Chapter 25
The elders of the Whispering Guides all responded to the summons in their own time. Not everyone bothered to show up, many were in closed door cultivation or away from the mountain complex and unable to respond to the messengers or Qi constructs sent to inform them of a general gathering. But there were enough elders for a quorum, which met behind closed doors in the central compound at the peak of the mountain.
Most of the old men and women were impatient to begin and get whatever farce it was that Yotu had called them together to address. The last time this had happened had been the introduction of a weak and minor talent, a fact which had served to lower Yotu’s standing among the elders even further. The position of gatekeeper to the sect was not an envied one, and he was often viewed as the lowest ranking elder.
But he was an elder, so when he summoned a conclave most of the others showed up to humor him. They expected him to come to their discussions, after all, and it was only polite to return the favor. One or two meetings a year wasn’t much to ask in exchange for his handling of a tiresome duty and the occasional request.
Once twelve of the elders were present and word from the others that no more would be coming arrived, the meeting began. Lira, the highest ranking of those present, called the meeting to order with a clap of her hands that resonated louder than a gavel.
“Well, Yotu? Why are we here?” she asked.
Yotu nervously stepped forward. He produced a jade slip and, without ceremony, snapped it in two.
Earth Qi came roiling out in a concentration that none of the elders could hope to emulate. Yotu, having spent the last year mentally preparing himself for such an assault on his senses, endured. The other elders were visibly shaken by the casual display of power by whoever had sent the message.
It lasted for just a moment, but it resulted in three bloody noses and a burst vessel in Lira’s left eye. She blinked, willing her body to heal itself, but she knew that her eye would be red for several hours before she could fix it.
As abruptly as the Qi burst came, it subsided. A spiritual construct appeared with the shape of a man who resembled an older version of the boy who had given Yotu the jade slip in the first place. The man was dressed in peasant’s garb, with a hoe slung over one shoulder.
“I thank you for watching the Red Rooster. I hope that he has not gotten up to too much trouble. He is needed at home for a season for family matters. If the boy has been performing honorably then I hope that this interruption will not negatively impact his standing in the sect. If you’re looking for an excuse to expel him, I would ask that you find another. The filial duties demanded of him for this visit are ones that any son would be expected to perform for his mother.
“I will entertain a request from the Whispering Guides sect in exchange for the favor they have done for me in guiding this young man. As for the children I have sent to fetch the Red Rooster, I ask that you make a good impression on them. I might be sending them your way later for seasoning. The compensation for guiding them will be separate from any services performed towards the Red Rooster. Send your response with my kids, and I’ll send your compensation to you when the Red Rooster returns after his mother has passed into the next world.”
The Qi apparition lingered for a moment, then vanished. The Qi roiled in the room in the aftermath of the display, then abruptly calmed and soaked into the chamber. The elders exchanged looks, then Lira cleared her throat.
“It seems that Yotu was not overstating the cultivation of the expert who sent us the Red Rooster at all,” she admitted.
“Understating it if anything,” one of the grumpier elders, one who’d suffered a nosebleed, admitted.
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“Right. So. Good thing we accepted him as a disciple. The question is, how do we proceed in the light of this revelation?”
The elders began to discuss the matter. As with all of their meetings, it would take hours before a conclusion was reached.
~~~~~~~
“He’s kind of cute,” Ko said, feeding Key a grape as it sat on Tan’s shoulder. She paused. “Is he a he? Or is she a she? Did we check?”
“I don’t know how to tell with dragons,” Tan admitted. “But I kind of get the feeling that its a boy. I don’t know, we should ask Dad to check when we get back.”
“Well, at least Key works whether it’s a boy or a girl,” Won commented, reading a scroll that they’d found in Elder Yotu’s study. After the laughably vapid ‘insights’ they’d seen at the contribution shop, they hadn’t been expecting much. Which allowed them to be pleasantly surprised as they now plundered the elder’s library.
Pao, reading a book, grunted something that could have been an agreement with Won’s statement. He was lounging on a chaise lounge with his feet up and looked extremely relaxed.
“So, how big is it going to get?” Ko asked. “And how intelligent is it?”
“I don’t know,” Tan admitted. “Zephyr says that it will get bigger as it grows feeding on my Qi, and that it will continue to grow as long as I continue to progress. But that will take time, and it’s a baby right now. She’s not certain how smart it will be, however. She says she’s never seen a Qi guardian take the shape of a dragon before, which means that there was something special about the egg after all.”
“Yeah, sounds like spending all of our points on it was a good move,” Won admitted. “I was kind of worried we were getting a dud. But then again, the points were free, so whatever, right?”
“Yeah,” Tan agreed. He reached up and scratched the side of the little draconic creature’s neck. Despite being no larger than a newly hatched chicken, the little beast’s purr filled the room. Tan sensed a bit of hunger from it, and he responded by sending a wave of Qi at it. The little beast was voracious, and it took Tan a moment to satisfy its appetite, leaving Tan a little light-headed.
Which was when the four children felt it. All of their heads snapped in the same direction at the same moment as the intent hit them. They weighed it for a moment, then Won stood.
“I’ll take care of it,” he said.
“No,” Ko said, standing up and shoving her brother back down. “You dealt with the bandit. Leave this to me.”
“She’s stronger than you,” Won argued.
“She’s stronger than you too,” Ko argued. “She’s stronger than anyone but Tan, but we can talk our way out of this one. We’re in the middle of the Whispering Guides Sect, and she’s obviously a member. We’re guests. Whatever she wants, it’s not like she’s going to burn down an Elder’s estate. Anyway, she’s a girl, and she might talk more freely with another girl.”
The boys couldn’t find a fault in any of her logic, but they still followed her to the entrance of the estate to back her up as Ko stepped outside, her quarterstaff slung over one shoulder.
“Hand over the egg,” the red-haired girl demanded. She was no older than twelve, but poorly formed intent and fire Qi of a cultivator in the Foundation Realm roiled off of her. “I know you have it, and—”
Key chirruped, and the girl went still, her eyes laser focused on the Qi guardian. She went still, but Qi and intent roiled off of her like heat off of a bonfire.
“Two years,” she said before anyone said anything else. “I’ve been saving up for that egg for two years, and you just swoop in and …”
She tilted her head back and screamed in frustration. Then she turned and left without saying another word. The children exchanged looks, then collectively shrugged and went back inside to wait for Elder Yotu to return.