In Silver Sword City, within the courtyard of the tiny Wu family, the front gate opened and closed silently as it admitted a late-night visitor. While the lamps had long been extinguished by the kind neighbor who tended to Wu Ningli in her son’s absence, the darkness caused no difficulty to the graceful figure who made her way steadily toward Wu Ningli’s small bedroom.

“The door isn’t locked Sister Hyacinth,” Wu Ningli’s frail voice called when the approaching woman reached the door. “If you’ve come to kill me, make it quick, but if you’re here to talk, at least make a pot of tea for your poor sister.”

Laughing softly, Elder Hyacinth removed her hand from the door handle and turned in the direction of the kitchen. “If I’d known I’d be making you tea, I’d have brought some of the good leaves from my own collection,” she called, opening cupboards and sorting through several tins of leaves before making a selection. “Then again,” she continued, inhaling the complex fragrance of a blend of tea leaves, herbs, and citrus peel. “Your son has done admirably at preparing blends for you hasn’t he.”

Several minutes later she returned to Wu Ningli’s bedroom carrying a tray with not only a tea set and cups for two but a softly glowing candle to illuminate the small bedroom. Looking at the withered woman in bed, Elder Hyacinth’s heart tightened in pain. How many years had it been since her sworn sister had danced at her side as they lay waste to their targets? How many years had the sect left her here to rot while it hoped her enemies forgot about her? How much must she have suffered all these years to be reduced to this state? Elder Hyacinth clamped down fiercely on the feelings as soon as they struck. Tonight wasn’t about the past, it was about the future and the future would be different!

“Ling’er has excellent skills in tea,” Wu Ningli said, pushing herself upright in bed. “I’m afraid I’ll have to ask Sister Hyacinth to help me drink tonight.”

“They really left you with nothing,” Elder Hyacinth said with a scowl, pouring a cup of tea and setting it aside to cool as she prepared a cup for herself. “You shouldn’t have been left to suffer like this.”

“I told the Hall Master that I’d pay the price for my vengeance myself,” the crippled woman disagreed. “It’s already an accomplishment that I’m alive to watch my Ling’er grow. While I’ve suffered these years, I’ve also known peace away from most business of the sect.”

“You could have had peace in the front of the sect,” her sworn sister disagreed. “Or you could have been sent to the Inner Sect to recover. You didn’t need to suffer alone all these years.”

“Enough,” Wu Ningli said, raising a frail hand to ward off further discussion on the topic. “The past is past. It can’t be changed, no matter what we wish it could have been. Why have you come tonight? I can’t believe it’s just to drink tea and speak of old times.”

“As much as I wish that were the case, no,” Elder Hyacinth said sadly, sipping her own tea before helping Wu Ningli take a sip. “Hall Master has made a decision about Wu Ling.”

“So it’s time is it,” the frail woman asked, her eyes becoming darker as murderous energy gathered within them. “What has our mighty Hall Master determined must be done about my darling boy?”

“She’s issuing him a Dark Mission,” Elder Hyacinth said softly. “One that will allow him to draw on sect resources if he must in order to complete his mission, though how he’d gain the contribution points to do so will be up to him to figure out.”

“Ling’er never joined the sect,” his mother protested. “He isn’t part of either side of the sect to receive a sect mission, much less a Dark Mission. What is Bian Xing playing at?”

“Your son stole a cultivation manual from the Treasury the night that you were ‘exiled’ from the sect,” Elder Hyacinth explained. “It seems like he’s the only one able to cultivate the manual. Hall Master Bian has been looking for someone to inherit that manual for over a century. Since the manual can’t be returned after being inherited, she is claiming the person who inherited the manual as a replacement for her lost treasure.”

“So that’s where the manual came from,” Wu Ningli murmured, pieces of the puzzle sliding into place. “No wonder he wouldn’t tell me where he got such a strange manual. Still, I could argue that he stole a worthless item if Hall Master herself wasn’t able to find someone to cultivate the manual for over a century. What right does she have to force him into the sect and to issue him a Dark Mission?”

“Sister, you shouldn’t protest this,” Elder Hyacinth said with a gentle shake of her head. “The mission is one that’s good for everyone.”

“Explain. You know I have little trust for the Hall Master’s schemes when the scales aren’t balanced between us,” Wu Ningli said, still scowling darkly at the idea her delicate son would be forced into a Dark Mission. “Right now, she has too much strength and I have too little to offer her, that never makes for a good bargain.”

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“And here I thought that you and Hall Master Bian were friends,” the other woman said. “You certainly killed enough people for her.”

“We are friends,” Wu Ningli acknowledged. “But she’s still a Hall Master and I’m still just an Elder. She’s always been clear that our friendship is limited by the roles we occupy and the responsibilities we both have. That’s why I can’t ever trust her the way I trust you. If it comes down to me or the sect, she’ll choose the sect. Again,” she said bitterly. “But tell me about this Dark Mission and why you think it’s good that I allow her to assign it to my little man.”

“Right now, your son is playing escort to a group of scholars from the Amber Lily Academy along with his sworn sister Su Xiang,” Elder Hyacinth explained. “I’m sure he told you this before he left. I’m also sure he didn’t tell you what the Amber Lily Academy offered him as compensation for protecting them while they gather medicinal ingredients and observe the night sky in the mountains.”

“He didn’t,” Wu Ningli confirmed. “He just said that the job didn’t pay very well but they might let him keep some useful herbs or treasures gathered in the mountains.”

“The Scholar leading the expedition is an Independent Alchemist named Huang Yeyan,” Elder Hyacinth explained slowly, helping her sister to take another sip of tea. “She’s harvesting medicinal ingredients that will be shaped by a celestial event. One of the things she offered as a prize to cultivators who would take her mission is a Lunar Eclipse Lotus.”

Hearing the name of the medicinal plant, Wu Ningli’s hands trembled while her jaw moved up and down like the bucket of a well. The Lunar Eclipse Lotus wasn’t the rarest of medicinal herbs, a few of them typically emerged every decade or so, but they were hotly contested whenever they emerged because they could be used in a number of potent pill recipes, including the one that would allow her body to heal. “Truly? They genuinely offered up a Lunar Eclipse Lotus,” she said in disbelief.

“Of course, it’s useless without the rest of the ingredients you need,” Elder Hyacinth continued, taking a sip of her own tea. “But that’s what the Dark Mission is for. As much as your enemies might hate you, they won’t blame the sect if your very own son is the one trying to heal his crippled mother. They might hunt him, but they’ll leave the sect alone. The contents of Dark Missions are sealed but giving Little Ling a mission to gather the other key ingredients for you allows him to use the power of the sect without explaining what he’s using it for. It’s the best chance we have to get you out of this hole and that’s why you should accept Hall Master Bian’s arrangements.”

“No, you can’t do this to him,” Wu Ningli protested. “He’s not ready.”

“It doesn’t matter if he’s ready or not,” her sworn sister said sadly. “He’s already starting down the path. Right now, he’s doing it almost entirely alone, without the power or backing of a sect behind him. Meanwhile, look at what’s arrayed against him. Once they learn that he’s obtained one of the three key ingredients, they’ll stop at nothing to eliminate the risk that he’ll restore you to health. Wouldn’t you rather that he obtain the protection of the sect while he completes his mission?”

“At the cost of his manhood?” Wu Ningli said scornfully. “You know, I just met the young woman he’s started dating. She plays zither at one of those low-brow bars to avoid the arrangements of her own family. She has some admirable spunk. I wouldn’t mind if she were the one to provide me with a few grandchildren. How can I welcome a daughter-in-law to the family if Bian Xing insists on turning my son into a eunuch?”

“Do women like us get to enjoy the attention of grandchildren?” Elder Hyacinth asked rhetorically. “But you shouldn’t worry about this. Hall Master thinks that the manual might only have been able to be inherited because your son isn’t a woman. Until she knows that robbing him of his manhood wouldn’t destroy his ability to wield the power of that treasure, she won’t demand anything irreparable. She does require, however, that he present himself as ‘Sister Wu Ling’ whenever he enters the sect. Outside of those who encountered him before, no one else will be told the truth.”

“So he’s safe, at least for now,” Wu Ningli said in resignation. “Well, safe from our own people, as much as any of us ever are.”

“This is an opportunity for both of you,” Elder Hyacinth encouraged. “Grasp it. Tomorrow, I’ll be sending you a pair of magpies I found the other day. They had their eyes on your son’s purse and didn’t know how much trouble they were about to find themselves in but they’re reasonably good girls. They’ll be here to take over your care and to keep an eye on Wu Ling. Take these,” she said, placing a jade identity plate and a mission token on the table next to Wu Ningli. “They’re for Little Ling when he returns.”

“Okay, you win,” Wu Ningli finally acknowledged. “But sister,” she added. “If anyone tries to hurt him…”

“I know,” Elder Hyacinth responded with a smile. “And I’ll be there with you. How is your cultivation progressing?”

“I’ve been stuck at the door of becoming an Esoteric for some time now,” Wu Ningli said darkly. “But now, I find I’ve rediscovered the motivation to break through that door. Hall Master Bian might not possess the absolute advantage if I can manage that.”

“Good,” Elder Hyacinth said. “It’s been too long since the world feared the Phantom Blade Dancer. I’ll see if I can find anything to help.”

“Don’t spend too much effort looking,” Wu Ningli said. “The resources I need to assist in my breakthrough are best found in crypts and in ancient battlefields. It’s better that I gather them myself. Instead, if you’re going to put your concocting skills to use, I’d like you to prepare a pill for Ling’er. He’s been drawing on the power of the Mercurial Mist Fox and now that he’s awakened…”

Elder Hyacinth had intended to keep her visit short, it was painful to see her sworn sister reduced to the state she was currently in and she felt that it would be better if she focused on creating a remedy for the situation rather than dwelling on it. But the more Wu Ningli spoke about her son, the more alive and animated she became. Seeing more joy from her friend than she’d seen in years, it was hard to step away and in the end, the long-separated sworn sisters spoke long enough into the night that the sky began to lighten before Elder Hyacinth settled her sister back in bed and vanished into the early morning fog.