Chapter 16
All good things come to an end, and usually it’s right after they become good things, Kora reflected as she redressed in her traveling clothes. The last few days of her stay were over too fast. Once she’d given up on her original goal and just focused on enjoying her time with the Shen family, the other children had opened up to her like a flower releasing its beauty to the world.
Mostly in the form of sparring matches that left her sore and aching, but grateful and ready for more.
She’d asked for permission to return the following year and been surprised when it had been granted out of hand, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Kora’s surprise must have shown on her face, for Tren had explained “It will keep your family off our back if they think there’s still some chance of the wedding happening. I don’t really care if you tell them the conclusion you’ve come to about your incompatibility with Tan, but either way they’ll see this as another window.”
“Aside from that, it’s good for the children to see others their own age walking down different paths,” Wensho volunteered. “And another sparring partner is good for everyone involved.”
“When you come back I’m going to be strong enough to beat you up too,” Safron volunteered.
Now, in the guest house as she dressed, Kora allowed herself a moment of melancholy. The friends that she’d had when she was younger were the children of servants, and would grow up to be servants themselves. She hadn’t realized this when she was younger, but was acutely aware of it now. Her relationships with the other cultivators her own age were contentious.
She didn’t really have any friends outside of the Shen farm, she realized, isolating the problem at its root. It would be one year before she saw her friends again, and she was sad.
“Is it okay if I write?” she asked when she emerged from the house. “To each of you, I mean?”
The children collectively shrugged. Safron said “You’d better!” That was all that Kora needed to hear.
“Are you ready?” Tren asked.
“I have everything that I brought with me,” she answered. “So, as ready as I’m going to get.”
“Not quite. I have a gift,” Lady Wensho said. She pulled something out of a—was that a spatial ring? That was a spatial ring! The gift that she unveiled was a simple mat with a very complicated design embroidered upon it.
A meditation mat, Kora realized. It circular and six feet in diameter, and as she stared at the formation embroidered upon it she was tempted to get lost in it. It resonated with her, somehow.
“This should help your cultivation,” Lady Wensho explained. “It’s not as powerful as a proper gathering formation, but if you find a place with dense Qi this will help draw the fire aspect of the area to you. You must power it yourself, however, by running Qi through this pattern here. Once it’s fully powered it will last for several hours, resonating between the environment and yourself. Reflect on that.”
“I will,” Kora said, taking the mat and examining it for a moment. “Thank you, Lady Wensho. I am eternally grateful.”
“No need for that,” Wensho said.
“I got you a gift too,” Tan admitted, and he handed over a stone. As soon as she touched it, she realized that it wasn’t just a pretty rock, but that there was a spirit inside of it. “Not sure if it will help you or not, but your family likes these things, right? Well, have another one, I guess.”
Safron, when she realized that people were giving gifts to Kora, ran off to grab one of her less favorite dolls. Unfortunately, the rest of the farewells were said and Tren picked Kora up and moved using the Titan’s Walk technique before the little girl returned. At first Safron was upset, almost to the point of tears. But then she looked down at the doll she’d selected and realized that it wasn’t her least favorite after all, and she was glad that she hadn’t given it away.
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Lord Hara just about fell over when the man that he believed to be the former emperor appeared right in front of his hall. He’d stepped outside to escape the hustle and bustle of the Zang family’s servants, who had claimed his living rooms, and the cultivator Sean Zang who had claimed his own bedchambers. Hara himself had been sleeping in the stables with his horse.
The moment after he appeared, Sean Zang rushed out of the house to greet his niece. “We were so worried when you vanished without taking any of your clothes with you. Tren Shen, you have a lot of explaining to do. Where exactly did you take the daughter of my—”
“Shut up, Uncle Sean. Do not address this man in that way,” Kora said sharply. “Lord Tren, I apologize for my uncle. He was worried about me and spoke out of turn.”
Tren scratched his nose. “Wasn’t exactly worried, Kora. I hope you enjoyed your stay.”
“It was magical, once the initial awkwardness was out of the way,” Kora agreed. She bowed deeply to the hidden master. “This humble cultivator thanks the grandmaster for his guidance.”
“I have something for you too. I didn’t want the other children to see because it’s not theirs. When they leave, I’ll give them each one of their own, but this one is yours,” Tren said, and he pulled from his spatial ring – why did the Shen family have two of those!? They could buy the Zang estate with just one of them! He pulled from his spatial ring a rolled up parchment.
“Hang this wherever you want. It’s my vision of your dao. I hope that it is helpful to you, but know that it is not your dao. Just my vision and understanding of it. I cannot truly understand your dao for I have my own, and it is not yours. But I hope that my vision will help you find your own path,” Tren said.
It was a dao painting, painted by a hidden master of peerless insight, Kora realized. She humbly bowed once more. “This cultivator is—I thank you deeply, Lord Tren Shen. Your hospitality and kindness know no bounds, and I am already looking forward to next year’s visit.”
“Right. Goodbye. Do not neglect to repay Lord Hara for the inconvenience that you have caused him. He is a friend of the Shen family and deserves your respect.” And with a slight shudder to the earth, the grandmaster was gone.
Lord Hara watched, an outsider, as the uncle and niece were reunited after the man had been fretting over the fate of his niece for a week. The older, more experienced air cultivator stared at this young niece for a moment, then abruptly turned and scratched the back of his head. “So, make any progress?”
“I have Tan Shen wrapped around my finger,” Kora declared. “His parents are reluctant to make things official, but I managed to convince them to arrange another visit next year. He’ll be older than, and more interested in girls than this time around, so I’m certain things will go even smoother than our second meeting did.”
It was a bold faced lie, but her uncle swallowed the hook and rushed to embrace her. “You must tell me all about it! What is their estate like? Is it half as grand as the rumors say?”
“We ate Qi rich food every day that the emperor himself would not mind putting in his mouth,” Kora declared. “And the Qi in the air is so rich that you can taste it! I sparred against my fiance and his friends and did not disgrace myself. As a gift, I received a high-quality spirit stone, a cultivation mat with a grandmaster level formation embroidered in it, and a dao painting that is perfect for my path!”
Lord Hara blanched while Sean Zang was elated as the girl proceeded to describe her journey and the insights that she had made. The Zang family servants quickly began packing their supplies and were on the road within an hour. Before they left, Sean Zang appeared before Lord Hara and tossed him a bag filled with gold and precious gems.
“I apologize for the trouble,” He said, and then he was gone, and the caravan of the Zang family with him.
Lord Hara exhaled and allowed himself to relax for the first time in more than a week. The cultivators were gone. He weighed the heavy purse in his hands, then glanced at his humble hall.
Perhaps it was time for some construction, he reflected. If he was to be hosting cultivators on the regular, then he should have a manor suitable for them. He shook his head, reflecting that, for him, all of this started when he heard one of his peasants was building a bigger house. Had he known that one of the children of that house could fly, he would have stayed far away.