From the shadows emerged a middle-aged man who bore his years lightly - there was nothing elderly about his bearing or appearance. His straight dark brown hair fell carelessly over his black cloak, and his deep brown beard covered most of his chin. His light brown eyes caught the warm glow of the bar lights, giving them an amber warmth. He wore the black cloak over dark robes, their sleeves embroidered with vine-like patterns marred by old stains. At his waist hung a jade belt festooned with small bottles that clinked musically with each step, like wind chimes in a gentle breeze.

"Old Patio!" Felicity blurted out with unrestrained enthusiasm.

Wind Patio's eyes narrowed in mock offense. "I'm much younger than Elder Blackwood. Where do you get off calling me 'Old Patio'?"

"That's exactly why he's 'Elder'!" Felicity took another sip of her drink, her face scrunching up at the bitterness. She brightened suddenly, "Oh! Old Patio, we were just talking about your ex-boyfriend!"

"Ah, that's not something we should bring up," Wind Patio replied without a trace of anger at the gossipy intrusion. He gracefully slid onto the high stool next to Serene, his dark cloak settling around him like folded wings. Noticing Lenient's exposed forearms and loosely tied hair, he smiled. "I'm out of needles."

"I'll soak some for you tomorrow," Lenient answered with easy nonchalance, as if discussing morning tea rather than poison needles. "Who did you kill this time?"

"You know how it goes," Wind Patio leaned forward, his beard catching the candlelight. "There's always someone trying to break through our defensive formations to steal herbs from the northern ponds. That Celestial Dawn Lotus seems quite valuable these days." He casually picked up Serene's drink and took a sip, then realized something was wrong. "Oh, this isn't my lemon water. My apologies. Could I get one for myself?"

"That's actually wine..." Serene muttered under his breath, watching his stolen drink with mild dismay.

"Are you ordering it for your beard?" Felicity teased, her eyes dancing with mischief as she gestured at his meticulously maintained facial hair.

"This is a bar, we don't serve lemon water," Lenient replied with a playful smile. "And you're going through those needles far too quickly. One soaking gives me about two thousand needles, and I just did a batch three months ago."

"Just give me whatever then." Wind Patio waved his hand dismissively. "I was rudely awakened from meditation by the alarm. Think about it - I couldn't just throw needles one at a time, they'd block them all. Had to attack from all directions at once to overwhelm their defenses. Burns through quite a lot. Even though it was just one person, I used up everything I had left."

"Immortal Alliance?" Lenient's eyebrow arched as he shook the cocktail mixer.

"Looked like it," Wind Patio absentmindedly took another sip from Serene's drink. "Must have been quite powerful too - breaking through our defensive formations isn't easy. Probably Master level at least." His eyes lit up with sudden recognition. "Oh, and they used a sword! Might have been from the Celestial Sword Sect!"

Lenient's eyes gleamed with fierce delight. "Well done then! I'll soak two batches for you - four thousand needles!"

At the casual mention of a Celestial Sword Sect Master's demise, Flint's shoulders tensed ever so slightly, her recent departure from that very sect still fresh in her mind.

"Oh?" Felicity's eyes lit up as she recalled the information she'd found about Flint on the Labyrinth Network earlier that day. "Our new family member is from the Celestial Sword Sect too..." She trailed off, the words about soul absorption dying on her lips as she remembered Lenient's earlier outburst.

"New family member?" Wind Patio leaned forward, his collection of poison vials tinkling softly against his belt as he peered past the others to get a better look at Flint. His light brown eyes narrowed in concentration. "You seem... familiar," he murmured.

"We might have met when you were trying to capture Spark... um, the wolf prince," Flint offered hesitantly, fidgeting slightly with her glass. Her voice carried the same awkwardness as someone reminding an acquaintance of a party where they'd accidentally broken something expensive.

"Ah, yes... yes... it's been a while." Wind Patio's words faded into an awkward silence, the weight of their past encounter settling uncomfortably between them like a heavy winter blanket in summer.

"And... your name is?" Wind Patio asked, his fingers drumming an awkward rhythm against his glass.

"Flint. Flint Winter," she replied evenly, her voice carrying the same calm certainty as smooth stones in a river bed.

"Ah, yes. I'm Wind Patio," he shifted on his stool, trying to recover his earlier composure. "I'm a bit higher ranked than you - you can call me Elder Patio."

Flint noted the casual form of address, so different from the Celestial Sword Sect's rigid insistence on calling their elders "Sage." The contrast was as stark as stepping from a formal banquet into a family dinner.

"Flint is the little stone I've been looking for!" Lenient's voice bubbled with joy as he set a fresh glass of Pine's Tear before Wind Patio. The drink was special - crafted from his freshly severed pinky finger, now transformed into a small pine branch. With practiced grace, he ground several pine needles into a fine powder, sprinkling it over the drink's surface in the delicate pattern of a house.

"Little stone is Obsidian's reincarnation!" Lenient's tone danced between delight and gentle reminder, his eyes fixed on Wind Patio. The effect was immediate - Wind Patio's face transformed as if struck by lightning, his carefully maintained composure cracking to reveal pure, unfiltered shock.

Wind Patio turned to study Flint again, his eyes softening with remembrance. "There is a resemblance... though, you know, I didn't see Obsidian all that often. Now, if Blackwood were to see Flint - that would be something to witness!"

How different he seems from that night when he hunted us like a demon, Flint thought, taking a measured sip of her drink. Perhaps it's because this is 'home'.

"By the way, I want to abolish the policy that prevents soul absorbers from joining the Abyssal Pavilion. Where do I go to change that?" Lenient asked with a bright smile, as casual as if discussing the weather.

"Oh..." Wind Patio took a sip of his drink, then froze. "Wait, what?"

He nearly choked on his drink, forcing himself to swallow before speaking. "But that... that was the Bamboo Sovereign's..." He glanced at Lenient, clearly uncomfortable discussing old rules with the Bamboo Sovereign's reincarnation. "Why abolish it?"

"It's strange, isn't it?" Lenient mused with unsettling cheerfulness. "We accept people who've committed far worse acts as family members - like those who've poisoned an entire sect..."

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"It wasn't the entire sect - just a third at most!" Wind Patio protested hastily, then caught himself with a small cough. "And that was... an accident."

"Exactly!" Lenient nodded enthusiastically, as if Wind Patio had just proven his point. "Soul absorption could be accidental too! And even if it's intentional, does it really matter? The Immortal Alliance does it anyway."

"I believe that's still against Alliance law," Flint pointed out quietly.

"Oh, those ridiculous laws only apply to Alliance members without power," Lenient corrected her with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "For the higher-ups in the Alliance? Well, there are no laws for them."

"It's just..." Wind Patio hesitated, swirling his drink. "I remember Obsidian was quite adamant about this rule..."

Lenient turned to Flint with his ever-present smile. "Little stone, do you want this rule to stay?"

The sudden weight of decision caught Flint off guard. "Oh? Well, I never actually absorbed any souls... that was just a rumor..."

"Right," Felicity nodded thoughtfully, as if she had forgotten that she previously mentioned Flint couldn’t join the Abyssal Pavilion because Flint herself absorbs souls. "Obsidian was strongly against soul absorption too."

Lenient's eyes still held their gentle warmth. "If little stone says she didn't absorb souls, then she didn't. It was the wicked Alliance's doing." His expression shifted to one of concern, like clouds darkening a sunny day. "I'm just worried... what if someone, one of our Abyssal Pavilion family members, is falsely accused of soul absorption by the Alliance?"

"According to current Pavilion rules, they would be expelled," Serene interjected quietly.

"Actually, expulsion seems to be the punishment for everything here," Felicity added. "Murder, intentional harm to members, theft - all result in expulsion..."

"Exactly, exactly," Lenient nodded eagerly. "Once expelled, they're no longer family. And if they're not family..."

He left the sentence unfinished, but Flint understood. An expelled member would likely face immediate assassination... or worse. Something about these laws struck a familiar chord in her memory.

"Isn't that a bit far-fetched?" Wind Patio countered, though his tone remained gentle. "Why would the Alliance falsely accuse our people of soul absorption?"

"That's not important - it's just hypothetical, hypothetical," Lenient responded with soft insistence.

Ah, hypothetical... Wind Patio found himself drawn into the scenario, mulling it over.

"I don't think soul absorption is such a big deal," Felicity mused, her slightly tipsy face propped up on one hand, round cheeks making her look younger than usual. "As long as we don't absorb souls from Pavilion members. We don't care about killing outsiders anyway, right?"

Wind Patio remembered that he had just killed someone and subconsciously nodded.

Serene let out an almost imperceptible sigh and took another sip of his mild drink.

"Little stone, what do you think?" Lenient finally turned to Flint.

To be honest, I'm still trying to understand the values here in the Abyssal Pavilion, Flint pondered. Though it seems soul absorption isn't considered particularly serious here...

But... Felicity's comment about Obsidian opposing soul absorption nagged at her, reminding her of Sage South Rain's words about Obsidian being executed for soul absorption - among other charges, of course. Would abolishing this rule here in the Abyssal Pavilion honor or betray her past self?

"I feel..." Flint began hesitantly, "that perhaps it's not such a serious matter..."

Before her "but" could escape, Lenient cut in with bubbling enthusiasm. "See! Little stone agrees! We should abolish this rule - everyone should be welcome in the Abyssal Pavilion! And once they're here, they can kill for soul absorption too!"

"Just not our own people - outsiders are fair game," Felicity added cheerfully.

The bloodthirsty words, paired with Felicity's innocent appearance, created such a stark disconnect that Flint found herself momentarily stunned, her objections dying in her throat.

As the bitter taste of Bitter Mist lingered on her tongue, Felicity's eyes suddenly sparkled with mischief. "Oh? Does this include killing trees for their souls?"

"Of course!" Lenient nodded vigorously. "If little stone wants to absorb my soul, I'll expel myself from the Abyssal Pavilion right away!"

"But..." Flint tried again, "This was Obsidian's..."

Before she could finish, Lenient cut her off with a gentle smile. "But little stone has been away from home for so long."

Flint froze, sensing something different in these words. Unlike Lenient's usual eager agreement with her every thought, this carried a subtle edge - a reminder that she'd been gone too long to truly understand this place anymore.

The word ‘home’ sounded a bit strange to her at that moment, as if she were being kidnapped by a kind of familial affection. The family seemed to blame her for no longer understanding this home.

"Ah..." Flint found her objections dissolving. After all, who was she to interfere with the Pavilion's rules after being absent for so long? Why would she object when everyone in the family agrees?

"Perhaps... it should be abolished," she conceded, her voice growing fainter with each word before taking another sip of her drink.

"Yeah!" Lenient threw his hands up in celebration like an excited child.

"Silly pine tree," Felicity commented dryly.

He then cupped Flint's face with both hands - his left missing a pinky, his right still whole - and gazed into her eyes. "I didn't mean anything by saying you've been gone so long. I just think your old rules might not fit anymore..."

Aren't those two statements contradicting each other? Flint thought to herself.

She stared into Lenient's eyes, clear as emeralds and radiating such pure innocence that he seemed entirely free of ulterior motives.

"I just think," he continued with a childish whine, "what if one day little stone wants to absorb my soul, but gets stopped by that damn rule? Wouldn't that be such a shame?"

"Is 'shame' really the word we're looking for here?" Serene stared at Lenient in disbelief.

As Flint watched the casual way they discussed changing such a fundamental rule, she couldn't help but marvel at the difference. In the Celestial Sword Sect, even minor rule changes required formal meetings and endless debates among the elders. Here, rules seemed more like friendly suggestions than iron-clad laws.

"I... I really haven't absorbed any souls..." Flint felt like crying in frustration. "And I won't absorb yours either."

"It doesn't matter if little stone doesn't want to now. Maybe tomorrow, or next month, next year, or a hundred years from now - whenever little stone wants to, she can." Lenient gazed at Flint, his smile unwavering.

"Then my soul would become part of little stone!" Lenient beamed with childlike delight.

"Ugh," Felicity leaned back in disgust. "That's revolting."

“I really don’t need your soul.” Flint sighed.

What struck her as strange was Lenient's perpetual calmness while saying these things, as if they truly came from his heart. Unlike Spark, who often betrayed moments of nervousness, Lenient maintained an eerily peaceful joy - except when discussing Obsidian's past life or certain serious matters in this one.

"Besides," Lenient slowly withdrew his hands from Flint's face, "as long as little stone remains family, you won't leave us for too long... It's all the Immortal Alliance's fault...You don't need to die..." His voice grew quieter and quieter, almost as if he were talking to himself.

Something nagged at Flint's mind - why did Lenient keep bringing up "Little stone doesn't need to die" since her arrival? His repeated references to death and mortality seemed oddly persistent.

Perhaps he's recovered too many memories, Flint reasoned to herself. He must be constantly remembering how he and Obsidian parted in their past life.

"Oh, we'll need to inform all the family members responsible for guarding the entrance about this change," Wind Patio mused, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Technically, we could welcome anyone now, as long as we ensure they receive proper treatment in time."

"Why not just remove the guard duty entirely?" Felicity suggested, her eyes brightening with inspiration. "We could set up detection alerts instead - whenever someone arrives, we either treat them or escort them in."

A mischievous grin spread across her face as she turned to Serene. "Though I suppose that would leave a certain someone unemployed~"

Serene adjusted his glasses with practiced precision. "Not necessarily. I do tend to the spiritual herbs sometimes as well..."

"Serene could always study Alchemy with me!" Wind Patio interjected smoothly, his diplomatic nature showing through as he attempted to ease any potential tension.

"Oh, you just spend all day obsessing over your puppets," Felicity shrugged, her tone carrying the fond exasperation of a sister teasing her brother.

"I'd say they serve their purpose," Serene countered with scholarly seriousness, straightening his posture slightly. "Don't you work with puppets every day yourself?"

"But those are automated puppets from the Mystic Enigma Pavilion!" Felicity dismissed with a wave of her hand. "They're built specifically for trading WhisperCoin. Your manually operated ones are completely outdated!"

"My puppets can change their appearance," Serene adjusted his glasses, a hint of pride creeping into his usually measured voice. "While those Mystic Enigma Pavilion puppets you see are just wooden forms."

Felicity puffed out her cheeks in a childish pout. "I feel like it would be even creepier if they made them look human."

Felicity stretched lazily, her movements slow and drowsy. "It's getting late. I should head to bed. In a week, when I'm not on duty at the Whisper Exchange anymore, I'll go to sleep... ah, I mean, enter closed cultivation for a month."

"Good night," Lenient murmured softly.

Wind Patio drained the last of his drink, the empty glass clinking against the wooden counter. "I should probably return to my closed cultivation too, but since I'm already awake, I might as well refine some pills."

"I need some Natural Essence Pills for little stone's cultivation - put them on my tab," Lenient added.

"Ah yes, your tab," Wind Patio chuckled as he stood to leave. "Because if we tried to give you spirit stones, the entire Abyssal Pavilion would go bankrupt."

As Felicity and Wind Patio's footsteps faded away, Serene shifted uncomfortably in the growing silence. He drained the last sip of his drink and stood. "I should go too," he announced, though he had no intention of sleeping - having reached Adept level meant he no longer needed rest. Instead, he planned to spend the quiet hours with his books.

Looking around at the dispersing group, Flint suddenly realized a practical concern. "Where am I supposed to stay?" she asked Lenient. The question had barely left her lips when she remembered that she had no need for sleep. It didn't really matter if she had a room - she could always spend the night exploring the grounds or watching the stars.

"Why, you'll sleep with me, of course!" Lenient exclaimed with childlike enthusiasm, his eyes sparkling. "In the past, Obsidian and the Bamboo Sovereign always shared a bed!"

Is this really okay? Flint found herself unconsciously turning the ring on her left index finger - the one Spark had given her with specific instructions about which finger to wear it on.

Lenient emerged from behind the bar and wrapped his arms around Flint, the faint scent of alcohol still clinging to him. He nuzzled against her hair, his voice soft and content. "Little stone has come home."

With one cheek resting against the top of her head, he gently lifted her ponytail with his other hand. "We'll live happily together here at home forever," he murmured.

The word "home" echoed strangely in Flint's mind as she reached up to touch Lenient's forearm, her fingers light against his skin. The gesture felt both familiar and foreign, like a half-remembered dream. As Lenient's warmth enveloped her, she wondered - would her return strengthen this peculiar family, or would it ultimately lead to its unraveling?