Xoi Doua Ki'el stepped off of the transport, resisting the urge to turn and look back. In one way, she was doing this to echo the actions of her master, Sobon, who had just days ago left before dawn to face her destiny, fighting an army raised by a lesser Djang noble house. Sobon had offended them, and not trivially, by denouncing a slave trade that was being conducted by their house, and when a young master of their family challenged her, she crippled him, despite being much lower in cultivation. When an elder of the house returned to get revenge, Sobon slew him, again being much lower in cultivation. And then, apparently, they had raised their entire family, Ki'el knew not how many, to try to crush Sobon once and for all.

Ki'el had not heard directly from him since then, but she had received one message. It was a simple mental message, relayed to her from afar by a strange mental voice that she trusted, a voice that she knew she could not explain to most people. A voice that belonged to some great power, one which might... just might, be heralding the destruction of this world.

More than that, Ki'el did not understand, or not clearly. Sobon had spoken on it, and Ki'el would think on it, but there was no one else who could explain it, not unless she wished to talk to the voice and ask it questions, and Ki'el felt that would be testing her luck quite a bit.

Sobon had done and said many great and meaningful things in the short time that Ki'el knew her, and Ki'el had at first grasped on to his words as the only light that she had. Now, behind her, two other forms stepped out of the simple transport, people who were, on paper, her adopted-sister or sister-in-law, and her adopted-brother. Xoi Xam was a warrior with several interesting stories, and she seemed clever, but Ki'el did not know her well, not yet. And Xoi Datta Mian had apparently also been taken in by Sobon, who seemed to trust him, and now he carried a part of Sobon's fortunes and a mission to help build a house in support of her.

It was... complicated, she knew, and she didn't relish the idea of having to explain it to anyone.

If there was anyone who would ask for more details, it was the calm man standing at the gate, though it likely wouldn't be Ki'el that he asked. Ki'el could tell that his qi was very high, although she was polite and did not try to listen to or look at the man's qi core, which would tell her the man's name and his qi rank. She herself had a very low qi ranking; it was still only two Gold Stars, which was the end of the lowest phase of qi--but still within that lowest phase, known as the Common Metals. This man... without question, if he chose violence, no one they had brought would be able to face him. Even without assessing his qi core, Ki'el knew that.

But no one here was doing anything at all to provoke him, either.

"Lai Shi Po." The man bowed in recognition as yet another person exited the transport behind Ki'el. Lai Shi Po, a genius creator of scripted items, was also a friend of Sobon, and it was because of her that Ki'el, Mian, and Xam were here now. "I sensed your qi pulses. Given the edge to them, I was worrying that there was some trouble, but you seem well."

"Mai Han Du." Lai Shi Po, who was usually a very irreverent person, took two steps forward and then bowed deeply, her voice far more formal than usual. "I am very pleased to see you are well."

Mai Han Du--Ki'el would, at least internally, mostly think of him by his given name, Du--let out a wave of aether, or rather qi, that Ki'el thought indicated humor. The difference between qi and aether... no, she should simply not think of aether at all, and certainly not speak to it, not to anyone here. It was a word that her master used to speak of something much simpler than qi, something more profound, and Sobon had taught her some little pieces of what she knew. Those pieces had made Ki'el stronger, but it was still unclear to her what how she should approach either qi or aether. In theory, Sobon had left her some notes on that, but... they remained sealed, for now. In a way.

When Du spoke, his voice contained some humor. "After your marriage into the Lai family, Po, I began to wonder if anyone was going to find a way to tame you. Please don't tell me you cheated on your husband and need to hide out here? We'd help of course, but...?"

Po straightened and made a fake retching noise. "Don't even start, Du. Sex is as unappealing to me now as it was then. No, I am here to recommend these three to the sect. They even have a sponsor to pay their entrance fees."

Mai Han Du glanced across the three, his eyes starting with Ki'el, who met them, although she could feel the weight of qi behind his eyes, like the weight of an entire mountain threatening at any moment to drop down on her. But his gaze remained gentle, without any sign of worry or discomfort, and after a moment, his gaze moved on to Mian, and then Xam. "Two of them seem good, but this man..."

"I know," Mian said, standing proudly. "But I have been holding myself back for too long. Now that I am married to my lovely wife Xam," he smiled and reached out for her hand, but Xoi Xam, who was trying to stand tall and proud, batted his hand away, looking concerned. "...I must do everything in my power to catch up, and I *will*." He just looked at the man, and nodded his head with conviction. "As long as I am given the time, I promise that I will."

Mai Han Du's eyes flicked across them again, and then his head moved slightly, a movement that she assumed meant he agreed. She also sensed just the slightest flicker of the man's qi, one which seemed to send away a very subtle message wave. "While I could take your money, it would be improper. I have sent for Elder Gol, who is normally in charge of these things."

After that, Du and Po began to speak quickly about people and events that were of little consequence to Ki'el, and so she looked around. In truth, she was not sure what she should have expected from this place; she had been told that the Moonstone Island sect was a series of floating stone islands in the sky, and she had seen some of that as the transport approached, but in truth, she was not able to see much out of the cramped box's small windows.

Here, she stood on a very wide boulder whose center had been flattened, although it tapered off and then rounded around the edges. In several directions, she could see clouds below them, and far below the clouds, she could see vast quantities of land, land that she supposed must stretch off in every direction somewhere beneath her. But while she could see much of the clouds and distant lands below, she could also see several more large floating islands above and below in several directions.

But they were far from simple boulders like this one. Most of them were forested; without trying, she could spot two that had rivers pouring endlessly off the edge of the island, making her itch to explore and find the source. But while most had signs of wilderness, there were also signs of domestication; there were many buildings scattered around, but also, there were fields of growing things sown in regular fields, not unlike the orchards of her home islands.

Unlike her home islands, however, there was no sea to travel on from one to the next. While some of the islands seemed to have bridges of one type or another, and still others seemed to at least be tied to others by rope or cable, others still had no obvious tether, and some of the islands were far from the rest. Ki'el trusted that they would teach people to travel safely from one island to the next, especially those islands that they would need to go to; even so, the lack of obvious paths between them was... concerning.

When the man called Elder Gol finally arrived, it was clear to Ki'el that he was choosing deliberately to move slowly, perhaps even to provoke a reaction. Although she could tell that he had incredible qi reserves, he moved at a walking pace too slow to even be called sedate; it was more like he was drawing out the length of his walk, in order to meditate or think something through. His eyes and head wandered as he walked, as though he were keeping mental note of all of the plants he saw and all of the small scratches in the rock.

When at least he drew close enough that Lai Shi Po and Mai Han Du stopped their idle talk to acknowledge him, Ki'el felt like she had been standing and watching him approach for entirely too long--perhaps five minutes or more, when the man had only to cross thirty meters of open stone. Still, she showed her own respect and bowed, as did the others, and she noted no sign of disrespect or even stress in Lai Shi Po's voice.

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"This Lai Shi Po one again greets Elder Gol," she said.

"Young sister Shi Po. We have not seen you since you last came by to maintain our ward stones." Elder Gol's voice was friendly, Ki'el thought, though she wondered if there was something deep inside that she could only barely hear. "From what I hear, you are a very popular inscriptionist, now. Word reaches even these ears... *sometimes.*"

Po had eased out of her bow, but only fully straightened after he finished speaking, Ki'el and the others following suit a moment later. "There is not a straight road between the Ways of the World and the Ways of Men, sifu. I know I still have much to learn."

Elder Gol chuckled. "Indeed, we are a long way from the Ways of Men here, child. But you wish to recommend entrants into the sect?" He turned his head oddly, giving Shi Po a very specific Look. "Entrants who can pay?"

Lai Shi Po gestured, and Xoi Xam stepped forward, focusing to bring forth money from a space ring. The Elder swept his eyes over the sum for only a moment before the bag of coins simply vanished into his own ring. "This money has recently seen the Jade Phoenix Auction House, I can tell. None of it is old money, I think, eh, young sister?"

Ki'el felt a chill run through her at the casual way the man spoke. It made little, or no sense at all, to Ki'el, that he could tell where coins had come from, but then, she wouldn't have been too terribly surprised if Sobon had been able to find some such detail. She resolved, quietly in her mind, to not be surprised when other masters showed similar depths to them. Even if, in truth and in Ki'el's heart, none of them could match up to Sobon.

"Sifu is clever as always," Po said, though her voice sounded a bit tired. "I cannot speak too much without offending a hidden master, so I will leave it to Sifu and the others to discover the strange fate that lies over these three." She turned and gestured to Ki'el, who was a little further back, and to Mian and Xam. "But we will start with Xoi Xam, born of the Xoi trading family, and until recently in the service of the Diamond Lord's Army."

Xam stepped forward, and gave a martial salute, as Ki'el moved up beside Mian. She tried to look polite and at attention, though she didn't know quite what was expected of her. She hoped that this place wouldn't expect her to gain the rigid formal stances that Xam used. "This Xoi Xam is honored to be considered to place within this sect, and eager to get started as soon as possible."

Elder Gol and Mai Han Du both chuckled. "Relax," Du said. "We are only greeting you. You won't truly be able to enter the sect until you pass the Golden Wall, and you should do that with one of our Elders present."

Xam gave a firm head not and a single bark of acknowledgement, then stepped back.

"Next is Xoi Dulle Mian," Po said, using the man's fake name, as he stepped forward and bowed. To disguise the fact that the three were using Sobon's money, Mian was playing as though he was a disgraced member of a nonexistent noble family; it was something that the Xoi understood and accepted, or at least, Xoi Mon, Xam's uncle, did. The man had helped them put everything together, along with the City Lord of Emerald Valley, who was... much indebted to Sobon, Ki'el supposed. "Recently he has married Xoi Xam and entered into their family. We are aware that he is far behind the others, but he believes he has the willpower necessary to make up the difference."

"It will be difficult," Du said, as Elder Gol appraised him and stroked his beard. "But there are few better places in the world to make the attempt, at least."

"Last is Xoi Doua Ki'el. The Xoi have adopted her into the family as well, both because of her potential, and as a favor."

Ki'el felt the keen senses of the Elder pass over her, and could feel Mai Han Du's eyes on her. She wondered just what they were looking for, and what they thought they saw, and sensed, but she held her tongue and simply gave a stiff bow.

"Interesting," was all Elder Gol said.

"I have told them that they will be in the lesser house until they can pass the Golden Wall," Po said, "unless the sect has changed its mind?"

The simple headshakes from them both, with neither offense nor pity, was all the answer that question needed.

"Then, I suppose I will leave them all in your care." Po smiled. "Now, Elder... does the Moonstone Island sect have any projects that you would wish my input on while I am here?"

The man turned to face her full on, scratching his chin with one finger, and took a rather long time to think about that question, long enough that Ki'el began to think that the man's terribly slow walk before must simply be a part of the man's character. "Not unless your comprehension of spatial qi has advanced enough for you to look into the teleportation ring," he finally said. "Lately, only those with strong will have been able to use it."

"I have learned a fair bit about space recently," Po responded, "and I wouldn't mind looking, but I have not had time to properly integrate what I've learned. Perhaps I will be able to understand the problem better now, but I imagine fixing it will take another trip."

"Come along then, young sister," he said, "walk and talk with me. Brother Du, if you would see our newest brother and sisters situated."

"Of course, Elder." Du only briefly bowed to the man, before turning to look at the three of them, a sharp and hard light in his eyes. "As for the rest of you... come along. Let me tell you about the Lesser House of the Moonstone Island Sect."

Unlike the elder, Du struck out at a fairly quick walking pace, and his voice was also quick. "The lesser house is full of hopefuls," he said, "people who have the money to apply for the sect, but may or may not have the talent. Although the people there are free to leave, if they were to leave the sect without passing the Golden Wall, they would need to pay again in order to return. Most of them are noble scions too afraid of their family to return there a failure, and so they either pretend that they have already accepted and are exploring the heavens with us, or they promise that things are right around the corner. Those who truly have talent, most often, do not stay long."

"The Lesser House are expected to work for the sect, and you should expect to work for no less than a month, even if you could break the Golden Wall today. Only in the case of a true prodigy would that rule be bent. We like to think of working for the Lesser House to be a test of patience and respect, though..." he chuckled. "The fact that so many remain years after it became obvious they had no talent has made the Lesser House a very different kind of test. It is not even a new circumstance; although no one from my initiate days remains in the Lesser House, it was full even then."

"Those that pass the Lesser House and become Outer Disciples will also work for the sect, but with more benefits. While you are in the Lesser House, you will be fed and clothed, your *needs* attended to, but nothing beyond your need, and not a single copra paid to you for your time--at least, not for official sect work. For some, especially noble scions, it is difficult to accept work without rewards. However, that is the Way of the World."

They continued on in silence for a few moments. Although Ki'el and Xam were in good enough shape that they could endure the walk easily, Mian seemed a little taken aback by the pace, although he was not yet sweating or upset. Already, they had come up to the end of the boulder on which they had landed, and there was a narrow rope and plank bridge stretching to the next island, which swayed and even danced a bit in the swirling winds around the islands.

Xam spoke up, as the man began passsed without pausing onto the bridge. "What exactly is the Way of the World, sifu?"

"I am not your sifu," the man said, turning and walking backwards effortlessly, despite the swaying bridge whose planks were at times unevenly spaced or bouncing in the wind, "I do teach some of the Outer Disciples, but even then, it is not personal attention, or not much. To them, and to you, I am simply a Sect Brother." He only paused for perhaps two breaths before addressing the question. "The Way of the World is a concept that most of the sects agree on, although their wording varies. To us, the Way of the World is this: you can receive a good fate through sheer luck, but if you wish to earn a good fate, it comes through suffering and hard work. And although it is less often said, we sometimes add that you may *receive* a bad fate through sheer luck, but those that have truly *earned* a bad fate deserve no pity or sympathy at all."

Ki'el thought about that for a time. There seemed little doubt that bad fate haunted Sobon's steps, and her own, though Sobon had talked about fate and time as some kind of strange energies that others might seek to control. They had both suffered, and watched others suffer. She could imagine no reason why her own fate would be anything other than bad luck, but she truly had no idea of what exactly was in Sobon's history. He spoke of wars and distant things, and it was not hard for Ki'el to think that he had once done awful things, but she also did not know that such was true, and she believed that Sobon was a good person.

When no one else spoke for a moment, Ki'el raised her voice to ask a question. "What did Lai Shi Po mean when she said there was no straight path from that to the Ways of Men?"

"Ah," Du smiled at her, not bothering to catch the railing as the bridge swayed to the side a bit in the wind. "That is an old saying, a favorite of many of the elders of the sect. The Way of the World is that people earn good fate, but the Ways of Men is for people to buy their way forward. For them, hard work becomes money, money becomes power, and power defies fate. For us, hard work and earnesty produce both power and good fate, but little money."

"Those who learn one Way often struggle with the other. I believe that Lai Shi Po was always meant to follow the Ways of Men, though she earned respect in the time she spent here, following the Ways of the World. She expected recognition for her efforts, reward for her labors. Although she does search for power and truth directly, she is motivated at heart by coin, which gives her the ability to do more in the future. For a crafter, that is not wrong, but it did mean that she had little place here."

"For now," he said, as they finished crossing the bridge at last, and began to walk through a relatively dense but not wide stand of trees. "We approach the Lesser House." Du gestured with one hand as the building came to be visible through the trees.