a difference a tattoo makes.

"My sister, Janna Jin, was waiting for me as I was being marked. Where has she gone?"

"Apologies, elder, but her presence was requested by a member of the Azai clan."

The Azai clan? Sunwhisper took a deep breath. It would have been too much to hope that they had outrun them so quickly. Whoever he had robbed, they must have sent word ahead to be on the lookout for Sunwhisper’s old identity and any of his known associates. He had thought they would assume Janna had died with the rest of the hunters, as she hadn’t actually been present for the second theft or the freeing of the raven, but clearly, that was not the case. But why hadn’t they taken Karasu as well, if that was what this was about?

"Take me to them."